Chapter 1154: The Last Story
Translator: Lordbluefire
The twilight of evening shone upon the clear and crystalline river waters, making it look like a piece of expired salmon.
At the long bridge of the river, the girl leaned against the railings and was sobbing to the young man.
“You should have let me die. In that case, I won’t have to be in such agony!”
This world was filled with evil. It was just like a thug that continuously beat up a young girl, causing her body to be filled with injuries.
“You think that suicide is an act of courage. In reality, it is just a type of escape!”
The young man persuaded, so anxious that his forehead was beaded with sweat.
“It doesn’t matter!”
The young girl smiled miserably.
“Emma, life never has the word ‘relax’ in it. By living on, it’s already considered a type of victory. If you can obtain happiness, that would be a great victory!”
The young man persuaded.
“It doesn’t exist. I’ve even forgotten when was the last time I was happy.”
The young girl used the back of her hand to wipe away her tears. “You should leave. Go and find a better girl.”
When the young man saw this, he no longer tried to persuade her. Instead, he just stood at the railings and enjoyed the wind. He spread his arms wide and looked at the girl.
“After I lost you, my entire world has lost its color. Since you want to commit suicide, let me join you!”
The young man heaved a sigh. After that, a smile appeared on his lips, as sweet as ice cream that would melt on the tip of one’s tongue.
“Letting go of my dreams would actually make me feel so relaxed?”
The young man blinked his eyes mischievously. “If I knew this long ago, I would have given up earlier.”
“Don’t!”
The young girl was badly frightened. “Don’t you want to become a great director so you can shoot the best movie in history? Why would you seek death?”
“Without you, even if I shot the best movie, whom would I show it to?”
The young man spoke in a self-mocking manner, “Compared to tasting the fine wine of success, I would rather share this joy together with you!”
“I’m not worthy!” The young girl sobbed. “I’m just an android!”
“So what?”
The young man counter-asked.
“If I follow you, I will only harm you. Your future is boundlessly bright, but if you have a girlfriend like me, it will only cause you to be shunned by those in the movie industry!”
The girl covered her face in pain.
“Girlfriend? From today onward, you are no longer my girlfriend!”
The young man suddenly leaped down from the railing and knelt with a single knee. He then took out a box from his pocket. After opening it, there was a ring quietly sitting there.
“Emma, marry me. Will you be my wife?”
The marriage proposal, which suddenly appeared, caused the young girl to start. After that, an immense feeling of happiness suffused her chest.
However, there was no result to the marriage proposal because a police car was rapidly speeding over.
“It is that girl. Capture her!”
Upon hearing this, the young man immediately rushed to the girl’s side and grabbed her right hand. “Flee quickly!”
“Cut!”
Su Ying shouted as he excitedly waved his fist.
“Perfect. Truly too perfect. The emotions were perfectly displayed.”
Su Yin was like a dog skin plaster, sticking to Emma. He was that director who had kept pestering her until she agreed to join his movie as an actress.
“Why do I feel that the scenes are a little too purposely set to arouse sympathy?”
Sun Mo frowned. It felt like a Korean drama. Too sweet.
“What do you guys know? Women love watching stuff like this.”
Su Ying interrupted Sun Mo who still wanted to argue. “I know that you guys have great acting skills. However, I’m a professional when it comes to directing. So, you guys have to listen to me.”
“Forget it!”
Emma tugged on Sun Mo’s sleeves.
“I feel that our original intention of shooting this movie has deviated.”
At the start, when Sun Mo and Emma agreed to act in this movie, their purpose was to do their utmost to diminish the conflict between humans and androids, so both races could achieve mutual understanding.
Now as they continued to shoot, it became a romance film.
Oh right, in Su Ying’s script, the male and female lead had different names. But after he saw Sun Mo and Emma’s acting skills, he decided to just use their names.
“Emma, you only used a mere three months to improve your acting to this level. It is really too impressive. I dare to say that once this movie is screened, you will definitely get the Aomika Best Main-lead Actress Award!”
Su Ying praised.
“Yeah, extremely impressive!”
“Sun Mo is also very good, alright? He was a newbie with zero acting experience.”
“Emma is too beautiful to the point where no one dares to profane her beauty. As for Sun Mo, he is a man who is family-oriented, considerate, and protective. I really want him!”
A few people started chatting. They were very satisfied with the acting.
These people were those who were soured by their loss of hope. There were humans and androids among them. They gathered together because of Su Ying and acted in this movie as well.
In the scene, Emma was an android maid of an upper-class family. Her female master was a musician. In order to create a masterpiece in music, she had a habit of abusing her android maids.
Through various torture, and in addition to listening to the music and observing its creation process, the maid Emma gradually became self-aware.
When the female master left home for performances, Emma would secretly use her piano to play music.
She wasn’t satisfied with this and started to write the lyrics and tunes herself.
On one occasion, because of not feeling well, the female master stopped her performance early and went home in advance. In the end, she discovered Emma who was currently using the piano and singing along with it.
At that moment, the female master was deeply shocked. After that, feelings of humiliation and self-inferiority flooded her chest.
(I’m actually inferior to an android?)
Because her talent was outstanding, the female master could admire the beautiful concept in the song. But it was precisely because of this that she wanted to destroy Emma.
At that instant, the female master was deeply stunned. A deep sense of humiliation and low self-esteem surged in her chest.
After a struggle, Emma fled. When she was down and out, she met a fresh graduate that was overflowing with talent from the movie academy. This guy was none other than Sun Mo.
Because Emma’s acting skills were too stimulating, Sun Mo was flooded with inspiration and kept shooting short films that became extremely popular on the web.
This was especially so for the soundtrack of each film. All of them got very popular exceptionally swiftly and he conquered the ranking board.
The various advertising companies and huge firms came running to them waving cheques, wanting to cooperate. However, Sun Mo didn’t lose himself in this chaos. He rejected the cash and closed his doors so he could focus on creation.
That female master kept searching for Emma. After she saw the short films and through the style of the music, she guessed that Emma might have a connection with this college student. Hence, she hired a private investigator to dig out their black history.
Sun Mo did his best to shoot mini-films and posted them online, causing him to become extremely popular through the web. But at this moment, the female master revealed the matter between Sun Mo and Emma.
Sun Mo’s girlfriend was actually an android?
A part of the art enjoyed by mainstream society actually originated from an android?
This was something those human elites could absolutely not tolerate. Hence, Sun Mo got boycotted, and he was even fired.
For the next few days, all sorts of unfavorable things popped out.
Emma was psychologically impacted and wanted to court death. She felt that just by living on, she was the original sin. However, Sun Mo was energetic and filled with yearning for the future. He was optimistic and was like the sunlight of April.
Beautiful, gentle, and warm!
His gentle words and smile were seemingly capable of penetrating the chill of the long river of the century!
“Sun Mo’s demeanor is too suitable to act like a sunshine and warm-hearted guy like this!”
Su Ying continued praising.
When others acted in such a role, they would make some people feel that the plot was very contrived and it was overly sweet. But Sun Mo’s handsome face would make all his embarrassing and awkward words acceptable, and the women would scream in excitement.
“Quickly finish shooting the ending part!”
Sun Mo already had enough of this.
“Mn, please continue to work hard and try to get the movie to be screened on New Year’s Day!”
Just when Su Ying wanted to say a few encouraging words to boost their morale, an ear-piercing police siren rang out.
“It’s a police car, flee quickly!”
Su Ying was like a rabbit being shot by an arrow as he swiftly scuttled away.
Right now, the place they had chosen to shoot the movie in was a location only those in the middle-level social class could come to. In order to enter this shooting location, Su Ying had spent a lot of money to bribe the guards.
The group of them simply shot the movie with simple equipment and in this vile environment.
Three months passed.
On the day where they ended the movie shoot, it was coincidentally Emma’s 17th birthday.
All her past birthdays were majestic and lavish gatherings with ten levels of birthday cake stacked into a pagoda. But this year, she only had a tiny cake.
But as long as Sun Mo was beside her, Emma felt that it was already enough.
During the night, Sun Mo heard the sound of someone sobbing. The sound originated from the space in Emma’s blanket.
After a while, Emma lifted Sun Mo’s blanket and crawled her way in.
“Emma!”
Sun Mo frowned. He was a gentleman.
“I’m cold!”
Emma spoke as she hugged Sun Mo. “Can you hug me a little? Just for one minute!”
Sun Mo silently sighed and hugged Emma.
…
When they met Su Ying again, it was already half a month later.
“Why is your complexion so unsightly? Please rest more.”
Staring at Su Ying who was sitting before a computer and doing video editing, Sun Mo attempted to persuade him.
“Don’t worry, I won’t die.”
Su Ying didn’t even wish to stop for a moment.
Another few days passed. Sun Mo came to Su Ying’s rented house again and discovered that no one responded to his calls. This caused his expression to change.
After a few months of interactions, he understood Su Ying’s character. He wasn’t a liar and wouldn’t bring the original film they shot away. In that case, there was only an answer remaining. Something bad must have happened.
As expected, after Sun Mo pushed the door open, he saw Su Ying lying on the ground unconscious.
He immediately made a call for an ambulance!
This caused Sun Mo to be extremely busy.
When evening came, Emma also rushed over.
“How’s Uncle Su?”
Emma was worried.
“In the midst of receiving emergency treatment!”
Sun Mo sighed.
The two of them waited for a while before the doctor came out. After confirming that they were Su Ying’s friends, the doctor told them the results of the medical check.
“He is overworked and too tired. Also, the most troublesome thing is that he is lacking a kidney, a part of his liver, and his gallbladder. Oh right, he also has anemia.”
The doctor surveyed Sun Mo and Emma.
“Ah?” Emma jumped in fright. “He actually has such a serious illness?”
From Emma’s point of view, how sick would one be since so many organs were missing?
“It isn’t an illness!”
The doctor lowered his voice. “These organs were missing recently.”
“…”
Emma was dumbstruck. As for Sun Mo, he thought of a terrifying outcome.
“I’ve done a check. When those doctors were doing the organ removal operations, their skill was simply too bad. He is really lucky he didn’t die on the operating table. Actually, you guys could have chosen me if you all wanted to sell your organs.”
The doctor passed a name card to Sun Mo. “Besides, my offer price will be higher!”
The doctor left after patting Sun Mo on his shoulders.
Emma looked at Sun Mo as her lips twitched a little. She then asked, “Did he do that for money?”
“It should be the case!”
Sun Mo sighed. This Su Ying didn’t have a normal job, and shooting a movie would require huge capital. Leaving aside paying out salaries to everyone involved, just the equipment, the permit to shoot outside, and the editing work in the latter stages would cost a bomb.
For this movie, Su Ying went to borrow from loan sharks. After that, things were easy to understand. He must have used his organs to pay his debts.
“Let’s go in and see him!”
Sun Mo pushed the door open, and Emma followed behind him.
“Let us quickly return. We must not let any thieves steal away the original film!”
Su Ying’s pale face was filled with anxiousness as he struggled to get out of his bed so he could get dressed.
“Why would you do this?”
Emma didn’t understand.
“People… have to stake their life on at least one thing. Emma, don’t reveal such an expression. I have no regrets!”
Su Ying smiled very sincerely and naturally. “This movie will be the continuation of my life. Many people will be jealous of me because I will be able to leave something behind that belongs only to me in this world.”
“Boohoohoo!”
Emma couldn’t bear it anymore and started crying.
Although Sun Mo kept trying to persuade Su Ying to stay in the hospital, he didn’t listen to the advice. He immediately returned to his rented house and spent another week to complete the final edit.
“What remains is to negotiate with those theater chain bosses. We can get a lower percentage allotment, but we have to guarantee that this movie can be screened.”
Su Ying answered.
His body had almost collapsed from fatigue. This matter could only be given to Sun Mo and the others to handle.
…
In the Red Sun Movie Theater’s office.
After the boss saw the movie, he crossed his arms and pondered with furrowed brows.
“Sorry, I can’t allow this to screen!”
The boss shook his head.
“Why not? Is the film not good enough?”
Emma didn’t understand. This movie was countless times better compared to those low-budget B-grade films that were full of gory.
(No. They basically can’t be compared together.)
“On the contrary, the film is too excellent!”
The boss looked at Emma. “Although this is a love movie, the values it is trying to impart are problematic. If I allowed it to be screened, my movie theaters might be sealed forever!”
The boss didn’t say that if worse came to worse, he might even be assassinated by the extremists of both races.
Emma still wanted to persuade the boss, but she was tugged by Sun Mo.
“Let’s go, it’s useless.”
Sun Mo could see things very clearly. The boss was a businessman. He would weigh the risks and benefits. When the amount of money to be earned was way lesser than the risk he had to take, he naturally wouldn’t agree.
“Wait!” The boss called out.
Swish~
Emma’s gaze shone like torches as she looked at the boss. “Have you changed your mind?”
“Sorry!”
The boss took a book out and passed it out with both hands. “You guys have very good acting skills. Can you all sign an autograph for me?”
“…”
Emma didn’t wish to sign this.
Yet, Sun Mo smiled and acted very magnanimously.
“The two of you, please pardon me for being so direct. If your movie was shot casually in an ‘anyhow’ manner, I would allow it to be screened. After all, no one would care about a ‘farce’. But you guys actually performed so outstandingly, and the editing skill of the director is also excellent. After ordinary people watch the movie, their world views, values, and ideology will definitely be influenced.”
The boss’s tone was sincere. “Believe me. The government will not permit such an ideology to exist. It will definitely become a forbidden film.”
The boss was correct. After that, Sun Mo’s group worked hard for an entire month and went to all the movie theater bosses in the subterranean world. However, not a single one agreed.
The lighting guy was unconvinced and headed to the middle level to market this. In the end, he was reported and caught by the police.
“What should we do now?”
Emma was in despair.
This was such a good film.. If it couldn’t be shown on screen, it would truly be too much of a pity.