I wake to discover that I am stranded more than a thousand meters above the ground, standing on the top of a stone pillar that rises through the clouds. I have no memory of how I reached it, no obvious route down, and no idea whether anyone else is nearby. The impossible location turns a simple question—how do I get home?—into a test of observation and survival. As I search the pillar for clues, I begin to suspect that arriving here was not an accident and that the sky around me is hiding an even larger mystery.
Chapter 24: Points Lottery
“Exchanging points for martial arts skills or superpowers is indeed very expensive, but this kind of exchange isn’t a one-time deal. For example, if you star in the Avengers series and play Spider-Man once, and you use points to unlock his web-slinging ability, then whenever you star in another Avengers film and play Spider-Man again, your Spider-Man character will retain the progress from your previous appearance, and the web-slinging ability will remain active.” ”After hesitating for a moment, the woman in sunglasses decided to answer Li Teng, putting him in her debt. “So what this means is… every character I play in a movie has a ‘leveling-up’ aspect to it. Every time I play that character, I can use my points to exchange for superpowers, artifacts, and help him grow. That way, whenever I play him in the future, he’ll become stronger and stronger in the movie and harder to kill off, right?” Li Teng tried to make sense of it. “Mm-hmm, you’re smart—that’s exactly what I mean,” the woman in sunglasses nodded. “Where did you get that cell phone? Can I use it to contact my family?” Since Li Teng was going to owe her a favor anyway, he might as well rack up a few more. As the saying goes, “Many lice don’t itch; many debts aren’t a worry.” Otherwise, owing her a favor wouldn’t be worth it. “That’s a different matter,” the woman in sunglasses reminded Li Teng. “My points are in the red right now, so I’ll just owe you one more favor. Trust my character—I’ll definitely repay you when the opportunity arises. I’m a man of my word: I repay both debts and favors.” Li Teng chuckled a few times. The others burst into laughter as well; they could tell Li Teng was just trying to wriggle out of it. “Fine, I’ll answer one more question—and this will be your last. Since you owe me a favor, you’d better not die so soon, or this favor of mine will go to waste,” the woman in sunglasses said with a hint of resignation in her voice. In this situation, the one who owed money was calling the shots, and the same went for the one who owed a favor. After hesitating for a moment, she decided to answer one more of Li Teng’s questions for free. After all, answering a question was just a bit of extra talk—it wouldn’t really cost her anything. Someone like Li Teng is definitely worth investing in. If an emergency ever arises on set in the future, it would be a real bonus if Li Teng could give her a hand—provided he’s able to protect himself first. Given Li Teng’s intelligence, I’m sure such an opportunity will definitely arise. “You asked two questions just now, but I can only answer the first one. I received this phone as a bonus prize when I participated in the audition.” The woman in sunglasses replied to Li Teng. Although answering the question didn’t cost her much, she preferred to say as little as possible—otherwise, these extras might think this intellectual property wasn’t worth much! “Does everyone who participates in the promotion show get this reward? Can this phone connect to the outside world?” Li Teng pressed the woman in sunglasses for more details. “That’s enough! I won’t answer any more of your questions!” the woman in sunglasses firmly refused Li Teng. “All right.” Li Teng said nothing more; some things were best left at that, after all—the woman in sunglasses was counting on these questions to earn points. “Can you use that cell phone to contact your family?” When it was the elderly woman’s turn to ask a question, she posed the very question Li Teng had wanted to ask but hadn’t received an answer to. “No,” the woman in sunglasses replied to the elderly woman. “Answer accepted. You’re awarded 1 point,” the director announced. The elderly woman seemed to want to ask more, but seeing that the woman in sunglasses showed no interest in her, she didn’t press the matter further. Only one question remained, to be asked by the young girl. “Will anyone watch the show we’re filming?” the young girl asked eagerly. “Well… yes,” the woman in sunglasses replied after a moment’s hesitation. “That’s a valid answer. You’ll receive 1 point as a reward,” the director said. “What kind of audience? In a movie theater? Will my parents be able to see me perform?” The young girl followed up with a few more questions. “Well, I’m not sure about that. All right! That’s it for today!” The woman in sunglasses offered no further explanation and quickly declared the Q&A session over. What if that troublemaker Li Teng spoke up again? Should she answer him or not? Next up was the raffle for the newcomers. There were four newcomers this time. Li Teng, the guy with glasses, the office worker, and the young girl. A staff member rolled a raffle machine over, and the new hires took turns drawing. The prize machine had a large screen displaying a spinning wheel. It’s simple: whatever it lands on is what you get. The odds were exactly as Gao Fei had previously explained: the newcomers had a 60 percent chance of having all their expenses on the island waived, a 30 percent chance of winning 100 points, and only a 10 percent chance of winning no points at all. Li Teng decided not to rush ahead of the others and chose to go last. The others didn’t want to go first either; they wanted to see how lucky the others would be. To save time, the director randomly assigned the order. The man with glasses went first, followed by the office worker, then the young girl, and finally Li Teng. The elderly woman wasn’t a newcomer, which didn’t surprise Li Teng at all. “Looks like I’m pretty lucky—I wanted to be the last one to draw, and I actually ended up being the last one,” Li Teng said, quite satisfied with the director’s arrangement. As far as Li Teng was concerned, he was hoping to win the 100 points with a 30 percent chance. After all, he’d only spent 18 points so far, and even if everything were waived, it would only save him 18 points—which was simply not worth it. If he could win 100 points, he’d effectively earn 82 points out of thin air, which would be very beneficial for his future career on set. “When I came over earlier, I spent a total of over seventy points. It’d be awesome to win 100 points—I’d make a profit of over twenty points.” The guy with glasses was the first to draw; he looked both nervous and excited. “You spent that many points. If you draw that 10 percent, you’re done for—you’ll end up in the wax museum right alongside the ‘big brother’ you just claimed as your own,” Gao Fei said sarcastically from the side. “It’s only a 10 percent chance—there’s no way I’d be that unlucky!” The guy with glasses shot Gao Fei an annoyed glare, then turned back to the raffle screen and, at the director’s urging, pressed the raffle button. The spinning wheel on the screen slowly came to a stop, and the pointer finally landed on the largest section—the one offering a full refund. “Ugh… it’s actually a full refund! If I’d known this, I should’ve gone on a spending spree as soon as I got to the island. This is such a rip-off.” The guy with glasses was quite disappointed with the result. “Too bad it wasn’t that ten percent,” Gao Fei said with a look of regret. “Glad I let you down,” the man in glasses retorted to Gao Fei. After the man in glasses finished his draw, it was the female office worker’s turn. “Beautiful lady, how many points did you spend?” the man in glasses asked her. “530,” the office lady replied. “530? Isn’t the credit limit only 100?” the man in glasses asked, somewhat surprised.
