For this shooting task, Hessian decided to split into two crews filming simultaneously. He himself would handle the parts with Kevin and Seele, while Mobius would take charge of Bronya's sections.
Mobius immediately rejected his proposal upon hearing it: "No way. Being a director? I don't have that ability."
Hessian patted her shoulder encouragingly: "You have to believe in yourself. You actually have a lot of talent in this area. If there's anything you don't understand, just come ask me."
"..."
Mobius hesitated for a moment: "Can't you just do it all yourself like before?"
Hessian coughed: "My friend..."
Before he could finish, she interrupted: "I'm not your friend. Don't try that set on me."
Alright.
It seemed fooling her wouldn't work.
He could only appeal to emotion and reason: "To be honest, I could handle it all myself right now. But have you considered? In the future, we'll be filming two, even three dramas at once. Will I still be able to keep up then? And you are the person I trust the most..."
"...except for Elysia." He added this, and the suspicion in Mobius's eyes finally disappeared.
"In the future, only you can help lighten this burden for me as much as possible. So you have to start learning now, right?"
Mobius was originally about to refuse again.
But thinking that whenever she didn't understand something or felt it wasn't good, she could just drag this guy over to work overtime—it seemed pretty nice...
She agreed.
By the afternoon.
Filming officially began.
As usual, they first helped the first-time actors get into character.
Hessian aimed the camera at Kevin: "Say the line once."
Kevin recalled the line, still with that optimistic noodle-eating boy vibe: "On the scorched earth..."
"Cut!"
Hessian stopped him right away.
"What's wrong, Director He?" Kevin looked at him confusedly. Mei was watching from the side; he wanted to perform well and show his talent.
Hessian hadn't expected Kevin's acting to be subpar. How could such an important role be played so naively optimistic?
After thinking, he said: "Adjust your emotions first. Imagine that when you say this line, Mei has already been killed by Honkai."
The moment he heard Mei died.
The clarity in Kevin's eyes instantly vanished, and his entire aura changed abruptly.
Hessian was very satisfied: "Say the line!"
Kevin's heart was filled with hatred toward Honkai. Especially looking at Mei nearby, it was as if he saw her phantom, subconsciously treating these words as a promise to her: "On the scorched earth, I make a vow to her, to everyone—no matter the cost, humanity will surely defeat Honkai!"
"Good! Very good." Hessian was extremely satisfied: "For the rest of the scenes, just maintain this state."
Huff~
Huff huff~
Kevin took several deep breaths and asked Hessian: "Director He, Mei won't really die later, right?"
Hessian rolled his eyes, comforting him: "You're both playing people from the Previous Era. Dying is normal, but don't worry—you two are very happy. After all, the Kaslana family are your descendants~ Act with peace of mind."
Hearing this, Kevin finally relaxed.
If the outcome was bad or too tragic, he was thinking of refusing while he hadn't acted yet.
Now it seemed his director still had a heart.
Hessian didn't dare say more. He had to trick Kevin into filming one episode first to prevent him from running.
He went straight to try scenes with Seele next.
Since coming to the company, Seele had always been a low-profile role—usually sitting with everyone watching TV, observing rehearsals from the side, with a soft and gentle personality.
Hessian was actually quite worried she couldn't handle this role.
"Hello, Director He!"
Seele hugged the script. Seeing Hessian approach, she quickly greeted him.
Hessian nodded and said: "We'll try some scenes now. Your normal state is basically like Seele's usual one. We'll mainly try the dark Seele's part."
Seele nodded weakly, closed her eyes, and brewed for dozens of seconds.
When she opened her eyes again, her gaze had become sharper, and her aura carried a sense of oppression.
She waved her hand, her voice cold with a hint of madness: "I won't let anyone stop me—not even big sister...!"
"Good!"
Hessian was very satisfied: "When we shoot later, just do it like this."
"Okay, Director He." Seele switched back to her original gentle self in a second, making Hessian doubt if the previous dark Seele was an illusion.
Or... did she really have two personalities?
He couldn't figure it out!
There was no time to think deeply now.
He turned his gaze to SAKURA last, opened his mouth, then turned back and shouted: "Action!"
"Yes, Director He."
Suddenly, the crew, staff, and cameramen all took their positions.
SAKURA grabbed Hessian's clothes and asked: "What about me? Don't I need to audition?"
Hessian nodded: "Your very existence already fits perfectly. No need— just stay as you are."
"Oh~"
SAKURA didn't understand, but she'd do as he said anyway.
Soon, filming officially started.
Once in the shooting phase, Hessian was like a different person—demanding extremely high standards for every actor's movement and emotion.
This made everyone extremely focused during filming, and unknowingly, the day passed.
While he was busy shooting, Elysia moved all their things from home to the Golden Courtyard.
Due to the dual-crew filming, this week's progress was actually slower than last week's. The reason was Mobius's first time, requiring repeated communication and confirmation with Hessian on many points.
They barely managed to deliver the raw footage to the TV station one hour before broadcast.
Hessian felt completely exhausted this week.
After delivering the footage, he went straight back to the Golden Courtyard.
It was more like a manor than a courtyard—this entire area was part of the courtyard, with dozens of rooms.
As soon as Hessian entered, he saw Eden and Elysia had already poured fine wine and were sitting in front of the TV, ready to watch Honkai Impact 3rd.
Seeing him return, the two also took out two glasses, poured wine, and asked: "Not watching at the company today?"
Hessian nodded: "Mm... better to watch at home today. You know Kalpas is at the company."
Uh...
Elysia couldn't help laughing: "Kalpas is actually easy to get along with. He seems impulsive but has his own ideas—he won't easily do anything to you."
"Besides, don't you have SAKURA protecting you?"
Hessian looked at SAKURA beside him and smiled bitterly.
It was precisely because SAKURA was there that he specifically came home to watch. If at the company, if this woman really did something to him, no one could stop her.
He decisively sat next to Elysia and said softly: "I just want to watch TV with my wife."
"Okay~"
Elysia leaned on his shoulder.
Eden smiled faintly. She felt things weren't as he said, but the real reason would probably only be known after watching this episode of Honkai Impact 3rd.
She waved to SAKURA to sit beside her and drink while watching slowly.
Just then, the opening theme of Honkai Impact 3rd played on the TV.
Everyone turned to watch.
The drama plot went straight to Theresa's side. They were now facing a dilemma: the robot needed equipment from Anti-Entropy headquarters to repair, and Cocolia had sent a distress call, claiming Schicksal wanted to seize the Desire Gem.
In the end, they decided to split up: Theresa, Bronya, and Einstein would take the Hyperion to Cocolia's location to transfer the Desire Gem.
While Tesla and Mei would take the Helios to Anti-Entropy headquarters to repair the robot.
After deciding, everyone acted.
Theresa's group soon arrived at Sea Abyss City and met Lilia and Rosalia there. Under the twins' guidance, they entered the interior of Sea Abyss City and met Cocolia.
Hessian hadn't filmed this segment in detail because in the live streams two days ago, Bronya had already told the viewers about her past and relationship with Cocolia.
Einstein had also popularized the Sea of Quanta for the viewers in a previous stream.
The viewers were naturally familiar with the battles here and the conflict between Bronya and Cocolia.
Soon, under Gray Serpent's plan, battle erupted in Sea Abyss City.
To retrieve the Desire Gem, Bronya jumped into the Sea of Quanta.
As soon as she regained consciousness, she saw a boy standing in front of her: "Call me Joachim. What's your name?"
Bronya answered: "...Bronya."
Joachim continued: "I saw you fall from a huge wormhole. Are you from the outside? Don't worry—the time you've been swallowed into the Sea of Quanta isn't long yet. You can still make it back now."
Bronya refused.
She had to go deeper into the Sea of Quanta to find the Desire Gem.
Joachim's expression turned cold: "Going deeper into the Sea of Quanta requires qualifications."
As his words fell, several quantum shadows appeared.
Bronya didn't hesitate and had the Project Bunny destroy all these shadows.
Then she asked: "These shadows pose no threat to Bronya. Does Bronya now have the qualification to enter the Sea of Quanta?"
Joachim said: "You're special. Your past is different from others—it has given you a strong will beyond your age. Unfortunately, the stronger a person is, the more likely their heart is to have fragile voids."
"Bronya, the trial you must face has only just begun—"
The floor under Bronya's feet suddenly vanished, and she fell deeper.
"You will go to another world—a completely different world. Be careful: past confusion and pain will become your greatest enemies there. In that world, tell me your answer."
Bronya's consciousness entered a void. When it recovered again.
The voice in her ear was that incomparably familiar one: "Bronya, I didn't expect a good student like you to fall asleep in class. I know finals are approaching and everyone's working hard, but you need to rest more too."
"If you fall asleep during the exam, the proctor won't be as kind as me and wake you up."
Laughter rang out in the classroom, just like the sound she would hear in her memories when Kiana fell asleep in class and was woken up.
It was a voice Bronya hadn't heard in a long, long time.
"...Himeko?!"
Bronya quickly lowered her head, covered her mouth, desperately holding back the trembling.
Because reason told her she should restrain her emotions now.
She glanced at Fu Hua beside her...
These two should already be...
She gradually calmed down, realizing this wasn't the real world.
After understanding, she confirmed this was a world different from reality—a more perfect world, without those tragedies, where they were all still alive.
But... it made her feel very uncomfortable.
Not just her—the viewers watching now couldn't hold back and commented one after another.
"This really is a beautiful world. Everyone's here, St. Freya's daily life continues—it's just that I feel something's missing."
"Yes yes yes, that's exactly how I feel. It's like... too perfect, so it feels too fake instead."
"Yes! I suspect this is the dog director seeing we're unhappy with the tragedy, deliberately creating this perfection. Because it's too deliberate, we're uncomfortable."
"Sigh, actually I can feel Bronya wants this to be real too, but like us, she knows it's impossible. It's all the dog director's fault—too damn dog."
Complain as they might, curse as they might, but they still had to watch the TV.
The drama plot moved to the mission.
This mission included Fu Hua, Cocolia, Himeko, and Bronya—plus one person running late.
Just as Bronya was wondering who it would be.
Seele came running, out of breath, with a gentle voice: "Sorry, I'm late..."
Bronya instantly froze.
She never imagined the person appearing would be her little sister Seele—who had long fallen into the Sea of Quanta and disappeared.
Seele said to Cocolia: "Teacher Cocolia, sorry I'm late..."
Cocolia asked gently: "You actually late? What happened?"
Seele explained: "Preparing for the mission took some time, but now it's all resolved."
Cocolia said: "It's fine. Let me introduce—this is Bronya, joining us today. She's a bit older than you."
"Bro...nya?" Seele blinked, curiously sizing up Bronya.
Her eyes shone with the blue of seawater, just like the girl in Bronya's memories.
Bronya looked at her and fell silent.
Until Seele spoke: "Nice to meet you, big sister Bronya. I'm Seele."
Bronya's voice was somewhat choked: "Hello... Seele."
"..."
She fell silent, not knowing what she was still hoping for.
Mother Cocolia had become a Valkyrie, so the orphanage didn't exist—of course there was no X-10 experiment. In this world, there would naturally be a normally grown-up Seele...
Bronya... should understand...
She kept reminding herself.
Until the mission began, she carried it out methodically, cooperating to rescue the target Joachim and prepare to transfer him.
At that moment.
Seele suddenly called: "Big sister Bronya!"
Bronya looked at her puzzled: "What's wrong, Seele?"
Seele said urgently: "We can't go to the evacuation point... We have to take this child and leave. We can't hand him over to others."
Bronya continued asking: "Even if you say that, where can we take him?"
Seele said: "I don't know yet... but please, sister, believe me..."
"Seele...?"
Bronya keenly sensed something off—this dissonance wasn't there when interacting with Himeko and the others. This dissonance made her heart race; an idea couldn't be suppressed.
But she still asked: "What's wrong? Bronya thinks you're acting a bit strange..."
"..."
"No... Big sister Bronya, give him to me..."
"If this continues... everything will start over again..."
Bronya was almost certain: "...Seele?"
Seele's tone suddenly changed: "...Hand him over to me!"
As soon as the words fell, quantum shadows appeared around them, attacking toward Seele.
Seele, seeing these things, was scared and dodged everywhere.
Bronya was completely convinced of her suspicion.
She quickly eliminated the quantum shadows and came to Seele's side...