Chapter 54 Butterfly: Butterfly Fall Incident

Chapter 54: Butterfly: The Butterfly Fall Incident

Upon hearing her classmates' description, Everly immediately confirmed that Seradia's video was connected to the Megan Medical Group—that string of meaningless "010101" was way too familiar to her!

Although when she had investigated the Megan clinic over the dental case, the company had flatly denied any connection between the two, but who buys that? In horror movies, nine out of ten big corporations and conglomerates are evil, and the tenth is the worst of all. Anyone who thinks Megan is squeaky clean is a fool!

But knowing that didn't get her anywhere.

For one, Everly had no evidence. Even when the dental clinic's clues had been so pointed, she hadn't been able to nail Megan Medical. Now, with just a hunch from a minor like her, no one would seriously investigate. Besides, she had no channels—she had no clue if U.S. officials were even looking into it, and if they were, who was doing the investigating.

So she'd just let it go. After all, if this were a horror movie, as long as it wasn't an apocalypse scenario, there'd always be a hero and heroine to fix everything. Until then, all she had to do was protect herself.

Lost in thought, Everly scanned the people around her.

Roughly 80% of the students at school had watched the video. But from what Everly could tell, after stopping the video, most of them had snapped back to normal. Though they were generally saddened by their favorite singer's suicide, they still ate, gossiped, and occasionally doubled over laughing like little hens, clutching their stomachs at something funny—they didn't seem too messed up by the video.

But some students had completely spiraled into agitation and restlessness since the video was taken down.

These were mostly Seradia's hardcore fans. Usually, whenever Seradia came up, they were the loudest. So when these students suddenly became obsessed, constantly refreshing their phones for Seradia news and blowing off everyone around them, their classmates didn't find it too strange.

"They must be really heartbroken. Let them cool down on their own," the students said.

Everly begged to differ.

She thought those gloomy students were seriously weird.

The case Everly zeroed in on was a classmate named Anusha, an Indian-American girl. She was a quiet, well-behaved girl who respected her teachers and always acted proper. Even though she barely talked, everyone liked her.

And such a gentle, shy girl had gotten weirdly restless after the Twitter video was taken down. Her already big eyes bulged out like glass marbles, and in class or between classes, she never once looked up from her phone. Her fingers were constantly tapping, and she muttered to herself, looking seriously unwell.

What really freaked Everly out was that during the afternoon art class, Anusha suddenly snapped out of her obsessive, jittery state. Her eyes welled up with tears as she stared intensely at the screen, and a weird, sickly flush spread across her cheeks.

Everly sat right behind Anusha. While watching, she accidentally caught a glimpse of Anusha's screen. Even though it was just a quick glance, her eyes barely focusing, the red-and-white butterfly-like image on the screen was burned into Everly's retinas, sparking intense curiosity. At times, she even felt the urge to grab the phone and get a closer look.

Fortunately, Everly had been training her mental strength through meditation since the dental incident, and the banshee's danger alarm was blaring like crazy in her head. So she quickly talked herself down from that weird impulse and got a grip.

She suspected Anusha was watching that video.

Anything on the internet leaves traces once it's out there. Seradia's suicide video had been up for over ten minutes—plenty of time for people to save their own copies.

And now, after the official ban on related videos, those copies were spreading like crazy.

At first, people posted the copied videos publicly on their own accounts on platforms like Twitter and Facebook. A lot of people had missed the 13 minutes when the video first dropped and were curious about the "terrifying brainwashing video" going viral online. They flocked to those accounts to check it out.

Every single one of them got hooked just like the earlier viewers, sparking a second wave of incidents across the country.

Luckily, the authorities were quick to react, cracking down hard—deleting any similar video they found and banning the accounts that posted them.

Since they couldn't be shared publicly, these videos gradually went "underground," circulating on private forums or in niche circles. No matter how powerful the American government was, it couldn't monitor every corner of the internet. Plus, people generally have a rebellious streak—the more something is forbidden, the more they want to see it. So the online battle to delete the videos raged on all day, and by the time Everly went to bed that night, Seradia's video still hadn't been fully eradicated.

Meanwhile, in Roshan City, Yanivli State, a grand memorial was underway.

Upon hearing of their idol's death, countless fans traveled from afar, rushing overnight to the building where Seradia had jumped. The singer's body had already been collected, but the police tape was still up. People held flowers and candles, crowding in layers around the cordon, weeping at the bloodstains on the ground. Some even lay flat, pressing their palms and cheeks against the rough concrete, or banging their foreheads against it, trying to feel the pain Seradia had felt before her death.

The massive crowd caused traffic jams. When police and traffic officers finally dispersed the crowd after an entire night, they found, near the cordon, the bodies of a brother and sister embracing each other, already stiff and cold.

According to the autopsy, the two had died by suicide.

The siblings were students from a neighboring city—the sister in 12th grade, the brother in 7th. Both were fanatical fans of Seradia, having collected every album and magazine poster since her debut. After watching Seradia's death video online, they silently packed their things, brought a sharp knife, and used their allowance to take the bus to the site.

"We love Seradia. We should go keep her company," the neighbors heard them say as they left home.

And true to their words, at the memorial site, the siblings each carved a prominent butterfly pattern into the other's forehead with the knife, then slashed each other's wrists. Amid the thick smell of blood, smiling, they closed their eyes in each other's embrace.

People were shocked by the deaths. No one could understand how the siblings had died in full view of everyone, or why the surrounding fans had done nothing to stop the tragedy unfolding before their eyes.

But soon, they understood.

Because the siblings' deaths were merely the prelude to a wave of suicides sweeping across the entire United States.

On the second night after Seradia's death, over a hundred fans who had attended the memorial jumped to their deaths in their respective cities; the next day, dozens more ended their lives in the same decisive manner; on the fourth day, police in Skanda State received a tip and rushed to an abandoned building, stopping thirteen teenagers who had gathered there for a group suicide...

Those were chaotic days. Almost every city saw suicides, and countless high-rises locked their rooftops and sealed their upper windows. Even so, people kept falling to their deaths every day, and at every scene, without exception, a red butterfly pattern was left behind. People said the fans were mourning their idol in this way, but strangely, as time passed, some who weren't even Seradia fans were also affected, leaving butterfly patterns before taking their own lives.

Later, as the sample size grew, people finally realized that the root of the suicide wave wasn't Seradia herself, but the video released after her death. No one knew who had filmed or released it. The U.S. government sent its top technical experts, yet they couldn't trace any information about the video's publisher.

All anyone knew was that anyone who watched the video felt an intense pull, unable to stop watching, over and over again... The more they watched, the more negative emotions accumulated inside; the more they watched, the harder it was to break free from the "addiction" to the video. When the negative emotions reached their peak and crushed their sanity, the viewer would step onto a rooftop and transform into a new "red butterfly."

The reason most of the early deaths were fans was simply that, with their idol dead, these people felt a greater impact and were more easily consumed.

To prevent more unwitting people from watching the video, the U.S. government immediately held a press conference, emphasizing three key points:

First, the authorities released the findings of their investigation into the series of suicides, clarified the severity of the situation, and declared that from then on, this death video—deemed to have hypnotic, brainwashing effects due to its unique filming techniques—would be placed on the "absolutely forbidden to view or share" list.

Second, the government required all major media outlets to run the conference's content on their front pages for at least a week. Additionally, all social platforms were to cooperate with the federal government in thoroughly "eradicating" the related videos from the internet.

Third, the government urged anyone who had saved the video to delete it immediately. For those with family members affected by the video and unable to break free, they were advised to isolate the affected individuals from the internet and electronic devices, allowing them to live quietly for a period.

...

The moment the conference was announced, the nation was in an uproar.

Whether the death video could truly be eradicated, Everly didn't know, but from then on, thanks to the nationwide crackdown, her classmate Anusha could no longer find new copies of the death video—that much was certain. The classmates all knew Anusha had been heavily affected by the video, so they banded together, snatched her phone, snapped the original memory card in half, and replaced it with a new one.

Anusha was furious for over half a month and even fell seriously ill. Though the illness was agonizing, after she recovered, she finally broke free from that dazed, hollow state and returned to normal, a smile reappearing on her gaunt face.

Later, according to statistics from the national newspaper *The Yona Times* published in January of the following year, the U.S. suicide rate that year rose 66% compared to previous years. In the single month of Seradia's death alone, 437 suicides occurred, 398 of which were linked to her.

Because of the frequent red butterfly imagery at the scenes, people dubbed this wave of suicides the "Butterfly Fall Incident," and Seradia earned the title "Lady Red Butterfly."

But all of that was still to come.

For now, Everly was puzzled by the sudden arrival of a few "guests."