The movie ended.

The theater immediately filled with the sound of audience discussion.

“What was the meaning of the end of this film? I didn’t understand.”

“Haven’t you read the original novel?”

“No, I only came to watch because of the large-scale promotion online recently.”

“Well, the things this movie tries to express are very profound. It’s normal not to understand after just one viewing. No worries, go find some film reviews later. Anyway, I was very moved after watching it. It’s truly a film with profound meaning.”

“Indeed, especially that rich man’s speech at the end—it made my blood boil. But there was absolutely nothing that could be done about him.”

“Surprising! I thought this sci-fi film would be another flop, but I never expected it would portray the original story so well. The director deserves credit.”

The midnight screening audience gave very high praise.

Although many viewers couldn’t accurately grasp the details of the film, the core idea it conveyed was felt by the vast majority.

Pei Qian leisurely stood up and followed the crowd out, thinking silently: This is in the bag!

He hadn’t expected that the Anti-Tenda Alliance and Fanqi Media would actually produce a film of such high quality.

Not only was it well-produced, but the story’s core was very solid.

After all, it was a classic science fiction novel that had stood the test of time.

This sci-fi story actually proposed a very frightening vision, including the following points:

First, wealth becomes increasingly concentrated in the hands of a few, and this speed is gradually accelerating.

In reality, the wealth of some rich people in Central American countries actually amounts to 10% of the entire country’s GDP.

Second, the divide between rich and poor leads to physiological differentiation.

In the story, with continuous technological advancement, people can acquire vast knowledge through educational chips. This leads to huge differences in knowledge, perspectives, and thinking patterns between those who possess wealth and those who don’t.

Eventually, the poor and the rich become two different species. The poor are reduced to garbage with no meaning to society, while the rich possess all the good and kind qualities.

In reality, the rich sponsor their children to receive top-tier education opportunities, which is actually a prototype of this physiological differentiation.

Third, an unregulated free market allows capital’s desire for appreciation to expand unprecedentedly, ultimately leading to completely uncontrollable results.

In the story, land, air, and all resources become privatized, ultimately depriving the vast majority of people of their rights to access these resources.

Similarly, the iron rule of “private property is sacred and inviolable” that the Oxygen Guardian System and enforcement units firmly defend—is it really valid under all conditions? This deserves a big question mark.

In short, the film could be said to have fully achieved its spiritual core. In Pei Qian’s view, it wasn’t inferior to “The Future You Chose,” and in some ways, it even surpassed it.

What pleased Pei Qian most was that this film seemed to have secretly criticized Tenda Group.

The rich person in the game was clearly the ultimate winner and also the main object of criticism. If one wanted to find a corresponding figure in the real world, Tenda Group would obviously be the most fitting.

This rich person, self-made, smart, and capable, didn’t receive much help from his forebears. He became the ultimate winner because of his intelligence and wisdom.

This point very much aligns with the general public’s image of Mr. Pei.

Moreover, this rich person’s business started from the bottom, gradually rising to other industries, and eventually monopolizing most industries on the entire planet.

This is remarkably similar to Tenda Group’s continuous expansion into different industries.

So if this film were to allude to any real-world company, it would be Tenda Group.

The message was also very clear.

Those other companies might monopolize only certain specific areas, but Tenda Group was seeking to occupy all industries and all fields. In fact, Mr. Pei really did have this capability because he was a business genius.

This made it even more dangerous.

If Tenda were allowed to develop and grow unchecked, the situation in the film could very possibly occur. The legitimate rights of ordinary people would be infringed upon, resources that should naturally be enjoyed would be swallowed up and turned into Tenda Group’s corporate property, or even Mr. Pei’s personal property.

Of course, all viewers definitely understood that reality couldn’t become like the film. After all, in reality, there’s no Oxygen Guardian System or educational chips, and the situations in the two worlds are completely different and can’t be generalized.

But regardless, the notion that an expanded Tenda Group would cause harm had already been subtly planted in the minds of the audience.

This kind of subconscious idea isn’t easily eliminated.

For those companies in the Anti-Tenda Alliance, this was a good counter-attack.

If the argument that “all crows are black” holds, then it actually enhances the image of these companies—it could be called their “low-quality advantage.”

Pei Qian couldn’t help but silently give a thumbs-up. He wanted to give a like to the Anti-Tenda Alliance, especially Fanqi Media.

He hadn’t expected that in such an unfavorable starting position, they had still managed to turn the public opinion battlefield around. This was truly commendable.

Thinking of this, Pei Qian happily went home to sleep.

Tomorrow, after waking up and having lunch, he would go watch “The Future You Chose” in the afternoon.

With the Anti-Tenda Alliance blackening Tenda Group and himself blackening himself—with this double insurance, surely nothing else could go wrong?

…

While Pei Qian was watching the midnight screening of “My Property” at a local cinema in Jingzhou, Nie Yunsheng, Lu Xiaoping, and others were at a cinema in Shanghai, watching the midnight screening of “The Future You Chose.”

This was a standard tactical switch.

For Lu Xiaoping and the others, they were fully confident in “My Property,” so naturally, they didn’t need to watch it again.

As for “The Future You Chose,” it had already won the Golden Lion Award and was released after the game. There must have been some special considerations—perhaps it was Mr. Pei’s final trump card, which couldn’t be ignored.

The executives generously booked a private screening at the cinema, each with a serious expression, fully concentrated.

For them, this was practically a battlefield without gunpowder.

Soon, the film began to play.

…

The film opened with a panoramic view of a grand city.

This city looked technologically advanced, with countless skyscrapers reaching into the clouds, and various colorful neon lights making the entire city appear prosperous and bustling.

A thin layer of clouds at the waist level of these skyscrapers seemed to divide the buildings into two halves.

The camera slowly descended through the clouds, coming to the city’s airspace.

Various hovering cars could be seen shuttling between the skyscrapers. Through the large floor-to-ceiling windows of the upper half of the buildings, one could see high-class people in tailored suits or beautiful evening gowns, drinking and chatting happily in various high-end restaurants and other social venues.

Some of the tops of these skyscrapers were the offices or residences of the wealthy.

On the rooftops of some high-end apartment buildings, the wealthy could own several floors of housing, as well as artificial lawns and swimming pools. Even through this glimpse, one could feel a sense of prosperity and wealth.

Next, the camera began to descend rapidly, passing through the cloud layer at the waist of the skyscrapers.

At the moment of passing through the clouds, special devices at the waist of the buildings could be seen spraying white, fluffy smoke to maintain this cloud layer.

After passing through the cloud layer, the true landscape of the entire city was revealed to everyone.

Congested ground traffic, broken and dilapidated streets, homeless people wandering everywhere, frequent violent incidents, even shootings…

The areas above and below the cloud layer seemed to be divided into two completely different worlds.

During this process, the advertising boards visible throughout the buildings left a deep impression on the audience.

These advertising boards all displayed the logos of Tenda Group’s industries. They were somewhat similar to the logos in reality, but with some changes made to suit the style of this world.

It felt as if the entire city had been occupied by Tenda Group.

The camera continued to descend, passing over the chaotic streets, and finally arriving at a dark underpass.

Three people were clumsily but ferociously fighting each other.

Their movements were very unrefined, clearly showing they had never systematically learned any martial arts. The fight was far from aesthetic.

But during the fight, they constantly attacked each other’s vital areas and used whatever weapons they could find around them—ridiculous yet ferocious.

One young man was clearly fighting against the other two. But he was like a cornered beast, ferociously baring his teeth and claws, not at a disadvantage.

The two opponents exchanged a glance, and one of them pulled out a dagger from his pocket.

However, the young man didn’t turn and run away, but instead charged forward more desperately.

Although the scene was chaotic, it was clear that this young man wasn’t just brave but reckless. During the fight, he used every means including his teeth, obviously wanting to deal with the dagger-wielding enemy first.

Even though the enemy behind him was punching and kicking him, he just endured it.

In the end, at the cost of his left hand and left shoulder being stabbed twice, the young man firmly bit the opponent’s right wrist with his teeth and snatched the dagger.

Then, he stabbed the enemy’s carotid artery, killing him instantly.

The other enemy tried to escape, but the young man didn’t give him the chance, quickly catching up and stabbing him in the back.

After dealing with these two enemies, the young man finally collapsed on the ground, his right hand covering the wound on his left arm, breathing heavily.

The light in the underpass had been dim earlier, so people hadn’t seen these three people clearly, only vaguely making out their silhouettes and feeling the intensity of the fight through their voices.

But now, coincidentally, a train passed by outside with a rumbling sound. Light flooded in, making the entire underpass alternately bright and dark.

Only now did everyone see that these three people who had contributed the first fight scene of the entire film were actually three homeless people.

They were all in tattered clothes, disheveled, with nothing valuable on them. Lying in the shadows of the underpass, they wouldn’t have been noticed without careful observation.

Now the young man’s face was finally revealed to the audience.

Many people didn’t even realize that this was Lu Zhiyao!

Because Lu Zhiyao’s appearance in this film was vastly different from his original image. His hair was long, looking like it hadn’t been trimmed for a long time, and because of dirt, it was matted together.

There were two scars on his face, making him look fierce. One of the scars had injured his left eye, and now he had only a milky, cloudy prosthetic eye in his left socket. He looked a bit like an ancient pirate from some films.

The changes in his clothing, appearance, and demeanor made him look unlike himself, more like a real homeless person who had just killed someone.

He searched the body of the homeless man with the dagger, found some pills, and swallowed them directly. He searched further and found a small but ugly stone carving.

It was a very ordinary stone, nothing special about its material—not jade or emerald, nor any precious metal. It didn’t have exquisite craftsmanship either; it was just a stone carved into a ring, tied with a thin string.

This ring wasn’t regular; some parts were thick, others thin. Although it seemed to have become smooth due to long-term wearing, from any angle, it didn’t seem to have any value.

The protagonist very skillfully retied the broken string and put it back around his neck, close to his chest.

Then he tapped his chest, seemingly relieved that he had successfully retrieved this stone.

After doing all this, he tore off some rags, simply bandaged his wound, and then limped towards the exit of the underpass.

The scene shifted to the basement of an abandoned food processing factory.

This place seemed to have been converted into an underground gang meeting place. Many fierce-looking gang members were smoking, drinking, and watching cheap erotic dances on stage.

But in a certain room nearby, it was quiet. The noisy music from outside could only faintly be heard.

“No criminal record?”

The fierce-looking gang leader’s words contained some surprise and some contempt. He extinguished the cigar in his hand. His mechanically modified bright red eye looked up at Lu Zhiyao standing opposite him.

Lu Zhiyao’s face didn’t show much expression: “I already have one, it’s just not on record yet. I killed two people.”

The gang leader sized him up and suddenly smiled. “Not bad.”

…

Next, the protagonist played by Lu Zhiyao mingles with street gangs, starting to do some petty theft and street trading.

Even simple errand tasks could encounter danger at any time, with a one-in-ten chance of survival.

However, despite being injured multiple times, the protagonist stubbornly survived, earned quite a bit of money, and even modified himself with mechanical eyes and some other prosthetics.

During this process, the protagonist would occasionally take out that circular stone. However, these scenes became increasingly rare.

The film also explained the origin of this stone through flashbacks. During the protagonist’s several near-death experiences, some memory scenes flashed in his mind.

In the dim basement where he once lived with his single mother, due to a lack of toys, his mother would pick up various stones from everywhere and carve them into different toys for him.

But what she called “carving” was nothing more than using a low-quality carving knife to slightly modify the stone based on its original shape, creating something that was barely passable.

Then his mother would exercise her unbridled imagination to think of a bedtime story about this sculpture to lull him to sleep.

These included crafty and fierce wolves, brave soldiers, hovering cars high above, and the sun hanging high in the sky.

However, the shapes of these sculptures were far from the images of the real things. Even if told the name in advance, it required a very strong imagination to connect them together, and only from a specific angle.

For the protagonist, the image of the sun was harder to understand than other images because there was always a layer of white clouds in the sky. Although sunlight could shine through, he had never seen what the real sun looked like.

Finally, one day, his gravely ill mother placed a ring-shaped stone in the protagonist’s hand.

Then she told him that this was a lucky stone, also a wealth stone. As long as he carried it, good luck and wealth would come to him.

He should be a good person and not harm others, so that the lucky stone would continue to bless him.

A few days later, his mother passed away. The rent collector came to the basement and roughly threw everything onto the street, emptying it for the next tenant who could afford the rent.

Those stones that the protagonist had carefully collected and placed in a small box were also roughly thrown onto the street. The stones scattered on the ground were washed away through the underground drainage ditches without a trace.