Jiang City, afternoon, the breeze was warm and gentle.
On the balcony of a high-rise apartment, a faint shimmer of glare flickered slightly. The man looked up toward the direction of the sun, glanced at the time on his watch, and then closed the sunshade on the telescope.
In the distance on the horizon, beneath the clouds, the city was dead silent, while in the sky, that massive cloud formation stood still like a mountain, majestic and unmoving.
Beep beep, beep beep, the watch's alert tone sounded.
5:00 PM, an hour and a half until dark.
The man pulled up a chain, and a specially made alloy iron gate rose outside the original floor-to-ceiling window, the light in the room gradually devoured.
Sunlight streamed through the gaps in the alloy panels, casting lines of light in the living room piled with supplies.
Buzz buzz buzz~
A strange noise echoed, the man stopped his actions and tilted his head to listen.
Instantly, his expression changed.
He picked up his self-defense short knife, tucked it at his waist, and cautiously stepped out, climbing the stairs to the rooftop terrace.
A helicopter was flying low from the distance, the sound of its giant rotors gradually becoming deafening.
Whoosh whoosh!
The man pulled out a long hose from somewhere, tied with a piece of orange rag at the end, and quickly waved it toward the helicopter.
On the helicopter, a girl wearing headphones saw that flash of orange, silently traced her fingers on the window pane.
"Mr. Wen?"
The pilot in the front seat also saw the orange on the rooftop and tentatively asked.
The man addressed as Mr. Wen was a middle-aged man in a suit, glanced out the window, and closed his eyes indifferently. "Wishful thinking, who would care about the lives of these poor wretches!"
The pilot remained silent.
The middle-aged man noticed the girl's gaze and spoke loudly, "What, feeling overly sympathetic?"
"Remember, they are not like us. If tomorrow were the end of the world, we would be the last ones to die, understand?!"
"Tch~"
The girl's face was cold, watching outside the window, disdaining the middle-aged man's words.
Woo~
The helicopter whistled past the skyline.
The man on the distant rooftop watched this scene, lowered the pole, his gaze pensive.
"Damn, what a nice helicopter, such a pity..."
...
Minutes later, a sudden alarm sounded on the helicopter.
"Stall danger - stall danger"
"What happened!!"
"Lift suddenly lost, maybe we encountered an unknown cyclone," the young co-pilot's expression changed dramatically, eagerly maintaining the flying posture.
The sudden situation caused everyone to panic.
"We're in the air, could we have encountered some ghostly thing in broad daylight?" The previously calm middle-aged man in the back first shouted.
The pilot looked at the onboard radar but found nothing unusual. At this moment, the light inside the cockpit abruptly changed, as if covered by a shadow. Sensing something, he hastily craned his neck, looking toward the sky.
The sight made his pupils contract quickly, his face turned ashen white.
Above the massive cloud layer, an eerie black shadow appeared intermittently, blocking out the sun!
The clouds rolled, the wind suddenly picked up!
The helicopter was caught by a massive suction force, being lifted uncontrollably.
"Warning! Warning!"
"Damn it! Captain! What do we do!"
The confused co-pilot frantically looked at the captain, only to find that he was already captivated by something, so he followed his gaze.
The sparse vapor dispersed continuously. As the altitude ascended, the two in the cockpit finally saw the black shadow in the clouds clearly.
The shadow in the cloud turned out... to be a giant humanoid corpse!
The humanoid corpse lay face down floating in the clouds, blocking out the sun, visible to the naked eye its torso at least over 10 kilometers long!
The massive floating corpse was motionless, at first glance like a floating continent, its entire body gray-black, with clearly visible desiccated skin folds like deep valleys, pitch-black hollow eyes lifeless, exuding a sinister oppressive aura just floating above the city sky.
"Ah ah ah~!"
At that moment, screams abruptly arose on the out-of-control helicopter!
The girl in the back looked deathly pale as her pupils were gradually overtaken by darkness.
The hurricane tore at the helicopter's fuselage, this industrial product weighing several tons was now like a speck of dust in the air.
The invisible suction instantly drew it upward, soon disappearing into the cloud layer without a trace.
From the distant rooftop, Lin Xian observed this scene, his face darkened slightly.
Buzz~
At this moment, a flash of light passed the skyline, Lin Xian realized it, cursed "shit," and then promptly returned to his residence.
Pulled the window gate down, sprayed deodorant in the hallway, and closed the iron door.
Quietly awaited nightfall.
Beep beep, beep beep.
At exactly 6:45 PM, the light from the window gate flashed a second time, the sun set, and the entire city was swallowed by darkness.
In the city under the veil of darkness, ominous whispers echoed in the dark alley, piercing screams reverberating in the night, terror impending, strangeness looming!
Indoors.
The record player played soothing jazz, Lin Xian donned an apron, leisurely opened a can of beans in the kitchen, and on the electric stove, tomato brisket soup emitted an enticing aroma.
A sprig of fresh cilantro on the cutting board was today's bounty from the rooftop garden, and on days like this, green always lifted the spirits.
He scattered the chopped cilantro into the pot, not sparing even a tiny piece stuck to the knife.
Outside the window, the desperate and hollow night loomed, a sound of pacing echoed from beneath the floorboards, and something strange seemed to be breathing in the depths of the pitch-black corridor...