Chapter 188: *Now You See Me* and the Enemy of a Lifetime of Immortal Secrets

*Now You See Me* is being released globally simultaneously this time, truly without any time difference.

In Beijing, Liu Yifei, who had wrapped up filming just a few days ago, and her best friend Shu Chang appeared in a remote little cinema wearing hats and masks, having specifically chosen the evening screening.

There was no helping it; this wasn't more than a decade later, and far too few people wore masks when going out.

In fact, it is quite normal for stars to go out to watch movies in private, and it wouldn't be a big deal to be recognized, but Liu Yifei is relatively low-key and still hoped to avoid trouble.

More importantly, if the media discovered she had come to watch *Now You See Me*, considering that Jing Tian was in it, there would likely be all sorts of speculation again.

Back when she landed her role in *Bodyguards and Assassins*, nosy media had already dug up that she and Wei Jin had a deep connection; after all, she was the first-generation "Jin Girl," and the two had known each other for a long time.

Also dug up at the same time were the other "Jin Girls," who all seemed to have ambiguous relationships with Wei Jin. For a time, the drama of several women fighting over one man was brought up repeatedly, and it was said that paparazzi had even gone to her home to block her.

Fortunately, Liu Yifei had been filming in Shanghai the whole time, so she was happy to have some peace, but she still felt a knot in her heart regarding the media's claims.

After quietly picking up their tickets, the two found seats in a corner to wait for the screening, and Shu Chang couldn't help but tease her best friend.

"Xixi, seriously, are you here to watch this movie for Director Wei, or for Jing Tian?"

"Of course it's for Brother Wei Jin; what does Jing Tian have to do with me?"

Liu Yifei shook her head in denial, took a sip of the milk tea she had just bought, and closed her eyes to enjoy it.

Female stars already have strict management regarding their diet, not to mention that Liu Yifei is naturally prone to gaining weight. Her management team and her mother had never let her drink it before; it was only after she got together with Wei Jin that Liu Xiaoli stopped monitoring her so closely.

This time, having arranged to see the movie with Shu Chang, with no one watching, she considered it a chance to indulge herself a little.

"Really?"

Shu Chang expressed doubt. The media might be grasping at straws, but she and Liu Yifei were extremely close and knew a bit of the inside story.

Regarding her best friend's choice, Shu Chang couldn't say whether she approved or disapproved, but judging solely by what Wei Jin had done, he was at least not a heartless or ungrateful man. However, Liu Yifei had quite a few competitors, and she felt a bit anxious for her friend.

Although Liu Yifei was indifferent on the surface, she took Jing Tian very seriously in her heart. Regardless of the status levels of the various generations of "Jin Girls" analyzed by the media, she knew this woman was her greatest enemy.

"Alright, stop talking, it's about to start."

Liu Yifei didn't want to continue this topic; she was here to scout the enemy's situation this time. She didn't believe in Jing Tian's acting skills—one had to know that when filming *Zhu Xian*, Jing Tian had brought an acting coach with her to the set. ——Coincidentally, there was a pair of such "best friends" in Hengdian walking into a cinema hand in hand.

"Shishi, how did you feel about participating in Brother Wei's movie before?"

Yang Mi looked at Liu Shishi with some envy. That was Wei Jin's movie, after all, and it was said that Wei Jin had invited her personally. She had known Wei Jin for several years, but she had never received any invitation to date.

Having joined the set of *Chinese Paladin 3* for a week, Yang Mi had quickly hit it off with the actors on set thanks to her high emotional intelligence and social skills, with Zhang Li and Liu Shishi being her primary targets.

Getting to know Zhang Li was naturally because she was an artist under Wei Jin's agency; Yang Mi thought about currying favor so that she could be introduced to resources in the future. Wasn't the female lead this time obtained thanks to Hu Ge's recommendation?

Getting to know Liu Shishi was because Yang Mi had accidentally discovered her secret.

On the first night after joining the set, Yang Mi had accidentally overheard Liu Shishi calling Wei Jin to invite him to attend the film's opening press conference.

This was an incredible discovery. Liu Shishi not only had Wei Jin's phone number but also seemed to be able to interact with him on equal footing, which led Yang Mi to speculate about their relationship. After all, everyone knew Wei Jin was a playboy.

Adhering to the philosophy of playing with whoever is strong, Yang Mi had reaped many benefits over the years, and she certainly couldn't miss this opportunity.

Liu Shishi was simple-minded, and with Yang Mi's fawning, the two soon became "best friends" who talked about everything.

Dragging Liu Shishi to watch Wei Jin's new work this time was partly to keep fishing for information, and partly to see why Jing Tian deserved Wei Jin's favor.

"What I did can't be called participating; it was just a cameo. I don't even know if I was on screen for a minute."

Speaking of *The Martian*, Liu Shishi felt a bit embarrassed, not knowing if she would even be able to find herself after it was released.

However, her best friend's envy still made Liu Shishi feel very satisfied. She wondered if she would have the chance to act in Wei Jin's movies again in the future.

Thinking of this, Liu Shishi felt she should listen to K Jie and take the initiative to contact Wei Jin; he seemed to have a good impression of her.

"That's still great. At least you have a foot in the door; if there are any projects in the future, you'll be able to get a word in..."

"Shh, the movie is starting." ——The original version of *Now You See Me* is in English, and there is a Mandarin dubbed version in the country. Liu Yifei and Shu Chang naturally chose the English version; one had lived in North America since childhood, and the other was from a foreign studies university, so their English was quite good, not to mention there were subtitles.

Yang Mi and Liu Shishi's English was a bit worse, so the two chose the Chinese version.

As soon as the movie started, Captain America, the 【Magician】, appeared, performing a flashy card cut with a devil-may-care attitude, drawing gasps from the audience.

Because this card cut wasn't a close-up of the hands, but a half-body shot of the actor, this meant the probability of relying on special effects was very low; it was highly likely the actor had truly learned this trick.

To film these few minutes of footage, Captain America had trained for nearly a month. Fortunately, he passed the test smoothly; otherwise, even Wei Jin wouldn't have been able to help.

Each of The Four Horsemen had a magic trick upon their entrance. The most stunning was the 【Hypnotist】 played by Ryan, who used micro-expressions during an interrogation to strip a man of his secrets completely.

"What are you thinking about? Beach, cocktail, going home..."

The man paused, and the Hypnotist immediately asked:

"What do you want to do when you get home? Party, watch a game, women..."

The man's expression panicked, and the Hypnotist concluded: "Women. It seems you aren't being honest. What is her name?"

The man grew anxious and hurriedly denied: "I don't know what you're talking about."

The Hypnotist ignored him and continued to ask with great interest: "A, B, C... J."

When he read the letter J, the Hypnotist noticed the man's eyelids twitch and stopped: "A name starting with J? Jane? Jessie? Jean? Julia..."

Seeing the man purse his lips, the Hypnotist stopped and looked at the woman beside him:

"Do you know Julia?"

The woman's face turned ashen: "She is my sister, this bastard's sister-in-law." The scene of him pressing step by step, relying solely on micro-expressions to drive a person to a breakdown, drew gasps from the audience.

"Xixi, this is too incredible, is hypnosis really that powerful?"

This scene was specifically changed by Wei Jin in the script. Combining it with the web series *Mao Pian*, he added a segment for the Hypnotist, instantly making it feel high-class.

The few characters who had appeared so far had all won the audience's approval; he was indeed Wei Jin.

However, the most anticipated one was still Jing Tian. For no other reason than that she was the only Huaxia person in the movie, the audience had been waiting for a long time.

As soon as Jing Tian appeared, both Yang Mi and Liu Yifei were staring with full concentration.

The escape magic shown on screen was also very visually effective, especially when the piranhas appeared, causing many in the audience to gasp.

However, Liu Yifei was more concerned with Jing Tian's figure. Jing Tian was in a tight-fitting suit, soaked through, revealing her perfect figure completely.

After comparing, Liu Yifei felt a bit heartbroken. She was already 21, and she was afraid she wouldn't have the chance to develop further; she had already lost in this regard.

On the other side, Yang Mi let out a disdainful sound. She was much older than Jing Tian, but listening to the wolf-whistles from many in the cinema, she seemed to have grasped the box office code. ——As the plot unfolded, one year later, The Four Horsemen officially appeared, holding a magic show in Las Vegas.

Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, a lucky person was teleported to a bank vault in Paris thousands of kilometers away, and then the entire vault's cash was emptied out.

The magic show was a huge success; via video livestream, the lucky person arrived at the vault, left behind a ticket and a playing card as evidence, and then the vault's ventilation fans sucked the cash into the pipes, while a rain of cash fell at the magic show venue.

Even more terrifying was that afterward, this Paris bank really discovered their vault was empty, with only the magic show ticket and playing card left behind as evidence.

This magic show made The Four Horsemen famous, and also left the audience outside the screen incredibly curious: how exactly was it done?

The FBI sent detectives to investigate, led by Iron Man Robert Downey Jr., with the policewoman Daddario as his partner.

The moment the two appeared, they drew gasps from the audience; one must know that "Iron Man" had just raked in 100 million in Huaxia two months ago, and if not for scheduling reasons, it likely would have easily earned tens of millions more; Robert Downey Jr. could be considered a well-known Hollywood actor in Huaxia.

As for Daddario, it was all thanks to her stunning figure; the scale of her chest made many in the audience gasp, earning her plenty of attention.

The story continued; the FBI arrested The Four Horsemen and interrogated them in various ways, but without evidence, they couldn't do anything to them, and were instead teased by The Four Horsemen.

The Magician even teased the policewoman, initially establishing a romantic pairing to pave the way for what followed and to plant foreshadowing for a sequel.

Later, through the old Black man's flashback reveal, the audience finally understood the principle; although there might have been some flaws in the details, the overall logic was sound.

This sense of satisfaction, subtly carrying the thrill of case deduction, left the audience fully satisfied and full of anticipation for the upcoming confrontation between the two sides.

The second large-scale magic show arrived; The Four Horsemen distributed the balance of a black-hearted insurance company tycoon to all the victims who had been cheated by this insurance company.

The magic was simple: create specific conditions, let the Hypnotist read minds, and finally obtain the account numbers and security passwords.

This segment of the film showed that the Four Horsemen were acting on behalf of heaven, robbing the rich to help the poor, establishing the overall theme and tone of the movie.

After all, just "stealing" might not be allowed for release in many countries, but by adding "robbing the rich to help the poor" and "fighting evil with evil," the censorship criteria would be much looser, and the audience could relate to it—after all, having a villain as the protagonist is a major taboo.

After the second magic show, the FBI and the Four Horsemen began their formal confrontation.

Previously, when the Magician teased the policewoman, he had already quietly swapped her phone, installed a tracker, and monitored the other party's movements.

Thus, after the second magic show, facing the FBI's pursuit, the Four Horsemen retreated calmly.

Subsequent developments exceeded the audience's expectations: the FBI used a counter-strategy, the Locksmith was buried in a sea of fire, and the old Black man was framed, but without any evidence to prove his innocence, he could only pin his hopes on the detective to help him clear his name.

Just at this moment, the biggest twist of the entire movie arrived: the detective who had just been analyzing the case with the old Black man was standing outside the prison cell, watching him with a calm expression.

The old man was stunned at first, then came to his senses and gave a desperate, bitter smile: "You are the Fifth Horseman?"

The detective nodded in silence.

The entire cinema audience exploded; although there had been some faint suspicion and guessing beforehand, such as why the Four Horsemen could obtain phones exactly the same as the FBI's, this twist still felt stunning.

Afterward, the camera flashed back, recounting the cause and effect of the story, and also letting the audience understand why the first two magic shows chose the Paris bank and the tycoon as targets.

The old Black man was finished; the detective finally thanked the Four Horsemen and resigned to join the Four Horsemen.

In the final shot of the movie, the policewoman appeared on a bridge, the Magician went to tease her, and the policewoman stated she would definitely bring him to justice.

"I look forward to that day coming soon."

The Magician waved his hand dashingly and left; just as the policewoman turned around, her hand held an extra card with the pattern of Cupid on it, along with the two words "thank you"; the policewoman smiled faintly, put away the card, and left the bridge.

The movie drew to a close, and the audience left the theater one after another; many were still discussing the plot just now, and Liu Yifei and Shu Chang were no exception.

"What does the final 'thank you' mean? Is the policewoman also one of them?"

"Probably not, but she must have sensed something earlier, yet didn't interfere, so he had to say thank you."

"Looking at the situation, they should be making a next one, right?"

"Hard to say, but judging from the plot and the setting, it can definitely be filmed."

Speaking of this, Liu Yifei couldn't help but sigh.

Jing Tian's role was indeed very brilliant; although it was an ensemble cast most of the time, whether it was her magic ability or her interaction with several teammates, it gave the audience an excellent viewing experience; the character design was very good, and the key was that her acting skills had visibly improved a lot—this was the biggest trouble.

Liu Yifei naturally paid attention to the project "Lucy"; she had a premonition that the choice for the female lead would be either Jing Tian or herself.

Originally, she felt Jing Tian's acting was not good and her own chances of winning were not small, but now it seemed her own acting didn't seem to clearly exceed hers either; this made it hard to say.

On the other side, Yang Mi was also sighing; even with a critical eye, she had to admit that this movie had the potential to be a massive hit; as the only Huaxia actor, and with a good character design in the film, Jing Tian was destined to become an overnight sensation, and she had made a profit again.

"Jing Tian, oh Jing Tian, why is it always you..."

First update of the day, I implore all book friends to reward me with subscriptions, follow-up reads, collections, monthly tickets, and recommendation tickets. Thank you everyone! (End of chapter)