Trembling At A High Altitude

The script's rules limited the female ghost to killing only one person per night.

The female manager and the salesman were the female ghost's puppets, under her control.

But the female ghost was gone.

The script had never accounted for a scenario where the female ghost would disappear.

Clearly, there was a bug.

There were no rules restricting the female manager and the salesman.

The female manager and the salesman lost control.

After the array at the Taoist temple was destroyed, they easily drifted in.

Because a table had been propped behind the temple door and it was bolted shut with a large iron bolt, the people inside couldn't escape even if they wanted to.

A massacre was inevitable.

After the massacre, the female manager and salesman began to drift unconsciously in the scripted world.

Only then did Li Teng go out and help them pass on.

The three ghosts contributed over two hundred Life Resources to Li Teng.

The female ghost alone provided about two hundred, while the two puppets provided only a small fraction.

With the Life Resources, Li Teng also made his first exchange.

He also clarified the conversion ratio between Life Resources and Life Span.

One Life Resource was exchanged for ten seconds of life.

This meant that over two hundred Life Resources could be exchanged for over two thousand seconds of life.

That amounts to a little over forty minutes of life.

Li Teng was speechless.

The battle with the female ghost lasted more than forty minutes.

This was a losing business!

However, when Li Teng made that ten-second exchange just now, he felt something different.

Those ten seconds felt incredibly 'exhilarating.'

But ten seconds was too short to fully appreciate the feeling.

Li Teng decided to try again, this time exchanging six Life Resources for one minute of life.

In the minute that followed, Li Teng watched as his withered muscles instantly filled out, and his entire body was infused with the explosive energy unique to his youthful peak.

All the muscle memory returned to his body in that instant.

He couldn't help but start running wildly, dashing out of the yard and up the more than eighty steps to the temple door above in just over ten seconds, then sprinting back just as fast, leaping up and grabbing the stone wall of the courtyard with both hands, jumping agilely between rooftops, with extreme flexibility.

Unfortunately, the sixty seconds ended all too quickly.

His muscles rapidly withered again, and the explosive energy inside his body disappeared without a trace.

"Although the Life Resources exchanged for life span are very limited, they exchange for high-quality life!" Li Teng, who was rather disappointed at first, now felt a bit of surprise.

…

Without the ghosts, and without the so-called companions.

Li Teng slept until broad daylight.

After breakfast, he idly passed the time through the morning.

Then he had lunch.

Not long after lunch, the script had ended.

Eight people, only Li Teng survived.

The actor playing the general manager was reluctant to accept this, reporting that Li Teng had a BUG for being able to kill the female ghost with the strength of a normal human, and demanding that the interim director cancel the result of this performance and investigate Li Teng.

The others echoed the sentiment.

Unfortunately, the interim director refused.

"This is not within my jurisdiction," the interim director's rationale was sufficient.

Many actors possess abilities to restrain ghostly entities. The types of abilities are varied and their principles differ, related to the actors' adventures in various scripted worlds or even special favors from some major directors.

Li Teng was referred by Liu Shiyuan, and the interim director had no interest in taking the risk of offending Liu Shiyuan to investigate Li Teng. Moreover, to him, such incidents were commonplace and did not count as BUGs at all.

With the interim director's rejection of the report made by the actor playing the role of the general manager, these extras had no qualification to report through other channels and could only accept their fate of being sealed in wax after the performance ended.

Li Teng was picked up by Liu Shiyuan's car and brought back to the coffee shop.

Liu Shiyuan was waiting at the coffee shop.

Sitting by the coffee table, he had already prepared a cup of coffee for Li Teng.

"There's something I need to tell you," Liu Shiyuan began.

"Hmm."

"I'm sorry, the application for cellular repair was ultimately rejected."

"Oh." Li Teng's expression remained very calm.

Liu Shiyuan had been busy these past few days without result, so Li Teng had already had a premonition.

"The official reason for the refusal was to put the blame on you, saying it was your subjective unwillingness to come out that caused the accident, but the real reason, from what I've learned from my friend, is that the cell repair technology is not mature and the side effects too great. Film and Television City has rejected all recent applications related to cell repair, not just ours," Liu Shiyuan added a few more explanations.

"This matter is my own responsibility; it has nothing to do with you, Director Liu," Li Teng was very composed.

"I like your character, silently working hard, never resentful or envious," Liu Shiyuan smiled.

"Forced by life," Li Teng also smiled.

"I promised you this matter, but ultimately could not accomplish it; no matter how you look at it, I have a responsibility. To compensate you, I bought you a skin, custom-made to your appearance before entering the 'Time Prison.' It's installed in your watch. If you activate that APP, you can switch to your younger appearance," Liu Shiyuan continued.

"Of course, it's just the appearance. Your body is still that of a 78-year-old. If you're interested, I can send you the new skin APP right now," Liu Shiyuan offered Li Teng.

"Skin?" Li Teng was somewhat surprised.

"Yes, it's a high-level technology that achieves a superficial return to youth. Of course, you can switch back to your aged appearance at any time, so you now have two skins," Liu Shiyuan explained.

"This skin APP wouldn't allow actors to disguise themselves as anyone, would it?" Li Teng realized the power of the APP.

"No, there are limitations. Film and Television City strictly prohibits impersonating others. It's only for older people to use and display a younger version of themselves, absolutely not allowing the use of someone else's skin to impersonate others. It's also not something everyone has access to – I called in many favors and spent a lot of points to get this skin for you," Liu Shiyuan shook his head.

"Thank you so much, Director Liu," Li Teng said appreciatively upon hearing this.

Making himself so old was his own fault, and now that he had a younger appearance skin and Life Resources to return to his peak state, as long as he performed in more ghost films in the future and accumulated more Life Resources, he could be considered to have achieved a roundabout way of rejuvenation.

"How do you feel? Tired after playing several performances in a row? Do you want to rest for a couple of days before the regular performances, or continue with the extra ones?" After installing the skin APP via a point-to-point wireless transmission to Li Teng's device, Liu Shiyuan asked him.

"Are there any more ghost films I can participate in for extra performances? The kind with lots of ghosts," Li Teng inquired of Liu Shiyuan.