MY DUNGEONS ARE POPULAR - Season 1 Episode 59

Qiu Ren’s drawing skills really made it impossible for people to believe that he was just a first-year college student.

Director Feng Nian felt like he was comparable to the experts who specialized in drawing concept designs and character designs in the industry, the absolute top ones.

Qiu Ren’s storyboards were gripping and dynamic.

Besides, as one of the top directors in the industry, Feng Nian could already imagine the scenes Qiu Ren wanted to present by just looking at the movie script and the slightly sloppy storyboards.

Director Feng Nian finished reading the entire script of “The Dark Knight” together with the storyboards. In the end, his gaze was fixed on the character, Joker, that Qiu Ren drew.

He remained silent for a long time before giving his comments on the script, “Qiu Ren… Let me be honest. This script may have surpassed all the other superhero movies we have right now. I’m a bit anxious because of this.”

Director Feng Nian wasn’t worried that Qiu Ren would laugh at him. He took out his black glasses and said as he wiped off the mist, “This villain, Joker, is too… destructive and anarchic. Perhaps he shouldn’t be created at all. For a traditional movie with actors, this would indeed be a very classical character. However, manifesting him in a dream dimension… might lead to a huge disaster.”

Director Feng Nian’s worry wasn’t unfounded. Throughout all these years, when Supernova Pictures produced their superhero movies, the role of the villains was like sandbags that only knew how to resist.

They could fight back when the hero attacked them, but their sense of presence, charm, and attractiveness couldn’t be higher than those of the protagonist.

They didn’t want the “villains,” who confronted the superheroes on the same stage, to absorb the love from the audience in the Dream Dungeon. Audience recognition would allow them to take the energy that was supposed to belong to the superheroes and hence become stronger.

What’s wrong with you, Qiu Ren? Why did you create such a super villain who’s full of evilness and is as charming as the protagonist?

Aren’t you afraid that he would take the emotional energy from the audience and run to the other superhero worlds to make trouble?

In the previous world, no matter how much people liked a character after watching a movie, they would only say a few compliments when they walked out of the cinema and write a bunch of film reviews on relevant websites.

But in this world… the Joker would really walk out of the camera and ask the viewers as he put a knife next to their mouths, “Why so serious?”

“Those who like the Joker will definitely like Batman as well. They’re pieced together as light and darkness. They complement each other, and that’s also why this production surpasses the category of superheroes,” Qiu Ren said.

“So, the Joker is the negative side of Dark Side? You’re not going to purify that contaminated part of Dark Side. Instead, you’re separating and reshaping it into a new character, the Joker?”

Director Feng Nian soon understood Qiu Ren’s idea. Over half of Dark Side had already been polluted by negative emotions, and it was in a precarious state.

The Central Research Institute was thinking about how they could purify the contaminated part, but the answer Qiu Ren gave them was that it didn’t have to be purified. It could be extracted and turned into another character.

“Dark Side also accepted this suggestion. There are some things he doesn’t really want to throw away, but the bottom line in his heart makes him hesitant. He wants to let the character, Joker, do it for him.” Qiu Ren’s words sounded a bit like a riddle.

However, Director Feng Nian knew about the history of this superhero, Dark Side. Together with the report written by Qiu Ren afterward, he could guess what Dark Side wanted to do…

“You mean taking revenge on those superheroes and the Supernova League?”

If any superhero fan heard Director Feng Nian, he would probably burst into laughter.

Be it Batman or Joker, they were both mortals without any superpowers. What kind of a threat could an ordinary person pose to those superheroes who could fly and go underground like Gods?

Indeed… Normally, ordinary people could never hurt those superheroes.

But if the movie “The Dark Knight” became a hit around the world and had an outstanding performance at the box office…

In his original world, more and more viewers had admired Batman’s creed and image of the Dark Knight, who abided by the light even when he was in the dark. At the same time, the fans started to be obsessed with the Joker’s pure evilness in which he had no bottom line or weaknesses. His only desire was to send this world into chaos. In the end, they witnessed both of them intertwine and form this story. It was a hundred times more wonderful and tragic than the wonders of the superheroes saving the world countless times.

If the same trajectory was followed here, then whether it was Batman or Joker, they would be invincible.

“Joker will turn into a deadly weapon. In the superhero world, Batman is probably the only one who can stop his acts of violence. However…” Director Feng Nian paused for a second, then put on his black glasses and said sincerely, “Let’s do it.”

The foreign countries had always tried to attack and distort the image of the Great Sage of the Celestial Empire. Director Feng Nian wasn’t that kind-hearted. Since their enemies dared to attack them, they had to prepare the most vicious counterattack.

So, he wanted to see Qiu Ren make this deadly weapon and let this nightmare, Joker, out to tear off the colorful suits of the superheroes, pulling down those Gods that shone thousands of feet from the sky into the dirty dust!

“I… and Ocean Media will try our best to assist you. I’m already looking forward to seeing this superhero step onto the stage of this world.”

Director Feng Nian could feel the potential of this movie, so he was willing to provide Qiu Ren with everything that could help him…

Qiu Ren didn’t hesitate to ask either. Although he had experience in constructing two Nightmare Game Dungeons, he had never produced any cinema-version movies. He had no idea where to start.

Director Feng Nian took the entire shooting team into the Dream Dungeon of Dark Side.

The production of a cinema-version movie was, in fact, pretty much the same as filming in reality. The difference was that the sets and special effects for filming movies became a real dream world and all the actors were also real characters made by the Dream Maker.

However, it was fine if the Dream Maker wanted a real actor to play a character in the dream world. In fact, this was the conventional way most Dream Makers would use, as the characters they created were like animations. They always felt like they couldn’t portray the essence of real people.

Director Feng Nian wanted to suggest Qiu Ren to do the same. For this, he had even prepared a long list of candidates.

And yet, he had underestimated Qiu Ren’s horrifying construction ability. The details and performance of the characters he created made them seem like they were played by real people.

The overall structure and atmosphere of the Dream Dungeon were also flawless. The realistic light and shadow effects used during the shooting gave this superhero movie an indescribable sense of presence and authenticity.

Are all first-year students monsters nowadays? Director Feng Nian honestly had no idea why Qiu Ren had such a strong sense of artistic aesthetics at a young age and how he built his drawing foundation skills.

With the support of an outstanding Dream Maker, the production progress of a cinema-version movie was much faster than in the original world.

In the original world, actors had to be scheduled, staff members had to rest, the filming venues had to be arranged, and the mobilization of a lot of manpower and resources was required for the shots. The post-production of special effects was even more time-consuming.

However, all this was unnecessary in the Dream Dungeons.

Qiu Ren built a real Gotham City and a real Batman. What Director Feng Nian had to do was record the life journey of this Batman with cameras and put it on the cinema screens for the audience to enjoy.

So, the production of the first part of the Batman Trilogy, the cinema-version movie “Batman Begins” that illustrated the origin of Batman, progressed at a speed that left Qiu Ren feeling confused.

This day, Qiu Ren sat on Bruce Wayne’s super building in the center of Gotham City, watching the night envelop this city of sins.

“Are you ready… to meet your fans, who are looking forward to your return, with a brand new look?” asked Qiu Ren.

“I’m still not competent enough to take the role of Batman.”

A black shadow rose behind Qiu Ren. Under his arrangements, Dark Side had finished filming all his parts in the first movie, Batman Begins, as the male protagonist of this dream world.

However, while shooting the movie, he found that he deviated further from the character, Batman, set by Qiu Ren. At least it was very difficult for him to abide by the rule of not killing at any time.

“That’s because your other side still hasn’t been separated. Get ready for the second movie… I don’t know whether I can control the evil in your heart or not or if there is really a need to control it at all.”

During this time, Qiu Ren had felt the struggles in Dark Side’s mind. On the one hand, he still had kindness in his heart. As a superhero, he didn’t want to fight with his brothers and sisters and hurt his own kind, the other superheroes.

But on the other hand, his resentment for abandonment, betrayal, and slander increased day by day. It was to the point where it couldn’t be controlled anymore.

These negative emotions turned into a source of pollution that constantly contaminated Dark Side, converting it into a Nightmare Seed.

Qiu Ren couldn’t find a way to purify his emotions, so he might as well provide them a vent.

The villains created by Supernova Pictures right now were too shallow and boring. They only thought about destroying the world in their heads but had no idea what for. They had powers comparable to the superheroes, but they couldn’t do any harm to the heroes at all.

So, this world needed some higher-level criminals, some supervillains… that could genuinely pose a threat to those superheroes.