Black Spring

The eighth day of the month, an auspicious day.

At the Special Department headquarters office area, Advisor Hao had slipped away to the stairwell for a smoke amid his busy schedule. Standing at the quiet landing, he gazed at the view beyond the glass curtain wall to ease his mind. He took out a cigarette and sniffed it, then, with a click, his lighter sparked to life and lit the cigarette.

"Something terrible happened!"

The empty stairwell amplified the sound. The sudden shout startled Advisor Hao so badly that he staggered and spat out his cigarette.

"Cough, cough... Why are you in such a panic? What happened?"

"Ghost Village was wiped out by that unidentified extraterrestrial organism!"

"It... really managed to do it?"

Half an hour later, a government jet took off. Advisor Hao and other department higher-ups left headquarters and headed straight for Ghost Village. Looking over the latest photos and videos, they found that Ghost Village, which had given countless agents headaches, had changed. The mist that had resisted every attempt to disperse it was gone, while the monster... had only half a body left.

"Where did the upper half of the corpse monster go?"

"The stationed agents said they saw the upper half fly into the sky, more than four hundred meters high. Without deathly energy to shield it, it was struck by direct sunlight and burned to ashes. We also found several dozen corpses and the wreckage of four crashed helicopters. It seems our old friend's strength has risen tremendously."

The government jet flew above the clouds. In the glow of the setting sun, the smooth white fuselage reflected a golden radiance...

Just moments ago, the sun had still been visible in the bright sky. The instant they landed at the airport, it had become evening.