Chapter 23: New Movie: Lin Daiyu vs Lu Zhishen!

I don’t know…

I don’t even know what I’ve been doing these past two days…

I built a lot of model houses out of dirt…

I made a small moat…

I used some drinks to fake blood plasma…

…

No matter what props I make, Zhou Zong always praises me…

He says, “Incredible!”

He says, “Excellent! You’re unquestionably the world’s greatest prop master!”

He always finds ways to praise me…

I even suspect he’d say my poop is well done!

…

…

July 3rd.

The first day of filming for “Love Ferris Wheel”…

An Xiaoshi sat motionless in front of the camera all day.

In this movie, she felt completely like an outsider.

Script explanations were handled by Zheng Yichen; plot progression and production schedule were managed by dedicated staff…

She couldn’t help offering some suggestions about the plot, but they were immediately dismissed.

Watching the first scene—the female lead crashing into the tycoon’s luxury car—An Xiaoshi simply could not connect the tycoon in her mind with Chen Liang, this greasy, posing actor.

The dissonance was overwhelmingly strong!

Moreover, during the filming of the first scene, for some reason, she felt this movie was doomed.

3 p.m.

After finishing the first scene, she returned alone to the production office.

She called the prop master of the “Sun Wukong vs Superman 2” crew to check on the filming progress.

Then she sharply noticed that the prop master, Liu Fang, seemed to have undergone a subtle change in mental state.

“Everything was done in one take? Doesn’t Zhou Zong or Shen Dao have any complaints at all?”

“No! Everything was one take…”

“How far along is the movie now?”

“We’ve shot a third already. Right now, we’re working with some mechanics from the [Si Ling Auto Repair Shop] on the final boss—a mechanical monster’s makeup and design…”

“What! Already a third done?”

“We’ve only been shooting for four days, right?”

Even though An Xiaoshi had seen it all, when she heard this, she couldn’t help but narrow her pupils!

“Yes, the original plan was 15 days, but Zhou Zong seems determined to finish all footage in 10. Now we’re shooting random footage during the day and editing at night. I just heard Zhou Zong’s schedule—the movie is set to release on July 11th…”

“???”

When An Xiaoshi heard this, she had no words to describe her emotions.

July 11th?

Had she heard correctly?

She checked the date!

It was already July 3rd—so they had only eight days left before release?

Wait…

Don’t they need censorship approval?

Even if they took the fast-track route, still…

Would any audience actually go watch this movie?

At this moment!

An Xiaoshi’s eyes widened in shock—a deeper unease surged in her heart.

She had originally planned to introduce a distribution company for this movie, but now…

Maybe she should just drop it?

Wait—filming this fast? Isn’t this obviously a total disaster?

…………………………

“Hello? Is this Mr. Xu from [Star River Cinema]? This is Zhou Yang. We talked before about [Star River Cinema] investing. Do you remember?”

“Yes, but I’m still considering the investment. However, I have a movie scheduled for release on July 11th—if your cinema has no film playing then, I can grant you the rights…”

“Yes, I’ll grant you free screening rights… and we’ll split the box office.”

“Right, standard industry split—55/45.”

“It’s an Eastern fantasy sci-fi movie… investment isn’t huge—around three million yuan.”

“Yes…”

“…”

July 5th.

Who could have imagined…

In just about eight days, the movie’s plot was already halfway done?

At this moment, Shen Long, hunched over his computer, editing footage until his scalp ached, had stopped worrying about the filming pace.

He felt these past few days were the darkest of his entire film career.

One minute of action…

At Zhou Zong’s request, it was cut to five minutes, then extended to seven.

The movie’s plot had completely devolved into childish nonsense…

The actors showed zero acting skill; on camera, their movements were absurdly exaggerated, just trying to look cool.

The dialogue was excruciatingly cringey…

After finishing his scenes, Chen Jianfeng sought out Shen Long and, in the most despairing tone, said: “I think after this movie finishes, I’ll be going to meet my great-great-grandma!”

Shen Long barely held back his emotions in response to Chen Jianfeng.

Every day after filming, cinematographer Zhang Yunyi would sit alone in the bathroom smoking, and he’d smoke until midnight…

The only one even slightly normal was the prop master, Chen Fang…

Chen Fang was praised daily by Zhou Zong; no matter what prop he produced, Zhou Zong would lavish praise and immediately incorporate it into the film.

A bad movie…

That term couldn’t even describe this movie anymore.

It was simply…

Disastrously, earth-shatteringly bad!

After watching the barely-edited half of the plot, Shen Long instantly felt the world spinning…

He felt he, too, might soon meet his great-great-grandma.

And what about Zhou Zong?

In the rented apartment.

Shen Long watched Zhou Zong making call after call to cinemas.

These days, Zhou Zong had been contacting cinemas across the country…

Shen Long had specifically checked—these cinemas were all on the verge of bankruptcy or poorly managed.

Another similarity: they were all located near schools…

…

In the rented apartment.

After hanging up the phone, Zhou Yang looked at Shen Long’s pale face.

“Zhou Zong, do you think this editing is okay?”

Zhou Yang lowered his head, looked at the mind-blowing scenes Shen Long had cut, and nodded approvingly: “Good. But I feel it’s still missing something…”

“What’s missing?”

“How about some special effects?”

“Special effects?”

“Yeah. By the way, Shen Dao, you know how to do computer special effects, right?”

“…”

Shen Long was stunned. He pointed at himself and took a deep breath: “Me? Do special effects?”

“Yes!”

“I don’t know how!”

“You can learn!”

“Wait, how do I even learn?”

“Don’t worry! Just make me some effects—like this laser, let’s just… ” Zhou Yang hesitated, then mimicked Ultraman firing a laser beam.

"I don't know how to do special effects..." Shen Long gasped in shock at this sight.

"What if we use filming techniques to compensate? Like lighting or camera angles..."

"I..."

"You two should talk it over with Director Zhang. You're both so talented—just get me that effect, you understand? You can do it!"

"????"

"Back in the day, TVB was broke too, but they found ways. Our crew, right? We can find a way too!"

"????"

"I think, with your talent, the special effects you create wouldn't be much worse than something like 'Superman II,' right?"

"..."

Looking at Zhou Yang’s serious expression, Shen Long was left staring blankly.

Not much worse than 'Superman II'?

Us?

Maybe...

Director Zhou!

What kind of nonsense are you talking?

Is that even human speech?

You're asking us to create a ten-million-yuan effect on a hundred-yuan budget?

"By the way, after this film wraps, I've applied for another movie project for us..."

"What project?"

"A Chinese wuxia film: 'Lin Daiyu Fights Lu Zhishen'!"

"..."

"What the hell!"

The moment Zhou Yang blurted it out, Shen Long turned pale with shock.