You're my wife, don't doubt it!

Shen Jie glanced at Xiao Yao, who wisely shut his mouth.

Xiao Yao didn't know what it was like for a human to have their throat bitten off by another human, nor did he want to experience it. After thinking it over, he decided to find out more about what Yu Luying had seen.

The story presented by Yu Luying began more like a fairy tale.

A girl who lost her father at a young age and lived with her mother met a boy who looked exactly like her father in a photograph when he was young.

The girl believed that the boy was her father from her younger days who had traveled back in time, so she became close to him and hoped to reunite him with her mother so that she could have a complete family again.

But how could a young man fall in love with a middle-aged woman?

Unsurprisingly, the boy fell in love with the girl, which greatly embarrassed her, causing her to react strongly and even embarrass the boy in public.

The boy, unaware of the situation, was only confused, but he soon revealed his fickle nature and hooked up with a wealthy young lady—just like the girl's father in her mother's words.

The girl was filled with regret. She felt that she had ruined her family once again. She tried her best to win back her "father" and even threw herself into the young man's arms. This was how she managed to be on par with the young lady who was outstanding in both family background and appearance and was also infatuated with the young man.

Just when the girl had the opportunity to turn the tide with an unexpected inheritance, her father, who was also her mother's husband, a charming and handsome middle-aged man, barged into her already chaotic life.

Xiao Yao fully understood that Yu Luying didn't want to tell Shen Jie this story, and he also fully understood her decision to leave halfway through.

—These bastards have made up such outrageous nonsense!

Xiao Yao looked around and realized that Zhao Xiaomei had also returned to the hall with the crowd at some point—it seemed that everyone had left.

Xiao Yao and the other two went up to her, wanting to ask Zhao Xiaomei how the story she had read was arranged.

However, Zhao Xiaomei looked at Shen Jie, then at Yu Luying, and finally at Xiao Yao. After hesitating for a long time, she waved her hand and said that she had accidentally fallen asleep and hadn't understood anything.

Xiao Yao naturally didn't believe it, but she wasn't really a teammate anyway, so if she didn't want to say anything, she didn't have to.

Based on the three movie clips he had already watched, he was able to basically determine that each of these short films was a story about himself, Shen Jie, and Yu Luying.

If nothing unexpected happens, the remaining films I haven't seen will definitely follow the same pattern.

This whole fucking movie theater is just a giant megaphone smearing itself.

Xiao Yao believed that arguing with the loudspeaker was useless in order to solve the problem—they had to find out who was behind the loudspeaker.

Everyone noticed that, in addition to the title and promotional image, the posters for these short films also listed the names of the distributors, producers, directors, and other related entities and individuals. Following this lead, they found one person in the building behind the cinema who, after being beaten, could have a normal conversation with the countless distributors who promoted whatever attracted attention, the producers who made whatever sold well, and the directors who became overly self-important after gaining some fame.

"You're the director, and you didn't make up the story? I don't believe you!" Xiao Yao clenched his blood-stained fist, trying his best to control himself.

"How many times have I told you, directors don't write scripts, do you even know..." The skinny man under Xiao Yao's fist ultimately didn't dare to finish his sentence.

"So who wrote the script?"

"The screenwriter."

"Screenwriter? Who is the screenwriter of all this? Where can I find him?" Xiao Yao continued to press.

"I don't know about Phuket," the skinny man said with a worried look.

"Are you fucking lying to me? There's no screenwriter in your credits at all!"

"No, no, he's not on my staff list—just a lazy writer who can get out of here after submitting his work. Who even remembers his name?"

"I think you're so smart, your memory must be excellent. I believe you can remember." Xiao Yao grinned maliciously, turning his fist expectantly.

"Let me think, let me think... Uh, I remember now, he left an address for receiving royalties, but I haven't sent it to him yet, so I don't know if it's correct."

"What about the royalties?" Xiao Yao asked, having already obtained the address, and continued to press the skinny man for details.

"Okay, okay..." The skinny man sighed and took out a neatly packed bag of coins from the drawer.

Seeing these golden coins brought back unpleasant memories for Xiao Yao—this thing looks like the same kind of money in his father-in-law's hall.

While thinking this, he turned around and swung his fist, delivering a powerful punch to the skinny man, sending him flying. The man's head crashed into the ceiling, where he twitched for a while before going still.

"They've already cooperated so much, this isn't very dignified of you to act like this," Shen Jie said with some dissatisfaction.

"I'm just a nobody writer, what do I need to be respectable for?" Xiao Yao crumpled the stack of money.

After leaving this rumor-mongering hub, the group noticed a change in the movie theater audience—many of them were carrying typewriters, engaging in lively conversation with their long tongues before burying themselves in typing. Soon, they would produce a page of text and then drop it into the mailbox.

Was that a submission box?

It seems these viewers might also become amateur screenwriters?

Wouldn't that create a spiral of lies?

This is too bad.

The address Xiao Yao received was a mailbox in a residential building far from the cinema, but the door to the corresponding apartment was locked.

This place has clearly left the sphere of influence of that movie theater; it's just a hall for everyone now, peaceful and uninteresting.

Finding the owner of the mailbox here is like looking for a needle in a haystack.

Just when the group was at a loss, Zhao Xiaomei, who hadn't said much, suddenly remembered something and asked Xiao Yao for the money they had just stolen.

Xiao Yao was a little confused, but he still gave it to her.

Zhao Xiaomei took the money, tore open the oil paper wrapping, and dropped the coins one by one into the mailbox. A pleasant sound came from inside the mailbox—the sound of gold.

"Look, someone is coming."

The crowd hurriedly hid in the shadows and saw a man walking briskly towards them—he opened the mailbox, excitedly took out the gold coins, and began counting them greedily.

This person, like most of the figures in the public eye, had a blurred face, but Xiao Yao recognized his uniform—this guy was the popcorn vendor at the movie theater entrance!

Once Xiao Yao understood the situation, he leaped out from the shadows and grabbed the rumor-monger by the collar.

The shadow was caught off guard at first, then surprisingly reached out and grabbed Xiao Yao's wrist, pushed Xiao Yao under the armpit with his other hand, and turned around to throw him.

Xiao Yao was no longer fooled by such tricks. He pushed him down on the lower back with one hand, and then used the other hand to strangle him from behind.

"Who are you?! Why are you slandering us? Who ordered you to do this?"

Under Xiao Yao's control, the shadow struggled to break free and even opened its mouth, swallowing the gold coins.

After swallowing the gold coins, the shadow swelled up, broke free from Xiao Yao, and transformed into a gigantic monster holding a keyboard in one hand, a mouse in the other, and flicking its long tongue.

"Wow, a top-tier screenwriter!" Shen Jie remarked.

However, Xiao Yao and his group were already seasoned veterans, so how could they be intimidated by such trash?

The group summoned the fortress and quickly took it down.

However, Xiao Yao was very careful not to draw his sword and kill him.

Because he knew that silencing the monster was pointless—to solve the problem, he had to make him talk, to say what he needed to say.

The fallen monster gradually disintegrated, and its shadow revealed its true form, finally becoming clearer.

Xiao Yao leaned closer to take a look.

"Damn, it's you! Wang Ming?!"

--split line--

Now that we've found the culprit, we should go back to the real world and have a proper talk with him.

Zhao Xiaomei makes time flow again.

The three kids called Zhang Jialong, Daiyu, Zhang Zhengkai, and others, and cornered Wang Ming in the alleyway on his way home from school. They kindly and patiently criticized and educated him (in physics), and then found evidence on his computer of his rampant activity on various forums.

Then, they forced him to post apologies and clarifications in various places.

As for that disastrous movie theater, Xiao Yao and his group first set up a fake fire alarm to evacuate everyone, and then Shen Jie set a real fire and burned it down.

At this point, everyone went home and found their own mothers.

--split line--

I thought the matter would come to an end, but it didn't work at all; instead, the rumors intensified.

"Wang Ming ignited that spark, and what happened afterward was beyond his control," commented Xiong Ji, a bystander.

Confused, the three children, along with Zhao Xiaomei, re-entered the cinema, only to be surprised to find that it had been reborn from the ashes.

Moreover, there's one more company.

The original cinema has changed its screening schedule to include conspiracy theories such as "insiders being lobbied, the people involved having powerful connections, and self-directed and self-promoted hype," while the new cinema is showing conspiracy theories about the old cinema being burned down, as well as other more outrageous speculations.

"If two of them are formed, burn them twice!" Shen Jie summoned the flames again, but her tone betrayed her hesitation.

At that moment, the sound of horse bells came from behind them, which was very abrupt in a big city like Shanghai.

The warhorse stopped, and the knight, still clad in porcelain-white armor, bowed slightly to Shen Jie as a sign of respect.

He then said, "Although one should look at a person with new eyes after three days of separation, I'm afraid Miss Shen's enthusiasm alone is not enough to satisfy this Hydra."

"The Hydra, the nine-headed serpent? A monster that grows two heads when you cut off one, how fitting." Yu Luying seemed to be the most hostile to the White Knight among them: "But it's ironic that Hercules, who has the ability but stands idly by, is making such sarcastic remarks here."

"Madam thinks too highly of me." The White Knight seemed to reveal a helpless expression behind his mask.

"Madam, what's wrong?" Xiao Yao asked.

Yu Luying crossed her arms and said sarcastically, "Has the process reached the point of 'maybe we could have done something back then, but it's too late now'?"

The White Knight remained silent, seemingly acquiescing.

Xiao Yao stepped forward and said, "Hercules alone couldn't defeat Hydra, but now, it's not just you alone."

The White Knight nodded and waved his hand lightly.

A gentle breeze lifted Xiao Yao and the others up, along with the white knight and his horse, and then slowly ascended.