When Did You Meet a Wild Woman?

"If only I could hate you, despise you with all my might, dodging out of sight if our paths ever crossed..." Igola softly hummed the drama's theme song as he jotted down his impressions in a notebook. This signified that he had just finished another series ranked in the top ten of the "Hot Dramas of the Year List." Yes, even works of entertainment had rankings. The points awarded by the Gospel list were distributed proportionally among investors, producers, actors, behind-the-scenes crew, and the like—and it was precisely because of these leaderboards that the quality of film and television in the Gospel Country far surpassed that of the Blood Moon Country. It wasn't that Igola was biased toward foreign things. For example, the Blood Moon Country currently had a traffic-driven market where actors with the greatest star power siphoned off the bulk of the profits. Here, however, dramas were screenwriter-driven. Screenwriters held equal sway with directors; not only did they reap the greatest rewards, but they also possessed the authority to intervene in filming and casting. As a result, the more popular a series was, the more flawless its pacing became. From the very first second, it hooked the audience so completely that they turned into soulless binge-watching machines thinking only about the next episode. Beyond screenwriting, the filming equipment, cinematography, delivery of dialogue, casting... in virtually every aspect of software and hardware, the Gospel Country thoroughly blew the Blood Moon Country's film and television industry out of the water. The disparity between them was as vast as that between the Time Continent and the Sea of Knowledge—they weren't even on the same plane. Igola found himself agreeing more and more that the Blood Moon Country was the trashiest nation in the world. Its cities couldn't compare to the Gospel Country's, its culture couldn't compare, and even Blood Moon's cult leader was weaker than the Gospel's Everlasting Presence. Aside from having a rounder moon, the Blood Moon Country had nothing going for it. Not that he was watching dramas out of sheer boredom, of course. Over the past two days, he had been watching shows at eight times speed precisely to observe the desires of the Gospel Country. Entertainment was a reflection of the contemporary psyche—the more popular a work, the truer this became. For instance, romance dramas in the Blood Moon Country invariably kicked off with unexpected accidents because the people of Blood Moon yearned for extraordinary relationships and detested their real lives. Many crime dramas featured protagonists framed by high-society figures such as corporations, parliamentarians, or political affairs operators, reflecting the shared perception of the Blood Moon populace. There were even urban melodrama series where babies were mixed up at rearing institutes—a high-aptitude infant sent to a low-tier institute and a low-aptitude infant to an elite one, causing their lives to accidentally intersect later on. This reflected the Blood Moon people's deep obsession with rearing institutes. In recent years, post-apocalyptic dramas had become popular in the Blood Moon Country, featuring sudden disasters that wiped out everything, followed by the protagonist riding the wave to power in a burst of sheer gratification. To Igola, that simply meant Blood Moon Prisons across the land should start drawing up expansion plans. In the past, part of Igola's prep work was investigating what kinds of shows his clients liked. If a mark favored apocalyptic dramas, he steered the conversation toward cynical social critique and misanthropy. If they preferred romance, he shared tales of his own love life—after all, being as handsome as he was, any romance seemed perfectly believable when attached to him. The entertainment a client enjoyed reflected their desires, and the dramas a nation's people watched naturally revealed the country's most prominent surface contradictions. Igola had naturally gained a great deal. First and foremost, the two most popular genres in the Gospel Country were "workplace dramas" and "manor intrigue dramas"—and sometimes the two merged into one. Workplace dramas focused on a specific profession, including but not limited to Red Hats, professional gamers, competitive string-figure players, fashion designers, healers, chefs, and so on. The standard plot formula followed a protagonist entering a new field, gradually growing as they came to understand the industry, and ultimately making it onto a Gospel list to achieve both career success and romantic fulfillment. Manor intrigue dramas revolved around family infighting. The backdrop was usually that the primary male lead was older but lacked talent, while the secondary male lead was an illegitimate son who had made it onto a Gospel list at a young age, leading both sides to scheme openly and covertly to inherit the family estate. If the two were combined, it became "an inspiring struggle where a rebellious protagonist is forced to enter the ancestral trade to inherit the family estate, only to rise to the top of the industry and place on the Gospel list." To Igola, both genres were intriguing. Workplace dramas subtly conveyed the concept that "no profession is noble or base." Unlike the empty lip service paid in the Blood Moon Country, occupational equality in the Gospel Country meant equality in compensation. So long as your industry had a leaderboard and you ranked near the top, even if you were just a lowly scribbler and an unemployed idler, you could earn the same point rewards as a sorcerer professor. As for manor intrigue dramas, while they might seem at first glance like ordinary people being curious about prominent clans, they clearly possessed a deep foundation in reality: the division of family wealth. Through high-intensity bingeing, Igola could now just barely comprehend the concept of family. Although the Swindler still couldn't fathom why anyone would strive for their offspring, he accepted that such a bizarre phenomenon existed. If he wasn't mistaken, parents in the Gospel Country bequeathed their property to their descendants, including the "professional skills" they had accumulated over a lifetime. If parents were God's Chosen who had made the rankings, their children had a much easier time becoming God's Chosen as well. Having only one child was simple enough, but what if there were two? What if one child was gifted and hardworking but unlikable, while the other was deeply adored yet utterly devoid of talent? That was the fertile soil for manor intrigue dramas. Their plots resonated with audiences to varying degrees, which was why their viewership was so high. Whether workplace dramas or manor intrigue, there was a crucial factor present in both: the Gospel list. Or rather, there wasn't a single drama where the Gospel list didn't appear. It might serve as the powder keg of conflict, the protagonist's dream, or the engine driving the plot forward... The root of everything could be traced back to the Gospel list. It was as though making the list to become God's Chosen could solve every problem; as though failing to become God's Chosen made one an inherent loser in the story. Still, that was nothing extraordinary. In the Blood Moon Country, people without power and money were treated as redundant trash; here, it was merely substituted with a leaderboard rank. There would always be something people chased after, an indicator to distinguish the noble from the base. Even in a rearing institute, cute children who were frequently praised enjoyed far higher status than ugly kids with perpetually runny noses. Igola didn't think the lists were bad. On the contrary, the system was utterly brilliant. "Fair and just, direct from the gods..." Only when swindling particularly foolish marks did Igola dare use such labels. When even a swindler thought the Gospel list was a bit absurd, it showed just how outrageous it truly was. Compared to the Blood Moon Country relying on the Moon Shadow clan to stabilize society, the Blood Saint clan to advance technological revolutions, and the remaining clans serving as mere cogs and fuel, the Gospel Country's ranking system was countless times superior. With effortless ease, it drove the populace to strive their entire lives, wringing out every person's potential. When it came to maximizing the utility of its people, the Blood Moon Sovereign ought to enroll in an executive development class taught by the Omniscient Weaver. He flipped through his notebook. The dramas also revealed many peculiar national psychological profiles. For example, the female lead in most shows was established right from the start, leaving no room for a third party to intrude. Or how eerie rumors about "sewers" surfaced frequently—though the details varied, it showed the dread Gospel citizens held toward sewers... What puzzled Igola, however, was that he couldn't find a single royal court drama. He was rather curious about the Gospel Country's imperial royal family, and surely the common folk shared that sentiment. But since none existed, did that mean the royal family had banned the filming of such shows? A few fairy-tale cartoons featured royal content, but Igola never watched animated shows. Those were strictly for children, and watching them would only be a waste of time. Checking the time, Igola left the screening room and headed to the living room for breakfast, just in time to see Yaxiu coming out of the game room cursing under his breath. "You've been playing virtual games first thing in the morning?" "What else can I do? I haven't topped up any cash, so I can only spend time grinding levels and farming gear," Yaxiu grumbled in annoyance. "No, my point is, don't you have anything else to do first thing in the morning?" Igola said with dissatisfaction. "You don't actually think you're on vacation, do you? At least spend some time gathering intelligence. You could read books or watch documentaries." Yaxiu thought about it. "I'm researching the characteristics of players who like virtual games, profiling their demographic, and trying to identify their pain points to empower our plan that doesn't even have a single word written yet..." "Any results?" "I just got killed in the wilderness for the tenth time. It's safe to say the players here are a bunch of bastards." "Then just don't play." "But it's fun! The story is great, the graphics are great, and even though I can't beat other players, I can beat the monsters. The combat feedback feels amazing." Gritting his teeth, Yaxiu added, "Honestly, if I could just spend a little money, I'd have a great gaming experience. At least I could run away if I couldn't win. But I don't have any money... When is the young miss going to give me my allowance?!" "If Annan won't give you money, can't you earn it yourself?" "How?" "Create a female character and seduce male players into sending you gifts. Not only can you bypass the restriction of not having a bracelet, but Annan won't be able to control you either." Yaxiu looked troubled. "But I don't know how to act like a cute girl. I might not be able to seduce any male players." "You bypassed the psychological barrier of 'roleplaying' entirely and jumped straight to wondering how to be cute? If I'd met you earlier, you might have made a fine partner," Igola quipped. "Isn't your daughter pretty cute? Just copy how she normally acts." "Copying a little girl is way too creepy! 'I don't wanna, Aunt Bogin~'" While engaging in a friendly sparring match of fists and kicks with Igola, Yaxiu asked, "By the way, Igola, do you know of any way to make someone quickly calm down—the kind that doesn't require a sorcery spirit?" "Let me teach you. Just like this: form your hand into a blade and chop forcefully at their neck at a forty-five-degree angle. High chance they'll calm down—calm down permanently." "Aw, Mr. Igola, please show some mercy and give me some guidance~" Watching Yaxiu clasp his hands in supplication and wink playfully to convey his plea, Igola's brain briefly short-circuited. This seems to be the first time he's ever begged me... Igola scratched his head impatiently, stepped behind him, and fiercely chopped the back of his neck with the side of his hand. "If you won't tell me, then don't! Why'd you chop my neck?!" "To calm you down," Igola said crossly. "For someone like you, this trick is plenty. Methods to calm someone down vary by age, appearance, height, and race. If you won't be specific, this is all you get." "Oh, oh, oh!" Yaxiu had complete faith in a professional's advice. "Well, she's a beautiful human female with a great figure who likes wearing skirts, a little shorter than me, nineteen years old, frequently changes her hair color and style, has a personality that's lively, dignified, aloof, and manipulative, and her main attack method is the fist and claw faction..." "Annan?" "Not Annan." Igola was shocked. "Σ(っ°Д°;)っ When did you meet a wild woman?!"