Chapter 124: Prelude

One month later, everyone gave up.

People had almost turned the entire ruin upside down, finding no trace of Yang Yi.

Agents from every nation returned without success.

Most of the rescue teams dispatched by Xia Country had already withdrawn, leaving only two squads conducting a final search over the ruins.

It seemed everyone had accepted the fact that Yang Yi was dead or gone; mentions of her name in the news grew increasingly rare, appearing only when discussing catastrophic threats, only when governments and Awakened were powerless against alien creatures, then her name was brought up to prove government incompetence.

In this fast-paced society, a wave of fervor lasts at most a week; the masses are prone to forgetting, and even a great person, absent from public view for a month, will be forgotten, mentioned only when needed, their deeds cited as proof for current events.

Chris was forcibly taken home by his mother.

His mother had almost knelt to beg him, for staying too long had exposed him to mild nuclear radiation infection; had the Xia Country base not allowed him to use the healing device, his body likely could not have lasted much longer.

Over the past month, he had wasted away terribly; his tall, sturdy body now held only loose, flapping clothes.

Mayo Hospital, the best hospital in Ark Country.

Chris lay on the hospital bed, expressionless, his gaze vacant as he looked out the window; the television before the bed broadcast news, a male anchor tightly wrapped in a radiation suit reporting Yang Yi's search results from the farthest edge of Lenton City.

The ward door opened, and Chris's mother, Mary, walked in. "Dear, how are you feeling? Your sister Norma is very sorry; she is about to give birth and cannot come to see you..."

"It doesn't matter," Chris said in a flat tone.

His son's vacant face made Mary's heart ache; tears she had held back for so long finally fell. "Child, tell me what happened? Why did you stay so long in the nuclear blast center despite the danger? Who was there?"

If there had been any need to hide the truth before, now everything was meaningless; moving from initial disbelief to subsequent pain, and now to depression, Chris numbly looked at his mother's face when suddenly an unbearable surge of pain rose up:

"Mom, my lover has disappeared, perhaps forever. They have stopped looking for her; if she knew, how sad she would be... She looked incredibly powerful, but she was just a little girl... a little girl who always had nightmares..."

Just then, the news broadcast announced that an S-level threat had occurred in a small country on Heizhou, plunging nearly the entire nation into crisis; the anchor happened to mention Yang Yi's name at that moment, saying that if Yang Yi were here, resolving this threat would be effortless.

Chris sneered. "Mom, look, the way people remember her is by mentioning her name only when they need her, just like treating a used tissue that gets thrown away..."

"That girl is..." Mary looked at her son in disbelief.

"Her name is Yang Yi," Chris said.

His gaze turned to the blue sky outside the window, lifeless.

—

Xia Country, Tongdu City.

Chen Chen Yushu arrived at Huangyang Village to conduct an investigation; a few days ago, Tongdu City reported that a similar alien creature crisis had occurred in Huangyang Village, located on the outskirts. A villager named Huang Huang Shusheng returned home from vacation to find the entire village population vanished, leaving only his five-year-old daughter, Tongtong, who had survived by hiding in a cellar.

Luzhou City and Tongdu City are adjacent, yet the two incident sites are a thousand li apart; the occurrence of the same alien creature threat at nearly the same time added to the weight on everyone's minds.

When he arrived, the village had already been sealed off by relevant departments, waiting only for Awakened to arrive and handle it.

Chen Chen Yushu held a piece of clothing in his hand, brushing dust from it, sensing the abnormal dark matter fluctuations in the air; comparing the spatial fluctuation curve recorded on his tester's screen with that of Luzhou City, after a period of observation, he finally confirmed that the Long-Haired Monster had indeed appeared here.

It was unknown whether it was the same one or two appearing simultaneously in both locations.

If there were two... thinking this, his heart grew heavier; the number of people killed by the Long-Haired Monster in Luzhou City had recently increased again, approaching over 4,000, and two Awakened comrades had sacrificed themselves.

Every time the Long-Haired Monster appears, it causes massive panic; people's only option is to hide in underground air-raid shelters, but in such haste, where can they hide? The Long-Haired Monster appears randomly each time; can one hide in an air-raid shelter forever? How to study? How to work? How to live?

The only solution is to kill it completely.

But...

He recalled that day, experiencing a deep sense of helplessness once again.

Two days ago, in a residential area of the Yaohe District in Luzhou City, the Long-Haired Monster suddenly emerged from a spatial rift; its massive body was nearly 20 meters long and 15 meters high, floating in the air as if weightless. Its speed was not fast, even very slow; its six long, mantis-like legs moved leisurely through the air, as if swimming comfortably in the atmosphere.

Its head was a giant hole emitting scarlet light, like a dangerous and ferocious deep well; it remains unknown whether that is its eye or its mouth.

Its entire body was covered in gray-white whiskers that moved without wind, wriggling in the air as if alive, as if sensing other creatures in the atmosphere; whenever it sensed something, its long whiskers would instantly extend—every life touched by the whiskers, without exception, turned to flying ash, even other alien creatures.

Facing such a terrifying alien beast with bizarre abilities, human power was so insignificant.

He controlled a hundred sharp swords to stab at it; as they neared the monster's body, its gray-white whiskers flicked lightly, entangling the swords, appearing slow and effortless. Then, those sharp swords specially customized for him by relevant departments slowly turned to flying ash, only slightly slower than the rate at which human bodies turn to ash.

Regardless, he managed to slow its progress somewhat, allowing some nearby civilians to escape.

"Captain Chen, we must hold it off for another ten-plus minutes; the rear is urgently evacuating the crowd!" Li Xinran shouted.

Li Xinran was one of the members of their Blade Squad, a C-level Fire ability user; before the Dark Matter Descent, she was an ordinary office worker, and her son was in the third grade of elementary school.

He controlled all the stainless steel railings on the street; as they floated up, they changed form, the stainless steel railings twisting and deforming to form a cage, trapping and locking the Long-Haired Monster inside.

A sharp pain shot through his head; he knew his ability had reached its limit.

"Captain, be careful!" Li Xinran shouted sternly.

However, it was too late; the Long-Haired Monster's whiskers instantly extended through the gaps in the cage, stabbing straight toward him.

A beam of flame rolled in, blocking the whiskers for a moment. It was Li Xinran's ability.

Immediately after, that beam of whiskers pierced straight through the flame and stabbed Li Xinran through like a sword.

He watched her turn to flying ash with his own eyes, unable even to leave a final word.