Hong Kong films: From street thugs to Hong Kong financial tycoons

"Five...five billion, boss, you mean US dollars?!"

In the spacious back seat of the bulletproof luxury car, Chen Zheng, the chief strategist who was usually unfazed even by the collapse of Mount Tai, almost shattered the lenses of his gold-rimmed glasses with his eyeballs.

He swallowed hard, his voice trembling: "Boss, the current exchange rate is 7.8. Five billion US dollars is close to four hundred billion Hong Kong dollars."

"If we were to withdraw such a large amount of liquid funds from our offshore accounts all at once, that would be a major operation!"

Chen Zheng was genuinely shocked. The land purchase cost 10 billion, and the purchase of the TV station and the construction of the liquid nitrogen cooling tower cost several billion. These investments in Hong Kong, though extravagant, were still tangible assets.

But now, the boss is asking to allocate HK$40 billion to Europe to buy a startup called ASML.

What was ASML like in 1987? It was nothing more than a Philips subsidiary that was losing money year after year, with dozens of employees crammed into leaky prefabricated houses, and facing bankruptcy every day.

Spending five billion US dollars to buy this thing? That's even more outrageous than throwing money into Victoria Harbour!

"Four hundred billion Hong Kong dollars is nothing, just a drop in the ocean."

Lin Yao shifted to a more comfortable position, resting his head on Qiu Shuyi's soft, slender thighs, and yawned casually.

"Old Chen, your vision is still limited to the financial and real estate industries, which involve buying and selling."

Lin Yao closed his eyes, a deep, unfathomable smile playing on his lips: "Do you know what a lithography machine is?"

Chen Zheng paused for a moment, then honestly shook his head: "I'm not quite sure. Lu Qiu mentioned it briefly; it seems to be equipment for printing circuit boards?"

"Printed circuit boards? You're imagining high technology with your toes."

Lin Yao chuckled. "Simply put, it's a super printer that can print banknotes, except that it doesn't print paper money, but rather the brains of all of humanity's high-tech devices for the next few decades."

"No matter how advanced Lu Qiu's EDA software is, it's still just a perfect design blueprint. Without the lithography machine, that super printer, the blueprint will never become a physical chip."

Lin Yao opened his eyes, his gaze flashing with the ruthlessness and ambition unique to a capitalist tyrant.

"The Europeans right now have no idea about the terrifying potential of that thing. While they're so poor they're practically begging for food, let's just pave the way with US dollars."

"If 5 billion isn't enough, then 10 billion. Take their absolute controlling stake, core technology patents, and all those foreign scientists back to Hong Kong."

"From now on, anyone in the world who wants to manufacture advanced chips will have to ask me, Lin Yao, for approval first!"

Chen Zheng gasped, goosebumps rising all over his body. He finally understood the ultimate purpose behind his boss's crazy spending these past few days.

This is about creating an ultimate monopoly empire that can strangle global tech giants in the tiny territory of Hong Kong!

"I understand, boss. I'll go back and contact the Swiss bank immediately to assemble a top-notch cross-border M&A legal team, and I'll personally fly to the Netherlands."

Chen Zheng looked solemn, as if he had received some sacred mission.

"No rush. Mergers and acquisitions are very complicated. Europeans are arrogant. We have to wait and see how it goes. Prepare the funds first. Take a rest for the next few days."

Lin Yao waved his hand, signaling the driver to turn the car around. After finishing his business here, Lin Yao suddenly remembered that there was still one piece of the puzzle in his entertainment empire that he hadn't inspected yet.

"Hey, we've finished looking at the factories in the New Territories. Shall we go to the remote mountains of Sai Kung? I heard that Master Lam Ching's film crew started shooting there today?"

Lin Yao asked.

"Yes, boss, the crew of Master Lam Ching's 'Mr. Vampire 2' filmed in an abandoned mortuary in Sai Kung."

The dog immediately reported to the leader.

"Let's go visit the set. My eyes are tired from looking at code and data all day. Let's go see our zombie Taoist priest exorcising demons and clear our heads."

Lin Yao stretched and closed his eyes again to enjoy Qiu Shuyi's extremely gentle head massage.

……

Two o'clock in the afternoon, deep in the mountains of Sai Kung, at the film set of an abandoned mortuary.

The atmosphere here is completely different from the decadent, beautiful women and luxury cars that Wang Pangzi film crew had on Clearwater Bay beach.

Ancient trees towered all around, blocking out the sunlight. A chilly wind blew in. In front of a few dilapidated brick and tile houses, there were altars, yellow paper, cinnabar, and glutinous rice.

In the center of the film set, a middle-aged man wearing a bright yellow Taoist robe and sporting a distinctive unibrow was angrily yelling at several extras dressed in Qing Dynasty official robes, holding a peach wood sword.

This man is none other than Master Lam Ching, the founding father of Hong Kong zombie films!

"Hold your breath! I've told you so many times, when you encounter a zombie, you hold your breath! You actors playing zombies are dead people too, how can dead people breathe so heavily?"

Master Lin Zheng brandished his peach wood sword, pointing it at a zombie whose chest was heaving violently, and yelled, "Look at your belly, bulging and bulging! Do you think you're a frog? Retake it!"

Several extras were utterly aggrieved: "Uncle Jiu, in this sweltering heat, wearing these heavy official robes, and not being able to breathe properly, we can't stand it..."

"Even if you can't hold it in, you have to. In our line of work, authenticity is key!"

Master Lin Zheng is a well-known film fanatic with extremely high standards for film quality, but unfortunately, the production team has a limited budget and cannot afford good actors, so they can only rely on these extras.

Just as Master Lin was frowning and preparing to ask the prop master to get some dry ice to make do,

"Boom!"

The once quiet, desolate mountains were suddenly broken by the deep sound of a car engine.

The sound seemed completely out of place outside the eerie mortuary. Everyone in the crew turned around and were immediately dumbfounded.

A line of luxurious black Mercedes-Benz vehicles, like bulldozers, rolled over the surrounding weeds and came to a steady stop at the edge of the film set.

Dozens of bodyguards dressed in black suits and wearing sunglasses filed out and quickly took over security on set.

Lin Yao, dressed in casual clothes, swaggered over, protected by a huge black parasol.

"The...boss?!"

Upon seeing the newcomer, Master Lin was so frightened that he quickly threw down his peach wood sword and went to meet him.

Although he was stubborn, he knew who this Boss Lin was. His feat of spending 2 billion to buy a TV station to air trailers a few days ago had already shocked the entire Hong Kong film industry.

"Master Lin, busy exorcising demons and monsters?"

Lin Yao greeted him with a smile, then looked around the shabby film set and frowned slightly.

"It's too dilapidated. Even if it's for a horror movie, you wouldn't actually choose a crumbling building to film in. What if a wall collapses and injures an actor? Who's responsible then?"

Lin Yao kicked the dilapidated coffin prop next to him with disdain, and a piece of the coffin lid fell off.

Master Lin rubbed his hands awkwardly, his face turning red: "Boss, this is to save costs. Although the actual filming location is a bit dilapidated, it has that eerie feel."

"Cost-saving?"

Lin Yao seemed to have heard a very funny joke. He walked to the monitor and casually flipped through the script on the table next to him.

Mr. Zombie 2: The Mortuary Horror.

After reading two pages of the outline, Lin Yao threw the script back onto the table without any interest.

"The tactics are outdated and the scope is too narrow."

Lin Yao shook his head and turned to look at Master Lin Zheng, whose face was full of astonishment.

"Master Lin, I spent a lot of money to sign you to Yaosheng Film Studio, not so that you could continue making these low-budget B-movies where a few people play hide-and-seek in a house and throw rice at zombies."

"Boss, this...this is the hottest selling topic right now!"

Master Lin was getting a little anxious; this was his proudest culinary skill.

"A past success doesn't guarantee future success. Hong Kong audiences are already tired of these small-scale productions."

Lin Yao walked to the altar, picked up a piece of yellow paper with talismans drawn on it, and flicked it lightly with his finger.

"If we're going to play, let's go big."

Lin Yao's eyes gleamed with a fervent creative light. The pleasure of using money to forcibly modify movies was even more exhilarating than making money.

"The premise of your show is still a young Taoist priest guarding a mortuary, encountering a century-old zombie, right? What kind of crisis is that? What kind of highlight is that?"

Lin Yao turned around, opened his arms, and loudly said to Master Lin Zheng and the entire crew, "Listen up, the entire script is to be scrapped and rewritten."

"I've already thought of a name for you: 'I put you in charge of the mortuary, but you actually invited the Three Pure Ones!'"

boom!

Upon hearing this name, Master Lin Zheng and several assistant directors gasped in shock.

The Three Pure Ones?

Those are the highest-ranking supreme deities in the Chinese Taoist mythology system: Yuqing Yuanshi Tianzun, Shangqing Lingbao Tianzun, and Taiqing Daode Tianzun.

When they're filming zombie movies, the most they'd do is ask a patriarch to possess them and lend them some magical power; that's already top-tier combat strength.

Now, the boss just opened his mouth and guarded a dilapidated mortuary, and he actually managed to shake down the Three Pure Ones. Isn't that a bit too big of a leap?

"Boss... would you like to invite the Three Pure Ones?"

Master Lin swallowed hard, feeling that his worldview had been greatly shaken.

"What kind of world-destroying demon must have been encountered to warrant the Three Pure Ones descending to earth? A mere hundred-year-old zombie isn't even worthy of carrying the Three Pure Ones' shoes!"

"If a century-old zombie isn't enough, then let's elevate the villains' status too!"

Lin Yao became more and more excited as he spoke, and the inspiration from countless fantasy novels and Hong Kong variety shows he had read in his previous life was now colliding wildly in his mind.

"Incorporate all of China's mythology and supernatural tales, and don't get bogged down in the Qing Dynasty's hopping zombies."

"The villains are directly set as either the ancient great witch Jiang Chen reborn or the ancestor of the Netherworld Blood Sea who broke the cycle of reincarnation."

"Beneath the mortuary lies not an ordinary mass grave, but the gate to ten thousand ghosts in the eighteen levels of hell."

"The protagonist must not only be able to draw talismans and chant incantations, but also summon wind and rain, and conjure soldiers from beans. In the final battle, I want to see the protagonist shatter the heavens, with the majestic images of the Three Pure Ones appearing behind him, and severing the path to the underworld with a single sword strike!"

Silence. The entire desolate film set was deathly silent.

Master Lin Zheng stared with his mouth agape, oblivious to the cascade of yellow papers he was holding falling to the ground.

Several photographers and screenwriters felt their scalps tingle and goosebumps rise all over their bodies.

This is insane, absolutely insane! They've taken a low-budget folk horror film and somehow managed to elevate it to the level of an epic blockbuster based on Eastern mythology.

This kind of boundless imagination, this crazy idea of ​​dragging all the gods and Buddhas into a chaotic battle at the mortuary, is simply a crushing defeat of the traditional film industry.

"Boss... your idea is absolutely brilliant! If this were made, it would absolutely crush those crappy Hollywood sci-fi movies!"

A screenwriter wearing glasses was so excited that he trembled and knelt down in front of the script.

"But...but boss, how much money would it cost to create special effects of this caliber, including the images of the Three Pure Ones and the Eighteen Levels of Hell? Hong Kong's current industrial capabilities are simply not up to par!"

"Can't do it?"

Lin Yao snorted disdainfully, put his hands in his pockets, and exuded a suffocating sense of financial pressure.

"If Hong Kong can't do it, then we'll hire the top special effects team from Hollywood's Industrial Light & Magic. If Industrial Light & Magic can't do it, then I'll just throw money at building the largest special effects rendering center in all of Asia."

"There is no upper limit to the funds. If 50 million is not enough, then 100 million will do. If 100 million is not enough, then 1 billion will do."

"I'm going to use real money to create a primordial universe that belongs to the Chinese people on the big screen."

"Master Lin!"

Lin Yao's gaze sharpened as he looked at Lin Zheng.

"Yes, boss!"

Master Lin Zheng was now completely ignited by Lin Yao's words, his back straightening as if he were truly possessed by the spirit of the patriarch.

"Pack your things, let's not stay in this desolate mountain anymore."

Lin Yao waved his hand, exuding an aura of dominance.

"Go to the mainland and find famous mountains and rivers, find the most magnificent Taoist temples and real-life scenes. If you can't find a suitable one, I'll just buy a mountain and build a real Maoshan Celestial Master's Mansion for you, one-to-one."

"I'm giving you two months to prepare. I want this film to be a groundbreaking work of Eastern mythology that will resonate globally!"

"Yes, boss!!!"

The entire crew erupted in a roar that shook the mountains and forests. Everyone's blood was boiling. To be able to film under a boss who didn't care about money and only pursued the ultimate shock value, even if you died on set from exhaustion, it would be an unparalleled honor that would go down in film history.

Watching the crew members packing up their things like they were on steroids, Lin Yao turned around and got into his car with satisfaction.

This monotonous inspection routine finally had some fun.

I wonder if those Hollywood devils will be so scared when they see the towering Three Pure Ones statues cleaving the screen with a sword on the day the movie is released that they'll stuff popcorn up their noses.

That's something to look forward to!