"Zzz~"

A faint electrical sound rang out as the row of small streetlights on Malt Street flickered, their brightness fluctuating unpredictably, like the steps of a demon, filled with an eerie and terrifying atmosphere.

A bicycle rode in from a distant street corner, the rider a boy wearing a baseball cap. Due to limited visibility, he rode slowly and carefully.

"Damn it, which bastard came up with this dumb idea? Such a big New York City, yet lacking so little power? Where is the government spending the taxpayers’ money? I’ll be sure to complain about this!"

The baseball cap boy muttered complaints quietly as he rode.

He was a tenant living here, just graduated from college and came here to work. Due to the company’s ongoing project, he could only return home around midnight every day.

Initially feeling somewhat good about the recent drop in rent on Malt Street, his mood was now affected by the evening lighting, making him quite annoyed.

Thinking about another week of project plans at the company, the baseball cap boy couldn’t help but feel a wave of irritation, secretly debating whether to just quit and return home to farm, which wouldn’t be as tiring as being exploited by capitalists here.

In his anger, the baseball cap boy kicked a roadside trash can hard, tipping it over. After venting, he felt somewhat better.

The boy’s bicycling skills were quite good; even after this action, his biking wasn’t affected, as he continued moving forward without stopping.

After crossing another street corner, he would be home, to that shabby, cheap, dirty rented apartment where he lived next to a neighbor who liked wearing those damn overalls.

Thinking about that muscular guy who always greeted him with a smile, the boy in the baseball cap couldn’t help but tighten, calming down instantly.

Thinking about this, the boy rode forward a few hundred meters, ready to stop relying on his feeling, but suddenly hesitated.

"Huh? Why aren’t I there yet?"

The baseball cap boy looked around confused, recognizing several familiar buildings on the roadside, immediately realizing his current position.

"Isn’t this Lisa’s Hair Salon? Well, I guess I haven’t arrived yet..."

The baseball cap boy muttered to himself, continuing to ride forward.

After seeing the surrounding buildings, he assumed there was an error in his prediction. Given the dim light, it was understandable if he made a mistake.

The apartment where he lived was still a bit further; just pass this hair salon and walk a hundred meters or so to reach downstairs.

He continued riding forward a distance, stopping at a crossroads, looking confusedly at the surrounding environment, filled with doubt.

"What’s going on? I remember I’ve been here, hasn’t this place always been the apartment complex?"

The baseball cap boy clearly remembered this intersection was located on the street where he rented, at the corner, which for him returning from work shouldn’t be past Lisa’s Hair Salon.

"Did I go the wrong way?"

By now, the baseball cap boy was quite bewildered.

He couldn’t remember turning around; hadn’t he been riding forward all along, how could he be going the wrong way?

At this moment, he wasn’t aware of the severity, just muddledly changed direction, riding back the way he came.

"No, wait! If I rode the wrong way, shouldn’t Lisa’s Hair Salon be across the street?"

The boy suddenly realized, turning again, continuing along the previous direction.

Still the same intersection, but this time he ignored it, continuing to ride forward.

"Maybe, it’s a newly expanded road... or I’m just not familiar with this area yet, mistaking it is quite normal..."

In his mind, the boy found himself an excuse, but clearly, this excuse seemed flimsy.

It’s different now; no longer that simple era of relying on science.

If such a situation occurred in the past, the baseball cap boy might not overthink, possibly attributing it to overworking and neural confusion.

But now it’s different; alien invasions, Transcendents, monsters have long been the hottest topics, almost everyone knows of them. Online, social circles, even schools, everyone discusses these, even the college he graduated from set up corresponding escape courses.

In this environment, after consistently encountering these strange occurrences, how could he still optimistically think it was just because he hadn’t rested well?

Thus, the baseball cap boy was now very anxious, drenched in cold sweat from fear.

He quickly recalled the emergency escape manual methods in his mind, tried using the information from the "Alien Species Manual" to identify which kind of monster he encountered.

But his wildly beating heart rate, exceeding 110 times per minute, made it impossible for him to calmly think.

No matter how many times he rehearsed normally or imagined his calm, composed state facing crises, when real danger came, when those terrifying monsters were nearby, the pressure of life-threatening fear, few could bear.