When Elena entered the classroom/lounge, Layla pulled her toward herself.
Layla looked at her with an expression that was one of sheer admiration!
“Elena, you’re really awesome. Your story made me cry.”
“That’s right; even a stone-hearted person like myself found it hard to hold it in.”
Lois pursed her lips. She looked as if she had not emerged from that tragic story yet.
“At least five or six girls around me cried too. Fortunately, I don’t cry easily. Otherwise, I would have definitely bawled my eyes out right on the spot.”
“Elena, your storyline is a little too complicated. The visual aspects of it would be several times more difficult than the others.”
Caleb, Rufus, Luacs, and Aryan were also in the arena.
They had read Elena’s script from beginning to end.
Caleb also took some photographs so that he could study them with Aryan.
Elena looked at Aryan and asked, “Do you have confidence?”
“I might not be the first to finish.” Three hours were barely enough time to sketch. Furthermore, he would only know the actual details when he drew them.
Rufus was a little worried. “It’s a beautiful storyline. It would definitely score high marks this morning. However…”
“Are you worried that you can’t keep up with the inking?” Layla thought about it for a moment, and then she started to feel a little worried too.
“Yeah, Elena, it’s such a complicated script, perhaps it does need the sixty frames?”
“There might not be enough time for sixty frames, and Aryan’s sketches could get a little messy too. If that’s the case, then Rufus would have a much harder time inking the lines as well.”
“Even if Aryan could finish his pencil sketches as per his usual quality, I might not be able to finish inking them in three hours.”
After two weeks of intense training, Rufus was very confident with his inking abilities. However, confidence did not mean blind reliance. It was an unprecedented level of difficulty.
‘Sixty frames in three hours. My God, just kill me.’
“What should I do? The more I think about it, the more I feel as if I could not do it.” Rufus began to panic.
The reality of the situation just hit him. He only just realized the tremendous amount of work he would have in the competition.
“Elena, I can’t do it.” Rufus’s expression changed for the worse.
Elena stared at him and laughed, “As a man, you shouldn’t say that you can’t do something. People will laugh at you.”
“Elena, are you still in a joking mood?” Layla also started to worry.
Rufus and her both saw the same issue, which was the sixty frames that they had to complete in three hours. It was impossible for her to color all of that.
She anxiously said, “You should know the level of my skills, Elena. At most, I could only complete an arc and a half in a day, and that’s on the premise of no meal breaks.”
“Could you actually work without eating or drinking?” Elena almost rolled her eyes at her.
“Who was the person who worked for half an hour, and then played on her cell phone for the next half hour?”
“I…” Layla blushed. She did not expect Elena would dig up the past then.
She mumbled in protest, “When a person is tired from work, isn’t it okay for them to play with their phone to relax just a little? This is a work-life balance.”
“I’m afraid there won’t be any work-life balance for you this time,” Elena said seriously.
“I know. I will work my hardest in those three hours, but…” Layla showed a sad and frustrated expression. “Even if I tried my best, there’s no way I can complete coloring sixty frames.”
“What about thirty frames?”
“It might be possible if my life depended on it.”
No cell phones, no distractions, and all in one go. Maybe… there might be a chance that she could make it happen.
However, she was not sure if her body could physically keep up with three continuous hours of coloring.
“The key point is that the scenes in your script change too rapidly, and they are basically impossible to apply. This is an impossible mission for both Rufus and me.”
The other teams’ scripts would have only one or two scenes. They would even duplicate some of the frames.
It was also the same with the coloring. If they had similar backgrounds, then they could reuse that asset.
Elena’s script was a complete storyline. It had so many rapid changes that it was almost a torture to complete all of the frames.
“Also, why thirty frames?”
“Well, because you’ll have Caleb with you. The rules didn’t specify that only one colorist is allowed.”
“That’s right. Why did I not think of that?” Lois could not help but smack herself in the head. “I did not study the rules thoroughly enough. However, when I saw a few of them in the arena this morning, I realized that even scripts could be written in groups.”
When she saw Elena all alone out in the arena, she deeply had regretted it.
However, when writing a storyline, sometimes too many cooks would spoil the broth.
On the other hand, it would be advantageous to have more people for inking and coloring.
“Will I also have Layla when it’s my turn to compete?” Rufus finally saw a little light at the end of the tunnel.
“No, you’re on your own.”
If Layla competed in the morning session, then she would not be able to compete in the afternoon round. She would definitely collapse in the arena.
Rufus looked like a dead fish when he heard that.
Elena glanced at Aryan, and he nodded. “I understand, I will try to complete the ink lines for him.”
“How is that possible? It would already be a miracle if he could complete the pencil sketches in time.”
Layla stared at Elena. “Elena, do you want him to die?”
“There is no other way. Do you guys have any other ideas?” Elena spread her arms apart.
Everyone went silent; it seemed like they had run out of ideas.
At that moment, Elena’s phone rang.
She took out her phone and saw an unknown number. However, it was still a number that she was somewhat familiar with.
She finally answered the call. “Hello.”
At the other end of the call, a man’s voice said, “You still owe me two hours.”
…
“What is the meaning of this story? Are you implying that I have ulterior motives to get close to you?”
Henry sat in the room and waved his hand to indicate that he wanted all the waiters to leave.
He stared at Elena, and it seemed like he was in a bad mood. His usual smiling expression was nowhere to be seen.
“Second Young Master Sharp, you’re overthinking this,” Elena replied indifferently.
On the way there, she checked the Internet for some quick information.
Second Young Master of the Sharp family, Henry.
Everything was so readily and easily available, yet, she only thought to look it up then.
She felt very stupid. Why did she have to take things for granted?
Was there a need to look up someone so insignificant?
Her indifference made Henry feel awkward. He had an inexplicable emotion that he needed to vent.
Yet, he did not know what that was.
He was in a horrible mood that day. Therefore, after he read her story and saw her leave, he could not bear to stay in the venue for a second longer.
“I am not trying to use you.”
Finally, Henry picked up his glass nonchalantly and downed the entire glass of liquor in a single gulp.
“However, I do admit that there was indeed another purpose to get close to you.”