Chapter 13 Chapter 13 Liang Xin Performing Arts Training 5
Is mentor Luo Qing really an NPC?
Fatty Xu and Uncle Li had no answer in their hearts.
Compared to other players' mentors who are extra annoying, their mentors can undoubtedly be called friendly.
The NPCs in the weird dungeons may not be weird, but they often make things difficult for the players due to the dungeon requirements, or even treat them rudely, so it is hard to call them friendly.
Instructor Luo Qing was the first friendly NPC the two had ever met.
"In fact, there were some NPCs we met before that didn't make things difficult for us, but many of them would just ignore us after answering a clue." The fat man said based on his own experience.
"I saw on the forum that NPC is just a string of codes. I don't understand these things, but our mentor is quite human-like." Uncle Li said after a long silence.
Ever since the Ghost Domain invaded Blue Star five years ago, players still don’t know what’s behind the decision to choose them to enter the dungeon to survive.
Whether on forums or in reality, everyone's speculation is often based on local cultural traditions, and they speculate on the main god, another world, and high-dimensional invasion.
If these strange dungeons within the Weird Domain are all other worlds, another time and space, then are these NPCs residents of other worlds, and are they weird? Is weirdness also a native product of another world?
"Anyway, I don't think the instructor is weird."
"No matter what, she never made things difficult for us from the beginning and even helped us."
Fatty Xu weighed the book in his hand. In fact, he had a guess in his mind.
There was no reason for the NPCs to help them, let alone be weird. The only ones who would stand on the same side as the local players were most likely from the same faction.
In other words, players.
"What do you think her identity is..." Uncle Li stretched out his rough right hand, pointed at the fat man, then pointed at himself, everything was said without words.
The two did not continue talking. The voices of other players could be heard in the corridor. Because Fatty and Uncle Li did not participate in the group performance yesterday and refused to talk about what they did, they had an invisible gap with the other players.
But at this moment, someone came knocking on their door.
"Fatty, Uncle Li, are you okay?" It was a female voice.
The fat man and Uncle Li put away their books and then opened the door. The fat man had a frightened expression and Uncle Li was trembling.
Outside the door were the five players who were still alive.
Seeing Fatty Xu and Uncle Li walking out unharmed, a strange light flashed in Mu Xia's eyes.
"Phew, I'm glad you're okay." She seemed relieved.
The fat man looked at the other players: the curly-haired guy, the newcomer, and the girl who didn't talk much. All three of them were gone.
"I thought you weren't acting, and that weirdo wouldn't come looking for you." said the man with thick glasses.
"That red skirt almost ate me, an old man." Uncle Li said unhappily.
After confirming that Fatty and Uncle Li had also been attacked, several players spoke up and went downstairs to the cafeteria together, as if they would not be attacked if there were more people.
"It seems this weirdness is an indiscriminate attack, alas."
"I don't know what the production we're going to do today is, and whether we'll be separated."
The loss of three players overnight raised everyone's alertness to the highest level, awaiting the unknown fate of today.
After all the players had breakfast in the cafeteria, they got on the bus in front of the teaching building as prompted by the dungeon.
Fatty Xu was big and he occupied a double seat by himself, while Uncle Li sat on the single seat next to him.
Today is the last day of training. Future stars of the entertainment industry, aren't you excited to be joining the crew for filming? Today is the day to perform, get your scores, and graduate! Go for it!
The copy's prompt was very cheerful, but the seven players present were lifeless. Not only were they sitting on the bus, but there were also NPCs from the copy, which made it even more impossible for them to talk to each other. They could only send messages on their phones one by one.
The players didn't dare to speak, but the NPCs sitting around them chatted non-stop.
"What time do we finish filming today?"
"I don't know. They said they would give us a chance to familiarize ourselves with the scene, and they would give us a box lunch at noon."
"Cheap labor! Extras get paid 150 a day. I hope they don't shoot night scenes."
"Shh, keep your voice down, the driver might hear you."
Listening to the conversations between the NPCs makes people feel a little dazed.
Feeling the bus start to move, Uncle Li sent a message to the fat man.
[Uncle Li]: Pay attention out the window.
【Fatty Xu】: I understand
After receiving the message from Uncle Li, the fat man immediately understood. The two of them sat in the same row, one double seat and the other single seat, both of which could see out the window.
The bus was moving and drove out of the gate of Liangxin Training Center. All the players felt their vision changed.
The sunny day was gone, and outside the window was all white, like fog and smoke. The bus was shuttling through the fog, and there seemed to be other cars next to it, but no matter how hard I looked, I couldn't see clearly.
The fat man and Uncle Li looked at each other silently.
In other dungeons, players usually stayed in one location, without the option of taking transportation to other locations. Even when players first entered a dungeon and had to take a car, the view outside the window was often foggy or dark.
But yesterday, they were sitting in the mentor’s SUV and could see the scenery outside, which was a surprise!
Their mentor Luo Qing is really not an ordinary NPC!
Sitting on the bus is very torturous for the players, but the NPCs next to them are catching up on their sleep or chatting.
The energetic players pricked up their ears to listen to the NPC chat, trying to get some information, while the listless players closed their eyes and pretended to take a nap. After all, they were tormented by the weirdness last night and almost no one slept.
When I get to the crew, I don’t know what kind of trouble I’ll be in, so I’ll just rest as much as possible.
Luo Qing and Sister Wang were also on the way. Yan Fufeng was driving and listening to the two ladies discussing the students in the back seat.
"Sister Wang, how many students are going to the set today?" Luo Qing asked.
"Quite a few. Besides us who are responsible for the three-day training, there are also students from the weekly and biweekly classes who go there to get acting experience."
"By the way, I checked the group chat and saw that several students dropped out of the class. What's going on?" Luo Qing was thinking about the group message.
This morning she looked in the group and saw that three students had dropped out. The training was only three days in total, and they were about to graduate and get their certificates, but they suddenly dropped out, which made Luo Qing a little confused.
"Well, weren't they scheduled to do a group performance yesterday? Their acting was terrible. I don't know if it was because they were criticized too harshly, and the script was a story about the circle. They said they left in the middle of the night." Sister Wang said.
Hearing this, Luo Qing couldn't help but shake his head: "Given this student's psychological quality, dropping out might be a good thing."
When you are an actor, especially when you start out as an extra, you have no status and no one knows you. You can be yelled at and scolded by anyone on the set and you can't stand even a harsh word. You are really not suited to this job.
"Anyway, you've already taken the class, and the tuition fee is non-refundable," said Sister Wang.
However, this also confirmed Luo Qing's guess. The fee for this three-day crash course in acting training was definitely not low. Her two students were obviously unfamiliar with the entertainment industry and seemed to be here just for fun.
After being scolded, he left at night, did not attend classes, and did not ask for tuition. It was obvious that he had no shortage of money and was just trying to please himself.
Luo Qing suddenly felt that she understood why this training class asked outsiders like them to work part-time. If a serious acting teacher saw the attitude of this group of students, he would probably be furious.
When they arrived at the crew, the bus of trainees from Liang Xin's training had already arrived and was taken by the group leader to change into costumes.
Because it is a modern drama, not everyone has to change clothes, and some people even wear their own clothes.
The seven players are assigned the roles of passers-by. Yes, they are pedestrians walking on the street. They only need to walk back and forth slowly, and start over every time they retake the shot.
The long-haired man and the pretty female player were arranged to pretend to be a couple, Mu Xia with twin ponytails and Grandpa Li played the role of a passing grandfather and granddaughter, the fat man held a cup of milk tea in his hand, wore thick glasses and carried a schoolbag, and the other NPCs included sister groups, couples groups, and individual groups. With a shout of "action", they started walking one by one.
"Ka--" Why did that extra in blue clothes fall down and steal the show? Do it again!
"Ka——" Fatty, why are you walking so fast? Are you in a hurry to reincarnate?
The assistant director on the set was obviously in a bad mood. Luo Qing and his wife and Sister Wang were standing not far away chatting, and several other mentors came over, checked in, and left.
"Girl, what? Do you want to make a cameo appearance?" Sister Wang asked Luo Qing who was concentrating on the filming.
Luo listened as the director called cut again and hurled a scathing scold at an extra. He immediately shook his head, "No, no."
Are you kidding? She's here as a mentor, so she definitely won't be paid for a guest appearance! She'll do what she's paid for, and she'll never do free labor.
The scene in front of them was stuck for more than a dozen times, but it was finally passed. The extras had a moment to breathe. Luo Qing waved his hand and called his two students aside.
"What were you two acting out just now?" she asked.
The fat man was stunned for a moment, then answered honestly: "It's okay to be a pedestrian, but I added a little bit myself. I am a pedestrian who is a little hungry and wants to eat something but doesn't know what to eat."
"I am an old man from the countryside who was brought to the big city by my granddaughter for sightseeing and shopping," said Mr. Li.
A hint of praise flashed in Luo Qing's eyes. Yesterday's observation of life was not in vain. She put what she learned into practice. She just saw that the two students had their own characteristics in each retake without affecting the details of their expressions and movements in the camera, so she called them over.
"That's right, you guys go back."
Luo Qing waved his hand and gave Fatty and Uncle Li a B rating each in the student evaluation in his hand.
She not only looked at her own students, but also at others. This was not Luo Qing's preference. The other extras really walked like pedestrians, following the routine like idiots.
Compared with other mentors who gave their students C or D grades in advance, Luo Qing really felt that although his two students, one was a little fatter and the other was a little older, still had aspirations for acting and could get a B!
After being called over by the instructor and asked a few questions, Fatty and Uncle Li did not rush back to the other extras.
The old man and the fat man winked at each other and said, "It's a player, it can't be an NPC." Although the fat man lowered his voice, his tone was firm.
Uncle Li agreed: "Calling us here just now was a hint."
The two guessed that their mentor Luo Qing’s true identity was a “player” who had also entered this copy!
This is not just a random guess, but there are clues to follow!
"On the first day, we both watched the other instructors, and she was the last to arrive, although she was also with an NPC. But other players said that their instructors introduced their qualifications and the plays they had performed, but our instructor never did." The fat man explained his thoughts.
"It's very unusual to be a mentor in performing arts training but not to talk about what roles you have played. Since you came late, I guess the mentor is most likely..." He made a gesture of wiping his neck.
The fat man thought that Luo Qing either killed the original NPC mentor, or used some special props to replace his identity in this copy!
"There are also the books given to us in the reading room, the assessment that is different from other tutors, and the most important thing is yesterday's arrangement." Uncle Li nodded slowly.
In the reading room, the books the instructor gave to each of them became their life-saving straw last night, and they retreated strangely.
Yesterday, I even took them to "observe passers-by". Thinking about the content of today's group performance, isn't this a blatant clue of the topic?
I just observed the passers-by yesterday, and today I came here to be a passer-by extra. In this copy, compared with other players, Fatty and Uncle Li can almost be said to have suffered nothing!
There was a gleam of consensus in the eyes of the two men. They were so friendly and helped so secretly. Their mentor Luo Qing was definitely a player disguised as an NPC!
This time, I really got the upper hand!
"We are really lucky this time. Regardless of whether they can use it or not, we have to ask if there is anything we can help with," said Uncle Li.
Fatty Xu deeply agreed.
The filming of the extras in the crew lasted a whole day. In the morning, they were pedestrians walking back and forth behind the male and female protagonists, acting completely as background boards. In the afternoon, it was the same scene, the male and female protagonists quarreled, and the players and NPCs were passers-by who joined in the fun and watched.
After the filming was over, before all the players and NPCs boarded the training class bus, Luo Qing, Sister Wang and other team leaders awarded all the students with completion certificates.
Congratulations to player Li Jianjun for achieving a B-level extra rating and successfully completing his acting career! You can exit the dungeon by boarding the bus within ten minutes.
Congratulations to player Xu Daqing for achieving a B-level extra rating and completing his acting training! You can exit the dungeon by getting on the bus within ten minutes.
The moment they received the Liang Xin Performing Arts Training Completion Certificate issued by Luo Qing, Fatty Xu and Uncle Li's eyes almost turned red.
Passed! That’s how I passed this dungeon!
Benefactor, the one in front of us is their savior!
"Teacher, is there anything you need help with? Just tell me, I will go through fire and water for you." Uncle Li's speech was very old-fashioned.
"That's right, that's right. We really appreciate your care for us these three days. Do you think there is anything we can help with?" The fat man nodded repeatedly and almost knelt down to Luo Qing.
Luo Qing opened her mouth in surprise. With her keen eyesight, she could naturally see that the two were not being polite. It was a short training period of less than three days, so how could the two students have such deep feelings for her?
"Then I won't be polite." Luo Qing took out a dozen of her business cards from her small bag.
[Ping An Real Estate Store Manager Luo Qing]
[Address: Opposite Ping'anli Subway Station (15 meters south of the main entrance of Ping'an Garden)]
"I opened a small shop. If you need to rent or buy a house, please come to me and help me promote it."
Luo Qing wanted to say a few more words, but Sister Wang had already waved her away. She waved her hand and said, "Hurry up and get in the car."
"This business card?" The fat man and Uncle Li were a little confused by her business card trick.
"This should be a real-life address. Could it be an exchange run by a big boss?" the fat man guessed.
"Maybe he's planning to recruit a team and bring his own player team? But why isn't the city written?" said Mr. Li.
There was not much time left in the copy, so the two put away their business cards, wrote down each other's IDs and prepared to add each other as friends on the forum, and then rushed to the bus.
Ten minutes later, all surviving players left the dungeon.
At 8:11 that evening, Xu Daqing and Li Jianjun, who had returned to reality, successfully added friends on the "Rugui" and "Jiansheng" forums.
To show their sincerity and gratitude, the two immediately searched for "Ping An Real Estate Luo Qing" and "Ping An Li, Ping An Home" information.
At 9:32 that evening, two people living in Pingcheng and Yangcheng were arrested separately by the local Special Affairs Management Bureau.
At ten o'clock that evening, the two players, accompanied by local officials, started a video conversation with their superiors, the Special Affairs Bureau.
"Both of them are players registered in the system."
"The big data system detected the related searches of the two comrades and automatically reported them."
"You two searched for Ping'anli, Ping'an Home, Ping'an Real Estate, Luo Qing, and which city the Ping'anli subway station is located in, right?"
There was confusion in the eyes of the fat man and Uncle Li.
"You two, there is no subway station called Ping'anli and Ping'an Real Estate next to it in our country." Zheng Hao said.
"What do you mean?" asked the fat man.
“It does exist.”
"According to our powerful sources, this subway station called Ping'anli and the nearby Ping'an Home Community are located within the Ghost Domain. Within the dungeon, they are a place where strange beings reside."
The fat man and Uncle Li's pupils constricted as they heard her next sentence.
"There has never been a female high-level player named Luo Qing in the existing official player database."
“She’s not a player.”
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