"This station brings you the latest local news. According to our city's military spokesperson, the military and police worked together this morning to crack a serious firearms-smuggling case. All smugglers have been shot dead. Citizens are urged not to panic. The military will hold another press conference tonight to summarize and explain today's joint operation in the XX District."
"The major human-trafficking case recently uncovered in our province was solved last night, and hundreds of missing people have been found. This marks a major victory in our fight against the increasingly grave situation."
"All reports of so-called 'supernatural incidents' currently circulating online are rumors. Please exercise sound judgment and rely on official statements for..."
Shu Capital's midday news was playing on television.
With the rapid march of the times, few young people in Shu Capital still relied on television news for information about the outside world. Most older people, however, remained more accustomed to getting their information through radio and television.
Inside an office building, a clerk sat bored and sleepy, absently tugging at his loose collar beneath the fierce sunlight streaming through the window.
Yet he had no idea why.
The usually intense sunlight felt strangely cool today.
He switched between news channels on his computer.
Listening to a reporter cover the explosion discovered that day at a factory in the West District, he was drifting off when he suddenly heard the normally stiff, formal reporter let out a cry of shock and terror.
"Heavens... what is that thing?!"
The shock in her voice clearly came from genuine emotion, without any of the official tone she had used before.
It was obvious.
She seemed to have seen something that terrified her.
And for some reason, the already unnatural sunlight began to dim, as though the weather outside had suddenly