Solar Eclipse
“Help me!!”
Boom—
Thunder roared as clouds churned ominously overhead. The asphalt road shimmered with a cold sheen, while beads of rain, falling like broken strings, washed away a swath of crimson blood. The red and blue strobe lights of police cruisers and ambulances smeared through the curtain of rain. A speeding car slammed on its brakes—
Several people poured out of the vehicles, popping open umbrellas and jostling their way forward. Footsteps were hurried, splashing mud onto pant legs.
A police officer lifted the yellow caution tape, shouting at the top of his lungs to drive back the reporters trying to snap photos. “Unrelated personnel, move away from the scene immediately! Xiao Wang, watch them! Don’t let them contaminate the evidence!”
The rain was relentless. The scene was chaotic—heart-wrenching cries, the click of shutters, blinding magnesium flashes, officers struggling to maintain order, and the ambulance doors popping open with a bang.
A team of medical personnel in protective suits rushed out. Rainwater streamed down their gear, reflecting stark white in the night.
“Make way! Please make way!”
They swiftly lifted a stretcher and hurried away. Trails of blood snaked like streams, mixing with the rain. Puddles of varying depths reflected the gloomy sky, distorting the reflections of people rushing by before hurried footsteps shattered the images.
“Severe fracture of the femur! Hairline fracture in the right arm. The patient has obvious claw marks on the chest, the wound is inflamed—suspected infection!”
“Blood pressure is dropping. Massive blood loss. Don’t stop CPR!”
“Blood oxygen saturation is at 78%. Notify headquarters to prepare blood bags!”
Instruments beeped frantically. The ambulance sped away, its red and blue lights flashing urgently, its piercing siren cutting across the entire city.
Roar…
A low, guttural growl echoed from a dark alley.
“According to reports from this station, at 3:00 AM last night on Xiwang Road, two men were attacked by an unidentified organism after getting off work. One died on the scene, and the other was critically injured and is currently undergoing emergency treatment. Police have launched an investigation. Citizens are reminded to pay attention to their safety when going out…”
Li Nanyi walked out of the shopping mall carrying three bags of takeout. He had just picked up his helmet from the bike rack when the phone in his pocket buzzed incessantly. He pulled it out and pressed the button; the small screen was crammed with notifications—all of them late delivery reminders.
He sighed helplessly, placed the three bags of food into the trunk box, put on his helmet, twisted the throttle, and sped onto the highway like lightning.
The GPS consistently showed congestion ahead. Because of the homicide on Xiwang Road last night, the police had blocked off that section. To get to the other side, he had to take a detour. Today was a workday, the traffic volume was heavy, and commuter cars were gridlocked.
The reminder messages kept chiming. Li Nanyi looked at the road ahead, packed tight enough to keep out a breeze. To save time, he had to turn the bike around and take the long way. Horns blared in a cacophony, interspersed with the curses of drivers. He gunned it to top speed, barely arriving before the deadline.
Just as he straddled off the bike, the sky suddenly darkened. Li Nanyi narrowed his eyes and looked up. Beside the dazzling sun hanging high in the sky, a dark shadow had appeared, slowly approaching and eclipsing its original brilliance.
A solar eclipse? The news hadn’t mentioned an eclipse today.
“Ahhh!!!”
A piercing scream erupted abruptly, mixed with the screech of braking tires. The street instantly turned into a chaotic mess. Li Nanyi turned toward the sound. Not far away, a massive creature—at least two and a half meters tall—had rushed out from who knows where and was rampaging through the streets. A sedan was forcibly flipped over by the beast.
The sky turned gray. The sun had been completely cannibalized by darkness, the last sliver of light swallowed whole.
The world plunged into total darkness.
The monster charged in his direction, smashing through several buildings along the way. Li Nanyi made a split-second decision, turned around, and fled into the nearest skyscraper. Due to the commotion earlier, the main lobby was already deserted.
He braced himself against a counter and rolled up his sleeve, revealing a wristband with a metallic texture emitting a faint, ghostly blue glow. The surface was engraved with special patterns—the sun, moon, and stars guarding a giant tree. It did not look like something from Earth.
Li Nanyi stared at the wristband for a long time.
“You are the most suitable operator we found among over a billion people. This is the choice of fate. I hope you can help us slay the alien xenomorphs.”
Fate…
A finger hovered hesitantly over the band. He didn’t want to be a hero. He didn’t want to face danger, nor did he want to get involved in these conflicts. his wish was simply to live his own life in peace and quiet…
ROAR—
“Daddy! Mommy!”
Another violent roar rang out from outside, accompanied by the terrified scream of a child. The monster’s towering figure was already pressing against the building. Outside the giant floor-to-ceiling windows, a little boy was forced into a corner, looking small and pitiful.
Li Nanyi froze. He pursed his lips. Human lives were at stake; he couldn’t hesitate any longer.
His hand immediately covered the wristband. Solve this monster first, think later.
A dazzling blue light flashed. Li Nanyi instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes. When he opened them again, the monster had been knocked flying several meters away. A majestic, agile figure leapt up from the ground.
It was a towering, human-sized mecha, fully two meters tall. Its body was silver-white, with deep blue veins—like quantum blood vessels—coiled methodically across its chassis. Sharp, wing-like sculptures flanked its forehead, and blue protective visors reflected a white gleam. The faceplate was locked tight, and every part of its body radiated power.
Bang.
A side kick, accompanied by a whistling gale, struck the monster square in the chest. The creature was forcibly kicked upward again, crashing through half a wall causing plaster to rain down like dust.
The faint sound of a child crying drifted over. Li Nanyi snapped back to reality, rushing outside in three steps taking two, and scooped the child into his arms to bring him inside. It might have been an illusion, but the mecha in the midst of combat seemed to lift its head and glance at him.
The mecha’s sleek body scraped visible sparks against the darkness. The rollers on the soles of its feet slid across the ground, kicking up a trail of crackling fire. The arm armor opened, and a snow-bright blade popped out. Supporting himself with one hand on the ground, he swept the other swiftly over the monster’s head. The monster moved its clumsy body, rolling sideways to avoid the blow. As it moved, a violent shockwave transmitted from its center, rippling outward.
The ground shook violently underneath their feet. The top floor of the skyscraper swayed, and limestone began to fall. Li Nanyi had to shield the child in his arms while trying to run toward safety. In a moment of inattention, he tripped. His body tilted backward uncontrollably. He gritted his teeth, bracing himself for the impact, his hand still protecting the child.
In that split second, a hand clamped onto his arm, lifting him up with extraordinary strength. Li Nanyi’s breath hitched for a moment. Once he managed to stand steady, a gentle voice quickly brushed past his ear: “Careful. Follow me. It’s not safe to talk here.”
The fighting outside grew more intense. Li Nanyi took one last look at the mecha grappling with the monster before an irresistible force from his hand pulled him forward into the pitch black.
The clatter of footsteps, the opening of a door, the closing of a door—until they stood in a long corridor stretching to the left and right, the way back and the way forward obscured.
“What a hassle, the power is completely out…”
The person beside him muttered in a low voice. Li Nanyi hesitated for a moment, then opened his mouth to say, “Thank you for earlier.”
“Ah, you’re welcome. It was just a lifting of a hand. Everything happened so suddenly; it’s normal for people to drop things in panic. Are you here to take shelter too?”
“Yeah. I was delivering takeout nearby.” Li Nanyi nodded first, then remembering the other person couldn’t see in the dark, he added the verbal confirmation.
He couldn’t see what the person next to him looked like, only a blurry silhouette. Judging by the voice, he sounded like a refined gentleman.
“I see. That’s a bit of bad luck for you. Let’s hide here for now and wait for those two big guys outside to finish fighting before going out. By the way, is this your child?”
The silhouette pointed a finger. The overly frightened child had been shrinking against Li Nanyi’s leg since earlier. Li Nanyi patted the boy’s fuzzy head and denied it, “No. He probably got separated from his family when the disaster struck. I happened to see him, so I brought him along.”
“So that’s how it is.”
The atmosphere returned to silence. The silhouette stood at a polite distance—neither too close nor too far. Hands in his pockets, leaning straight against the wall, breathing evenly. He was much calmer than Li Nanyi.
Li Nanyi suddenly felt a bit curious. This person spoke calmly, acted unhurriedly, and seemed to accept the supernatural scene outside quite well. His psychological resilience was incredible—wasn’t he afraid?
Curiosity aside, he wasn’t one to pry into others’ privacy, so he only thought about it internally. The sound of three breathing patterns, some fast and some slow, lingered in the corridor. He gently smoothed his sleeves, trying to hide the wristband, even though no one would notice it in the darkness.
The silver-white mecha circled, finding the right moment to punch the monster from behind. The monster hissed in anger and pounced at him. With a flash of fluorescent blue, he stood immovable in a horse stance. The monster crashed into him but bounced off as if hitting an invisible wall in front of him.
[Attack detected. Defense system activated.]
“Alright, I’ve played with you enough. Time for you to crawl back to hell!”
As the mechanical voice projected through the faceplate, the legs of the silver mecha burst with blue light, charging rapidly. He bent his knees and leaped violently upward—like a dolphin breaching the water surface—jumping fully three stories high. He delivered a flying kick, stomping viciously onto the monster’s head.
This kick carried absolute power, trailing a long meteor tail and explosive light as it descended from the sky. The monster wailed, flying backward and smashing into the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust. It struggled twice, then its head lolled to the side, motionless.
“Hengze, what’s the situation on your side?”
A distorted female voice came from inside the mecha. The mecha pressed two fingers together, placed them against his temple, and tilted his head in a salute: “Leave it to me, rest assured.”
“Tsk.”
Li Nanyi tilted his head slightly. The person beside him seemed a bit annoyed; a sound of displeasure, a click of the tongue, rang out in the quiet space.
It was understandable. In this environment, any normal person would feel irritable. The man spoke to him again in that same peaceful voice: “Apologies, I have an urgent matter, so I might have to leave first.”
“It’s dangerous to go out now.”
“It’s fine. Listen, there’s no movement outside anymore.”
Li Nanyi listened carefully. Sure enough, there was no sound.
The man laughed again. “I’m heading out. My boss is rushing me; I have some work matters to attend to. If fate allows, let’s meet again.”
Li Nanyi watched the figure gradually disappear at the end of the corridor and spoke slowly, “…You be careful then.”
What a workaholic, he thought. Thinking about work even in this situation. Although, he was much the same. As a fellow corporate slave squeezed by capitalists, in that moment, he felt a sudden camaraderie in suffering.
Perhaps it was an illusion, but a faint, airy chuckle seemed to echo in the corridor.
The eclipse ended, and light was reclaiming its world bit by bit. Li Nanyi walked out of the skyscraper with the child. The dead city from moments ago came back to life. The sirens of police cars and ambulances wove together, racing through the streets and alleys. Amidst the ruins and shattered glass on the ground, a disheveled man and woman ran over from a distance, pulling the boy who was following Li Nanyi.
“Xiaozhi! Are you okay? Huh? Are you okay?”
The woman looked him up and down in a panic, while the man squatted nervously beside them.
The child only had a few scrapes from running away. Only then did the man and woman notice Li Nanyi standing nearby. they hurriedly thanked him, “You saved our Xiaozhi, right? Thank you, thank you!”
As they spoke, they bowed. Li Nanyi quickly turned sideways. “No need, no need.”
“Look, we plan to take the child to the hospital. If it’s convenient for you, come with us and get a check-up too,” the man suggested.
Li Nanyi shook his head instinctively. “No, I’m not injured. I won’t trouble you.”
He refused the couple’s repeated requests. Seeing that he was unwilling to go, Xiaozhi’s parents didn’t force him. They thanked him again and hurriedly left with the child.
Li Nanyi stared at the retreating backs of the family of three. Family…
He swayed slightly, his face pale. He forced himself to find a shaded spot next to a flower bed and sat down. He hadn’t rested since morning, nor had he had time to eat lunch. If he had known there would be so much trouble today, he would have picked up the bun he dropped this morning and eaten it.
Zzzzz… In his daze, he heard the sound of an electric current surging.
Beneath the elevated bridge in Jingjiang City, in the depths of the endlessly flowing Yujiang River—like an abyss buried deep underground—a giant palace city constructed of bronze mechanisms and special metals lay waiting. As if receiving a summons, deep within the cavern, rows upon rows of return capsules in the great hall opened in unison. Pairs of crimson eyes flashed with cold light in the darkness, ready to devour every living thing in their path.
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