Collapse City: Starting With the Anime Adaptation of Honkai

Meanwhile, Yaqing and the women split into two groups and entered different screening rooms. Cheng Lixue took Kiana and others, while Yaqing took the remaining group.

As soon as Yaqing and his group entered the screening room, they were greeted with a chorus of cheers.

After thanking the audience for their support, they moved on to the Q&A session, Yaqing's most dreaded part due to his social anxiety.

"Director Yaqing, what made you choose to come back and continue making movies?"

Sure enough, there was that question.

Yaqing really didn't want to answer it, but he was too embarrassed to refuse. He also couldn't say that the previous movie wasn't actually directed by him, but by President Otto.

Regardless of whether anyone would believe it or not, once he said it, even if Otto came out and admitted it, people wouldn't believe it and would only think that President Otto was protecting him.

With one question and one answer, the premiere ended just like that.

Chapter 81: Yaqing, Mocked by the Entire Internet

After watching the movie, everyone celebrated together, of course, with Yaqing paying the bill. The next day, Yaqing woke up to find the internet flooded with mockery, saying he wasn't worthy of being a screenwriter.

"Let Walter Yang be the screenwriter. If Yaqing continues to write the script, it will only ruin this Honkai."

"Seriously, the movie released yesterday was a world apart from the previous one. The emotions weren't rich enough, the character development was lacking, and it was just confusing to watch. Even the combat power was ruined."

"Indeed, when the Queen first appeared in the last one, you could feel the terror of the Herrschers. In this one, Wendy, as a Herrscher, was actually knocked unconscious by a mech. What kind of combat power is that?"

"Yaqing Schariac is simply not worthy of being a screenwriter!"

"The overall feeling after watching it was just bizarre. It wasn't as good as the final post-credits scene. Could the final post-credits scene have been written by Walter Yang?"

"It's purely plot armor, not comparable to the previous one at all."

"Cecilia's sacrifice in the last one moved me to tears, but this one... I can only say 'heh'."

Inside the Golden Courtyard, everyone was worried about Yaqing seeing the online reviews. One by one, they poked their heads out, silently waiting outside his room door.

"He wouldn't do anything stupid, would he?" Kevin's imagination ran wild.

"Little follower, can you think of something positive?" Mobius said unhappily.

"I think we might need someone to go in and check the situation," Pardo suggested.

"Pardo's right," Su agreed.

"Why are you all looking at me?" Mobius noticed that everyone's eyes were on her.

Yaqing's door was pushed open. Mobius looked at Yaqing sitting in his gaming chair with his back to her, his shoulders shaking. Her heart softened, and she silently closed the door.

Everyone: "???"

Everyone was dumbfounded. They asked her to check the situation, but she didn't even leave a crack for them to listen.

Yaqing's room was well soundproofed. After the expensive door was closed, no sound could be heard from the outside.

Mobius walked behind Yaqing and was about to say something to comfort him when she saw the instant noodle bucket in Yaqing's hand. He was slurping up the noodles with gusto.

Yaqing raised his head in confusion, swallowed a mouthful of noodles, and asked, "Senior, what are you doing in my room so early in the morning? Is there something you need?"

"Nothing," Mobius waved her hand and sat on Yaqing's bed, not knowing how to start.

The atmosphere fell silent again.

"Have you... seen the online reviews?" Mobius asked.

"I have."

"Any thoughts?"

"No thoughts," Yaqing shook his head. "I admit that this script was really bad. Even I think so. How can I let the audience praise it against their conscience?"

"Then... are you planning to continue creating in the future?"

"The post-credits scene has already been released. How could there not be a sequel?" Yaqing looked at the overwhelming abuse on the computer screen and smiled playfully. "They think I didn't give them enough emotion, so in the next movie, I'll definitely give them enough emotion to move them."

Looking at Yaqing's smile, Mobius shivered and curiously leaned closer to ask, "What bad ideas do you have now?"

"No spoilers, Senior," Yaqing pushed Mobius's pretty face away.

To reassure everyone, Yaqing and Mobius went out together. Soon, Yaqing enjoyed the treatment of an emperor, because no one believed that anyone could be indifferent to cyberbullying.

"Yaqing, have some candy." Little Griseo took out a piece of candy from her pocket.

Because it was Sunday, the Courtyard was particularly complete.

Not only were the people in the Courtyard worried about him, but Yaqing's phone hadn't stopped ringing all day. First it was President Otto, then Theresa, then his sister, and finally even Welt called him to comfort him.

Faced with everyone's concern, Yaqing didn't dare to turn off his phone.

"Speaking of which, do I need to hold a press conference?" Yaqing said.

At the thought of this, Yaqing didn't even want to eat and was about to go to the company, but Aponia stopped him.

"No, you have to eat lunch first!"

Yaqing obediently sat back down, not because of Aponia's persuasion, but because Kalpas's eyes were already blazing with anger.

Yaqing had a feeling that if he didn't eat a bite of the food Kalpas made today, he might get punched.

After lunch, Yaqing was about to go to the company, but everyone was still worried, so they had Kevin accompany him.

"Ugh, seriously, why did it have to be me? I was planning to go on a date with Mei this afternoon." Kevin, sitting in the passenger seat, was incredibly annoyed.

"Kevin, what do you think is the meaning of life?" Yaqing, who was driving, suddenly asked.

Kevin was dumbfounded upon hearing this. They were on the highway, driving at an extremely high speed. If Yaqing were to swerve the steering wheel even slightly, neither of them would survive.

"No, Yaqing, bro, godfather, please don't joke around like that." Kevin looked at the scenery whizzing by outside, almost crying.

"I never joke with people, Kevin." Yaqing's tone was low.

"Yaqing, think about your family, think about your friends, think about everyone in the Golden Courtyard. Don't do anything foolish." Kevin gripped the handle on the passenger side tightly.

Mei, looks like I won't be home for dinner tonight.

Seeing that Kevin was really about to cry, Yaqing finally laughed and said, "Just kidding, Kevin. Why are you crying?"

"Are you freaking crazy?!" Kevin roared, his face flushed with anger.

Arriving at the company headquarters, this was Kevin's second time visiting the Destiny Far East Branch.

Yaqing, with an unusual and decisive attitude, had Rita call a press conference.

At the press conference, Yaqing apologized to the audience who liked Honkai and promised that the next film would revise all the toxic elements of the previous one, and the character development and script creation would amaze everyone.

As soon as Yaqing's press conference was uploaded to the internet, the abuse seemed to lessen a bit, but some people still mocked Yaqing's overestimation of his abilities.

"Amaze us all? Judging from this movie, don't even mention amazing, we can't even force ourselves to praise it."

"Just looking at this Wind Poem, it reminds me of Yaqing Schariac's debut work, Saintess Redemption Chronicle. Sure enough, this is his true writing style."

"Quickly, go invite Welt!"

"Quickly, go invite Welt!"

Afterward, Yaqing posted a status update on his account.

"Since everyone thinks it's not tragic enough, then in the next movie, I will sharpen the knives and wait for you all in the cinema."

And the movie Honkai I: Wind Poem came to a complete end after this press conference.

Chapter 82: Yaqing Holds a Grudge

"Hehe… Hehehe… Hahahahahaha!!!"

From the initial low chuckle to the unrestrained laughter that followed, Salome and the other women listened to the laughter coming from Yaqing's office, looking at each other in dismay. No one spoke first, and the atmosphere was awkward.

"Boss… is he going crazy?" Shub said cautiously.

"It's very likely that he's suffering from mental breakdown due to online bullying. If we don't take care of Yaqing, he might do something foolish," Rita said, opening her phone to search for related incidents.

"Should we take him to the hospital for a check-up?" Patrick suggested.

"To see a psychiatrist?" Cheng Lixue asked.

"To see a neurologist!"

As the most senior of the women, Director Salome pushed open the door.

Yaqing, who was on a video call with Kalpas, looked up in confusion. He was holding a bucket of instant noodles in his hand, having just taken a bite, the noodles still unbroken.

I feel like this scene is a bit familiar.

Looking at Yaqing's clear eyes, which showed no signs of mental breakdown, Salome, Shub, and Patrick, who had just entered, were immediately stunned.

Rita and Cheng Lixue deliberately lagged behind, and seeing that things were not right, they slipped away.

The two sides stared at each other in confusion, an extremely awkward situation.

In the quiet office, only Kalpas was laughing wildly on the other side of the video call. Yaqing deliberately let Kalpas see him eating instant noodles, which, in the eyes of a five-star chef, meant that someone would rather stay at the company and eat instant noodles instead of going home to eat.

"Hahahaha, Yaqing, you have angered a…"

"Bye, Brother Kalpas, something suddenly came up." Yaqing closed the video call, gentlemanly wiped his mouth with a tissue, and asked, "Why did you three suddenly come to my office?"

"Um, Yaqing, I came to deliver the proposal and ask if the script has been finalized? Does it need to be revised?"

Salome, as expected of a director, was completely different from Shub and Patrick next to her. She lied without changing her expression, inexplicably pulling out a proposal from behind her.

Patrick also reacted and echoed, "That's right, Yaqing, I'm here to get the next script. The modeling and art departments need the character settings from the script to design the characters."

Only Shub stared blankly at the two who suddenly had business to attend to. Clearly, they were all slacking off outside the office during work hours out of curiosity.

"The script has been finalized." Yaqing touched the keyboard on his laptop, recalling the negative reviews of the previous movie, smiled slightly, and turned the laptop to the three women.

Seeing that familiar smile on Yaqing's face, the three women felt a chill in their hearts. Having worked with Yaqing at Destiny for seven or eight years, they knew that every time they saw Yaqing smile, it meant someone was going to be in trouble.

Patrick couldn't help but mutter to himself.

Yaqing wouldn't have written the ending as all the members of the protagonist group being killed by Kiana, who became the Herrscher of the Void, and then the conscious Kiana begging for death, right? No, am I being a bit too extreme?!

Patrick shook his head.

The three women leaned over and looked at the script. The script had no visuals, only a series of dialogues, not even a novel, only emotional annotations, and no descriptions of exterior scenes.

After reading the script, the three women were silent.

They looked at Yaqing with eyes that seemed to be looking at a demon.

Yaqing twirled a coin in his hand, looking at the three women watching him with a smile that was not quite a smile, his eyes seeming to ask: Knives? Since the audience thinks it's not enough, then let's increase the amount of knives.

"That's brutal." Shub exclaimed. The audience had raged at him for not being tear-jerking enough in the previous film, and he'd responded by making the entire movie a tearjerker. He really held a grudge.

"Brutal? I don't think it's brutal enough," Yaqing said, sitting on the sofa.

"Are you a devil?" Patrick couldn't help but say.

Yaqing shrugged.

Salome, Patrick, and Shub didn't remember how they left Yaqing's office. By the time they realized it, they were already standing outside the door.

"He's really gone mad..." Shub said softly.

"Don't say that. I think he might be upset about the failure of the last movie, so he's starting to plan his revenge on the audience," Patrick said, telling Shub not to bring up the topic again.

"First, he's taking the first film as an example, and then... forget it, I won't say it. If the plot keeps developing like this, anyone whose name is on the screenwriter credit will get cursed by the audience," Salome said, shaking her head.

"Heh, do you think the boss will really put his own name on the screenwriter credit?"

"He has no choice." Patrick explained, "If Welt's name is still on the screenwriter credit for this movie, the audience will see it as Yaqing being inferior to Welt, and that would be too much of a loss."

"By the way, has anyone seen Shigure Kira?" Shub asked. Currently, Shigure Kira was assigned to the dubbing department, making her Shub's subordinate, but Shub hadn't seen Shigure Kira at work today.

Salome said, "I remember Kira asked Yaqing for leave yesterday. She apparently went to Shenzhou."

"What did she go to Shenzhou for?"

"I don't know, maybe she's traveling."