Three days after Nathaniel's death.
That morning, the federal government released several brief yet weighty announcements to the entire nation:
General Harrison, former head of the Northern Command, had committed suicide at home the previous night due to "work pressure"; the Office of Extraordinary Threat Response and Strategic Integration (ATHENA) announced its official dissolution effective immediately; its director, Ms. Rets Yoel, had been imprisoned on multiple charges and sentenced to two hundred years.
In addition, the Wall Street Journal had recently published another major piece of news: Essex Corporation, one of the world's biotechnology giants, had entered bankruptcy proceedings for unknown reasons.
As for the electronic storm that had swept across the globe not long ago, the International Union of Astronomy and Geophysics released an "emergency research report," stating that it had been a chain reaction caused by geomagnetic disruption triggered by a sudden, massive solar storm.
Meanwhile, several media outlets claimed that this was "a sign of the Mutants' return." In response to the increasingly intense wave of Mutants throughout society, they called for greater public attention to the Mutant issue.
Of course, few people believed them, because the idea that "Mutants could cause a global electronic storm" sounded absurd no matter how one thought about it.
As for the nuclear bomb that had landed on the White House lawn, the military had removed it overnight and tightly sealed off all information, forbidding any reports from reaching the public.
Everything had been buried beneath a general's death and a tacit silence.
Only a very small number of people knew that, in just two days, the balance of the world had already changed beyond recognition.
Xavier Institute, nine in the morning.
The funeral officially began.
"We have gathered here today not to wallow in grief, but to remember."
Amid