World Occult Usage Guide

The Reaction to the Event in Chapter 21

"Today is December 15, 2037, exactly 12 hours since the 'Wood Family Horror Case' that we know about."

"This station's reporter will bring you the latest developments in the incident."

"A Mississippi River alligator that escaped from a zoo sneaked into the Wood family mansion on Margaret Street on the night of the 14th, causing major panic. It bit one person, and 51 others suffered injuries of varying degrees in the chaos."

"The crocodile that caused the incident has been shot dead by the police."

"The state zoo stated that the alligator was originally one of the animals transferred to the SA Foundation, but it escaped from the warehouse due to improper handling by the organization's employees during transport. This information was subsequently confirmed by the SA Foundation's public relations department."

"Foundation spokesperson Jorna Cardenas stated that the employee has been dismissed and assured that similar management errors will not be repeated. The foundation expressed its willingness to cover the victim's losses and medical expenses and issued a public apology to Ms. Doris Esther Wood."

"Let's hear what the Wood family's spokesperson has to say."

The face of the short-haired woman appeared on the television screen; her eyes were slightly red, her voice was calm, and her expression was serious.

"The dust has settled, at least that's what we think. The Wood family and the St. Aniloff Foundation have reached a settlement and are willing to forgive their mistake."

After listening to the official report, Lin An turned off the television.

The foundation stepped in.

Open your phone, and the social section is flooded with "Party Horror" stories, featuring all sorts of absurd speculations.

Serious mainstream media reports are relatively restrained, while tabloids spread rumors, and some personal accounts speculate wildly, posting a few unrelated old pictures or obviously photoshopped fake pictures, fooling a lot of people into believing them.

"Shocking! The truth about the Wood family's human experimentation exposed..."

What secrets lie behind the astonishing wealth of the Wood family? We'll reveal them to you soon...

"Sources have revealed that photos of what appear to be extraterrestrial life forms were taken at the scene!"

"A key given by a UFO? This is not the first time the Wood family has been involved in supernatural phenomena."

Lin An scrolled through them one by one, but couldn't find a single picture of April.

As luck would have it, when April woke up, everyone was in a thick fog and wearing swimsuits, so they were terrified and had no idea to go back to get their phones and then come back to take a picture.

More than 50 lost mobile phones were later found at the scene, most of which were damaged by water, trampling, or electrical leakage.

Lin An suspected that the authorities did not want to leave any electronic evidence. Before returning the phone to its owner, they checked everything. If they accidentally captured any mysterious traces, they would claim that the phone was damaged.

In fact, these media outlets were not focused on the "crocodile" and the "injury incident," but rather on the Wood family itself.

If this had happened at an obscure party, it probably would have been forgotten within hours.

The Wood family, a famous conglomerate in the United States, is a name that itself represents attention and popularity.

It's not just media outlets trying to ride the wave of popularity; there are also professional online trolls who have been bribed by their competitors.

Taking this opportunity, they spread conspiracy theories everywhere, smearing the reputation of the Wood family. The most obvious example is the repeated use of the term "alien civilization".

alien?
Lin An was about to click on the news details when it was redirected to a "404" error.

The Wood family also made a move.

In less than ten minutes, all the unsubstantiated negative news disappeared, and the headlines were still about the Wood family, who were in the eye of the storm, but the focus had completely shifted.

"Socialite Doris Wood has added a new one-way follow on social media!"

"An account with millions of followers has only one person following it—who exactly is this mysterious man?"

"Rumor has it that the account belongs to Doris's secret lover, a prince from the Dragon Kingdom..."

Good heavens, where did this prince come from in the Dragon Kingdom?

The Qing Dynasty has been gone for so many years, why are they giving themselves a crown in this empty void?

Before writing their reports, could these media outlets at least check information from other countries?

Wait a minute!

Lin An's eyes widened suddenly as he opened his social media account. A bloody 999+ notification jumped into view, and the constant "ding-dong" vibrations filled the air as his battery drained rapidly.

I quickly set my homepage to be "invisible to non-followers," and the backend bombardment stopped.

After clicking the one-click delete button, Lin An recalled that when Doris followed him last night, before he could reject her or follow her back, the crazy party games began.

He was afraid his phone would get wet and he forgot about it.

Clicking on Doris's homepage, her default profile picture appeared in her following list, and she was the only account besides the official one that did not show "mutual following".

Well, if we pay attention now, things will probably get even worse.

Forget it...

I don't plan to get to know her well anyway.

"Ding dong."

While on the homepage, a new message popped up, and the page automatically redirected.

D_Easter: @AnL, I hope you see this message, my dearest AnL. Your selfless act yesterday is deeply etched in my heart. I just want to thank you for your bravery :). XOXO, Lili.

This message instantly garnered hundreds of thousands of likes and tens of thousands of comments.

"Just who is this kid! How did he manage to win Doris's favor?"

"The heir to the Brian Group has been pursuing her relentlessly for three years, only to be rejected without hesitation. Why is Miss Wood suddenly paying attention to another man?"

"My goddess, don't fall in love! You are my Mary, the only light in my life!"

"Could he really be a prince from some country?"

"Got it, he must be a prince from the Lion Kingdom! The Stars and Stripes and royal blue, I'm totally hooked!"

Do the Lion Kingdom's royal family and the Eagle Kingdom's president know about this arrangement? Lin An understood. Doris and the Wood family behind her had used him as a shield to divert the attention of conspiracy theorists. After all, the public's interest in romantic gossip far outweighed their enthusiasm for the unknown and the pursuit of science.

Suddenly, several new comments caught Lin An's attention.

"Hey, I know this kid. Isn't he Lin An from the University of Ann Arbor?"

“I remember now, yesterday in the chaos he was desperately calling us to take refuge inside, and he was holding the door shut so those bastards inside wouldn’t close it.”

"If it weren't for him guiding me, I almost slipped and tumbled down the hillside!"

"Out of so many people present, he was the only one willing to stand up..."

"Don't even mention Doris, Lin An is handsome and reliable, I've fallen for him too! Damn it, competing with a socialite for a boyfriend, why is my love life so bumpy!"

"Disgusting, that kind of idiot and his female simp."

"Who said it was only women?! You're that guy from the fourth year of undergraduate studies, aren't you?! I saw you in there, the one in the rush to lock the door! If you're so capable, then never go back to university, otherwise I won't dare call myself Lin's male lapdog until I break your legs!"

You should just be a decent human being...

After thinking for a moment, Lin An clicked on the background app and saw his profile picture constantly tapping.

Haruto: Lin-san! Lin-san! Have you checked our school's forum?!
AnL: Yeah, the whole school was in an uproar.

Haruto: You already have over 300,000 followers!

AnL: What would I do with so many fans? To make duck blood soup?

Haruto: (ω)!

Haruto: What the expert said is so profound, I don't understand it QAQ
AnL: Sigh, your childhood and mine are different.

Haruto: Lin-san, how did you manage to be the only one-way follower of Doris-chan? I also want to be followed by Doris-chan!

AnL: If you want to know, do me a favor and I'll tell you.

Haruto: Red bean paste? Master~ I'll do whatever you want~
AnL: ...Be normal.

Haruto: To fulfill your ambitions, General, I am willing to serve you with utmost loyalty. What are your orders, my lord?
AnL: Do you remember "Two Ravens" that we wrote together before?

Haruto: You mean that winter when you went to the art school to pick up girls, and I was the one who struggled to finish the job?
AnL: There's only one raven left. Log in to that VPN software's cloud account, cancel my account, and delete all data as quickly as possible.

Lin An used ASCII encoding for this part, then switched back to English to continue typing.

AnL: Sigh, I tripped and fell at a party and got a minor injury. I'm too lazy to go back to school for a while. Send me that game when you have time, I'll fix some bugs.

Less than a second later, the code above was deleted, and Sasaki, as if on cue, sent a zip file of a single-player game.

Haruto: So, does that mean we'll see each other again next semester?

AnL: We'll see.

Sure enough, the fat guy was the most reliable helper.

After chatting with Sasaki for a few more minutes about trivial matters, there was a knock on the door.

Lin An narrowed his eyes.

Has anyone arrived?

After being transferred by the rescue team, Lin An took advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention and blended into the crowd, receiving treatment with the students and answering the police station's questions methodically.

He was just an ordinary student, and the rescuers didn't pay him any special attention, quickly letting him go home.

At noon the next day, as Lin An had expected, the St. Anilov Foundation noticed something was wrong with him and came knocking on his door.

"Who is it?" Lin asked, pretending to be serious.

"Please open the door, Mr. Lin. We are the special investigation team." A serious male voice sounded from outside the door.

New faces, huh?

Looking through the peephole, a man and a woman stood outside, dressed in black, white and green uniforms.

If I remember correctly, when the helicopter's logistics team landed, Lin An caught a glimpse of them wearing these uniforms.

A D-level personnel of the Foundation?
Your characterization is starting to resemble that of some unspeakable organization.

No, that won't work.

I need to be more serious.

After gathering his thoughts, Lin An asked warily, "What do you want with me?"

"Yes, sir, we'd like to confirm, was the call to the special investigation team at 20:05 PM last night from you?" the female investigator said.

"Yes."

“Thanks to your reminder, Mr. Lin, we were able to arrive in time and capture the escaped crocodile. Thank you for your contribution to the safety of Dietrich City.” The female investigator smiled. “Based on your contribution, the Special Investigation Team will reward you with $3000.”

There's still money to be made.

Can I have cash?

"can."

Lin An accepted this unexpected joy without hesitation, and feigned surprise as he opened the door. The two investigators entered the apartment, blocked the door, and looked around.

"The bonus will be mailed to your mailbox within 5 to 7 business days. In addition, we need to conduct further investigations regarding yesterday's events."

The male investigator adjusted his glasses.

"Please cooperate."

(End of this chapter)