Empire of Shadows

In the morning, a large crowd of onlookers had gathered at the Golden Port Docks.

Although filming movies was already a common sight here, the people… were still curious about the movie being filmed today.

Because today’s movie had the navy participating!

Seven or eight warships were lined up on the sea outside Golden Port City. The docks were almost full of people, and even some of the wealthy from the Bay Area had also appeared here—

Of course, they couldn’t possibly stand on the docks and look at the distance like the common folk. They were on their private small boats, watching the warships on the sea from a distance by the port.

“I hear they’re going to have a test firing today. Is that true?” a girl couldn’t help but ask curiously.

She was wearing the most fashionable and daring swimsuit, but it was just a sleeveless swimsuit. Its daring part was that there were two openings on the side of her waist, revealing two palm-sized holes, through which her snow-white skin could be seen.

And its lower half adopted a slightly tight wrap and a small lace-edged mini skirt, unlike the more conservative ladies’ swimsuits, where the pants went down to the knees.

Although in Lance’s eyes this was already a very conservative swimsuit, like in the future, it might not take many years for them to be looking for a string in their butt cheeks, but for now, it was already very bold.

The designer had allowed the girl who was wearing it to show more of her proud figure. This was indeed a remarkable breakthrough, and they would continue to break through.Arthur, standing next to the girl, was wearing sunglasses and smoking. “Yes, I heard. They might be firing today.”

“What are they shooting at?” the girl asked with great interest.

This girl was Arthur’s second girlfriend after Corinda. For Arthur, novelty was important. He was keen on exploring the secrets of every girl. When he had mastered those secrets, he would feel that there was nothing interesting.

He was a person who pursued novelty, superficial, worldly, and ordinary. There was nothing wrong with that.

In fact, whether it was Mayor Williams or his older brother James, or even his mother, these three people who currently had a considerable say in the Williams family had all talked about Arthur’s current appearance.

In their words, liking to frequently change girlfriends was better than him frequently causing trouble.

For him now, the biggest trouble would be nothing more than getting a girl pregnant. The Socialist Party explicitly opposed the act of abortion, so this was indeed a big trouble, for an ordinary person.

Mayor Williams had many ways to have the doctors help him take out the child, so this was the biggest mistake Arthur could make, and not others.

To some extent, he was actually a “good boy,” in terms of his status, influence, and destructive power.

Blowing in the wind, enjoying life, this was everything he liked.

He looked back at the beautiful girl and said with a smile, “Shooting at you.”

The two had already competed, so this was not an excessive joke. The girl laughed and leaned against him. “Would you bear to?”

“Why not?”

As the two were teasing each other, the warship in the distance suddenly fired two shots at the shore, causing the crowd of onlookers on the port to instantly fall into chaos.

Not all of them. Some were still standing on the spot, while some had already screamed and were running towards the back, their faces filled with a look of terror.

Arthur, who was flirting with the girl, was so scared that he almost jumped into the sea. It wasn’t until a dozen seconds later, when he squinted his eyes and still couldn’t find any place that had been hit, that he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Fuck!” he cursed, and then stood up again, giving the finger to those warships.

But then the other warships also began to fire. There was no doubt that they were all blank shells, and the momentum was very scary!

This also scared the residents who were watching on the port quite a bit.

When they had reacted, they had gathered again. They didn’t quite understand what these warships were going to shoot.

“Well done!” The faces of the two directors were slightly flushed. This experience was enough to shake the entire film industry!

They had “live-fired” on the warship. The footage they had shot was not only real, but also extremely impactful!

Especially when shooting, even if the camera was fixed, the moment the warship opened fire, the camera would still involuntarily shake, which gave it an unimaginable sense of reality!

It was something that could never be shown when shooting in a studio. This was a kind of “language,” a kind of “power”!

The soldiers were also very excited. The reason for their excitement was not that they had opened fire, or something, but that they had opened fire on Golden Port City!

This was a… a feeling they didn’t know how to describe. Especially the crowd on the distant port who were screaming and running around, which made some of the naval soldiers couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

Lance also nodded slightly. The shooting was very good. He had originally planned to give Admiral Miles a hundred thousand as the funds for cooperating with the shooting.

But Admiral Miles had directly refused. He had told Lance that, let alone a few shots, it didn’t matter if almost all the ammunition was used up.

At that time, he would submit a report, and the Department of Defense would transport new ammunition over. He didn’t need to spend his own money at all.

The business between the two sides was very large, so Lance did not insist on having him accept this money.

This scene was about the fleet bombarding Golden Port City. At that time, they would do some editing work in the back, and edit some “explosion” scenes on, to make the smoking sand table look like a burning city.

In order to ensure that there was no need to come back for a reshoot, they had fired another round.

Many of the ships had fixed cameras, which had faithfully recorded all the footage.

On the return voyage, Admiral Miles found Lance and mentioned an idea to him. “Do you think I can have a cameo in the movie?”

Lance was stunned for a moment and then immediately agreed.

A story about the navy’s revenge, with a proper admiral making a cameo, would definitely deepen its authenticity and professionalism in the minds of the audience.

Lance did not refuse this. He would continue to play his role as the naval commander. Most of the time, he would be in his office making phone calls. It was a very easy role to play.

After returning to the port and declining Admiral Miles’s invitation to stay, their group returned to the production company. In the small studio of the production company, several one-to-one miniature sand tables of Golden Port City had already been prepared.

Each of these sand tables cost over a thousand. To be able to produce so many sand tables so quickly was thanks to Lance’s “money power.”

There were some guys among the refugees who were good at handiwork: carpentry, carving, or some other craft.

Under the effect of a high daily salary, Lance had hired more than a hundred people at once to create multiple sand tables for the later shooting.

These sand tables were replicated one-to-one according to the real Golden Port City, and at this time, it was time to destroy it!

There were already many people in the studio. The prop masters in charge of the explosions and fires had already buried the props for the explosions and gasoline on the sand table.

With just a press of a button in order, the entire Golden Port City would be blown to the sky!

Of course, they had also set up some larger scenes on the Creek Valley City side, such as a bombed street.

The buildings on both sides of the street were actually made of cardboard. Only some of the specific damaged buildings were temporarily built.

Because they didn’t need to be very strong, this kind of work only required enough manpower, and it looked absolutely very real.

The two directors were both full of admiration for Lance’s wild and imaginative ideas. The entire crew believed that Lance was definitely one of the best producers in the Federation.

Not everyone knew him.

With the director shouting “start,” the prop master began to light the fire. The models on the sand table were then destroyed by the explosives, and a small amount of splattered gasoline began to burn.

As for the running people and the like, they would be edited in later.

The first take was not so perfect. The effect of some of the models exploding did not meet the directors’ requirements. Then Lance made a suggestion.

First cut the model open, and then put it together. This way, when it exploded, it would meet the directors’ needs.

The prop masters were busy for another half an hour. When they were shooting the second take, they achieved a very good effect.

The moment the cannonball landed, the building was blown to pieces and was blown into the sky by the huge force of the explosion. The more distant and more macroscopic perspective made everyone can’t help but exclaim in surprise!

“Perfect!”

The big director breathed a sigh of relief and began to have people pack up these sand tables. The next few scenes would have to be shot in Creek Valley City. The work here was considered to be over for the time being.

Before this, they had already shot a large amount of footage of Golden Port City in its daily life, prosperous, with smiles everywhere.

At this very moment, in contrast with the smoking and burning city on the sand table, a strong contrast was formed.

The best way to express this contrast is not through a naked expression, to tell people, to let them compare, but to let them witness everything with their own eyes, and then be shocked, be stunned. Only then will they have a deep impression!

It’s like a sweet and well-behaved girl. You tell others that she is a slut.

It’s very difficult for people to have an intuitive impression, unless you let them see it!

“Mr. Lance, when can we leave?”

“I can’t wait to see the final product. This is definitely a miracle in film!”

“We are creating history!”

“Each of us will become an unavoidable page in the history of film!”

“I’m full of strength now, just like when I was twenty, with so much energy that I could have three at the same time!”

The big director was very good at talking. The words he said made all the members of the crew show a smile.

Although they were minor characters, when this movie became a classic that had to be studied in a professional discipline, they would be remembered by everyone.

At the very least, people would see their names in the staff list, see them repeatedly, over and over, for ten years, fifty years, a hundred years!

Lance patted the big director’s back. “We’ll leave after we’ve packed up the things.”

He had someone supervise the protection of the remaining few sand tables. Maybe they could be used sometime.

At the same time, he also had an idea. He planned to collect one himself, and then make a more exquisite, a model sand table of the entire Golden Port City, and place it in his own office.

It was already evening when they arrived in Creek Valley City, but there was no night or day in the studio. They first shot some indoor scenes.

Like a family of four sitting at a dinner table eating dinner, when suddenly a cannonball shot in.

When shooting, they used a foreground explosion effect, which means that the firelight, thick smoke, and dust from the explosion were all between the “room” and the camera.

In this process, the staff in the studio quickly pushed down the wall, sprinkled flour on it, and the family of four also lay on the ground and pretended to be dead.

Everything looked very real, and was also full of shock.

The big director was going to use the warm family dinner time and the destruction to form a lens language.

The second before, the family was still happily talking about life, work, and the future.

The next second, just one cannonball, had ended the happiness of four people and had filled three families with tragedy!

When reviewing the footage of the day at night, looking at the shocking scenes, Lance showed a satisfied smile.

When this was released, not only would it bring him huge profits, fame, and influence, but it would also satisfy the paranoia of the military, Congress, the Presidential Palace, and everyone!

This is not a movie?

This is simply a cog in history!

For two weeks in a row, Lance had been at the film set. Because of the importance of this movie, he could not relax his vigilance and had to make it to his satisfaction.

In order to prevent the two directors and the crew from saving money, Lance had added another 300,000 in filming funds before he left, so that they could use it with confidence.

Like for one scene, they had to blow up a small boat. They had originally planned to use a model, but Lance had directly had them go and buy one, and blow up a real one!

In the past, he sometimes felt that those directors, who would destroy many cars, or something else, in a movie, were they not right in the head?

But when he began to supervise, he finally realized that only in this way could a grand scene be created!

He had originally planned to stay in Creek Valley City until almost all the grand scenes had been shot, but there was one matter that had interrupted his plan to continue to supervise in Creek Valley City, and he had rushed back to Golden Port City early in the morning.

When he returned to his office, which he had been away from for more than two weeks, the sand table that Lance had wanted was already placed in a corner of the office, but it still looked too big.

“Put it next door later,” Lance said. Although he liked it, he couldn’t let a huge sand table make his office look a bit nondescript.

He returned to his seat and sat down, and patted the armrest. “Where’s the thing?”

Elvin took out a brown paper bag and handed it to Lance, then signaled for Lance to open it.

Lance glanced at him, and then poured out the contents of the brown paper bag. A piece of about three or four pounds, wrapped in oiled paper, like a brick.

He already had some guesses in his heart, and even a little anticipation, as if he were witnessing history. He turned this thing over.

On the front were printed some patterns and instructions. This thing was called “solid grape juice.” It looked like the residue of the pulp that had not been completely squeezed out had been pressed together, and it was still a little damp.

Lance couldn’t help but laugh twice. He continued to read while shaking his head. There were instructions below.

“Place this product in a clean, boiled container and break it up. Add cooled hot water, stir well, and then add powdered sugar before drinking…”

Until here, everything was still very normal, but then another sentence was added, “This product has a natural fermentation effect. Please do not store it sealed in a cool place for twenty days or more, as it may undergo natural fermentation.”

Lance tore open the outer packaging, revealing the inside… he didn’t know how to describe it. It was a bit like the inner quality of a hawthorn cake. A strong grape smell, and also a faint smell of fermented glutinous rice.

He broke off a small piece and sniffed it at the tip of his nose.

The strong grape aroma emanating from the broken section, and the faint smell of fermentation hidden in it. These were the initial products of brewing that had undergone preliminary processing.

It was just like the sweet glutinous rice that had been mixed with yeast. You just had to wait, and it would turn into fermented rice wine. This thing was also the same.

It’s just that the fermentation time of grapes needs to be longer, and the content of fermentation bacteria in it is less, so that it can pass the test.

“Where did you find it?” Lance threw the small, sticky piece in his hand back, and then looked at Elvin.

Elvin picked up the small piece and also smelled it. “The state police found it, but they didn’t know how to determine what this batch of goods was, so they sent some over to ask.”

The state police’s hounds had been barking wildly at a truck, but when they had opened it, they had found that it was selling solid grape juice. They had even tried it on the spot.

It was indeed grape-flavored, just like… concentrated fruit juice. You could just add some water and it would be restored.

But someone had instinctively felt that this matter was not quite right, so they had sent a box over.

A box had a total of twelve pieces. Each piece could produce about five or six liters of wine.

“Are there these things in Golden Port City?” Lance asked.

The huge profit of liquor had also made the smuggling and sales methods of the criminal groups constantly upgrade. Lance had controlled the market of the entire state, so they had used this method to break the blockade. In order to make money, these people had used the thinking and logical ability that they had used to get into college to find loopholes.

Elvin nodded. “There are. Many places are selling this thing. The price is three dollars.”

Lance whistled. “Not cheap.”

“But it’s also very cheap!” he refuted his own words. “If you calculate it at four or five liters of wine, three dollars, that’s less than one dollar a liter of wine.”

Elvin also had a bit of a headache, because this thing… it was very difficult to directly determine whether it was wine or not.

If you say it’s wine, before it’s fully fermented, the alcohol concentration detected is negligible. From a legal point of view, it’s not wine at all.

And, it does not belong to “intoxicating beverages.” The law can’t control it.

But if you want to say whether it’s wine or not, it’s very clearly stated above. After adding cooled boiled water and stirring well, and storing it in a place for a month, it will become wine.

And it’s very difficult to catch this kind of private brewing. Getting evidence and the like, from a judicial point of view, there is no good way to deal with them.

Lance also scratched his head. He couldn’t just ask the public not to buy this thing, and not to let it ferment into wine.

Who the fuck would spend three dollars to buy crushed grapes?

Don’t they know to buy fresh grapes?

So the seller, and the buyer, actually all knew what this thing was for!

(End of a Chapter)