Crow!

"Dressed in all black in the middle of the night, ignoring the perfectly good sidewalk to walk in the center of the road, and specifically choosing a dark, secluded alleyway like this—if this isn't a scam, I don't know what is," Zhou Hong muttered.

Hibiki Gousuke's head was pressed against the roof of his compact car, and all he could see was a figure in black.

Hibiki Gousuke's forehead was drenched in sweat. "Damn it, what scam? We were going so fast and sent him flying that far; there's no way this is a scam."

Before he could finish speaking, he threw open the car door and ran toward the victim.

Splattered crimson blood bubbled, trailing from the front of the car all the way to the body that was still twitching on the ground.

"Hey, this doesn't look like 'nothing's wrong' at all," Hibiki Gousuke muttered anxiously to himself.

His well-trained body allowed him to reach the unfortunate soul in just a few strides.

The car's headlights were stained with blood, turning the originally pure white beam a faint red. Under the illumination, Hibiki Gousuke noticed something off.

The back of the head of the creature sprawled on the ground was pitch black, but unlike a human's.

It wasn't hair, but something else—a keratinous texture.

"Hey, Ah-Hong, something's not right," Hibiki Gousuke said, starting to panic.

They had just come from that area filled with yokai, and now this human-shaped creature—why did it look so much like those monsters?

Zhou Hong stepped out of the car and saw the state of the guy on the ground.

He hadn't expected the Crow Man to appear on Earth this early. Unlike other aliens who might only be driven by a desire for conquest, the Crow Man species were man-eaters.

His brows furrowed. He stepped forward quickly and patted Hibiki Gousuke's shoulder to reassure him. "It's not a yokai. Captain, you might be in for a commendation this time; this guy is an alien."

"And not a peaceful one. This should be one of those hostile invaders here to cause destruction." Zhou Hong delivered a ruthless, powerful kick, sending the still-twitching Crow Man flying until its body made intimate contact with the wall and slowly slid down.

Before the sound of the impact reached them, a metallic clatter drew even more attention.

It was a metallic firearm.

"With a face like that, it's an alien with crow genes."

The crow-like face, those orange-yellow eyes, were already fading into a dull, grayish-black.

"Damn, you scared the hell out of me," Hibiki Gousuke couldn't help but curse under his breath. He immediately pulled out his communicator. "Hello? Is this the GUTS Command Room?"

Hibiki Gousuke's familiar voice made Munakata, who had been answering the phone with a hint of exhaustion, perk up.

"This is the Command Room. Hibiki, what's happened now?" Munakata guessed correctly. "You guys really run into a lot of things today."

"Yes, we were on our way back to base and hit an alien with the car. This alien was carrying a firearm," Hibiki Gousuke reported word for word. "Preliminary assessment: it's an invading alien."

Munakata's eyes widened to the size of copper bells. He immediately pressed the emergency button, and red lights began to flash frantically.

"Stay where you are and wait for our rescue team. We're on our way!"

After ending the call, Hibiki Gousuke watched as Zhou Hong fiddled with the Crow Man's weapon and leaned in. "Ah-Hong, find anything?"

Zhou Hong didn't answer; he simply lifted the Crow Man's weapon to show Hibiki Gousuke.

The main body of the weapon was made of metal, but one section used an unknown transparent material.

Through that section, one could see tiny people looking out in terror.

Hibiki Gousuke's mouth hung open. Those lifelike little figures didn't look like dolls or anything of the sort.

Veins popped on his forehead, and his fists clenched tight. "Damn it, what are these guys trying to do!"

"Are they trying to treat us humans like cargo or slaves?"

"You know, crows are omnivorous animals, and they like to live in groups."

For Japan, crows indeed had that habit; where one appeared, a whole flock followed.

Hibiki Gousuke's fists were white-knuckled. Looking at his burning eyes, if a Crow Man appeared in front of him right now, he would likely throw a punch immediately.

In the pitch-black night, a few caws suddenly echoed, sounding shrill in the cool summer breeze.

Seemingly remembering something, Hibiki Gousuke scrambled back to his half-wrecked car and killed the engine.

Deprived of the car's headlights, the surroundings suddenly plunged into deep darkness.

"I heard you guys run into trouble every time you take a break, so I specifically brought two guns."

Hibiki Gousuke tossed over a Hyper Gun, leaned his back against the bridge wall, and held the weapon up, remaining on high alert.

By the rules, the Rookie Squad wasn't supposed to be equipped with GUTS Hyper Guns, but since they were always running into monsters and the like, for the sake of safety, the higher-ups from both sides had agreed to equip the entire squad with them.

Zhou Hong didn't think they would run into a second Crow Man in such close proximity, but he still leaned against the wall, guarding against any Crow Man that might appear at any moment.

In their human state, dealing with that shrinking ray was quite troublesome.

They didn't wait for a Crow Man; instead, they waited for two fighter jets to slowly descend.

After hearing the intelligence Hibiki Gousuke provided, Munakata, who had been stone-faced, furrowed his brows. "This is trouble."

GUTS had so few members; trying to stop the entire invasion of Crow Men was a case of the spirit being willing but the flesh being weak.

"Let Obiko and the others help. It's hard for ordinary people to deal with these guys," Megumi Iruma said in a low voice.

Without special equipment to counter those shrinking rays, it was estimated that no matter how many people they sent, it would just be a suicide mission.

"Give me a moment, I'll whip up a countermeasure for this weapon right away." Horii declared that he would immediately develop some black technology to take down these Crow Men.

The encounter in the Shishinohana Forest had led Horii to outfit the Guts Wing 2 with all sorts of equipment, and he sprang into action at once.

As night deepened and the breeze caused the branches and leaves to rustle with a "swishing" sound, pairs of glowing, eerie green eyes filled the forest beside the tunnel.

Obiko rubbed his head helplessly, "These children want to lend you a hand as well; I couldn't talk them out of it."

Munakata's expression softened. He lowered his head slightly and said in a deep voice, "I'm counting on you all."

Unlike ordinary humans who had to rely on various technological means to search for the Crow Men, the yokai only needed to sniff the air and set off at a run to track them directly.

A pure white fox took the lead, guiding the GUTS members toward the area where the scent was strongest.

PS: Seeking votes. I will try my best to keep future updates at nine o'clock.

The image is in the comments section, everyone can go take a look... I really hope some expert can put together a nice illustration.