It's called To the Moon, but the protagonist never wanted to go? / The truth revealed, and the tearjerker to come

To Kristen's doubts, Chen Qi waved his hand, then handed a copy of the script to Kristen, simply chuckling:

"This is the second part of the script, and the turning point is here. This movie only becomes interesting as the truth is revealed little by little."

"... Then I'll look forward to it. But what I'm certain of now is that this movie will be a success, even if I don't see the ending."

Kristen took the script from Chen Qi's Chen Qi and gave him a slight smile, saying:

"At least, judging from Saria's performance after reading the script, even if this is just a romance movie, it's definitely of high quality... it just probably won't move me much."

"Oh? Miss Kristen, so confident in yourself?"

Upon hearing this, Chen Qi raised an eyebrow slightly and said in a deliberately teasing tone, "Miss Saria, you were just as confident before you read my script, weren't you?"

"... So she really did cry." From Chen Qi's words, Kristen finally understood. Saria's strange reactions earlier seemed to be hiding her crying, but she hadn't thought of it that way because she didn't believe Saria would cry.

Now that Chen Qi has confirmed this, Kristen couldn't help but sigh, "... I probably don't know her very well either. However, I have reservations about my previous views."

"I'm also someone who persevered all the way, Director Chen Qi. My parents were among the first to attempt to explore the secrets of the stars. They were originally admired by many, but they died in a flight experiment, and my family's fortunes plummeted afterward."

"I've seen my share of the coldness and warmth of the world... Saria isn't particularly resistant to stories like this because she's never really been exposed to this kind of work."

"So, I'm not worried about anything, Director Chen Qi. I'll memorize the lines, so please start filming as soon as possible. There are still many things I need to take care of at Rhine Lab, and I'm also looking forward to seeing you soon. In the story, how did you get to the moon?"

After saying that, Kristen turned and left the scene. Only after Kristen left did Nian Yuxi and the others, who had been silently watching everything from a distance, slowly approach.

"... She didn't seem moved at all, remaining very rational throughout." Xi was slightly dissatisfied with Kristen's reaction. She considered herself to be quite aloof, but Kristen, aside from a dry expression of "emotion," had nothing else to say about the scene.

"Because they don't have enough scenes yet. Before, it was just Alina and me acting, and they haven't had a 'fully immersed experience' yet."

However, Kristen's words made Chen Qi feel that his level was being challenged. As for actors who doubt authenticity and experiential acting, Chen Qi has liked to use a method since "The Godfather" - that is, immersive acting.

"I'll leave the rest of the filming to you. We'll be using a lot of long takes later on, so the camera work absolutely cannot go wrong."

"Oh! It's here! My favorite long shot!" Nian exclaimed excitedly. Chen Qi, however, paid little attention to Nian this time, as Xi's task was more important.

"Xi, I need your help to design a series of scenes based on this part of the script... The basic approach is to use jump shots where a period of time passes in the blink of an eye, so that we can easily do a one-shot sequence later without editing."

"... I see."

Xi took the script for " To the To the Moon" from Chen Qi, and after flipping through it, she raised her head with a slight frown and asked Chen Qi:

"... Chen Qi, in this part of the plot, why does this 'Joey' (John's nickname in the show) appear at the same time as John? Aren't they the same person?"

"And why is there no mention of the River in this part, which is set during her youth?... What did you do to her?"

"... I'll keep this a secret for now, and reveal it to everyone later."

However, faced with Xi's aggressive questioning, Chen Qi was unable to give them a satisfactory answer at this moment. After all, they had already cried quite a bit just watching him and Alina perform the separation of John and River. If they knew what Chen Qi "did" later, Chen Qi might be beaten so badly that he couldn't get out of bed... in every sense of the word.

Especially considering that Chen Qi had already taken the opportunity to test the difference between himself and Talulah after his physical enhancement... it can only be said that Talulah seemed to be carrying an emotional burden, resentful of the inevitable tragedy in Chen Qi's " To the To the Moon" script, thus putting Chen Qi at a slight disadvantage...

So it's best not to tell them about what happens next, otherwise Chen Qi will get a really bad lesson from Talulah... His pride is already severely damaged, okay?

Chapter 188: The title is " To the To the Moon," but the protagonist has no intention of going at all?

Within the painting, Chen Qi and his group rested for about a week. As researchers, Saria and Kristen both possessed exceptional memory abilities, so after sufficient preparation, Chen Qi began the next segment of the performance.

However, this time, before the next scene began, Chen Qi specifically instructed Saria and Kristen about the increased filming difficulty that would result from their increased screen time.

"Now that you two have memorized your lines, and your opportunities to perform will be greatly increased, I will now inform you of the 'rules' for acting in our production."

"Many of the lead actors in our productions are not professional actors, but starting with 'The Godfather,' all the lead actors who accept our invitation to participate have received nominations at the Victoria Film Festival, mainly because our productions use the 'realistic reaction' filming method."

"Therefore, for the following scene, we may be in a shooting state at any time. Before I give a clear call to cut, please feel free to improvise while remembering your lines. This will greatly improve our shooting efficiency."

"I have no objection." Upon hearing this, Saria's eyes flashed with a sharp light. Of course, she knew that Chen Qi's actions were actually catering to her ideas and helping Kristen to express his true feelings during the acting process.

Moreover, although Saria wasn't interested in movies, she still knew that, starting with "The Godfather," and continuing with films like "Darkest Hour" and "Braveheart," the lead actors in Chen Qi's works were not professional actors, but they all dominated various nominations at the Victoria Film Festival with their acting skills.

If, as Director Chen Qi says, these people's performances are truly authentic... perhaps it will help her plan.

"If it can be filmed faster, then I can accept it." Kristen nodded. Although she was dedicated, she had little interest in filming romance movies. She was mainly interested in seeing how Chen Qi planned to go to the moon.

After all, Kristen herself had related plans... Although she was indeed very determined to witness the secrets of the starry sky herself, that didn't stop her from wanting to see if a "Feranmut" like Chen Qi, who might already know some of the secrets of the Feranmut sky, had any similar views on the path for humans to travel to the stars.

Seeing that Saria and Kristen had no objections, Chen Qi turned his gaze to Alina not far away. After receiving Alina's silent approval, he addressed everyone:

"Since everyone agrees, let's begin! Muelsyse and Vina are ready to come in at any time. Xi and Nian, the set design and filming are yours!"

"Alright, get ready, transition section, get ready, action!"

Having already explored all of John's important memories and gathered crucial information, Saria and Kristen's next task is to alter John's memories. Through guidance and suggestion, they aim to evoke in John the idea of To the Moon from certain memory fragments, thereby achieving their goal.

The two returned to John's memory closest to reality, and Saria explained why they didn't directly modify John's memory.

"As for who you are now, you're nothing but a copy. If you agree, we can do whatever we want with you, like painting a picture."

"As for you... you're merely a calculation method used to record 'Johnny.' It's enough to reflect his preferences, but only a part of them."

"All we can do is paint a logically coherent work on this canvas. Then, we will transmit your registered ideals to your childhood, and this machine will create your new life—a life of striving for ideals."

"Finally, we'll write the result into the real John's memory. So even if we fulfill the real Johnny's wish, you're now just a 'read' program within it. We can restart it again and again, even—"

"Enough." In the end, it was Kristen's character who interrupted Saria, and Saria's words caused many people watching the filming from the other side of the scene to discuss among themselves.

"Saria's words were a bit sharp. Although it didn't sound like something she would normally say, I guess that's really what she was thinking?"

Nearby, Muelsyse, who wasn't filming for the time being, was watching the filming of " To the To the Moon" with Xi, Nian, and others. Muelsyse seemed to have already understood this part of the story.

"Simply put, this machine digitizes emotional data, then adds some programs to this data to deduce another result, and then overwrites the original data, thus achieving the purpose of altering memories, right?"

"If it could be done, that would be quite good. It would indeed be a suitable machine for end-of-life projects... However, if it were to be popularized, it would probably be seen as a weapon for forcibly reading or altering memories, right?" Muelsyse quickly thought of other uses for this machine. Therefore, she knew that the ideal situation in " To the To the Moon," where it was only used for end-of-life projects, could not be replicated on Terra.

However, compared to researchers like Muelsyse, the members of the Art Troupe were clearly more focused on the plot development, and their thoughts differed regarding Saria's somewhat harsh words.

"Modified memories... If you change a person's memories, are you still yourself?" Xi sighed. She was deeply moved by the story of John and River in the plot. Clearly, she didn't often deal with this kind of subject matter and had always been like an immortal, oblivious to the world.

She didn't want this memory to be rewritten. After all, whatever John's initial motivation for approaching the River, John ultimately didn't seem to understand River... but their experience was real.

To alter their experiences for the sake of an ideal that arose for reasons unknown—to "To the Moon"—is certainly not the outcome Xi desires.

"Well, since the person is going to die anyway, this kind of project is definitely only for end-of-life care. And the method of change isn't forced intervention, but a gentle one, so it's not bad, is it?"

Nian shrugged at this. Although she also felt that such behavior was wrong, she still believed that John's personal wishes were the most important.

"He wasn't forced to alter his memories, was he? A dying man's words are often kind. His own life wasn't perfect, so to experience one last, false, but logically sound, different kind of perfect life—isn't that nice?"

"Relax, my dear sister. Life is full of disappointments, so just let it go. The important thing is to focus on the present, isn't it?"

"... You really are heartless."

However, Nian's encouragement clearly had an effect, and Xi emerged from her initial slightly gloomy mood. At that moment, Talulah seemed to have noticed something and quickly interrupted the two women's conversation, pointing to the screen where Xi had drawn her picture and saying:

"Something seems off about the plot... John's memories haven't changed."

As soon as the words were spoken, everyone turned their attention to the big screen. Now, having believed they had collected enough memories and successfully implanted the desire to "go to the moon" into John's childhood, Saria and Kristen, who thought everything was resolved as usual, also checked whether John's experience had changed.

Therefore, Xi had already prepared the corresponding paintings, drawing portraits of John, played by Chen Qi, at several stages. The two women could enter the corresponding world simply by going to any of the paintings.

In the story, Saria and Kristen traveled through time multiple times, eventually returning to the beginning and their memories of John.

"Oh? You two are from that organization? What a coincidence, I was just about to call you."

"..."X2

Everything was back to square one. Faced with the unchanged elderly John, the two Doctor immediately realized something was wrong.

"How is that possible? His desires can't even function on their own, how could there be no change at all?" The character played by Saria seemed not to understand what was happening. They had clearly implanted related desires, yet the desire to "go to the moon" hadn't changed John's life at all?

Soon, Saria and Kristen took action, they began to travel to John's early memories, stimulating him from his childhood to instill in him the desire to To the Moon.

To this end, the two women made a lot of efforts. Kristen directly used a machine to make the first movie that John, played by Chen Qi, and River, played by Alina, watched become a science fiction film related to the moon, in order to make John want to To the Moon.

"What is this... this isn't what they said, is it?" John, played by Chen Qi, noticed that the movie's plot had changed at some point and immediately looked at Alina beside him, asking:

"Oh, okay... River, do you mind?"

"No, I like this."

However, Alina's character, River, seemed happier after seeing the movie about the moon than John had remembered.

However, all of this was ultimately in vain. Nothing changed. Returning to the beginning, Chen Qi's reaction remained unchanged.

During John's childhood, Saria pretended to be a knowledgeable expert on the stars and, in front of Chen Qi, delivered a long, embarrassing, and awkward speech, hoping to inspire John, played by Chen Qi, to want to To the Moon.

She first explained the concept of the starry sky to all the children, telling them that the starry sky has endless space for exploration, and that they would go on adventures like heroes. As if she had chosen Chen Qi by chance, she asked him if he had any plans to To the Moon.

"But I don't To the Moon at all."

"Then you'll be lucky enough to become... wait, what did you say? You don't want to go?"

"Why would I want to go?" John, played by Chen Qi, looked troubled and replied to the bewildered Saria, "I'm quite happy living in Terra."

Saria wasn't discouraged and shared many speculations about the moon, such as how Terra would travel to the stars and the moon would be the first place they would explore. She continued to share her conjectures until everyone had left.

However, the final outcome remained unchanged. Despite facing such difficulties, Saria and Kristen did not despair. Instead, they tried everything they could to arouse John, played by Chen Qi, in their desire to To the Moon!

Kristen was getting a little anxious about this part of the story. Although she had read the script and knew what would happen next, the script she had read hadn't mentioned John's idea of To the Moon yet.

Kristen was also worried that she might never see the moon again, so she put in an extremely hard-working effort during this time-traveling performance, even more so than Saria.

They went to John in his old age, when he was struggling to build a house and tried to sell him a trip to the moon.

They went back to their youth, and while Chen Qi accompanied Alina to inquire about treatments for multifunctional syndrome, they lied and said that the Rhine Lab Stellar Observation Department could provide the best medical care.

Later on, they even started using puns, like "little pony" and "honeymoon"... they tried everything... but in the end, it all came to nothing.

"I think we should really capture the commander's expression of disappointment, frustration, and helplessness; it would definitely sell very well at Rhine Lab."

However, no one seems to care about Muelsyse's jokes these days. Everyone who doesn't know what happens next has the same question as Kristen in the story.

Johnny's registered wish to To the Moon was successfully transferred, however... after the transfer, he had absolutely no desire to To the Moon anymore.

And without a doubt, everyone could guess that if anything could change John's mind, the River was the prime suspect.

If John were to have the idea of going to the To the Moon, then the River would definitely be the key point.

But... Kristen and the others, unaware of the subsequent plot, were confused. What exactly did River do to make John, after meeting her, lose even the implanted idea of "To the Moon"?

Chapter 189: The Truth Revealed, the Tearful Scene to Come

"I have a feeling that John and the River's story isn't as simple as it seems. But their memories have all been explored, so there shouldn't be anything left to hide, right?"

"... Not necessarily. If it's the influence of Originium Arts, perhaps there's a way to affect memories." Muelsyse guessed the same way. Unconsciously, she also began to think about how to break the deadlock, and couldn't help but feel troubled:

"If only we had people with such Originium Arts, it would be great. Unfortunately, I can't help the Commander-in-Chief and Saria in this regard, and I doubt even Rhine Lab has such Originium Arts."

However, no one was clear about Rhine Lab's situation, so no one answered Muelsyse's question. Talulah beside her and asked in a low voice:

"Speaking of which... it seems like the entire shoot has been in long takes, hasn't it? How long has this been going on?"

"... It's been several hours already. After all, they had a lot of discussions and decisions in between, and it was all filmed in one go. Most of it will just be cut out."

"But now, it seems they've almost forgotten they're acting, haven't they? It's all thanks to my amazing abilities as their little sister that they feel like they can actually travel through time."

Nian couldn't help but sigh, realizing how incredibly useful her sister's power was in filmmaking. Simulating time travel effects didn't even require calling "cut" beforehand, resetting the set, or restarting filming.

This effect is perfect for helping actors get into character. And in the case of Kristen and Saria, they were undoubtedly so immersed in their roles that they even unconsciously forgot they were acting.

"Wait, look, they seem to have come up with a solution."

FrostNova's words, however, drew everyone's attention back. It was already dusk in the story, and Saria and Kristen, who had been busy for a long time and were at their wits' end, finally saw Saria make a breakthrough from the company in the plot.

"To be precise, he concealed the medical records." Saria looked at the documents in her hand and said calmly to Kristen beside her, who was overjoyed at the progress.

"Clearly, he took large amounts of beta-blockers when he was younger."

"Coincidentally, this drug happens to have some side effects on our memory."

"Beta blockers?" Upon hearing this new term, all eyes immediately turned to Muelsyse. Muelsyse, of course, knew this medical basics and explained:

"A drug used to treat cardiovascular diseases, it can also treat symptoms such as qi deficiency, palpitations, and shortness of breath."

"However... taking too much can indeed cause gaps in the patient's memory."

"If that's the case, then the place where John's memory is interrupted must be the key point, right?" Although Talulah didn't understand anything about potions, she knew very well that the starting point for completely reconstructing John and River's story was in this missing memory.

As expected, Saria and Kristen took this as their starting point and began to act. In order to successfully enter this memory, they had to find some corresponding stimuli.

Fortunately, they had previously smelled a similar stench of decaying corpses in John's memories, and they found the carcass of the squirrel they had accidentally run over at the beginning of the story. Through this scent, they successfully entered John's childhood.

Now, John's life is slipping away faster, and his heart rate, as shown on the electrocardiogram, is becoming increasingly unstable. They must act quickly.