Late at night, feeling rather pleased with himself, Sindison had barely fallen asleep when an urgent knocking on the door jolted him awake.

Grumbling, he grabbed his glasses from the bedside table, shoved them on, and stomped toward the entrance, irritation boiling over. “What the hell are you knocking for?! What time do you think it is?! Can’t this wait until morning, for fuck’s sake?!”

At that moment, Sindison had no idea how serious things really were, he hadn’t even imagined it might concern him.

News of the printing factory fire hadn’t reached the hotel yet, and the subordinates who had joined the march hadn’t come back to report.

Even if he had heard about it, he might’ve panicked a little, but only a little.

After all, it wasn’t him who’d bribed the factory staff or smuggled the papers. His men had handled all of that. He had only been the man behind the curtain. There were a few meetings and some instructions, but nothing traceable to him.

Surely the New Alliance’s administrator wasn’t omniscient, he couldn’t have eyes everywhere.

Still cursing, Sindison yanked open the door, ready to shout. However, the second he saw how was outside, he froze.

It wasn’t his secretary.

It wasn’t a hotel staffer.

Instead, he was met with a row of grim faces, and an identification badge practically shoved into his nose.

The man in front wore an officer’s uniform and stared at him with icy eyes.

“We’re with the Guard Corps. You are suspected of being a spy from the Bugra Free State and of inciting acts of sabotage. You’ll need to come with us.”

“S-Spy?!” Cold sweat broke out instantly across Sindison’s forehead. He stared at the armed soldiers crowding his doorway, nearly fainting in terror. His voice trembled uncontrollably. “Wait, this must be a misunderstanding! I’m just an honest trader! I couldn’t possibly be a spy...”

The officer, unimpressed, simply motioned with his hand. “Take him.”

Several soldiers stepped forward in perfect formation, grabbed the pajama-clad Sindison, cuffed him, twisted his arms behind his back, and began hauling him down the corridor.

“Wait, let go! Aaaah! The New Alliance soldiers are out to kill! Help! Heeelp!”

His pig-like screams echoed down the hallway.

The sight of drawn rifles and military uniforms had him bawling and blubbering, snot and tears streaming down his face, his pants wet through, though, in truth, no one had even hit him.

The officer shot him a look of utter contempt. At that point, he was starting to suspect the arrest was a mistake. No trained spy would crumble so easily.

But so what? Even if he wasn’t a spy, what he had done amounted to the same thing.

Once they got him back to headquarters, they would get the truth out of him.

The noise woke up the entire floor.

Doors cracked open one by one; curious heads peeked out, whispering excitedly, for wastelanders, danger was a spectacle.

Seeing the growing crowd, the officer gave a subtle signal to a nearby soldier.

The man nodded, pulled out a sheet of paper, and raised his voice for all to hear. “This is an arrest warrant issued by the New Alliance! The suspect will stand a public trial within seven days, the court will announce the hearing time!”

“Friends from afar, rest assured! We will never wrong an innocent man, but neither will we spare those who disrupt our order. If you’re curious about the charges, you may apply to attend the hearing as spectators.”

With the formalities done, he folded up the warrant and joined his comrades in escorting the still-screaming Sindison out of the hotel.

Not far away, in another hotel, a similar scene was unfolding.

Sindison wasn’t the only one involved in the Clearspring Daily affair, six other merchants from the Bugra Free State were also arrested that night.

The commotion, on top of the riots and the fire in the industrial district, spread through the entire city like wildfire.

Because every detainee was a member from the Bugra Free State, even innocent ones passing through were terrified, whispering nervously in the inns and taverns.

Had the New Alliance just declared war on their northern neighbor? Surely not, not so suddenly?

The entire night, the merchants huddled together in fear, quietly asking what had happened, each terrified of being implicated next.

...

When morning finally came, it brought new chaos.

Inside the editorial office of the Survivor’s Daily, the editor-in-chief let out a horrified cry.

“They all burned?!”

Upon hearing that their newspaper stock that had been printed the day before had gone up in flames, Zhao Yigeng, the chief editor, blurted the words out loud, and then just froze.

Such a thing had never happened before. Not even when the front lines were less than 50 kilometers from the industrial district!

The good news? Tomorrow’s headline had just written itself. The bad news? There would be no paper today.

Completely at a loss, Zhao Yigeng sat there in silence, massaging his temples when suddenly, a knock came at the door.

Assuming it was an editor with copy, he called out automatically, “Come in.”

The door opened.

But when he saw who entered, Zhao Yigeng jumped to his feet in shock, his secretary beside him froze as well, staring at the smiling man at the door, unsure whether to salute or hide.

It took Zhao three full seconds to collect himself. He forced a quick, nervous smile and hurried forward, hand outstretched.

“It’s an honor, an honor indeed! Esteemed administrator, what brings you here in person? Please excuse the mess, we weren’t expecting guests!”

Chu Guang shook his hand briefly, smiling. “Don’t be so formal. I was just passing by and thought I would take a look around. Hope I’m not interrupting your work.”

“Not at all! Make the Administrator a cup of tea! Dear administrator, please, sit down!” Zhao Yigeng’s face flushed red with excitement as he ushered him toward the sofa.

“R–Right away!” the secretary stammered, nearly spilling boiling water from the kettle in his haste.

Feeling a bit awkward under such frantic hospitality, Chu Guang gave a polite cough. “No need to be nervous. And, well, better not sit. If I do, you’ll just have to replace the furniture.”

He said it with a wry smile, then turned to the secretary, who had just set down the teacup. His tone softened. “You’re Xiao Wang, right? I’ll have to trouble you to step outside for a bit. I have something to discuss privately with the editor-in-chief.”

Both men blinked in surprise.

But Zhao Yigeng recovered quickly. With a meaningful glance, he signaled his secretary to leave. The secretary hurried out and closed the door behind him.

Out in the hall, Xiao Wang noticed one of the administrator’s guards standing guard. His stomach dropped.

What on earth had Editor Zhao done to warrant this? The administrator even came personally?

Inside, Zhao Yigeng was even more anxious. The excitement from earlier had vanished, replaced by dread.

The administrator’s calm tone felt... ominous. Like the prelude to a scolding. But no matter how hard he thought, he couldn’t figure out what he might have done wrong.

Then Chu Guang finally spoke. “I’m here to ask about one thing. Did today’s issue include any content about the Clearspring City’s eastern district?”

Zhao Yigeng exhaled in relief, it was just that!

He quickly smiled. “No, sir! Rest assured, once we received notice of the military lockdown in that area, I immediately instructed the editors to suppress all related stories...”

“Who told you to suppress them?”

Zhao Yigeng froze mid-sentence, mouth open. After a few seconds, he managed a weak shake of the head. “N–No one, sir.”

The New Alliance funded the media, yes, but rarely interfered with its operations. At most, they would define general guidelines and leave management to the papers themselves.

The Survivor’s Daily was collectively owned by Shelter 404, but no shelter representative had ever meddled in its editorial affairs. 𝕗𝐫𝚎𝗲𝘄𝐞𝕓𝐧𝕠𝘃𝕖𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝚖

Zhao Yigeng himself was the top decision-maker.

He had made the call based on his own political instincts, after reading the lockdown notice, and saw nothing wrong with that.

After all, the festival was right around the corner, followed by the memorial ceremony.

Even if there were stories about Clearspring City, surely they could wait until after those bigger, more important events. Besides, what if the government intended to keep that matter confidential?

Watching Zhao Yigeng’s clueless expression, Chu Guang sighed and spoke patiently. “The lockdown was issued to prevent unrelated people from entering a dangerous zone. There are not just Slime Mold there, but other mutants too, mutants, marauders, maybe worse. We have full safeguards in place to ensure Little Feather’s safety, but if someone dies in there, even if it’s not by Little Feather’s sub-entities, people will instinctively blame it, and panic will follow.”

“Shelter residents are learning how to coexist with harmless sub-entities. The lockdown will be lifted once conditions allow...”

Zhao Yigeng nodded furiously, like a bobblehead.

Chu Guang stopped mid-sentence, exasperated. “I’m not telling you this just to make you nod, I’m telling you to write it down! Put it in the paper!

“You need to interview the right people. Talk to the experts at the New Alliance Biological Research Institution, they know far more than I do. Then tell our citizens why we’re doing this, what the benefits are, what the risks are, and how we’ve prepared for them. And what did you do instead? Just because the Survivor’s Daily didn’t report on the Clearspring City’s eastern district, does that mean it doesn’t exist? If you don’t report something, does that mean no one will care about it? The things you don’t care about, someone else will. And the people we don’t unite, someone else will mess it all up!”

Although Chu Guang’s tone remained restrained, it was still unmistakably critical. With his authority and presence, every word fell upon Zhao Yigeng’s shoulders like a mountain.