Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation
Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
“Vir… Virtual world?” Kathrin was clearly more puzzled.
“If you read William Gibson’s ‘Neuromancer,’ you’ll know how close we are to the virtual world. This novel started cyberpunk-styled science fiction novels,” Adrian further explained.
Kathrin twitched her mouth. “It sounds… Deep.”
“It’s alright, it’s normal to feel confused since it’s your first time learning about this concept. You won’t find it strange once you read more novels of this style.” Adrian waved his hand. “You don’t have to care about that, just tell me what you think about the story.”
“Looking at the story itself…” Kathrin tilted her head to think, and she looked adorable when she pouted her lips. “Because they’re just sections, and that the stories aren’t fully developed, I can’t give an overall evaluation. Based on the sections, I think that the descriptions of the zombie story are more attractive, for example…”
She took the drafts from Adrian, then began reading, “Jill rolled on the ground to avoid the sharp teeth that were covered in saliva, and her countless hours of training allowed her to kick the zombie’s jaw due to her conditioned reflex. Although the zombie that was covered in rotten flesh wailed, it sprung up from the ground after a while and pounced on her again with a mouth full of saliva.”
“Bam! Jill shot with her gun. At that critical moment, she managed to pick up her pistol and pulled the trigger after aiming at it. A series of gunshots later, the disgusting zombie finally collapsed to the ground, but before she could take a breather, a few more zombies broke the glass to jump into the corridor. Jill who was shocked, quickly escaped to the room, then shut the door before she took deep breaths. By then, her palms and her vest were drenched.”
Kathrin stopped after she read the section, then looked up at Adrian. “Your description develops very clear visuals, so I think that this zombie story that involves a lot of action is more attractive than… The virtual world story. I also think that this trait of yours is related to your role as the director.”
“I must say, Ms. Beckinsell, that you’re very smart.” Adrian clapped his hands. “I’m also very surprised that you have an opinion on the novels.”
“When I studied at ‘Godolphin and Latymer’ girl’s school, I won the WH Smith Literary Award twice. I did three essays the first time and produced three poems the second time.” While Kathrin spoke in a casual tone, the fact that she stuck her chest out slightly showed that she was proud of herself. Adrian, who noticed this, chuckled and shook his head.
Knowing that she went a little overboard, Kathrin coughed, embarrassed. “Of course, I can’t compare myself with someone like you who writes stories casually—honestly, aren’t you afraid of confusing yourself? You’re writing two stories at the same time.”
“How should I put this…” Adrian pondered for a while. “It’s possible, but it won’t be too serious since I’m only writing sections, and these sections were already composed before I typed them out. More importantly, when the different concepts clash in my mind, I might be suddenly struck by a valuable idea. For example…”
He suddenly paused, then stared at Kathrin, who rolled her eyes at him after a long time. “For example what?”
“Wait!” Adrian raised his finger and shook it as he fixed his gaze on Kathrin.
Kathrin shrunk her neck and frowned at him.
“Stand up.” Adrian gestured. “Stand up, and turn around.”
Kathrin furrowed her brows even more but was surprisingly not mad. She stood up and turned in front of him. Subsequently, Adrian who was rubbing his chin stood up as well and walked in circles in the room while looking at her from time to time. At last, he made a hand gesture at her. “Can you?”
Upon seeing him, Kathrin sighed, then pulled her hair into a messy ponytail.
“What exactly are you…” She asked helplessly but was cut off by Adrian before she finished her sentence. “Lara!”
“Lara? I’m sorry, I thought you remember my…”
“Lara Croft!”
“Mr. Cowell, if you’re going to act like this, please allow me to…”
“Let me think, let me think. She should be a little masculine, a little wild, and is probably an orphan. She’s later adopted by an archaeology professor, and is raised to be… No, no, no. If that’s the case, her risk-taking behavior will be portrayed as passive, which is too similar to Indiana Jones… Oh, yes, a noble. She should be in a noble family, so she has more time for adventures while receiving a good education. It’ll be best if she’s in a noble family with an archeological tradition..” Adrian mentioned in a hurry as if he was in his own world.
Kathrin who was impatient finally called out to him, “Mr. Cowell, may I leave now?”
“Ah, Ms. Beckinsell, I’m so sorry.” Adrian finally came back to his senses. “I apologize for my rudeness, but an interesting idea just sparked in my mind.”
“An interesting idea?” Kathrin looked at him funnily.
“Yes, a female version of Indiana Jones.” Adrian then took a piece of paper and a pen before he began drawing. “Lara Croft, the eleventh countess of the Croft family. In 1547, Edward VI granted the Croft family the property title and rights to Abbingdon, Surrey. Lara was raised as an aristocrat and was generally acknowledged as a genius. She would soon become an English lady, but an encounter changed everything when she was 9 years old. When she flew back to her country with her mother, their plane crashed in the Himalayas, where her mother died, but she spent 10 days walking through ice and snow to Kathmandu… It sounds exaggerated since she’s only a 9-year-old girl… But this suits her genius title, and it gives her the lead aura…”
“Wait, wait!” Kathrin who listened interrupted and looked at Adrian in disbelief. “Did you come up with all of that in a few minutes?!”
“Uhm… You can say that, but I still need to decide many other things.” Adrian shrugged, then put the paper in Kathrin’s hands, which turned out to be a sketch. Although the facial features were not drawn, and that limbs were simply drawn, he managed to portray the lady’s image through her short-sleeved t-shirt, hot pants, military boots, backpack, gun, and ponytail. The lady’s attractive traits were vividly shown through the sketch.
Kathrin stared at the sketch.
“Your features are too gentle and too delicate, whereas Lara is wild and unrestrained. This is regrettable,” Adrian sighed as he commented.
“Have you seen your schedule? If you don’t have any opinion, I’ll return the files to Mr. Haggis,” Kathrin suddenly asked. She placed the sketch on the table as if it was not worth mentioning.
“Of course, I don’t have any opinion.” Adrian passed her the documents.
“Thank you,” Kathrin said, then left the room in a hurry.
Adrian crossed his arms as he looked at the door for a long time.
“Nice work, Haggis,” He mentioned softly.
Everything was well within his plan. He asked Haggis to find an excuse for Kathrin to come to his room so that he could build a harmonious relationship with her—except for the ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’ concept in the end. He really came up with the idea because of her.
Adrian initially wanted to write ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘The Matrix’ into novels just for fun. Although ‘Neuromancer’ came up with the virtual world concept, and ‘Blade Runner’ also proposed the definition of real from a different perspective, many people took delight in talking about ‘Ghost in the Shell.’ After all, two drivers admitted that the animation that was only going to be released in a few years gave them a lot of inspiration.
He was definitely not going to let go of ‘The Matrix’, an epoch-making film—it was his established strategy to take someone else’s path so that they had no paths left—he decided to write the novel versions, lest someone linked it to ‘Ghost in the Shell’. In any case, he analyzed ‘The Matrix’ in his past life, thus it would be easy for him to modify it into a trilogy. As for ‘Resident Evil,’ it was a bonus.
Adrian was perfecting his plan while he wrote the novel sections. Through constant modification and thinking, he realized that writing ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘The Matrix’ into novels could help his plan, hence he always found time to write some parts throughout his trip from Los Angeles to London. He had also complained about the hostel’s table lamp because of this.
On top of all of that, he thought of another novel topic due to Kathrin, which was ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider’, a game that would only be released 6 years later. It was worth noting that he was very lucky. Not only was the sudden idea beneficial to his plan the way ‘Resident Evil’ and ‘The Matrix’ were, but it also completely eased the relationship between him and Kathrin. He killed two birds with one stone.
“This is just the beginning,” Adrian continued typing on the typewriter.
‘Kathrin is very attractive, but haste makes waste, I shall take it slowly. As for my plan, unless I solve the major premise, it’s merely paper talk.’
“Claw, don’t let me down,” Adrian mumbled.