On the deck of Rhodes Island.
The area normally reserved for docking aircraft was unusually lively today. Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought they were preparing to welco so high-ranking VIP. Only those present knew the truth—
They were about to take part in the filming of a movie that defied description.
"I can guarantee this is going to beco an indelible black mark on our life résumés," Warfarin said, lowering the script in her hands and pressing a palm to her forehead. She then raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and sighed helplessly.
"Is it still possible for to use a fake identity before the shooting starts?"
Only after complaining did she slowly turn her head toward the person beside her—
A green-haired Feline girl with a cold expression, impossible to read.
"I an," Warfarin continued, "Kal'tsit, I never thought I'd see the day you got dragged into sothing like this. This kind of absurd project, involving so many operators—and you actually approved it? I'm starting to suspect you and him are basically an old married couple at this point."
Based on the bizarre things Warfarin had sneakily glimpsed in Kal'tsit's script, she wasn't even a lead role, yet her character arc was already beyond words. And this was Kal'tsit—getting her to act in sothing like this?
Was the sun rising in the west today?
"He is an official shareholder of Rhodes Island," Kal'tsit replied flatly. "And given that he offered two barrels of dicine capable of treating Oripathy as compensation, I had no reason to refuse."
Though her face remained expressionless, Warfarin could clearly hear the barely restrained urge to devour soone alive in her tone.
Steven's offer was indeed tempting. Even Warfarin herself had felt her heart skip a beat when she heard he could produce potions effective under virtually any condition.
In fact, she had no right to laugh at Kal'tsit at all. To be blunt, she was standing on this execution-ground-like set for one simple reason—
Steven had promised her a single drop of his blood.
"So you're just going to let him and Nian run wild?" Warfarin blinked. "Once these videos leak out, I won't really care—but if you truly don't care about your reputation either, then I suppose I've got nothing to say."
Losing face was nothing new to her. She'd been hung upside down on the bridge often enough that she'd built up a solid resistance. A few more tis wouldn't matter.
But Kal'tsit was different.
To be honest, Warfarin was genuinely curious about what kind of role she had been assigned.
Given the shared aesthetic sense of Nian and Steven—those two lunatics—there was no way the role would be normal. At the very least, it wouldn't be another silent, riddle-speaking enigma like Kal'tsit's usual image.
"…The distributor she found is Closure," Kal'tsit said quietly. "If she wants to stay alive, she won't actually try to sell this film to the outside world."
She stated it like an unrelated fact.
Warfarin, anwhile, looked at her with pure admiration and raised a thumbs-up.
Now that was what you called old, deep, calculating wisdom.
After living for so many years, at least she hadn't lived them in vain.
This kind of advanced judgnt was clearly beyond what Nian herself was capable of considering.
"But what if she uses Steve's Block Consortium for distribution?" Warfarin pointed out a potential loophole in the plan. If possible, she really didn't want those painfully chuuni, sha-inducing scenes of hers to be exposed to the public.
"He's acting in it himself," Kal'tsit replied calmly. "As long as he retains even the slightest sense of sha, he won't make it too high-profile. At most, it'll be shown in a midnight slot or circulated internally within Rhodes Island. That's probably the upper limit of what he can tolerate."
After spending a fair amount of ti dealing with Steven, Kal'tsit couldn't claim to fully understand what went on in his head—but under normal circumstances, when he wasn't having one of his episodes, she could roughly predict his behavior.
"And what about all these operators?" Warfarin asked.
She glanced around. The set was crowded with a truly eclectic mix of Rhodes Island operators—and even so patients. Just acting in front of this many people was already enough to shatter Kal'tsit's image beyond repair.
She honestly didn't know how Steven had managed this. She even spotted Logos—one of the rarely seen elite operators—and Amiya, who was standing behind Kal'tsit as if being shielded by her. If Steven had personally invited all of them, then his connections were far better than Warfarin had ever imagined.
"Who do you think would voluntarily bring up their own embarrassing involvent?" Kal'tsit said coldly. "Besides—even if I did this, would I stop being Kal'tsit of Rhodes Island?"
Her expression hardened, and she revealed a seriousness that even Warfarin had never seen before. The words sounded like a warning—and because her voice rose just slightly, everyone present heard it loud and clear.
Yet after a brief pause, the crowd resud what they were doing as if nothing had been said at all.
"Impressive. Truly impressive."
Warfarin raised her other thumb toward Kal'tsit. This ti, she was genuinely convinced.
Steven really had gone too far—far enough to force Kal'tsit to use her authority to suppress information. From a certain perspective, that ant even she had no other way to deal with him.
While Warfarin was still quietly chatting with Kal'tsit, Steven—the planner and chief director of this cinematic disaster—appeared on the deck together with Nian, both of them carrying a pile of rather questionable costus.
They dumped the heap of clothing in front of the assembled crowd.
"Everyone's read their scripts by now, right?" Steven asked cheerfully. "Any opinions, suggestions, or complaints? You're all free to raise your hands."
He wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead and flashed a friendly smile at the group of actors he'd roped in purely on the strength of his own reputation.
In response, about ninety percent of the people present raised their hands.
"Very good," Steven nodded solemnly. "That ans there are no objections. Since everyone approves of their scripts, we can go ahead and start assigning scenes."
Ignoring the raised hands in front of him as if he were completely blind, Steven maintained his smile, exchanged a look with Nian beside him, and then officially announced the start of filming.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
sdrive.google/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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Latest Chapter in Patreon: Chapter 521: Is That Sothing a Normal Person Would Say?1
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