Shadow of Chinese Entertainment

Chapter 321 Two New Movies

If these abilities were already powerful enough, then the Shadow Devouring ability, combined with the transformation ability, gave Hu Xiaobei a pleasant surprise.

The Shadow Devouring ability can now not only devour food and feed it back to itself, but also transfer the energy it devours and transforms between the shadow and the transformed form.

Hu Xiaobei conducted numerous experiments on chickens, ducks, and human traffickers. After Huaying devoured a large amount of food using his Shadow Devouring ability, he transferred the converted energy to Huaying users through Huaying.

This is similar to the internal energy transfer or consuming powerful elixirs in martial arts novels, which can correspondingly enhance the evolution level of the Shadow Transformer.

Because of the connection between the shadow and the transformed form, Hu Xiaobei can manipulate the transformed form regardless of distance perception, and therefore can also transfer energy between them regardless of distance.

Currently, the maximum capacity of each shadow is five times that of Hu Xiaobei himself. In other words, he can now store dozens of times more energy than himself.

If he wanted to, he could actually evolve himself in a more radical and rapid way.

However, for safety and stability reasons, we have not done so.

In addition, after a year, An Xiaoqian's physical fitness has greatly improved.

Compared to Hu Xiaobei, this is equivalent to his level 2 Shadow stage.

This was only because he deliberately slowed down An Xiaoqian's evolution speed; otherwise, it wouldn't have been difficult for her to advance to level three or four within a year.

During this time, An Xiaoqian couldn't suppress her longing for free flight, and with Hu Xiaobei's support, she would fly into the sky and go into the sea almost every month.

Since she wasn't moving very fast, Hu Xiaobei simply let her do as she pleased, as long as he kept a safe distance and made sure she was within the range of his spiritual perception.

As Hu Xiaobei advanced to level five, and with an extra spot for the Shadow Transformation Realm, he specifically discussed it with An Xiaoqian.

He decided to find an opportunity to tell Liu Xiaoli about the transformation, and then transform her into a shadow so that she could also embark on the path of evolution.

In fact, Hu Xiaobei already had the ability to create shadows for both of them when he was at level four, but the risk increased with each additional person who knew this secret.

After advancing to level five, his strength increased significantly, and he gained the top-tier survival ability to materialize into the shadows and ignore physical attacks.

This gave him more confidence to enhance his future mother-in-law's standing.

After all, once they are given the relevant abilities, they can materialize into the shadows and escape without worrying too much about their safety.

On a lazy weekend afternoon, the sunlight streamed into the living room of the villa, casting dappled patterns of light and shadow on the floor.

Hu Xiaobei sat on the sofa, his fingertips unconsciously stroking the back of An Xiaoqian's hand. He smiled and looked up at Liu Xiaoli opposite him, his tone relaxed: "Auntie, I'm going to perform a butterfly magic trick. Don't be surprised when you see it."

Liu Xiaoli was tidying up the clutter on the coffee table. Upon hearing this, she put down her work and smiled expectantly: "Alright, I'd like to see what amazing magic tricks you can pull off."

As he spoke, he glanced at his daughter again. Seeing her calm expression, he knew that his daughter already knew about the "magic trick," so he simply didn't think too much about it.

Hu Xiaobei slowly raised his hand, and a dark shadow rose slowly from the shadow beneath his feet.

The shadow twisted, stretched, and shaped in the air, gradually transforming into a lifelike shadow butterfly, fluttering its wings and slowly flying in front of the people in the living room.

Although Liu Xiaoli was somewhat prepared, she still stood up in surprise, her pupils contracting slightly, and asked in astonishment, "What... what is this?"

An Xiaoqian quickly supported her mother's trembling arm, her voice gentle and reassuring as she explained, "Mom, actually, this is Xiaobei's shadow ability..."

After she finished speaking, she even manipulated the shadow to change shape, making a great effort to demonstrate her advanced shadow control skills.

Liu Xiaoli looked bewildered and sat back down on the sofa.

She stared at the still-circling shadow butterfly, watching it flit past the crystal chandelier and cast an illusory shadow on the wall.

After a long silence, he looked at Hu Xiaobei and asked, "Xiaobei, will helping me transform into a shadow have any negative impact or danger on you?"

"Don't worry, Auntie, I've repeatedly verified its safety; there won't be any problems." Hu Xiaobei looked her in the eye, his gaze firm and sincere.

He paused, then added, "And once you also have the ability to transform into shadows, you can disappear into the shadows when you encounter danger, which will make you safer."

A brief, frozen silence fell over the air.

Liu Xiaoli reached out to touch the shadow butterfly, but slowly withdrew her hand just before she touched it. She sighed softly, her voice trembling with barely perceptible emotion: "Sigh... as long as it doesn't affect you, that's fine. But you can't let anyone else know about this."

You guys should have kept it from me back then. If two people knew, it would still be a secret, but if three people knew, the risk of it being leaked would be much greater..."

Clearly, she wasn't thinking much about herself; she was just worried that her actions might affect the two of them.

Even if, after transforming into a shadow, a person embarks on a path of evolution, and may even become younger...

在2008年12月初到2009年1月21日前，胡小北和安小茜一直在拍摄末日题材的新电影——《世界末日》。

After filming is completed, the three of them will return to Jiangcheng together to celebrate the Chinese New Year.

After the New Year, they will begin filming a tribute film for the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China, titled "Qiong Fang in Turbulent Times".

Hu Xiaobei has a creative habit: every film he directs has at least one original song.

For example, his previous work, "Super Evolution," was inspired by parts of the Tao Te Ching, which led to the creation of the classic song "The Tao Gives Birth to One."

An Xiaoqian's soft, sweet voice collided with the profound Taoist philosophy, creating a wonderful spark that preserved the ancient artistic conception of the scriptures while giving the song a lively and vibrant quality.

Upon its release, this song was hailed as a classic by fans and sparked a craze in the music industry.

New movies these days are no exception; for example, An Xiaoxi composed a version of the title song for "The End of the World."

She also composed several songs, including the theme song of the same name for the TV series "Qiong Fang in Troubled Times".

The music style of "Luan Shi Qiong Fang" is relatively fresh and healing, and the emotions are sincere and moving, which is similar to later songs such as "Chasing the Light" and "As You Wish".

The film "Qiong Fang in Troubled Times" was made at the invitation of the production team, but the main reason was that Hu Xiaobei himself wanted to make it.

Even if An Xiaoxi is extremely well-known worldwide, and Hu Xiaobei is very talented, the box office performance of this type of film will be severely limited.

Let alone a global box office of over a billion US dollars, even five hundred million US dollars would be quite good.

That's why Hu Xiaobei decided to film a sci-fi apocalypse film like "The End of the World" before the new year.

It is now 2009, and the Mayan civilization's so-called 2012 doomsday prophecy is rampant.

It spread rapidly around the world, sparking countless discussions and panic, and becoming a hot topic of conversation and online social interaction.

The release of apocalyptic films in the past two years has perfectly aligned with the current viewing needs and social sentiments of audiences, making it a timely release.

Filming for the movie "2012" has begun and may have already wrapped up.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, the film will be released simultaneously in the United States and China on November 13, 2009, and will gross $7.91 million worldwide.

In December of the same year, after its release, Avatar swept the global film market, leaving no other film in its dust.

In light of this, Hu Xiaobei decided to release the later filmed "The Legend of Qiongfang" during the summer season.

The film "Armageddon," which was shot earlier, will be released at the same time as "2012."

Furthermore, he converted the film to 3D to compete with the formidable "Avatar" which was coming in December.

In other words, "The End of the World" will be released in both 2D and 3D versions, achieving two goals at once. This is also why Hu Xiaobei wanted to allocate nearly a year for post-production.

For Hu Xiaobei, crushing "2012" is not difficult, and taking advantage of the 3D craze to compete with "Avatar" can also give "The End of the World" a new lease on life.

In terms of 3D technology alone, "Armageddon" is indeed no match for "Avatar," which has been in development for many years.

However, as a disaster film, "Armageddon" is able to present the shocking scene of the apocalypse with a highly impactful visual presentation after being converted to 3D.

This overwhelming sense of oppression and disaster aesthetics is precisely the unique advantage that Avatar, which focuses on a fantasy world, lacks.

With its 2D release a month earlier and capitalizing on the hype surrounding 3D, "Armageddon" is poised to rival, and potentially even surpass, "Avatar" at the box office.

(End of this chapter)