In the city streets, the cars no longer looked the way they once did. A freshly-ignited fluorescent-pink bus staggered drunkenly into the sky, while glowing, misshapen things sped recklessly through intersections, unbothered. It was no longer clear whether the traffic lights had failed or the drivers had simply stopped caring—either way, chaos had taken hold.
I hadn’t lived through it before, but given the surreal escalation of visible absurdities, we all knew what this meant. The collective psyche had already been fractured by the undeniable truth.
They were here.
“You really came?”“Yes.”
“Did you know before?”“No.”
The conversation ended when we reached the destination.
Far from the city, the glowing vehicles thinned out. Foreign doctors conducted tests that resembled nasal swabs—orderly, perhaps, but their fumbling hands betrayed unfamiliarity and a lack of precision.
Dusk ushered in its master across the rooftops. Countless luminous bodies in violet and crimson dazzled the skies—so beautiful we forgot they were black holes; so overwhelming, we believed they were ships. Slowly, the unidentified objects revealed their true forms: self-illuminating silver machines, impossibly advanced.
Not long after, the government made it official. A cooperation agreement was signed with the aliens: humans would supply labor, and the aliens would offer their technology. Some of them made Earth their permanent home.
I’ve forgotten how many years passed after that, but I remember the night. It was quiet. As usual, they revealed their ships above the city—but something was different. Without warning, the vessels dropped straight to the ground. The impact unleashed a wave of explosions. Even in the distant suburbs, we felt the force.
Panic swept through the crowds. People ran in all directions, but there was no escape. You were either incinerated instantly or sucked into the ships above.
My family and I refused to surrender. We ran south, hoping to exploit the brief windows when the ships paused to rotate their crew. At one point, we glimpsed a residential complex still twinkling with lights—but we knew, even then, this was no longer our home.
There was no longer any sense of time. No day, no night. In the depths of the earth, I recorded these memories—stale and mold-ridden with age. I had lost track of how many days we’d been buried underground. The search above continued. One after another, the remaining refugees vanished—swallowed by something we no longer dared to name.
How many have already gone?
And me—
I...
市区街上，车已不复原来的模样。刚启动的荧光粉巴士醉醺醺地朝天际飞去，发着光的奇形异状毫无顾忌的在路口超速行驶。分不清是红绿灯还是司机的问题，总之是全乱套了。
未曾在过去经历，但在当下荒谬事件肉眼可见的戏剧增长中，我们都清楚这意味着什么。群众的心理早已被无法抗拒的事实击破。还是来了。
“你们是真的来了？”“是。”“你们过去知道吗？”“没有。”
对话在到达目的地中止。
远离市区，发着光的驾驶工具倒是少了很多。外国医生做着形如核酸检测的测试，如此秩序，却又难以忽视他手法的生疏不严谨。
暮夜在建筑物上空迎来了他的主，无数紫的红的发光体在空中夺目，美到让我们忘记它是“黑洞”，震撼到让我们觉得它就是船体。数架不明物体逐渐显现出他们原本的面貌，是自发光的银色高科技。
不久，政府正式宣布与外星人签订合作协议。政府负责输送人员，外星人负责提供高科技产品。至此，部分外星人永久定居地球。
但我已忘记是在多少年之后了，那个寂静的夜晚，他们如往常一般在市区显露飞船，但做出的行为却与往常相反。飞船直线坠落至地面的举动引发了大范围爆炸。远在郊区的我们都收到程度不一的波及。人们惊慌失措的四处逃窜，但改变不了的是被即刻烧死，亦或是被即刻吸上飞船。
我与我的家人因不愿束手就擒一路向南跑，企图通过飞船换岗的时间间隙躲避这些高科技。途中瞥见依旧熠熠闪烁着的住宅区，我们知道这终究不是我们的家园。
没有时间概念，没有白昼黑夜，在地底记录这些陈旧到发霉的事，忘记了这是藏匿于地底的第多少个时日。属于地面的搜寻还在继续，幸存的难民也在一波接一波失去踪迹。
我会是第几个？
我......