A Sensation Across America

After a night of wandering around, Alex returned to the jungle the next day, and filming continued.

The first take still failed to satisfy Alex, but it was much better than yesterday. Apparently, while he had been wandering around all night, the crew had been staying up to think of solutions or rehearse.

After another three or four attempts, Alex felt it was good enough.

When they heard Alex announce that they had passed, everyone cheered uncontrollably. Even the baboons got excited, instinctively jumping along with the cheering crowd.

Remy, who played Tarzan, was undoubtedly the most exhausted of them all. He had to carry Vivien Leigh while sprinting from the pursuing baboons, constantly leaping, dodging, and twisting. The moment he returned, he collapsed beside Alex as if dead. "Boss, you finally passed it. If you hadn’t, I would’ve been done for!"

Alex pretended to be angry and gave him a hard kick, laughing and scolding loudly. "Just you wait, brat. Once the movie comes out, you’ll be plenty busy!" Filming would continue, and as the mutants’ first star, Remy’s future was bound to become even busier.

Remy sprang up like a carp, nimbly dodging Alex’s kick with a grin.

Ignoring Remy, Alex turned to Vivien Leigh beside him. Although her movements had not been as intense as Tarzan’s, several takes had left her utterly exhausted, and her breathing had become rapid.

"Do you want to rest for a while?" Alex asked with concern as he looked at Vivien Leigh’s tired face.

"This role should really have gone to Monroe or Audrey." Vivien Leigh did not force herself to keep going. She nodded, her face bitter. "They’re young and lively. Filming would be easier for them too."

Hollywood had now entered the era of movie stars. If a film did not have stars supporting it, its box office performance would be terrible. That was why Vivien Leigh had originally been chosen to play Jane: because of her popularity and star power in Hollywood.

But as he watched the slight dimness in Vivien Leigh’s eyes, Alex suddenly remembered that she was nearly forty. Smiling, he reassured her, "You’re still very young. You look like you’re only in your early twenties."

Though he said that, Alex was secretly thinking that he needed to find a way to slow aging as soon as possible. Some people quietly grew old while you were not paying attention, and by the time you remembered them, they might already have returned to dust.

After filming the biggest scene in the entire movie, the rest became much easier. It took only one month to finish shooting the second half of the film.

Once filming was done, Alex tossed them a set of animation storyboards and washed his hands of it. Many directors went to great lengths just to obtain editing rights, but Alex simply walked away. Fortunately, he had a relatively professional production crew behind him. Otherwise, Vivien Leigh would definitely have given him trouble.

Why did he ignore the movie? Because Alex had more important things to do.

Looking at the drastically changed buildings around him and the students passing by who occasionally greeted him politely, Alex felt a little embarrassed as he followed closely behind Emma.

"You still know how to blush?" As though she had discovered a new continent, Emma turned to look at Alex and teased him. "Tell me, how many times have you come here since this academy was built?"

Listening to Emma’s scolding, Alex became even more embarrassed. He lowered his head and repeatedly agreed.

Emma did not want Alex to lose too much face, so after saying that, she changed the subject. "Why did you suddenly want to see the laboratory?" Then she paused, seeming to think of something. "Could it be that you want to…?"

Alex knew what Emma was going to say. He nodded. "I can’t wait any longer."

"Then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. The mutant research lab hasn’t even been built yet!" Emma stopped abruptly and shook her head.

"I’m not researching mutants. I’m researching serum—the Super Soldier Serum." The Super Soldier Serum could not make people immortal, but it could slow aging. Before he found another solution, this was the only method Alex could think of. "Using my blood."

At first, Alex had wanted to ask Nick Fury for the Infinity Formula. Unfortunately, Nick Fury told him that it was like a drug and required constant injections. But Professor Berthold Sternberg, the inventor of the Infinity Formula, had already died, and the Infinity Formula had become impossible to obtain. Nick Fury was troubled by the matter himself.

Emma neither agreed nor disagreed. She nodded and said, "That could work, but it might take decades to develop the formula."

"What? That long?" Alex did not understand this sort of thing. He had thought it would be quick, never expecting it to take decades. By then, it would be far too late!

"What did you expect?" Emma rolled her eyes, then gave a bitter smile and said slowly, "The Soviet Union and America have researched it for more than ten years and still have no clue. How could we be any different?"

"Then what should we do?" Alex grew anxious. Time waited for no one.

Emma shrugged and said nonchalantly, "There’s nothing we can do. We can only wait!"

Alex paced anxiously, Vivien Leigh’s lovely figure constantly surfacing in his mind. As he paced, an idea suddenly struck him. "Emma, my blood can automatically secrete the Super Soldier Serum. If I transfuse my blood into their bodies, wouldn’t that work too?"

"Are you insane?!" Emma stared at Alex in horror, anger burning in the depths of her eyes. "For their sake, you’re willing to throw away your own life?!"

Seeing Emma lose her temper, Alex hurriedly tried to soothe her with a grin. "Come on, how could that be? I value my life very much!"

"If you dare do that, I’ll go kill every one of them right now." Emma did not fall for Alex’s act at all. She glared at him and solemnly threatened, "Even if you hate me for the rest of your life!"

Alex knew Emma was truly furious. His expression changed, and he said seriously, "Trust me. I won’t do anything foolish."

Because Emma was so enraged, Alex did not dare mention the blood transfusion again. He merely left behind more than a dozen vials of blood samples in the laboratory before departing.

The post-production for "Tarzan" was quite simple. With the storyboards Alex had left behind, the editing was completed in two or three days. The soundtrack was somewhat troublesome, but the mutants were full of hidden talents. There were actually quite a few musical masters among them, so the problem was easily resolved.

The only real trouble was the dubbing. There were many animals in the film, and most of them needed voices. After dragging on for another half month or so, "Tarzan" was finally completed.

All the mutants of the Floating Temple became the movie’s first audience. Even Alex, who had been busy outside, deliberately returned to attend this unique "premiere."

It was also Alex’s first time watching the complete film. Comparing it with the animated movie in his mind, the plot was largely the same, but the visuals were countless times more exquisite. With its perfectly recreated primeval jungle and innumerable animals, Alex believed it would definitely set off a moviegoing craze.

And indeed, just as Alex had expected, Vivien Leigh officially took over as the head of X-Film Company at the beginning of post-production. The moment she assumed the role, she launched a massive promotional campaign for "Tarzan."

Promotional methods in this era were very limited, amounting to little more than posters. Alex did not interfere. Vivien Leigh directly selected several beautiful shots from the film and turned them into posters.

The moment the posters appeared, the entire United States was shaken.