Chapter 132 – The Opening of the Spatial Gate

In the short span of one hour, a piece of news spread throughout the entire country.

An explosive piece of “news” comparable to the Ningnan Incident: Shencheng! Something big is going to happen!

This message had first come from a small forum. In the blink of an eye, it spread like a viral bombardment across every major social website that had not yet been shut down, replacing all kinds of warning articles about Xenospecies and becoming the absolute headline.

Even people who did not use social software quickly forwarded this message through text messages. It even actively sent itself to many people’s phones like spam advertisements.

Rather than a warning, this message was more like a declaration of war.

A declaration of war from the Xenospecies.

Regardless of whether the contents of this declaration were true, it had genuinely thrown the entire country into an uproar.

The forwarded messages were almost all along these lines: “People of Shencheng, run.”

“You can tell at a glance this was carefully prepared and spread in an organized way. It shouldn’t be as simple as an ordinary rumor.”

“Oh my god, is it real? I heard the original post even had pictures of corpses and things like that!”

“The original post was blocked.”

“Is anyone from Shencheng here? Tell us what the situation is like!”

Another version of this message was sent directly to the mailboxes of major government websites by an anonymous account.

At this moment, a Shencheng official was reading this message. “First, this is absolutely not a joke, prank, or anything of that sort. I know that you know more than the outside world imagines. To prove that I am not lying, I can provide you with some of my understanding of Xenospecies to dispel your doubts. Those contents are attached at the end. Below is the main point I want to make.”

“One, there is no need to focus your attention on how I know this. Shencheng will experience a ‘natural disaster’ similar to the mountain fissure incident, but both you and I know very well that it is not a natural disaster at all. If such a thing appears in Shencheng, you should be able to imagine the consequences.”

“Two, I cannot determine exactly when it will happen, but this is already the fastest notification I can give. Only by doing this can I ensure the message spreads at the first possible moment. So I hope you will not delay even a single minute waiting to verify whether this matter is true.”

“Three, the area affected by this disaster will not be the entirety of Shencheng. The location is…”

After moving his gaze away from the computer, this official raised his head and faced the dozens of people in the entire conference room. These people had all been gathered into this room the moment the message spread. Shencheng’s operations and its current stability were all in the hands of these people, maintained by them as they kept this enormous machine running.

And this official was directly subordinate to the central special Operations Group. His gaze swept over each person’s face one by one, and then he said in a low voice, “The other party used quite a few methods to block our tracking. After bypassing layer after layer of ‘traps,’ all we know for now is that it came from Ningnan. You should be very clear about the situation in Ningnan…”

“Since it’s only one district, then regardless of whether it’s true or false…” The official took a deep breath and slowly said, “Evacuate.”

Once this evacuation happened, the atmosphere of panic that had only just been suppressed would inevitably spread again.

“But if he really is a Xenospecies…” Someone hesitated, wanting to raise a different opinion.

“There is no but. This person is right. We cannot gamble on something this big. And judging from the attached content, he truly does understand things in too much detail. Organize the evacuation immediately. At the same time, send three operations teams there and dispatch helicopter combat units. I want that place sealed so tightly that not even a fly can get in, or out!”

Wooo-!

As the alarm sound rang out almost across the entire urban district, the figure of a woman appeared behind the floor-to-ceiling glass windows of a restaurant.

She looked at the street below, and a somewhat surprised expression suddenly appeared on her face. “Hm? Have humans discovered it? Impossible… But it doesn’t matter. My companions will buy time for me.”

Many people were running wildly. Not far away, someone seemed to be using a loudspeaker to guide them. But very soon, screams came from somewhere, as if someone in the crowd had suddenly made a move. This perfectly echoed the woman’s words, making a faint smile appear on her face.

At this moment, a haggard-looking man rushed in from outside the door and said very anxiously, “H-honey, they’re evacuating outside. This hotel is also calling for people to evacuate. Let’s go.”

“Go?” The woman smiled strangely.

“Is anyone there? I’m hotel staff. Please evacuate immediately, all right?” Another voice sounded outside the door.

“Honey, hurry…” The man was just about to speak when he saw the woman walk to the door.

“Hello…” The staff member’s words had only reached halfway when they suddenly stopped. In the next moment, a thud came from outside the door.

The man froze. He slowly took two steps forward, then looked toward the doorway.

At the woman’s feet, he saw the staff member’s corpse. It was shriveled, its hollow eyes wide open, and an extremely frightened expression still lingered in its gaze.

At this moment, the woman turned her head, stroked her own stomach, and extended an incomparably long tongue to lick the corner of her mouth. “Do you know? The skins of you Earth creatures, especially human skins, possess stronger life energy during pregnancy. This kind of energy is exactly what I need. But that only lasts until today.”

As she spoke, her tongue suddenly stretched toward her abdomen and slowly cut open her own belly. Strangely, however, no blood flowed.

From the beginning, the man had been in a state where his whole body was stiff and his mind was completely blank. But at this moment, he suddenly shuddered and came back to himself. He opened his mouth trembling and murmured, “You… spare my child!”

He abruptly pounced forward, but before he could reach the woman, he was struck heavily against the wall.

The woman looked at the man with a smile on her face but ice-cold eyes and said, “For the sake of this skin… I’ll leave this little skin for you. However, all of its life energy has been absorbed into me, so she probably won’t live for more than a few minutes. Yes, she’s a daughter. I originally thought she might be affected and become some sort of monster, but the result disappoints me a little. Even a biological body as complex as humanity is merely this much.”

A Black Thread flashed past in front of the man. Then, before him as he kept coughing dryly and vomiting blood, there appeared a bloody mass. The man froze, then stretched out a trembling hand and wiped away some of the blood on it. A fair, tender little face was immediately revealed. Her eyes were closed, and she seemed to have very little breath left.

“Daughter… my daughter… I have a daughter…”

The woman’s split abdomen had already healed. She watched this scene with great interest, then frowned again and said, “Originally, these humans here would all have become the first batch of skins for my companions after they came to Earth… How exactly did these humans know in advance?” After thinking for a while, she finally swept one last glance over the man, who appeared to have completely collapsed. With a light laugh, she walked toward the floor-to-ceiling window. “Forget it. In any case, the time is almost here. Since that’s how it is, I’ll just move it up a little… Besides, she is here too.”

Bang!

Amid flying glass, the man was still murmuring to himself. Even now, he might still not have fully come back to his senses.

But the instant the woman’s figure disappeared outside the window, that baby girl suddenly opened her eyes. They were a pair of bright, crimson eyes…

“Beep, beep, beep!”

As the woman landed on the ground, a depression instantly appeared in the pavement, and a shrill car alarm immediately rang out.

“Ah!” Some people who had not yet evacuated saw this scene and immediately screamed, then scrambled and crawled away even faster.

Amid the alarm, the woman raised her head and looked around at the tall buildings, then at the street where people were still running wildly.

“This really is a good place…”

In the woman’s laughter, the ground beneath her feet suddenly split open with the depression she had smashed out as its center.

“Hahahahahaha…”

Along with her laughter, her arms spread wide and her head tilted upward. A large quantity of Black Threads surged out from within her body, continuously probing into those cracks.

Crack!

The fissure kept widening.

Immediately afterward, a rumbling, muffled sound abruptly came from underground, as if thunder had suddenly rolled through the depths beneath the surface.

Beneath the split ground was pitch darkness. At this very moment, an enormous eye suddenly appeared within that darkness.

“Roar!”

A tremendous roar abruptly spread across the entire street at this moment, and even several nearby streets.

In an instant, everyone who heard this sound froze.

Only Su Lifeng was still running with everything he had.

While everyone else was withdrawing outward, he was rushing madly toward that place.

Originally, he could have left this matter to the army, but the moment he thought of Su Lian, of Jiang Yushi and the others, he could not stay out of it.

“Did it happen early?” Su Lifeng also heard the roar. In fact, he had anticipated this. If the crowd was to be evacuated, it would definitely cause the Xenospecies to act early. If the army acted immediately, the Spatial Gate might very likely already be open before the army fully reacted.

That was why Su Lifeng had entered this urban district as soon as the message spread. In the end, too little time had been left to him. From the moment he obtained the specific address until now, he had not had much time to prepare at all.

Everything had to be fought for by the second!

“Hahaha…” The woman’s laughter still continued. Her vitality seemed to be continuously pouring along the Black Threads into the fissures in the ground. Very quickly, her body began to shrivel, and her face soon became like a skeleton. The enormous energy seemed to form a wall around her, with countless fragments of cement spinning madly around her. At the same time, the fissure in the ground was also growing larger and larger.

“Humans, this is the great era you are about to welcome…” The woman’s laughter, accompanied by the continuous thunder-like rumbling, echoed through this area.

A helicopter had just arrived nearby when it seemed to lose control completely and crashed headfirst into a nearby building.

Amid the sound of explosion, a giant finger that made one’s heart tremble suddenly appeared at the edge of the fissure, which had almost already spread across the entire street.

Many cars parked by the roadside immediately fell in, and that finger happened to press down on one of them, instantly crushing the car into pieces.

The surrounding high-rises all began shaking violently. With a tremendous crash, one building collapsed with a roar!

The street had completely caved in and was still expanding!

Many people had no time to run out before they were swallowed by the fissures beneath their feet amid terrified screams.

Faster! Faster!

Su Lifeng ran wildly. He knew that the Xenospecies had also prepared for this operation for a very long time. He had already been very cautious, but the other side’s speed was still astonishing.

“Hahaha!”

Crack!

When a fissure rapidly spread from far away to beneath Su Lifeng’s feet, Su Lifeng lowered his head and glanced inside.

The World on the other side was pitch black. Cold wind blew out from within, while the edges of the fissure were still collapsing without pause.

He raised his head and looked forward. The street had already vanished completely, and the buildings were still continuously collapsing and falling inward. This fissure seemed like a black hole devouring everything around it. The pressure was suffocating!

And that hand, at this moment, came down with a thunderous boom and pressed completely onto the edge of the fissure!

Bang!

The ground beneath Su Lifeng’s feet also shook violently with that slap.

Had it finally begun!