All-rounder Artist

Chapter 813: Chapter 769: There is a 3rd Version (Double Requests for Monthly Tickets)

Giant screen.

The finale.

Pi’s eyes fixed on the author,

“I told two versions of the story about the sea accident, so which one do you prefer?”

The author did not answer immediately.

After a few seconds of silence,

The author spoke up, “The one with the tiger, that one is more exciting.”

“Thank you.”

Pi seemed relieved.

In fact,

Pi’s question was less directed at the author and more at the audience.

Which of these two versions of the story do you prefer?

In the cinema,

Source: Webnovel.com, updated on ƝονǤ0.с0

The boisterous audience fell silent for a few seconds, as if they were scrutinizing their own hearts.

Which of these stories do they like?

“Like the author, I prefer the one with the tiger, where a man and a tiger become an unusual duo, staging a fantasy struggle for survival over more than two hundred days at sea. I can’t bear to shatter such beauty of strength and will.”

“I prefer the version without the tiger.”

“Although the movie didn’t make it explicit, Pi’s reaction has already told everyone that the second story is the real one, and although the truth is cruel, reality itself is cruel. I think choosing the tiger itself is a form of evasion.”

“The whole movie was a deception, Fish Papa’s twist was stunning!”

“If there hadn’t been the final twist explained, I might have left the cinema thinking I really just watched a fantastical ocean adventure of a young Pi…”

“Despite so many clues, I never noticed them!”

“The key is, I wasn’t angry after realizing I’d been deceived; instead, I willingly fell into the trap because there were many clues planted, and if I had watched carefully, I would’ve noticed something was amiss.”

“…”

The answer might be hard to unify.

Screenwriter Jiang Zhu was also contemplating her answer.

Just then, An Xu suddenly turned to look at Jiang Zhu, who was lost in thought,

“Buy tickets.”

“What?”

“I want to rewatch it.”

An Xu had many things to reconfirm, one viewing wasn’t enough to fully understand.

The movie was like a mystery told in Narrative Trickery.

The screenplay was rife with deceit from the screenwriter, covered by the director’s cinematic shots, and only at the end did it pull off a shocking twist!

It can be said,

Without this earth-shattering twist, the movie would just be a very exciting ocean survival film.

With this twist, everything changed!

It almost gave the audience the illusion of having watched two movies at once!

One thing was certain; the film’s rating was destined to soar several levels because of the final twist, turning it into a classic that would remain in people’s hearts. Retracing the plot after the ending was the most charming part of the movie!

“Okay!”

Jiang Zhu nodded.

She took out her phone, ready to buy tickets when she noticed that a screenwriters’ chat group she was a part of was exceptionally lively at the moment.

Countless people were discussing the movie.

Without opening the group chat,

Jiang Zhu began to repurchase her ticket for a second viewing.

She wanted to use the plot to trace back through the film again, but this time, she was watching with a mindset of learning, as this was a script worth studying by all screenwriters!

Of course,

Jiang Zhu and An Xu had tacitly avoided discussing next year’s Dragon Awards, although both sensed the impact this movie would have on the awards after watching it.

…

In a screenwriters’ group on Blue Star,

Just as Jiang Zhu noticed, the group was abuzz!

All the screenwriters who had seen the movie were dumbfounded by the ending’s shocking twist!

“Holy crap!”

“The ending twist scared the hell out of me!”

“I’m sweating buckets; the entire movie was a massive deception!”

“Back when ‘The Piano Tuner’ came out, it was twist after twist, but the twists in that movie felt a bit contrived. This movie’s twists, however, are pure genius, utterly seamless!”

“This movie is going to blow up!”

“The ending twist is nothing short of brilliant, Xian Yu is truly the king of twists!”

“Thought it was a commercial flick at first, then I thought it was an art film, halfway through it seemed like an inspirational movie, but after finishing, I realized, it’s a horror movie!”

“One twist completely overturned the entire movie; it’s insane!”

“The real horror is retracing the story after the ending, who would’ve thought those animals were actually people!”

“At the beginning of the movie, daddy says the difference between animals and humans is that animals lack humanity, but the film tells us that humans just have a higher threshold for their bottom line, and when pushed to the edge, humanity can be abandoned!”

“Don’t forget humans are animals too, of course we have beastly instincts!”

“So the tiger represents the protagonist’s animalistic side, which is why, when Pi was rescued and the tiger left, his humanity returned. This metaphor is so clever!”

…

At various cinemas,

The first batch of audience members who saw the movie at the same time also went wild; no one expected the true nature of the film to be so horrifying!

“I kneel before Fish Papa’s boundless imagination!”

“Fish Papa, such a gentle soul, yet he wrote such a cruel and desperate horror story!”

“I’m never scared by horror films, but this movie actually got to me a bit!”

“I’ve got goosebumps all over!”

“When Pi told the second version of his story, I felt my scalp tingle and hair stand on end!”

“Looking back at the whole story after watching the ending, those beautiful scenes seem so ironic!”

“The visuals are so beautiful, yet who knew there were so many secrets hidden beneath them!”

“Leaving the plot aside, the special effects alone are top-notch!”

“This is Fish Papa’s first time shooting a big-budget film, and it feels like the big stage is where Fish Papa truly excels—something small budget films could never achieve!”

…

Online.

The same excitement, the same buzz, the same shockwaves—tribe blogs and major forums alike were all boiling over.

Countless people were discussing the plot!

“This movie is freaking amazing!”

“Who exactly did Pi eat?”

“Definitely his mother. You might not have noticed, but when Pi leaves the carnivorous island, if you look at it from a distance, it clearly resembles the shape of a woman’s body. And Pi found the tooth because he bit into the teeth part, which is why he decided to leave the island, realizing that if he continued like this, he would go completely mad!”

“Damn, is it really like that?”

“I think the carnivorous island is his girlfriend, so he tied the rope his girlfriend gave him around the island. Moreover, when he mentioned his girlfriend, he said, ‘I can’t remember how I said goodbye to her…’ Isn’t that hint clear enough?”

“So many metaphors, man. Who does the rat metaphorically represent then?”

“I feel like the island is the mother, and the rat is the girlfriend. She must have hidden aboard the boat as a stowaway because Pi doesn’t remember saying goodbye to his girlfriend. But the truth is he never said goodbye to her at all. They boarded the ferry together.”

“Holy cow, so many GOATs in the comment section. I didn’t really get it!”

“What does the meerkat on the island symbolize then? Since the island doesn’t exist, the meerkat must be fake too, right?”

“Don’t you get it? The meerkat isn’t afraid of people, and the island is a corpse. What things on a corpse aren’t afraid of people?”

“Maggots!?”

“The meerkat is… maggots!?”

“Ugh, stop it, I was planning to eat!”

“My whole worldview is shattered. I told my girl during the movie that the meerkat was cute!”

“Meerkats are creatures of the desert; there’s no way they could be on the island. So Pi lied about this part. Considering the island’s meerkats aren’t afraid of people, and indeed maggots aren’t afraid of people either, and since maggots are a source of protein, the equation ‘meerkat equals maggots’ holds true. They drifted at sea for over two hundred days, so it’s inevitable for the body to get maggots. What Pi ate later must have been rotten, and don’t forget that tigers can eat carrion too!”

“I can’t even look at this movie straight anymore!”

…

GOATs frequented major forums, with countless interpretations appearing, some of which perfectly fit the plot!

Some had an epiphany!

Others held different views!

Regardless of what the real answer was, these interpretations were repeatedly striking the hearts of the audience!

Because these interpretations weren’t far-fetched.

While the movie left things ambiguous, it also provided many hints!

It’s precisely because the movie didn’t explain the process directly, and the second version was only covered in a few minutes, that the audience was given unlimited space for interpretation!

A textbook example of disturbing subtleties!

Some even started arguing over which interpretation represented the truth!

Everyone had their own theories.

Everyone had their own explanations.

Each one was terrifying, completely overturning all conclusions made before the movie’s twist!

And just when netizens thought they were getting close to the truth.

Someone noticed that Blue Star’s famous screenwriter Long Yang had personally posted a thread in a movie forum, and the title of the thread was:

[Still too naive. Do you think Pi’s second story is the whole truth?]

This renowned core screenwriter dared to write a film review for “Life of Pi”?

Of course, that’s not the point.

The point is, Long Yang is suggesting that Pi’s second story is not the entire truth?

In an instant!

Netizens widened their eyes!

Holy crap!

The second version isn’t the truth?

We’ve interpreted the truth to be so horrifying already, and he’s calling us naive?

Are you sure you’re not just seeking attention?

If Long Yang weren’t a top screenwriter, he would have been blasted, but considering his professional status, netizens held back and couldn’t help but wonder—

Long Yang seems intent on overturning the twist at the end of the movie!

You know, regardless of the debates, the starting point for everyone was the second version of the story told by Pi, and no one ever doubted the authenticity of the second version!

Alright then.

Considering Long Yang’s generally good reputation as a very capable screenwriter, netizens were still curious and clicked on his thread.

And what they saw.

Upon entering the thread, everyone saw the first line:

[Before reading this interpretation, please answer three questions for me. Actually, there are many questions, but I won’t trouble you with all of them.]

The first question:

“Why has Pi never explained the cause of the ferry accident? Does he really know nothing about it?”

The second question:

“Why did the mother slap the cook but he didn’t fight back, given his character was previously portrayed as rough and aggressive?”

The third question:

“Why didn’t they delete the first thirty minutes of the movie’s family background, which was so dull? With Xian Yu’s capabilities, wouldn’t he know that the first thirty minutes drag on for too long?”

Why?

Netizens were stumped by Long Yang’s three questions.

Suddenly!

A terrifying thought crossed everyone’s mind:

Did Pi also lie in the second version of the story he narrated?

If the first version is a lie, then who could say for sure that the second version…

…didn’t contain lies as well?

——————————

ps: Thanks to the great Swallow 523 for another Alliance Hierarch sponsorship. This big shot has rewarded several Alliance Hierarch tickets already. Kneeling in appreciation ▄█▀█●, requesting monthly tickets!