Chapter1 - On The Verge Of Unlocking the System
"(9900/10000) remains to unlock the first phase of the Movie Emperor System. Keep working hard, host."
Lu Ze retracted the system interface. His mind was completely occupied by how he could unlock the system after earning hundred yuan more. Sitting on the green belt, he giddily raised his takeaway wrap and quickly took two huge bites.
"Palace Court Drama! Six openings for men! Appearance should be a little graceful! A hundred per day!"
From the front of the crowd nearby, a sudden shout instantly sent the crowd at the gates into a frenzy, causing everybody within to frantically to push to the front. Lu Ze was no exception; he threw his takeaway wrap on the ground and dashed forth.
"F*ck, stand properly for me! No pushing or squeezing through! Stand in line so I can look, or none of you will have work today!" Liu Le, who stood across the crowd, roared. The crowd could only divide themselves into rows like commodities waiting to be picked up, hoping to be taken away by Liu Le.
"You, you, and you—that tall one in the back! Right you, all of you follow me, the rest can leave!"
Lu Ze was precisely the 'tall one' Liu Le had pointed out. Taking two gulps from his mineral water bottle, he delightedly followed the other into Film City.
Lu Ze was no newcomer; he'd already muddled in Hengdian Studios for nearly two years. On an average day, being selected would be nothing worth being excited over, but today was different. After finishing the shoot today and getting the payment, he could finally unlock the system!
As for the system's origin, he was completely clueless. He only remembered drinking that night, watching a movie in his home, and judging the lead actor's acting before heading to sleep.
However, after he fell asleep, he dreamt himself transforming into the lead actor of that movie and playing out the entire plot. By the time the movie finished, it was already day. When he opened his eyes, there was an interface before his eyes: visible but untouchable, with only a single line on it:
"(0/10000) unlock the first phase of the Movie Emperor System. Keep working hard, host."
What happened next was obvious. Anyhow, it was a course from shock to adaptation. In the very beginning, the first thing he racked his brain for was what on earth was this(0/10000) Later, when he earned a hundred yuan as an extra, he realized that this ten thousand represented money.
Following Liu Le, Lu Ze joined the production team, and next came changing into the costume. When he saw the outfit, he could tell at a glance that it was the same play again—the eight-hundredth time acting as a little eunuch!
The outfit looked really bad, not the shoddy kind put together with leather and plastic glue, but the smelly, stinky foot kind.
If one were to smell it, they would smell pickled vegetables smothered by the athlete's foot and left marinated in a jar for half a month, with a dog having pissed in it somewhere in between.
Today's outfit especially stank. It could easily enter the top three outfits of Lu Zhe's eunuch career. It was really terrible.
Everybody knew that being an extra was a harsh job. Doing all sorts of labor tasks, taking all kinds of abuse, not even having proper meals and so on. However, what outsiders didn't know was that the biggest suffering of the current extras was actually the production team insulting their IQ. One could just look at the current situation: a court drama had quickly devolved into a children's play. It stung one's eyes more than the costumes.
'A year in business, you lose half your IQ. Three years in business, you lose all your IQ.' It was no joke. Through his years as an extra, as long as he spotted a bit of remarkable acting or a slightly better plot, it was enough to thoroughly satisfy the audience and even bring out their tears.
However, Lu Ze's current play was nothing of that sort. This palace court drama's female lead was a modern girl catwalking with palace maids. What the hell! Even Watt would begrudgingly say 'f*ck'.
Lu Ze's role was to assume a dignified appearance and sneak glances at the catwalking palace maids until the Emperor arrived. Then, he had to fall to his knees with a plop and loudly shout,"Long live his majesty!"
That was it!
This scene was relatively short. These palace maids were also extras, but they ranked a bit higher than Lu Ze's group: They were special extras. As long as they catwalked a few steps and showed a coquettish manner, their work was done. However, the second scene was completely stuck, because the female lead couldn't cry!
Lu Ze was familiar with his female lead. She was a second rate actress, a graduate of opera school. An opera school student unable to shoot a crying scene, what a joke! Pouring eye drops and rolling her eyes yet breaking into laughter every few moments, she was completely slowing down the tempo.
Due to the excessive delay while the director talked with the female lead, it was time for Lu Ze and the rest to relax. Finding an empty corner and lighting up their cigarettes, the group of extras began chatting with each other.
"Ai, seems like the shooting is gonna take a while this time. I'm starving! It will be past five, f*ck me!"
"Past five? Even if it's five oclock tomorrow morning, won't you still shoot? Hey Little Ze, when did you arrive today?" An old, veteran extra patted Lu Ze's shoulder and asked.
"Today huh...I was here at six and a half. It's fine, the first one was over by eleven. But this one...I wonder how long it will take." Lu Ze rubbed the cigarette butt on the ground and yawned. Yesterday, he got off from work at twelve and only had about five hours of sleep in total, causing him to feel terrible.
"Extras! Where the hell did you run off to? Don't you know we have a shoot going on?"
It was clear from the director's howl that his mood was far from good. The six extras hurriedly jumped to their feet and rushed to the director, apologizing with chuckles and smiles on their faces.
As the shooting resumed, everybody was astonished. Where was the female lead? Were they not shooting the crying scene?
Sure enough, she was taking a rest since she wasn't able to bring out the tears. Lu Ze looked around and discovered that she was beginning her lunch. Her meal looked quite good. She was eating an eight course meal by herself.
'So this is a bigshot…'
Lu Ze gulped before snapping back to attention and plopping to his knees,"Long live his majesty!"
...
The third scene took eight hours to shoot, finally concluding the shoot at nine o'clock. The female lead was actually a "dedicated artist". She never left before finishing all her scenes.
Not calling for a substitute was commendable indeed!
After shooting was over, Lu Ze's group still had to help carry equipment, sort wires, move boxes, and other such tasks. Once he was done with all the tasks, Lu Ze body seemed like a hot pickled mustard tuber from head-to-toe.
After changing back into his clothes, Lu Ze finally let out a sigh of relief, eagerly waiting for Liu Le to hand out his payment. He only lacked these hundred yuan!
"It's one hundred and twenty. The director said to give dinner compensation."
Just the extra twenty yuan made the group of six extras stunned, and they stared at the yellow-colored bill without saying a word. A seemingly eighteen-nineteen year old young extra even began to cry. This was not a matter of just twenty yuan, but a feeling of being valued. This director was a good person. At least, he treated extras as humans.
This was the first time Lu Ze had come across a situation where the director was compensating for the extras' meal. Suddenly, an apologetic sentiment toward the director rose in his heart. When the latter was cursing them, how many of them had not cursed him back in their hearts?
Thinking back to the director's fawning appearance before the female lead now, it was indeed quite miserable. It seemed like apart from the right to make movies, he had also taken the great responsibility of paying for several extras' meals.
Upon receiving the hundred and twenty Yuan, Lu Ze thanked Liu Le and left silently. Back on the way to home, he opened the system's interface.
"Conditions to unlock "Movie Emperor System" have been met. Unlock the system?(Yes/no)"
Lu Ze said 'yes' inwardly. There was no golden light shower nor any auspicious sign like a dragon or phoenix. The interface also remained the same, except it now had a lot more frames of all kinds. A dialogue box popped out on the interface, which read,"Congratulations, host has successfully unlocked the system and obtained the title of "Dazzling Supporting Actor". Host can browse the current course at will."