Trembling At A High Altitude

Chapter 16: Filming Officially Starts

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

“That’s right. There’s also another old saying in China—The good don’t live long, while scum lasts a thousand years.” Li Teng glared at Guo Zhipeng.

Li Teng could only lament his misfortune at this encounter.

At this point, things like begging for mercy and whatnot would only humiliate him further in vain. It wouldn’t change the situation in the slightest.

Thus, if he must die, then he would go with dignity. He mustn’t lose to the other party in terms of their attitudes in the confrontation.

Guo Zhipeng burst into raucous laughter. “Hahaha! As expected, the young man here is still as badly afflicted with the eighth-grader syndrome as ever. He doesn’t know to reflect upon himself even after suffering such a huge loss.”

Li Teng turned away.

Gao Fei looked at the two of them. From their conversation, he had concluded that they must know each other. In addition, their previous relationship had been rather delicate.

“Aren’t you going to say anything about what had happened in the past? Or do some serious reflection? I’m a pretty nostalgic person. If you say a few lines that please me, who knows, I may just change my mind?” Guo Zhipeng continued to make fun of Li Teng.

In his eyes, now that the mouse was in the cat’s clutches, it went without saying that he ought to play with it a little more before he bit it to death.

It was more fun that way.

Li Teng ignored him. Instead, he leaned over to Gao Fei and whispered into his ear, “Can I kill him before filming starts?”

“Don’t even think about it. You can give him a couple of punches to vent your anger, but if you cause substantial harm to other actors, you’ll be penalized for a large number of points. Besides, even if you do catch him by surprise and kill him, the film studio is able to revive him right away, while you, on the other hand, will be dealt with severely. So, it’s best that you don’t do it. There’s no point to it,” replied Gao Fei softly.

“Fine.” As though he had accepted his fate, Li Teng got up with a coffee cup in his hand and walked over to the coffee machine. After refilling it, he took another empty cup and walked back.

Li Teng sat back down on the bar chair after he returned to the table. He lifted a cup high and poured the coffee inside in a single flow into the other cup. Then, he picked up the other cup and repeated the same process.

The coffee was cooled in no time. When Li Teng finished it, he got up again to refill the cup.

“I’m talking to you, and yet all you know is to fiddle with that cup of coffee. Is that all you amount to?” Guo Zhipeng was terribly displeased with Li Teng’s senseless actions. He had thought that Li Teng would say something after he had refilled his coffee, but unexpectedly, Li Teng concerned himself only with the coffee and didn’t even make a sound.

“This coffee is pretty good. It packs quite a punch, too. The more I drink, the more excited I am.” Li Teng didn’t pay any attention to Guo Zhipeng. Instead, he continued to converse with Gao Fei beside him.

“Have some more, then.” Gao Fei could tell that Guo Zhipeng had likely developed thoughts of killing Li Teng. He had no idea how he should be consoling Li Teng at this point.

“F*ck! He’s incorrigible!” Upon seeing Li Teng’s refusal to give in—in fact, he was even ignoring him—Guo Zhipeng couldn’t help but fly into a rage from embarrassment.

“He’s insulting you.” Gao Fei pointed it out to Li Teng.

Li Teng didn’t think much of it. He continued drinking his coffee as he said, “If you encounter a dog that keeps barking at you on the streets, are you going to bark back at it? I just need to look for an opportunity to off him, and it’ll do.”

“You’ve got guts!” Upon seeing Li Teng’s refusal to yield to neither coercion nor cajolery, and how he simply refused to give in and plead for mercy, Guo Zhipeng could only end his cat-and-mouse game.

“It’s your turn now. Give me a reason why I shouldn’t pick you,” said Guo Zhipeng as he turned, somewhat impatiently, to the old woman beside Li Teng. Evidently, Li Teng’s attitude had thoroughly wrecked his mood.

The old lady spoke carefully, “I have a mentally disabled grandson, and my son has been diagnosed with cancer. I have to survive so that I can return to save them. Otherwise…”

Guo Zhipeng interrupted her impatiently, “Alright, alright! I’m not here to listen to all of you pouring out your woes!” Then, he looked at the last extra, who was a teenage girl, beside the old lady.

“Me? I have always been multi-talented since I was young. A lot of relatives and seniors have said that it would be a shame if I didn’t become an actress. I didn’t think that my wish would come true in such a way, haha. I’m very happy to be here. Of course, I don’t wish to become a wax statue. If that happens, I won’t have the chance to fully showcase my talents to the audience,” said the teen.

“What kind of talents do you have?” Guo Zhipeng finally found some entertainment again.

“Singing, dancing… I can do everything. I’ve participated in online contests, and I’ve even won quite a few times,” replied the girl.

“If you perform a striptease for us, I can consider letting you off the hook,” suggested a grinning Guo Zhipeng.

“What’s so attractive about a woman’s body? You stupid old man!” The teenage girl glared contemptuously at Guo Zhipeng.

“Oh, that you don’t understand. Hehe, let me slowly explain it to you…”

“Alright, cut it out! It’s time to work!” The woman in the sunglasses interrupted Guo Zhipeng with an impatient look on her face as she got to her feet.

Everyone also received audio prompts in their Bluetooth earphones. The ten-minutes-long interaction time had ended. Filming for the çar crash scene in Road of Ruin was officially starting!

None of the six extras had any lines. The prompts given by the earphones were also very simple. They were informed that they were to cross the street at a certain timing. They mustn’t run over, and they mustn’t be quick one moment and suddenly slow the next. They were to move at the speed specified by the director and walk over to the other side like normal pedestrians crossing the road.

The director decided the order in which the extras would appear and walk over. However, who the sports car would crash into while racing over at a speed of more than 100 km/h, and which extra would claim their box lunch, have their points deducted, and be turned into a wax statue, depended on Guo Zhipeng.

As the lead in this scene, the steering wheel was in his hands. Thus, he had the authority to decide.

Before Guo Zhipeng left, he cast one last sweeping glance at the others.

A few extras deliberately avoided his gaze. They were afraid that he would choose them, thereby becoming the unfortunate extra to claim their box lunch and be turned into a wax statue.

Li Teng flipped his middle finger at Guo Zhipeng. He knew that there was no escaping his doom today.

Although he didn’t want to become a wax statue and die in such a muddleheaded way, he knew very well that there was no use in saying anything to people like Guo Zhipeng, who had no concept of conscience or limits.

He could only depend on himself.

Guo Zhipeng made a cut-throat gesture back at Li Teng. Then, he put on his sunglasses and left with the woman in the sunglasses.

“He has a feud with you?” asked the female white-collar worker as she looked at Li Teng hopefully.

If there was a feud between Guo Zhipeng and Li Teng, leading to him choosing to crash into Li Teng, the others would be safe.

“Haha…” Li Teng laughed in embarrassment and continued to sip on his coffee.

“You’d be committing a big mistake if you really believe that there’s a feud between the two of them. This is a film set, and everyone’s an actor here. How can you know for sure that they weren’t putting on a show just now? Who knows if they actually have a close-knitted relationship? You may think you’re safe now, but when the car crashes into you, that’s when you’ll know that you had been wrong all this time,” said the old lady to the white-collar woman.

Li Teng glanced at the old lady, somewhat astonished. She had pretended to be so old and feeble just now, but she was actually a wily old fox! She sure had an active imagination.

“Besides, the script didn’t specify that only one person would be killed from the crash. There’s a chance that more than one person would die. Think about it, if the director arranges for the two of you to walk together…” added the old lady.

Upon hearing the old lady’s words, the white-collar woman’s expression, which had relaxed slightly earlier, became tense and bleak again.

Li Teng seemed as calm and collected as before. He continued to sip on his coffee.

“Stop drinking that. You’ve already filled your belly with coffee and practically made yourself into a ball of coffee. When the car crashes into you later and spills your belly of coffee everywhere, that sight… Tsk, tsk…” said the spectacled man. He couldn’t quite stand to watch Li Teng gulping down coffee anymore.

“You sure mind other people’s businesses a lot!” Gao Fei retorted on Li Teng’s behalf.

Gao Fei had only just said that when everyone’s expressions suddenly changed dramatically. All conversations died down at once, and the place instantly fell silent.