Inside the underground space station command room of the Coalition, the time had just reached 9:00 PM.
Only seven or eight people were on duty. Since the space station had been running for so long without any major incidents, those on shift were either chatting, boasting, or playing on their phones.
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Suddenly, a piercing alarm sounded, and red lights began to flash throughout the command room.
The on-duty staff were taken aback. A middle-aged man rushed over to a screen, his face turning pale with shock when he saw that every single warning indicator for the space station had lit up red.
He cried out in horror, “We've lost contact with the Apollo Space Station!”
“Quick, check the space station's last transmitted footage!” a middle-aged manager ordered immediately, his expression grim. “I hope it's just a sensor malfunction.”
For a warning of this caliber to trigger, it meant either the space station had been destroyed or the signal had been completely blocked on their end.
Soon, the final 360-degree footage transmitted in real-time by the space station appeared. This footage was sent back to Earth every five minutes, and most of the previous frames had been completely normal.
Only the side facing the Moon showed a peculiar black dot.
The black dot was incredibly conspicuous against the backdrop of the Moon reflecting the sunlight.
“What... What on earth is that?” The middle-aged manager was utterly bewildered the moment he saw the black dot.
“Aliens?” someone in the command room could not help but whisper.
The footage sent back was a short video clip. The black dot in the frame was expanding rapidly, ruling out any camera malfunction.
Realizing something, someone quickly urged, “Quick, redirect the nearby satellites to take a look!”
Clack, clack, clack!
Someone immediately began typing on a nearby computer, and soon, an image appeared on the large screen in front of them.
On the screen, the space station appeared, completely free of any darkness.
The space station in the video looked perfectly normal, with all its indicator lights blinking as usual.
Right at that moment, the alarms stopped.
Someone quickly established a connection to the internal cameras of the space station.
Once the internal feed loaded, the entire room fell into a dead silence.
The four astronauts who were originally inside had vanished, leaving behind only four spacesuits floating in their place.
“Report this immediately!” the middle-aged manager roared after a long silence.
In the depths of space, unnoticed by them, the shroud of darkness that had spanned dozens of kilometers condensed into a black dot only a dozen meters wide.
This blackness was incredibly profound; even the moonlight was absorbed when it hit its surface.
It plummeted straight down toward a brilliantly lit city below.
In the East Continent, on the top floor of the tallest skyscraper in the Capital of the Nanming Kingdom.
He Wenxi stood by the window, staring blankly toward the west. Has Darkness appeared?
Without turning her head, she called out, “Come in.”
Click!
The door was pushed open, and a woman in a business suit stood respectfully at the entrance. “Director, what are your orders?”
“Coordinate the satellites. Keep a constant eye on the situation in the Western Continent,” He Wenxi said calmly, still looking out the window.
“Understood!” The woman bowed respectfully and backed out of the room.
On the other side, at the headquarters of the Church of the Earth Mother, the massive face of the Earth Mother, which had been floating in midair, slowly turned toward the west.
This aura is too strange...
This sudden change caused the Earth Mother to feel a faint sense of crisis. The world was changing at an absurdly rapid pace. Even as a god, if she did not strive to keep up, she might be phased out by the era without even realizing it.
In Fengcheng, the King of Specters, who had been sitting underground, also turned its head toward the west. Its mouth emitted a sound like countless overlapping voices: “Darkness... is here!!!”
Meanwhile, in the Western Continent.
Within the borders of the Coalition—which was composed of dozens of small nations—lay the city directly beneath the falling darkness.
This was Hama City, the capital of the Kingdom of Hama, a member of the Coalition with a population of thirty million.
As the nation's most populous city, Hama City was home to over four million people.
Within the city, the nightlife had only just begun. Pedestrians laughed and chatted, completely oblivious to the darkness descending from the heavens.
In a secluded corner of the West District, a three-meter-tall Specter whose head took up half its body was chewing on a human.
Suddenly, as if sensing danger, it looked up at the sky.
A drop of black liquid materialized high in the sky and rapidly fell toward the center of the city.
The moment it saw this black liquid, a fatal instinct flared within it.
The Specter instinctively fled toward the outskirts of the city, abandoning the half-eaten food in its mouth.
It was not the only one. Every Specter and Evil Spirit in Hama City felt an instinctual threat.
Hundreds of monsters hidden throughout the city fled in terror, either running or flying toward the outskirts.
However, the darkness expanded much faster.
Looking down from high above, the drop of darkness landed on the East District. Like a liquid, it spread and expanded rapidly in all directions.
Before the three-meter-tall Specter could run more than a few meters, the darkness surged from behind like a tidal wave, instantly swallowing it whole.
The surroundings were plunged into absolute pitch-black. All light sources were extinguished. It was not just visual darkness; even its perception was completely blacked out.
“Ah!!!” Feeling the darkness around it, the Specter roared, its entire body on high alert.
Clack!
In the next second, a four-meter-tall pitch-black figure passed by it, its white mask appearing eerie and chilling in the darkness.
The roaring Specter's body vanished in an instant, devoured by the darkness.
By now, the entirety of Hama City was blanketed in darkness. Within this domain, the physical manifestation of Darkness moved as it pleased.
“Where on earth is this? Why can't I see?!”
“Is anyone there?!”
“Help! Am I blind? Someone call an ambulance, please!”
Cries of terror echoed everywhere in the dark. The range of human voices was restricted to a mere few meters.
Terrified citizens tried to use their phones, but no matter how they pressed the buttons, the screens refused to light up. With all signals cut off, escaping this darkness on foot was as difficult as ascending to heaven.
In the city center, a blonde woman stood with a grim expression, accompanied by three other men and women.
“What on earth is this darkness? I feel like my energy is being suppressed!” a Black man said, extending his hand, though he could not see it at all.
Hum!
A faint ripple of energy vibrated. Under normal circumstances, his ability would emit a green energy that could at least illuminate the surroundings, but nothing appeared in the darkness.
The blonde woman at the head of the group said cautiously, “Be careful, everyone. This darkness isn't just a lack of light. I suspect it's the domain of an incredibly terrifying Specter!”
Her awakened ability was physical enhancement. With her powerful physical stats, her perception was much stronger than the other three.
Even so, she could only sense movements within a ten-meter radius. As for her vision, she was just like the others—completely blind in the absolute darkness.
“For some reason, I feel a constant sense of dread. This darkness seems to amplify people's fear and despair,” a young girl in the group said, her face pale with fright.
Her ability was mental-based, allowing her to detect the anomaly immediately.
“Stop talking. Let's get out of the city using our memories. A darkness of this scale... I doubt even the top fallout shelters could keep it out,” the blonde woman said as she led the way.
Yet, a trace of dread arose in her own heart as well, completely unbidden.
What if something terrifying suddenly appears in front of us?
This darkness is clearly unnatural. Can I really make it out alive?
I hope those monsters don't suddenly show up! Thoughts kept bubbling up in her mind.
The fear of the dark was hardwired into human genetics. The primal instinct that unknown dangers lurked in the shadows constantly stimulated the four of them.
After advancing a few hundred meters, the blonde woman occasionally encountered ordinary people who had been driven mad by the darkness. Ordinary humans were not as strong as supernatural beings; after only a few minutes, their minds had completely collapsed under the sheer terror.
“Ah! Don't kill me! Don't kill me! Hahaha! Hahahaha!” Within her perception, a man was alternating between whimpering in fear and laughing hysterically like a lunatic.
Under these conditions, the pressure on her mounted, and her inner fear was amplified infinitely.
Staring into the darkness, she could not help but picture hideously distorted, ghostly faces in her mind.
Cold sweat broke out on her forehead.
Behind her, the other three—excluding the mental-type girl—all wore expressions of sheer terror. Their mental defenses were being rapidly eroded by the darkness.
Thud, thud, thud!
Just as the fear in their hearts was amplified to its limit, a heavy, rhythmic sound of footsteps suddenly echoed from their side.
Hearing the sound, they instinctively turned their heads.
Even though they could not see anything in the pitch-black environment,
with this turn, they could faintly discern a bizarre, four-meter-tall monster emerging from the shadows about a dozen meters away.
However, the white mask on the monster's face was clearly visible in the dark. The eyeholes of the mask stared at them without a shred of emotion.
Upon seeing the monster, the four of them lost even the courage to fight. Their pupils dilated instantly as the direct confrontation with the darkness drove their terror to its absolute peak.
“Ru...” the blonde leader squeezed the word out, using every ounce of strength in her body.
Thud!
A heavy step suddenly sounded right in their midst. The monster that had been a dozen meters away was now standing right in front of them.
The Black man struggled to look up at the darkness before him, his already dark face turning even darker with fright.
Rustle!
In the next second, the sound of clothes hitting the ground echoed one after another. The four supernatural beings were devoured by the darkness, leaving only their clothes behind.
Thud, thud, thud!
Darkness walked forward, its heavy footsteps echoing in the dark. The last supernatural beings in Hama City had been dealt with.
“Those... who fear... the dark... will be... devoured... by the dark...”
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