Darkstone Code-Chapter 960 - 958: Commercial

A day passed quickly. In a larger mansion, the two girls and the film crew met Lynch.

This mansion had an artificial lake, and the area where Lynch was located was under strict surveillance by the Federal Judiciary because a particularly special person was being detained here, a Lieutenant General of the Federation.

The Lieutenant General did not get involved in Lynch’s matters. He was curious but did not interfere further.

"Lynch...!" As soon as she saw Lynch, Penny broke away from her broker and rushed towards Lynch like a wild colt, stumbling along the way, but she got up and continued running.

By the time she reached Lynch, her face was already covered in tears, looking as pitiful as a little girl abused by her stepmother.

While speaking, she started crying, "Look at my hair, that bitch pulled it! My scalp is all red!"

Lynch glanced at it. It was a little red, but that was normal. In the Federation, when girls fight, they don’t have the "lethality" and "professionalism" of those street gang members.

Their primary methods are pulling hair and tearing clothes. Often, during a fight, the two would grab each other’s hair, wanting the other to let go while feeling embarrassed to show their weakness, eventually becoming tangled statues.

"Lynch just glanced and then looked away again."

Penny looked at him in disbelief. I got beaten up, and you don’t plan to say anything?

Lynch turned to look at her again, "The emotions are spot on, and your performance is suitable, but you position yourself too maturely in your mind."

"Honestly, right now you look more like a shrew who lost a fight, rather than a nineteen-year-old girl."

"You need to..." Lynch pondered how to describe it, "like a nineteen-year-old, show your grievances while forcing a smile, saying everything is okay."

"You know, men always feel sympathy for weak things, but you’re too intimidating."

"Lastly, wipe away your tears and stand aside. I still have work to do."

Penny was stunned. She suddenly realized Lynch really understood acting.

Grievance?

What grievance? In the film industry, she held a higher position than Nelly. She was closer to Lynch, had known him longer, and showed off their intimacy more often in the media than Nelly did.

Not to mention, when it came to fights, she hit harder than Nelly, who had to consider Penny’s advantages, while for Penny, as long as it wasn’t deadly, she’d fight as fiercely as possible.

The one truly at a disadvantage was Nelly, not her. Penny was just habitually acting up, and Lynch saw right through her fake performance.

The director originally thought he wouldn’t have much to do today, but soon Lynch called him over, and they discussed for a long time, about forty to fifty minutes.

Meanwhile, two screenwriters on-site did some storyboard drafts, fully expressing the emotions Lynch wanted to convey.

An hour and a half later, Lynch appeared with the two girls at a gym in Bupen.

It was called a gym, but it was more like a place to learn combat skills.

The owner of the gym was a combat expert, well-versed in various combat techniques, and had once served as a hand-to-hand combat instructor for the Marine Corps for some time.

Perhaps later feeling he couldn’t fulfill his dreams in the Marine Corps, he left and established such a gym.

Helping people maintain healthy bodies while looking for outstanding students to train them into combat experts and participate in various fighting competitions.

What Lynch needed was the professionalism here. With a prior reservation, today the gym had no extra customers or trainers, only the owner and some of his students.

While Penny and Nelly were unclear about what was happening, Lynch had a female student take them and their assistants to get changed.

About twenty minutes later, the two girls stood bewilderingly in the ring.

Beside them, three cameras were aimed at them, and it was then that Lynch finally stepped forward.

"You like fighting, right?" he said, with an indescribable smile on his face, "Now’s your chance to have a good fight, in the ring."

Both girls were drawn in by the first half of Lynch’s sentence, so much so that they didn’t think further.

"Wait, why do we have to fight?" This was a question only Penny could voice. Nelly always maintained an obedient attitude. In her relationship with Lynch, not to mention not having the upper hand, she had no position at all. She was more like someone handing out promotional flyers on the street - you think it’s a person?

No, she was the flyer itself, having only the thoughts flyers have, feeling she could be discarded anytime, so she dared not have too many "I think" or "I want" thoughts.

On the other hand, Penny was a bit freer - young, thick-skinned, and bold. Those were her characteristics.

But now she was a bit confused. She was a few years younger than Nelly, and those few years meant she was physically inferior to Nelly. If they really fought...

She feared she might be beaten to tears, and she didn’t want to lose face.

"This is an ad, an ad for Every Moment..."

"And you’ll receive a substantial income, at least two hundred thousand..." he pointed at Penny, then at Nelly, "fifty thousand."

This money is equivalent to the highest pay they could get as a lead actress in a top-tier production they’re qualified for now.

Such projects don’t pop up easily; more often, they face projects with pay around a hundred thousand.

Penny isn’t exactly unknown, but compared to true top-tier actresses, she has a long way to go.

Didn’t you hear how they referred to her?

"The representative of young actresses!"

Being young means inexperienced; it means her standing in this industry isn’t high enough, and she still has a long way to go to reach the threshold of two hundred thousand in pay, probably needing to win several Best Actress awards at least?

Nelly needn’t even be mentioned; she’s only filmed one movie that’s not yet released, and Lynch felt embarrassed to cut the five thousand any lower; after all, to him, two or three thousand is no different from a few hundred, almost equal to zero.

You can’t let people work for nothing, and these advertisements will also break their usual image.

Listening to Lynch’s brief introduction on the necessity of filming these advertisements, both girls fell silent.

Clearly, they had no way to refuse, especially Penny.

If it were someone else asking them to film, Penny might throw a tantrum and refuse, but when it comes to Lynch, if they want to see him again, they must continue filming.

Penny stopped her antics, and the director, along with the crew, talked them through the action on the ring.

In truth, there’s no real plot, no lines even; it starts straight with fighting.

No doubles, no camera tricks—this was for the media and audience; when a double is needed, one will be used; when tricks are needed, they’ll be employed.

In this society, packaging is an extremely profound art.

Like a sissy acting as a macho man all his life; whenever reporters ask his family, they say he’s like a hero in real life too.

Yet, as they say this, what might flash in their minds is the image of this effeminate star screaming at a mouse, crying when his finger gets a cut.

Or like a star claiming never to use a double, caught many times using one on film; he disregards media and public opinion, insisting on his word.

Lynch could also tell society there’s no double, so why are two twenty-something girls beating each other on a ring?

People would be drawn to this advertisement, which is exactly what he needs.

It not only resolves the tensions between the two of them but also results in a series of advertisements, simply perfect.

Then the first scene started, with both girls standing on the ring, eyeing each other.

According to the director, they should start moving now, but they seemed not to get into character or are unaccustomed to such a "real" performance.

At this moment, Penny suddenly made a throat-cutting gesture, an action of very vile nature.

In Federation Gang culture, various hand gestures and actions are not merely gestures; incidents of young people making the wrong gesture at the wrong place and time, mistaken as from a rival gang and provoked, happen often.

Some have paid the price for their reckless behavior.

It’s a very ceremonial act, more than just a gesture, but a declaration of relentless war!

The director’s eyes lit up, the cameras were positioned perfectly, and the cameramen, elites in the industry, captured Penny’s defiance-filled expression superbly.

The next second, Nelly rushed out.

From childhood to now, no one has ever treated her like this.

On the small town she came from, she was the prettiest girl; everyone took pride in being friends, exchanging words with her.

But after coming to Bupen, she realized she thought she was the center of the universe merely because her world was too small.

In the real world, she was nothing.

The strong sense of frustration, the despair and helplessness from two completely different experiences, and the eventual crushing of her naive fantasies—the once proud self now silently endures.

At this moment, she couldn’t bear it anymore.

A newfound determination and anger propelled her, making her run faster than she ever did in school PE classes, her arm aimed directly at Penny’s face, she threw a hard punch.

Considering beforehand that the two girls already had a grudge and might truly provoke aggression, their protective gear and gloves were heavyweight.

Heavyweight does not refer to its weight, but its cushioning ability.

As the punch was thrown, Penny had already shut her eyes tightly in fear, yet she didn’t seem to feel unbearable pain next.

She began to retaliate.