Extraterrestrial demons invaded; I laid the groundwork eight years in advance.

When Fang Yan's team arrived, they saw Li Yang pull Lin Wei away and run to the side.

Just as the monster leaped into the air, Fang Yan charged out from the side, his short sword precisely piercing the junction of the monster's head and abdomen, disappearing all the way down to the hilt.

The monster's claws froze less than ten centimeters from Li Yang's back, then fell limply to the ground.

Li Yang staggered to a stop, his legs trembling. Lin Wei collapsed completely, supporting herself on her hands, tears streaming uncontrollably down her face.

Fang Yan sheathed his short sword, confirmed that the monster was dead, and then looked at the two of them.

His dark gray combat uniform gleamed coldly under the streetlights, and his tactical mask covered the lower half of his face, revealing only a pair of calm eyes.

"Are you alright?"

Fang Yan's calm voice rang out.

Wang Hai remained in his shooting posture, with the muzzle pointing downwards towards the ground.

He stared at the still-bleeding monster's corpse, then looked at Fang Yan, his Adam's apple bobbing: "Who... are you people?"

Fang Yan did not answer.

He heard the sound of scales scraping against the ground coming from the other side of the parking lot—the remaining monsters, attracted by the battle here, were approaching in this direction.

"Number Two, Number Three, the remaining Poison Sac Crocodile Lizard is yours. Number Four, Bat-Winged Demon Bird. Number Five, come with me to deal with the Black-Scaled Demon Hound." He quickly gave the orders in his mind.

"receive."

Fang Yan rushed toward the nearest black-scaled demon hound.

The encyclopedia highlighted the monster's name, level, characteristics, and weaknesses on the panel. Fang Yan moved with incredible speed, and the moment the Blackscale Demon Hound sensed danger, his short sword pierced its neck. It let out two muffled whimpers and collapsed to the ground, convulsing.

On the other side, two team members surrounded the poison sac crocodile lizard.

Its abdomen contracted violently, spraying out a green corrosive liquid.

Following the clues in the encyclopedia, the team members rolled to the side to avoid the attack, and one of them seized the opportunity to quickly close in and stab the spot where the head and abdomen met—the weak point marked in the encyclopedia.

  

The bat-winged demon bird circled rapidly in the air, attempting to swoop down.

Team member number five drew a crossbow from his waist, aimed and fired as the bird swooped down, striking it squarely at the base of its wing. The bat-winged demon bird plummeted, and Fang Yan stepped forward and smashed its head flat with a punch.

From start to finish, it took less than three minutes.

Fang Yan sheathed his dagger and said to Wang Hai, "We'll handle things here. Someone will communicate with your superiors later."

Wang Hai stared at him for a few seconds, his hand still on his sidearm: "I need to know who you are."

"You don't need to know," Fang Yan said calmly. "All you need to know is that we are not enemies."

There was a few seconds of silence.

Wang Hai eventually put away his sidearm.

"Xiao Li, you take her home first. I'll handle things here," Wang Hai said.

Li Yang responded and helped Lin Wei into the back seat of the security car. Lin Wei turned her head, glanced at Fang Yan, her lips moved, but she didn't say anything.

Fang Yan nodded slightly to her, then turned to face the parking lot.

"Fifth squad, clean up the battlefield. All five monsters have been recovered. The two venom glands of the Venomous Crocodile Lizard are to be bagged separately. All traces have been removed."

"receive."

In less than ten minutes, the parking lot was restored to its original state.

If it weren't for those cars scratched by the claws, it would be as if nothing had ever happened here.

Fang Yan walked up to Wang Hai: "The scene has been cleared. Just report the facts."

Wang Hai nodded.

He turned and walked towards the security vehicle, opened the door, and suddenly turned back to ask, "Will those things... ever appear again?"

Fang Yan looked at him: "Yes, we will. But we will stand in front of you."

Wang Hai didn't ask any more questions, got into his car, and left.

"Retreat," Fang Yan ordered.

They got into a black SUV parked by the roadside and returned to base.

Fang Yan leaned back in his seat, took off his mask, and revealed a young face.

He is twenty-one years old this year and was among the first batch of children selected from orphanages for Project Dawn. He entered the Dawn Reserve Team at the age of sixteen. He was born with great strength and cultivated from the first level of apprentice to the seventh level in three years.

Afterwards, the prophet personally bestowed upon him the Apostle Panel, which multiplied his cultivation speed, and he had already reached the peak of the ninth level of the Apprentice realm a year ago.

It was the prophet who changed his destiny.

---

At the same time.

Pudong New Area Commercial Plaza.

The second squad encountered seven monsters—five Blackscale Demon Hounds and two Exploding Demon Insects. The Exploding Demon Insects suddenly swelled up as they approached the squad members.

Captain Zhao Ming's pupils constricted sharply upon seeing the clue in the encyclopedia: "Retreat! They're about to self-destruct!"

The team members hurriedly rolled to both sides. As Zhao Ming retreated, he threw a short knife, which accurately pierced the body of one of them, detonating it prematurely—the shockwave swept across the square, shattering the paving stones.

Another exploding demonic insect exploded, and one team member was unable to dodge in time and was knocked over by the shockwave, sustaining a minor injury to his left arm.

The remaining Blackscale Demon Hounds were quickly killed.

Guanqian Street in Gusu.

The third squad shot down the last bat-winged demon bird from the sky.

Chen Fan glanced at the milk tea shop with its glass door smashed on the side of the road—the injured employee had already been taken away by ambulance.

He instructed his team members to assist the sheriff in setting up a cordon and dispersing the onlookers.

A sheriff tried to stop them for questioning, but Chen Fan only said, "Someone will communicate with your superiors later," before leading his team away.

Hecheng Vegetable Market.

The fourth squad killed four Blackscale Demon Hounds.

Early morning vendors preparing to stock up on their goods were evacuated by the sheriff on the grounds of "large dogs breaking in," and no one witnessed the battle at dawn.

After a brief exchange with the local sheriff, squad leader Sun Li left with the same message.

A residential community in Luzhou.

The sixth squad killed five monsters—three black-scaled demon hounds and two bat-winged demon birds.

The bat-winged demon bird was shot down by Zhang Heng with an arrow as it flew between buildings, and the black-scaled demon hound was killed in close combat in the garden.

The residents of the community were awakened, but the sixth squad had already evacuated.

The remaining cracks in the suburbs and rural areas were also gradually repaired by the various teams.

Most of the time there were no eyewitnesses, and the few that were seen by villagers were explained by the Dawn Squad as "military exercises."

At 4:15 a.m., the last crack was repaired.

"Xiao Cheng, summarize the battle situation."

"Master, all ninety-three rifts have been closed. Dawn has deployed ninety-three combat squads, plus thirty mobile squads, totaling six hundred and fifteen people. Five hundred and eighteen monsters have been killed. Eight of our members sustained minor injuries, which have been treated."

Xiao Cheng paused for a moment, then continued, "In addition, network monitoring has detected sporadic rifts in other parts of Asia as well—three in Japan, two in the Southern Dynasties, one in Silla, and one in India. There are also two in the western region of China, in Sichuan and Longyou respectively, but they are much smaller in scale than those in the eastern coastal areas. The highest level of the monsters is no more than the fifth level of the Apprentice class. They have been controlled by local security forces or the military. There have been varying degrees of casualties, but no large-scale panic has been caused."

Shen Bai nodded.

He leaned back in his chair, the sky outside the window beginning to lighten.

It's dawn outside the window.

Some people need to wake up.