System hollywood

It's a sunny April day, and the sky in Los Angeles is exceptionally clear.

Just after a heavy rain, the enthusiasm of summer is gradually heating up.

On the green lawn of AFI Academy of Cinematic Arts, young students are lying or sitting, reading or chatting.

Some people are playing with their mobile phones or laptops.

Youth, optimism and hope are in the air.

Among these people, there was a student who was leaving AFI with a depressed expression and a cardboard box full of miscellaneous items in his hand.

His name is Wolf Stevenson, and he just dropped out of AFI.

"I can't believe I traveled to a parallel world..."

He murmured to himself, occasionally glimpsing out of the corner of his eye those people he knew from the memory of the original owner.

Just last week, he, who was originally men, found himself in the body of a white man.

And came to the United States.

However, some things here were very different from the world he knew.

First of all, this is not 2023, but 2010.

Second, when he hears his former roommate talking about a top actress who will star in a romantic comedy next month who he doesn't know at all, Wolf understands that he has entered a parallel world.

The biggest difference is the film and television entertainment industry.

For example, most of the movies, celebrities, and songs he knows don't exist in this world, and are replaced by something else.

Wolf's first idea was to make a lot of money by imitating the movies and TV shows he knew.

But it's not simple.

Even if he can remember some movie plots, he can't remember every frame or line.

The best he could produce was a crude script.

For example, even if he still remembers part of the content of "Harry Potter", he cannot perfectly restore it with his current writing style and ideas.

Let alone writing it into a script or making it into a movie.

Moreover, you must know that in his original world line, "Harry Potter" was rejected many times.

"To make matters worse, I was dropping out of one of the best film schools in the country."

The original owner of this body had always dreamed of becoming a successful director, so after his mother passed away, his father worked hard to pay for AFI tuition.

Two months earlier, his father had died of alcohol poisoning, a habit he picked up after the death of his wife.

From then on, Wolf became alone.

Due to the death of his father, Wolf had no money to pay for school fees. Although he could have sought financial help from some of his father's friends, he decided not to.

At first, the original owner tried hard to pay for his tuition through part-time work, but the reality was often crueler than ideal, and he simply could not balance work and studies.

So in the end, he decided to drop out of school, but two days ago, his body was taken over by someone else under unknown circumstances...

"Oh! fuck!"

Wolf left campus frustrated.

"It's been less than a week since I traveled through time. Both of my parents died. I had no money and dropped out of school. May God bless my future."

He took a taxi back to his rented apartment. The apartment was empty, without any furniture. He put down the cardboard box containing school things and walked out of the apartment.

He didn't want to face the landlord again. To him, it was just a mouth asking about rent.

Walking aimlessly, Wolf couldn't help but think about his future choices.

Unlike other time travellers, he did not receive any convenient superpowers.

He even tried some weird gestures, like seeing if he would suddenly shoot spider webs from his hands.

But it seems that this novel is not about this subject.

Like the body's original owner, Wolf wanted to be a successful director and earn enough money to live a peaceful, comfortable life.

He can still work hard for his dreams, but as a dropout, his future will be harder.

Unable to come to a conclusion, Wolf continued walking aimlessly until he found himself near a movie theater.

A large movie poster hangs outside.

The main character on the poster seems to have something to do with the military, as he is looking at the bodies of his fallen comrades.

Wolf reached into his pocket and found a $10 bill.

He smiled wryly and decided to use the money he had left to watch a movie he didn't even understand.

The movie ticket was $8 and he didn't even have enough money to buy popcorn.

Sitting in his theater seat, Wolf watched the commercials that played before the movie started, and then the movie started.

The movie tells the story of the protagonist joining the army for the first time. When he saw the corpses of soldiers being transported back to the military camp, the protagonist fell into confusion in life. Then the chief began to give a speech, and Wolf enthusiasm quickly faded.

A cliche American theme.

But he didn't leave. After all, it cost him $8.

The story continues with how an important character changes the protagonist's perspective on the war, and soon after that character dies.

Then blah blah blah.

The protagonist charges passionately, shouting to fire, and planes and tanks explode...

The movie ends as the audience cheers.

Wolf had never seen this movie in his previous life, but the historical background of the movie was the Iraq War--

Therefore, even though this world does not have movies, TV shows, music, etc. from Earth, the history and culture of his previous world line are basically the same.

What does this mean?

Feeling inspired, Wolf stood up and was about to leave the cinema.

But as soon as he stood up, he suddenly felt dizzy and fell back to his seat weakly.  "Hey man, you okay?"

He heard the deep voice of the man in the next seat.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry, I just felt a little dizzy all of a sudden."

Wolf answered as he tried to regain his balance.

"It's okay, man, this movie is really powerful. I was moved to pieces, too. Just take your time."

The man patted him on the shoulder and left excitedly.

Soon, the audience in the cinema also left one by one, leaving him alone.

Wolf sat there quietly for a while and felt better, but he did not want to leave his seat now because his attention was attracted by the shocking image in front of him.

A blue translucent screen appeared in front of Wolf's eyes, with some text displayed on it.

[Want to become rich? Want to date a supermodel? Want to be the King of Hollywood? I will help you. Welcome, master, I am Hollywood System. ]

Wolf smiled.

It seems he is not as helpless as he thought.

He reached out to touch the screen, and his fingers passed through it like a phantom.

"is this real?"

There is a 'Continue' option in the lower left corner of the screen prompt.

He touches the translucent blue screen gently, as if he were operating a smartphone.

This time, his finger crossed the screen again, the original prompt disappeared, and a new screen appeared.

"Hey, kid, the theater is empty! The next movie is about to start, and you can't see the movie twice with the same ticket!"

Wolf finally snapped out of his trance and realized he was still in the movie theater.

He stood up immediately, apologized to the middle-aged man, and ran out quickly.