Chapter 0: The Omen
It was night in the small town of Usu.
The moon hid its light behind the gray curtain of clouds, and the darkness fought against the street lights in the surroundings, filling the atmosphere with shadows.
Only in the town's heart there seemed to be signs of life, with the neon lights flickering and weaving a hypnotic spectacle. Meanwhile, the houses farther away surrendered to the embrace of deep sleep.
Liang Chen, a night shift employee at a convenience store in the center, hurriedly crossed the gloomy alley towards his home. This was his usual route, however, despite the routine, the path never ceased to make him nervous.
Small rays of moonlight barely pierced through the clouds, making it difficult to distinguish the path. The cool and humid airbrushed his skin, increasing his fear and making him shiver. Step by step, the dimness of the narrow passage surrounded the nervous young man.
Among silhouettes that came to life in the corners of his peripheral vision, and the wind stirring the leaves of the trees; his nerves were reaching their limit. He tried to ignore his aversion to the environment and focus on the echo of his footsteps on the damp pavement, he didn't want to end up paralyzed in the middle of this place.
At twenty-five years old, he knew that his phobia of darkness was irrational, but nothing he tried could help him overcome it.That's why he forced himself every day not to avoid this trail, something he equally hated at the end of the journey .
When he reached the crossroads, the light from the street lamps illuminated his surroundings, and he breathed a sigh of relief.
«This is the last time I use this trail, and I don't care if I have to walk a few more streets». That was his thought as he wiped the sweat from his forehead. But that thought was interrupted when a dull and squeaky noise stopped him in his tracks.
Liang Chen turned to the source of the sound, without paying attention, only to find himself face to face with a horror he could never have imagined.
Dozens of ants, each one the size of his palm, voraciously dismembered the body of a man who lay in a puddle of blood and guts.
«What the hell?... I've gone mad, I'm seeing things!», he thought before freezing on the spot.
The eyes of the terrifying creatures glowed a sinister crimson hue, and their sharp jaws moved with horrifying speed and precision. They tore the skin, seized the flesh, and then carried it back into the night. As they departed, another group of ants would emerge from the darkness to replace them, only to replay again the gruesome scene.
Liang Chen felt his stomach churn and a wave of nausea start to rise. It was all too real for him; he tried to run, scream, and do anything to escape the grotesque image. But his body was unresponsive - fear had paralyzed him.
It was then that the wind changed direction, and a cold gust blew from his back toward the monsters. In response to the new scent, one of the ants twitched its antennae toward him.
The creature pivoted, identifying him with its compound eyes. In that instant, Liang Chen realized this was not a hallucination - his life was in peril.
Frozen, but with his heart pounding, he watched as without any warning, a group of mutant ants fell into formation and began to move. Their jaws dripping blood, made clicking sounds as they approached; alongside the rhythm of their legs against the pavement, it was as if a clock was counting down the time until Liang Chen's impending demise.
Adrenaline surged in his body, reaching a critical point, and the young man finally managed to break free from his paralysis and run for his life.
He stumbled and rolled on the ground a couple of times before he was able to leave behind the crossroads and the horror he'd witnessed. He didn't care who the unfortunate victim was or if he should alert the police.
He had only questions in his head, and though the pounding of his heart was loud, it couldn't drown out the resonance of one, what had unleashed these monstrosities onto the world?
Watching Liang Chen walk away, panting and staggering with fear, a hooded figure on the rooftop of a nearby building shook his head wryly. they eyes, hidden by the shadows of the hood, were closely tracking the young man's every move.
The figure held a firm and resolute stance as if they was accustomed to situations of this kind. And though they did not show himself openly, they aura radiated discipline and training.
Seconds after Liang Chen disappeared from sight, the hidden figure spoke.
"Let the cleanup begin."
Tap Tap Tap
Upon this order, a group of mysterious silhouettes emerged from the opposite alley. Each of them wore a hood on their head and emanated the same aura of discipline.
They sealed the possible exits with expanding foam and faced the ants head-on.
It was a slaughter, they worked in groups while shooting net-launching pistols to capture the insects, and stomped on the stragglers.
None could harm them.
The insects divided orderly, and most of the ants tried to counterattack by biting the people, but only a crisp sound of metal was the result; these people wore armor.
Others moved to escape outside, maybe to call for reinforcements or communicate with the nest, but no ant had time to overcome the barriers.
After a few minutes, there was nothing but a scene full of insect fluids and hooded people cleaning the bodies.
"Split up and continue with the mission." The leader on the rooftop spoke again. They did not feel pleased by the victory, they only dealt with a small group of them. Things would be different if their number multiplied, a human could not handle 100 of ants at once and they hoped not to encounter such a large group.
Likewise, the fighters hurried to move, so the group split up in two too. One part moved in the direction where the swarm of ants came from, they would be the scouts. And the rest carried the captured specimens, still alive in the nets, back to the city center.
As they left, the leader directed their gaze in Liang Chen's direction and shook their head again. Their mission prevented them from contacting the population, and that included helping them directly. But their conscience weighed on them, they felt that this situation was different, as they had never encountered insects so deep into a city.
«Maybe a little indirect help», they thought as they took out their cell phone and called the local police, after briefly making up an excuse and requesting a patrol in the area they hung up the phone.
Liang Chen had no idea what had happened behind him. Frightened and sweaty, his only purpose was to get to his home, where he felt safe.
After running for a few minutes, seeing the old familiar building, he gasped with relief. His room was on the third floor of that ancient relic.
Climbing shakily up the stairs, due to the accumulated fatigue, he reached the white-painted passage. His room was the farthest down the hall and walking it gave him time to breathe and think.
He did not know where to start.
He wondered if he should call the police, but he had no evidence to prove what he had seen. He might end up being a suspect in the person's death, or worse, being accused of lying and fined for wasting their time. Either way, it was a bad idea and he discarded it.
"No, I can't stay here. I have to leave, get out of town." He decided seconds after entering his home and not feeling safe.
The decision was abrupt, however, he did not waste time and packed his clothes and necessities in his backpack while thinking about his plan. «It would be south, towards Qinghai where my father is, he would be able to help us,» he thought about where he would go, «Besides I had to take my sister and my nephew, they must not be in danger.»
He continued to let himself be carried away by his confused mind and bought three train tickets online, his sister's son had already passed the minimum age to have his own seat.
'From Usu to Ürümqi, capital of Xinjiang, and from there they would take another train to Xining, capital of Qinghai.' This was his route marked on the application.
«Only a few hours until dawn to board the train», Liang Chen reassured himself and called his sister's number.
It was not difficult to convince her, contrary to what would happen with a stranger, if a relative called you tells a fanciful story; it is not so hard to give him the benefit of the doubt, especially when your life may be in danger.
After hanging up, he continued packing clothes and necessities in his backpack. He also wanted to search online and forums for relevant information, but, despite so much commotion in the streets, he found nothing. Inside he doubted that there was no news about similar incidents, but they could have been restricted to the public.
*Bang Bang Bang Bang*, abruptly, shots were heard nearby.
Putting aside his actions, Liang Chen startled and took a few seconds to react. He ran to the window with a bad premonition. His heart in his hand and his face pale, he looked out to see what was happening.
'There are situations in human life from which you cannot escape no matter how much you run', his father said. And he was living one of those moments.
In the street below, at the source of the gunfire, red and blue lights swirled, cyclically casting an eerie glow on his green building. Simultaneously, two police officers took cover behind their patrol car, facing off against hundreds of mutant ants.
Liang Chen was struck by the sight: the monsters were back.
Soon, his head jerked towards another spot on the sidewalk, his peripheral vision had picked up movement there. Dozens more ants were emerging every second from a hole in the ground, dividing orderly after surfacing and heading for the patrol car and his building.
"Are they coming for me?" Liang Chen wondered and cursed with frustration.
He didn't understand how he had offended them. He had run in panic, without injuring any of them; he hadn't even screamed, so they couldn't blame him for disrupting their feeding frenzy.
With no time to ponder if it really was a coincidence or not, he grabbed his backpack and bolted for the building's staircase.
Panic consumed him as his footsteps echoed through the hallway.
People emerged from their apartments, drawn by the noise, and occasionally confused shouts rang out. He vaulted down most of the steps in his descent, narrowly avoiding a collision with a woman also rushing downstairs.
A cold shiver ran down his spine when he reached the ground floor, forcing him to a halt.
The ants had already broken through the front door. Their feet tapping against the floor and their jaws clicking, eager for flesh, they were dangerously close, and only a few meters separated him from being their meal.
The cries increased; he wasn't the only one who had run downstairs. More and more people were pouring in from the staircase.
Liang Chen couldn't pay attention to anything else, the path in front of him was blocked by the swarm of bugs, which meant he had to find another way. Thinking fast, Liang Chen headed for the back of the building, where a rusted door marked the emergency exit.
Adrenaline was pumping through his system, and the thump of metal against his body didn't register in his mind.
The cool wind scraped his face as he found himself in the back alley. His terror of the dark kicked back in as he continued his flight from death. His legs were trembling, his body was slick with cold sweat, and his mind was a whirl of confusion.
«Maybe it was just a coincidence to run into them again,» he tried to distract himself with hope.
Unfortunately, a few seconds later, he could deny it no longer. He heard the creatures drawing near, not entirely distracted by other human prey. «Stupid bugs,» his dread and panic made his steps heavier - it was clear that Liang Chen had been singled out as their target.
He stopped running; his body was freezing up, and though he was loath to accept it, the sounds of his surroundings foretold his future. The gunfire had ceased, replaced by agonized shouts of death and anguish; they all came from the building, his home, which had become the ants' feeding ground.
«It's my fault, they're coming for me,» his hopelessness was great and his mood turned pessimistic.
When he was on the verge of giving up, a light at the end of the street caught his eye. A car, ash-gray in color, was slowly inching its way toward him.
He didn't know why anyone would come to this place of grim cries, but Liang Chen felt that it might be his salvation. Without wasting time pondering the consequences, he dashed forward and put himself in the path of the vehicle. His arms waved, and he screamed for help.
The driver saw Liang Chen's sorry state - sweaty, pale - and their instinctive reaction was to step on the accelerator.
*Bam! Crash! Crack!*
Liang Chen hadn't expected his savior to speed up under these circumstances and could only watch as his world started spinning after the impact.
As he rolled across the sidewalk, his mind gradually slipped into unconsciousness while his terror of the dark intensified. One question remained as his last thought before passing out: What had he done wrong?
*********************************************
"Huh", a sigh escaped from the hooded figure's lips. Their work was nearly done. They had managed to locate the ant nest near the city of Usu and had just reported it to their superiors.
They had heard the gunshots a few minutes ago and wondered how the boy who had escaped from the insects was doing.
These ants were vengeful and could tell, by scent, that the young man was responsible for the loss of their fellow ants there. They themselves had suffered many times on their missions from not understanding these pests' behavior.
Although they were confident they had left no visible traces, the situation was different concerning scent. Their team used and dispersed agents to deodorize the surroundings, but they were never certain of anything.
The sound of panic screams was starting to reach them, and they sprang up in response. They knew what the screams implied, and their teeth gritted in frustration. Those damn ants were invading the city. They wanted to help, but they had strict orders to stay put.
«Why haven't they deployed all the teams for this threat?» they wondered again; this seemed entirely different from previous incidents, and their team had flagged it.
All the ants' movements were unlike the random encounters they had had before and seemed like a premeditated attack. They were likely still trying to keep information under wraps, aiming to prevent greater chaos; they told themselves.
However, the situation was perilous, and using this city as bait to eliminate the nest put them in a race for speed and efficiency.
If all went well, they would capture the queen and halt the attack on the city. Then they would eradicate the rest of the colony as they returned to rescue their nest.
«Damn it! It's high time those old guys reached a consensus. It's been too long.» They thought angrily. Their superiors had received news of this plague a few weeks ago. After studying and interacting with them, they assembled a group of biology specialists to find a solution.
But all those scholarly figures turned out to be very stubborn. To the point that they couldn't reach a consensus after so much discussion.
As they kept their gaze fixed in the direction of the sounds, the panicked screams gave way to heartbreaking cries of death. Fires started in several buildings, casting a sinister red hue over the sky. The echo of police sirens and fire trucks began to reverberate throughout the city, adding urgency to the scene.
Thick smoke blanketed the already dark sky, and the hooded figure cursed for the umpteenth time in their mind. They couldn't and didn't want to wait any longer.
They quickly descended from the building and ordered their subordinate to monitor the place. Ignoring the objections raised over the radio, they ran quickly towards the scene of the tragedy.
They were going to help; no one knew the dangers of those ants better than their group, and the entire city was hanging by a thread. Unfortunately, they couldn't command anyone to follow in their footsteps; this could be a suicide mission.