Chapter 394: The Ancient Art of Drama

Chen Ling’s mouth fell open involuntarily.

He stared at the disc in Ning Ruyu’s hand, his mind reeling.

“So, what was that just now...?”

“That was a French film from before the Great Cataclysm, about a chef finding his self-worth. I simply used the power of the Ancient Vault of Theatrical Arts to manifest it,” Ning Ruyu explained. “However, the Ancient Vault of Theatrical Arts can only manifest scenes and props, not living beings... You can think of it as an all-encompassing ‘stage’.”

Everything just now was a manifestation of a film?

Things that were once filmed, existing only on screen, were all re-created within the Ancient Vault of Theatrical Arts?

As someone from a directing and screenwriting background, Chen Ling understood better than anyone what this implied... Manifesting a fictional “performance” into reality? Even science fiction wouldn't dare write something like this, would it?

“So, all of these on the shelves... are they all like that?”

“All of them.”

Ning Ruyu released "The Chef" disc, which automatically flew to one of the wooden shelves and slid into a slot on a specific tier.

“Movies are ‘productions,’ and so are TV series, and all ‘performances’ filmed using electronic media, whether team-shot or individually recorded, commercial or non-commercial, throughout human history—all visual ‘productions’ are collected in this area... Currently, their number exceeds three trillion.”

“Fortunately, the golden age of electronic media lasted only a little over a hundred years, and after the Great Cataclysm, film and television technology regressed, leading to a sharp decline in the number of productions... Otherwise, the sheer volume of these ‘works’ would be even more staggering.”

Ning Ruyu couldn't help but sigh.

Chen Ling’s gaze swept across the endless wooden shelves, the utter disbelief in his eyes showing no signs of fading... Before the Great Cataclysm, he had learned in university that, as of that time, there were roughly 250,000 films officially cataloged by humanity. Even including TV series and other film and television productions, the total number would never reach such an astonishing figure as three trillion.

According to Ning Ruyu, even a casual video shot with a mobile phone—a “funny” clip or a “role-playing” scene—would count as a performance and be collected in the visual media section... If calculated that way, three trillion might even be a conservative estimate.

“Did you organize all of these?” Chen Ling couldn't help but ask.

“Us? How could that be...?” Ning Ruyu shook his head. “These are all manifestations of the Ancient Vault of Theatrical Arts. It’s like a massive museum, automatically categorizing and storing all these ‘productions’.”

“With such a vast number of ‘productions,’ even just this one visual media section, the six of us couldn’t organize them all in several hundred years.”

Chen Ling walked among the wooden shelves, his gaze sweeping over countless disc cases, as one familiar title after another caught his eye:

*Titanic*, *Home Alone*, *The Grandmaster*, *Dying to Survive*, *Infernal Affairs*, *Manchester by the Sea*...

At this moment, Chen Ling felt as if he was no longer surrounded by endless discs, but standing amidst countless stars... These stars embodied the complete spiritual essence of modern human civilization: the refined and the mundane, the aspiring and the artistic, the popular and the niche.

Here, the spiritual civilization of an entire era was condensed, shining brightly like a constellation of stars.

“Can all of these be manifested?”

“Of course,” Ning Ruyu smiled. “When we have free time in the Ancient Vault, we sometimes pick some to ‘screen.’ You can join us in the future, junior brother.”

Chen Ling’s fingertips brushed over the discs, and he couldn’t help but speak:

“This place... it really is completely different from the Ancient Vault of Military Arts.”

“There are fourteen Ancient Vaults in the world, each with its own unique characteristics, which is quite normal. However, their underlying principles are largely similar: they all involve ‘recording’ and ‘storing’,” Ning Ruyu explained.

“For example, the Ancient Vault of Military Arts stores almost all medium and large-scale wars since the dawn of human civilization. It has several layers, where even a ninth-rank individual would perish upon entering. It’s considered one of the most dangerous Ancient Vaults.”

The last time Chen Ling entered the Ancient Vault of Military Arts, Aurora City had pre-defined his scope, allowing him to operate only within a very small trial area. Strictly speaking, he never managed to delve deep inside...

To use the Ancient Vault of Theatrical Arts as an analogy, he had essentially only glimpsed a single wooden shelf before turning back... Deeper within, there could be thousands upon thousands more such shelves.

“Now that we’ve finished visiting the visual media section, let’s head further inside.”

“Further inside?” Chen Ling paused, “So, where are we now...?”

“At the main entrance, of course.”

Ning Ruyu said matter-of-factly, “How many years has human civilization existed, and how many years has visual technology been around...? This area is still far from the core of the Ancient Vault of Theatrical Arts.”

Chen Ling stood stunned for a moment, then offered a helpless smile and followed Ning Ruyu.

The two walked past several wooden shelves. Ning Ruyu swept her hand through the air, and a curtain manifested from the void, drawing open to reveal a mysterious long corridor behind it.

“Within the Ancient Vault of Theatrical Arts, it’s impossible to exit any area by walking. To traverse between different sections, you can only rely on ‘curtains’.”

As Ning Ruyu led Chen Ling into the corridor, she continued,

“Once Master returns, he should grant you this authority.”

Hearing this, Chen Ling felt somewhat puzzled. “Aren’t Ancient Vaults manifestations of the divine path? Can humans wield their authority? And can it be freely transferred?”

Chen Ling had always believed that Ancient Vaults were naturally occurring phenomena, not man-made. During his time in the Ancient Vault of Military Arts, he had never seen anyone wield authority over it... If someone could truly gain that authority and completely control the Ancient Vault of Military Arts, then those new recruits sent for trials wouldn't have perished.

Ning Ruyu fell into a brief silence.

“Humans cannot fully control the authority of the respective Ancient Vaults... but we are an exception.”

“Why?”

“You’ll understand later.”

Ning Ruyu seemed unwilling to elaborate on this topic. After leading Chen Ling through the corridor, he opened another curtain and stepped through.

Chen Ling followed him in and found a structure similar to the previous area, with wooden shelves neatly arranged in a spacious room. However, their number seemed far less than in the visual media section they had just left.

Most importantly, these wooden shelves no longer held discs, but cassette tapes, and deeper inside, even vinyl records.

“This is the audio section, storing performances that were preserved only as sound, without accompanying visuals,” Ning Ruyu said slowly. “Most of what’s here includes storytelling, crosstalk, traditional opera, and musical performances... Compared to the previous section, this one contains works from a much earlier period of civilization.”

“However, because technology was not widespread in that era, not everyone could record their voice, so the quantity here is much less compared to the previous visual media section.”

Chen Ling walked among the wooden shelves. The works here felt somewhat unfamiliar to him; after all, this was not his era. Perhaps his grandparents’ generation would be more familiar with these.

Ning Ruyu did not linger long in this area. After briefly showing Chen Ling around, she pulled open another curtain and entered the next section...

After stepping through this curtain, Chen Ling clearly saw the scene before him, and he froze in place.