Li Banfeng stood by the doorway, gazing at the projection of Ling Miaoying and marveling at the exquisite workmanship.
The figure looked uncannily real. When he had first seen it at the entrance, Li Banfeng hadn't been able to tell it from the real person, and now, examining it closely inside the Portable Abode, he still couldn't spot a single difference.
From appearance and demeanor to clothing, movement, and even voice, Li Banfeng could find no flaw whatsoever.
Judging by the glove's reaction, the projection's physical texture was just as authentic.
"Boss, save me! His grip is too strong—he's about to crush me to death!"
Li Banfeng nodded. "I want to save you too, but this projection is impervious to blades and spears."
Earlier at Xiaoyaowu, the Tang dao had cleaved through it, lopping off its head, yet the thing had continued to move.
"Boss, think of something else!"
Li Banfeng pondered for a moment. "How about I start a fire?"
The glove shrieked, "Don't set a fire! Wouldn't that burn me to a crisp too? Boss, just find a way to turn off that projector!"
Li Banfeng replied with a beam, "What projector do you speak of? When I came back, I took inventory of all the seized artifacts and spirit items, and I didn't see any projector."
The glove explained, "I saw that Boss was exhausted, so I was merely safekeeping it on your behalf!"
Stepping around Ling Miaoying, Li Banfeng picked up the projector from the corner of the room.
Its construction was intricate, but Li Banfeng had spent time recently studying cameras and photography, so he knew where its vital components lay.
He simply blew out the candle inside. The projector kept whirring, but without a light source, it could no longer cast an image.
The projection vanished, and the glove wriggled free. Watching wistfully as Li Banfeng carried the projector away, it still had to offer a sincere, "Thank you, Boss, for saving my life."
Though Li Banfeng was still groggy, his stamina had recovered seventy to eighty percent. Deciding against going back to sleep, he ate a bite of food, then brought out all of Ling Miaoying's spirit items and artifacts to inspect them one by one.
He first examined the projector in detail, spotted the film compartment, and was just about to pull the reel out when the projector shouted, "Hold on! Flip the switch first, or you'll ruin the sprockets!"
The voice was rich, deep, and resonant, sounding like an operatic tenor.
Judging by the logical coherence of its speech, this was a bona fide artifact.
Li Banfeng looked at the projector. "Are you willing to follow me from now on?"
The projector adjusted its angle, aiming its lens squarely at Li Banfeng. "That depends on whether you truly understand art."
"And what if I do?" Li Banfeng asked.
"Then we are kindred spirits of like minds."
"And what if I don't?"
The projector raised the stand at its base, making itself appear slightly taller. "If I cannot find a kindred spirit, I would rather follow Miaoying to the grave."
The clock pendulum snorted coldly. "How pretentious!"
The old teapot sneered, "Can't stand these stubborn blowhards."
The projector asked Li Banfeng, "Are you a man who understands art?"
Li Banfeng set the projector on the table, turned around, and retrieved a roll of film from a chest.
This was footage he had shot at Heishipo. In terms of quality, it was among Li Banfeng's finest works.
He loaded the film into the projector.
The footage was a little over three minutes long, spanning more than three hundred feet of film. By all logic, such a small projector could never accommodate so large a reel.
Yet the capacity of its film chamber could not be measured by sight. The reel slid in swiftly, with plenty of room to spare.
The projector ran through the film once, then summed it up in a single word: "Vulgar!"
Li Banfeng offered no defense, waiting for the projector's next assessment.
The projector reviewed it a second time and delivered its judgment: "Yet within the vulgar lies supreme refinement!"
Li Banfeng gave a slight nod. "Now you sound like someone who knows his craft."
"Could you spare a light, please?" the projector asked.
Li Banfeng struck a match and lit the candle. Using the light source, the projector cast an image onto the wall.
A young, lovely woman stood with her back to Li Banfeng, a faint smile playing on her lips.
The pale blue qipao she wore cascaded downward to the floor.
The Tang dao snapped upright, quietly gazing upon the woman.
The glove crept onto the Tang dao, joining in to gaze upon her.
*Whoosh!*
The water inside the old teapot boiled for a moment, puffing clouds of steam from its spout.
The liquor gourd sneered, "Old timer, that spout of yours is pretty stiff too, isn't it?"
The old teapot huffed, "A person suddenly appeared out of nowhere—she startled me, that's all! At my age, how could I still harbor such thoughts?"
The woman gently bent forward, one hand resting on her knee and the other brushing back her hair, glancing back over her shoulder at the gathered onlookers.
The glove gave a shiver. "This... this is real..."
The Tang dao shuddered along with the glove, then immediately barked a reprimand: "What are you trembling for? Stop squirming!"
The maiden's conscience dipped a little lower, while her peaches perked a bit higher.
"Hmph~" the Judge's Brush suddenly voiced.
*Pfft—*
The old teapot spat out a mouthful of tea tinged faintly with red.
The clock pendulum chuckled, "Are you bleeding?"
The old teapot coughed a few times. "No, I'm not... At my age, how could I..."
Li Banfeng handed a rag to the old teapot. "If anything else comes out later, remember to use this."
The teapot gasped, "It won't, nothing else is coming out. Let me wipe up the tea."
The liquor gourd laughed, "He's not telling you to wipe the tea, he's telling you to cover your face, you shameless old goat!"
While the film rolled, the room split into two camps.
The Tang dao, the glove, the Judge's Brush, and the old teapot watched with rapt attention.
The clock pendulum, the liquor gourd, the earring, and the calendar poster were busy passing critique.
"Look at that. Her conscience is sizable, sure, but the left and right don't match."
"Indeed, and that crease between her thighs and her peaches doesn't look quite right either!"
Hong Ying grew anxious. Unable to see, she had no idea what was going on.
*If you won't let me watch, I'll ruin it for all of you!*
"Vicious shrew, wake up! Your man brought another woman home!"
The gramophone remained fast asleep, slumbering sweet and sound.
The film Li Banfeng had shot soon ended, but the projector's display was far from over.
The maiden cupped her fists toward Li Banfeng and spoke: "Young master, would you care to spar a couple of rounds?"
The projector was capable of controlling the figures within the film and making them perform actions far beyond the original recording.
Facing the woman's invitation, Li Banfeng shook his head. "My lady, I am a married man..."
The Tang dao leaped up, placing itself before Li Banfeng. "My lord, you need not trouble yourself! This humble general is willing to step forward and test her mettle!"
"Good!" Li Banfeng agreed, but the Tang dao was a step too slow—the glove lunged first.
The Judge's Brush called out languidly, "Wait a moment, I also..."
The old teapot coughed twice and sighed, "Look at the lot of you—don't you feel any shame? At my advanced age, none of you even thinks to yield to me."
Before the words finished falling, the glove and the woman had already traded over a dozen blows without a victor emerging.
Though the glove disliked fighting, it was surprisingly agile, striking with swift, erratic movements.
It had been caught by Ling Miaoying's projection earlier only because it was taken off guard. Prepared this time, it handled the maiden with far greater ease.
Yet ease was one thing; defeating her was no simple feat.
The woman adapted to the glove's tactics with remarkable speed. Her strikes grew faster, her footwork more elusive, and every so often she deployed her conscience and peaches to divert the glove's attention.
After a few more exchanges, the glove suddenly darted outside the projection's field of view.
Now the projector grew frantic.
It shifted its angle desperately, but the maiden inside the beam could never catch up to the glove.
This was the projector's greatest vulnerability: once a target left its projection angle, it was equivalent to stepping off the screen.
The figures generated by the projector could not step beyond the bounds of the projection. Until it readjusted its angle, the projector had no combat capability.
The spar came to an end. The projector had no intention of forcing a life-and-death struggle with the glove anyway.
"Director Seven, this film has been completed. Moving forward, you may deploy this maiden to fight on your behalf. Please provide the production fee for this session."
"This is the principal cost?"
"It is."
Taken aback, Li Banfeng asked, "You charge principal not by the number of battles, but by the number of productions?"
The projector replied, "Director Seven, battles are complimentary, but the production process requires compensation."
"Director Seven? What kind of title is that?"
"Others call you Master Seven, but I shall address you as Director Seven. That is how directors are addressed on a movie set."
Li Banfeng found that agreeable enough. "What kind of compensation do you require?"
"Raw footage and film reels. I need fine recorded material and quality film. The footage must be at least three minutes long and must meet my standards. The quantity of film required depends on the material."
In other words, to have this projector produce a film, Li Banfeng would have to shoot a segment of quality footage, and whether it was accepted rested on the projector's taste.
Li Banfeng had shot plenty of footage previously, totaling over a dozen hours.
He handed the reels to the projector. The projector inspected them one by one, then sighed. "Too monotonous. I can barely extract three minutes from this. Since this footage is mediocre, I must ask Director Seven to provide one thousand feet of film."
One thousand feet of film could shoot eleven minutes. Li Banfeng possessed blank reels, so he gave one to the projector. The projector absorbed it, its chamber effortlessly holding it all.
To be fair, measured against the combat strength the projector offered, its required principal was hardly exorbitant. It was a splendid artifact.
Li Banfeng cast an approving glance at the projector, and from behind him came an appreciative sigh: "Oh, husband, this is a fine thing. Keep it safe; this humble servant will have use for it in the future."
Li Banfeng felt a burst of delight. "Wife, you're awake!"
The projector looked at the gramophone and praised, "Amikan craftsmanship truly possesses a singular charm..."
Before it could finish speaking, a blast of steam nearly blew the projector apart.
The Tang dao snapped, "Mind your manners before the mistress of the house! Come with me to the second chamber, and I shall teach you the rules properly."
The projector slunk away dejectedly. The gramophone said to the liquor gourd, "Sister, please take them all to wait in the outer room. I have matters to discuss with my husband."
The others followed the liquor gourd out. The gramophone turned to Li Banfeng. "Husband, this humble servant has regained her strength. Today, I shall guide you to tier six. Is husband ready?"
Li Banfeng removed his fedora, smoothed his hair, and plunged his head into the gramophone's horn.
"When summer arrives, the willow fronds grow long,
In my embrace rests my husband, my fine Seventh Lord,
A dwelling heart, thick and stout to withstand the strike,
Adding yet another chamber for my husband."
This was Grandpa Train's train.
If his wife said to add a chamber, another chamber would be added.
Evidently, his wife understood far more about this train than he did.
Yet for now, she was unwilling to speak of it.
Since she did not speak, he was in no hurry to press her. The Portable Abode had undergone changes as well, and he wondered whether his wife had noticed.
Twenty minutes later, Li Banfeng pulled his head out of the horn and asked his wife, "Does 'a benevolent, thick heart' mean I'm an honest and kindhearted man?"
"Oh, husband, 'thick' doesn't necessarily mean in the middle; it could also mean thick on both sides. In short, it makes husband a sturdy, solid man."
"A sturdy, solid man..." Li Banfeng couldn't quite grasp it.
"It means it can help husband withstand a life-or-death blow."
Li Banfeng broke into a smile. "Wife, how do I use this technique? Teach me quickly—I'm in a rush to go buy groceries."
Chapter 298