I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 534 - 534 533. Black_1

Chapter 534: 533. Black_1 Chapter 534: 533. Black_1 On the other side, Leader Lao Qian was also watching Lu Ban’s new movie at the same time.

The opening scenes with the volcanic activity likewise left him stupefied.

Having seen so many disaster movies, he had never seen anything like this.

He had expected the male lead to show his prowess and rescue the trapped, but instead, both of them along with the helicopter were wiped out by the volcano in one fell swoop.

Turns out, were these characters just meant to showcase the power of a volcanic eruption?

However, I must admit, the imagery at the beginning powerfully depicted the might of a volcanic eruption.

In many movies, volcanic eruptions resemble the flowing of lava, featuring only the hot and slow-moving magma gradually engulfing everything.

But the eruption in this movie was like forcefully squeezing a whitehead on your face until it finally bursts open.

It gives a sense of exhilarating satisfaction.

Moreover, the special effects made Lao Qian feel as though he was right at the crater’s edge, as if placed at a volcano’s mouth, and even though he had never witnessed a real eruption, at this moment, he believed that a real volcanic eruption would certainly look like this.

And then the magma that gradually oozed out represented a different form of hell.

The entire mountainous area was covered by that thick, dark-red liquid; the original lakes disappeared, replaced by a larger expanse of water.

It is said that in the geological periods with the most active activity, volcanic lava could cover hundreds of thousands of square kilometers, creating a sea of magma far more terrifying than hell itself. Watching that relentless lava flow devour everything around it, Lao Qian truly felt the formidable power of nature.

The next moment, the camera shifted scenes, moving out to the sea.

On the placid ocean, a fishing boat bobbed on the waves.

Its lights attracted fish, squid, and others, with a fisherman sitting on the gunwale fishing.

Fishing boats engaged in deep-sea fishing could be out at sea for up to half a year at a time, venturing into fishing grounds to catch various valuable sea fish—one haul could feed them for a good part of the year.

Fishing with a rod and reel was purely for pleasure.

If they caught nothing, they would just take something out of the storage freezer.

The man fishing pulled up his rod, hauling up a small squid, looked at it, then tossed it back into the sea, where it immediately dived in and disappeared.

At that moment, another fisherman came out, and the two of them chatted idly, sketching out a classic screen image of a man in middle-age crisis, abandoned by his wife and children, relying on fishing to make ends meet.

Lao Qian had seen many such characters before; typically, what followed in the story was the character facing hardship, achieving his personal dreams, and getting his family back, or becoming a tragic hero who matured through setbacks but ultimately failed.

However, given the previous plot, Lao Qian felt it certainly wouldn’t be that simple.

As the two men in the movie chatted, Lao Qian suddenly felt there was something off about the screen.

In the darkness, something seemed to be writhing far out at sea.

At this point, the people in the movie also noticed the phenomenon.

Looking out toward the horizon, it appeared as if land was in sight.

But soon, they realized it was not land but the tide of a tsunami.

The mournful cries of an unseen Seabird startled everyone, and the camera rose from the boat as if seized by the bird, rapidly flying toward the mountainous tsunami.

Lao Qian saw a tsunami over five hundred meters high forming an unprecedented wall, speeding toward the fishing boat while the faces of the fishermen showed sheer despair, their complexions ashen.

Shouts, roars, the sound of machinery churning, and then, the sound of the ocean.

The roar of the waves drowned everything; the tsunami swept by without any reduction in force, and that fishing boat, with not even a wreckage floating to the surface, had already sunk to the bottom of the sea.

At this very moment, in a farther place, the port and ships were still oblivious; men and women were living it up in bars, a white-haired old man was rambling uninterruptedly at an old television, a down-and-out office worker was dragging his weary body, trudging home step by step, and a young mother who had just lulled her child to sleep approached the window, intending to draw the curtains.

Then, not far away, I saw the sky-covering tsunami charge forward with an unstoppable force.

After the tsunami, all fell silent.

Lao Qian couldn’t help but heave a sigh.

To him, this tsunami represented, aside from the awe-inspiring power of nature, the insignificance of humans, utterly powerless before such overwhelming force.

Whether ugly or beautiful, hopeful or desperate, all aspects of human society, in the face of such a disaster, would turn to nothingness.

If the beginning of this movie aimed to convey the terror of the disaster that was about to sweep over humanity, then Lao Qian felt it had succeeded.

Even facing such a natural disaster, he couldn’t think of any way humanity could fight back.

After so many years of civilization’s development, mankind could only predict and prepare for these geological disasters, unable to contend with them. When disaster struck, all one could do was pray for lighter devastation.

However, Lao Qian could not understand what Lu Ban intended by filming such scenes, other than to shock the audience. What else was there?

Was it simply to tell everyone that the power of nature is an unconquerable force?

He watched patiently for a while longer.

…

At noon, Mo Guangyuan timed it just right, standing up the moment the bell rang, ready to head to the cafeteria.

But as soon as he got up, something felt off.

“Strange, they should have finished watching by now, right? They usually are pretty keen on eating, so why haven’t they come out today?”

He looked towards the office and noticed several colleagues, like him, were sneakily watching for any activity from the leadership’s office.

In theory, if Lu Ban’s movie was fine, enjoyable even, they should have already sent someone to take the master tape to the warehouse for storage and then proceed to write their review comments.

If Lu Ban’s movie was a flop, they should be coming out to complain about it.

But there was no sign of any of that, so what had happened?

“Forget it, we can’t see it anyway, the important thing now is to eat. Eating is essential, the soul of eating. I heard there’s pork knuckle today, go late and we might just be left with soybeans,” said his colleague Lao Li.

After eating in the cafeteria, the two returned to find the office door open.

Curious, Mo Guangyuan peeked inside.

He saw his boss, Lao Qian, sitting in his chair, just sitting there, looking much more haggard, as if he had aged several years in an instant.

“Why… why is it like this…” Lao Qian murmured indistinctly, and Mo Guangyuan plucked up the courage to knock on the office door.

“Minister, what’s wrong?” Mo Guangyuan asked.

Hearing this voice, Lao Qian suddenly looked over.

His eyes were bloodshot, and the corners of his mouth twitched.

Then, abruptly, he stood up, charged unexpectedly towards Mo Guangyuan, and grabbed Mo Guangyuan’s shoulders tightly, his voice hoarse as if he had been sick for a long time.

“Dark, it’s damn dark!”

Lao Qian’s voice sounded both exasperated and accusatory.