Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
“Where do I go to sign up for filming and earning points when the countdown ends?”
Li Teng looked up at the wall clock—it was already 11:45 a.m. There were only 15 minutes left until the end of the countdown.
If what Gao Fei said was true, then Li Teng would need to hurry now.
“Bro, let go of me. I need to hurry to the film set too, so I can bring you there. We’re companions for the scene at 12:00, and in the same boat and in this together now. I’ve also apologized for my prank earlier, so please be magnanimous and don’t hold it against me anymore,” pleaded Gao Fei.
After Li Teng glared at Gao Fei viciously a few more times, he let go of him at last.
Gao Fei grinned after he got up. He didn’t seem angry at the fact that Li Teng had beaten him up just now. Instead, he looked delighted.
Is this guy a masochist?
“How do I get out of here?” Li Teng looked at Gao Fei again after taking a look at his surroundings.
“Mechanisms control these wax statues,” replied Gao Fei as he walked over to a painting on a wall near the door. He felt around the area beside the painting for a while and found a hidden button.
When he pressed the button, the wax statues in the museum automatically shifted and returned to where they were when Li Teng had entered earlier. They didn’t block the entrance anymore.
“Bro, what’s your name? How do I address you?” asked Gao Fei after he opened the door.
“My name is Tang Na,” replied Li Teng as he walked briskly out the door and returned to the streets outside.
Everything in the Waxwork Museum felt disconcerting. He thought it better to be outside instead.
“Tang Na? Are you sure your name isn’t Donald1?” Gao Fei gave him a sheepish smile.
“Which way is the filming?” Li Teng changed the subject.
“Over there. There are signs pointing out the way. Don’t worry. It’s very near where we are. We’ll reach after a 10 minutes’ walk,” replied Gao Fei.
“This place is something similar to a world created by Gods, like those in web-novels, right?” asked Li Teng as he walked. If Gao Fei had read web-novels before, he would understand what he meant.
“Somewhat, I guess. But there aren’t any supernatural powers here. You have to act using your actual body, so if the character you’re portraying croaks, you’re also pretty much dead after you receive your box lunch1.
“In addition, people are typically given free rein in worlds created by Gods, so they can forcibly change what was scripted. That isn’t the case here. We’re actors, so we can only follow the story and lines that have been scripted in advance. If the story writes your character off, you have no alternative at all. The only thing you can do is to accept your fate.
“In the vast majority of cases, whether or not you can survive is wholly dependent on your luck.
“Take my girlfriend, for example. Both of us were stuck at the top of the stone pillar together. When the helicopter came, I had thought that help had arrived, so I gave her the opportunity to be rescued first. In the end, she arrived at this place and ended up taking part in that Raging Tsunami movie without even knowing what was going on.
“When filming commenced, everyone managed to snatch a life vest, a lifebuoy, or other things like that. She, on the other hand, was scared out of her wits and stood where she was without moving. She was then swept away by the waves and disappeared. In the end, five people survived, while she, and two other unlucky souls, died on the spot and were turned into wax statues.
“If I had known that this was the situation here, I would have gotten onto the helicopter first back then.” When Gao Fei said that, he turned and glanced at the Waxwork Museum behind him, a look of mixed emotions in his eyes.
“Your girlfriend is also in that museum?” Li Teng gave Gao Fei a somewhat sympathetic look. From the looks of things, the stone pillars were capturing people using beds as a unit of measurement. Li Teng had been sleeping by himself, so he had been the only one stuck on top of the pillar.
Gao Fei was a little luckier than him, so he had been stuck on the bed with his girlfriend. At times of boredom, they could at least do things that they liked to pass the time, unlike Li Teng, who had been so bored that he had been on the brink of going berserk.
“Yes.” Gao Fei nodded.
“Is being turned into a wax statue the same as dying?” asked Li Teng.
Gao Fei shook his head and replied, “Not completely. The person sealed in the wax statue is still alive and can be unsealed with 1,000 points. If I can accumulate 1,000 points, I’ll be able to save her.”
“Oh? 1,000 points? If you succeed in accumulating 1,000 points, will you reduce the stone pillar’s height and return to the ground safely, or save your girlfriend?” Li Teng glanced at Gao Fei.
With a companion on the bed, not only did this mean that one would have company and wouldn’t be excessively bored at the top of the stone pillar, but it also meant that they could rescue each other. Li Teng was certainly rather unlucky. The only person he could rely on now was himself. Once he was turned into a wax statue, he would stay as one for eternity.
“Err… Hehe, that’s hard to say. You can’t quit once you become an actor. When the film offers come, you have to accept them. Even if I save her, with her intelligence, what am I supposed to do if she’s turned into a wax statue again after she takes on an offer? No matter how many lives I have, it won’t be enough to save her. In that case, why don’t I reduce the stone pillar’s height and return to our original world first? That way, I might be able to find someone who can resolve all of this… Of course, the precondition is that I have to earn 1,000 points first.
“Points aren’t that easy to earn. Extras and gophers like us, who have only just entered the industry, may be written off anytime because of the story. I have no confidence that I can survive for that long and earn that many points to return to the surface.” Gao Fei shook his head with a rather bitter expression.
“How many points can I earn from a scene, approximately?” asked Li Teng.
“Extras who have only just entered the industry like us get only about 10 points from one scene.”
“You earn only 10 points in one scene?” Li Teng couldn’t help but frown.
He had eaten a meal, bought clothes, and taken a bath earlier. His expenses came up to a total of 18 points. If 10 points were the maximum he could earn in the scene today, wouldn’t his points be in the negative at his point of departure and end up being turned into a wax statue?
“Hahaha, worried that you’ll have a negative point count?” Obviously, Gao Fei was experienced in this aspect. He knew what Li Teng was thinking the moment he looked at him.
Li Teng kept quiet.
“Don’t worry, special care is given to newbies who enter the island for the first time. Every newbie will get a lottery chance at the end of their first filming. There’s a 60% chance that all their expenses on the island will be waived, a 30% chance that they’ll win 100 points, and only a 10% chance that they don’t win even a single point,” said Gao Fei in consolation.
“Oh?” On the contrary, Li Teng didn’t feel reassured even after hearing what Gao Fei said.
His luck in lotteries had always been terrible. He might just draw the 10% lot. What if he didn’t get even a single point? Should he draw the 10% lot, he would be doomed.
Of course, if he drew the 60% lot where his expenses were waived, then his initial thriftiness would become a rather big loss.
“By the way, when we were in the Waxwork Museum earlier, I didn’t think that there was any difference between the wax statues and myself, and I even did a great job at pretending to be one. How did you discover me? Can you tell me?” Gao Fei asked Li Teng about something that he had found very strange earlier.
Li Teng didn’t answer Gao Fei. Instead, he countered with a question of his own. “Answer this question of mine first—why are you still in such a good mood after I had beaten you up? Are you hiding something from me?”