I, the screenwriter, have experienced a resurgence of inspiration.

……

After the gunshot, Martha opened her eyes, only to see a layer of white mist passing through her body.

It felt completely unreal, like walking through the thinnest white veil in the world.

The grotesque human face gradually became illusory.

The woman in white disappeared into the dense reeds, as if she had never existed.

The crying stopped as well.

The valley fell silent again.

Martha held the gun and breathed heavily, the ringing in her ears slowly subsiding.

Her back was covered in cold sweat.

That's not human at all.

It wasn't any creature she knew either.

"Mis hijos!" (My child!)

The man cried out as he plunged into the river, pulled the two children out, and carried them to the flat ground on the bank.

The eldest son, Diego, was seven years old and had already passed away.

His lips were bluish-purple, his stomach was swollen, and he had long since stopped breathing.

The youngest daughter, Sofia, five years old, was still breathing faintly, her chest rising and falling gently, but she was unconscious.

The man held the child's body, crying his heart out.

He originally wanted to bring his children to America to live a good life.

Now, one child is gone, and it's unknown whether the other will wake up.

Martha stood to the side, her hand holding the gun still trembling.

She took several deep breaths to calm herself down and then took out her phone to call the police.

……

……

It took more than half an hour for the border patrol and county sheriff's officers to arrive.

Sheriff Rodriguez is of Mexican descent and has lived in this small town for over twenty years.

The child has been taken to the hospital for emergency treatment.

Seeing the situation on the scene and hearing Martha's description, Rodriguez's expression grew increasingly grim.

Especially when he heard Carlos say "the weeping woman in white," the corner of his mouth twitched involuntarily.

"Stop, stop, stop, dear Martha, do you know what you're saying? 'Larona' is just a boring legend—you know that."

Larona, the weeping woman in white.

Every Mexican-American child grows up hearing this story.

There are many versions of this story.

Legend has it that a woman named Maria married a nobleman and had two sons.

Later, her husband changed his mind, abandoned Maria, and married another woman.

In a fit of rage, Mary drowned her two sons in the river. Afterwards, filled with remorse, she threw herself into the river and took her own life.

After her death, her soul could not find peace and transformed into a woman in a white dress, wandering by the river and weeping day and night.

If she encounters children playing by the river, she will treat them as her own and drown them.

Of course, there is another explanation.

Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés married his Aztec translator and had a child.

But the explorer abandoned his poor mistress in order to marry another Spanish woman.

Driven by pride, the mistress killed the child in revenge.

……

"Of course, these are all old tales, my dear Martha."

Adults often use this story to scare children away from the river.

As Rodriguez spoke, he noticed the expression on Martha's face and also became serious:

"...God."

Martha never lies and is trustworthy; she sometimes even takes the initiative to help the townspeople find their lost cattle and foals.

She said she saw "Larona" with her own eyes, which means that the thing that killed that poor child must exist.

"Are you sure the bullet hit her and she's completely unharmed?"

Rodriguez confirmed with Martha again: "I know your marksmanship—you're a good hunter, it's impossible for you to miss at this close range."

"I'm sure."

Martha nodded, her tone certain:

"It was like hitting thin air; she wasn't a physical entity at all, and her crying was so disturbing that it still gives me a headache."

Rodriguez crouched down to examine the footprints along the riverbank.

There were only small footprints of a man and two children.

There were no female footprints.

It was spotless, as if no one had ever stood there.

All the shot pellets fell into the river, without a single one hitting anything.

Rodriguez wiped the sweat from his brow.

He had worked in this small town for over twenty years, and had seen cult members and high-dose young people—those guys were capable of anything.

But "Larona the Crying"?

There were no footprints.

The bullet pierced the body.

The sound of crying can cause tinnitus or even nausea.

Finally, it passed through the person's body and disappeared at an extremely high speed.

This is something no human could do.

"I'd rather have encountered a serial killer."

The sheriff took off his hat and exchanged a glance with Martha.

A serious look appeared in both of their eyes.

……

……

Social circles in border areas are inherently small, so even a small thing can spread very quickly.

The news of the supernatural events that occurred by the river spread quickly.

The local Spanish-language media were the first to report it, with a simple and straightforward headline:

A child drowned on the banks of the Rio Grande; survivors say the attacker was "the weeping woman in white - Larona".

The comment section below the report was instantly flooded by Mexican netizens:

[@Maria_Guadalupe: God bless that poor little girl. No wonder my grandmother never let us play by the river.]

[@Ranchero_Texas: Larona is real!]

[@Skeptic_Paco: Don't be ridiculous. It was definitely a pimp who took the child away. The incompetent police department is using local legend as an excuse.]

[@Tejano_User: Wait, have you guys seen the news? The Jersey Devil appeared in New Jersey, and a crying woman appeared in Texas? What's going on? Has the gates of hell been opened?]

[@Paranormal_Fan: This is God's will, to guide the lost sheep.]

【@[■××■]: Hey guys, cheer up, don't worry, it's just that a test subject from a government human experiment has escaped!】

……

Soon, the hashtags #JerseyDevil# and #LaLlorona# both trended on international social media.

The TikTok video that Fei Meng filmed was like a drop of water thrown into a hot oil pan, instantly igniting a frenzy across the entire North American internet.

The hashtag #JerseyDevil# rose to the top of Twitter's trending topics in just two hours.

The topic was followed by the bright red "TRENDING," and the number of views exceeded 600 million, and this number is still rising rapidly.

Related videos and topics on TikTok have garnered over a billion views.

Countless people shared, commented, and created derivative works based on the video.

[@SkepticSam_99: The CGI is pretty good. People these days are really crazy about getting views. Hey, is Bigfoot next?]

[@FilmStudentJake: The lighting and shadows are all wrong; it's clearly been composited in post-production. This is so poorly done.]

[@ComedianLou: This is so cool.]

However, as more and more witnesses posted photos and videos of the scene, and as Reuters reported on the police cordoning off the area—

The doubts gradually subsided, and what followed was a frenzy among paranormal enthusiasts.

The Paranormal section was completely flooded with posts.

Original poster PineBarrensLocal:

My home is right next to the pine forest. My grandfather has always believed in the devil, and he told me that it was the Jersey Devil.

Now the question is: if this thing really exists in reality, why would it suddenly appear and kill an innocent person?

1st floor: "I live in New Jersey, and I'm already packing my bags to move to New York."

2nd floor: "It's not just the Jersey Devil, my mom lives in Texas, and she said strange things are happening by the river there too. A crying Larona killed a stowaway's child..."

3rd floor: "Are all myths and legends true? Then shouldn't Cthulhu also be stuck in that damned sea?"

4th Floor: "Any exorcists out there who can tell me, what is this thing afraid of? Silver bullets? Crosses? Or can it be killed with a regular gun?"

5th floor: "Don't panic, it's most likely a biological leak from a secret government experiment, it has nothing to do with the supernatural."

……

……

Various conspiracy theories are flying around.

Some say this is the product of government genetic experiments.

Some say the gates of hell have been opened.

Some people say that the end of the world is coming, and this is just part of the revelation.

The New Jersey Times was the first to issue a formal breaking news report.

The front-page headline used the largest bold font and was accompanied by a distant view of the police cordon at the scene:

Police tape stretched out, terrified tourists, bits of flesh and blood scattered everywhere, and police officers bent over vomiting.

……

[Breaking News] Deadly attack on the banks of the Battergate River; dozens of witnesses describe attackers as "unknown flying creatures," closely resembling Jersey Devil legends.

[Reported by this newspaper] Reporter Emily Watson

...At 10:17 a.m., a fatal attack occurred on the Bartgate River Walkway in Atlantic County...

...Todd Henderson, a 42-year-old local resident, died at the scene. No other serious injuries were reported.

According to dozens of eyewitnesses at the scene:

The attacker was an unknown flying creature with a horse's head, bat-like membranous wings, and a forked tail.

Measuring approximately 1.2 meters in length and with a wingspan exceeding 2 meters, this "monster" hovered above the crowd before swooping down to snatch the victim, Todd Henderson, into the air, where it brutally murdered him.

It eventually disappeared in the direction of the pine forest peatland.

The Atlantic County Sheriff's Office has cordoned off the area, and the FBI's Philadelphia office has dispatched personnel to investigate.

Police have not yet confirmed the species of the attacker, initially stating that it was a "suspected attack by a large bird of prey" and have issued a safety warning for the surrounding area.

...Residents are urged to avoid going to pine forest peatlands and remote riverbank areas in the near future, and to minimize going out at night.

...It is worth noting that the biological characteristics described by the witnesses are highly consistent with the "Jersey Devil" urban legend that has been circulating in New Jersey for more than two hundred years.

The legend dates back to the 18th century, recounting how the thirteenth child of the thirteenth family in a certain place was born as a demon and fled into the pine forest peatlands.

This newspaper will continue to follow the developments of this incident. All information is subject to official announcements. Poor Henderson, oh God.

……

……

……

After the report was published, it was immediately reprinted by major media outlets such as The New York Times and The Washington Post.

Although mainstream media outlets have been cautious in their wording and have not directly acknowledged the existence of "Jersey Devil" and "Crying Larona".

The description of the "unknown flying creature" as "matching the legend" is enough to make the public's imagination run wild.

Panic buying broke out in several small towns in New Jersey and Texas that same day.

Supermarkets were emptied of canned goods, drinking water, and flashlights, while gun stores saw a threefold increase in customers.

An invisible fear quietly accumulates and ferments in people's hearts.

……

……

……