Dawn broke over the highland plateau not with a burst of sunlight, but with a heavy, suffocating blanket of grey mountain mist. The torrential downpour of the previous night had finally slowed to a steady, freezing drizzle, but the aftermath of the tropical low-pressure system was visible everywhere. The air was thick with the scent of wet clay, sheared vegetation, and bruised stone.
Inside the mouth of the limestone cavern, the production crew was already in a state of absolute, unbridled panic.
Director Zhao stood huddled over a portable, water-resistant tech console, his face completely drained of color as he stared at the live telemetry feeds coming in from the high-altitude backup drones. The automated live-stream broadcast had just gone live for the morning segment, and within minutes, over six hundred million viewers worldwide flooded into the chat rooms, greeted immediately by the grim reality of the wilderness.
