"*Holy Mountain Journey*? What's this?"
In a private compartment on the steam train *Voyager*, Elsa watched curiously as Zog wrote on a piece of paper.
"A script."
"A script? You're writing a play?"
"No, but it's similar. It's for filming a Magic Shadow Drama." Zog wrote a line, then paused for a long while. A script for a Magic Shadow Drama was a lot harder than a children's comic. Even though he already had the general plot in mind, filling it out into a proper script was giving this dragon a headache.
"So you're going to film a stage with a camera?" Elsa thought about the plays she had seen and felt that stuffing one into a Magic Crystal Stone wouldn't look very good.
"We won't use a stage. We'll be performing on location."
"Like it's real?"
"Just like it's real."
*Holy Mountain Journey* was, of course, an adaptation of *Busan Trip*.
The original told the story of a man taking his daughter to Busan to see her mother when a zombie apocalypse suddenly breaks out, forcing them to fight for survival on a train with a group of strangers they've just met.
It was one of the better films in the zombie genre. Although the plot was a bit formulaic, the formula was used so well that its tear-jerking effect was still potent.
Besides, the residents of Twin Tower City had never been exposed to the formulas of commercial genre films.
The results were guaranteed to be phenomenal!
On Earth, zombie movies took many years to develop before they were accepted by the general audience. This world, however, didn't need that kind of lead-up, because zombies actually existed here. The number of Necromancers was far greater than the number of Illusionists.
Still, there were quite a few plot details that needed adjusting.
The most important change was the cause of the zombie outbreak. Instead of a leak from a biotech company, it would be a conspiracy by Necromancers involving a potion from the Kuerman Potion Factory.
One should never underestimate the power of film and television. Did you know how much damage the line "Banilu, it's a brand name" from *Crazy Stone* did to the Banilu brand?
Furthermore, it wasn't as if there were no other Healing Potions on the market; they were just more expensive than the machine-produced ones. If he could ruin the Potion Factory's reputation, consumers would naturally switch to the alternatives.
Next, he had to solve the problem of power levels.
Zombie movies always had one problem: why were the armies in them so incompetent?
Logically, zombies created from humans should stand no chance against a military. At most, they might cause a bit of chaos at the beginning of the outbreak before being mowed down by modern firepower.
And in this world, it was even more absurd. Senior Professionals were basically walking Gundams, and even a Basic Professional was at least at the level of Li Sanguang or Chris. Who would be afraid of zombies?
'How can I explain this away?'
'I've got it. The stronger a person is, the more battles they've fought, and the more Healing Potions they've used. Therefore, they're all infected, leaving only Ordinary people.'
'As for why the train isn't full of zombies from the start, it's because Professionals use teleportation, so there are no Professionals on the train.'
'The Holy Mountain, as a Holy Land of the Church, uses its own healing methods, so it wasn't affected by the Healing Potions. They've even used Magic Armor to build a defensive line, which will serve as the final destination in the plot.'
'A genius. This dragon truly is a genius.'
The next step was to find all sorts of ways to sling mud at the Potion Factory.
The protagonist's profession would be changed from a fund manager to a raw material supplier for the Potion Factory. He would figure out something was wrong with the factory through the materials, but choose to hide it for profit.
And the most hated character in the script, the purely selfish executive, would be changed to one of the Potion Factory's managers who chose to cooperate with the Necromancers to make money.
He'd also film a fast-cut montage, in the style of *Dream Requiem*, showing the process from the creation of the Healing Potion to its consumption and the eventual zombification, determined to make the audience equate it with poison.
Finally, the thing that gave him some pause was whether or not to change the original ending.
Although the original was tragic all the way through, the ending where the pregnant woman and the little girl are rescued by the army gave the tragedy a comforting conclusion. It was complete, but it lacked impact.
Back when the movie was released, another version of the ending circulated online where the army shoots them both, believing them to be infected. It was very impactful, but if he filmed it that way, the Church would probably come looking for trouble.
It would be better to compromise with an open ending. The final shot would freeze on the Mechanical Armor discovering the survivors and waiting for orders from a superior.
Whether they live or die would be left up to the audience's imagination. He might get flamed for it, but the buzz from the discussion would be off the charts.
He needed the buzz.
"Why?" Elsa, who had been reading the script draft beside him, was already a mess of tears and snot. "What happens next? Is there no more? What happens to them in the end?"
"Uh, that is the ending."
"The ending? How can this be the ending!" Elsa's face was full of disbelief. What kind of play was this? It was completely different from anything she had ever heard of or seen. It didn't even make the main character's final fate clear, stopping at the most suspenseful moment.
"It's a story, just a story. There's no need to be so concerned about the ending. Leaving things unsaid has its own kind of beauty, don't you think?"
Although Zog said this, he was secretly very pleased with Elsa's reaction. This was exactly the effect he wanted.
And this was just the text. The advantage of words was that they left room for imagination, not that they delivered a short-term sensory impact.
Once *Holy Mountain Journey* was a finished film, with the audiovisual effects layered on top, he could already imagine the public outcry.
People with optimistic and pessimistic views on the ending would argue endlessly, and that would make even more curious people want to see what this masterpiece was all about.
Anger always needs an outlet, and besides the Magic Shadow filming crew, the most suitable target would be the Kuerman Potion Factory.
He shouldn't overestimate the rationality of the masses. Even if they knew the film was fake, anger would cloud their judgment, and they would project their feelings onto the real-life Potion Factory.
I wonder if Kurman will be able to withstand it.
Hopefully not.
Heh heh heh...
"We've finished filming all the train cars." Yuno led a tall figure, completely bundled up, into the compartment.
Of course, it was an Undead, which was also serving as the camera.
Their task today was to film the train and the station, recording every detail possible.
For the actual shoot, they certainly couldn't use a real train, so he would need to build a set, striving for a one-to-one scale replica.
Even if he had an Illusionist create an illusion, they would still need a reference.
It was also thanks to the railway system being newly established that its rules and regulations weren't fully developed. There were no security checks, no identity verification, and no species restrictions, which was how Zog and his camera were able to get on board.
"WHOOOO—"
The loud whistle of the steam train cut across the wilderness.
They had entered the Holy Mountain's domain.
"Wow!" Elsa and her brother excitedly pressed against the window, gazing curiously at the distant azure mountain peak.
The Holy Mountain. No other qualifiers were needed. It was the only mountain on the entire Continent to be granted a holy title, a Holy Land of the Church, and also one of its most famous landmarks.
Zog, however, had little interest. It wasn't like he hadn't been here before. The last time he came, he accidentally burned down a Divine Hall, which brought him a great deal of misfortune.
Besides, this place was filled with an aura similar to that Eleventh Ring Scroll, and just sensing it gave him phantom pains.
He might as well continue his research on "If You're an Evil Dragon, Go Down 100 Floors."
The second installment in his minigame project.
'But right now, the Evil Dragon is stuck on the spikes at the top of the screen and can't move. Where's the bug?'
Before he could finish examining the Inscriptions, the screen suddenly crashed.
'What's going on?'
He tried to restart it, but there was no response.
His intuition told him it was related to the Holy Mountain.
'What's the deal? So the Holy Mountain is basically a bathroom with a signal jammer to stop people from slacking off on company time, is that it?'