Trembling in the Skies

Chapter 18: What Goes Around Comes Around

Li Teng didn’t head straight for the street; instead, he cast a furtive glance back toward the café and tentatively lifted the bar stool he’d been sitting on. When he realized no warning about breaking the rules came through his earpiece, he carried the stool toward the street. The director had said he couldn’t disobey her instructions, but it seemed that as long as she didn’t give any specific orders, he could still try to improvise a bit. “Why is he carrying that stool?” the man with glasses across the street muttered, looking puzzled. “The way he looks, it’s like he’s playing a thief stealing a stool,” the elderly woman chimed in. “Is it part of the script? Or is he improvising?” Gao Fei looked pensive. “Maybe he’s trying to use the stool to block the car from hitting him?” the female office worker speculated. “How could that possibly stop a car?” The man in glasses clearly disagreed with the office worker’s guess. “It’s better than having absolutely no protection or cushioning when you get hit, right? It’s death either way—might as well try anything!” The office worker’s tone and expression were now more relaxed; as far as she was concerned, they—the extras who had already crossed the street—were clearly out of danger. “Is he really going to get hit?” the young girl asked, looking with some concern at Li Teng, who had just stepped onto the street from across the way. Earlier, when she was most frightened, Li Teng had comforted her, and she’d developed a bit of a soft spot for him. “It can’t be helped—that’s just how life is,” the man in glasses replied to the young girl. “Yeah, there’s nothing we can do about it. If he doesn’t get hit, we will—someone’s got to bite the dust in this scene, right?” No sooner had the office worker finished speaking than she suddenly let out a shriek, her face turning ashen. She had just received a directive from the director through her earpiece, telling her that she had left a bank card in the middle of the street and to find a way to retrieve it! “I don’t even have my bank card on me!” the office worker protested desperately into the air. There was no doubt that Guo Zhipeng was about to charge out and hit Li Teng—if she went back to the middle of the street now, she might very well get dragged into the collision and sent flying too! “It’s required by the script—you must find a way to retrieve the bank card you lost in the middle of the street,” the director’s cold, commanding voice continued to ring in the office worker’s ears. The office worker’s eyes widened as she looked toward the middle of the street. Sure enough, there was a bank card on the ground—it looked like a contrived plot device. “My bank card fell in the middle of the street. Could one of you please go get it for me?” The office worker was a smart woman; the instruction only told her to find a way to retrieve the lost bank card—it didn’t specify that she had to go back for it herself. In a moment of desperation, she decided to ask the people around her for help. Maybe it would trigger a new plot twist? The man in glasses looked at the office worker as if she were an idiot… The implication was clear: going back into the middle of the street at a time like this? Are you stupid, or do you think we’re stupid? “You could ask him to help you get it!” The elderly woman also realized this might be a new plot twist, so she quickly pointed to Li Teng, who was carrying a barstool across the street toward them. “I’ll go get it for you,” Gao Fei interjected, taking the initiative to handle the situation. “Thank you so much! You’re such a kind person!” The office lady patted her chest, relieved that her quick thinking and sharp reflexes had allowed her to defuse the crisis in just a few words. “You’re welcome.” Gao Fei looked extremely grim, cursing under his breath the whole time. He didn’t want to be a hero right now, but moments ago he’d received instructions from the director through his earpiece, telling him to accept the office worker’s plea for help and retrieve the bank card she’d dropped in the middle of the road! This plot was just too ridiculous! He thought he’d finally escaped danger, only to be hit with this next ordeal! Was this some kind of prank? The urgent voice came through his earpiece again. Gao Fei sighed and had no choice but to walk back toward the middle of the street. Over there, Li Teng—carrying a barstool—was walking toward this side of the street, while Gao Fei was heading toward the other side. Li Teng was a bit surprised to see Gao Fei coming back, but he didn’t stop walking. He didn’t dare to stop. Following the director’s instructions through the earpiece, Li Teng and Gao Fei—this pair of fellow sufferers—reached the center of the street almost simultaneously. Once they reached the center of the street, Gao Fei, following the director’s instructions, bent down to pick up the bank card the female office worker had dropped. Just then, the shrill roar of an engine echoed from the direction of the alley entrance. Immediately afterward, Guo Zhipeng, driving a sleek and flashy sports car, burst out of the alley at high speed. After rounding the corner, he accelerated again and barreled straight toward Gao Fei and Li Teng in the center of the street! With such a short distance and such high speed, it was nearly impossible for the two of them to dodge the sports car that was deliberately barreling toward them. This was especially true for Gao Fei, who was bent over picking up the bank card; it was even harder for him to change his posture and escape than it was for Li Teng. At that moment, Gao Fei felt utterly despondent. He thought of his once-devoted girlfriend and reflected on his brief, unremarkable life. How lonely he felt—as lonely as snow! Several extras standing by the street all let out screams. Witnessing a car accident unfold so vividly and up close—seeing two living, breathing people, who had just been talking to them moments ago, about to be hurled into the air by the sports car—even if it was just an act, the scene still had an extremely powerful psychological impact on them. Guo Zhipeng had waited so long before starting the sports car; there was no doubt that his target was Li Teng, the man who had once reported him. As for Gao Fei, one could only say that the plot had caused him to suffer this undeserved misfortune. At that moment, Guo Zhipeng, his hands on the steering wheel, wore a savage grin, his heart filled with a fierce sense of vindictory satisfaction. Li Teng’s report had cost him his high-paying job at the company and forced him to waste hundreds of thousands to avoid a prison sentence—which made him hate Li Teng with a vengeance. He never imagined he’d get a chance like this today—to personally run Li Teng over. “What goes around comes around! Heaven spares no one! You’re finally in my clutches, you son of a bitch!” Guo Zhipeng floored the gas pedal, locking the steering wheel and the front of the car onto any direction Li Teng might try to escape. Almost the moment the sports car’s engine roared from the end of the alley, Li Teng reached out and violently shoved Gao Fei, who was bending over to pick up his bank card. With still no direction or command to stop from the director in his earpiece, Li Teng turned without hesitation, raised the barstool, and charged head-on toward the oncoming sports car. Just like a medieval knight on horseback, wielding a lance in single combat. Charging forward, never looking back. After Guo Zhipeng’s sports car passed the alley entrance, its speed instantly increased by several dozen yards. Seeing that Li Teng wasn’t even trying to dodge—but was instead charging straight at him with a barstool in hand—Guo Zhipeng couldn’t help but feel a bit puzzled. “What the hell is wrong with him!?” A moment later, Guo Zhipeng seemed to realize something, and his face turned pale. But it was already too late! Li Teng charged head-on toward Guo Zhipeng’s sports car, holding the barstool aloft. Just as the car was about to hit him, he leaped into the air, pointing the barstool’s four wooden legs straight at Guo Zhipeng inside the driver’s seat! Under the violent, high-speed impact, the barstool’s four wooden legs easily shattered and pierced through the sports car’s windshield. One leg struck Guo Zhipeng squarely between the eyebrows, instantly shattering his forehead bone and plunging deep into his brain, while another leg effortlessly pierced through his chest! The barstool absorbed the reverse impact from the speeding sports car; on the side facing the seat, it instantly snapped Li Teng’s arms and sent his body flying high into the air. Gao Fei, who had been pushed aside by Li Teng moments earlier, scrambled to his feet. Seeing Li Teng flying toward him, he instinctively rushed forward and reached out to try to catch him, but was struck by Li Teng’s tremendous momentum, and the two tumbled together onto the street. Li Teng, now in Gao Fei’s arms, had both arms broken and was covered in blood, but he was still alive. The other party involved in the car accident, Guo Zhipeng, had already met his end right there on the spot. “Hahahaha… What goes around comes around! The wheel of karma turns! Don’t believe me? Look up! Does Heaven spare anyone?” Li Teng coughed up a mouthful of coffee mixed with blood and laughed wildly as he looked toward the sports car driven by the woman in sunglasses, which had come to a slow stop at the distant street corner after she slammed on the brakes. “Director Dong！” The female director’s command echoed through everyone’s earpieces. An actor had died in a car crash—and although it wasn’t an extra, this fulfilled the mandatory requirement for the scene set before filming began. “Unfortunately, the car was speeding toward you as you were crossing the street. As long as one person dies, this car crash scene is considered a take.” “Follow my instructions in your headsets above all else.” Li Teng fully understood the director’s exact words. In this scene, the rules didn’t matter—the director’s instructions were what mattered most. Therefore, the filming of this scene officially ended the moment Guo Zhipeng died.