Darkstone Code

At noon, Penny suddenly appeared.

She looked at the new servant busy in the kitchen and looked somewhat surprised at the young maid who was directing, "Did you level up?"

She meant to ask if the young maid had upgraded from being a maid to... half a mistress?

No, she should be Lynch’s new girlfriend, that’s what she thought.

The young maid repeatedly denied this statement, "No, no, no, I’m just pregnant, and Mr. Lynch is taking care of me. He found someone from the community company to replace my work."

Penny was a bit surprised, "Whose?"

The young maid hurriedly said, "My husband’s..."

"Liar!", Penny said, glanced at the new maid who acted as if she hadn’t heard anything, and then turned into the living room.

When Lynch returned in the afternoon, he saw Penny watching TV in the living room. He handed his briefcase to the young maid and was somewhat puzzled, "I didn’t hear you were coming to Bupen. Are reporters so unprofessional now?"

Penny was filming a new movie recently, an art film.

Actually, she personally dislikes art films very much. One reason is that directors of art films are generally not interested in her.

In Penny’s own words, those art film directors are perverts; they like women who are older, in their thirties or forties, claiming they have stories.

Or those who are younger, fourteen or fifteen, fifteen or sixteen, claiming these girls are innocent and have not been changed by society.

The more perverted thing is that they all like to tell stories around sex, as if the three elements of art films always revolve around politics, sex, and violence.

Penny’s age is somewhat awkward, and her fame is too big.

Being very famous means directors can’t handle her. Directors of art films have their own ideas and won’t allow anyone to challenge their authority in the crew.

More crucially, she has a relationship with Lynch; no matter what method they use, they can’t control Penny, so they simply don’t cast her and disdain her.

Secondly, she admittedly has room for improvement in her acting skills; art films aim to express deeper meanings beyond naked men and women, a spiritual resonance.

Without outstanding acting skills and unable to connect with the role, such an effect can’t be achieved.

Penny still lacks in this aspect, making her act in art films is not only a disaster for the director but also for herself.

Thus, her journey to win awards has not seen much progress until recently.

Her agency found a very good art film script, which tells a story about love and hatred in the context of war.

The script is good because it doesn’t require too strong acting skills for the actress; the space left for the actress to perform isn’t much, mostly reflecting a change in the larger environment.

It shows the change of characters through the era background, the big era and little characters, which is also a commonly used expression in art films.

Also, it’s a script contemplating war, an anti-evil war, very fitting with the current era background. The agency believes if it’s filmed, not to mention winning awards, just for public relations, letting Penny win a Best Actress seems achievable.

Having motivation, the agency started operating.

Laridemo, or rather agencies in the Federation, are not as imagined, merely helping their affiliated actors, singers, models, etc., to find work.

Many agencies themselves have comprehensive supporting institutions and can handle everything from script selection to release.

Of course, to reduce risks or build a more solid network of relationships, pulling in investments is inevitable.

Lynch thought Penny would be filming that anti-war movie but didn’t expect she showed up in his villa.

Penny pouted, "I barely managed to shake them off. It’s almost winter. Experts say this winter will be colder than last year."

"The crew is already prepared. We have to shoot in the North, and now there’s no time for filming; we have to wait until next year’s spring."

"So I’m basically on vacation now!"

The agency pulled in many investors this time; it’s a big production. The South rarely has places suitable for large-scale war scenes, so they chose the North.

The entire crew is still making final preparations; when ready, it’s almost November before they can start shooting. At that time, filming in the North is asking for trouble.

Simply wait until next spring; Penny now has a lot of free time.

She looked at Lynch, "Let’s not talk about these boring things. Did you forget something?"

Lynch walked over to the couch and sat down, "What did I forget?"

"It’s your birthday coming up!", Penny said seriously, "There’s about a dozen days left. Did you forget again?"

Lynch blinked; honestly, he really forgot.

He isn’t that sensitive to his birthday because every birthday means he’s another year older, closer to the blade of the Death God. He doesn’t like this melancholy day, but some people think it’s a day worth celebrating.

Seeing Lynch’s expression, Penny knew he forgot, "Alright, your expression tells me the answer. How are you planning this time?"

"Any plans, or should I take the lead?"

She was visibly eager.

The last time she helped Lynch organize a birthday party, she enjoyed a long period of prominence in the entertainment circle, despite Lynch not publicly announcing Penny as his destined woman or current girlfriend.

But being able to help Lynch with a birthday party essentially indicated a very close relationship between them, or else it wouldn’t have been her doing it.

Those production companies, modeling agencies in the Federation, including her own agency, all gave her a lot of "respect."

Even those senior figures, big stars, acted very friendly, and all of this was due to that birthday party.

Recently, Lynch and Catherine have been appearing in the newspapers from time to time, especially when the school year just started. Someone referred to the university Lynch established as "the ladder of hope for the common people," and Catherine also played a crucial role in this.

Naturally, the media wouldn’t miss the chance to give the public a refresher on the duo’s intentions again: because they couldn’t afford to attend university, they worked together to fire the first shot in educational reform!

Some say there’s still unfinished business between them, and they will eventually end up together, a point supported by many in the public.

This made Penny very angry, even though she knew it was unlikely she’d be Lynch’s other half. But sometimes people do stupid things, harboring foolish fantasies.

She needed to strengthen her "binding" attributes with Lynch.

Lynch thought for a bit, and finally decided to let Penny handle it. She did an excellent job last time, and he still didn’t want to bother with these mundane matters.

With permission, Penny patted her bouncing chest and assured Lynch that his birthday party would make headlines, and then she inquired about the little maid’s situation.

"I asked her whose child she’s carrying, and she said it’s not yours."

Lynch tilted his head to glance at Penny, "Are you implying something else?"

Penny licked her lips, "I want to try too..."

Without waiting for Lynch to say anything, she straddled him.

During dinner, the girl was a bit angry, furiously chewing on her steak, and even ordered an older one, biting into the meat with exaggerated intensity like she was venting.

Lynch found it amusing; he could understand the girl’s thoughts, but he made himself clear: a kid wouldn’t hold him back.

Or rather, to him, things like children didn’t even cross his mind.

Having lived two lifetimes, he truly knew better than anyone what life was all about!

The things he didn’t fully grasp in the previous life, he’s now seen through after facing life and death.

If anyone thinks getting control over his child would give them the upper hand, they’d surely drunk too much fake wine.

So at the last moment, Lynch chose to withdraw, also the reason for the girl’s unhappiness.

She had prepared everything, even two pillows, yet for nothing!

Sometimes Penny’s madness was truly intense!

She didn’t even think about the big war-themed art film set to start shooting next spring and she’s still so young, getting pregnant before marriage.

That kind of thing would be absolutely unacceptable in the Federation Society, deeply rooted in religious culture.

An ordinary person truly wouldn’t do such a thing unless they’re truly insane.

For several days in a row, Penny stayed at Lynch’s place, and every time Lynch cleverly dodged the last moment. Initially, the girl was frustrated, but gradually this became some kind of game.

She tried all sorts of ways to make sure Lynch couldn’t escape, while Lynch tried his best to miss the chance.

In short, any time, any place, any matter, the "struggle" between people is always the most interesting thing.

A week before Lynch’s birthday, Mr. Wardrick called Lynch again to invite him to a private party.

His words subtly hinted at the party’s uniqueness, and Lynch agreed without much thought.

Due to its singularity, Lynch didn’t bring any female companion, and neither did any attendees of the party.

Rather than calling it a party, it was more like a secret meeting, a conference.

Lynch saw many familiar faces there, like Mr. Pato, all very reputable big capitalists in the Federation.

And the reason they could sit here today was related to the Duncan Clan.

Upon seeing Lynch, Mr. Pato proactively came forward to greet him. Last time Mr. Pato followed Lynch and gained immense benefits from the silver case, still yet to fully digest—

He was somewhat different from Lynch, having to maintain propriety.

Sometimes these old-school capitalists have this drawback; even though they’ve started devouring people, they yet still keep a certain grace!

So damn pretentious!