Pokémon, but cultural invasion.

He took the little mermaid on his travels, and grew to love her more each day, but he never had any intention of marrying her as his queen.

The Little Mermaid's wish was not fulfilled.

Of all people, are you the one who loves me the most?

As the prince embraced her, the little mermaid's eyes seemed to ask this question.

"I love you, but forgive me, my heart has already been given to someone else."

The prince said, “When I was at sea, I encountered a storm and the huge waves swept me to a neighboring country. It was the princess of that country who saved me. Without a doubt, she is the person I love most in the world.”

"We have already made a marriage agreement..."

Ah! He didn't even know I saved his life!

The Little Mermaid's inner monologue echoed on stage; her heart was breaking, yet she couldn't cry out.

At this moment, the restless discontent that had been lingering in the audience completely transformed into indignation.

The cherry blossoms, irises, and peonies, sitting among them, best convey the audience's anger.

Especially female viewers who watched it from beginning to end without blinking.

"Is the situation very bad?"

Peony never dreamed that one day she would have to worry about angry spectators storming the Cerulean Gym.

Chapter 44 We must imagine that the Little Mermaid is happy.

When Peony reminded her, Iris was still immersed in the story unfolding on stage.

"The prince is getting married, what will happen to the little mermaid?"

Peony shook her shoulder: "Forget about mermaids, look around."

Following Mudan's gaze, Changpu saw that the audience members all looked reluctant, yet were also holding back their anger.

Wanting to do something but also captivated by the scene on stage, I had no time to think about anything else, craning my neck in my seat for fear of missing a single second.

She also noticed some female audience members tightly clutching their handkerchiefs and repeatedly pulling at them.

Peony lowered her voice: "The audience's butts are still stuck in their seats because the performance isn't over yet. Who knows what will happen after the show ends?"

Iris was stunned, and said in disbelief:

"Won't we become the first dojo to be attacked by the public for performing?"

She had previously only seen the stage presence of the performance, but now she felt the power of the story to move people.

The little mermaid was so introverted, yet so kind.

All she wanted was love, what did she do wrong to deserve this?

There are definitely many viewers who share similar thoughts with Ayame, including herself, who was also in a contradictory state of stomach pain and longing for what was to come before Peony woke her up.

As performers, the two understood that a stage play could guide the audience into a certain emotion, which was nothing short of terrifying.

As the plot continues...

The sisters, filled with remorse, begged the sea witch for a sharp knife for the Little Mermaid.

They sang loudly: "Take it! Put it on that blind prince! Put it on the heart of that faithless prince!"

"When his hot blood flows to your ankles, your feet will join together again to become a fish tail, and you will return to our palace!"

"Hurry up!"

"Before the sun rises!"

The mermaids sang in unison around the large ship, their voices echoing in the ears of the audience, who could already see the dawn as the sun was about to rise.

When the next day arrives, the Little Mermaid will turn into a bubble.

The sisters threw the daggers onto the boat and watched anxiously, just like the audience below.

"Go quickly, little mermaid, you did nothing wrong, it's all the fault of the foolish prince."

"How could someone as kind as the little mermaid bring herself to do that? The sea witch did it on purpose."

"Is this really a fairy tale? How can there be such a difficult choice?"

As the floating sea gradually brightens before dawn, the story is about to end in tragedy.

Even though the audience knew in their hearts that the little mermaid would never kill the prince, they couldn't help but whisper and cheer from below the stage.

Some urged the little mermaid to act, some unconsciously held their breath, some turned their heads away, unable to bear to look, and some eagerly awaited a turning point.

The live stream room where Quanshu was located was in complete chaos.

"The Little Mermaid is innocent; killing the heartless prince was a last resort."

"The prince was at most a bit of a womanizer. He didn't even know that the little mermaid saved him. He didn't deserve to die."

"Does one of these two really have to die? By Arceus, I would rather it be this neighboring princess who appeared out of nowhere who dies."

People from different factions expressed their own views, but at their core, they were all lamenting the impending tragedy of the story.

It's quite remarkable that the harmonious world of the internet can be stirred up into a heated argument.

The sun rises in the east, casting a magnificent glow.

The little mermaid cast her blurry gaze toward the prince once more, then turned and jumped into the sea.

She felt her body melting into foam.

The warm, gentle sunlight shone on the cold foam, refracting it into a rainbow of colors.

A large-billed magpie wearing a phoenix crown and with rainbow feathers hanging from its tail flew out from the edge of the stage, resembling the legends of Guandu and Chengdu, scattering golden light.

The little mermaid was greeted not with death, but with warmth.

The End

The stage curtain fell, and the floating sea slowly descended.

The audience only snapped out of their daze when the actors took turns going on stage to pay their respects.

"What do you mean? Is that all?"

"Did the Little Mermaid really turn into a bubble?"

The scene was noisy.

"Did a Mega Finch fly by on the stage at the end?"

"That's Ho-Oh, a legendary Pokémon from Kanto and Johto."

The largest group of spectators in the stands were from the Kanto region, and they explained to the tourists:

"Legend has it that those who see Ho-Oh will have eternal happiness. He revived three Pokémon that were burned to death by flames, and they became Raikou, Suicune, and Entei."

"Judging from Ho-Oh's deeds, the little mermaid may not have died, but was resurrected and eventually found happiness."

A passionate viewer who was trying to educate people from other places offered an explanation that even he himself didn't quite agree with.

But from another perspective, there must have been a reason why a Phoenix flew by at the end of the stage play.

With the help of those around them and the explanations provided by the comments section, viewers gradually understood the meaning that the final scene was meant to convey.

It's another matter if they can't accept it.

After being kept in suspense online for days, the viewing experience was full of ups and downs, and in the end, we were surprised to find a semi-open ending.

It's impossible to have no opinions.

The little mermaid was so kind that she would rather throw herself into the sea and turn into sea foam than hurt others.

Then Phoenix flew by again, and the audience had to imagine that the mermaid princess who turned into sea foam was happy... just kidding!

There is only one mastermind behind putting the Little Mermaid in such a dilemma—Izumi-ki.

His scripts are so insidious, they practically scream "torture the audience."

"That concludes the first day of the stage play broadcast. Thank you all for watching. There will be more live broadcasts of Hua Lan's performances tomorrow and the day after. If you're interested, please follow the host."

Quanshu glanced at the comments section. Why was everyone attacking him?

I was thinking, nobody criticizes Hans Christian Andersen.

He couldn't help but fall into deep thought. Could there be a problem with the source of the intelligence?

Didn't Xiaoxia say that it's normal for fairy tales in this world to be a little dark?

Confused, Quanshuxiabo received another message from DianDian, the live streamer.

[The electric frog in Niangguang City: Quickly hide and lay low for a while.]

[Thoughts flow like a spring: It's fine to criticize online, but in real life, who wouldn't want to rush up to a blogger they follow and ask for a photo and autograph?]

Backstage at Hualan Martial Arts Hall.

Before the performance was over, Sakura left the audience with her two younger sisters.

Xiaoxia wiped the water droplets off her face and walked into the changing room, where she saw her three older sisters already waiting for a long time.

She was about to utter a sarcastic remark, venting the malice she had harbored for years.

Sakura spoke first, her brows furrowed and her voice urgent: "How did you and Izumi discuss this? Does he get a share of the profits from the stage play?"

"Yes, he only wants the ticket price. The specific revenue sharing hasn't been determined yet. He said he'll decide after seeing how well the stage play goes."

Xiaoxia can see the audience's reactions from the stage, and her share of the revenue will definitely be high.

"Luckily, we didn't discuss it beforehand."

Sakura breathed a sigh of relief. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Let's split it 80/20 then, and see if the other party agrees."

"82?"

Xiaoxia raised her voice, saying incredulously, "Although we provided the venue, props, and actors for the stage play, and took care of everything big and small, isn't taking 80% too much?"

Ayame immediately objected: "Sakura-nee, I also think this percentage is too high. People who don't know better might think that our Cerulean Gym is being greedy."

Peony looked at the two of them as if they were two fools.

"Eighty percent? Eighty percent of the time it belongs to someone else."

"Even getting 20% ​​depends on how others treat you."

Chapter 45 A Lion Hides in His Eyes

Sakura knew all too well how much revenue a hit stage play could bring to Cerulean City.

Tourists come because of the stage play, and since they're already here, they can't just watch a performance and leave without doing anything else.

It's perfectly normal to buy some souvenirs from the venue after watching the show, have a meal at the nearby food street, or spend money at the beach resort.

Just like when water ballet was at its peak, ticket revenue was a small part of the business; the real value lay in the increased spending generated by the audience attracted by the performances.

If it can attract a large number of tourists every day, Cherry Blossom could even consider giving up all of its ticket revenue.

In particular, people in the Kanto region have begun to experience aesthetic fatigue in the past two years, so launching a brand-new stage play at this time is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Hualan Performance.

"Eighty percent isn't much. It's understandable that Xiaoxia has no experience in business operations and doesn't understand, but what's wrong with you, Changpu?"

Faced with Sakura's questioning gaze, Ayame smiled awkwardly. After thinking about it carefully, she quickly realized how foolish she had been.

"In short, Xiaoxia, you should go and discuss it with him first. If necessary, you can give up some more income. Try to leave a good impression on him during the first cooperation."

Sakura's eyes were filled with complex emotions. She never expected that her younger sister, whom she had never thought highly of, would suddenly bring her such a huge surprise.

She watched Quanshu's live stream and knew that with the speed of internet dissemination, there would definitely be even more tourists coming to watch the show in the next two days.

What's most frightening is that Izumi seems to have more than one stage play that can attract a large number of tourists.

Sakura believes that with proper adaptation and reasonable rotation of the few fairy tales from "One Thousand and One Nights" written in the dynamic, Hualan Dojo can ensure that it will not fall into the predicament of having no plays to perform in the next few years.

Not to mention she had no idea how many cards Quanshu was still hiding.

"I see."

Xiaoxia hesitated for a moment, then asked, "After the performance, many audience members were reluctant to leave and kept asking the staff where the director of the play was."

"The audience said they were all fans of Izumi and just wanted to take photos and get autographs."