Chapter 1: The Silver Giant
The pitch-black night sky was like an all-consuming black plague, shrouding the canyon and the jungle. Stars dotted the night sky, as a shadowy figure from space slithered between the forest and the valley, its single, terrifyingly huge eye flashing in the dark.
A brilliant arc streaked across the sky like a meteor, an iron bird weaving through the stars. The supersonic fighter jet broke through the clouds, its pilot locking onto the massive target in the mountain forest from afar. A missile on its pylon was ready to launch.
The missile roared as it launched, a longsword piercing the night sky.
The next instant, blazing flames nearly consumed the heavens and the earth, and the entire mountain began to let out a sharp wail. Scalding air pressure savagely ravaged the desolate valley, as if to raze everything to the ground.
The high temperature was enough to melt steel, turning night into day. The dazzling flames fleetingly illuminated a giant shadow in the darkness, revealing its immense and bizarre form.
Did it look like a starfish?
That's right, its appearance was indeed that of a massive starfish. It had a five-pointed star shape; the two points on its lower side supported its body like a creature's legs, while the points on its left and right sides served as arms. In the center of its chest was an incomparably huge eye. Within the eyeball were tangled, intricate, and eerie filament-like structures. Looking directly at it made an unsettling cry seem to echo in one's ears, as if staring into the abyss.
A giant starfish dozens of meters tall.
The missile's bombardment had no effect, merely giving it a hot bath. But it seemed to have been angered. Standing amidst a sea of fire, its giant eye, filled with rage, stared directly at the bird of prey streaking across the sky.
Far away, thousands of miles from the scene, was the headquarters of the Advanced Research Group Uniting Super-Humans, A.R.G.U.S.
A short, heavyset black woman stood before a massive composite screen, frowning slightly as she watched the giant starfish on screen shrug off the missile bombardment.
She was the commander of A.R.G.U.S., Amanda Waller, one of the world's top agents and a master of counter-espionage.
"Report, Commander. No effect."
"I see," Amanda Waller said coldly. "Continue as planned. Let's see if this five-pointed alien bastard can still be so arrogant in the face of a white phosphorus bomb."
The giant starfish currently rampaging in the mountains was, without a doubt, a visitor from outer space. A.R.G.U.S. had given it the temporary codename "Starro," with its abilities and power still unknown. But from the looks of it, conventional weapons seemed to have little effect on its body.
What was certain, however, was that it was a huge threat, and one that fell precisely under the jurisdiction of the A.R.G.U.S. organization.
However, before the commander's next order could be relayed, the communication channel from the frontline camp was filled with shouts, gunfire, and horrifying screams.
"What's happening?" Amanda Waller commanded sharply. "Report!"
"The camp is under attack!"
The screen in the central control room immediately switched, cutting to the surveillance footage of the frontline camp. And through multiple camera angles, everyone in the A.R.G.U.S. Central Control Room saw what looked like... hell.
Countless starfish had infiltrated the camp from unknown locations, launching a sudden assault. They pounced from the shadows, each one precisely leaping onto the faces of the camp's soldiers.
Just like the classic horror movie icon, the "Facehugger."
Everyone who was pounced on convulsed violently before ceasing their struggles within a few short seconds. When they rose again, they had become wooden puppets. The starfish latched to their faces opened their eerie eyes, and they quickly drew their guns and began attacking their still-unaffected teammates nearby.
A massive number of starfish seemed to have suddenly flooded the entire camp. In just a dozen seconds, they had nearly taken control of the whole stronghold. Even through the low-resolution surveillance footage, one could feel an indescribable, eerie terror.
The sight momentarily stunned even Amanda Waller. But, as befitting the battle-hardened head of agents, she made a decisive call: "Patch me through directly to the Blackbird. I want to speak with the pilot."
Amanda Waller's eyebrows were practically twisted into a knot.
She had been careless. She realized that A.R.G.U.S. was still too inexperienced in dealing with extraterrestrial incidents; they should have considered all possibilities more comprehensively.
This starfish enemy clearly possessed the ability to mass-produce smaller individuals and had long since secretly dispatched them to infiltrate the frontline command camp, taking it over with an ability akin to mind control.
It was smarter, and more terrifying, than it appeared.
"Yes, yes!"
The nearly terrified communications officer scrambled to comply.
The line was connected, and the frontline fighter jet pilot's channel was patched in. Amanda Waller gave a cold order: "This is A.R.G.U.S. Command, Amanda Waller. The camp has fallen. I am now giving you a direct order...
Bomb and destroy the entire camp. Leave no survivors."
"Commander!" The communications officer was shocked. "But our people—"
"The enemy possesses an unknown means of mind control, and there is an extremely high risk of it spreading on a massive scale," Amanda Waller said flatly. "I don't have time to argue with you. This is an order."
Another team member interjected, "Commander!"
Amanda Waller frowned. "What now? I told you I don't have time—"
"No, it's a new development!" the team member shouted. "Radar is detecting a high-energy reading! Something just broke through the atmosphere right above Starro's location!"
"What!?"
Amanda Waller felt her heart skip a beat.
One giant alien starfish was already enough of a headache, and now another one shows up?
What the hell? Is today some interstellar tourism day? A 20% discount on tickets to Earth's scenic spots or something? Are the aliens coming here on a group tour?
The next moment, the second target appeared on the screen.
It did so in the most stunning and grandest fashion.
The deep black firmament was torn asunder. A burning afterimage seemed to ignite the night, scattering the terrified stars as if clearing a path for the impending king.
It was a burning red sphere.
A brilliant, fiery red orb of light, trailing a burning tail, shattered the heavens like a meteor thrown from its orbit.
A pillar of fire thousands of feet high violently struck the ground, the sound wave like tons of explosives detonating at once. An incredible impact, along with a devastating heatwave, swept over everything, pulverizing rocks and trees.
Even the giant starfish was forced back two steps by the world-destroying impact, its large eye staring uncertainly at the individual emerging from the rolling dust cloud.
In the dust, a towering, blurry silhouette slowly straightened up.
Did it look like a giant?
In the A.R.G.U.S. monitoring center, everyone's eyes had widened like copper bells, staring in shock at a development that had completely exceeded their expectations.
Yes, it was indeed a giant.
Its body towered into the clouds, with a slender build, a torso and limbs similar to that of humans, and large, oval eyes that shone with a faint golden light. Embedded in the center of its chest was some kind of dazzling, crystal-like circular structure, shimmering with a color as blue as the deep sea.
It took a slow step, walking out of the giant crater it had smashed into the ground. Its supple yet metallic-textured body cut through the smokescreen as it emerged from the crater.
The giant starfish Starro instinctively shrank back, as if it sensed an inexplicable danger from this second visitor from outer space.
And the facts that followed would soon prove that it was right to be afraid.
The giant came to a stop and raised its right arm.
A blue light seemed to faintly flicker within that arm.
Starro had already turned to flee.
It was as if a massive, blood-red character was flashing above its head.
DANGER!
The giant's left hand drew a blue arc, swinging horizontally to meet its raised right arm, forming the shape of a cross.
A brilliant blue radiance, like a bursting flood, gushed forth endlessly and mightily. It tore through the air, erupting like a Thunder Dragon charging straight out of a thundercloud!
The stars dimmed, and the earth instantly lost its color. The peerless beam of light was like a glorious sword that split heaven and earth, piercing through the entire world.
Without any chance to resist, Starro was hit.
The giant starfish let out a mournful cry. Its flesh, which had been unscathed by the missile bombardment, was melted almost instantly upon contact. In its final moments, its giant eye was filled with terror and shock, as if it couldn't comprehend how such a terrifying power could exist on this backward, primitive planet.
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!!!
The starfish was instantly blown to smithereens. The shockwave's aftereffects lingered, continuing onward to pierce through the mountain peak behind it. Like a series of dense mountain explosions, peak after peak was blasted through, the rocks and trees all vaporizing in the light of destruction.
The sword-like beam broke through all resistance, melting everything in its path, its momentum rolling unstoppably into the night sky and flying beyond the horizon.
In a single instant, the giant starfish beast vanished.
All that remained was the giant, standing there with its arms crossed, facing the massive rift torn through the mountain. For miles around, blue electric arcs danced in the midair. The high temperature made space itself seem to warp.
A one-hit kill.
The giant uncrossed its hands, standing tall upon the earth under the smoke-filled sky.
Like a deity of both salvation and destruction.
The next moment, its feet left the ground.
Leaving behind the roar of a sonic boom, it ascended, broke the sound barrier in an instant, and disappeared into the night sky.
The A.R.G.U.S. monitoring center remained silent for a long time.
In fact, since its establishment, A.R.G.U.S. had never experienced many true extraterrestrial incidents. Most of the alien matters they had encountered so far were strange objects from outer space or alien specimens that were already dead.
This was their very first, true contact with aliens.
"Extremely high-energy particle readings..." someone reported in a dry voice.
"The air was converted into plasma. That giant used some kind of heat beam as a weapon. Its power is immeasurable."
A moment later, someone else reported: "The target has vanished from radar, Commander. We... we lost it."
Amanda Waller's expression shifted several times.
"All Facehugger-type starfish creatures in the camp are confirmed eliminated," another person reported. "It seems the one the giant just destroyed was the Mother Unit. With the Mother Unit destroyed, the rest just died off on their own..."
"Looks like the crisis is averted, Commander."
"Averted?" Amanda Waller's face was cold. "This is just the beginning."
Amanda Waller lowered her voice.
"We are about to enter a state of interstellar combat readiness."
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(end of chapter)