Trembling At A High Altitude - Chapter 46

Chapter 46: Returning To Their Respective Stone Pillars

The pretty boy hesitated. He didn’t want to answer, so he said, “That would be a separate question.”

Li Teng suggested softly to the woman in the sunglasses, “Do you know a lot about guilds? How about I ask you questions about guilds, too?”

She shook her head and replied, “I didn’t join any guild, nor have I made enemies with guild members, so I don’t really know about matters to do with this.”

The pretty boy thought for a moment and spoke again. He said, “Never mind, I guess I’ll answer your question.”

“There are also eight participants in a hell-mode performance. All of them are people who are being punished. There are only two outcomes at the end of it—the first is that only one among the eight actors survives, while the second is that all eight actors perish. That is why it is known as ‘hell-mode’.

“Or at least, I only know of these two outcomes. There isn’t any better outcome.

“It is simply too risky to stake your own life to gamble on the possibility that the other party has less than 100 points in their account! I advise all the newbies here not to mess around with self-destruction for no reason. There’s no benefit in it and is purely an action that not only harms others but also doesn’t benefit yourself,” said the pretty boy as he glanced at Li Teng.

Gao Fei snorted and replied, “When a newbie is pushed to his wits’ end, self-destruction will become the only choice he has left!”

Li Teng took the chance to add on to the question and asked, “So, what you mean is that if the ghost hadn’t been me during the scene just now but the demoni… the granny, if I had killed her on the bus while she was still sealed, I won’t be penalized 1,000 points immediately because she’s a guild member. Instead, I’ll be forced to participate in a hell-mode performance, while 100 points will be deducted from the granny. Is that right?”

“No, the plot of the scene just now is not a face-off style of performance. Both of you are actors of the same film crew, so the two of you don’t belong to opposing camps in the midst of a confrontation. Therefore, it doesn’t match the requirements that I had mentioned just now. In the case of the scene just now, if she had been the ghost instead of you, and if you had killed her on the bus, there will only be one outcome. You will be penalized 1,000 points, disqualified on the spot, and become wax-sealed.

“An example of opposing camps in the midst of a confrontation would be a scene set during World War II, where an actor belongs to the Axis Powers, and another actor belongs to the Allied Powers. In addition, these two characters must have a completely antagonistic relationship with each other. That is what a face-off style of performance is,” replied the pretty boy with a shake of his head.

“When a newbie is forced into a corner after being pursued by members of a guild, if it’s a face-off style of performance, he’ll have a sliver of hope at ending the story by self-destructing and perishing together with the other party, right?” asked Li Teng. He more or less understood now.

“You can attempt to end the story with this method if your opponent—that is, the guild member—has less than 100 points in his account. As for perishing together? Hmph, that’s not necessarily true. If you dare to do that, you’ll face the hell-mode performance where only one, or none, out of eight participants survives, while the other party will only be deducted 100 points. Should the other party have more than 100 points in his account, what you would have used your life in exchange for would just be 100 points from the other party.

“Even if the other party has less than 100 points in his account and becomes temporarily wax-sealed, if he has a certain degree of contribution to the guild and the guild judges that the price is not too high, the guild may take a small number of points from the guild’s funds and use them to save him. Therefore, I advise you not to entertain such thoughts. You won’t like the hell-mode performance very much at all,” replied the pretty boy.

If it weren’t for Gao Fei taking the initiative to ask about newbie protection, he actually didn’t want to let Li Teng know any of this.

However, since he had already revealed it, then there wasn’t much point in holding anything back anymore.

“Why do I have a feeling that this hell-mode performance is something prepared specially for you?” remarked the woman in the sunglasses to Li Teng in jest.

He replied, “My luck certainly hadn’t been very good during the first scene. However, things have already turned to my favor in this scene.”

Needless to say, Li Teng had no desire to experience the so-called hell-mode performance.

The spectacled man sighed. “He’s certainly a lucky bastard.”

He had thought that Li Teng was doomed for sure this time, and had been afraid the whole time that he would launch a counterattack or something with his high IQ.

Little did he think that he would win through such a method in the end. It was honestly too unexpected.

After Gao Fei’s question to the pretty boy, it was now Li Teng’s turn to ask the woman in the sunglasses a question.

He asked, “Does an actor have the power to choose his scripts and film crew after he levels up from an extra? From what level onward does an actor start to have this power?”

The woman in the sunglasses answered, “All I know is that an actor will have the power to choose his film crew when he levels up to a small guest extra. However, he won’t have the power to choose his scripts. At the end of every performance, he can check the terminal or equipment linked to the terminal, such as a cell phone and so on, for a list of film crews that he can join for his next performance.

“The film crew he was originally in will also be listed. For small guest extras like myself, one more film crew will also be listed as an additional option. You can also see information related to the new film crew by tapping it to reveal more information. If I don’t wish to join the new film crew, nor do I wish to stay in the original film crew, I can also choose to refresh the list and look for other film crews once at no cost. Actors whose levels are higher than mine can probably refresh the list more times than me.”

“That must be how the demonic granny had found me, right? She must have refreshed quite a few times, found our film crew, tapped to see related information, and discovered that I’m here…” Li Teng had more or less figured it out by now.

The woman in the sunglasses added, “There are benefits to leveling up to a small guest extra as quickly as possible, too. If you can’t bring yourself to stay in a film crew anymore, you can switch film crews anytime.”

The director gave the woman in the sunglasses 1 point for her answer.

It was now the teenage girl’s turn to ask the pretty boy a question.

She asked, “I’d like to know why we’ve been sent to the stone pillars? Does the world we came from still exist?”

She had been rather excited during her first filming session because her dream was to become an actress.

However, after experiencing two filming sessions, she now developed thoughts of retreating.

Evidently, this wasn’t the kind of filming she had wanted to do.

There wasn’t much of a plot, and there was even the risk of dying any moment.

The pretty boy shook his head and said, “This question is too difficult. I can’t answer it.”

This was a question at the root of everything. Even some of the high-level and extremely experienced actors he knew didn’t have the answer to this.

Of course, it was also possible that they did have the answer, just that they didn’t tell a small actor at the bottom tier like him because of certain reasons.

The girl had no choice but to change her question. She asked, “Is there any way for us to contact our family members in the outside world?”

“No,” answered the pretty boy very certainly.

The Q&A segment came to an end. It was now time to handle additional affairs.

As there weren’t any additional affairs to take care of, they skipped over this segment.

It was then time for everyone to head to the airport, where the helicopters would send them back to their respective stone pillars.

The woman in the sunglasses stood and said to Li Teng, “Come here, there’s something I want to tell you.” Then, she walked over to a far empty corner of the street.

“What is it? What are you acting so secretive for?” Li Teng’s brows drew together, but he still followed her over, nonetheless.