Chapter Nineteen: Siege Hears "In the Name of the Father" / Chapter Twenty: "In the Name of the Father" × "The Godfather"-A Match Between a Masterpiece and a Masterwork!

"Cheers!"

Everyone held a glass of champagne and took a light sip. After that, Madam Sicily turned to Texas and the others nearby and called softly:

"Mike, Sonny, Tom, Fredo."

"Yes, Father." ×4

However, Madam Sicily's soft call was answered almost immediately by the four children from the film. It was only after the hotel erupted in laughter that the four realized they had immersed themselves too deeply in their roles and had reflexively called Madam Sicily "Father."

Yet none of them looked embarrassed, nor did Madam Sicily. When she heard the four children call her "Father," she merely smiled faintly and said softly:

"Children, forgive me for using the names from the film just now. I only wanted to hear you call me that."

"I have had no children in my life, yet this film let me experience what it feels like to be a father. In a sense, children, you have fulfilled one of my wishes."

At that, Madam Sicily turned slightly to look at Chen Qi beside her. After receiving his faint nod, she finally made her decision.

"—Children, you each have your own fathers, so there is no need to call me 'Father' again."

"But if you do not mind calling me 'Godmother,' I would be very happy."

The moment Madam Sicily said that, the hotel fell silent. No one had expected her to make the four of them her godchildren at such a moment.

After all, in Syracuse, a godfather or godmother's status and responsibilities were no less significant than those of one's real parents. As the creator of Syracuse's order and the true authority behind Grey Hall, being able to call her "Godmother" would give the four of them immense standing in Syracuse.

For a moment, members of countless families looked at Texas and the other four with envy and jealousy. After exchanging glances, Texas was ultimately the first to step forward before Madam Sicily's outstretched hand.

"...Godmother."

Texas bowed respectfully and kissed the back of Madam Sicily's hand. Then Si Ye, Chastisement, and Giovanna followed, each kissing Madam Sicily's hand in turn.

"I am very happy, children. All of you showed your potential in this film."

Madam Sicily smiled sincerely at the four children before her and said softly:

"Syracuse's future may rest in your hands. I hope that one day, you will remember the familial bond brought to you by this encounter, work together with one heart, and create a path for Syracuse that you yourselves recognize."

As Madam Sicily's ceremony concluded, cheers and applause once again filled the hotel. Texas, Si Ye, Giovanna, and Chastisement exchanged looks, then all smiled in shared understanding.

After the final wrap party ended, everyone from Penguin Logistics could not stay in Syracuse any longer. They needed to return to Lungmen, but before they left, Chen Qi asked them to handle something even more important.

"Then, The Emperor, I'll leave all the publicity for The Godfather in Lungmen to you."

"Don't worry. For the sake of that song you gave me, I'll put in a good word for you with Wei Yenwu. Just wait for your movie to premiere smoothly in Lungmen!"

After shaking Chen Qi's hand with his flipper, The Emperor did not forget to make a good connection with him. Perhaps in the future, Chen Qi would need his help with more film promotions and premieres in Lungmen, or even Yan.

"If there is ever anything you need from us girls, just contact us. If you run into trouble, we'll definitely be there to help right away."

"Then goodbye. We hope you can come back to Lungmen to make movies someday!"

The Emperor and the four women of Penguin Logistics bid Chen Qi farewell one after another. As the landship started up, Chen Qi watched them slowly leave Syracuse... until someone draped a coat over him.

"Thank you, Talulah."

"What did you ask them to do?" After putting the coat over Chen Qi's shoulders, Talulah could not help turning to ask, "I heard you mention publicity and premieres earlier... Do you want to promote The Godfather in Lungmen too?"

"Our last movie was just banned in Lungmen. I'm afraid Wei Yenwu will not make it so easy for our movie to be screened there again, will he?"

"—That is why I gave The Emperor and the others the promotional PV for The Godfather." Chen Qi smiled faintly. He was clearly very satisfied with the promotional PV's quality as he said confidently:

"Once everyone in Lungmen becomes interested after watching our promotional PV, only to discover that the movie is showing exclusively in Syracuse, they will definitely do everything they can to learn more about it online."

"Once enough people in Lungmen start clamoring for it, we can use the momentum to discuss a release with Chief Wei Yenwu... By then, he will not be able to stop us again."

As a transmigrator, Chen Qi knew these tricks all too well. These days, whether it was a movie, television drama, or anime, they all liked to put out a three-minute PV first, using what they considered good lines from the story to reveal the setting and information, telling viewers what sort of work it was.

Even mobile games had started using PVs for promotion, showing off their "financial strength" with all kinds of editing and special effects, then luring in players fooled by the PV to spend money like water.

The original game developer of the world he had transmigrated into even loved pulling the old trick of, "I have an announcement: tomorrow, I will announce something."

But regardless, promotional PVs really did help people understand what kind of movie The Godfather was. Especially on Terra, where communication and transportation were inconvenient, and people from different countries on the same land might know absolutely nothing about one another's customs or cultures, a PV was even more necessary to help them understand the movie.

"That is why I chose a Yan song that best suited our movie, and even invited The Emperor, such a popular rapper, to perform it. With so many buffs, The Godfather's promotion in Lungmen definitely will not be a problem!"

"I see... So that is why you used the song In the Name of the Father to bring The Emperor and everyone from Penguin Logistics here. So that was what you were planning."

Only now did Talulah understand why Chen Qi had used a song to invite The Emperor over. At first, she had thought he was simply catering to The Emperor's tastes, since he liked rap songs.

But now it seemed... The Emperor had been working for Chen Qi all along. He had practiced the song for so long, only for Chen Qi to use it as the backing track for a promotional PV.

...Forget it. Judging from how happy The Emperor looked, he seemed quite willing. That was fine, then.

"Get ready. In a few days, we may receive a call from Chen and the others."

"Mm. I believe you."

Just as Chen Qi was feeling pleased with himself, Talulah gently wrapped herself around one of his arms and pressed her body close against him.

Soon, Talulah's tail coiled around Chen Qi's thigh, continuously sending him a signal—a signal to fulfill his promise.

It looked like tonight would not be very peaceful... Chen Qi smiled faintly, but he did not reject Talulah's hint. Instead, he eagerly picked her up and slowly headed toward the hotel's back entrance.

Hearing In the Name of the Father: Swire

A few days later, at the Lungmen Guard Department, Swire was handling her duties as a senior superintendent as usual. The matters of the past few days had left her looking rather overwhelmed.

"What is going on with those two recent brawls? Give me a report." Swire propped up her head with one hand and waited listlessly for the report from the Guard Department colleague beside her, though she already knew what it was probably about without hearing it.

"Yes. The first incident occurred two days ago, and the latest one happened last night. A group of children between twelve and eighteen clashed with the Infected while fighting over territory in the slums. Quite a few people were injured."

The Guard Department officer could not hide his unease. He could already sense the senior superintendent before him was about to explode, but he could only grit his teeth and continue:

"The children fighting the Infected over territory were all non-Infected. When our Guard Department officers arrived, they even tried to assault the police... After being arrested, they fully confessed to their crimes."

"They all watched Young and Dangerous. They were drawn in by the brotherhood and gang conflicts in it, then started getting strange ideas. They went to the slums to play out some fantasy of vengeance and loyalty, and ended up clashing with the Infected."

"Fortunately, Miss Lin Yuxia and Rat King's people arrived in time every time, keeping the casualties to a minimum. The injured Infected are receiving treatment, and those children are currently at the Guard Department waiting for their parents to bail them out."

"Bail them out? Bail what out?! Lock them up for fifteen days! Aaaah! This is driving me insane!"

The moment she heard it was that sort of incident again, the heavily stressed Swire exploded just as expected. Fortunately, everyone in the Guard Department had long anticipated the signs of the tigress's outburst and was mentally prepared.

Still, everyone could understand Swire's outburst. The Guard Department's workload had indeed become much heavier than before. In just the past few days, the number of brawls they had to deal with had more than doubled.

And the root cause behind all of it, according to every one of the arrested children, was the film that had exploded in popularity yet stirred major controversy in Lungmen several months ago—Young and Dangerous.

It had to be said that Young and Dangerous gave Lungmen's long-sluggish film industry a powerful shot in the arm. Lungmen had made plenty of stories about police officers, but few had ever focused on so-called criminals.

A movie filmed in just over twenty days had vividly presented Lungmen as it was more than twenty years ago. Adults saw more of a piece of history in it, but young people paid greater attention to the brotherhood and violence within the story.

The simplest violence could awaken the destructive urges in people's hearts. In particular, Young and Dangerous contained extensive portrayals of "righteousness," turning those thugs into "heroes" in the eyes of children whose values had not yet fully formed.

Especially since most children these days were well protected by their parents... Their hearts already held long-suppressed desires, and after watching Young and Dangerous, those impulses had gradually been ignited.

"D-Don't worry, Superintendent Swire. I heard Chief Wei is already planning to issue an announcement banning Young and Dangerous..."

Seeing Swire lose her temper, the Lungmen Guard Department officer hurriedly tried to comfort her. "Young and Dangerous has already been completely banned in Lungmen. Only clips and pirated recordings are still circulating online. As long as we wipe it out completely, together with the efforts of the Guard Department, we can definitely turn things around."

"Did you forget that I invested in that movie?! I'm a major shareholder!"

That only made Swire angrier. She truly felt caught between a rock and a hard place. On one hand, the ever-increasing workload caused by Young and Dangerous irritated her endlessly. On the other hand, as an investor, she had to admit that the profits it brought were truly considerable.

At first, Swire had not held much hope for the film. She had only invested because Talulah had returned, and Talulah was Chen's sister as well as Swire's childhood playmate, so Swire had put some money into the movie made by the man Talulah liked.

Especially after a movie had been completed in just over twenty days, Swire had been certain it was a slapdash production... She had only promoted the movie so heavily with a what-the-hell attitude, already prepared to lose money.

Yet now, Young and Dangerous's massive success had surprised Swire while also showing her the returns on her investment—but just when those returns had begun to appear, Chief Wei Yenwu wanted to ban the movie!

She had only just started seeing her money come back!

Swire was deeply frustrated. She had originally expected a loss, only to happily discover that she might actually make money, before that hope was abruptly crushed in the bud... She was furious, but she did not even know who to vent her anger on.

"Forget it, forget it. Get out. Let me have some peace and quiet alone..."

Swire waved her hand and dismissed everyone from the office with a headache. She only felt exhausted now and needed to put work aside for a while.

"I should look at my phone. Has anything interesting happened lately? Hopefully something can make me forget this headache."

"From now on, that Little Tal's lover... Chen Qi, was it? He may be talented, but I am never investing in another bloody, violent movie that is bound to get banned. It is already troublesome enough to release one in Lungmen, let alone take it across Yan."

Muttering to herself, Swire opened Lungmen's entertainment app. On Terra today, each mobile city could generally only receive news from within that city and had poor access to outside information. Thus, even entertainment videos were limited to content filmed or produced by people within Lungmen.

"Hmm? Is this... news from Penguin Logistics? The Emperor released a new song?"

Soon, amid a sea of low-effort videos, Swire spotted the major trending post pushed to the front page. Seeing the label that read "Over Ten Thousand Likes," she immediately recognized The Emperor's penguin figure on the video thumbnail.

Besides The Emperor, the thumbnail showed the four women of Penguin Logistics standing in two rows. Swire knew all of them well. They caused trouble and ended up in detention every other day, and each time either she or Chen had to personally deal with them.

But... their outfits were surprisingly coordinated this time. They all wore suits, ties, coats, and sunglasses. They looked pretty cool?

"Could it be that The Emperor has changed styles this time? He has always had plenty of rap fans. Is he planning to reinvent himself?"

"The song is called... In the Name of the Father. Hm? It is a movie trailer?"

Swire quickly noticed what was unusual about the song from the video's title. Driven by curiosity, she tapped the video open.

In truth, Swire had never been able to appreciate The Emperor's rap very much. Having grown up in Victoria, she was familiar with rap, but she had cultivated her tastes from childhood and possessed a high level of artistic appreciation. Therefore, she looked down on something as unsophisticated as rap.

Yet this time, when Swire opened the video and prepared herself for an extremely noisy rap intro, she unexpectedly found... it seemed different from what she had imagined.

"Congratulations on discovering the treasure of the platform!"

"One more billion times!"

"The more I listen, the more addictive it gets. This is so damn cool, a true Yan national treasure!"

The moment she opened the video, Swire was bombarded by a flood of premium scrolling comments, completely obscuring the screen. She immediately turned them off, only then seeing a string of words unfamiliar to her, with translated subtitles beneath them.

"The doctrine of mercy, thank you for the blessings bestowed upon my family."

Along with murmured whispers, an elegant cello melody reached her ears first. Swire quickly sensed the darkness the tune conveyed, the faint chill and mystery within it.

"All my trials, and sacred love."

"I pray to God, God, for your blessing to forgive me on this day."

On the screen, amid someone's prayers and repentance, fragments of scenes flashed past one after another. Some of the people on screen were unfamiliar to Swire, but she recognized others.

"Isn't that Texas? She seems to be dressed as a man?"

"This language... is Syracusean? And they are all wearing suits."

Yet although everything looked refined, and everyone dressed like successful people, Swire sensed something different about them.

That chilliness and faint ferocity conveyed through the screen... Were these people gangsters? She had heard that Syracuse had the Mafia. Could these people be them?

Just as Swire was growing suspicious, distinct voices suddenly appeared in the video. Inside a church, a Sarkaz priest was preparing a baptismal ceremony. He spoke to Texas, who was dressed as a man:

"Mike, do you believe in the Lord, Almighty Father, Creator of all things?"

"...I do." Texas's face showed not a trace of emotion as she answered indifferently.

"Mike, do you renounce the devil, including all his works?"

At that point, the video fell briefly silent. Only Texas's voice continued, maintaining that cold, indifferent tone as she answered:

"—I renounce him."

"Jup! Jup!"

Suddenly, as Texas finished speaking, two abrupt cries sounded alongside the drums, startling the immersed Swire and making her jolt.

"Ah—ah—ah—"

They were immediately followed by an unknown woman's chant-like voice. The entire rhythm of the music suddenly changed, instantly becoming strange and eerie.

"That scared me—though it seems pretty interesting."

Swire patted her chest to calm her racing heartbeat, but she soon sensed what was different about the song and began listening to this unusual piece with interest.

It was a little strange, but somehow... incredibly addictive?

Yet Swire herself had not noticed that she had been staring at the video for over a minute. The song's intro was actually that long, already breaking the conventions of many songs.

But she did not find it tiresome at all. Instead, she was thoroughly enjoying it, which naturally had much to do with the song's rhythm and the effect created by its visuals.

By now, Swire could confirm that the movie being promoted by this song was definitely related to the Mafia. Yet she discovered that it was not as violent as she had imagined. Instead, it exuded a strange beauty at every turn.

What kind of song was this? What kind of movie was it? Swire now felt that she could continue watching with full anticipation!

In the Name of the Father × The Godfather: A Match Between a Divine Song and a Masterpiece!