Blue Star, An City, 6:00 AM.
The grotesque ball of flesh that had been hanging in the sky finally disappeared, leaving only a scarlet cloud.
Ashes mingled with the stench of burning flesh drifted in the wind, and the Flesh Demon vanished into the shadows between the buildings.
The rooftop of a medical university dormitory building.
Astronaut Li Yang and the remaining five members of the advance team sat on the rooftop, which was covered in debris.
Li Yang held the freshly heated individual soldier's instant beef and potato rice, scooped up a large spoonful and stuffed it into his mouth, mumbling his thoughts.
"It smells so good! I haven't had a hot meal in a week!"
He looked up and gestured with his spoon at Xing Wu and the others, "Aren't you going to eat?"
Xing Wu, Novsky, and the others all shook their heads.
"Sukabul!"
Sergei looked at the sticky mashed potatoes and dark red chunks of beef in Li Yang's spoon, and his stomach churned.
"After seeing those monsters that chewed up and Fusion human flesh, I now have a psychological aversion to any kind of meat!"
"It's simply impossible for me to eat this kind of thing again."
Although Chen Xiaoyu and Li Tie couldn't understand Russian, they understood everything from Sergei's expression of covering his mouth.
Aren't they the same?
The thought of that enormous ball of flesh that rolled down the cliff and the countless faces of their comrades inside made them feel nauseous even to swallow.
So the two of them waved their hands in refusal, took out all the individual beef and potato rice they were carrying from their backpacks, and handed it to Li Yang.
"Thank you so much! Comrades, you are all such kind people!"
Li Yang was extremely grateful, truly having his cake and eating it too.
Clearly, this astronaut who once roamed the cosmos is having a rather miserable time on Blue Star these days.
While Li Yang waited for the next box of self-heating rice to cook, Xing Wu walked over and sat down next to Li Yang.
"Comrade Li Yang, can you tell us how you returned to Blue Star from the space station?"
Upon hearing this question, Li Yang stopped chewing.
He swallowed the food in his mouth, gave a bitter smile, and said, "The return capsule, what else can I do to get back?"
His gaze gradually lost focus, as if he had returned to that despairing day.
I will never forget that day.
"When that burst of blue light erupted from the surface of Blue Star, all communication systems on the space station instantly collapsed, and it could no longer contact the ground."
"After an emergency discussion with the captain and teammates, it was ultimately decided that I would be the only one to land on Blue Star in the return capsule."
"Go to the ground and find out exactly what happened..."
"However..."
Li Yang gripped the pressure suit on his thigh, "Just pretend I just left the space station!"
"As we entered the atmosphere, I looked out the porthole and saw a colossal warship, so enormous it defied description..."
"It appeared out of thin air in near-Earth orbit!"
"A biological warship?!"
Novsky blurted it out.
The others also showed expressions of shock.
"That's right! It's one of those living biological warships that only exist in science fiction movies!"
Li Yang raised his head, "I watched with my own eyes as it opened the huge hatch..."
"Or rather, that's its [mouth]!"
"It hurled countless dark red, flesh-and-blood meteorites, like shooting stars, at Blue Star!"
"Then... I watched with my own eyes as it devoured our space station..."
He pointed to the crimson sky above, now devoid of moonlight, his voice choked with emotion. "Even..."
"Even the moon is being gnawed away at, devoured, and assimilated by them, bit by bit!"
"Finally, along with my return capsule, it landed in our hometown..."
At this point, Li Yang lowered his head, covered his face in anguish, and tears streamed down his face.
But then, he wiped away his tears forcefully, raised his head, and looked at Xing Wu and the others, saying with relief.
"Fortunately, humanity wasn't completely wiped out; instead, they went to that place you call the Barbaric Realm."
"At least, we're not stuck in this inferno that's been completely devoured by flesh-and-blood monsters."
Upon hearing this shocking truth, everyone fell into a long silence.
Before this, they cursed the Barbaric Realm full of strange beasts and eerie creatures in their hearts every day.
But now it seems that the Barbaric Realm they hated has become the last safe haven for all mankind!
The situation on Blue Star is ten thousand times worse than in the Barbaric Realm!
That seemingly disastrous global journey, perhaps...
This was the only thing Mother Blue Star could do to protect the children she was carrying as she lay dying!
"Click click..."
Xing Wu clenched his fist.
The China nation has always hated invaders the most!
These disgusting Flesh Demon...
Without a doubt, it was a biological weapon used by that unknown, higher-dimensional alien civilization to wipe out and exterminate humanity!
For this reason, they even went so far as to destroy the moon, the home on which humanity has depended for generations!
Novsky See Through his old comrade's thoughts, patted Xing Wu on the shoulder, and comforted him.
"Xing, don't despair too much."
"At least we now know where the enemy came from, at least..."
"We still have a chance to win."
Upon hearing this, Li Yang, who was eating his second boxed lunch, immediately looked up and nodded vigorously in response.
"That's right! We still have hope!"
Then, he lowered his voice and dropped a bombshell.
"Actually, I've always suspected..."
"That terrifying biological warship probably stumbled into our star system by accident!"
"Oh? What do you mean?"
Xing Wu raised an eyebrow, immediately showing great interest.
Li Yang pointed east.
"My return capsule was falling at the time, and I could vaguely see a small white dot in front of the biological warship."
"I couldn't identify what it was at the time; I only knew it was trying to evade the warships!"
"And it crashed into the area of An City along with me! The approximate location is to the east!"
"And the strangest thing is!"
"On the very night that little white dot fell, the entire An City was already without power!"
"All network operations have been lost..."
"My phone has regained signal!"
As Li Yang spoke, he took out his phone with a cracked screen and shook it regretfully.
"Unfortunately, my phone completely ran out of battery and shut down because I used it as a flashlight to search for supplies in the ruins these past few days."
"Otherwise, I can show you the evidence right now."
"Signal?!"
Upon hearing those two words, Xing Wu and Novsky exchanged a glance.
Xing Wu immediately pulled out the Xiaomi 6 he had found from his pocket.
On that screen with only 1% battery remaining, the signal bar in the upper right corner was still full!
"Tick-tock."
The moment everyone saw the signal, the Xiaomi 6's screen flickered, then went black and shut down because the battery was completely depleted.
It has completed its final mission.
Xing Wu didn't throw it away; instead, he tucked it close to his body into the pocket on his chest.
He turned to look at Chen Xiaoyu and asked in an extremely urgent tone.
"Chen Xiaoyu! Think about it, what places are in that area to the east of An City?"
Chen Xiaoyu paused for a moment, closed her eyes and desperately tried to recall the map of An City in her mind, then opened her eyes.
"To the east... that area seems to be a restricted zone!"
"When I was in school, I heard from locals that the area was often locked down and there were hardly any civilian buildings."
"It's probably a military base or something!"
"That's right!"
Xing Wu slapped his thigh excitedly, "The large military base is equipped with independent military base stations and power generation equipment!"
The small white dot that Li Yang saw, and the strange full-strength signal source, were very likely coming from there!
"Chen Xiaoyu, do you still remember the way over there?"
Chen Xiaoyu nodded firmly. "Although I've never been inside, I certainly remember the general layout! I'll lead you there!"
But then, he glanced warily at the shadows around him.
"But Elder, what if those terrifying Flesh Demon emerge from the shadows again and follow us?"
While eating, Li Yang mumbled something indistinct, bringing them some exciting news.
"Don't worry! Those Flesh Demon you're talking about are afraid of light!"
"Daytime ultraviolet radiation is practically deadly poison to them; they will absolutely never appear in the sun."
"As long as we don't go into those dark basements or dead ends in ruins, we're safe to walk around outside during the day."
"Call!"
Hearing this, Li Tie slammed his meteor hammer to the ground with a sigh of relief and let out a long breath.
"Great! Finally, I don't have to see those disgusting things that sew comrades together anymore!"
"Otherwise, even if I manage to get back alive, this mental pollution will drive me Madman."
However...
Faced with this good news, neither Novsky nor Xing Wu showed even the slightest bit of joy on their faces.
Both of them noticed a logical blind spot in Li Yang's words!
Novsky nodded slightly.
His hand reached for the bolt of the Mosin-Nagant, and a bullet was silently loaded.
Xing Wu took a small step forward, shielding Chen Xiaoyu and the other two behind him.
He looked at Li Yang and calmly asked the question.
Comrade Li Yang.
"Since those Flesh Demon only appear at night..."
"What if you didn't have weapons, or even if you were an ordinary person?"
How did they manage to walk unharmed through the ruins near the sanatorium in the dark?
Upon hearing this pointed question, Li Yang, who had been wolfing down his food, visibly paused for a moment.
He put down the lunchbox, sighed helplessly, and plopped back down on the ground.
He then patted his white spacesuit and explained sincerely.
"This outfit saved my life."
"I sensed it a few nights ago when I was hiding in the ruins; those Flesh Demons have no eyesight!"
"They find their prey entirely by the scent of living human blood and breath."
"The moment I take off my spacesuit and accidentally exhale a breath of hot air near those monsters, I'll be instantly targeted."
"But conversely, as long as I wear this fully sealed spacesuit in the dark."
"And he kept breathing by maintaining the internal oxygen tank in his backpack, without letting out a single trace of human breath..."
"Those ghostly things can't find me; I'm like a white stone moving around them."
After explaining, Li Yang licked the last grain of rice from the lunchbox clean and said with a wry smile.
"Honestly, if I hadn't seen you fighting that giant fleshy ball earlier, I wouldn't have risked coming out to show you the way..."
"I might starve to death inside my spacesuit."
"Because most of the food in this city is hidden in the dark, secluded corners of shopping malls and supermarkets."
"I haven't had the chance, nor dared to, to take off my helmet to eat; I've been starving for two whole days."
Upon hearing this reasonable and perfect explanation, everyone suddenly understood, but their wariness did not lessen.
However, Novsky did not loosen his grip on the gun.
"Since those Flesh Demon won't come out during the day, it's safer during the day..."
"Then why don't you take off your spacesuit during the day and go find food?"
Why choose to undertake such a risky mission in the dangerous darkness of night?
Novsky's finger was already on the trigger.
Facing the muzzle of Novsky's gun, which could fire at any moment, Li Yang remained calm.
He calmly raised his head, looked at the rising sun, and answered.
That's because...
"During the day, there are things even more terrifying than those Flesh Demons that roam around."
Li Yang pointed south, his eyes trembling.
"Remember that enormous biological warship I mentioned earlier?"
"It also landed in An City, in a park not far to the south..."
"And inside that warship, there were definitely more than just those low-level flesh and blood creatures that only dared to come out at night to hunt..."
"And there are real alien monsters!"
"Their... circadian rhythms are completely opposite to those of the Flesh Demon!"
"And! It's far more terrifying than that!"