Trembling At A High Altitude - Chapter 39

Chapter 39: The Old And Shabby Bus

Translator: Atlas Studios

Editor: Atlas Studios

The teenage girl, who was rather scared, hastily leaned closer to the white-collar woman, who reached over and wrapped her arm around the girl’s waist. She looked around at their surroundings rather fearfully, too.

Although she was traveling with quite a few people, the thing was, there was a ghost right among these companions of hers!

Upon seeing everyone’s reactions, Mrs. Guo couldn’t help bursting into loud laughter.

Being a ghost was great!

She could kill whoever she wanted and torment whoever she wanted. She could seek revenge on her enemies and avenge all of her grievances.

The higher an actor’s level was, the more special privileges they had. It would also become easier for them to earn points.

Crushing newbie extras like them was practically a piece of cake.

The scenery became even more dilapidated after they passed through a small forest.

At last, they reached the bus stop.

It was old and rundown, the kind in the wilderness that hadn’t had any care and maintenance for a very long time.

The long metal bench at the bus shelter was spotted with rust. Some of the rust stains even looked very much like old bloodstains.

The white-collar woman and the girl hugged each other upon reaching the bus stop. They looked very tense and nervous as they looked around them.

Gao Fei and the spectacled man were also rather pale.

Li Teng placed the bar chair down and propped himself up on it with his hands. He looked very calm and collected.

While breathing heavily, the pretty boy also placed Mrs. Guo’s bar chair down. Then, as he panted, he made a gesture of invitation to Mrs. Guo.

Mrs. Guo cast a cold glance at Li Teng. Then, she turned around and, with the pretty boy’s help, prepared to clamber heroically onto the bar chair that he had put down.

Another chilly gust of wind blew toward them.

“Ahhh!”

As though he had seen something terrifying, Li Teng suddenly let out a scream. His voice was deafening and piercing, sounding extremely loud and clear in the incredibly quiet bus stop.

Caught off-guard, everyone there got a huge shock.

Although they didn’t know why Li Teng had suddenly screamed, the white-collar woman and the teenage girl were scared so badly by him that they also started to scream.

The pretty boy, who was helping Mrs. Guo up the chair, was so shocked that both his hands that were supporting Mrs. Guo unconsciously let go.

Mrs. Guo, who was stepping on the horizontal bar at the bottom of the bar chair and about to get onto it, was also caught off-guard by Li Teng’s scream and received a huge shock. Her grip unconsciously loosened, and her foot slipped from the bar. Coupled with the fact that the pretty boy had also let go of her simultaneously, she fell from the bar chair at once.

Her mouth happened to knock right against the bar chair’s seat, causing her two front teeth to break instantly. Mrs. Guo let out a loud cry of pain as she covered her mouth.

Li Teng burst into laughter as he watched what had happened.

Then, he even took out a few cashew nuts that he hadn’t eaten earlier from his pocket and started to munch on them.

“Ouch!” cried out Mrs. Guo as the pretty boy helped her up.

When Gao Fei, the woman in the sunglasses, and the others understood what had just happened, their facial expressions turned very expressive.

The harsh atmosphere deliberately created by the scene was dispelled in an instant.

In cases of injuries an actor suffered before filming ended, as long as they didn’t die or suffer grievous injuries to the extent of becoming handicapped, the director would never discontinue filming to carry out the medical treatment in advance. Even if Mrs. Guo was in pain due to her broken front teeth, the only thing she could do was to bear with it for the time being.

The pretty boy shouted at the drone circling in mid-air, “I protest! Someone violated the rules and intentionally attacked others!”

A brief moment later, he shut up obediently.

Evidently, his objection had been overruled.

During the filming process, actors were strictly forbidden from attacking other actors or staff members arranged by the film crew based on reasons unrelated to the plot. Should such incidents take place, the director would stop them verbally at once. If the actors disobeyed orders, they would be penalized 1,000 points and disqualified on the spot.

Li Teng hadn’t committed an act of intentional harm against Mrs. Guo just now. He had merely played along with the on-site atmosphere and let out a scream to express the movie’s scariness. Therefore, there had been no intent on his part to attack anyone.

The others had also been shocked, but all of them were fine. At best, they had shivered a little.

Mrs. Guo had broken her front teeth from shock because she had happened to be climbing onto the bar chair at that time. Thus, she could only count herself unlucky.

The pretty boy’s sudden act of protest toward the director during the filming process was akin to a challenge of the director’s authority, so it was highly likely that he would receive a warning. Should he protest again after the warning, he would be disqualified right away.

Mrs. Guo cursed and threatened Li Teng as she bore with the pain, “Playing me for a fool with cheap tricks, aren’t you? Now that you’ve angered me, wait and see how I’ll torment you to death later!”

“Oh, I’m so scared!” replied Li Teng with a look of amusement all over his face. He continued to munch on the cashew nuts.

“Continue pretending all you want! You’ll be on your knees and begging me for mercy soon!” Mrs. Guo was so furious that she was gnashing her teeth.

At this point, she also became even more puzzled. Did Li Teng bring a bar chair here just to make her trip and break her front teeth? Had he predicted that she would also carry a bar chair here?

Surely not? No matter how impressive someone was, they couldn’t scheme something so distant in the future, right?

The spectacled man, on the other hand, found this rather unfair. In a low voice, he asked the pretty boy, “Why isn’t the director stopping him even after he has done so many unscripted things like carrying a chair, screaming out of the blue, and eating cashew nuts?”

“If the unscripted actions don’t affect the main plot, and if the acting is well-done and brings out the film’s atmosphere, they won’t be considered violations. The director won’t stop the actor, either,” replied the pretty boy grumpily. He had only voiced his objections just now to cover up the fact that he had loosened his hold from shock and caused Mrs. Guo to be hurt, in hopes that she wouldn’t notice his mistake.

The spectacled man mused for a while. He also wanted to be like Li Teng and carry out unscripted actions to make fun of Li Teng and Gao Fei while keeping to the rules. However, even after thinking about it for a long while, he couldn’t come up with any ideas.

That scheming Li Teng’s IQ was simply too high! Ideas on how to play people for fools came to him so easily. They couldn’t even say anything even if they suffered a loss because of him. People like him were simply too crafty and too detestable!

Nevermind, what’s the point of thinking so much? No matter how scheming or skillful he is at pranking people, he is doomed tonight. This is nothing more than just his final moments of desperate struggle before his death.

The spectacled man reckoned that Li Teng was just playing a few cheap tricks on Mrs. Guo while he was still alive, and trying to keep his dignity in front of the other actors in the crew. As for the film’s broad direction—in other words, the ghost killing someone and Mrs. Guo killing Li Teng—there was no doubt that it would be fulfilled.

When he thought of this, the spectacled man felt great all over and very carefree in his mind.

Even if Li Teng had framed him for eating three plates of snacks, he didn’t think much of it anymore.

Being alive was great!

Who would want to be turned into a wax statue and stand there still and unmoving?

Moreover, even up until this point, no one knew whether actors that had been turned into wax statues were conscious or not.

If the actors were conscious even as wax statues, just how painful and agonizing would that be?

They could neither live nor die!

…

After the short episode, a bus slowly approached from the far corner of the street.

It was an old and shabby bus. It even emitted the screeching of metal grinding against each other as it moved.

Hiss…

Clang!

The bus stopped in front of everyone.

It was very dark in the bus. The bus driver wore a black hooded top and had his head lowered, so no one could get a clear view of his looks. He was a staff member of the film studio. Unless the plot called for it, actors were not allowed to speak or interact in any other way with the driver.

The director informed everyone of their boarding sequence through the earphones, and they boarded the bus according to the stipulated order.

Li Teng even brought his bar chair up the bus and placed it at an empty spot beside the door.

The director didn’t stop him this time, either.

When Mrs. Guo saw that Li Teng had carried his bar chair up the bus without any problems, she gritted her teeth and got the pretty boy to carry hers up the bus, too. They placed their chair beside Li Teng’s.

You may have the Demon-Suppressing Chair, but this old woman also has the Devil-Vanquishing Chair! Who’s afraid of who?!

No matter what, she mustn’t lose in terms of momentum.

Everyone was perplexed at how Li Teng and Mrs. Guo had each brought a bar chair up the bus.

When other experts exchanged blows, their actions were known as a battle of magical powers and things like that. In their case, were they intending to have a battle of chairs?

After she boarded the bus and took a seat, the teenage girl finally couldn’t resist anymore. She asked Li Teng softly, “Why did you bring the chair up the bus? Is there any special meaning to it?”

The others also perked up their ears, hoping to hear Li Teng’s answer. This was a question that was rather inappropriate for them to ask.

Mrs. Guo also perked up her ears. Although she didn’t think that Li Teng would answer honestly, there was no harm in listening.