Chapter 550 Visitors from Outer Space (Two chapters combined) The factory gate was pushed open.
Although the peasants at the farmer's base dreamed of saving all of humanity, they couldn't agree on a method, leading to considerable infighting. Just then, two uninvited groups arrived at the base.
Anika's rebel army, homeless and constantly searching for a place to settle down, has now found this utopian haven—a farmer's base—on Earth, and they're suddenly at their wits' end.
Conflicts often arise from this. Anika's rebel army did not engage in production, but lived by looting. They did not want to integrate into the peasant base, but instead wanted to use their advanced weapons to establish a tribute system, making the peasants in the base support them. Anyone who dared to resist was killed.
The Samuel brothers, leading a group of elderly, infirm, and disabled individuals, were the complete opposite. They sought only a place to live and eat, not a position of privilege. Surprisingly, this group, considered a burden on civilization, also possessed a unique bargaining chip—
In their escape from optimization, the Samuel brothers stole a chip called "Zero." They didn't know how the chip worked, but they gleaned information from overheard conversations: "Zero" was crucial to the larger AI system.
The Samuel brothers used this crystal as leverage to visit the farmers' base. Unexpectedly, they encountered a swindler, Old Zhao. The Taoist priest used some ancient magic tricks to successfully swindle "zero" from them!
A fierce conflict erupts in the factory between Anika's mercenary gang, who want to seize territory, the Samuel brothers' tribe, who want to reclaim "Zero," and the defenders of the farmers' base—interestingly, the weapons used in this conflict are quite primitive: fists, legs, and words.
Although the farmers' base had amassed a considerable amount of weapons, Anika's mercenary team was well-equipped, and the Samuel brothers had stolen a significant portion of the God System during their escape, the three parties involved in the conflict were surprisingly in sync, with none daring to use these weapons.
This is certainly not because everyone has suddenly become peace-loving. War is not allowed in the universe. If a large-scale armed uprising breaks out, the main god ships patrolling the universe will be attracted by the fluctuations of weapon energy and wipe everyone out with a single shot.
At that very moment, the factory gates were pushed open.
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The Heavenly Emperor pushed open the door and entered.
The Heavenly Emperor's appearance did not intimidate the entire audience. In the grand hall with thousands of people, only a small group noticed that the door had opened. The rest continued arguing and were in complete chaos.
Those on the perimeter, seeing someone enter through the door, initially wanted to warn them. But the newcomer was just an ordinary-looking, ragged woman—the kind of person you see everywhere in this garbage dump. Those who noticed her glanced at her a few times, then lost interest.
People were more concerned about the fate of the farmers' base than the uninvited guests.
The Heavenly Emperor stood outside the crowd, his gaze piercing through the gaps between people, looking directly at the very center of the crowd, where the leaders stood arguing endlessly.
In the final cut of the film, the composition of this scene is quite meticulous. The Heavenly Emperor stands outside the chaotic and noisy crowd, the faces of people of different ages and skin colors are blurred, and the unfocused faces vaguely reveal expressions of bewilderment and confusion about the future.
The ragged Heavenly Emperor stood in the center of the painting, his gaze piercing through the long crowd and looking into the distance. That single glance held the weight of history, devoid of joy or sorrow, beyond description.
Long, long ago, before the new era, there was an emperor named Caesar. On his triumphant return from war, he uttered these words:
"I've come, I've seen it."
If there are any words in the world that can describe the look in the eyes of a god when he first saw a human being, it would probably be Caesar's words.
The Heavenly Emperor glanced at the crowd, then walked through it and slowly made his way to the center.
The film later used cross-cutting techniques to edit this scene.
The Heavenly Emperor passed through the first group of people.
This small group of people, dressed in rags, resembled the Heavenly Emperor. The composition of their figures was very similar to murals from primitive societies. The Heavenly Emperor walked forward through the murals depicting slash-and-burn agriculture.
On the other side, the Taoist priest was chanting emphatically: "The so-called 'one begets two, two begets three, three begets endless'—if it weren't for us tilling the fields here, would you be starving? Your 'zero' is a perfect match for our 'one,' what's wrong with that? How strange, how insane, how utterly depraved, how utterly wicked!"
The Heavenly Emperor passed through the second group of people.
This small group fought the fiercest, exchanging blows with fists and clubs. They hurled insults at each other in different languages. The scene references many famous photographs from wartime periods. The people's postures resemble those of flag bearers shouting, arm raised in triumph, or swords drawn in a charge. The Heavenly Emperor calmly walks through the crowd, as if traversing an entire history of warfare.
On the other side, Anika sneered, "Who's in charge isn't you, or us, but this gun!"
The Heavenly Emperor passed through the third group of people.
This was a group of believers kneeling in prayer, their robes unusually white amidst the garbage dump. The Heavenly Emperor seemed to be walking through a blanket of snow.
The pastor murmured:
"When an elderly person looks up and sees a guest on the city street, they ask him, 'Where do you come from? Where are you going?'"
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Stanislavski summarized the essential creative qualities of an actor as "seven powers and four senses".
The seven abilities are: observation, attention, imagination, perception, thinking, expression, adaptability, and judgment.
The four senses: a sense of conviction, a sense of imagery, a sense of humor, and a sense of rhythm.
It's easier said than done. Many actors can recite this set of rules perfectly, but when it comes to actually doing it, they're still clueless.
Shao Guangji was prepared for ten or eight takes, because the scene where the Heavenly Emperor first appeared was the one that required the "seven strengths and four senses" the most. With Ye Chu's experience, Shao Guangji didn't believe she could get it right in one take.
Shao Guangji had seen many of Ye Chu's works. After all, when making a film, one must consider the type of person the lead actor is. Ye Chu's acting is excellent, that's for sure. But it's also true that he has plenty of humanity but lacks depth.
Ai Xiaodong once told Shao Guangji that Ye Chu's characters were all such typical human beings: ambitious, idealistic, and a village exam-taker, a chivalrous figure who perfectly embodied people's views on good and evil—the only character that lacked depth was Ye Xiaochu in "Happiness Street," who felt too much like a plot device, but also didn't quite fit the divine description. Shao Guangji wholeheartedly agreed.
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