Translator: BeetleBarker Editor: Tennesh

  Tan Min had no other choice. As a native, participating in the film festival had its advantages, as it was close to home and he had some privileges.

  Usually, as he had some reputation as a local, there were people willing to invest in some of his films. However, in the past, he had directed documentary reels about the ocean. Now, he had decided to shoot a movie and he wanted to pull in investors. It was a pity that, given 10 directors, 11 would be looking for investors, and the extra was one who had previously been in a different profession.

  For someone who had changed his profession to a director like Tan Min, attracting investors was much harder, more so when he wanted to change his genre. He didn’t wish for people’s impression of him to always be about ocean documentaries.

  After busying himself for a few days without any success and being unable to squeeze into a few venues, Tan Min could only hang around in the surroundings. Today, he had come over to purchase a few sea slugs for the little kids in his family when he’d unexpectedly run into Fang Zhao.

  Fang Zhao had been all over the news some time back, so Tan Min knew that Fang Zhao was loaded, and he also knew that some actors liked to invest in films when they weren’t acting, so he had come running when he had spotted Fang Zhao.

  "Invest in a movie?" Fang Zhao had never expected to hear such a question.

  He did not intend to act, but investing in a movie wasn’t out of the question.

  Tan Min was delighted when he saw that Fang Zhao wasn’t immediately rejecting him. With an extremely warm smile, he hurriedly said, "If you are free, how about we head to the coffee shop over there for a chat? My script has already been written!"

  Seeing Tan Min acting this way, Ren Hong helped out and suggested, "How about this: Fang Zhao, you have walked around for quite a bit in the expo. You guys can have some tea and a chat while resting, and when the results are out, I will bring them over."

  Fang Zhao nodded. "All right."

  Tan Min also knew the staff at the coffee shop, and they helped prepare a quiet little private room and recommended some of the region’s specialties.

  Fang Zhao ordered a cup of tea and was in no hurry to read Tan Min’s script. Instead, he asked Tan Min some questions. "Back then, what made you decide to be a director?"

  Tan Min drank half his glass of lemonade to cool himself down. When he heard what Fang Zhao asked, he paused for a second before saying, "The ambience of movie and film is very dense in the Corale Archipelago. People here are fond of randomly filming or photographing things in their free time. I used to be a diver and frequently collaborated with the research center. Sometimes, when they wanted to collect specimens in a certain ocean region where it is difficult to operate equipment, us divers would go over and help. As technology advanced, I went to the deep sea a couple of times, and I can be considered to have a better understanding of the ocean than most."

  As he spoke about his experiences in the shallow and deep seas as a diver, Tan Min was in a good mood. His previous nervousness and apprehension had largely dissipated.

  "In the beginning, I only tried my hand at filming some videos relating to the ocean to make a special collection. Afterward, I received an award, and that aroused my interest in this profession and opened a new door in my life. I wanted to record even more films about the ocean so that when people looked up at the starry sky, they would also look to our planet’s very own vast ocean." Tan Min’s voice was slightly excited. "A director that came to participate in the film festival once told me that ’curiosity and imagination bring about stories.’ The ocean is such a magical place, and it brings me a lot of inspiration. I have been to mainland Huangzhou for directorial advanced classes, and I even recommend a few of my mainland classmates visit the oceanarium when they feel lacking in inspiration. They might be able to find the things they need there.

  "Nowadays, some bigger oceanariums have a quite a number of deep-sea-creature exhibits. These deep-sea creatures have always grown rampantly in certain places, and they have strange, unimaginable appearances. I feel that these creatures surely have the sort of mentality that ’Since no one can see me, I will just grow as I wish.’ And whenever someone steps into the deep-sea-creatures exhibit for the first time, they might go ’Wow, they can even look like this!’"

  As he waxed lyrical about the ocean, Tan Min started to chuckle to himself.

  A smile also appeared on Fang Zhao’s face. He knew that the ocean had many creatures with strange appearances. Furthermore, with the huge environmental changes brought about by apocalypse, triggering mutations, these creatures might have become even stranger now.

  Tan Min continued, "One doesn’t necessarily have to head to a foreign planet to see monsters. We can also see them on our own planet. There are all sorts of ’monsters’ in the ocean. As long as you take note and observe, you will always be able to discover them. Corale Archipelago is surrounded by the ocean, and Huangzhou’s third-largest oceanarium is here. When I was a diver, I rarely went to the oceanarium, as I was in contact with the ocean nearly every day. However, since becoming a director, I have brought the kids in my family to oceanariums everywhere to enjoy the sights and expand their knowledge. The fish in the sea aren’t just limited to the sort that appear on our plates. As long as one has a boundless imagination, the future will be unlimited. Especially in our profession, we have to open our hearts, and imagination is necessary."

  After a simple sharing of his professional experience and feelings, Tan Min digressed and asked Fang Zhao, "Have you heard about the story of mermaids?"

  Fang Zhao nodded his head gently. "Yeah."

  "I am very interested in this, and I searched for quite a lot of video resources about mermaids, so much so that I even have some films preserved from the Old Era. I have watched the romantic fables of those predecessors as well as those supernatural flicks. Of course, there are too many of those, and I don’t intend to follow the tide. I haven’t met a mermaid, but I have kept sea slugs! And I have many years of experience! I won’t film a mermaid, but I can film sea slugs!" Tan Min got even more excited as he talked, and he even slammed his hands against the table.

  Fang Zhao’s brows arched upward. He knew Tan Min was about to broach the main topic.

  Indeed, Tan Min expression became serious and he said, "Actually, this time, I wish to film a movie pertaining to sea slugs and include some topics about environmental protection. Man and nature have to live in harmony; we lost too many things in the 100 years of the Period of Destruction, and it took 500 years of great difficulty to recover. Man must cherish what we have, right?"

  Fang Zhao nodded once again. There was nothing wrong in Tan Min’s words. Nobody could understand it more than he himself, as he had personally experienced the calamity and destruction. Fang Zhao recalled the ocean he had seen during the Period of Destruction, then looked at the clear sky and azure ocean. How hard had it been to come to this point?

  As he noticed Fang Zhao listening intently, Tan Min spoke even more enthusiastically. It seems like there is hope for all that I have talked about!

  "This story I want to shoot this time is a script written by me. It is a script that I took five to six years to refine and straighten out."

  Tan Min wasn’t worried that the contents of the script being leaked, as the halo around Fang Zhao’s head was still bright. It was unlikely that he would do anything to damage his own name.

  Tan Min was worried that Fang Zhao would be scared by the contents of his script so he added a warning: "Let me say this first: the story is purely fiction. You absolutely mustn’t take it as being real. Ha, let me describe it briefly……"

  Hearing Tan Min say this, Fang Zhao really felt a little interested.

  "This story happens in a small coastal town. The main protagonist heads out to sea to fish and catches a sea slug. This sea slug doesn’t seem to have any special characteristics, just some minute differences from others of the same breed. The protagonist doesn’t really care much, but he realizes that it is still alive after fishing it up and decides to keep it as a pet. One day, he realizes that the flower buds of a few potted plants in his house are gone."

  Fang Zhao’s hand that was holding the cup froze.

  Tan Min continued narrating. "He searches and searches, but he can’t find anything and eventually forgets about it, thinking that perhaps it was his neighbor’s or relative’s kids that plucked them when they came over to play, and he feels that it is a pity. After that, the protagonist heads out to sea again, and when he returns, he actually discovers that all the newly-grown leaves in the flower pots are all gone!"

  Fang Zhao drummed his fingers soundlessly against the cup.

  Tan Min went on. "The protagonist is puzzled and asks his family members. He ascertains that nobody else entered the room during the period he was out at sea. After some consideration, he sets up surveillance cameras in each of the four corners of that room!"

  Fang Zhao: "……"

  At the climax, Tan Min’s face turned red from excitement. "When the protagonist returns after heading out to see once more, he realizes that even some of the older leaves are gone. He feels a chill down his spine and goes to check the videos captured by the surveillance camera. After that, he sees that the sea slug that he had previously fished up actually opened the lid of the tank and climbed out during the period he was at sea! Hahahahahaha, did you get the creeps?"

  Fang Zhao: "……" You got me there!