Ou Zhanpeng and Ling Xiao found a place to stay nearby through the police, but the city of Huaxiong was in turmoil. They couldn't sleep, their eyes wide open in silence.
After only a short while, the gunshots and explosions suddenly intensified. Internal information obtained through their terminals confirmed that reinforcements had indeed entered the urban area.
However, the situation in the city remained grim.
The giant sea monsters were not only appearing at the subway stations but also breaking through the flimsy defenses along both banks of the Yuxiong River. Some had already stormed into residential areas, causing widespread panic, while others had entered commercial districts. They had circled for a while but hadn't encountered a single ghost.
The reinforcements were like firefighters rushing to a blazing fire, heading wherever sea monsters appeared, inadvertently dispersing their limited forces. Fortunately, the sea monsters were not difficult to deal with, allowing them to manage the situation.
In the early morning, the beach landings of the giant squids and crabs finally came to an end, with piles of fish and crab corpses accumulating on the shore.
The garrison left only a small contingent to guard the positions, while the main force immediately advanced into the city to launch a larger-scale extermination operation.
By this time, the military had already figured out some patterns. The gunshots were becoming sparser, while various explosions were becoming more frequent.
Ou Zhanpeng and Ling Xiao, like two simpletons, huddled together, straining their ears to listen to the explosions from outside the window, trying to determine if they were from small-caliber artillery shells, individual rocket launchers, or recoilless rifles.
It wasn't until around four in the morning that the explosions gradually subsided. Ou and Ling, having not slept all night, had red, bloodshot eyes.
On this night, the vast majority of Huaxiong city residents remained awake, filled with fear and unease.
Everyone harbored the same question: where did these giant marine creatures come from?
Soon, a piece of news spread like wildfire: the root cause of these sea monsters was marine pollution.
This was not mere speculation. Japan, which was living a comfortable life, had been secretly discharging radioactive nuclear wastewater into the sea for decades. Over the years, the average radiation level in the Pacific Ocean had risen significantly, and mutated fish, turtles, shrimps, and crabs had been discovered along the coasts.
Most of them could not survive normally, with only a very small minority successfully growing. However, it was this minority that led to the disaster of today.
Now, perfectly good seafood had turned into sea monsters, causing such a commotion. Countless people vented their anger online, vowing to make Japan pay for what it had done, to make them drink the wastewater in the same way they had released it.
Initially, this argument circulated only among a few, but as the sea monster incident gained traction, more and more people became aware of this speculation, and an increasing number of netizens joined the ranks of those denouncing Japan.
Furthermore, netizens were not just verbally attacking; they also posted a large amount of data to support their claims.
Even Ou Zhanpeng and Ling Xiao, who were well aware of the cause and effect, were stunned by the evidence provided by netizens and were full of admiration for the public's ingenuity.
One widely circulated photograph showed a large cruise ship sailing on the sea. At first glance, there was nothing unusual, but upon closer inspection, one could notice that the color of the sea surface was not quite right.
The next photograph revealed the answer: viewed from directly above, the seawater beneath the cruise ship was teeming with giant white jellyfish, clustered together as if forming a sea of jellyfish.
Below the photograph was a caption stating that this happened more than a month ago. The cruise ship's speed had abnormally decreased, and the engine had made a strange noise, forcing an emergency stop for equipment inspection. The result was that there were too many jellyfish underwater, blocking the water intake of the water jet thrusters.
Finally, it was mentioned that this incident had trended on hot searches at the time, and an expert had publicly declared that these two photographs were not fake.
Ling Xiao stared blankly at the article, "Is it true or not? How come I've never heard of it!"
He went online to search, refusing to believe it. After a moment, he looked stunned, "It's real!"
The report was true, the photos were real, and there were various explanations from experts. At that time, some had already pointed fingers at Japan, but it hadn't garnered widespread attention.
Ou Zhanpeng also took out his terminal, "I found a report too."
He found a video. Upon clicking it, one could see a fishing boat in the process of hauling in its nets. Several fishermen were shouting with joy, clearly having a good catch.
However, at the fourth second, a fisherman suddenly shouted and pointed outside the boat. The others immediately rushed over, and the camera shakily followed. They saw that the fishnet in the water was entangled with a giant shrimp that was several feet long.
The fishermen hauled the giant shrimp onto the boat, and the video ended.
Below it, there was also accompanying text, which generally stated that this giant shrimp was not a lobster or other large shrimp species but a common Northern long-snouted shrimp, which is the most common Arctic shrimp found in markets.
Upon reading this, both of their expressions became a bit strange. Based on their physical characteristics, they indeed bore a strong resemblance to Arctic shrimp. However, those were usually only thumb-sized, while this one in the video was almost as thick as a thigh.
At the bottom of the article were various comments from netizens. Some said that the fishermen had accidentally caught a giant shrimp that was about to achieve sentience, and if it were released, a shrimp maiden would surely knock on their door at night to repay their kindness. Others said that this creature was definitely not an Arctic shrimp but a giant relative of the Arctic shrimp. Of course, there were also speculations that the mutation of the giant shrimp originated from radiation, which again shifted the blame to Japan.
Finally, it was no longer about commenting, but everyone unanimously agreed that the appearance of the giant shrimp was inseparable from Japan.
Experts also chimed in, stating that the video was absolutely not fabricated.
In addition to these, there were many other pieces of news, some true and some false. In any case, no matter what was discovered, the final outcome was to shift the blame to Japan.
Japan, which was living a comfortable life, felt truly wronged.
Japan knew some information related to extraterrestrial species. They were willing to argue, but with wolves circling from the outside and their "father," the United States, casting a covetous eye from within, as soon as Japan released the news, they would first be beaten to a pulp by the United States and then ganged up on by other Blue Star companions.
Helplessly, they could only swallow their blood with their teeth. After all, Japan was already accustomed to it.
Speaking of which, although the sea monsters were not greatly related to Japan, many of the true and false news items did indeed have some connection to Japan.
Let's get back to the point. Why did the vast majority of netizens not blame other Blue Star companions but only pounce on Japan? It was because Japan had done too many bad things, both openly and covertly. When similar situations occurred, it was difficult for the masses of onlookers not to think of Japan.
Japan's credibility was long gone. This was truly like mud smeared on the crotch of one's pants; whether it was shit or not, it looked like shit.