After hearing about their friend being on TV, the two girls looked at each other for only a moment before rushing over. After all, they only had one friend in common.
They both let out a collective sigh of relief as they saw Emilia's face in the corner of the screen, looking hale and hearty.
Combined with Emilia's abrupt cancellation of plans, it was no wonder that their thoughts were a little pessimistic when they heard about her being on TV.
'She's just on the side, nothing serious.'
However, as they really watched the broadcast, their eyes widened further and further.
"According to Samantha White, the list of over 389 missing children who have been rescued has already been made publically available on the White Deer corporation's website, and the concerned parents may check and arrange to pick their wards up as soon as possible. Meanwhile—"
The reporter's feed was zoomed out into a corner, and Emilia's face became increasingly difficult to see as the program's focus shifted to their studio.
The male anchor slammed his fist on the table, although it was clear to anyone paying attention that it didn't contain any force at all. The reporter wasn't a very good actor, apparently.
"How utterly preposterous! Not only do these criminals run rampant and take our children, but they also have the guts to sell them so openly! What do you think about this?"
The female anchor shook her head. "Although it's a good thing that so many children were rescued this time, it does make you think how many of them have been left behind in the pits of hell when they could have been so easily saved. If only our agencies were a little more active..."
The male anchor seemed to forget that he was supposed to be indignant as he laughed boisterously. "I doubt our agencies have a budget of three billion dollars, Cathy."
The female anchor nodded. "Speaking of which, for the White Deer corporation to spend such a large amount… although it's commendable, and no doubt a great service to the public, what do you think their motivation is?"
The male anchor completely ignored his cue of 'Could they be preparing to move into the political arena?' from the teleprompter. Instead, he suddenly became super excited as he heard her question. It was as if he had finally gotten the opportunity he was always waiting for his entire life.
"The answer is obvious, Cathy! It's because doting on your cute daughter is justice! Mr. White clearly has the right idea, what's 3 billion?! Fucking nothing—"
The program was abruptly cut off and replaced by the 'live broadcast' from the White family's mansion.
The three of them did not even get any time to react to the absurdity of it all before their attention was diverted to the commotion on the screen once more.
Although Samantha had clearly spoken much more about Emilia than the police, the reporters habitually went after the 'spicy' stuff first.
As Emilia calmly faced barely a couple of reporters, the police offers were bombarded with dozens of simultaneous questions and accusations, each subsequent one more vicious than before.
"Officer, may we know what is your true purpose of being here?"
"Is what miss Samantha said true?"
"Don't you think you're being too hasty?"
The dark skinned officer tried his best to remain cool and collected. This was the first time he was facing so many cameras at once. Compared to a single newspaper reporter, this was really on another level.
He couldn't even hear what half of them were saying.
"We're here to investigate the case of two missing students from Miss Emilia's school—"
Just as he was about to continue explaining the matter, however, a mic slammed into his jaw.
"Is it true that it's only been a few hours since they supposedly went missing?!"
Mark turned around with palpable anger at the unexpected assault, and the cameras didn't fail to capture even a single one of his micro-expressions. Of course, the reporter made sure to hit him from an angle that didn't get caught in the feed.
The purpose of news reporters was never to honestly report the truth, those days were in the past, when the audience used to watch the news for actual news.
Now, reporting the actual events was only a small part of their job. Their true purpose was to weave a story interesting enough for the audience to watch with rapt attention. Otherwise, they'll just switch to another channel.
The moment they hear a piece of news worth reporting, the reporters, of course, try to see the best angle from which it can be sold. And in this one, the story happened to need the police as the villain.
So how can they allow the officers to just calmly explain themselves? And even if they somehow managed to do so, there were a thousand and one ways to twist their words any way they liked till it fit their agenda.
"Mind your manners. And the severity of the case—"
And once again, his words were drowned out by a cacophony full of ridiculous questions, this time directed towards the female officer.
"Officer Morgan, what do you make of the inappropriate behaviour of your fellow officer?!"
The female officer had just been trying to explain how they were just doing their job, but now everyone seemed to completely ignore that topic as they started questioning their work ethics instead.
----------
As many news channels were simultaneously broadcasting the incident, some of Emilia's schoolmates had also been called over by their parents when they realized a student from their children's school was on the TV.
However, Penny's father greatly regretted calling her over.
"P-Penny, dear, can you… can you NOT lick the screen?"
"But Daddy, I can see my princess up so close!"
The poor man didn't know how to reason with his teenage daughter at all.
"What if you get electrocuted?"
Penny's mother, a petite blonde lady half the height of her husband, snorted derisively.
"Moron! It's an LCD panel, she won't get electrocuted no matter how hard she licks it."
"That's not the point! Why is she doing that anyway?!"
Penny's mother rolled her eyes as she walked over and dragged her daughter back by her ponytail, regardless of her indignant screeching.
"Noooo, my princess!"
"Shut up and let us watch, Penny."
The girl sat down on the sofa with a gloomy pout, but lit up once again as the screen zoomed in to Emilia's face.
The moment the camera dared shift anywhere else, the little girl rapidly sifted through the news channels until she found one focusing on her idol.
Penny's father sighed as he looked at the girl on the screen. "Well, she has good taste, at least."
On the other hand, the girl's mother was already frowning as she focused more on the news than her daughter's reaction. Although she only occasionally delved into news articles and reports, she was also keenly aware of some of the less desirable activities in their city.
Sometimes the police seemed to be very efficient and enthusiastic, while at other times it appeared as if they could care less.
Especially when it came to pursuing cases against the rich, they were notoriously lazy. But for them to go after the White family like this, it was far too abnormal.
Of course, as the reporters managed to rile the police officers up more and more, the commotion was too enticing for even the last few reporters focusing on Emilia to ignore. They also shifted their cameras over to not miss any action, leaving Penny with no choice but to watch the actual news.
"Aaaaaaaaaah! He dared look at my princess like that! I'll kill him!"
Penny's father looked at his daughter helplessly as his wife dropped a heavy fist on the little girl's head, making a very concerning 'bonk' sound, like a club hitting an empty pot.
"Keuk!"
"I told you to keep quiet, right?"
The girl only whimpered in response before going back to glaring at the police officers on screen, who were desperately defending themselves from the reporter's rapid accusations.
"No we did not open the case hastily, it's perfectly legal to open a missing person case immediately if needed—"
"What do you mean this is corrupt?! Just because they managed to do one good thing doesn't mean they can't be suspected of anything else!"
"This case is still under investi—"
However, at this moment, a change occurred that no one had been expecting.
As if they were in a poorly directed action movie, the hall's windows shattered and the doors slammed open as armed men in black suits stormed in tyrannically.
Not to mention the reporters at the scene or the crew at their broadcasting stations, even the audience was left dumbfounded. Many wondered if this was really a live news report, or if they had accidentally switched channels.
"Get down on the ground!"
"Down on the groun—"
The team leader abruptly felt his throat constrict as he found that he wasn't just facing some bodyguards and uncooperative civilians, but dozens of news reporters on live feed.
