The passion of last year had faded. A new year came quietly. Half a year passed just like that, and the Transformers movie finally arrived, giving everyone's tense nerves a chance to relax.
The long-delayed screening had built up plenty of curiosity. Combined with the movie's high quality, it was a total hit. As soon as it was released, theaters were packed. Transformers and Jedi Warriors instantly became the favorites of nerds everywhere.
The two beautiful actresses, Elsa and Kailan, both starred in major and supporting roles. In the robot brawls, they still shone. Elsa's beauty and acting skills, and Kailan's beauty—neither could be hidden, even in scenes filled with sparks and flying metal. Elsa's performance especially won over both audiences and critics.
The scene where Liu A'dou copied The Terminal—where Elsa, broke and stranded, pushed a shopping cart through a supermarket just to get the coin from the cart lock to buy fast food—left a strong impression. It showed another side of Elsa.
The "fallen queen" cleverly trading a burger won over many fans. It proved that Elsa could still be charming even without superpowers.
From the looks of it, Liu A'dou was going to make money again. But now, he wasn't thinking small—he wanted to earn baby formula money.
Ada had already applied to train new recruits, which made her the highest-ranking figure in the new agent training class. Liu A'dou realized his earlier plan of letting Ada train Harry Osborn probably wouldn't happen anymore. He or Elsa would have to do it themselves when they got the chance.
The arrival of Transformers once again pushed the mutant issue into the spotlight. In truth, ever since the alien invasion, the problem of mutants had lost its edge. And weirdly, that made some mutants feel a bit left out.
They used to be the center of attention—hated or not, everyone talked about them. Like troublemaking kids, the louder they were, the more people noticed them.
Now that aliens were here, internal conflicts among humans were pushed aside in favor of a bigger threat. Mutants were no longer the problem—aliens were. But that wasn't really a good thing. It meant any push for legal rights by mutants now looked like they were stirring internal trouble instead of supporting unity. It put them in a tough spot.
They either had to stay quiet and endure, or risk being labeled enemies of humanity. Most people didn't care what mutants wanted anymore. Everyone just wanted to focus on the external threat. Any mutant raising demands would just irritate the public.
That gave extremist groups a chance to suppress and smear mutants. They painted mutants who asked for equal rights as selfish, tone-deaf, and anti-human.
Professor X had thought things would improve, but reality proved otherwise. Being ignored wasn't a blessing. Discrimination hadn't gone away. Mutants still existed. Whether they kept quiet or spoke out, they'd be targeted anyway. In short, mutants were still a vulnerable group.
So when Elsa came back into the spotlight, most mutants were genuinely happy. She was the only mutant widely known by the public. Whether mutants liked it or not, she was their face.
Elsa, having seen many tragic stories of her fellow mutants at school, always hoped to help them. And she was doing pretty well. As long as she kept a good image, public perception of mutants could improve.
That's why in interviews, Elsa often subtly expressed her hopes that mutants could integrate into mainstream society. But what everyone really wanted to know was—how did Elsa feel when acting without using her powers?
On this topic, Elsa said, "There are all kinds of mutants. Some use their powers in daily life—they've trained to the point it's as natural as breathing. Others only use them at key moments, or when they feel they absolutely must. They have a strong sense of self. This is definitely tied to personality. In my daily life, I rarely use my powers. I have a fridge at home, so my ice powers are kinda pointless. Sometimes my guardian even wonders who contributes more to the family—me or the fridge."
The reporters laughed. After spending so much time around young people, Elsa had picked up humor. But her comment also showed that mutants weren't fully dependent on their abilities.
With the movie's box office boom, talk about mutants came back into the spotlight. Even though the X-Men had lost some core members, Professor X was still holding things together.
Cyclops and Jean had left one after another without any regard for the big picture, which was mostly Professor X's fault for spoiling them. His students had all grown up to be stubborn.
Thankfully, plenty of capable and committed mutants remained. Beast and Angel joined, giving the X-Men some real firepower again. Magneto hadn't made a move in a long time either, so things weren't too tense at the moment.
Besides the mutant issue, Liu A'dou's toy sales were exploding. The Transformers toys were almost sold out. Even with the factory working overtime, they couldn't keep up. So Liu A'dou sent people to China to find contract manufacturers.
The Chinese were hardworking, able to endure insane overtime hours and exhausting rotating shifts. They traded sweat for pay and used relentless effort to achieve in decades what took other countries a century.
The lightsaber sales were a bit lower, but that was expected—after all, this was Transformers, not Jedi Warriors. Even so, the whole Jedi vs. Sith setup was still wildly popular. The scene where a Sith lord demolished a special forces unit was pure power fantasy—cool, fierce, over-the-top, and stylish. The final lightsaber duel, complete with Force powers, blew everyone away.
Some officials wondered why real interstellar defenders were showing up in movies, but when they remembered Thor was good friends with the film's director, they decided to let it go. Otherwise, the film never would've made it to theaters. And really, letting the public learn a bit about aliens wasn't a bad thing—after all, aliens had already found Earth.
Moviegoers didn't care whether lightsabers or the Force were real. They just wanted entertainment. And they got it.
Two little Jedi, who happened to be on a world tour, also watched the movie. They walked out red-faced, embarrassed, and cringing at the whole thing. Still, with all the special effects added in, it did look pretty good. If they hadn't been in the film themselves, they might've believed Transformers were actually real.
The movie stayed hot for months. Its box office climbed past Frozen, closing in on $2.5 billion. Liu A'dou knew that without the two alien invasions, the film wouldn't have beaten Frozen—no matter how good it was.
But the back-to-back invasions had left people anxious and unsettled. In that kind of atmosphere, everyone—consciously or not—needed an outlet. Movies became the perfect escape.
Residents of New York and Metropolis even saw reflections of their own experiences in the movie. When the Decepticons attacked cities and civilians fled in chaos, it looked just like what they had gone through. The only difference was that in the movie, the Autobots saved them. In real life, it was the Avengers and the Justice League.
Either way, the movie was a hit—and worth every cent.
Meanwhile, Liu A'dou, worried about his pregnant wife still teaching classes, quietly snuck into the agent training camp to take care of Ada.