Within this week, two violent incidents that defied common sense occurred in this city.
The first was a bloody case on the fifth floor of an old residential building.
Two people died, four went missing, and the scene was left with wounds caused by non-human tools and traces of unknown organic matter.
The second was a violent assault at the Debiao Club in the south of the city.
One person died and two were seriously injured; surveillance footage captured the suspect transforming from an ordinary person into a giant creature over two meters tall in just a few seconds.
The official stance on handling these two cases was highly consistent: seal off all information.
There was only a brief announcement in the news, phrased as: “A public security incident occurred at an entertainment venue in the south of the city, resulting in casualties. The suspect is at large, and the police are investigating with full effort.”
No mention of the surveillance footage, no mention of the transformation, no mention of any details that defied common sense.
But news cannot be contained.
There were over a dozen guests present at the Debiao Club that night.
Although most of them fled when the giant appeared.
There were always two or three who managed to film a few seconds with their phones before running out.
The footage was shaky, the angle was awkward, and the lighting was dim, but one could see a blurry, massive figure standing in the middle of the lobby, with shattered glass doors in the background.
And over at the old residential building, some of the residents gathering downstairs were also taking pictures.
Although they only captured police cars and caution tape, the chat logs in the community group had already spread.
“Something huge happened at that place on the fifth floor. I heard the people were torn to pieces.”
“The security door was smashed in with a single punch. I went to check the scene, and the iron door was turned into scrap metal.”
“Some say it was killed by some kind of monster, but the police won’t let anyone talk about it.”
These scattered pieces of information seeped out through every crack like water.
And then converged on the dark web.
On a forum called “Urban Oddities Record,” someone started a thread.
The title was: Two suspected non-human violent incidents occurred in the city within a week; insiders reveal the truth.
The body of the post wasn’t long, but it included three mobile video clips and six photos.
The first video came from a guest at the Debiao Club.
In the footage, a massive gray figure could be seen walking through the shattered doorway.
It lasted less than two seconds before the footage began to shake violently.
It showed the entrance to the unit corridor in the early hours of the morning, where large patches of dark liquid stains and several splintered wooden boards could be seen on the walls.
The third video was of unknown origin; it was a very blurry, long-distance overhead shot, seemingly taken from a high-rise window in the building opposite.
In the footage, a black silhouette could be vaguely seen vaulting over the residential complex wall.
It was very fast, and its movement style was completely different from that of an ordinary person.
The photos were taken from various angles, showing bloodstains at the scene, fragments of the shattered security door, and torn wire mesh.
The comments under the post reached over a hundred replies within two hours.
“Is this Photoshopped? What can’t you Photoshop these days?”
“Buddy, you clearly haven’t seen that video. That gray thing is at least two meters tall. What software would you use to Photoshop that kind of effect?”
“I live near that complex and can testify. A lot of police cars did come that morning and sealed off the whole building. And that afternoon, people came to every household in the complex, warning us not to discuss it online.”
“If they won’t let us discuss it, it means there’s something fishy going on.”
“I think it’s like some kind of experimental subject that escaped. Think about the surveillance footage of that gray giant; it looks a lot like it was injected with some kind of mutation drug.”
“The guy above has been watching too many sci-fi movies.”
“But the thing in that video really doesn’t look like a human.”
“Just an urban legend, same level as the story about finding a giant crocodile in the sewers last year.”
The post’s popularity began to decline in the third hour because the forum administrator deleted two of the video clips, citing “content unverified, suspected of spreading rumors.”
But the screenshots had already leaked out.
Someone moved the screenshots to mainstream social media platforms, accompanied by a sensationalized text description.
“Shocking! A mutant has appeared in our city! Height skyrocketed over two meters, smashed through a concrete wall with one punch!”
Before this post was deleted, it received over 3,000 retweets and more than 10,000 comments.
The vast majority of comments were skeptical; replies like “clickbait,” “attention-seeking,” and “Photoshop expert” dominated.
But a few comments sparked a small-scale discussion.
“I know a waitress from the Debiao Club, and she told me she saw it with her own eyes that night.”
“That thing was standing in the middle of the lobby, and it was a whole head taller than her.”
“She was so scared she ran out the back door without even having time to put on her shoes.”
“My cousin works at the city police bureau. When I asked him about this, he completely refused to talk about it, just kept saying not to spread nonsense online. Why do you think he won’t talk? Because he’s scared too.” This story is hosted at g.com.
These comments were also quickly deleted.
But the internet has a memory.
The screenshots continued to circulate in various small groups and private chats, accompanied by increasingly exaggerated annotations.
By the third day, a self-media account posted a short video with an even more eye-catching title.
“The Butcher and the Iron-Fisted Demon: Two Monsters in the City, Why Is the Official Stance Silent?”
The video integrated all the leaked materials.
It was also accompanied by a low-pitched narration that connected the timelines and locations of the two incidents.
Before the video was taken down, it reached 80,000 views.
Rumors about the possible existence of “monsters” in this city were spreading at a speed that the authorities could not fully suppress.
Most people didn’t believe it.
But the seed had already been planted.
Hundreds of meters beneath the city, in a fissure in the rock layer, Knull’s main body quietly received the signals transmitted through the psychic network.
The emotions of those ordinary people—faint, scattered—were like wisps of smoke drifting from afar.
But the scent of the smoke had changed.
It used to be anxiety, exhaustion, boredom, and occasional happiness.
Now, there was a new ingredient.
Fear.
It was very faint; most people didn’t even realize it themselves, but it was definitely there.
It was like an extra trace gas in the air—you couldn’t smell it, but breathing it in would have a subtle effect.
Knull savored this new flavor.
Not strong enough.
Still far from enough.
But this was a beginning.