Some people encrypted the video layer upon layer, some slipped it into unrelated videos, and others simply copied it onto physical discs to share... Whatever the case, as long as humans wanted to spread information in secret, all sorts of strange and ingenious methods would emerge.
And so, more and more people saw the hidden video through all kinds of channels.
Even with the video, however, the vast majority still preferred to believe it was a special-effects film shot in mockumentary style. To those who did not believe, the bloody marks covering the injured person's body and those eerie scales were nothing more than relatively realistic special-effects makeup.
After all, the idea of monsters appearing in this Regular world was simply too hard to believe.
Perhaps that was also why Qingliu City had managed to maintain order.
As the video spread, another equally widespread rumor circulated: there was no disease spreading through Qingliu City at all. Instead, a large group of terrorists carrying dangerous weapons had infiltrated it. These criminals were hiding in scattered locations throughout Qingliu City, which was why the city had been sealed off. This also explained why everyone leaving Qingliu City still had to undergo rigorous screening and physical examinations even after the lockdown was lifted.
The rumor also claimed that these measures only looked like physical examinations. In reality, the authorities wanted to disguise an arrest operation as disease prevention without alerting their targets, using the examinations to identify the criminals' distinguishing features and search them for dangerous weapons.
To the people of Qingliu City, this rumor was far more credible than stories about monsters covered in scales. Even if a closer look revealed holes everywhere in that rumor, too...
Humans always preferred to believe whatever seemed more reasonable to them.
Besides, during the few