Directing on the Ark, Success if Not Banned

Kal'tsit felt an immense weariness just thinking about it. She had witnessed so much upheaval...

Chapter 71: Victoria: LOL, I'm dead.jpg

After a day of sailing, Chen Qi and his group temporarily settled on Rhodes Island to rest. Chen Qi hadn't quite figured out his next move, and this was a good opportunity to get acquainted with Rhodes Island.

However, from the day Kal'tsit and the others brought Chen Qi and the Self-Rescue Army back to Rhodes Island, the Rhodes Island operators felt that the atmosphere was exceptionally strange.

If everything had gone according to plan, everyone should have returned unharmed and brought back a large number of members. The mission should have been a complete success—so why did Doctor Kal'tsit and everyone else look so grim?

And why did everyone who participated in this mission seem so fearful of the renowned Director Chen Qi?

Especially Ascalon, Logs, Scout, and Outcast. These elite operators were usually people the ordinary Rhodes Island operators rarely had a chance to interact with. But after Director Chen Qi arrived at Rhodes Island, their attitude towards him... seemed very peculiar?

Especially the three Sarkaz. They were already eccentric individuals who kept to themselves, but towards Director Chen Qi, they always maintained an attitude that was friendly yet not entirely friendly.

Oh, as for Ms. Outcast, she would visit Director Chen Qi to chat every few days. She seemed very interested in a "Western" themed movie he mentioned might be filmed in the future?

However, besides Outcast and Amiya, who was the leader of Rhodes Island, and frequently met with Chen Qi to discuss cooperation matters, others didn't have a particularly good attitude towards Chen Qi. Especially those from the Londinium Self-Rescue Army; some of them even harbored intense hatred for Chen Qi and his film crew.

It seemed that the satirical television series "Yes, Minister," which targeted Victoria, had caused the Self-Rescue Army considerable suffering in Londinium back then. Now, with Chen Qi aligning himself with the Sarkaz represented by Theresis, those who had recently suffered greatly at the hands of the Sarkaz harbored resentment towards Chen Qi.

After all, before Chen Qi's arrival, the Londinium Residents' Self-Rescue Army was formed precisely to resist the Sarkaz. To them, Chen Qi's "Yes, Minister" was undoubtedly an act of aiding and abetting the enemy.

However, it wasn't anyone else who appeased the anger of the Self-Rescue Army members, but rather Crown Prince Vina, who had been conversing with Alda all along.

"Everyone, Director Chen Qi has now become a friend to the Sarkaz. In fact, your very lives are owed to Director Chen Qi."

"Moreover, 'Yes, Minister' was filmed at the request of Theresis when Director Chen Qi was not yet our friend. And during this process, if it weren't for Director Chen Qi, many more people in Londinium might have died. It was Director Chen Qi who single-handedly changed the tense atmosphere in Londinium."

"Furthermore... even without Director Chen Qi, we would never have been able to reclaim Londinium from the Sarkaz. We all witnessed firsthand how terrifying some of the Sarkaz are."

As the Crown Prince, Vina should have been the one to hate Chen Qi the most. However, due to the revelations in "Yes, Minister" and her current circumstances, she had come to see things more clearly.

...Forget it. Even without Chen Qi, the chances of her regaining the throne were very slim. Even if she could return, she had no idea how to govern a country.

She might even end up like her father... It might be better not to return for now.

After the "baptism" of "Yes, Minister," Vina understood more and more that governing a country was not something that could be done through mere talk. Behind it, she needed the recognition of the civil service system and the approval of the populace. Otherwise, sitting in a high position like a foolish ruler would eventually lead to her being overthrown by the people of Victoria.

Chen Qi had only been in Londinium for a few weeks, yet he could analyze so many political issues and present them to everyone in an entertaining, comedic way. Clearly, Vina was not that much of a genius and naturally needed to be more cautious.

With Vina's support, Alda, the former leader of the Self-Rescue Army, also calmed down and appeased the members of the Self-Rescue Army. Now, having been completely driven out of Londinium, the Self-Rescue Army members had no choice but to accept the current situation.

After spending a few days on Rhodes Island, Chen Qi, Kal'tsit, and Amiya finally met in the conference hall again to discuss cooperation.

"...Director Chen Qi, although I truly find this unbelievable, are you really willing to hand over this dose of medicine that can cure Oripathy to us for research?"

"Of course, I have my conditions—I hope Rhodes Island can provide a stable supply of Oripathy suppressants to everyone in our film crew in the future." Chen Qi stated his terms immediately, not rushing to hand over the only Oripathy suppressant he had, a system reward, to Kal'tsit.

"And, if in the future, Rhodes Island develops a cure for Oripathy that is the same or even slightly less effective, please provide the same supply to everyone in our film crew. These are my demands."

"—Of course, if you cannot fulfill this, as long as you can maintain a stable supply of Oripathy suppressants, that will suffice."

"...That's it?"

Kal'tsit seemed somewhat skeptical and disbelieving. Although several days had passed, Kal'tsit could still not hide her shock when bringing up this topic again.

For so many years, numerous doctors at Rhodes Island had been dedicated to researching a cure for Oripathy, but unfortunately, their effects were minimal. In fact, it was difficult to even maintain a supply of Oripathy suppressants for every infected person within Rhodes Island.

Rhodes Island had been passionate about saving the infected for years. They were one of the few pharmaceutical companies whose Oripathy suppressants were cheaper than market prices and guaranteed to be effective.

However, the cost of doing so was that Rhodes Island had very low profits in terms of Oripathy suppressants, forcing them to seek profitable opportunities in other fields. But even so, neither Kal'tsit, Amiya, nor the many members of Rhodes Island had ever questioned Rhodes Island's principles.

Rhodes Island was a pharmaceutical company that sailed to save the infected.

Therefore, Kal'tsit and Amiya had taken in many infected individuals who could not afford Oripathy suppressants. In return, these infected individuals stayed on Rhodes Island and contributed their skills to Rhodes Island's other profitable ventures. In return, Rhodes Island provided them with monthly Oripathy suppressants and a relatively meager salary.

At least, this allowed them to survive.

It could be said that Oripathy suppressants were a business that Rhodes Island continued to operate at a loss. Now, Chen Qi was directly handing over the hope of curing Oripathy to them, and all he asked for in return was the continuation of Rhodes Island's current principles?

This... could something like this really happen? For a moment, Amiya and Kal'tsit exchanged glances. They never imagined that Chen Qi's demands would be so low—especially when they had already confirmed that this medicine could absolutely cure Oripathy.

However, Chen Qi felt he had already made a huge profit. After all, this single dose of Oripathy cure would not change anything, nor could it directly heal anyone in the Integrated Cultural Troupe.

Therefore, rather than keeping it, it was better to let those who understood it research it. Even if they couldn't develop a cure, he would have gained a free and stable supplier of Oripathy suppressants, which would allow him to continue supporting the lives of everyone in the Cultural Troupe.

In fact, Chen Qi had initially planned to purchase suppressants at Rhodes Island's original price. His offer of it being free was also a way to negotiate with Kal'tsit and save as much money as possible.

"—Director Chen Qi, perhaps I misjudged you. You truly possess a magnanimous spirit that commands respect from any race."

However, as if afraid Chen Qi would go back on his word, Kal'tsit nodded almost immediately after confirming Chen Qi's expression and stood up to reply:

"It's hard to imagine that this land still has someone like you... a pure and benevolent person who is so charitable. On behalf of Rhodes Island, and countless infected individuals, I thank you for your trust and support."

"I will not inquire about the origin of this medicine. Perhaps you are a treasure bestowed upon us by this land of suffering."

Kal'tsit knew that Chen Qi did not wish to reveal the origin of this medicine, and she understood that Chen Qi's background was very mysterious. He possessed a purity that this land of suffering could not nurture—generally, people with such personalities here did not live to his age.

Therefore, Kal'tsit had already classified Chen Qi as a being from the "mysterious side." With the continent of Terra not yet fully explored, the appearance of a few mysterious beings was not entirely incomprehensible.

"We will make good use of this Oripathy cure. As soon as we make any progress, we will prioritize its use for everyone in the Cultural Troupe."

"Thank you, thank you so much for your great kindness, Director Chen Qi!"

Amiya also bowed deeply to Chen Qi several times, her face filled with unconcealed excitement. She immediately grabbed Kal'tsit's hand and exclaimed with joy, "Doctor Kal'tsit! This is wonderful! Everyone can be saved! Every single one of us can be saved!"

"Yes... we've all been saved. There's finally hope."

Kal'tsit showed a rare gentle expression, ruffling Amiya's head. Then, as Kal'tsit turned to Chen Qi, her smile didn't fade. She continued, "Director Chen Qi... we don't know how to thank you for your kindness. In the future, if there's anything Rhodes Island can help with, please give us the opportunity to lend a hand, however small."

"I certainly won't refuse, Doctor Kal'tsit." Hearing Kal'tsit's sincere gratitude, Chen Qi felt quite emotional. He had developed a fondness for Rhodes Island through association. He had initially felt a bit greedy asking for free supplies, wondering if it was too much. He hadn't expected it to go so smoothly.

As for befriending Rhodes Island... he figured it couldn't hurt. After all, they were currently the most reliable supplier of Originium inhibitors he could find, and they had solved a major problem for him without him even spending money.

In the future, the Art Troupe members could finally earn more money for their films instead of being forced to exchange it for Originium inhibitors... The Art Troupe was poor. They had always been struggling to survive. Box office revenue was either converted into inhibitors or used to provide food and drink for over a hundred people.

Chen Qi breathed a sigh of relief at the thought of finally being able to turn a profit. But just then, there was a frantic knocking at the conference room door.

"Doctor Kal'tsit! Are you in there?! I have something to say! Something terrible has happened!"

The one who entered the conference room was Indra, Vina's attendant. As she arrived, panting, everyone noticed her dazed eyes and clearly panicked expression, as if she had experienced an unprecedented shock.

"Operator Indra, what's wrong?" Kal'tsit asked, carefully putting away the Originium inhibitor on the table as she addressed Indra.

"Vic... Vic... Victoria..."

However, Indra stammered, unable to utter a complete sentence in her haste. Her mind was blank, and she couldn't organize her thoughts into anything coherent. After a long pause, she finally said, "It's, it's cracked."

"What?"

"—Victoria, it's cracked."

Indra blurted out the words almost instinctively. In the ensuing eerie silence, Kal'tsit, Amiya, and Chen Qi suddenly understood what Indra had said.

Victoria had split apart?! Chen Qi's head buzzed. He suddenly realized... how many unforeseen consequences his production of "Yes, Prime Minister" had brought about.

Chapter Seventy-Two: A Work Attempting to Prevent Civil War in Victoria?

From the Babel era, Kal'tsit had begun establishing intelligence networks in various countries. Under the guise of rescuing Infected individuals and seeking aid, Rhodes Island's dispatched operators, through their dealings with various factions, had established offices throughout Terra, creating a fragile but effective intelligence network.

Regarding Victoria, Rhodes Island received such critical intelligence with extreme speed.

"The eight Dukes have been frequently suppressing riots and protests within their territories. In several instances, they even deployed the military, resulting in casualties on a certain scale."

"However, after this, the riots within Victoria's various mobile cities did not cease. In particular, Little Hill County in the former Tara region erupted in large-scale riots, and even the control of the mobile cities was revoked."

When Rhodes Island's dispatched personnel stationed in Victoria returned, one of them was in a state of utter despair, as if he had witnessed a scene from hell. He spoke with lingering shock, "Little Hill County? The former Tara region?"

These keywords not only caught Amiya and Kal'tsit's attention, but Vina, who had learned about how Aslan had revoked control over Drac and the former Tara region after watching "Yes, Prime Minister," quickly picked up on this information. She frowned slightly and asked, "...Is that organization called [Deep Pool]?"

"Huh? Miss Vina, you know them?" The dispatched operative was somewhat surprised. However, considering Vina was, after all, the Crown Princess of Victoria, it was normal for her to know such things.

However, those who had recently been to Londinium were all well aware that the leader of [Deep Pool] had met them during the previous standoff, and that person was clearly targeting Chen Qi!

Vina and the others had also noticed Ablana's race at the time, which was undoubtedly Drac. Combined with the current riots in Little Hill County and the former Tara region, it was easy to connect the dots.

"What happened after that? Did anything else occur?" Amiya asked, handing the operative a cup of water and anxiously urging him to continue.

"In the former Tara region, Duke Wellington has responded to the banner of Deep Pool. They now claim to restore the rule of the Drac era, to reclaim the territory of the Tara people, and to declare independence from Victoria, just like Columbia!"

"Furthermore, the leader of [Deep Pool] delivered a speech. She will take the corruption of Victoria's civilian official system as a warning and announce that after restoring the Tara people's government, they will introduce a series of reformed civilian official systems to ensure selection based on merit, and that promotion will be open regardless of race, birth, or bloodline."

"Such a speech led to the independence of territories like Little Hill County in the former Tara region. It was like the first shot fired. Within a few days, the other Dukes successively declared independence. Victoria is now torn apart!"

The dispatched operative pursed his lips and subconsciously glanced at Vina, who stood nearby with a calm expression. Seeing that the Crown Princess did not fly into a rage or show sadness, he continued, "Currently, only the capital, Londinium, has not declared independence, but..."

"—But Londinium is occupied by Sarkaz, so it's clearly impossible for them to participate in the independence movement."

Kal'tsit cut to the chase, accurately describing the current situation. However, facing a Victoria fractured into nine pieces, she had some psychological preparation, but she still felt a sense of emotion when it actually happened:

"Clearly, the other Dukes can no longer suppress the internal conflicts that erupted due to the banning of "Yes, Prime Minister." They all know that if this internal strife continues, Victoria's internal contradictions will only worsen."

"And Duke Wellington... I recall he originally had Tara blood. Now that he's been courted by the leader of [Deep Pool]..."

"Clearly, she has the support and instigation of Theresis behind her. They must have discussed some agreement."

Kal'tsit possessed a great deal of intelligence. Although the events of the past few days had exceeded her understanding in many aspects, she could still piece together a general picture of what had happened in Victoria from the current information.

"Miss Vina." Amiya, however, was more concerned about Vina's current state as Crown Princess. But Vina seemed to have accepted it, shaking her head faintly and saying, "I'm fine, Amiya... Perhaps, it was time for Victoria."

"Whether it's the capital being occupied by Sarkaz or the exposure of Victoria's corrupt civilian official system, all of this had long been a hidden danger..."

As she said this, Vina inadvertently cast her gaze towards Chen Qi, who was still quite surprised by the news. Seeing Chen Qi's bewildered expression, as if he had no idea he had caused such a huge commotion, Vina strangely found herself unable to feel any resentment.

It was strange. This person's script had accelerated Victoria's current fragmentation, yet he looked so surprised... Did he really not know how much impact this script would have on Victoria today?

Or perhaps, this guy wasn't a political genius at all, and he genuinely didn't have any ulterior motives when writing the script for "Yes, Prime Minister"?

If Chen Qi could hear Vina's thoughts now, he would absolutely weep tears of joy and say with immense relief, "That's right, sister! I really didn't have that intention!"

"How could I have known that back in my previous life, I was just watching a classic TV show for fun, and it could actually cause Victoria on Terra to split apart?!"

From Chen Qi's personal experience, such a thing was absolutely impossible. A country splitting apart because of a single work, "Yes, Prime Minister," using Victoria as a prototype and haphazardly applying it without considering whether it would work, essentially just to entertain people.

So, you're telling him that his TV series directly accelerated Victoria's split? Doesn't that mean he single-handedly caused a country to fall apart?

What kind of joke is this? Are countries really that fragile? Oh... come to think of it, there really have been cases like this in ancient times. The "hating the state theory" of Shu Han seemed to have directly influenced its regime.

...So, doesn't that mean that in the eyes of Victorians, he's now that person who, in a time of crisis, published something akin to a "hating the state theory"?

Doesn't that mean he'll be hated to death by Victorians?!

"This is why we wanted to rescue you from the beginning, Director Chen Qi." Seeing Chen Qi's current expression, Kal'tsit seemed to realize he had done something extraordinary and said with a hint of helplessness, "We predicted this outcome long ago."

"I don't deny the excellence of 'Yes, Prime Minister,' Director Chen Qi. If this were a TV series during peacetime, it would absolutely not cause any turmoil or impact, but the timing was the problem."

"I don't want to say that Victoria's split was directly caused by 'Yes, Prime Minister,' but... undoubtedly, it was like adding fuel to the fire. The eight dukes had to advance the implementation of their ambitions to divert the internal conflicts they were facing."

"Doesn't that mean I became the one who stepped on the gas pedal when the country was in decline?"

Chen Qi only then belatedly understood why his "Yes, Prime Minister" had caused such a huge stir, even reaching the high-level officials across Terra. He had initially thought it was Theresis's effective propaganda—turns out he had offended everyone thoroughly.

"...Your surprise is beyond my understanding. I thought you should have known the consequences."

However, Kal'tsit found Chen Qi's current shock perplexing and asked indifferently:

"Your understanding of Victoria's civilian government system and the sharpness of your writing are astonishing. And it's only been a week since Theresis hired you to go to Londinium. I thought you knew the consequences of writing something like that?"

"...I'm sorry, but in my understanding, I've never personally witnessed any country directly splitting because of a TV show. It's my limited understanding that has constrained my imagination."

Hearing this, Chen Qi felt a headache coming on, a strange sense of guilt—his drama had directly led to a country's war. As someone born in a peaceful era, Chen Qi naturally didn't want to see lives devastated by war.

Especially the leader of the Deep Pool. That person was truly a heavyweight. Even before she rallied Duke of Wellington to rebel, her actions were already beyond humane. Now that Victoria had split, who knew what outrageous things she might do.

"Now, what should be done..." Chen Qi began to ponder. He never intended for Victoria to split. Although it had already happened, Chen Qi couldn't bear to pretend he didn't know.

If, in a while, Terra News were to broadcast a report titled "Eight Dukes of Victoria Clash, Lives Devastated" accompanied by photos, Chen Qi would be miserable. He couldn't bear to see this scene unfold.

"—If you'd like some advice, why not use your current fame to try filming movies or TV series that could make Victoria stop the war?"