The Best Director

Chapter 367: Chapter 367: The Miraculous Return of Yang! (Vote for Monthly Tickets)

On the big screen, at the New Shanxi military base communication tower, a colorful beam of light suddenly shot from the signal transmission tower, piercing the sky and shattering the clouds, straight into the universe! Under the solemn and lively background music, the truth signal was synchronously sent to 30 worlds!

“Phew—!” In the 3,845 North American Cinemas screening “Firefly,” there was a collective sigh of relief from the audience as the signal finally went out! The fully engrossed audience felt a wave of soreness and weakness throughout their bodies; listening to the occasional gentle notes in the music, their excited yet suppressed hearts began to settle, and they even breathed heavily, the Battle of New Shanxi having been all too thrilling and heart-wrenching!

At the AMC-CityWalk Theatre, spectators enjoying the 8-floor-high IMAX experience also laughed happily, releasing the pent-up excitement, leaning back into their chairs with almost a feeling of faintness—the heroes had accomplished their mission!

But the movie was still ongoing. Upon seeing the signal’s light, soldiers from the Star Alliance, former Independent faction forces, and the few remaining plunderers seemed to halt their fire for a moment, looking up at the giant image in the sky. The female scientist said with a gleeful face, “Today is the first time we’ve introduced G23 Paxilon Hydrochlorate into the air processors, which will suppress the evil within human neurons…”

As she spoke, the camera cut to the streets of Barto City, where virtual screens outdoors were broadcasting the signal; at Canton Town Security Company, where television screens were suddenly overtaken by the signal; and in bustling taverns elsewhere, where people with varied expressions watched this segment of the truth signal, learning about the origins and consequences of the plunderers.

With a slow-motion transition, the endgame of the Battle of New Shanxi continued, and the Star Alliance soldiers, having also learned the truth, looked at each other in turn, redirecting their guns and focusing all their firepower on the plunderers. The cowboys also turned their guns around, a clear indication that they were temporarily joining forces; meanwhile, the plunderer leader Gu Wang, staring up at the sky image, was cleanly struck down by a passing Star Alliance fighter’s gunfire, falling to the ground, no different from a “Superman” or any other soldier and the Cyclone.

“Our intentions were good; we did it to make people’s lives better.” The scene cut back to the signal transmission room, just as before. The virtual hologram of the scientist was pulled down by the rushing plunderers, screaming in pain, “Aaagh—” Kaylee quickly shut off the broadcast in the room.

“Mal, Miranda isn’t a beautiful new world,” said the man surrounded by Mal and the others, their guns pointed at him, to everyone’s surprise. The man in the blue gloves showed no sign of alarm, not even a flicker of emotion, because he had known all along! In a dispassionate tone, the Blue Hands perfectly conveyed what it meant to be obstinately ignorant, “Thirty million people volunteered. We strive for a beautiful new world—you won’t understand our conviction, or even how to pursue it ourselves. That’s why humanity needs the new world.”

“You volunteered? Did you ask us? Who do you think you are!” Mal laughed mockingly, while Jayne also laughed heartily, “Who cares about some beautiful new world!” The Blue Hands stood unmoving: “You must understand, everyone will be purified.” Mal then sneered, “And then turned into plunderers? You’re already one without purification.” The Blue Hands revealed a creepy smile, “Don’t you understand, Mal? We are all people of the same world, in this world, there’s no difference between people and plunderers.”

Critics pondered this conversation laced with a riddle, thinking incredulously how could there be no difference between the Star Alliance, the Independents, and the plunderers?!

On the big screen, River hurried into the launch room, and Simon immediately ran up joyfully, “River!” The man with the blue gloves saw her and his eyes revealed an extremely complex expression, leaving the audience guessing what he was thinking! Suddenly, the man with the blue gloves showed a ferocious demeanor, epitomizing madness, laughing arrogantly and malevolently, “But your ignorance has hindered the birth of a wonderful new world!!” He lunged at Mal.

“Bang!” A gunshot rang out, and the man with the blue gloves fell to the ground without even a groan, a shell casing falling from the long pistol in Megan’s raised right hand. She had shot the biggest villain of the night squarely in the face!

The man with the blue gloves and the Reavers were no different! Claire took a deep breath, now she understood. Earlier on Cyclone, Megan had shot a Reaver with one bullet, and now, in the same manner, from the same camera angle, the target was the man with the blue gloves! This series of echoing shots further implied the relationship between the blue gloves and the Reavers.

“Oh…!” A gasp of surprise and sighs rose from the theater, as swift and decisive as Wash’s, Cyclone’s, and the lead Reaver’s, suddenly somewhat shocking! The incredibly powerful and despicably admirable man with the blue gloves was dead, just like that?

In the midst of the big screen, the man with the blue gloves lying on the ground wasn’t entirely dead yet. His face peaceful and calm, his voice faint as a thread, “River, you should see the beautiful new world, G20 PAX is working… River, you should come back to help it…” A psychological montage, in the darkness, there was no man with blue gloves wearing a black trench coat, but rather a face with a sincere, radiant smile. He walked forward, where a little girl named Chloe and her family, the captain of the spaceship repair factory, and countless other smiling faces awaited him. As he approached, darkness turned to light, “Look… that is the most beautiful world.”

The camera cut back, and from the overhead angle with everyone standing around, the man with the blue gloves was dead.

“G20 PAX!?” Jayne exclaimed in astonishment, unable to comprehend what was happening, Mal and the others looked solemn — it turned out that the uncontrollable G23 Miranda was only one of the test sites for the “Mind Purification Plan”! The Alliance had never stopped this project; there was also G18! G19! Had G20 become the “beautiful new world” that the man with the blue gloves had spoken of? The audience in front of the big screen burst out, “Oh my God!” “Please!” …

Was this preparation for a sequel? That’s what the fans thought; but the critics had other ideas, this was a question posed by the director, River’s choice! If the purification plan was successful, should it be promoted? This was a strike at the essence of human morality.

“Click!” Suddenly, Mal raised his pistol towards River, and Zoe, Megan, Jayne, and everyone else promptly aimed their guns at her. Simon shouted in panic, “Hey! Hey! She just saved you guys!” Kaylee was also shocked, “Captain…” The tense atmosphere in the launch room went silent for two seconds, then River calmly explained to them, “I used to be a secret agent too, like the man with the blue gloves… but I’m not from the special service. I was one of Miranda’s wardens.”

Mal stared at her as his pistol slowly lowered, his voice serious and cold, “You’d better be, otherwise I’ll kill you.” The camera swept over Zoe grieving for a lost love, Megan mourning a lost captain, the muscular men and violent women, their faces filled with sorrow and indifference…

The scene shifts, and the brutal Battle of New Shanxi has ended. The camera focuses on the dynamic image above Wash’s grave; there he sits in the cockpit, smiling and toying with a dinosaur model. As the camera zooms out, the audience sees a cliffside peppered with numerous graves, yet they can’t find the Cyclone’s silhouette. To the somber and poignant strains of piano and cello, Zoe silently steps forward to offer wildflowers. Mal, Jayne, Simon, Kaylee, River, and others, with expressions of sadness or silent contemplation, gaze at the cluster of graves. The audience, too, sends their silent blessings: “Cowboys, godspeed!”

In the IMAX widescreen view, the long shot shows an expansive azure sky above and, on the lower right, the barren cliffs and peaks, with Serenity parked at the edge of the cliff. On the lower left is the vast expanses of loess. Suddenly, Firefly ships take off from various mesa peaks, and as the camera zooms in slightly, Mal and the others salute the sky with an Independent faction salute. The music brightens a bit, and the sky fills with Fireflies, spewing blue and red flames as they fly toward the cosmos beyond, noticeably fewer than when they arrived—TOP/Cyclone, Power/Force…

Movie fans savored this emotional, heartfelt moment. The cowboys came and went in a hurry, giving their lives for a pursuit, silently lifting off in their battered ships after standing for justice.

“Whoosh—” Suddenly, a Firefly marked with the Serenity insignia appears in the vast expanse of sky: Serenity has taken flight! It bursts through the atmosphere, leaving New Shanxi, heading towards some unknown place in the universe.

The film reaches its final moments, not waiting for Serenity to soar through the skies of a planet with river plains and valley landscapes. It dives toward the ground, and Mal’s expression in the cockpit suddenly turns to one of puzzled surprise. From high above, they see a city in the shape of a Tai Chi symbol lying serenely and beautifully below them. Both the audience and film critics shudder as if struck by lightning. This symbol? Natalie whispers softly, “Tai Chi.” Chinese, Asian viewers, and aficionados of Chinese traditional culture suddenly think of it: one Yin, one Yang, one good, one evil.

Natalie, Rachel, and all the audience remember a line from Cyclone: “If I die, please take me back to Serenity Valley! That’s enough.” Some viewers are puzzled by the words of the men with blue gloves: “You should see the New World.” Where exactly is Tai Chi City? Critics vaguely understand that it’s the former Serenity Valley, now Serenity Town, not the G20 planet mentioned by the blue gloves, but the metaphorical beautiful world and doubtless the place where answers to the amazing riddle will be uncovered—what is Firefly really trying to say?

The camera moves to the outskirts of Serenity Town—no overgrown weeds, no signs of battle, not a place birds wouldn’t shit. It’s the season when the plum blossoms are in full bloom; trees heavy with flowers, branches of beautiful and charming plum blossoms, petals falling in the breeze, defining the essence of Eastern imagery. Under a large plum tree, a group of children of different skin colors are gathered, playing with spinning tops, their laughter echoing: “Haha!”

“Oh, my!” Exclaim many critics as they see the close-up shots of those spinning tops. The top (TOP)! The most obvious symbolic meaning for this prop, of course, is that Cyclone has returned to Serenity Valley, or perhaps he never really left…

“Whoosh—” Serenity extends its landing gear and comes to a smooth stop in front of the plum grove. The people walk down from the ship’s cargo bay, Mal and Zoe looking somewhat bewildered, both with their hands on their sidearms, while Jayne and the others look around curiously, marveling at the surrounding beauty.

“Hahaha!” Beneath the plum tree, the little girl played by Elle Fanning looks up and immediately leads the charge, running towards them with her top, laughing joyfully. She wears a pretty rose-patterned dress, her face glowing with a clear, innocent smile. In the edit, the children have reached the adults, and their faces are showcased in a close-up. Young Elle, curious and hospitable, looks up at the group of adults, at Mal, and amidst the lively, serene music, she asks with her tender child’s voice, “Where did you come from?”

“Where-Do-You-Come-From?” Critics gasped again as if struck by a bolt of electricity, their breath hot and rushing to their heads; many moviegoers also held their breath, feeling an inexplicable mix of shock, oppression, and sadness!

After the battles of Serenity Valley, the Great Train Robbery, gangland deals… the war of New Shanxi; after the deaths of Wash, the deaths of Cyclone, the leader of the marauders, the men with the blue gloves… after Serenity Valley, Bato, Canton, Miranda, New Shanxi, they returned to the original Serenity Valley, to face a question that probed deep into everyone’s heart: “Where-Do-You-Come-From?” In the beautiful plum forest of Serenity Valley, facing these innocent children, where do you come from? Which world do you hail from?

A beautiful world? An evil world? Do you still retain your innocence? Do you remember yourself as a child? Your past pursuits, the way you once saw the world, your expectations for it, and then why… did you become what you are now?

There was only the lively and melancholic soundtrack, and the image on the big screen, to the left were children holding toys, pure and happy; to the right were Mal and the others, holding weapons with expressions of confusion, forming the starkest of contrasts! It showed the different faces of human goodness and evil, heroes in New Shanxi, but marauders in front of children. What kind of world is truly a beautiful one? Cyclone found himself again after 15 years of death, but did he recapture that lost innocence? The overgrown Serenity Valley, the drifting blossoms of Serenity Valley, with government or without? G23, G20, how should one choose between good and evil in humanity?…

A slew of questions that seemed to have answers were reshuffled and emerged anew; yet all the answers seemed to reside within this scene of scenery, people, emotions, and sound fused on the grand screen.

As little Ellie finished speaking, Mal looked at her with a complex expression, offering no answer. On the big screen, with a side long shot, pink petals gently danced in the air, and in the distance, a group of children ran laughing towards the spaceship to the right, running so fast they were nearly falling over, “Eeya!” “Haha!”

“DIRECTED BY: YOUNG WANG.” The pleasant music began to play, and the closing credits appeared independently, scene by scene: “WRITTEN BY: YOUNG WANG & JOSS WHEDON.” “PRODUCED BY: YOUNG WANG, JOSS WHEDON…”

In North American Cinemas everywhere, applause grew from a trickle to an ocean, with almost every audience member rising spontaneously, their eyes warm, clapping vigorously, thunderous applause for the same person, the same team!

The AMC CityWalk cinema was also filled with cheers and applause, with movie fans and critics alike smiling, looking towards the front row below, welcome back, magical Yang! (To be continued. If you like this work, please come to Qidian (qidian.com) to cast your recommendation votes and monthly tickets, your support is my greatest motivation.)