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

The television screen abruptly switched back to the studio.

The female anchor sat in front of the camera, her face as white as paper, her lips trembling slightly.

She clearly gagged, but forced herself to suppress it.

After a few seconds of silence, the female anchor took a deep breath and, with professionalism, began to speak again:

[The above are some of the footage from the Tokyo scene.]

The situation in Tokyo continues to deteriorate, and relevant departments are continuing to monitor the situation.

[Next, we will broadcast a joint announcement from the Ministry of Emergency Management and the National Bureau of Special Events Investigation and Response.]

The female anchor's tone became exceptionally serious. She glanced down at the script and read it aloud, word by word:

[After verification and confirmation by relevant departments, abnormal spatial nodes have recently appeared around the world, officially named "copy", and abnormal supernatural creatures derived from the energy fluctuations of copy nodes.]

These creatures are extremely aggressive and deadly, and do not belong to the category of currently known organisms.

[The Tokyo incident is a large-scale global event; whether the anomalous creatures are derivatives of the originals is currently being verified.]

[The following information regarding relevant security matters is hereby announced to the citizens of the whole country:]

1. All Chinese citizens currently abroad are urged to closely monitor the local situation and arrange their return to China as soon as possible.

In case of emergency or threat to personal safety, please contact the local Chinese embassy or consulate immediately for assistance. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Global Consular Protection and Services Emergency Hotline is 12308, which is available 24 hours a day.

Second, all citizens in the country are advised to reduce unnecessary outings at night.

Stay away from high-risk areas such as remote waterways, abandoned buildings, and suburban wilderness as much as possible.

When going out at night, try to go in groups and avoid going to sparsely populated places alone.

3. If you encounter abnormal spatial nodes, paranormal creatures, or other supernatural phenomena, please remain calm, prioritize evacuation to densely populated areas, and immediately call the National Special Events Investigation Bureau.

For nationwide unified hotline: 12****, please report or seek assistance.

IV. The safety guidelines for residents previously issued by Jiangcheng City and Ontario Province have been upgraded to nationwide safety guidelines effective immediately.

All citizens are urged to strictly abide by the relevant requirements, not to believe or spread rumors, not to disseminate unverified footage from the scene, and to cooperate with the relevant departments in their handling of the situation.

The official authorities will continue to release authoritative information; please refer to official announcements for the most accurate information.

The announcement has been read.

The TV screen switched to a safety instructions subtitle version, with black text on a white background, listing each point clearly.

……

……

……

The shampooing area of ​​the barbershop was eerily quiet.

Sister Zhang's mouth was open, and she couldn't close it for a long time.

The passersby standing in front of the barbershop all had expressions of astonishment and disbelief, as if their worldviews were being reshaped.

—The kappa, tengu, and human-headed car from the story have appeared in reality and are even eating people in the street?

This is like listening to a ghost story.

But it just so happened that it was broadcast on the evening news.

The news segment on CCTV lasted only ten minutes.

But those ten minutes were enough for information to explode rapidly.

In the morning, when the business district is busiest, people who are eating, shopping, or jogging all stop in front of the large screen in the business district.

At first, only a few people looked up, but later more and more people stopped and gathered around, forming a dense crowd.

When the footage of the car carrying the human head running over the sedan was shown, a gasp erupted from the crowd.

"Holy crap?! Really? This isn't special effects, is it?"

"How could something broadcast on the evening news be fake?!"

"Kappa? Tengu? Aren't these things from folklore? How could they actually exist?"

"What were you just saying? Dungeons? Supernatural creatures? Aren't those just game mechanics?"

"Dream on—is the end of the world coming?"

"Hurry home and stock up on supplies!"

"What's there to be afraid of? We're still separated by the sea, aren't we?"

Some people took out their phones and frantically recorded videos, some were in a hurry to call their families, and some turned around and walked towards the subway station.

The business district was in a chaotic state, with chatter, exclamations, and ringing phones all mixed together.

Humans seem to have an innate gene for anticipating excitement. When they learn that something strange is actually happening, many people's first reaction is not fear, but rather a kind of hidden anticipation.

It's like being suddenly told there's a power outage when you're in high school, evening self-study sessions being canceled, encountering someone catching a cheater in the act halfway through work, or hearing while drinking water on the roadside that a human trafficker is being beaten by the iron fist of justice.

The peaceful and uneventful life suddenly became much more exciting.

In a downtown office building, employees gathered in the break room chatting, their faces full of excitement.

The boss ignored them and joined them on their phones to read the news.

"Something's happened in Tokyo! Even the evening news reported it!"

"What's wrong? An earthquake?"

"It's haunted! The official description says it's some kind of supernatural dungeon!"

A group of people crowded together to look at their phones, and the more they looked, the paler their faces became.

The young woman who worked on the planning was so frightened that her voice trembled:

"A paranormal scenario? What about the disappearance at Jiangcheng University... My cousin works at that school, and she said that tens of thousands of teachers and students were evacuated overnight because it was haunted..."

"The news said it was all caused by the dungeon, so it was already happening before, but they just didn't tell us ordinary people?"

"I'll tell you what to do. The problem now is, what if the monsters from the Little Days side come here?"

"Probably not, there are quite a few Japanese people here, before they finish eating... probably not."

The office was in chaos.

Nobody wants to go to work anymore; everyone's glued to their phones, engaged in lively discussions.

……

……

On the subway, in the quiet carriage, gasps of surprise rose and fell.

"Oh my god, that's terrifying! I thought it was a game update."

"My sister is studying in Japan! I need to call her right away and tell her to come back!"

"If the officials have spoken out, then it must be true. Are ghosts really real?"

"There were posts online about ghost buses in Wuhan before, but the cyber police said they were rumors and deleted them. Turns out they were true?"

When the subway arrived at the station and the doors opened, many people immediately changed their travel plans.

People who were originally going to work or shopping all rushed home without stopping.

The subway exit suddenly became congested, with sweat beading on everyone's face and a suppressed excitement etched on their expression.

……

……

The most urgent cases are those with relatives abroad.

The phone at the Chinese Embassy in Niger was immediately flooded with calls, all inquiring about the evacuation of Chinese citizens and asking for help in contacting their families.

Parents held their phones, calling their children studying or working in Japan again and again, becoming increasingly anxious when they couldn't get through.

Tickets for China-Netherlands routes from major airlines sold out within minutes, with prices increasing several times over, yet tickets remained extremely difficult to obtain.

Many people are glued to their computers, scanning for tickets and placing orders as soon as they become available, regardless of the price.

Soon after, an hour later, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, and the Ministry of Education issued several notices in succession.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reminded Chinese citizens in Japan to pay attention to their safety and return to China as soon as possible, and released the latest consular protection hotline.

The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has urgently suspended all tour groups to Japan and demanded that travel agencies arrange for stranded tourists to return home as soon as possible.

The Ministry of Education issued a notice requiring all universities to collect statistics on the situation of international students in Nigeria and assist in arranging their return to China.

The issuance of these notices effectively confirmed the seriousness of the incident.

Those who were initially skeptical are now completely baffled.

……

The flow of people on the streets of Jiangcheng was noticeably faster than usual.

Song Mo walked home along the alley entrance, an ice pop dangling from his mouth and two packets of noodles given to him by a nearby shop owner.

—After seeing the news in the morning, the boss decided to go back to his hometown to farm, and the goods in the store were almost sold or given away for free.

Along the way, everyone Song Mo saw was looking down at their phones.

The small shops, pharmacies, and vegetable stores along the roadside were crowded with people rushing inside.

—Even hardware stores were bustling with people, carrying flashlights, candles, and even kitchen knives.

The sign that read "Sold Out of Glutinous Rice" that had been hanging on the pharmacy window for several weeks was still there.

……

As Song Mo passed by the community square, all the elderly people in the neighborhood were gathered around discussing what had happened that day:

"Let me tell you, my granddaughter studies at Jiangcheng University. Around the time of the incident last month, the school issued a notice instructing everyone to pick up their children from school in the middle of the night!"

"Oh my god, that's terrifying! This must be from that dungeon!"

"That's right! Someone took a picture of the No. 404 bus before, posted it online, and it was immediately deleted. I told them there was something wrong!"

"Will things be okay here? The news says it's safe, but a city as big as Tokyo can easily descend into chaos..."

"You don't know? There was a zombie outbreak in Hongguang Community before. Anyway, let's go to the supermarket and stock up on supplies—water, instant noodles, candles—buy as much as we can, just in case the community gets locked down one day!"

"My grandson, I don't know what's wrong with his brain, he insists that entering the dungeon will make him a superman, I can't stop him, he always wants to run to Jiangcheng University - they've already put up a cordon."

"Oh dear, little sister, you need to be extra careful living alone. Buying just two packs of noodles isn't enough!"

Song Mo smiled and thanked the aunties for their concern, then walked back to her rented room.

……

Fear spread like a plague across WeChat Moments, Weibo, QQ Space, and other major social media platforms.

In just one hour, everyone's understanding of this planet was completely shattered.

Everyone kept asking the same question:

What will happen to our world next?