Chapter 164 - Group Performance
translator: xiin
editors: apricot & juurensha
Next to the film city, under the low hotel wall.
The scent of an egg wrap with sesame sauce and scallions floated along the night wind.
Wu Jin looked up at the pancakes, then looked at the fishing rod.
The fishing line swayed upwards.
Wu Jin raised his head.
The fishing rod continued to rise.
Wu Jin stood up on the artificial stones of the garden.
The line shortened, and the fruit wrap was lifted up over the edge of the wall––
Wei Shi retrieved the fishing rod.
Beneath the dim yellow street lights, the small fluffy curls first appeared from the other side of the low wall, and then a pair of eyes and a portion of the small round face.
Wu Jin’s eyes were wide and round.
Wei Shi shook the fishing rod and lured the wild Little Witch that had grown out of the wall, “Come out and eat.”
A few minutes later, Wu Jin sported a cap as he jumped out of the hotel’s back door.
However, Wei Shi kept the fruit pancake he’d used as bait for himself, and tossed the still hot bag with the second wrap that he’d kept in his arms to Wu Jin.
The street lamps lengthened their figures and caused their shadows to overlap.
Before Wu Jin could finish racking his brains to think of something to say, Wei Shi had taken out a bottle of hand sanitizer from the basket of the bicycle.
Wu Jin obediently queued up to clean his hands.
Wei Shi squeezed quite a lot of it into the palm of his own hand, then said thoughtfully, “There’s too much.” Then, he used his eyes to indicate that Wu Jin should stretch out his little paws.
Wu Jin: “......”
Wei Shi covered his hands in an overbearing manner, squeezing out more hand sanitizer and directly rubbing their hands together.
Their palms touched.
It seemed as though there was a numbing, shocking electric current that jumped from where their skin touched, leaping through his spinal cord directly to the center of his brain. Wu Jin froze.
––It had happened again!
––Ahhhhh, the high definition movie projector was playing again!
Wu Jin struggled not to get caught up in these fragmented ‘memories’, but it was as though his mind was reflecting inside a prism.
On the sci-fi channel, Mr. Wei turned around while wearing a silver and blue mask, standing against a dreamy, cyberpunk background; on the historical channel, Mr. Wei wore a baroque King’s cloak and declared Wu Jin as the only officially appointed King’s mistress in France... there was also a metaphysics channel, a gunfight channel, a nature channel, showing an expressionless Wei Shi, a Wei Shi with slightly curved lips, a sexy and aroused Wei...
Wu Jin: “!!!” How come it could switch channels and replay?! This must be a preset high definition TV box––
The memories finally stopped on one scene.
Inside Floating City, the fluorescent lights glowed. The man wore a mask as he wiped hand sanitizer made of an unknown substance onto his palm. Colored bubbles floated up. Wu Jin huffed and blew out a stream of air, and a stream of bubbles hit Wei Shi’s face. The man laughed and said in a low voice, “Close your eyes.”
The scene overlapped with the present.
Next to the film and television base, beneath the warm street lamps.
The hand sanitizer had long been rubbed dry by Wei Shi. The youth who was short on breath in the consciousness world suddenly felt a sense of connection. His eyes opened abruptly.
Wei Shi was standing very close to him.
The man’s eyes were so deep they seemed bottomless. His posture was extremely aggressive as he cornered Wu Jin against the wall. He followed his own desires and wanted to thread his fingers into the frightened and dazed small curls.
On the other side of the communication channel, Arjun knocked on the table and howled wildly, “The range of fluctuations for Little Witch is rising, keep going and raise the threshold values, Brother Wei, go! Do Little Witch––”
Researcher Song covered Arjun’s mouth, “Brother Wei, take it easy. Why is Little Witch on alert again? Don’t act rashly...”
Wu Jin swished away, performing a tactical maneuver and escaping from beneath Wei Shi’s hand.
Wei Shi looked at the small curls that felt very good to touch and retreated like a gentleman.
The night breeze blew gently.
Wu Jin hugged the fruit wrap and ate it happily, “Where does Mr. Wei live&#k2026;”
Wei Shi pointed at the resort in the distance.
Wu Jin looked at this rich big boss in reverence, “Is Mr. Wei here for a holiday?”
Wei Shi: “Chasing stars.” In the next moment, he untied the plastic bags he’d placed in the bicycle basket, showing the hand sanitizer, Lycra camera, support cards, and support station work permit as well as Wu Jin’s support station stickers.
Wu Jin blushed and stuttered as he thanked him for his support.
Each idol felt extraordinary gratitude towards their support station sisters, and they also felt grateful to their front-line fans. Wu Jin had originally already had an inexplicably good impression towards Wei Shi, let alone after learning that Mr Wei hadn’t collected any red envelopes from Brother Chen––
Before they parted, Wu Jin tried hard to do everything he could to express his gratitude.
Wei Shi wanted to stroke the small curls, but Wu Jin dodged again.
The two disappeared into the night in different directions.
Wu Jin entered the hotel lobby and quickly took out his cell phone.
Wei Shi returned to the resort and instantly stepped out of the treatment cabin.
Wu Jin trembled as he queried in the search bar: ‘Delusions’, ‘Is it a sickness for one’s brain to make things up’ ... Then, he quickly consulted a forum for more help, ‘Having fantasy visions after knowing someone for a day, and always feel like the other party wants to kiss me, what to do??’
Wei Shi left the treatment cabin and went straight to the sleeping Wu Jin in the cabin beside him, wantonly rubbing at the small curls
Not letting him touch? Can’t touch these in the consciousness world? Hm?
In the consciousness world, Wu Jin shivered when he saw a netizen’s reply.
Outside the consciousness world, Wei Shi finished petting Wu Jin and was barely satisfied.
In the data monitoring room next door, Researcher Song detected that Wei Shi had come out and immediately knocked on the door, “Brother Wei, Little Witch’s test sheet results from before has just come out. He was resistant to N-type memory drugs, but it only lasted 24 hours. I’m wondering if it was also delayed the last time he was injected and had his memory erased?”
“Where did Little Witch appear the first time? White Moonlight building’s trainee registration office? ...”
R-Code: “Also, the consciousness world does reflect reality. Brother Wei, you said before that you saw Red singing rap. It’s 80% likely that Little Witch saw Mao Qiukui before through a crack in the door of R-Code Base. Personally, I tend to believe that some of the things that happened in R-Code Base were projected into Little Witch’s consciousness in a different way...”
By the time Wei Shi lay down in the treatment cabin once again, the sky outside the film and television base was already bright.
Time had passed by quickly once again. Wei Shi looked at the mobile phone and stopped suddenly.
It had been a week since they last met.
Wei Shi went out immediately.
The taxi sped over to the film and television base while Wei Shi looked through the information on his mobile phone. Over the past week, the position battle had already been broadcast, and Wu Jin’s rap dropped him to a B rating from his original A. There were many doubters on Weibo.
However, the professional fan team that had received 100,000 dollars from Wei Shi was working hard to fight against the haters, and constantly comforted the fans, “Little Witch’s luck was bad, and he drew rap. He’ll definitely make a comeback in the next round’s MV shooting ! <The Little Elf Prince> is like a theme made specially for him––”
At the film and television base, Wei Shi quickly got out of the car. The scene that unfolded in front of him was completely unexpected, “......”
The film and television base was at peak levels of activity.
Countless reporters, paparazzi, entertainers, and fans blocked the main entrance to the film and television base. Cameras and video equipment could be seen everywhere, and there were a few trainees’ station sisters squished up against the wall.
Wei Shi made a decision on the spot and headed to a side door.
The guard at the door blocked Wei Shi skillfully, “This is the channel for performers. Do you have any identification?”
Wei Shi turned and went to a corner out of guard’s sight and drew out six 100 dollar bills from his pocket. Soon, he was holding a group performance license.
The guard at the door looked at it for a long time in puzzlement, “Zhang... Cuihua? Male?”
Wei Shi: “The name is taken from Wudang’s Seven Swordsmen, Zhang Cuishan.”
The guard: “... Ah, your face doesn’t match either, you’re much more handsome!”
Wei Shi was expressionless as he gestured for the guard to hurry up with the inspection, “Cosmetic surgery, for fame.”
The guard suddenly understood and let him through, “Alright, you really are the same person!”
Wei Shi retrieved his group performance identification and went to find the XX talent show group. Unexpectedly, the talent show group was short on funds and weren’t recruiting any performers.
Wei Shi walked around the venue and finally found a filming group next to the talent show group, and adjusted his cameras and positioning.
This location was very close to the site where Wu Jin was located. There was nothing blocking the way in the middle, so the crew had pulled out a rope to act as the boundary.
At this time, most of the trainees were indoors. Wu Jin had just finished <The Little Elf Prince>’s choreography. His gaze slid across a window, and he was suddenly very happy.
In order to give the ‘support station brother’ a suitable shot, Wu Jin hopped and danced around near the window.
Wei Shi adjusted the focus.
In his ear, Arjun was giving him a rundown of the material he’d just collected, “A support station sister is happiest when they accidentally take a photo of their idol looking at the camera...”
And in the camera, Wu Jin had practically stuck his head out the window to stare at him.
Arjun: “Chasing the entire journey, following the filming, and being a front-line fan. You become everything I am through the lens. It’s a magnificent and grand secret love...”
His mobile phone vibrated slightly. Wu Jin had sent him a text message saying that he was sorry, but it was really too hot. He asked Mr. Wei to go and stand in the shade of a tree, where a small camp stool had been set aside.
Arjun: “Holy shit, this one is so sensational! As an idol, you have all of me, but I only have the you that exists right now––”
Wei Shi picked up his mobile phone and was just about to reply to Wu Jin when someone patted him on the shoulder.
The crew next from next door looked unhappy, “Star chasing? This is our territory. If you’re not acting in a group performance, then don’t get in the way and make trouble––”
Wei Shi took out the group performer identification from his pocket.
The crew member was stunned.
This man was wearing black suit trousers, a white shirt, and sunglasses. He didn’t look anything like a group performer.
He looked more like a group model.
Group models, who were used for bit part roles, needed to have good temperaments and good appearances. They appeared frequently in important scenes and were often used as soldiers, bodyguards, or ministers positioned around the protagonist...
Wei Shi was quickly brought over to the <Poison Concubine In The Modern World> series by the team.
The co-director who’d just been having lunch, accepted the group performer card and almost burst out into laughter, “Zhang Cuihua? Male? Let me see––”
Wei Shi removed his sunglasses.
Co-director: “... That’s it! The cannon fodder villain is still lacking a person, the kind that can have a gun fight with the female protagonist... What about martial arts? Come, someone tell him how to shoot the fight––”
Next door.
Wu Jin finally confirmed that each of his teammates had learned the choreography for <The Little Elf Prince> and let out a sigh of relief.
By the time he looked out the window again, Wei Shi had disappeared.
The outdoor sun was too intense. Wu Jin was finally relieved and wandered around to get more familiar with everyone.
Ever since Wu Jin dropped from A to B, the other trainees’ hostility towards him had gone down a lot. The crew next door had set up a shooting range, and the <Special Combat Elite> team was currently studying the prop guns with interest.
“This gun must be fake!”
“It’s real, right... there’s a serial number on the bottom.”
“How could a prop be real?!”
Several empty shells were also placed near the guns. They didn’t hurt much, but were good for the visual effect and made post production rendering more convenient.
One of the trainees came from a good family and had been taken to an indoor shooting range before when he was young. He immediately volunteered to teach his teammates how to play with the guns. The camera in the room was quickly adjusted to focus on the team.
The trainee held his teammate’s arm and corrected his posture. He fired two rounds of empty shells, and the prop gun was shaken askew by the recoil––
“Don’t!”
The hand holding the gun was suddenly pressed down by a powerful force. Both people staggered at the same time, and the prop gun had already been snatched away by Wu Jin. Then, Wu Jin’s hand moved as fast as lightning as he pulled back the gun safety lock, unloaded the bullet, removed the empty chamber, and placed the gun in a place out of reach of the two.
The trainee who’d stood up before was stunned for a whole few seconds before coming back to his senses, and his expression wasn’t happy, “Wu Jin, what are you doing?”
Wu Jin lifted his head.
The several other trainees suddenly felt chills spread down their back. Wu Jin usually looked soft, but at this moment, his eyes seemed quenched by fire, and his expression was cold and distant. For a moment, the first trainee even had the illusion that Wu Jin had shot someone before.
Wu Jin gestured to the trainee, who had just shot the gun, to stand in his original position, then handed over the unloaded gun.
“Do you see that?” Wu Jin spoke one word at a time. “He’s right handed. The strength of his right hand is stronger than his left. The left hand is unable to control the gun, so the muzzle of the gun will turn towards the left due to the recoil. You’re standing next to his weaker left hand, and you’d be the first to end up hit by the bullet.”
“When teaching continuous firing, the coach must stand on the side of the student’s dominant hand. This is the most basic level of gun safety. Got it?”
The trainee who’d called himself a shooting teacher suddenly seemed to be reminded of something.
However, the camera was still filming, so he left without saying another word. The rest of them were all surprised as they looked at Wu Jin.
When it came to personal safety, Wu Jin had really gotten angry.
The person who’d previously been holding the gun quickly thanked Wu Jin. Wu Jin shook his head to show that it wasn’t his fault, but when he calmed down again, he was stunned.
Who am I.
Why do I know how to shoot.
How do I know where the gun safety is? How did I push out the bullets––
Wu Jin: “!!!”
However, matters didn’t end there. It was unknown what the previous trainee had said to the director, but a few minutes later, the director had a benign smile on his face when he came over to find Wu Jin, “Someone told the program group that you interfered with the rehearsal for <Special Combat Elite>. Each group’s choreography is put together with painstaking effort, so having other trainees know of it in advance is very unfair.”
“We discussed it with the producer. It just so happened that the other party wanted to join the performance group for <Elf>. Little Witch, how about you switch with him? You can come to <Special Combat>...”
The remaining three members of the <Special Combat> team were pleasantly surprised.
The average strength for this group wasn’t high. It had already been two days, but their choreography hadn’t been completed. Gun fighting dances were rare both at home and abroad, and it couldn’t be copied from somewhere else even if they wanted to plagiarize. Having Wu Jin would really be a big help to the team.
The team voted 3:1.
Wu Jin’s eyes were wide and bewildered.
It wasn’t until evening that the trainees were finally let out in groups of twos and threes.
The player who’d been transferred to the <Elf> group was now following his teammates and learning the dance that Wu Jin had choreographed.
Wu Jin watched his own choreography for a long time. It wasn’t until his teammates came up to inquire about it tentatively that he finally showed a faint smile, “It’s okay! I still have to think about the gun dance––”
It was soon nighttime.
Wu Jin was the last one to walk out of the dance room. The program group locked the door behind him.
Wei Shi stood outside the door.
Wu Jin was stunned.
Wei Shi: “What is it.”
Wu Jin pondered, “I’m-I’m thinking about choreography... dancing with a gun in hand, it doesn’t look right no matter what.”
Wei Shi beckoned, “Come here.”
Wu Jin let out a soft cry and followed his intuition, skillfully following behind this big brother to the filming group next door.
The crew next door had already closed up for the day.
The crew was still in high spirits, and the stage manager gossiped with his colleague, “That Brother Cuihua, our martial arts instructor wants to worship him as his teacher! Oh, his aura is so amazing when he holds a gun! The director wanted to hire him for 1000 dollars, but he didn’t want it! He just held up a camera and photographed the group of trainees. What do you think he’s here for? He doesn’t want to be filmed, yet he’s a group performer. It can’t be that he’s here to chase stars, right...”
Wei Shi drew near.
The two of them came to attention and made their greeting together, “Cuihua... Brother Zhang!”
Wu Jin: “???”
Wei Shi: “Let me borrow the prop warehouse.”
The stage manager waved, “Use it, use it! Our props are honored to be used by you––”
Wei Shi nodded.
The door to the prop warehouse opened.
Numerous simulation guns were densely packed and put on display.
Wu Jin’s breath suddenly came short.
Wei Shi casually threw him a gun, “Imitation Smith Wilson, XVR460. One of the fastest revolvers.”
“One of your favorite guns.”
Wu Jin was stunned, “Why!”
Wei Shi: “Because it’s lively and cute.”
Juurensha: WS expressionlessly: This is a lively and cute gun, pyon, take it, pyon
Little Witch: ?????
xiin: WS is a boss wherever he goes~
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