Chapter 1155: Clearing Completed
Translator: Lordbluefire
“Should we do things like those peddlers selling illegal DVDs? We should record the movie into discs and sell them everywhere on the streets?”
Someone suggested. “In any case, the reason why we shot this isn’t to make money!”
“This idea isn’t bad, but if we want to record them into discs, we might need to spend quite a lot of money!”
Everyone felt a headache. They had worked hard for so long. It was one thing if they couldn’t make money, but they still had to pay money? Who could bear this?
Hence, everyone turned to Su Ying.
“Everyone, if we cannot openly screen this, wouldn’t that be meaningless?”
Su Ying got up from his bed. “I’m going to try again!”
…
Because of Su Ying’s persistence, everyone started a new round of visits, sincerely hoping for cooperation. At the same time, in order to increase their influence a little, everyone chipped in money to make some discs of [Romance Holiday] so they could distribute it in the streets.
However, their efforts led to minimal effect.
“What should we do?” Emma fretted.
“Let’s just sleep early!”
Sun Mo closed his eyes.
“Do you have a solution?”
Emma was curious. In her heart, Sun Mo was omnipotent.
“Mn!”
Sun Mo indeed had a solution. (Since the legitimate path can’t be walked, let’s walk the unorthodox path then.)
In the subterranean world, other than movie theater chains, there were also some private screeners.
Naturally, these people were doing this for the sake of fishing for a quick buck. There were all sorts of illegal discs available for sale. Sun Mo was prepared to walk this path.
The day after tomorrow, Sun Mo started his action. But after checking with a few private screeners, it was ineffective. Some bosses were afraid, and some basically didn’t want to pay remuneration.
After all, from their point of view, it would be too much of a risk for them to screen a forbidden film. Why should they still pay?
Sun Mo had no solution. He could only depend on his fist and start to conquer the city street by street. He was preparing to use ‘martial force’ to force these people to succumb.
…
On a night where it was drizzling, inside an alley…
Seven to eight people lay on the ground, unknown whether they were dead or alive. Sun Mo panted and used a handkerchief to wipe away the blood on the back of his hands.
All of a sudden, two beams of blinding light shot over.
Sun Mo turned his head and saw a black-colored luxurious car that resembled a submarine driving through a curtain of rain and appearing in his vision. After that, the car stopped at the side of the street.
“Looking for me?”
Sun Mo narrowed his eyes due to the intensity of the car’s headlights.
A subordinate immediately went to open the car door. He was also carrying an umbrella.
“Sun Mo, no matter what, you are a rising superstar of the great teacher world. Have you not thought about using virtue to convince others before?”
A man exited the car. After that, he took the umbrella from his subordinate and said, “Why are doing shady things like this?”
“It’s you?”
Sun Mo was astonished. This voice belonged to the mysterious man. After all, the two of them had cooperated in the previous game, and this voice was familiar to Sun Mo. However, wasn’t this face of his a little too ordinary?
“This face isn’t mine!” The guy casually explained. “How are things? Do you need my help?”
“Are you not afraid that I will clear the game before you?”
Sun Mo counter-asked.
“No matter what, I’m a great teacher. I won’t be so narrow-minded. Besides, truthfully speaking, that movie you acted in is really nice to watch.”
The mysterious man didn’t know what strategy he could use to clear this world. But based on his instinct, he wanted to start from the lower world where public security and management were the most chaotic. He wanted to defeat all these old powers so he could become the king of the subterranean world.
After all, there was an unchanging logic in this world. Those who possessed power would find it easier to solve the problem of a common person.
In truth, the mysterious man had long since paid attention to Sun Mo. It was also him who acted secretly to handle those people that Emma’s father had sent for her.
“Oh right, someone familiar is also coming. You should be pretty interested to meet him!”
The mysterious man teased. “He should have some influence in the upper echelons of this world.”
Sun Mo frowned. He kept feeling as though there was another underlying meaning in this man’s words.
“How about it? Do you want to cooperate?”
The mysterious man stretched out his hands.
“Let’s hope for a good cooperation!”
Sun Mo had no choice.
Honestly speaking, the friend that the mysterious man was speaking of probably had a much greater influence than Sun Mo.
Two days after they got the film content, the private movie screeners began to screen [Romance Holiday]!
Three days later, the world of the middle class also started screening the film. In fact, there were even advertisement posters pasted all around the subway stations.
One couldn’t help but say that the mysterious man’s friend was truly capable. When he promoted the movie, he skipped over all the controversial points and only focused on the love between the two characters.
In just two days, the web was filled with countless discussions about [Romance Holiday], and the degree of popularity continued shooting up. It entered the popular search query just five days later. Although it was removed after some time, it climbed back up after a short while.
Half a day later, it was taken down and this time around, it was completely banned.
The old saying was correct. The more you didn’t want someone to see something, the more others would be interested in seeing it. And this incident actually became the ‘free advertisement’ for this movie, leading to more people knowing about [Romance Holiday].
Some people flooded the cinemas. Those with no time or money would find resources from the internet. Hence, the number of viewers kept increasing, and the discussion in various forums also exploded.
Although the production cost of this movie wasn’t high, Su Ying had spent every single cent of money wisely. Moreover, he was also an extremely talented director. Regardless of the script’s meaningful content, the shooting techniques and angles, the editing process, the light and shadow play, he was at the grandmaster level.
Naturally, the two main leads’ contributions couldn’t go unnoticed.
Their acting skills were slightly inferior to those actors who graduated from training classes. But it was precisely because they had never received professional training before that their performances were even more genuine.
Also, the most important thing was that the male actor was handsome and the female actress was beautiful. This was enough.
Some people even watched a second or a third time for the sake of seeing the two of them.
The content?
It didn’t matter.
Some movie fans loved everything about the movie and wanted to search for other works of Sun Mo and Emma. But after searching on the internet, they discovered that there wasn’t any information about the two of them.
This also meant that these two were newbies, and this was the first time they had acted in a movie.
Geniuses, they were definitely geniuses!
Those with talent would always be pursued and placed by others on a pedestal. So, the fans became increasingly fanatical. Some people started searching for their addresses, wanting to meet with their idols.
Although this movie was a romantic one, its inner core was still about racial problems.
When people were discussing the plot and the performance of the characters, they would naturally probe the core of the movie. Hence, racial problems were brought up.
Why couldn’t androids and humans fall in love with each other?
Were androids a lifeform or an electrical appliance that could be casually discarded?
Also, how could androids have kids with humans?
…
Using the movie as a turning point, those questions that had been suppressed for several years were once again brought up on the table.
Some people started to protest on the street. Some of them were androids who wanted things to be more chaotic, and the others were humans who had ulterior motives of their own.
In order to avoid making the matter bigger, the government directly used violence to suppress these people. This was especially so for androids. After they were captured, they were secretly demolished.
Many self-aware androids had enough of the days they had to scurry around and hide. They directly walked out in the open and started a rebellion.
The chaos in the society intensified.
…
At the city hall!
After Avery stepped out of his car, he directly entered the elevator and headed to the meeting room.
“Mayor Avery, you have truly taught a good daughter!”
The meeting room was filled with major characters. They were the controllers and people with top-level authority in this city.
After Avery’s daughter left home, he was psychologically impacted and suffered a huge sickness. After that, he had neglected much of his work and was now in a state of semi-retirement.
But this morning, he was summoned back.
After Avery read the information, he turned and left immediately.
“Mayor Avery, where are you rushing to?”
Someone was unhappy. “Right now, we have to discuss how we should solve these problems!”
Avery wanted to say that he actually didn’t give a damn about the life or death of this city. He only wanted to meet his daughter immediately. However, rationale told him that if he wanted to protect his daughter, he had to sit securely in his position. Hence, he chose to endure and sat down.
Everyone argued for a day, but the ultimate decision was still to use violence. They would never compromise on granting androids equal rights as humans.
…
“Uncle, I want two raspberry-flavored ice-cream cones!”
Before the ice-cream truck, Emma opened her wallet and took two coins out for payment.
“Sure!”
The uncle took out the ice-cream cones and when he handed them to Emma, he suddenly started. He then grew excited. “Are you Emma? The female lead of [Romance Holiday]?”
“Hehe!” Emma smiled sweetly. “Uncle, you know me?”
“Oh my heavens, I actually see the real person. If I return and tell my son about this, he will surely be jealous of me!”
The uncle was very agitated. He passed the ice-cream to Emma and didn’t take any money from her. Instead, he searched and finally took out a pen. After that, he leaned forward and passed the pen to Emma.
“Can I ask you for your autograph?”
“Naturally, you can!”
Emma was very amicable.
A few girls came over to buy ice cream. When they saw Emma who was signing autographs, they immediately became as happy as larks as they cried out in excitement.
“Quickly look, it’s Emma!”
“Where is she?”
“Is Sun Mo here?”
The surrounding people were in an uproar and began to gather over here.
“Wow, I think I saw Sun Mo. He’s so handsome!”
A girl immediately rushed over and shouted at Sun Mo. “Sun Mo, I love you!”
Sun Mo hated crowds, but for the sake of promoting the movie, he could only bear with it. But before he could say a few sentences, the piercing sound of police sirens filled the air.
“No one is allowed to move. Everyone, squat down and cover your head with your hands!”
A policeman shouted.
Sun Mo frowned, feeling that something was wrong with this situation. He immediately pulled Emma with him as he tried to squeeze his way out from the crowd.
“Sun Mo, Emma. The two of you are being apprehended. Surrender now or I’ll be forced to fire!”
The policeman roared.
The next morning, the government declared that Romance Holiday was a banned movie. They immediately issued arrest warrants for everyone that had participated in the creation of the movie.
…
Three policemen rushed over, but they were easily handled by Sun Mo.
He hurriedly went to inform Su Ying and the others. But in the end, he almost fell into an ambush. Luckily, he was astute enough and managed to observe some traces, thus learning that something was wrong.
“We can’t return home anymore!”
Sun Mo pulled Emma along as he went to look for the mysterious man.
That night, the two of them stayed in a place arranged by the mysterious man.
“Why are things like this?”
Emma had a bitter look on her face. “Why don’t I return to look for my father and ask him to help rescue Uncle Su?”
Sun Mo was still hesitating. Yet, Emma saw a piece of news that caused her to turn pale with fright. Her father had been captured by a few extremists of androids and suffered an assassination attempt.
Currently, his life and death was unknown!
Thud!
Emma stood up with a look of panic on her face. “I want to go and see him!”
Sun Mo knew that some people would wait for Emma to fall into a trap. However, when he looked at Emma’s worried face, he truly couldn’t bring himself to persuade her not to go.
…
At the VIP ward of the first hospital.
Sun Mo and Emma pretended to be food-deliverers and came in.
“Father!”
Looking at her father lying on the hospital bed, Emma held his hands and had tears all over her face.
“Emma?”
When Avery woke up from his sleep and saw his daughter, he was badly shocked. “Why are you here?”
“I…”
Emma’s words were interrupted.
“Leave quickly. Hurry up and run!”
Avery urged but it was too late.
A group of armed police officers barged in and pointed guns at Sun Mo and Emma.
“What are you guys doing? Get lost!”
Avery roared.
“Mayor sir, don’t be angry. I’m doing this for the sake of everyone!”
The police head entered. Only he had the qualification to go against Avery.
“I told you guys to get lost!”
Avery’s expression was gloomy.
“I’ll naturally not touch your daughter. But as for that man…”
The police head surveyed Sun Mo.
Avery fell silent, yet Emma panicked.
“No, he can’t be captured!”
Emma looked at her father.
“I don’t mind not capturing him, but Miss Emma, I need you to give a public speech to admit that you were being hoodwinked by that director, causing you to act in that movie. You basically didn’t know how sinister he was.”
The police head suggested.
“No, I did this wil…”
Emma wanted to rebut, but she was stopped by Avery before she could mention the word ‘willingly’.
“Emma, shut up!” Avery looked at the police head. “Can you give us some private time?”
The police head led his men out.
“Sun Mo, you go out too!”
Avery instructed.
Sun Mo shrugged and didn’t mind it. He was now cooperating with the mysterious man. Even if he was captured, he would be able to escape.
After Sun Mo left, Avery hugged his daughter. “Emma, have you been living well?”
“Very well!”
Emma nodded. Her expression was filled with excitement as she told her father about her experiences in these few months.
Seeing her daughter who was like a bird out of her cage, with happiness on her face, Avery also smiled as he patted her head.
“If you still want to continue living days like that, just do the public speech. I will handle all the loose ends!”
Avery fell silent.
“But…”
Emma frowned as she thought of Su Ying.
“But what? Do you want to be split up from Sun Mo?”
Avery looked at Emma. “When someone wants to obtain something, they have to pay something else as a price!”
“Father, you permit me to be together with Elder Brother Sun?”
Emma was astonished, but she was soon wild with happiness.
“What is your answer?”
Avery continued pressing.
“I…”
Emma was conflicted. She already knew that she had fallen in love with Sun Mo. She wanted to be together with him. But if she had to sacrifice Su Ying and the rest for the sake of her own happiness…
“What do those androids have to do with you? As long as you can be happy, that’s already enough!”
Avery persuaded. “Could it be that you want to give up Sun Mo for their sake?”
…
Sun Mo, who was waiting in the corridor, saw Emma coming out. Her face had a heavy look on it.
Sun Mo originally wanted to ask what they chatted about, but in the end, he only chose to hug her.
“Just relax, go home, and have a good sleep. Even if the sky collapses, I will be here to support it!”
Sun Mo persuaded.
He felt heartache for this girl and didn’t want her to experience such things anymore.
Because of Avery’s guarantee, Sun Mo and Emma weren’t brought away. They were temporarily ‘imprisoned’ in Emma’s house.
Emma was just a 17-year-old girl. Under the persuasion by these major characters who used ‘kinship’, ‘friendship’, and threats. She eventually compromised and agreed to give a speech.
The government released this news.
Three days later, the city park that was large enough to contain 10,000 people was fully packed to the brim.
“There are actually so many people?”
Emma’s mother, Li Linna, was shocked.
“Romance Holiday has become a phenomenon-level film!”
Avery sighed. “You should go accompany her!”
In the resting chamber.
“Sun Mo, if I do something that will let you down, what will you do?”
Emma was nervous.
“I won’t forgive you!”
Sun Mo’s words immediately caused Emma to turn pale. But after that, she heard the latter half of his sentence.
“Because no matter what you do, I know it’s for my own good.”
Sun Mo walked toward Emma and looked into her eyes. “However, I hope that this time around, you shouldn’t simply care about me. You should think of yourself too!
“What sort of life do you want? You can make your own choice. Maybe your future path will be filled with difficulties but I hope that you can be happy!”
“Mn!”
Emma nodded. She suddenly rushed forward and hugged Sun Mo, leaning her head against his chest.
At ten, Emma went up the stage!
In the public square, cheers immediately rang out. After that, the cheers turned into applause. This was praising her acting skills and the fact that she had ‘given’ a classic movie to everyone. She was a female lead that would enter the glorious history of the movie industry.
“Uncles and aunties, brothers and sisters. Many thanks for using your private time to come here and listen to my speech.”
Emma did her best to smile. “Oh, I shouldn’t be calling this a speech because I have no qualifications to come up on a stage to discuss things. In that case, let’s just treat this as a chat instead?”
“I should be considered someone very lucky…”
Emma started to introduce her life. An innocent, kind, happy girl with no worries was branded in the hearts of everyone.
Until Sun Mo’s appearance!
“Those few uncles told me to tell you guys that I was hoodwinked into acting in this film. Androids should understand their own positions in society and not forget who are the ones who gave them life. If I do as they say, I will be able to protect Sun Mo!”
Emma’s eyes were red.
“I feel very moved because I love him! But in the following days, I found it very tough to sleep during the nights. To Sun Mo, is this really the happiness he wanted?
“I don’t think so. As an android, Sun Mo’s happiness should be when he can freely appear in all situations and can freely fall in love with a human or an android. He should be able to have a dream!
“I feel that his happiness is that he can still live happily in a place without me…”
…
“What happened?”
The police head glared angrily at Avery.
“How would I know?”
Avery shook his head. However, there was an indescribable glow in his eyes when he looked at Emma.
“She grew up!” Li Linna sobbed.
“Mn!”
Avery held his wife’s hands. After that, he closed his eyes. (Regardless of the raging wind or rain, just bring it on. I will block them for my daughter.)
Bang!
The sound of a gunshot interrupted the speech.
Emma’s body swayed, and she fell onto the ground. Blood flowed from a body, akin to a rose that just bloomed.
“Damn, what are you doing?”
Avery swung a punch at the police head.
“Emma!”
Sun Mo roared and charged up the stage.
…
Half a month later, in a private residence in the subterranean city…
Sun Mo barged and appeared before the mysterious man as he trampled on a path of corpses.
“Why did you have to harm Emma?”
Sun Mo was very angry.
“Because I feel that this is a necessary condition to clear the game!”
The mysterious man was very calm. “You couldn’t have fallen in love with a game character, right?”
Sun Mo didn’t waste words and directly pointed the muzzle of the gun at the mysterious man.
As Emma died in the public’s eye, she became a fuse that ignited the conflict between humans and androids. Both races started to use martial force to wrest control of territories where they could live.
The progress of the entire society instantly stopped. Everyone’s livelihood was broken and everyone turned to war.
“Teacher Sun, there can be no construction without destruction. You can’t possibly not understand this, right?”
The mysterious man frowned. “Being emotional is not like you!”
“Emma isn’t an NPC. She’s someone independent that has her own thoughts and feelings!”
Sun Mo pulled the trigger.
Bang! Bang!
The bullets grazed his face, but the mysterious man didn’t even move, exhibiting immense courage.
“I also thought that everything I experienced was nothing but a game. But be it NPCs or the virtual world, they can touch me emotionally and make me grow. Since that’s the case, they are all my friends. This place is my world. Who can determine that only everything in reality is correct?”
Sun Mo roared.
The mysterious man shook his head. This young fellow was crazy.
“I’ve never forgotten about clearing the game and wanting to bring everyone away. I’m just thinking that harming such a kind girl for the sake of clearing the game… Is this something correct?”
Sun Mo argued.
“Sun Mo, the world of Nine Provinces is far more frightening than what you’ve imagined. I hope you can look upward. As for private emotions, you should discard them.”
The mysterious man sighed. “If not, you won’t be able to win against that fellow even if you took an eternity!”
“If I have to give up everything for the sake of winning, I would rather not win!”
Sun Mo coldly snorted.
“Forget it, I don’t want to quarrel with you!”
The mysterious man took out a letter from the drawer and tossed it to Sun Mo. “Read it yourself!”
Sun Mo opened the letter. As he read it, his expression drastically changed.
“Take it. This is my gift to you!”
The mysterious man stared at the departing Sun Mo and drank a mouthful of whiskey.
…
In the Paradise Laboratory, 12 floors underground.
Sun Mo depended on the false identity given to him by the mysterious man and successfully entered. In the lab, he saw Emma inside a culture medium.
She was in a deep sleep and streams of bubbles could be occasionally seen coming out from her nostrils, indicating that she was still alive.
“I didn’t expect that she is actually an android?”
Sun Mo was very surprised.
From the information given by the mysterious man, Emma had died from heavy injuries when she was young. Her parents had then transferred her ‘consciousness’ into an artificial brain.
Because this type of operation was still not mature, Avery and his wife also had no idea whether that consciousness had died when Emma continued to ‘live’.
If the consciousness died, this meant that Emma wasn’t their daughter and was just an android.
But this was no longer important.
Avery and his wife loved their daughter dearly.
Swish~
Emma suddenly opened her eyes and stared at Sun Mo who was outside the glass. She immediately started to struggle.
“Calm down!”
Sun Mo consoled her as he smiled.
Emma closed her eyes and turned around with her back facing Sun Mo. Her entire body then curled into a ball.
Emma already knew the reason why she didn’t die.
“Don’t you despise my identity as an android?”
Sadly, because of the nutrient fluid in the medium, this sentence had no way to be heard from the outside.
“Emma, I love you very much!”
Sun Mo placed his hand against the glass wall of the culture medium. He wanted to say a few more sentences, but he discovered that his legs had started disappearing as he was starting to be teleported away.
Sun Mo was badly shocked and forcefully knocked on the culture medium.
Bang! Bang!
Emma turned her head. Her face lost all color when she saw this scene.
“Emma, you have to live on happily!”
Sun Mo roared loudly.
Emma stretched her hands out, wanting to hold Sun Mo’s hands. Sadly, they were separated by a thick piece of glass.
“Sun Mo!”
Emma sobbed.
Their two palms were separated by glass, sticking together. The distance was very close yet infinitesimally far.
For this stage, as long as the character the player was playing achieved a complete mutual understanding with a character of another race, they would be able to clear the stage.