I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 589 - 589 588. Paper Butterfly_1

Chapter 589: 588. Paper Butterfly_1 Chapter 589: 588. Paper Butterfly_1 The small antique market was only ever this crowded on a few occasions, such as during certain exhibitions or when antique tomb-raiding themed TV series premiered.

The property staff at the antique market had never seen such a commotion and had to maintain order with nightsticks that hadn’t been used in eight hundred years.

“Holy shit, what’s going on here? Why are so many people suddenly showing up? Did someone find a treasure?”

Security guard Master Wang squeezed through the crowd, pushing his way in.

He saw that the crowd was gathered around an old man.

This old man was known to Master Wang; his surname was Zhang, and privately, everyone referred to him as Blindman Zhang.

Since the time Master Wang started working as a security guard at this antique market, this old man had been setting up his stall here without fail, year in and year out.

Master Wang didn’t know how long the old man had been there, but there were many senior citizens in the antique market. Don’t be fooled by their white hair; they were much smarter than the young folks when it came to antiques, whether buying or selling. They were sharp and cunning. Furthermore, this blind old man always sat here quietly, never causing any trouble, and seemingly never at the heart of any dispute, so Master Wang naturally didn’t pay much attention to him.

But unexpectedly, he had become the central figure this time.

Could it be that he was caught selling fakes?

That shouldn’t be the case.

Although Master Wang was just a security guard for the property management, in the antique market, all transactions were based on mutual consent. If one couldn’t spot a quality item and bought a fake, it was their own responsibility; there was no sense in asking the seller for a refund. Similarly, if one was outwitted by someone more knowledgeable and let a treasure slip through their fingers, there was nowhere to turn for redress.

Using his security guard uniform to assert his position, Master Wang made his way next to the old man.

He saw the old man holding a pair of iron scissors. Master Wang had only seen such scissors at his elderly relatives’ house in his hometown—those plain, heavy scissors, not the delicate types with plastic handles that people use nowadays.

Yet, those somewhat oversized scissors deftly cut through the red paper, quickly creating several complex-looking butterflies.

“Great craftsmanship.”

Master Wang couldn’t help but praise. In his hometown, during the Spring Festival, the elders would use scissors to cut out beautiful window decorations and stick them on the windows, adding to the festive spirit with firecrackers.

Now that fireworks were banned, those bright red window decorations were no longer hung, and New Year’s felt cold and indistinct, scarcely different from a regular holiday.

Caught up in his nostalgia, Master Wang was astonished to see the lifelike butterflies suddenly begin to flap their wings and take flight.

“Holy shit???”

Master Wang and those around him exclaimed in amazement.

Accompanied by the crowd’s gasps, those paper butterflies that had just been cut out suddenly all flew up into the air.

For a moment, the sky was filled with paper butterflies.

Master Wang’s mouth hung open. He had never seen anything this preposterous in his life.

How on earth could these paper cutouts become real fluttering butterflies?

The butterflies scattered toward the exterior of the market and soon disappeared into the sky. It was then that people remembered to look for the old man.

But when Master Wang looked towards the old man’s stall, he discovered that the white-haired old man had vanished without a trace.

On the chair where he had been sitting, there was only a paper figure, strikingly lifelike, sitting silently on the chair.

…

“Nine Streams” had become the most discussed film in the country.

Apart from events like those in Panjiayuan Market, where people couldn’t tell if it was magic or real superpowers, what concerned them more was what kind of world the film would depict.

It’s common knowledge that, narratively, Lu Ban’s movies are clear-cut, telling stories that interconnect different worlds.

The official website for the Silence Project provides some simple descriptions and information about these worlds.

There are also some viewers who are really into researching Lu Ban’s story backgrounds and are fascinated by those marvelous Foreign Domains, making guesses, improvements, and drawing conclusions about many stories hidden behind the scenes based on the descriptions in the movies.

These individuals even call themselves “Lu Scholars,” with as much zeal for research as those scholars who studied “Dream of the Red Chamber” back in the day.

A common saying in the “Lu Scholars” groups goes, “Lu Ban is just a filmmaker; what does he know about Foreign Domains.”

And “Nine Streams” is involved in a world that is the closest to reality yet the most mysterious to date.

Because most other worlds in Lu Ban’s movies all have a name, such as He Dao, Wasteland, Night Country, etc., each of these worlds revolves around some event, or you could say a core setting, which drives the story—like the Divine Sakura and the Chief Priestess on He Dao, the Demonic Tide of Night Country, and the swarms of bugs on the Wasteland.

But only “Cry,” the world of “Nine Streams,” does not have a specific name, nor a particularly core setting.

These stories, just like Lu Ban’s early adventure and supernatural videos, seem to happen right beside people, making their skin crawl.

And “Nine Streams” portrays a war-torn era from decades ago, also involving the element of superpowered individuals, giving the “Lu Scholars” plenty more to research.

In a certain “Lu Scholar” group chat, messages had been continuously flowing since the release of the trailer, only dying down slightly in the early hours of the morning.

Even so, some night owls would suddenly send a message at three in the morning, completely overturning their daytime interpretations, then go to sleep satisfied after leaving behind a long string of text.

[This time, they’ve introduced a new setting, huh? This world seems a bit special.]

[Now only the Wasteland has a roughly explained origin, the other worlds are still not clear. It would be great if this film could make clear the origin and composition of this current world.]

[I think it’s unlikely; there’s not even a name, and I strongly suspect that Lu Ban will wrap up all the stories in this world before concluding.]

[Actually, Abandoned Capital has the most information. If you guys could go to Abandoned Capital and play the “Glass Flower” script, you’d know – none of the set designs there are for show; you can read all the books.]

[Shoot, then I also want to be able to get in and play. It’s been so long, and I still haven’t been selected.]

[I’ve heard that lately in Panjiayuan Market a certain old man from the movie who does paper cutting appeared, made a bunch of paper butterflies, then turned into a paper man and disappeared. This couldn’t be another one of Lu Ban’s pre-movie promotions, could it? Maybe hiring a magician or something to create a scene.]

[Very likely. I’ll go to Panjiayuan Market tonight after work to take a look.]

Writer Liu Huajian shifted his gaze away from the screen.

He was a “Lu Scholar.”

By creating works that revolved around Lu Ban’s worldview, he had gained many fans, and on some non-profit blogs, his fanfiction was sought after by many, earning him the title of “Madam.”

He lived in Yannan and had also heard about the incident at Panjiayuan Market.

After work today, he planned to go see for himself whether the Paper-cutting Official was real or fake.