Chapter 1121 The Rise of a Storm
“It’s really a big-budget video. Every frame of it costs a huge sum. The special effect of this promotion video is mind-blowing. I even have gooseb.u.mps.”
The subordinates all began to voice their views.
“The promotion video alone costs an arm and a leg. It’s not even a trailer. From the promotion video, it can be seen that this movie is definitely a big-budget work. The company probably has invested more than a billion!”
“Is Purple Moon Entertainment Company going to have a head-on compet.i.tion with Hollywood in works with special effects?”
“Wait! Although special effects are impressive, who are the protagonists? Where is the female lead? It didn’t show any supporting roles either. We only saw some scenes of the universe. Why are they keep us guessing? Even if it’s only a promotion video, it should have shown the leads. Usually, this kind of video reveals a little bit of the main story, right? There’s nothing like that in this video.”
“Did they intend to make it like this? First of all, it video is made by their sophisticated and professional special effects production team. Today, only a few leading Hollywood companies can make this kind of special effects. If they just want to promote their special effects, it’s not necessary to make such a video.”
“Let’s wait for their future announcement. Now Purple Moon Entertainment Company’s hyping this video, there will be news if they hired others’ teams for this.”
Listening to his men’s discussion, the director sighed deeply and said, “I did some research on Purple Moon Entertainment Company a few years ago. Their special effects team is not from Hollywood. That team is very mysterious, working exclusively for that company. I think the more likely explanation is that the team is having a comeback. Anyway, Purple Moon Entertainment Company has made a big move this time. It is conceivable that this video will soon become a hit.”
“Director, the name of the movie has been released! The video, too! According to Zi Yan’s and Hanyang’s Weibo, the name of the movie is Interstellar War.”
“It’s a big-budget science fiction movie!”
“Perhaps this is the rise of Hua nation’s science fiction works!”
Discussions like these were occurring in many entertainment companies. Their sense of the changes in the industry was extremely keen. From the video, they had all noticed something extraordinary.
Soon, the video spread to the world-cla.s.s film giant, Hollywood. The staff all fell silent after watching the video.
After moments of silence, a hot discussion burst out.
“Oh my G.o.d!”
“What the h.e.l.l are these special effects?”
“Every second of this video involves special effects. Don’t the people who made this video care about the cost at all? They’ve made such a huge investment in this. Won’t they worry that they might lose money?”
Purple Moon Entertainment Company’s science fiction big-budget work soon made all the headlines and trending searches.
Even before the trailer was released, the Interstellar War had attracted the attention of countless people.
Undoubtedly, netizens did not forget the Pirates of the Caribbean. When they first saw the video, they thought it was cool. But when they saw that it was a work of Purple Moon Entertainment Company, they thought it was even cooler!
Their expectation rose sharply. Many even searched online when Interstellar War would be released.
Unfortunately, they didn’t find an answer.
Many even also called Zi Yan.
Hong Qitao and Tang Jiayi first congratulated her and then chatted with her for a few minutes.
There were also calls from the bosses of many large companies to congratulate Zi Yan on her comeback.
After hanging up the phone, Zi Yan looked at Zhang Han with resignation and asked, “Who do you think should play the male lead this time?”
“Well, just doc.u.ment the real event. This story is about Uncle Liu and Cloud Shadow Sky contending against the Tiger Talisman Royal Family, isn’t it? If you think the story lacks a beginning, you can tell Li Mu to shoot a few scenes. I think that guy is quite eager to do things with us,” Zhang Han said with a smile.
“Brother Han, I just told Sister Yan about the main story. I think the story will be wonderful if we base it on our experiences. There is a huge jungle on the Roland Star. We can shoot there. If you want, we can also be on camera. To introduce the main story, Li Mu can help. Then, we can directly jump to the contention and switch the environment and background. The rest will be relatively simple,” Zhou Fei said.
“I don’t want to play a leading role. But maybe I can make a guest appearance. I want Li Mu and others to be in the movie. What do you think, honey?” Zi Yan asked.
“The point of making this movie is for you to have fun. You can film it however you want. I’m at your service, too,” Zhang Han said with a chuckle.
“You only say things others want to hear.” Zi Yan smiled brightly.
She then flashed Zhang Han an amorous look, as if saying, “I’ll reward you at night.”
“Haha.”
Zhang Han laughed.
“Beep…”
His phone rang while he was laughing.
Zhang Han seldom received phone calls.
He took it out and saw that it was from his precious daughter.
“How come you’re calling me at this time? Did something happen?” Zhang Han’s eyes narrowed slightly.
A large amount of his soul sense extended in the north. Like sunlight pouring on the ground, in an instant, his soul sense crossed over Xiangjiang’s south island and went all the way to the First Middle School. After observing for a while, Zhan Han found that Mengmeng was calling him in the corridor during a break.
Now that everything was fine, Zhang Han withdrew his soul sense.
Mengmeng’s sweet voice also fluttered out from the phone.
“Daddy, my cla.s.smates and I want to have a barbecue at the bay this evening.”
“Okay. I’ll make arrangements for that.”
“Well, did you miss me?” Mengmeng asked impishly.
“What?”
“Bad boy, did you miss me?”
“Pfft…”
Zhang Han’s pupils shrank. He almost spat despite himself.
“Where did this girl learn this way of talking from?”
He couldn’t help but feel mortified.
“No, I didn’t,” Zhang Han replied, pulling a wry face.
“Humph!”
He then heard the familiar coquettish snort.
He simmered with laughs.
In the end, he admitted, “Yes, I missed you, of course. You’re my one and only precious daughter.”
“That’s more like it. It’s just that you didn’t pa.s.s my test. I was going to give you a kiss, but you missed the opportunity.”
“Well, can I make up for my mistake with another meritorious service?”
“How?”
“I’ll prepare a very sumptuous barbecue for you.”
“Well, okay. Ah, Daddy, it’s time for cla.s.s. I gotta go. Mwah.”
After that, Mengmeng hung up the phone directly.
Yue Xiaonao, who had heard the whole conversation, kept showing disdain on her face.
“You’re so clingy!
“I think I’m gonna throw up!”
“Gee, I can’t stand it!
“Mengmeng, you are your daddy’s precious little girl!”
Yue Xiaonao ridiculed Mengmeng repeatedly while she was on the phone.
Beside them, Bei Jinnan said with a smile, “I’ve heard people call some guys mama’s boy, but I’ve never heard of a daddy’s girl. Xiaonao, you can’t criticize Mengmeng. It’s said on the Internet that girls often have a better relations.h.i.+p with their dads. You’re also a girl. How come you’re not close to your dad?”
“Because I’ve grown up!” Yue Xiaonao squinted at them and said, “Only children go around and give others kisses.”
“Humph, you are obviously envious of me.” Mengmeng put away her mobile phone, glanced at Yue Xiaonao, and said, “You’re envious because your dad is not as good-looking as mine.”
“Pfft!”
“How hurtful it is!”
Yue Xiaonao flared up. “Who said that? My father can look quite attractive if he didn’t keep that beard! I’m serious. You don’t believe me because you haven’t seen him without a beard. Every time I got rid of his beard, it grew back the next day. There’s nothing I can do about it.”
“Well, that’s right. I meant that his beard makes him look not so good,” Mengmeng added.
“I’ll make his beard disappear sooner or later!” Yue Xiaonao vowed.
Hearing their words, Bei Jinnan grew curious as well.
“What is Xiaonao’s father like? How long is his beard?”
But Bei Jinnan’s mind didn’t dwell on that for too long. His eyes soon flickered to Nina as a smile spread across his face.
“Nina, you’re so quiet and gentle. I like this kind of girl. So glad to have you here.”
“Swoosh, swoos.h.!.+”
Two sharp instantly gazes flashed at him.
“You mean we are not quiet and gentle?” Mengmeng said lightly.
“Are you saying that we are loud and annoying?” Yue Xiaoxiao showed a menacing look on her face.
“I, I didn’t.”
“Whoosh.” Cold sweat streamed down Bei Jinnan’s forehead.
He only wanted to flatter Nina. But somehow, he offended the other two big shots at a time.
“G.o.d, when can I ever pick up a girl?”
Bei Jinnan instantly became dispirited. Then, he meekly followed them back to the cla.s.sroom.
The famous Bei Jinnan in this junior high school was really nothing in front of Mengmeng and her group.
But, of course, Bei Jinnan was even more famous for his status as Mengmeng’s escort, as well as his unique Beibei’s-style warning.
After receiving Mengmeng’s call, Zhang Han began to make preparations for the barbecue. After all, Mengmeng’s request was his priority.
Zhang Han directly called Zhao Feng.
“Xiaofeng, take some ingredients to the barbecue restaurant at the bay. We’ll have dinner there in the evening.”
“Okay.”
Zhao Feng was a very reliable disciple.
He directly fetched the barbecue menu and began to prepare ingredients based on the menu.
At four o’clock, Zhou Fei and Chen Changqing went out to pick up Chen Chuan.
Zhang Han and Zi Yan had nothing else to do, so they drove to the First Middle School to pick up Mengmeng and the other two.
Since school was not over yet, they went shopping nearly. Zi Yan saw people roller-skate in the square.
She then compressed her lips, looked at a couple of roller-skating with a smile, and said, “You once roller-skated while holding me in your arms. It feels like it happened only yesterday.”
“I can also do it right now.” Zhang Han smiled.
“No, not now.”
“It’s no big deal. Let’s go and roller-skate for a while.”
“There isn’t enough time.” Zi Yan looked at her watch and said, “Mengmeng will be off school in 20 minutes. If we started now, we’d have to leave halfway through the fun.”
“Then we’ll do it after dinner. The evening is also our private time as husband and wife,” Zhang Han said softly.
The feeling of being cared about was very important to women.
At this time, Zi Yan felt a strong sense of happiness.
She was sitting on a bench in the corner of the square leaning against Zhang Han, while looking at the pa.s.sers-by.
They were not doing anything special, but Zi Yan found it very romantic.
However, good times did not last long.
Five minutes later, a young couple sat near them.
In less than a few minutes, their voices became louder and louder.
The woman complained, “Today is our two years’ anniversary. But you gave me nothing. There are no surprises, no gifts. You don’t care about me at all.”
The man refuted, “Who said I didn’t give you any gifts? Didn’t I just give you one?”
The woman said, “You think you can please me with just a necklace?”
The man said, “Then what do you want? Tell me.”
The woman said, “Don’t you know what I want?”
The man said, “Is it a house? A car? Money?”
The woman sneered.
Then, she got up and stalked away in a huff. That drove the man crazy. Fuming, he stood up to go after her.
Zi Yan sensed the wonderfulness of youth from this couple. She blinked playfully and asked, “Do you know why that girl is unhappy?”
“You know the answer? What is it?” Zhang Han inquired.
“His way of giving the gift must be wrong,” Zi Yan said. “Girls don’t just want gifts. They also want romance. Life needs a sense of ritual.”
Then, Zi Yan curled her lips slightly and said, “Most of the boys are careless. Even if they are very caring and heedful, sometimes they can’t guess a girl’s mind. Why have you never been like that? I seem to have even forgotten what it is like to be angry.”
“Hahaha.”
Zhang Han burst out laughing.
He suddenly felt that Zi Yan was very cute.
“Why are you laughing? What I said is not entirely right. When I first came back to Huaxia, you were a male chauvinist through and through. Eh? No! You have such a high EQ, so you must have pretended to be a male chauvinist to make me angry. Or is it because you didn’t care about time then?” Zi Yan thought of something and asked.
“Ahem, oh, Mengmeng has been dismissed from school. Let’s go pick her up.”
Zhang Han quickly looked at his watch, grabbed Zi Yan’s head, and strode toward the school.
Thus, this matter was left unsettled.
After school was over, Yue Xiaonao, Nina, and Mengmeng climbed to the back seat of the car and chatted in high spirits.
“Nina, this is your first day in school. How do you feel about it?” Zi Yan asked with a smile.
“I like it. It’s a very special experience,” Nina replied.
“Yeah, today is really special,” Yue Xiaonao said with a grin. “Several teachers all asked Nina to answer questions, but she couldn’t answer any of them.”
“I’ll go back and study hard.” Nina’s face blushed.
“You’ve just come here. It’s normal that you can’t answer those questions. But with your intelligence and wisdom, you will definitely get good grades,” Zi Yan comforted her.
“I haven’t finished yet.”
As if trying to surprise them, Yue Xiaonao waited for a moment before continuing, “Nina doesn’t know a thing about English or foreign language. In math, she didn’t even answer the most basic questions. Later on, when the teacher posed a difficult question, Nina provided the answer right away. She showed us how she used functional operations to solve the problem. Our math teacher was dumbstruck after hearing her explanation. It was so funny.”
“I know some mathematics.” Nina smiled too.
She was glad that she proved she was not completely ignorant on this planet.
Listening to their chatting, Zhang Han showed a smile on his face. He found this very interesting.
An elf attending school here was also quite funny.
They left the school at 6 p.m. and arrived at a barbecue restaurant in the bay area half an hour later.
Zhao Feng had already booked a private room, which was next to the railing on the open-air platform on the second floor.
The first floor was a street food stall. This place was crowded and boisterous.
It was the first time for Nina to dine in this kind of place.
There was a hubbub of voices at the food stall on the first floor. Some diners spoke so loudly that others would think they were having a quarrel. Spittle was flying everywhere.
Nina eyed those people with annoyance several times.
“With them talking so loudly, the others would have to raise their voices to chat with one another, and the listeners have to listen very carefully.”
“Nina, barbecue is also very delicious,” Yue Xiaonao said. “We have a lot of special local food. We’ll take you to try them all during this semester. With Uncle Zhang here, you’ll be able to taste the best cuisine.”
There was no doubt that Yue Xiao Nao was a foodie. More indisputably, Zhang Han’s delicious food had won her heart.
Yue Xiaonao also used to be a spoiled princess. But now, she was obediently following Mengmeng’s lead. That was rare for her.
In the beginning, she always demanded that she would be the leader and take care of Mengmeng.
But she no longer talked about it now.
Moments later, the barbecue meal was served.
There were beef kebabs, lamb kebabs, pork kebabs, ribs, cooked tendons, roasted pig trotters, roasted chicken feet, roasted chicken wings, roasted oysters…
It was too sumptuous. Basically, everything that one could order in a barbecue restaurant could be found on their table.
The meal was, of course, palatable. This was the first time that Nina had a barbecue. She found the experience very special. This kind of food culture seemed to be pretty wonderful, too.
Just as Zhang Han finished eating, his cell phone rang.
It was a call from Liu Qingfeng.
“I’ve communicated with the Heavenly Talisman Sect. They will cooperate with us in the sale of talismans first. Thanks to your help, their attainments in talismans have improved a lot. They are ready to gradually bring people to the Kunlun Immortal World, the King’s Domain, and the Lost Continent for adventures.
“The name list of the other forces will be ready by the day after tomorrow. Next, we will give those on the list some training.
“I’ll go to the King’s Domain tomorrow and talk to Lord Nan Shan and the others. They’ll also give me a name list o those who can come with us.”
“Now I’ve got enough personnel at the beginning stage of the plan.
“…”
Zhang Han was stunned by Liu Qingfeng’s report.
“How come you’re that efficient?”
“After all, we don’t have much time left. The situation in the Sea Dragon Star Area is constantly changing. We have to take precautions ourselves,” Liu Qingfeng sighed softly and replied.
“Well, don’t work yourself too hard,” Zhang Han said with emotion.
“No, I won’t.”
After hanging up the phone, Zhang Han pondered for a while.
Then, he focused on chatting with everyone at the table.
Liu Qingfeng’s business plan had just been carried out, but the progress was rapid.
Seeing the steps he devised, even Zhang Han couldn’t help exclaim that Liu Qingfeng was truly brilliant.
Liu Qingfeng always felt that there was not enough time to carry out his plan, for the situation in the Sea Dragon Star Area was too complicated.
On the surface, it might not seem complicated, because the compet.i.tion was clearly between the Tiger Talisman Royal Family and the Cloud Shadow Sky, and the Tiger Talisman Royal Family was certainly targeting Zhang Hanyang and his people.
The war hadn’t started yet, The entire Sea Dragon Star Area seemed to have entered a state of tranquility.
But many people knew that this kind of peace was just the eve of a storm.
In other words, all kinds of undercurrents were surging beneath the calm surface.
In the Tiger Talisman Royal Family.
Hu Tianshan and dozens of high-level members were standing before a burly man on the throne.
This man was the king of the Tiger Talisman Royal Family.
People called him Tiger G.o.d!
Comparatively speaking, Tiger G.o.d wasn’t as famous as Hu Tianshan and the others.
There were even some people who had never heard of Tiger G.o.d.
But for elderly figures and those relatively powerful, Tiger G.o.d’s name had long resounded in their ears. When his name was mentioned, everyone would look awestruck.
That was because Tiger G.o.d was mighty and fierce. No less than 10 Yuan Ying Realm Peak-Stage cultivators had died in his hands.
The entire Sea Dragon Star Area once trembled in fear when Tiger G.o.d launched that carnage.
He had held others in such horror that their faces would pale the moment someone mentioned him.
Many forces didn’t dare upset the Tiger Talisman Royal Family at all.
Now that hundreds of years had pa.s.sed, Tiger G.o.d had already become a figure in legend.
The higher-ups of many forces surmised that he might be cultivating in seclusion to try to advance to the G.o.d Transformation Realm.
For all those years, Tiger G.o.d rarely appeared in the Tiger Talisman Royal Family.
But the current situation drew him out.
“Your Majesty.”
Hu Tianshan said calmly, “According to those on the ancestral land, Grand Master is still dormant, but he may wake up in the near future. The guardian said…”
Before he could finish his words, Tiger G.o.d, who was on the throne, suddenly opened his mouth to speak. His voice was extremely hoa.r.s.e and low.
“The Tiger Talisman Royal Family has been quiet for too many years. It seems that the others have forgotten me.
“In this case…
“Then let’s set the Sea Dragon Star Area… on fire.”
“Swis.h.!.+”
As soon as Tiger G.o.d finished speaking, scorching flames suddenly shot from his body.
Were these flames of rage?
In the raging flames, Tiger G.o.d’s figure slowly dissolved.
Everyone present was shocked both physically and mentally.
“Is His Majesty going to wage a war?
“Yes!
“His Majesty has been in secluded cultivation for a very long time, and the entire Sea Dragon Star Area has been peaceful for too long.
“It’s time to have a great war.”
One of the subordinates cupped his hands to Hu Tianshan and reported, “Your Lords.h.i.+p, according to the latest news, Zhang Hanyang and his people have indeed disappeared from the Dal Star. No one knows where they are now. Another noteworthy piece of news is, Li Mu of the Cloudy Shadow Sky has brought a large number of fleets to the barbarian planet near the Dal Star, which is called Lost Continent. They’re building a s.p.a.ce station there. Judging from the scale, it will be the most advanced s.p.a.ce station the Sea Dragon Star Area has ever had. There are also various construction projects going on rapidly on the Lost Continent. It seems that they are converting that place into their stronghold.”
As soon as these words were out, the expressions of several people around him altered slightly.
“Has the Cloud Shadow Sky already started to make their moves? Or perhaps is the project on the Lost Continent just a cover?”