Chapter 16: Official Filming Begins

"Yeah, there's an old saying in China that goes, 'Good people don't live long, calamities persist for a thousand years.'" Li Teng glared back at Guo Zhipeng.

Confronted with such a situation, Li Teng had no choice but to accept his bad luck.

Begging for mercy at this point would only add to the humiliation and wouldn't change the outcome of the situation one bit.

So, even if he were to die, he wanted to die with dignity, refusing to be outdone in spirit by his opponent.

"Hahahahahaha... hahahahahaha... Sure enough, the kid is still as adolescent as ever, suffering so much yet never reflecting on himself," Guo Zhipeng burst into laughter.

Li Teng turned his head away.

Gao Fei watched Li Teng and Guo Zhipeng, listening to their conversation; he had guessed that the two must know each other and that their previous relationship was somewhat delicate.

"Aren't you going to say a few words about the past? A sincere reflection? I'm quite sentimental, you see. If you can say a few things to please me, who knows, I might change my mind," Guo Zhipeng continued to mock Li Teng, seeing himself as a cat who had caught a rat, thinking it more amusing to toy with his prey before killing it.

"Before the performance starts, may I kill him first?" Li Teng didn't respond to Guo Zhipeng but instead leaned in to consult Gao Fei in a whisper.

"Don't even think about it. You can throw a few punches to vent, but if you cause any real harm to other actors, you'll lose a lot of points. And even if you manage to kill him by surprise, Film and Television City can revive him on the spot, but you would face severe punishment. Better not to do it, it's pointless," Gao Fei whispered back to Li Teng.

"Alright." Li Teng seemed resigned. He got up, grabbed his coffee cup, walked over to the coffee machine to refill his cup, and then took an extra empty coffee cup back to his seat.

Once back at the table, Li Teng sat back on the high stool and lifted one of the coffee cups, pouring the coffee in a steady stream into the other cup, then repeated the action with the other cup.

Quickly, one cup of coffee cooled down after being poured back and forth. After drinking it, Li Teng stood up for another refill.

"I'm talking to you here, and all you care about is fussing with that coffee; is that all you've got?" Guo Zhipeng was annoyed by Li Teng's erratic behavior. He had expected Li Teng to say something after refilling his coffee, yet Li Teng just continued to drink, without even letting out a single fart in response.

"The coffee tastes really good, and it's quite strong. The more I drink, the more excited I get," Li Teng ignored Guo Zhipeng and kept talking to Gao Fei.

"Then drink more." Gao Fei noticed that Guo Zhipeng had mostly murderous intentions towards Li Teng, and at this point, he didn't know how to comfort Li Teng.

"Fuck me sideways! Absolutely incorrigible!" Guo Zhipeng saw that Li Teng continued to be defiant, even ignoring him completely, and couldn't help but become enraged with embarrassment.

"He's cursing at you," Gao Fei reminded Li Teng.

"If you run into a dog on the street that won't stop barking at you, are you supposed to bark back? Just find a chance to kill it," Li Teng was unconcerned, continuing to drink his coffee.

"You've got guts!" Guo Zhipeng, seeing that Li Teng was impervious to both soft and hard tactics, refusing to submit and beg for mercy, had no choice but to end his cat-and-mouse game.

"It's your turn. Give me a reason not to choose you," Guo Zhipeng said impatiently, turning to the elderly woman beside Li Teng. Clearly, Li Teng's performance had thoroughly spoiled his mood.

"My family... I have a grandson with cerebral palsy, my son has cancer, I need to live to go back to save them, otherwise..." the elderly woman began carefully.

"Enough! I'm not here to listen to a sob story contest!" Guo Zhipeng interrupted the elderly woman impatiently and then turned to the last of the extras beside the old woman, a teenage girl.

"Well... I've been talented and versatile since I was young. Many relatives and elders say it would be such a waste if I didn't become an actor. I never imagined I'd realize this desire in such a way. Haha, I'm so happy to be here. Of course, I don't want to turn into a wax figure – then I wouldn't have the chance to fully showcase my talents to the audience," the girl began.

"And what talents do you have?" Guo Zhipeng finally found some amusement again.

"Singing, dancing, I'm good at everything. I've participated in online competitions and even won several awards," the girl answered Guo Zhipeng.

"If you give us a striptease, I might consider letting you go," Guo Zhipeng said to the young girl with a smile.

"What's there to see on a woman's body? Boring old man!" The girl glared at Guo Zhipeng with disdain.

"That's what you don't understand, heh heh, let me slowly tell you..."

"Enough! Time's up, let's get to work!" Sunglasses Woman stood up, her expression showing some impatience, as she interrupted Guo Zhipeng.

Everyone's Bluetooth headsets also transmitted a beep, signaling the end of the ten-minute brief; the scene of the car crash in "Furious Speed on Desperate Road" was about to start filming!

The six extras had no lines; the instructions in their earpieces were simple: they were notified to walk across the street at a certain moment to the other side, neither running nor varying their pace, just walking at a speed set by the director, like ordinary pedestrians crossing the street.

The order in which the extras appeared and walked was decided by the director, but who would be struck by the hundred-yard dash of the racing car, and which extra would "get a boxed lunch" as their points were deducted and they became a wax figure, that depended on Guo Zhipeng's mood.

As the lead actor of this scene, the steering wheel was in his hands; he had that power.

Before leaving, Guo Zhipeng gave one final glance around at everyone.

Several extras deliberately avoided Guo Zhipeng's gaze, worried that they would be selected by him to be the unfortunate one to "get a boxed lunch" and turn into a wax figure in the scene.

Li Teng raised his middle finger at Guo Zhipeng; he knew today he couldn't escape his fate.

Even though he didn't want to become a wax figure, didn't want to meet an absurd demise, he was very aware that talking to someone like Guo Zhipeng, who had no bottom line or conscience, was useless.

Everything, he could only rely on himself.

Guo Zhipeng responded to Li Teng with a throat-slitting gesture before putting on his sunglasses and leaving with Sunglasses Woman.

"Does he have a grudge against you?" the office lady asked Li Teng, looking hopeful.

If Guo Zhipeng held a grudge against Li Teng and chose to hit him, then the rest of them would be safe.

"Hahaha..." Li Teng gave a few awkward laughs and continued drinking his coffee.

"If you really believe they hold a grudge, you're wrong. This is a set, and everyone here is an actor; how do you know they weren't just acting a moment ago? Maybe they're actually close. You think you're safe, but when the car comes barreling towards you, that's when you'll realize you were wrong," the elderly woman said to the office lady.

Li Teng looked at the elderly woman with some surprise... Despite her frail appearance just now, she was an old hand at this, with many thoughts swirling in her head.

"Moreover, the script didn't say just one person would die, it's possible more could be hit. Imagine if the director arranges for you to walk with him... think about that," the elderly woman added.

Hearing the elderly woman's words, the office lady's expression, which had relaxed slightly, became tense and dismayed once again.

Li Teng still appeared very calm, continuing to drink his coffee.

"Stop drinking. If you fill your belly with coffee and turn yourself into a coffee ball, when you get hit by the car, all that coffee spilling out... tsk tsk tsk..." Glasses Man couldn't stand to watch Li Teng guzzle coffee anymore.

"Mind your own business!" Gao Fei retorted to Glasses Man on behalf of Li Teng.

No sooner had Gao Fei finished speaking than everyone suddenly changed their expression, stopped talking, and the place fell silent in an instant.