However, the joint construction of this building had not reduced the family disputes in the city as hoped. Instead, everyone wanted this lavishly decorated City Council Hall as their own turf... And now, it had become the location for Chen Qi's next set of shots, finally being put to meaningful use for the first time.
As for why Chen Qi's group had only arrived in the afternoon... it was because they had spent the morning filming another scene at the manor. In the film, The Godfather's most favored godson, "Johnny," had traveled a great distance to support the wedding—and to seek help from The Godfather.
It turned out that Johnny, a famous singer, had damaged his voice through his dissolute lifestyle. He wanted to transition from singing to acting, and had his eye on a script that might as well have been tailor-made for him. He hoped to use it to make a comeback.
But the head of the film company had prevented Johnny from getting what he wanted out of personal resentment. Johnny had gone to The Godfather for help, only to be rebuked.
"You need to act like a man!"
The Godfather, played by Madam Sicily, showed anger for the first time. She even stepped up and slapped Johnny, startling both him and Texas's group watching the scene.
That slap had not been in the script. It was Madam Sicily's improvisation. Yet that slap made Texas, Chastisement, and Si Ye all feel just how highly their "father" regarded the godson before her.
It was a loving blow, which was why it showed such frustration at his failure to live up to expectations.
"What's wrong with you?"
"How did you turn into some Columbia sissy? Crying like a woman." Madam Sicily grabbed the bewildered Johnny and roughly spun him around, but the gesture somehow felt full of affection.
"Heh—hehe, what should I do? What should I do?"
"—What nonsense. Ridiculous." Madam Sicily's imitation instantly dispelled the previously heavy atmosphere, drawing an involuntary smile from Texas on the other side.
Without realizing it, Texas felt that Madam Sicily's image before her had become more vivid. Gradually, she began to feel that this Madam Sicily dressed in menswear was a real "person," rather than the lofty, unfathomable Madam Sicily.
And within the shot, Si Ye, who had just entered amid the chaos of the scene, was glanced at by Madam Sicily. She suddenly asked something seemingly unrelated.
"Do you make time to spend with your family?"
"Of course I do." Johnny answered without hesitation. At last, Madam Sicily's expression softened, and she spoke words that made the three of them tremble slightly.
"Good. A man who does not make time for his family is no real man."
Those words, without anyone noticing, made Madam Sicily's image in the eyes of her three "children" grow more vivid once again... Their relationship was gradually taking shape through their everyday words and actions, just as Chen Qi had expected.
Returning to the current part of the story, Tom, played by Chastisement, found the film company boss and tried to persuade him to let Johnny take the role. Instead, she was insulted and driven out. Even so, Chastisement did not immediately react, but waited for the other man to learn her identity.
Sure enough, the next day in the story, after learning that Chastisement worked for The Godfather, the film company boss invited her to his home—the City Council Hall where Chen Qi's group was currently filming.
"It was originally meant to decorate a palace." Rubio, playing the film company boss who had refused to cast Johnny, was showing Chastisement around this glittering "palace." He even took her to see his private hobby—racing camelbeasts.
"Come and see something truly beautiful."
"I imagine you have a good eye, don't you?"
Rubio brought the film company boss's vanity vividly to life. At that moment, inside the camelbeast stable, an assistant led out a tall, magnificent racing camelbeast. Its fur gleamed even in the dim surroundings, displaying the excellence of its bloodline.
"This racing camelbeast is worth six hundred thousand—I'd wager even the Emperor of Ursus has never spent that much on a racing camelbeast."
"Datong." Rubio called the racing camelbeast's name with infatuation. In that moment, just a few shots had made his character extraordinarily vivid.
"Vain, prideful, and an openly shameless beast in human clothes." Backstage, Texas, who had no scene to film, immediately saw through the personality of the character Rubio was playing.
"Is that what all the big shots in the film industry are like?" Si Ye could not help shaking his head. "Now I finally understand why some people forget who they are after becoming famous."
"No. Besides showing off, he was also sending Tom—Chastisement—a message."
Madam Sicily, the most seasoned of the group, had also seen through his true intentions. "He is flaunting his wealth. By demonstrating how rich he is, he is telling Tom that money cannot buy him off."
"Clearly, Tom's business this time cannot end peacefully... Am I right, Director Chen Qi?"
"Completely correct. As expected of Madam Sicily." Chen Qi, who was intently studying the monitor feedback, could not help nodding in admiration.
"...Would he really do that? He knows Tom works for The Godfather, yet he still dares refuse a second time?"
Si Ye found it hard to believe. Texas said nothing, but she clearly felt the same way. The two only knew their own scenes and knew nothing about this part of the plot, so they could only guess based on instinct.
But as filming continued, the story truly unfolded just as Madam Sicily had said. Rubio's character flew into a rage and explained to Chastisement why he had targeted Johnny.
"Johnny Fontane ruined the most valuable actress in the company! We spent five years building her up—teaching her to sing, act, dance! I invested countless amounts of money in her! I was going to make her a huge star!"
"She was young, beautiful, innocent! I have women everywhere, and she was the finest of them all!"
"Then he came along, with that magnetic voice, using his charm to lure her away—making me look like a fool!"
"A man in my position cannot be insulted like that!"
"Now get the hell out of here!"
The scene ended. Chastisement showed no sign of reacting after Rubio berated her, simply leaving in silence. But her response made both Si Ye and Texas understand—this man was dead.
"Too stupid... To make an enemy of a force like The Godfather over a woman." Si Ye shook his head. Texas, however, did not see it that way and said evenly,
"But if they kill him, Johnny's matter cannot be settled. So they should find a way to intimidate him... I just do not know what method would work best."
"Very good. You've improved." Madam Sicily smiled and praised Texas, agreeing with her guess.
"So this set of shots is over. Tomorrow, will we be filming the revenge scene?"
"That's right. Everyone may need to get up a little earlier tomorrow. Filming may begin in the morning."
At that moment, after Chen Qi confirmed through the intercom that the set of shots had passed, he turned and smiled at the group.
"We'll notify everyone an hour in advance before filming tomorrow, so get to bed early tonight."
"Oh, right. Jun Jun, go tell Mr. Rubio that he performed very well. He can wrap tomorrow. Thank him for his performance."
"Okay." Executioner, who clearly knew what came next in the story, had a mischievous glint in her eyes as she vanished like a ghost.
Texas and Si Ye, having noticed all this, had no idea what Chen Qi was planning. Only Madam Sicily, recalling the camelbeast head the crew had brought earlier, seemed to realize something. A mysterious smile appeared at the corner of her lips.
"Looks like... we should pray that Mr. Rubio does not faint from fright tomorrow."
The next morning, Rubio, sleeping in one of the City Council Hall's guest rooms, had no idea what Chen Qi's group had plotted the previous day. He was sleeping soundly, completely unaware that equipment and crew members blending into the surroundings had long since been arranged around him.
"All right—Mephisto, use your Originium Arts to wake Mr. Rubio."
"Okay, Brother Chen Qi."
Outside the door, Mephisto wore a faintly impish smile as he mischievously began directing his Originium Arts into the room.
Mephisto's Originium Arts could stimulate the Originium within the bodies of Terra's people. Most people on Terra had Oripathy to some extent; only the severity distinguished the infected from the uninfected. With careful, precise control, Mephisto's Originium Arts could stimulate it without worsening the condition.
Very soon, under Mephisto's Originium Arts, the sleeping Rubio gradually awoke. But the moment he opened his eyes, he tensed up—he thought he had overslept and missed today's scene.
But soon, Rubio felt that something was wrong... Why was his lower body sticky? And wet?
Rubio was suspicious. He was getting on in years, but he was not old enough to wet the bed. Yet when he reached down, he saw it on his hand... dark red blood.
...Blood? Why was there blood on the bed?
Rubio froze slightly, then instinctively pulled back the bedding. As he moved, the blood beneath the covers became increasingly obvious and thick, making him tense all over again.
"Rustle."
With one final pull, the tightly wound Rubio saw the most terrifying threat he had ever experienced in his life!
—The severed head of a racing camelbeast lay by his feet, still seeping streams of blood.
"AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"
The next instant, a scream born from the most primal fear and horror rang out through the room, lingering throughout the City Council Hall.
What was even more terrifying was the deeper meaning behind that racing camelbeast's head... On his own turf, someone had silently cut off the head of his beloved racing camelbeast and placed it in his bed.
If they truly wanted to kill him, then the next head to fall... would it be his?
And this was the most genuine kind of terror that the Mafia displayed—though far from its only kind. The Mafia's methods, its rule through terror, and the threat it posed to anyone's life and safety were brought to life perfectly through this set of shots, enough to leave anyone shaken.
This shot would surely become an iconic scene that stunned Syracuse in the future. This was the first time a film had brought such a realistic Mafia-style threat to the big screen.
The shock it created was no less powerful than any intense gunfight or battle. This was the appeal of the film's "realism."
Madam Sicily's Assassination Scene?
"I think I understand what you meant by genuine reactions now..."
A few days later, Talulah was overseeing the editing of the filmed footage. When she once again saw Rubio nearly suffer a breakdown after being frightened by the racing camelbeast's head on-screen, she could not help shaking her head as she spoke to Chen Qi.
"You scared him half to death. Good thing we had a medical team prepared beforehand, and several Medical Operators used their Originium Arts to bring him back to normal. Otherwise, he might have been frightened into a heart attack."
"Then everyone may need to get used to it. The upcoming scenes will get more intense, and there will probably be plenty of moments that make the actors' hearts stop."
Chen Qi was also busy with recent matters. The latest scenes were fairly intense, and not all the wedding footage had been completed yet. Filming such large-scale scenes had always been extremely difficult.
Fortunately, the wedding shoot was about to wrap up. Texas and Sora, the "couple," had begun working together with growing chemistry. Texas's relationship with Madam Sicily, Si Ye, and Chastisement had also improved somewhat during this period of filming.
Although Texas still felt somewhat awkward around Madam Sicily, Chen Qi thought that was ideal—after all, from the very beginning of The Godfather, when the second-generation Godfather attended the wedding in military uniform, it had already shown that his attitude toward the family, and toward his father, was still somewhat conflicted.
That subtle feeling of wanting to distance herself from the family, while being forced to acknowledge it because it was still her home, was something Chen Qi felt Texas was portraying perfectly now.
Recently, aside from the wedding scenes, the role Chen Qi had previously promised Croissant had also appeared—the major drug lord Sorozzo, nicknamed "the Minoan." She negotiated with The Godfather, played by Madam Sicily, hoping The Godfather would provide funding and legal assistance to facilitate her drug trafficking. The Godfather refused her.
However, in this part of the story, Sonny, played by Si Ye, became interested in the profits offered by that dirty business. He even spoke over The Godfather, making Sorozzo—who did not understand Syracuse's family values and had no moral bottom line—believe Sonny was trying to seize power.
Therefore, she joined forces with the Tattaglia family, which had business interests with her, and planned an assassination attempt on The Godfather, so that she could work with Sonny after he took power...
"Still, it seems you only gave the script to Madam Sicily and did not let the others read it." Talulah looked up at Chen Qi, seeming to realize something. In a somewhat horrified tone, she asked,
"...Are you planning to make them act out an unexpected reaction, as if it were a real assassination scene?"
"Why not?" Chen Qi waved a hand. This time, in order to make everyone's genuine reactions part of the performance, he was taking full advantage of his crew's strengths.
An ordinary film crew did not have a full set of tactical gear for filming like they did. So unless someone watched closely, they would not easily notice anything unusual even after filming started. Only those with exceptional strength would sense that something was off.
But Madam Sicily knew the script in advance while the others did not, which meant that the "assassination" in this scene would probably look real to everyone else.
"I deliberately arranged for Texas's group and Madam Sicily to film in two different places, ensuring Texas would not learn beforehand that Madam Sicily had been 'assassinated.'"
"Then we'll place a fake newspaper where Texas can casually see it. She'll know what to do next."
"...You're going to scare every family in Syracuse senseless." For a moment, Talulah did not know how to evaluate Chen Qi's scene. This was practically planning a genuine assassination. If Chen Qi truly intended to assassinate Madam Sicily, he could use this information gap to have her killed in the next scene.
More importantly, Madam Sicily had actually agreed to this? That was unexpected. Did she trust Chen Qi that much not to harm her?
"Don't worry. Everyone involved in this 'assassination' scene is one of our own crew. All the guns are toys. Madam Sicily has both body armor and blood packs on her. Nothing can go wrong."
Chen Qi naturally knew that filming assassination scenes like this in Syracuse could easily turn from fake into real. Therefore, he had the Integrated Cultural Troupe handle every assassination scene and did not dare use people from any other family.
"All right, get ready. I'm going to call Madam Sicily and signal that she can start acting."
"...I hope Giovanna does not truly get scared out of her wits." Talulah could only smile wryly and shake her head as she thought of the sole "bodyguard" currently beside Madam Sicily.
Some time later, on the other side, Madam Sicily smiled after receiving Chen Qi's message. She walked out through the doors, where a Lupo girl with long golden hair was waiting for her.
"Let's go, Fredo."
"Okay, Dad."
The Lupo girl waiting for Madam Sicily at the entrance was named Giovanna Rossetti. She was also a former family head, though she had stepped down and become a screenwriter.
After her family returned to Syracuse from Columbia, they had brought mobile-city construction technology with them. Thus, they earned one of the seats among the Twelve Families. Incidentally, she was also Texas's friend from her time in Columbia.
This time, Giovanna was one of the people Chen Qi had recruited through Texas. She played The Godfather's second daughter, "Fredo," a somewhat timid and honest character who was not particularly suited to being born into a Syracuse family.
Giovanna strongly supported Chen Qi's "realistic" and "immersive" filming approach. Therefore, she had no objection to calling Madam Sicily "Dad."
As a creator herself, she strictly followed Chen Qi's rules and remained in character at all times. She could be called an exceptionally dedicated actress.
—And now, Giovanna's professionalism was about to face its first test. She did not even know filming had already begun, and she remained completely relaxed.
"Tell Pauli to bring the car around." Madam Sicily recited the lines she had already memorized, though she knew Pauli would not appear.
"Pauli is sick today. Let me drive, Dad." Sure enough, Giovanna answered without a second thought. Madam Sicily pretended to make a surprised "Hm?" sound, but Giovanna still replied casually,
"Pauli is a good kid. I don't mind driving myself."
Giovanna was so unguarded because she did not know they were acting. On the other hand, the person playing "Pauli" was an actor from her own family, and he had already informed her beforehand.
Furthermore, ever since news spread that Madam Sicily was starring in The Godfather, there had been countless bodyguards secretly protecting the Sicily family. No one would dare make a move against Madam Sicily. Giovanna had no need to worry about anything at all.
What Giovanna did not know was that her carefree demeanor, captured by the camera, looked to onlookers like complete negligence. A family head without bodyguards by her side already gave people the faint sense that something extremely bad was about to happen.
Giovanna drove for some distance. Madam Sicily, seated in the back, looked around at the streets and decided that it was about time. She spoke up.
"It's been lively lately."
"Yes, Dad. The holiday is coming soon, and everyone is buying gifts." Giovanna answered casually, her eyes fixed on the road ahead to prevent an accident.
She did not know that Madam Sicily was watching every person on the street beside them. Soon, when she spotted a Sarkaz and a figure resembling a Lupo, Madam Sicily knew they had reached the filming location.
Before you continue