Chapter 436: This Is What You Call Cunning Foresight
On the deck of Rhodes Island.
The area normally reserved for docking aircraft was unusually lively today. Anyone unaware of the situation might have thought they were preparing to welcome some high-ranking VIP. Only those present knew the truth—
They were about to take part in the filming of a movie that defied description.
"I can guarantee this is going to become an indelible black mark on our life résumés," Warfarin said, lowering the script in her hands and pressing a palm to her forehead. She then raised her hand to shield her eyes from the sun and sighed helplessly.
"Is it still possible for me to use a fake identity before the shooting starts?"
Only after complaining did she slowly turn her head toward the person beside her—
A green-haired Feline girl with a cold expression, impossible to read.
"I mean," Warfarin continued, "Kal'tsit, I never thought I'd see the day you got dragged into something like this. This kind of absurd project, involving so many operators—and you actually approved it? I'm starting to suspect you and him are basically an old married couple at this point."
Based on the bizarre things Warfarin had sneakily glimpsed in Kal'tsit's script, she wasn't even a lead role, yet her character arc was already beyond words. And this was Kal'tsit—getting her to act in something like this?
Was the sun rising in the west today?
"He is an official shareholder of Rhodes Island," Kal'tsit replied flatly. "And given that he offered two barrels of medicine capable of treating Oripathy as compensation, I had no reason to refuse."
Though her face remained expressionless, Warfarin could clearly hear the barely restrained urge to devour someone alive in her tone.
Steven's offer was indeed tempting. Even Warfarin herself had felt her heart skip a beat when she heard he could produce potions effective under virtually any condition.
In fact, she had no right to laugh at Kal'tsit at all. To be blunt, she was standing on this execution-ground-like set for one simple reason—
Steven had promised her a single drop of his blood.
"So you're just going to let him and Nian run wild?" Warfarin blinked. "Once these videos leak out, I won't really care—but if you truly don't care about your reputation either, then I suppose I've got nothing to say."
Losing face was nothing new to her. She'd been hung upside down on the bridge often enough that she'd built up a solid resistance. A few more times wouldn't matter.
But Kal'tsit was different.
To be honest, Warfarin was genuinely curious about what kind of role she had been assigned.
Given the shared aesthetic sense of Nian and Steven—those two lunatics—there was no way the role would be normal. At the very least, it wouldn't be another silent, riddle-speaking enigma like Kal'tsit's usual image.
"…The distributor she found is Closure," Kal'tsit said quietly. "If she wants to stay alive, she won't actually try to sell this film to the outside world."
She stated it like an unrelated fact.
Warfarin, meanwhile, looked at her with pure admiration and raised a thumbs-up.
Now that was what you called old, deep, calculating wisdom.
After living for so many years, at least she hadn't lived them in vain.
This kind of advanced judgment was clearly beyond what Nian herself was capable of considering.
"But what if she uses Steve's Block Consortium for distribution?" Warfarin pointed out a potential loophole in the plan. If possible, she really didn't want those painfully chuuni, shame-inducing scenes of hers to be exposed to the public.
"He's acting in it himself," Kal'tsit replied calmly. "As long as he retains even the slightest sense of shame, he won't make it too high-profile. At most, it'll be shown in a midnight slot or circulated internally within Rhodes Island. That's probably the upper limit of what he can tolerate."
After spending a fair amount of time dealing with Steven, Kal'tsit couldn't claim to fully understand what went on in his head—but under normal circumstances, when he wasn't having one of his episodes, she could roughly predict his behavior.
"And what about all these operators?" Warfarin asked.
She glanced around. The set was crowded with a truly eclectic mix of Rhodes Island operators—and even some patients. Just acting in front of this many people was already enough to shatter Kal'tsit's image beyond repair.
She honestly didn't know how Steven had managed this. She even spotted Logos—one of the rarely seen elite operators—and Amiya, who was standing behind Kal'tsit as if being shielded by her. If Steven had personally invited all of them, then his connections were far better than Warfarin had ever imagined.
"Who do you think would voluntarily bring up their own embarrassing involvement?" Kal'tsit said coldly. "Besides—even if I did this, would I stop being Kal'tsit of Rhodes Island?"
Her expression hardened, and she revealed a seriousness that even Warfarin had never seen before. The words sounded like a warning—and because her voice rose just slightly, everyone present heard it loud and clear.
Yet after a brief pause, the crowd resumed what they were doing as if nothing had been said at all.
"Impressive. Truly impressive."
Warfarin raised her other thumb toward Kal'tsit. This time, she was genuinely convinced.
Steven really had gone too far—far enough to force Kal'tsit to use her authority to suppress information. From a certain perspective, that meant even she had no other way to deal with him.
While Warfarin was still quietly chatting with Kal'tsit, Steven—the planner and chief director of this cinematic disaster—appeared on the deck together with Nian, both of them carrying a pile of rather questionable costumes.
They dumped the heap of clothing in front of the assembled crowd.
"Everyone's read their scripts by now, right?" Steven asked cheerfully. "Any opinions, suggestions, or complaints? You're all free to raise your hands."
He wiped imaginary sweat from his forehead and flashed a friendly smile at the group of actors he'd roped in purely on the strength of his own reputation.
In response, about ninety percent of the people present raised their hands.
"Very good," Steven nodded solemnly. "That means there are no objections. Since everyone approves of their scripts, we can go ahead and start assigning scenes."
Ignoring the raised hands in front of him as if he were completely blind, Steven maintained his smile, exchanged a look with Nian beside him, and then officially announced the start of filming.
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Note: Character Illustration is in this Google Drive:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1iuyfwNVFHzIi9H4rWNT_lAm7jTSiah_M
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