"Good times and beautiful scenes, flowers bloom and the moon is round."
"The moon you speak of, so unique in its roundness, or maybe I misunderstood what 'round' means," Xu Shixiong pushed open the window, the moon in the sky partly powdery, with a half crescent hanging in the air, reflecting a dark yellow light.
At the Four States Island official plain, the capital, Kabukicho, people inside the room were drunkenly singing a national folk song. A colleague with blurry eyes was hugging a woman from the Land of Sang, reciting poems to the woman, who was dressed in a disheveled manner.
Xu Shixiong sat at the window, staring at the broken moon.
Three years ago, a comet passed close to the Earth's surface, striking the moon. The moon was shattered in half, the tides rose, and 20% of the land was submerged. Nearly ten million people went missing, and thousands were irradiated by the comet's rays, causing their bodies to mutate.
These people gradually grew larger, some towering up to two hundred meters, weighing hundreds of tons. They became true giants.
"Xiong, stop overthinking. Tomorrow the project will finish, and we'll return to our country. Let's enjoy some foreign flavors tonight. Be generous, there are so many girls here, just pick one," a colleague urged while drinking.
The girls exposed their thighs, trying to show off in front of Xu Shixiong.
Xu Shixiong disdainfully shook his head and asked, "Are you treating?"
His colleague was stunned, clearly realizing the situation wasn't in his favor.
"Xiong, wasn't it you who said you'd pay for this?"
Xu Shixiong didn't respond. Outside, hurried footsteps approached, and the wooden door was suddenly flung open.
A woman in camouflage military attire stood at the doorway. Her pants were tucked into black boots, and her ponytail hung behind her. Her figure was well-proportioned, and her delicate facial features stood out. Her sleeves were rolled up, revealing pale arms with faint traces of blood.
The people in the room were intimidated by the woman's presence, except for Xu Shixiong, who remained calm.
"Xu Shixiong?!" The woman approached, her gaze full of hostility.
"I have no connection with the military," Xu Shixiong clarified, knowing she was from the 177th Military Unit.
"Do you think the military is causing trouble for no reason?" The woman slapped the table hard and pulled out an ID, showing it to everyone in the room. "177 Military, clear the room!"
Seeing the ID, everyone hurriedly left, and one colleague even shut the door behind him with care.
Inside the room, only two people remained, the air thick with the smell of alcohol and tobacco.
"Your construction for the massive prison project has been flagged for corruption! You've used only 25 million out of the 30 million for the materials. Where did the remaining 5 million go?" The woman glared at Xu Shixiong.
"Do the 177th Military suspect I'm skimming materials?" Xu Shixiong remained unfazed, taking a sip of wine from a glass that still bore lipstick marks, possibly from another woman.
"We have enough evidence. The massive prison project falls under the jurisdiction of the United Nations, and you've been making a profit off of it. The military won't let you off easily," the woman leaned closer to Xu Shixiong.
He couldn't help but glance at her chest, and the woman noticed. Embarrassed and enraged, she yanked his hair. "Come with us!"
Outside, a group of soldiers stood still as they watched Xu Shixiong being dragged to a convoy of Hummers parked by the road.
"Never marry a woman like that. She's hot-tempered, easily angered, flat-chested, and bad for the husband," Xu Shixiong sighed to the driver.
"Thanks for your concern," the woman sat beside him in the car, slamming the heavy door shut.
"What's your name?" Xu Shixiong asked lazily.
"Do you believe I'll knock your teeth out?" The woman glared at him.
Xu Shixiong wisely fell silent.
Kyoto had completely changed. The Hummer convoy drove through the streets, passing the iconic Kyoto Tower, which stood over five hundred meters tall. Surrounding it, high-rise buildings formed a backdrop. Not far from the city, a massive dome towered above, far taller than the Kyoto Tower, obscuring half the sky, echoing the shattered moon above.
The United Nations had funded the construction of a massive prison in the Land of Sang, where mutated giants from around the world were imprisoned.
The prison, resembling a fortress, had high walls containing the giants, its top reinforced with diamond-infused materials. All the world's giants were confined there.
A joint military force, the 177th Military, was stationed to guard the prison.
Xu Shixiong's purpose in the Land of Sang was to build a tunnel leading to the bottom of the massive prison. The project was nearing completion, but someone had exposed him for embezzling funds.
"I've never seen a giant," Xu Shixiong remarked, looking at the dark prison shell.
No one responded to him. To cover up the awkwardness, Xu Shixiong continued, "I heard they airlift thousands of cattle and sheep every day to feed the giants in the fortress."
"If you ask me, these giants are mindless, all they think about is killing. There's no use keeping them alive; humans will eventually be eaten by them." Xu Shixiong mumbled.
The woman finally spoke, "They used to be humans."