Trembling At A High Altitude - Chapter 54

Chapter 54: Clues

The director said, “You have two hours to film this scene.

“Within these two hours, if the defectors successfully fish out the resistance fighter and give him a cruel death, the defector team will win. During the whole filming process, the defectors can only kill a maximum of one person.

“Similarly, within these two hours, if the newspaper office members successfully protect the resistance fighter, leading the defectors to kill the wrong person, the newspaper office team will win.

“This performance is adversarial in nature, and points will be used as a wager.

“If the team you’re in wins, normal extras will receive 20 points each, small guest extras will receive 40 points each, and character actors will receive 80 points each. Conversely, if the team you’re in loses, normal extras will be deducted 20 points each, small guest extras will be deducted 40 points each, and character actors will be deducted 80 points each.

“Additionally, all surviving actors will also receive the amount of remuneration they deserve for a single performance, according to their respective levels.”

Huang Xun, the spectacled man, did a quick calculation and asked, “In other words, if we win, extras like us will get a total of 30 points?”

The director nodded and answered, “Yes.”

“What a profit!” Huang Xun looked delighted.

It was going to be hard for his defector team to lose in this scene! Moreover, he wasn’t required to do much, either. He needed only to coordinate with the defector chief, and that would do. Usually, he could only earn 10 points in a single scene, but he would be able to earn 30 points this time!

Li Teng also did some mental calculations.

Compared to a regular performance, a face-off performance like this certainly gave a lot more points.

The higher an actor’s level was, the more points they would earn. If the woman in the sunglasses, who was a level higher than him, won, she would receive 60 points. In the case of character actors like Feng Dahai, they would receive 120 points in just a single performance.

Adding to it the 100 points from the bounty on Li Teng’s head, if victory went to Feng Dahai at the end of the scene, he would receive 220 points!

As expected, people at the bottommost tier had the least amount of human rights. If one wanted more points, then leveling up was the true way to go.

However, this also implied something which reassured Li Teng somewhat—big bosses of higher levels in the Silver Wolf Guild likely wouldn’t be coming after him.

For example, actors a level higher than Feng Dahai could probably earn close to 200 points in any performance. In the case of face-off performances, they could earn even more. Therefore, they wouldn’t come after him just for the sake of a paltry 100 points.

It was just that if these people had that many points in their possession, why hadn’t they left the film studio yet?

There could only be two reasons for this—the first was that they didn’t want to leave, while the second was that they couldn’t. No matter how many points they had, they simply couldn’t leave.

Li Teng heavily suspected that it was the latter.

From the looks of it, that stone pillar probably wasn’t that simple. Perhaps the idea of using points to redeem a reduction in the stone pillar’s height was nothing more than just drawing a castle in the sky for newbies so that they would have the conviction to press on and survive.

If this was really the truth, then the truth was too cruel.

Forget it. There’s no point in thinking about all these now, anyway. I’d better think of a way to survive this scene before thinking about anything else.

“As everyone in the newspaper office is a newbie that doesn’t belong to any guild, regardless of whether the newspaper office camp wins or not, the actor that is killed will be covered under newbie protection. Therefore, they will not be wax-sealed immediately. Instead, they will be forced to join a hell-mode film crew and participate in a hell-mode filming session.

“Participants of both camps, please take note of your point balance. If you’re in the losing camp, but your point balance is insufficient for the deduction, your point balance will become negative, and you will be wax-sealed directly. This penalty is not covered under newbie protection!

“Before filming starts, the defector chief will choose someone among the six members of the newspaper office to be his hidden agent.

“All six members of the newspaper office, including the agent, will randomly receive a clue about the resistance fighter’s identity.

“At the same time as they receive the clue, one among the five editors who are not the agent will also be designated as a liar.

“During the defector chief’s interrogation, apart from the liar who can choose either to lie or to speak the truth, the others are not allowed to provide clues for no reason unless they are confessing. If they confess, then they must reveal the real clue that they had received.

“The criterion of a confession is that they must first say the two words ‘I confess’, and then reveal their clue.

“The defector chief can obtain a maximum of six clues, out of which, one may be false, while the other five are real.

“He must deduce the resistance fighter’s identity based on the clues he has obtained and kill them thereafter.

“The defector chief has only two hours to make his judgment!

“Regardless of whether the victim is the resistance fighter or not, the victim will face the penalty of joining a hell-mode film crew, due to their character’s death in the story.

“If the defector chief kills the real resistance fighter, the defector team will win, while the newspaper office team loses.

“If the defector chief kills the wrong person, the defector team will lose, while the newspaper office wins.”

The director explained the face-off rules in detail to all the actors.

“The resistance fighter is so pitiful. No matter what happens, they’re going to be thrown into the hell-mode film crew,” lamented the spectacled Huang Xun before he looked at Li Teng with a seemingly amused look.

Gao Fei retorted, “What nonsense! What if he isn’t the resistance fighter? Do you dare to kill him, then? Aren’t you afraid of having your points deducted?”

“Hehe, why do I feel that it’s just going to be him somehow? Even if it isn’t him, one of you is definitely going to hell, nonetheless.” Huang Xun had a gloating look all over his face.

“You traitor!”

“Aren’t you getting into it a little too soon? What the hell are you saying?”

…

Next, the six editors would receive their respective clues.

At the same time, the resistance fighter and the liar would also be determined.

The defector chief must also appoint one of the editors to be his agent at the Red Star Newspaper.

Everyone was brought into the cafe. This was their first time entering the cafe.

The cafe interior was divided into several small cubicles.

Everyone got a cubicle each.

There was a sofa chair, a coffee table, and a terminal in each cubicle.

Li Teng’s eyes lit up.

There’s actually a small plate of snacks on the coffee table!

He grabbed the plate and poured all the snacks on it into his mouth.

Isn’t this too little? It’s not filling at all.

Under the director’s arrangement, the six editors retrieved the clues corresponding to their own roles from their respective terminals.

Then, the system randomly selected someone to be the liar.

Only the liar knew of his own identity as a liar. The liar was also the one and only person that could report false information during interrogation, while the others were required to speak the truth after saying ‘I confess’ during interrogation.

If they broke the rules, they would be penalized 1,000 points and disqualified on the spot.

The liar was the only one who could make up a false clue to mislead the defectors after saying ‘I confess’.

Finally, the system also randomly selected someone to be the resistance fighter.

While the resistance fighter was aware of his/her own identity as the resistance fighter, the other editors also held clues pointing to his/her identity at the same time. It was possible that these clues might reveal the resistance fighter’s identity directly. However, it was also possible that a few clues needed to be pieced together before his/her identity could be determined.

After everyone retrieved their clues and confirmed their identities, the crew members led them out of the cafe. Then, they separated into two groups and boarded two different buses to the filming location.

Upon seeing Feng Dahai and Du Qing, the pretty boy, boarding one of the buses, everyone else chose to board the other bus.

Huang Xun wanted to board the same bus as everyone else in the original film crew, but he was kicked out of and chased off the bus by the others.

Left with no other choice, he could only board the bus that Feng Dahai and Du Qing were on.