Unlike the dramas previously filmed in the Film and Television City and Ancient Town, this new drama had a considerable amount of outdoor scenes.
Everything was shot on location, directly on the streets.
Fortunately, none of the actors in the crew were particularly famous celebrities, without too many rabid fans, so the street filming went relatively smoothly.
Occasionally, there were people who whipped out their phones from the sidewalk to take photos, but they were all stopped by the crew. Even the noisy sounds from the sidewalk were rare.
On the crowded streets and quiet neighborhoods, Song Jixing still managed to catch sight of some unusual occurrences with her keen senses.
Many pets had gone missing from homes, there were fewer stray cats on the streets, and even the birds in the trees seemed fewer, as if all the small animals had gone into hiding.
This, however, was not of particular concern to Song Jixing.
What she was concerned about was a recent viral video.
Supposedly, a self-media outlet had conducted statistics showing that Y City was where spiritual energy phenomena first appeared, with more occurrences than other places, including even a white dragon sighting in the neighboring Z City.
They had compiled news from across the country, creating statistics that highlighted Y City's peculiarities. Comparing it with officially released news, they concluded that Y City was the origin.
Since this self-media outlet had previously published many reliable and relevant news stories, tourists flocked to Y City, filling up hotels, and even visiting places where spiritual energy incidents had occurred, hoping to experience a touch of spiritual energy and try their luck.
Y City was indeed the origin of spiritual energy, but ordinary people had no way to access it.
After these events, it was hard for Song Jixing not to connect the dots, so while filming on the streets, she expanded the range of her spiritual perception to capture any anomalies.
Song Jixing relayed this information to her superiors, prompting them to investigate nearby stray dog shelters and pet adoption centers, where they did indeed find some unusual occurrences.
Many stray dogs, especially younger ones, had recently been adopted from the shelters.
All pets under one year old had been adopted from the pet adoption centers.
The internal information about the spiritual energy revival only increasing the chances of new generations having spiritual roots was seemingly leaked!
It now appeared that the leak had occurred.
More alarmingly, the authorities were completely unaware of the leaked information until Song Jixing's tip.
The higher-ups immediately convened an emergency meeting, preparing to investigate the individuals who had adopted the pets, as well as screening internal personnel to find the source of the leak.
Ever since the revival of spiritual energy, the relevant authorities had noticed that news agencies from countries known for their antics in human rights and freedom had shifted their focus.
Some had gone silent, keeping mum. Others started questioning their own countries' news, doubting the authenticity of the dragon and the spiritual energy revival. And still others demanded global sharing of research results and the white dragon, claiming it was an era of global economy.
Such matters were best taken with a grain of salt.
Considering the higher-ups were investigating at a sluggish pace, Song Jixing decided to pursue some less conventional methods.
She picked a quiet weekday and used a spiritual technique to trace the fur left behind by the adopted animals, leading her to an abandoned factory outside the city.
Song Jixing's spiritual perception scanned the area around the factory, finding nothing unusual, just dusty buildings that didn't seem to have been visited in a long time.
However, when her perception penetrated underground, she instantly discovered a brightly lit underground laboratory.
It appeared to be an underground chamber built before the factory, likely used as an air raid shelter or storage facility in the past.
After being repurposed, it had undergone renovations.
Song Jixing reported the location to Shen Feixian and her superiors.
There was no need to make arrests immediately; they could wait for a while, letting the fish gradually swim out to call their companions, before netting them all at once.
The effect would be much more significant that way.
Half a month later, at 2 AM.
Many people deep in their dreams were awakened by the wailing of police sirens outside.
As they lay in bed, the siren noise prompted them to open their social media feeds, where they found friends complaining about being woken up by the sirens.
In an instant, their sleepiness was half gone.
Could the sirens really be heard from that far away?
Just how many police had been deployed to cause such a commotion?
What the people didn't know was that due to the large number of suspects involved and the intensive arrest operation, the police department was severely understaffed and short on patrol cars, forcing them to temporarily borrow manpower and vehicles from nearby cities.
The next morning, Y City's local news channel reported the previous night's operation in a breezy manner.
They aired footage of police storming the underground factory and apprehending a group of criminals while rescuing trapped cats and dogs.
The news report's content and the actual footage differed greatly, causing the broadcast to go viral across the internet.
"Can someone tell me how they managed to catch abusive animal experimenters in the basement of an abandoned factory? And why were there foreigners among them? Are they all deviants?" a bewildered man asked after waking up and grabbing his phone.
After all, news of foreigners breaking the law in this country was rare, and even when they did, it wouldn't typically be broadcast in such a morning news segment, perhaps to save some face before deporting them back to their home countries.
Attentive netizens scoured the footage and found one of their former teachers appearing in it.
[This is Ah Yu: At the 18th second, the blond guy in the white lab coat standing on the left side of the door looks like my foreign teacher from last semester! He always arrogantly belittled Chinese while lecturing in English and yelled at students. At the end of the semester teacher evaluation, the whole class gave him low scores, and he was immediately fired by the school. Attached images (Image 1), (Image 2)]
Due to the striking contrast in the images, other netizens also showcased their eagle-eyed skills, capturing all the individuals appearing in the arrest footage and creating high-resolution images of them.
Some tried using AI to match the individuals, identifying quite a few, while others passed on the unidentified ones to the broader online community, asking if anyone recognized them.
Perhaps sensing the fervent public sentiment, the authorities later announced the nationalities of the arrested individuals in the afternoon, providing some clarity.
Ah, so that's what it was, no wonder they had such a long reach, conducting animal experiments on our land.
Of course, the other side immediately responded, claiming they were being framed and slandered!
After all, it was on our national territory, so they could write the news however they wanted, a classic propaganda tactic from the other side.
But it wasn't until the evening news that the entire global internet truly exploded.
The news anchor solemnly reported: In light of new developments in spiritual energy technology, one civilian-use spiritual energy transmission device will be constructed between Z City and Jing City each for efficient long-distance transportation.
The anchor specifically mentioned that these would be civilian transmission devices, to be integrated into the country's transportation system once fully constructed, with project details still in research and development.
