Chapter 1: The Leading Man

Thud! Thud! Thud—

The urgent knocking suddenly echoed in his ears, followed by a man's hurried voice through the door, "Matthew, why did you send the makeup artist away? The director and the leading actress are ready, the whole crew is waiting for you, the leading man. You have fifteen minutes!"

The voice of the speaker seemed quite assertive, "If you don't come out in fifteen minutes, I'm coming in to kill you!"

These words buzzed in his ears, burrowing into his head, making Matthew struggle to open his eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't, until the sound of departing footsteps came from outside the door. Then, with all his might, he forced his eyes open.

Those were pitch-black eyes, full of confusion.

His gaze swiftly swept across the room, confirming, "I've definitely never been here before!" Then he looked down at himself, "Eh? Why am I lying here?"

He was lying awkwardly on a wooden floor, his head next to the door, which explained why the sounds were buzzing so near.

Then, a flood of information suddenly flashed through his mind, two entirely different scenes, as if movies being projected on the same screen, entangled and chaotic, making him unconsciously clutch his head.

As time passed, the bewilderment in his eyes gradually faded, and his mind became clearer. He pushed himself up with both hands and slowly stood up, facing a large makeup mirror, and looked at the reflection.

The man in the mirror was wearing only trousers, roughly 6 feet tall, his upper body muscled and well-defined, quite robust. Looking up, his hair was deep brown, and below that, a face with high cheekbones and deep-set eyes, as if carved from stone. Apart from the pitch-black eyes, there was nothing similar about him.

Biting his lip hard, he felt a sharp pain instantly. Then, just standing there, he spaced out for a good five minutes, gradually confirming that something unbelievable had happened.

His last clear memory involved enduring the scorching sun and high temperatures at a construction site, smashing cement. While wiping sweat and drinking water, a coworker's hammer suddenly flew off its handle, striking him squarely in the face, and after that, he remembered nothing.

Perhaps that marked the end of his miserable twenty years of life?

He had led a very hard life, born in a poor mountainous area, and had to start working right after finishing junior high due to family financial pressures. At eighteen, with his parents long suffering from illnesses and their subsequent deaths, he was left alone to fend for himself. A typical example of someone without education, insight, background, or skills, he could only do heavy labor. He had hoped to earn enough money to learn a trade, but misfortune struck with unpaid wages and his boss absconding. Efforts to claim his wages were suppressed, and without resolution, he continued working on construction sites doing the most laborious tasks of moving bricks and smashing cement. He hadn't earned much before his life was seemingly cut short...

Maybe ending that miserable life and starting anew wasn't such bad luck? Thinking about his previous difficult and troubled life, the idea unconsciously popped into his mind, especially since he could say he was completely unattached.

However, this new life didn't seem to be any better...

Standing in front of the mirror, he slapped his ruggedly handsome face to make sure this was not a dream or hallucination.

The foreigner in the mirror was named Matthew Horner. If he were to describe it in the terms of the Xianxia novels he once read, he was now possessed, or in the words of his hometown, a ghost had taken over his body...

Luckily, the Matthew Horner who probably went to meet God... no, should say God, left behind plenty of memories.

But as those memories flickered through his mind, Matthew—or rather, the face that was now Matthew's—twitched!

Because those past memories were truly unbearable!

This Matthew Horner was from the slums of Texas, born in 1980, just nineteen years old—meaning he had returned to the turn of the century, early 1999. Like most Americans, a product of mixed heritage, including one-quarter Chinese descent, though this heritage wasn't obvious in his appearance, the only thing it contributed was the black eyes.

Aside from the black eyes, whether it was his skin color or facial features, he looked more like a Westerner.

Nineteen-year-old Matthew Horner was also without any skills, having only completed a third of high school, his educational level was just enough to read newspapers and books. Complex English or grammar was beyond his understanding, and his writing skills were dismal.

Such a person in this era was doomed to struggle.

The memories left behind showed Matthew Horner had delivered newspapers and milk, worked as a car washer, washed dishes

 in a restaurant, and after getting a driver's license, worked as a driver. Later, he swung a hammer on a construction site for a while. Hard work and life forged his robust muscles.

Last year, misled by someone who believed his handsome looks and tall stature were fit for a star, he naively moved to Los Angeles to become an actor. Perhaps it was fate, but while working part-time as a driver for a party service company, he met an agent who took a liking to him...

It was because of this agent that he had ended up here, in this makeshift studio in Los Angeles, transformed from a detached house, and had collapsed in the makeup room...

"Ah…"

Matthew sighed, the information in his mind confirming that he was indeed in Los Angeles!

He looked around, from the posters on the walls to the various items on the makeup table, everything with letters was just a string of alphabets.

Pulling out a chair, Matthew sat down, continuing to sort through the memories in his mind.

This inherited mental wealth was so frustrating!

He was uneducated before, and still uneducated; his previous education level, though poor, allowed him to read novels without issue, but now he struggled with complex materials; his previous life was tough, but he had a place to stay on the construction site, now his predecessor, in pursuit of a Hollywood dream, had quit his original job to come here as the leading man...

The leading man? Matthew Horner stood up, remembering the English words from outside the door, which immediately reassured him—he understood English!

Then, thrilled, the words mentioned the director and the leading actress, and the whole crew waiting for him, the leading man!

This was the leading man! Even if it was just for a TV drama, there would be a lot of money involved, right?

Wait a minute… Matthew felt something was off. The leading man? What kind of leading man? Was it a Hollywood movie leading man?

Instantly, he thought of those young stars who became famous overnight in Hollywood.

Although not highly educated, Hollywood blockbuster movies were numerous, and during his hard-working days, he would also download typical blockbuster entertainment to watch, recognizing quite a few Hollywood stars.

For example, he liked the "Transformers" series, and remembered that the actress nicknamed Fox was a typical example of overnight fame!

Matthew excitedly jumped off the chair, walked to the makeup room exit, and quietly pulled open the door to peek outside.

The space outside was much larger than the makeup room, lavishly decorated, with six or seven people gathered around a black camera, apparently busy setting up something. Opposite the camera was a milky white European-style long sofa, with two people standing beside it talking.

One was a middle-aged man wearing glasses, and the other was a woman.

"Could this be the director and the leading actress?"

Like most men, Matthew's gaze naturally fell on the woman, who had straight, golden hair and was very beautiful.

Definitely the leading actress! Matthew immediately determined this, and acting opposite such a leading actress wouldn't be bad either.

He couldn't help but smile. The previous guy, though not very skilled, wasn't entirely useless; he had left behind a pretty good job opportunity.

"Could I be on the path to becoming a Hollywood star?"

This thought jumped into his mind, diluting the discomfort of arriving in this new world. After all, his previous life had nothing to keep him, and it would be great to live a spectacular life here, "If I'm lucky, could I even become a big Hollywood star?"

Thinking of the information he had seen on smartphones before, Matthew suddenly realized that to be an actor or a star, one didn't need a high level of education, as many Hollywood stars hadn't finished high school yet still made it big. Maybe this was a way out?

Since he was here and facing this situation, there was no point in blaming fate; better to adapt as quickly as possible.

Just then, the blonde woman turned her head slightly in his direction, probably noticing Matthew's face through the door crack. She smiled gently and nodded slightly.

Matthew nodded back, then glanced at the blonde woman's face again.

"Why does she look familiar?"

He closed the door, went back into the makeup room, scratched his head, unable to recall where he had seen her or in which Hollywood movie, and decided to put it aside, starting to recall information about this leading role.

It seemed filming was about to start, and he needed to figure out what it was about. If he couldn't even understand that, he would just be wasting this great opportunity to play a leading role!

Without thinking much about it, Matthew's face turned pale the moment he carefully recalled, sweat beads forming on his forehead, immediately rolling down his cheeks, seemingly shocked.

He turned slightly to look at a red bag on the makeup table, which was a tool kit specially prepared for him by the crew. The bag wasn't zipped, and from the opening

, he could see items like tissues, towels, wet wipes, rubber gloves... and several tools he had only seen pictures of online but never in real life!

Matthew staggered a few steps, then plopped down on the chair in front of the makeup mirror, speechless.

The leading man... the role he was to play, was... the leading man in a romantic action movie!