I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 152 - 152 151. Earn the money standing up (Bonus for

Chapter 152: 151. Earn the money standing up (Bonus chapter for recommendation tickets!)_1 Chapter 152: 151. Earn the money standing up (Bonus chapter for recommendation tickets!)_1 He glanced back at the bed, where naturally there was no color in the fog.

The setting sun was about to be swallowed by the horizon, and the last ray of golden light was eroded by the nightfall, with the whole world not yet darkened completely; instead, the lit lights had already adorned the city, announcing the arrival of night.

After getting out of bed, Lu Ban tidied up his clothes and went downstairs to eat takeout.

Having been through an adventure, it was only fair for Lu Ban to indulge in a bit of laziness, order some takeout, saving the shop from the trouble of cleaning up tables and dishes, and giving the delivery guy another order to fulfill.

But Lu Ban refused.

What Lu Ban enjoyed the most was dining in when there was an option for takeout. For him, dining in was not only about getting hot food; it was more importantly about experiencing the human touch in the meals.

The myriad of life in the restaurants was the best material for a creator like Lu Ban.

Moreover, Lu Ban was heading to a fried skewer shop.

Fried skewers, much like barbecue, lost their soul once they became takeout.

He ordered fried ham sausage, tofu-cilantro rolls, dried orchid, pig lungs, battered little beef, and a fried banana.

In his childhood, vendors with carts would often sell similar fried skewers outside his school, which had become a taste imprinted in his memory.

Take the ham sausage, for instance. The taste of it normally eaten and after being fried was absolutely different. Just imagine a ham sausage with crisscross cuts, sizzling in the hot oil, the slashed parts gradually unfurling, and then after being scooped out, brushed with spicy sauce, and taken a bite of—that taste.

No matter how many years had passed, Lu Ban remembered it.

While eating his skewers, he watched today’s news.

The local news headline in Jiangcheng was naturally last night’s minor earthquake. According to the seismological bureau, the quake was not intense but had a shallow epicenter. Coupled with the demolition explosion at Nanhua Private Renji Hospital affecting the neighboring mall, there were speculations that the explosion might have triggered the earthquake.

Soon, discussions about whether a demolished building could actually trigger an earthquake spread across online communities with people using their knowledge of physics and geography from elementary to college to support their views, relegating the issues of Nanhua Private Renji Hospital to a secondary matter.

Perhaps there were paid commenters manipulating the discussion!

Lu Ban was ignorant of the internet’s dark side.

“By the way, who exactly was that mother?”

He suddenly found himself wondering.

Clearly, Director Zhao Gongping’s ritual was meant to create a space capable of accommodating creatures from the Foreign Domain, that is, the hospital, and then to transfer the creature into a pregnant woman, expecting her to nurture and give birth to it.

Was this pregnant woman found by chance? Or did she have some specific significance?

He edited some information and sent it to He Youwu, wanting him to look up the records of women who had pregnancy check-ups around the time the hospital was built, investigating those who disappeared or the mothers who died from complications during childbirth. Lu Ban believed that the unfortunate mother was among them.

[He Youwu]: What new discoveries do you have now?

[Motionless]: It’s like this, an elder relative of mine had a daughter, who was deceived and got pregnant many years ago. She wanted to secretly give birth in Jiangcheng, but eventually she died after being taken to some shady hospital. This elder relative is now advanced in age, and I want to help clear up this matter for him.

[He Youwu]: I didn’t expect there to be such a backstory. Don’t worry, I will definitely help!

Lu Ban closed the chat window.

In order to investigate this matter, his normally honest self ended up lying, which made Lu Ban feel very guilty, so he decided to order another cup of milk tea to punish himself by consuming an excessive amount of sugar!

After a full meal, Lu Ban returned to his room.

Just as he reached the top of the stairs and before he could open the door, he heard thumping sounds from inside, as if someone was trying to escape by violently slamming against the door.

He hesitated for a moment, thought it over, and decided not to crawl out and disturb the city’s appearance.

Lu Ban opened the door and saw near the entrance of the living room what appeared to be two clusters of mist entangled with each other, coming and going, locked in a fierce battle.

It wasn’t until Lu Ban closed the door that the two clusters of mist rapidly dissipated, leaving only an empty and dimly lit living room.

“Should I buy a TV for the living room?”

Lu Ban thought about it, he hadn’t been concerned before because this was a rented house, where he could come and go quickly. He could be kicked out by the landlord at any time.

Now, he owned the house and it was his sweet home. It was about time to do some real decorating.

“A sofa here, a TV cabinet there, a gaming console over here, and the table can be replaced with a new one…”

Lu Ban planned a bit and decided to go furniture shopping tomorrow.

The main reason was that with so many people at home, when Lu Ban was not around, he knew they just bickered with each other. If he gave them a TV to watch, they should be able to quiet down. That’s how Lu Ban used to deal with kids.

Returning to his computer, the desktop icons twisted and morphed into the appearance of system text.

[Career Development Task]

[As an emerging talent, you should strike while the iron is hot. Applause and box office success are what you seek, so dedicate yourself to creating memorable work!]

[Task Requirement: Produce a movie]

[Task Requirement: Achieve a box office of ten million]

[Task Requirement: Win an award at any popular film festival]

[“Can’t you just stand there and make the money?”]

“Tsk tsk.”

When Lu Ban saw the task description, he felt a sense of inevitability.

You see, under the current circumstances, it shouldn’t be difficult for Lu Ban to produce a movie with an income of several million. With his previous fame, it could be done. Even if he couldn’t complete it, there was always Song Yunyan to fall back on…to bail him out.

So, to make the task challenging, there was no doubt that criteria beyond just income had to be added.

“An award at a film festival, huh…”

A film festival sounds like a festive occasion, and it indeed is one.

A proper film festival is not only about film exhibitions, screenings, and artistic exchanges but importantly, it involves the selection of film awards. For instance, Europe has three major film festivals. If you win an award at any one of these festivals, you can boast about it for a lifetime and earn the honorific title of a great director.

Of course, film festivals come in all sizes. There are over seven hundred festivals worldwide, with more than fifty of significant importance. They are categorized into many branches, and the scope of “any popular film festival” is quite broad, so there’s no worry about running out of time.

However, many of these film festivals can’t be tackled with just money, or rather, not enough money to solve the problem.

Lu Ban checked the task deadline – four months, neither long nor short. For a lousy movie, it could be shot in just three days.

And soon it would be the end of the year, a period when there aren’t many film festivals and awards.

He decided to see what film festivals he could participate in.

*

With twenty thousand recommendation tickets comes an additional update 3/3