What Was in Their Bones

The next day, Psylocke had no idea how she had fallen asleep the night before.

But early that morning, her body clock woke her up.

The moment she opened her eyes, she saw unfamiliar surroundings. It took her brain a few seconds to catch up before she realized her situation.

From today on, she was no longer free...

Psylocke had spent the whole night preparing herself mentally and thought she had come to terms with it, but she still felt a little distraught when she woke up.

Before she could continue steeling herself, however, someone knocked on the door.

She immediately sat up. She hadn't even taken off her ninja outfit the night before, as though it were a layer of protection. She didn't dare let her guard down at all.

A blue-haired maid walked in, her bangs covering one eye. The eye that remained visible regarded her with utter indifference.

"My name is Rem. I'm Master's personal maid, and I'm also your senior."

Rem spoke coldly to Psylocke.

When Psylocke heard the word "senior," it was as if something in her DNA had been triggered.

She immediately protested, "You look younger than me."

"But I got here before you."

Rem's words left Psylocke with no comeback.

Rem approached Psylocke with a basket in her hands. "Master said you don't have to change into a maid outfit, but you have to put these on."

"What are these?"

Psylocke stared at the things in the basket, her eyes widening in shock.

Inside were a harness, a bell, a tail, and other items. They weren't meant for people, but for pets.

"You know what you are."

Rem looked at her coldly, leaving Psylocke beside herself with shame and anger.

She stood up, towering over Rem, her eyes full of anger. She looked very intimidating.

But Rem just looked at her calmly, completely unmoved.

If Psylocke had really wanted to die, she would have taken her own life last night.

Since she had made it through to today, that proved she wouldn't do anything drastic.

So Rem didn't rush her. Sure enough, after waiting only a little while, Psylocke steeled herself and closed her eyes.

Rem was somewhat speechless. "Don't tell me you want me to help you? Put them on yourself."

"I..."

Psylocke desperately wanted to curse at her.

But since things had already come to this, she obeyed.

Before long, she had put everything on.

Seeing that she was still standing, Rem said, "Do you know how a pet is supposed to move?"

"Hmph."

"You don't have to tell me."

Psylocke had given up entirely. She got down on the floor and moved on all fours.

When they finally made it downstairs, Li Chen looked at Psylocke and Rem in surprise. He hadn't expected Rem to be so capable.

If he had handled it himself, Psylocke probably wouldn't have agreed so easily.

No wonder Rem had confidently taken on the task.

When she reached Li Chen, Rem handed him the leash. "Master, she's very obedient."

"Of course she is."

Li Chen smiled. The Japanese had that sort of thing in their bones.

They would fawn and grovel before those stronger than them, but when faced with someone weaker, they would show what it meant for a dog to bully others under its master's protection.

"Good."

Li Chen stroked Psylocke's hair as though encouraging a kitten.

Psylocke forced a smile. What she was thinking inside didn't matter.

Following Rem's example, she called him, "Master."

For some time afterward, Li Chen was full of motivation at work every day. All he wanted was to finish quickly so he could go home and properly discipline Psylocke.

There was, however, a lot of serious business to attend to.

Preparations for the Transformers production were going smoothly. After all, the Transformers were the protagonists, and the real expense lay in the special effects.

Special effects were developing rapidly in the Marvel Universe. As long as the money was there, there was no need to worry about anything else.

Starlight Pictures had also secured a budget of over a hundred million dollars to produce the movie.

During Hollywood's "golden age," countless smaller second- and third-tier studios had risen alongside the six major studios.

Hollywood film companies had been crazy back then, taking out bank loans like mad to invest in making movies.

But movies could lose money as well as make it. Many companies eventually went bust, and banks stopped blindly approving loans to Hollywood.

Borrowing from banks had long since ceased to be an option.

Fortunately, movies offered high returns, and there had always been plenty of people looking to invest and make money, especially the financial giants on Wall Street.

They simply lacked the connections and weren't insiders, so Hollywood often took them for a ride.

Starlight Pictures didn't cheat people. The first round of dividends from the Superman investment had already been paid out, making its film projects highly sought after.

That made it easy to get new projects off the ground.

After hearing about Transformers, Zack Snyder couldn't hold back. He immediately sought out Li Chen, wanting to prepare to film Batman.

There was a famous saying in Hollywood: follow in the footsteps of the successful.

That was why Hollywood often had copycat movies. As soon as one genre became popular, countless imitators would spring up.

DC Comics couldn't follow that trend, but Zack Snyder had gone from an advertising director to a successful film director in one leap, and naturally received many offers.

But Li Chen had seen this coming and signed Zack to a contract for several movies. He couldn't jump ship before fulfilling it.

Perhaps that was also why Zack was eager to shoot Batman. Riding high on his success, he naturally wanted to keep working while his creative enthusiasm was still strong.

Li Chen agreed. Batman was very important to the DC Universe going forward, and it needed a solo movie to carry it.

Otherwise, if they made a mess of things like Warner Bros. had in his previous life, they would only end up ruining the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

But Warner Bros. hadn't had much choice at the time. With Nolan's Batman trilogy preceding it, making a new Batman movie hadn't been easy for them.

That was why Li Chen hadn't chosen the Batman trilogy. Although those three movies were classics, they wouldn't benefit the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

"Batman has to include enough supporting characters. Classic characters like Robin, Catwoman, Poison Ivy, and Joker all have to appear."

That was Li Chen's only requirement for the screenwriter.

If he didn't put those characters in the movie, how was he supposed to draw them in the lottery?

Though he thought there might not be any connection...

After all, the ongoing Pirate King clearly hadn't reached the point where the Empress appeared, yet he had drawn one of her fragments.

But no matter what, Li Chen had to try. What if it increased the odds?

The screenwriter DC had sent naturally agreed.

DC wanted to bring all those characters to the big screen, of course, so they could make more money.

Movies could boost comic sales, and merchandise could make money as well.

By this point in Hollywood's development, box-office receipts had long since stopped being its only source of income.

In fact, many movies couldn't turn a profit on box-office receipts alone, but could make a fortune through DVDs, licensing, and merchandise. Local film industries in other regions couldn't replicate such diverse ways of making money.