Small Town Meteorite

This day is December 31, 1999, according to the Earth's Gregorian calendar, the last day of the old millennium. After midnight tonight, a new millennium for humanity will arrive, along with a new century of technological explosion.

To celebrate the final day of the old era, many titans of the tech world gathered in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, for a technology exchange conference, which also served to attract capital for investment.

In terms of technological research and development, no amount of money or resources is ever enough.

On the rooftop of a hotel, a cold wind blew intermittently. Kilian stood in the wind without a word, but the cold night wind stole his warmth. Leaning on his crutch, he shivered.

An hour earlier, Kilian had rushed to Tony Stark with his research data. Full of confidence and admiration for his idol, he presented his research to Stark, hoping to gain his appreciation and investment to complete his work.

However, Tony Stark's attention was entirely focused on his companion, Maya Hansen. This woman, who possessed both beauty and intelligence, was exceptionally captivating. Kilian, an ugly and lame man, appearing before him was extremely unsightly. Stark dismissed Kilian with a perfunctory "Meet me on the roof in an hour," and then took Maya Hansen back to his room to discuss their respective research.

After all, Kilian's appearance was too poor. A printed T-shirt paired with a cheap jacket, he looked like a typical self-taught amateur scientist – someone who usually thinks highly of themselves but actually starts their so-called "research" based on a single theory.

Regardless of whether any research was produced, the research derivation and experimental process of self-taught amateurs are extremely unrigorous, and they cannot even achieve logical self-consistency. They are so shoddy that even scumbags like Fang Shi Min can mock them.

Even if they do manage to research something, their findings are either already disproven, or have already been applied but they simply haven't bothered to understand them; or they are shelved by capitalists as technological reserves and then released bit by bit like squeezing toothpaste to recoup funds.

Therefore, an hour later, Kilian did not see Tony Stark. He already understood that he wouldn't be waiting for his idol tonight, or even in the future. He was just a joke.

Kilian's physical disability made him feel inferior. His research was also driven by the desire to compensate for his own shortcomings. This hope was shattered, exposing his inferiority complex, and Kilian began to turn to extremism.

He limped to the edge of the rooftop, leaning on his crutch, and looked down at the ground below, feeling dizzy.

As he hesitated whether to leap to his death and end his ridiculous life, the bells of the new century chimed, and celebratory fireworks rose along with the cheers of the crowd.

The despair in Kilian's heart turned into hatred at this moment. He wanted revenge on Tony Stark, who had humiliated him, and this revenge would not stop until everything Stark had was destroyed.

As if to confirm Kilian's resolve, the dim night sky lit up – it was a meteorite drawn in by Earth's gravity.

It came from beyond the solar system, was not captured by Jupiter's gravity, nor blocked by the moon, and headed straight for Earth, engaging in a final struggle with the planet's last barrier, the atmosphere. As the outer layers rapidly consumed themselves through friction, it emitted a dazzling light.

The meteor that streaked across the night sky seemed to herald the arrival of humanity's new era. After entering the atmosphere, it traversed more than half of the Earth before finally crashing into a small town in Kansas, America. The immense impact force completely destroyed the town, leaving it forever in the old era.

The number of meteorites falling to Earth each year is enormous, with an average of tens to hundreds of tons of matter brought to Earth by meteorites annually.

Most of these meteorites turn to dust in the friction with the atmosphere. Very few survive. Furthermore, since seventy-one percent of the Earth's surface is covered by oceans, and the land area occupied by human habitation is not vast, the number of meteorites discovered by humans is even smaller.

The meteorite that destroyed a town in Kansas was a once-in-a-century event. Therefore, it was named after the destroyed town and was called the Small Town Meteorite.

After the meteorite fell, specialized agencies were dispatched to retrieve it. Some trace elements on Earth have been brought to Earth by meteorites over long periods.

As they expected, this meteorite was an iron meteorite, with excellent metallic components that seemed artificially processed. The best alloys on Earth were only slightly superior, and those were produced in small batches in laboratories at any cost.

By reverse-analyzing this metal, technologies that had been stalled due to material limitations in various fields could be advanced. America's lead in various aspects could be further extended.

However, the meteorite brought not only gifts but also disaster. The destruction of the small town was just the beginning. The extraterrestrial life form Xenomorphs that descended with the meteorite posed an even greater threat to humans.

They were green organisms, resembling insect pupae, with wrinkled skin and limbs that were similar to humans but asymmetrical.

Xenomorphs possessed the ability to mimic, able to change their appearance at will to impersonate anyone, even copying memories. Their physical capabilities, far superior to humans, allowed the Xenomorphs to kill the person they mimicked immediately after impersonation and then dispose of the body with secreted special acid. Utilizing humanity's advanced transportation network, countless Xenomorphs had infiltrated human society in a short period.

The exposure of the Xenomorphs later was purely coincidental. A doctor, during a physical examination of someone mimicked by a Xenomorph, discovered physiological differences between the mimic and a normal person using medical equipment. This was reported to the relevant authorities, and only then did people become aware of the existence of Xenomorphs.

But as the saying goes, "If you see one cockroach at home, there are likely hundreds or thousands hidden away." Before the Xenomorph was discovered, human society had already been riddled with holes by their infiltration.

Before the Xenomorphs were exposed, an urban legend had been circulating among the public – if one day you see someone exactly like you, your death is not far off. That person is your double; he/she will kill you and live as you.

America's high command initiated a self-examination and discovered that many high-ranking officials had been replaced by mimics. The President, although still himself, lost his eligibility for re-election and stepped down after his four-year term ended.

The Secretary of Defense appointed by the new President was a typical hawk. Under his leadership, a war against the Xenomorphs was launched. However, due to strong demands from interest groups, foreign wars to maintain America's hegemonic position continued, and the World Trade Center did not escape the fate of being blown up by its own people.

However, the war plunged America into a quagmire. Not to mention the foreign conflicts, the war against extraterrestrial life forms was not going smoothly. Finding the Xenomorphs hidden among America's hundreds of millions of citizens was not an easy task, especially since the Xenomorphs would change their mimic targets when they found the situation unfavorable.

Moreover, the individual strength of Xenomorphs was formidable. If they were in their pupal stage, human forces could still eliminate them at a certain cost. However, once a Xenomorph mimicked to a certain extent, it would enter a molting phase, developing into a more powerful adult form with a speed that surpassed human visual perception.

To counter this, America changed its tactics, shifting towards improving the combat capabilities of individual soldiers. Many projects that had seen reduced funding due to a lack of results were brought to the forefront, such as the "Super Soldier Serum" to recreate the miracle of Captain America, and the Osborn Group's "Human Enhancement Potion."