Let me just... the imagery in this book is INSANE.
From the very first paragraph, you've got this description of the sky being sealed off by "unanalyzable light screens, like a giant beast's woven net." And then those golden runes appearing in the sky that everyone can somehow understand? That's the kind of worldbuilding detail that makes you stop and picture it. It's not just 'aliens showed up' - it's a specific, visual, almost religious aesthetic to the invasion.
The scene where Su Xi is riding her scooter and looks up to see the red runes and the colossal space battleships blocking out the sun? I could literally see this as a movie. The daytime city plunging into twilight because these ships are so massive. The red energy beams flickering around them. It's terrifying and beautiful at the same time.
And then Chapter 3 - the command center scene. The silence. The data on the screens showing each planet being lost one by one. Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, and then the Moon. The description of the Moon "shattering and disintegrating, then gradually disappearing from view as if it had never existed" - that hit me so hard. We're talking about the thing that's been in our sky forever, gone in an instant.
The contrast between the mundane world (dog walking, electric scooters, police stations) and this cosmic horror unfolding above is what makes the worldbuilding work. It's not a fantasy world - it's OUR world, and that makes it so much scarier. The fact that the aliens don't even communicate, they just destroy planets like they're popping balloons? That's such a cold, clinical depiction of higher-dimensional warfare.
I also love how the Divine Seat transfer scene is described - the golden runes, the warmth in her forehead, the voice from ancient times. It gives this sense that there's a whole hidden mythology operating beneath the surface of reality.