What first appeared before the audience was a wildlife zoo.
It somewhat resembled a documentary about wildlife.
Various animals appeared one after another.
Because the movie effects were good enough, it made the audience feel as if they were touring the zoo.
"Did you grow up in the zoo?"
"I was born there too, in a small town in Han Continent..."
Two people were chatting, and to the audience's surprise, one of them was played by Jian Yi!
The other wasn't a well-known actor, but a nondescript man with dark skin.
An Xu immediately understood the intention of the film.
Xian Yu's "The Tuner" also started with a dialogue between two people and then unfolded through memories, which reassured An Xu even more.
"The Tuner" was a suspense film.
It also did well commercially.
"The colors are very beautiful."
Jiang Zhu's attention was on the zoo seen earlier.
The myriad of fascinating animals was interesting, which is why people like watching wildlife—wild animals have a strange attraction to humans.
Their relationship revealed itself through their conversation.
Jian Yi played an ambitious writer who visited the man's home for material for his book.
He was a man who was very strict with his work, once destroying text that had taken him two years to write because he was dissatisfied with the story.
This man named Pi had ventured across the sea, and the process was bizarre, exciting, and almost unbelievable, making it perfect material for a novel's story, so he sought out Pi.
He invited the writer to dine with him, then began to tell his story starting from his birth.
The pace of the story was very slow.
Pi spoke about his childhood, even his schooling experiences, and his family's religious beliefs.
An Xu slightly furrowed his brows.
Pi's recounting of his story seemed irrelevant to the adventure itself, which didn't match the pace of a commercial film at all.
Surely Xian Yu wouldn't be unaware of the rhythm a commercial film should follow?
A sudden realization dawned on An Xu; this didn't appear to be a commercial film, at least not purely so.
"It's been almost half an hour."
Jiang Zhu checked the time on his phone, his expression becoming a bit odd.
The movie was promoted as a story about survival and adventure at sea, but nearly half an hour had passed and the sea adventure hadn't even started?
This pace was frighteningly slow!
What exactly was Xian Yu trying to convey with this film?
Jiang Zhu, an experienced screenwriter, didn't believe Xian Yu would waste the limited runtime of a movie on pointless plots; surely there was something he wanted to express with such a long introduction.
But the problem was...
At this pace, it was very risky. The patience of the audience was limited, and everyone's tolerance was almost at its limit!
Indeed, it was crucial.
An Xu and Jiang Zhu could clearly sense that the audience was becoming restless.
Whispers began to rise in the theater.
"Why has it taken so long to get to the main point?"
"This is nothing like what I imagined."
"I could understand the part about the tiger—Pi was trying to show that tigers and humans can have emotions, but the rest of the introduction seemed a bit excessive..."
"So dull, I'm about to fall asleep."
"This movie by Xian Yu is a bit below standard."
"Isn't this buildup a bit too long?"
"Who cares who Pi's family members are."
"His dad, mom, and brother have too much screen time."
The audience was becoming dissatisfied.
The movie spent half an hour recounting the story of Pi's childhood and school days, including countless plots about his father, mother, and brother, which seemed utterly unrelated to the main theme of the film!
And just as the audience was about to lose patience,
the plot finally took a turn!
Pi's father suddenly announced one day that he had sold the zoo and was transporting the animals to Qin Continent across the ocean!
Amid Pi's dissatisfaction and confusion, his family set out to sea!
An Xu and Jiang Zhu exchanged glances, both detecting the oddity in each other's eyes.
Both realized that something was amiss with the movie, and it seemed very different from what they had imagined!
Fortunately, it finally got to the main topic.
Pi and his family were on a ferry at sea.
Countless animals on the ferry resided in the lowermost deck of the ship, which was as vast as a continent and resembled a fortress at sea, moving slowly but resolutely.
Pi couldn't sleep and decided to go for a walk.
Upon opening the cabin door, Pi discovered that a fierce wind was sweeping outside, and the sea was tumultuous with waves crashing against the ship!
It was the first time Pi had seen such a spectacular scene. He waved his arms, letting the seawater drench him.
He panicked momentarily but noticed that all the lights on the ship were on, and someone was shouting:
"The cabin is taking on water!"
Pi was terrified and wanted to wake his parents and family, but he fell again after taking just a couple of steps. The sailors had already lowered the lifeboats: "Old people and children first!"
Suddenly, cries and shouts filled the air!
Pi was almost pushed into a lifeboat by the sailors.
He wanted to save his family, but the sailors stopped him because the situation was very dire, and amidst the chaos, the animals locked below deck had somehow managed to escape.