Chapter 96: Filming

Chapter 96: Filming

In this scene, Yue Hui needs to stand out more, since Shi Xinshan is a more vivid character, while "Chang Qing" is more indistinct.

However, it is precisely the image that "Chang Qing" projects to the outside world that makes the other players let their guard down around him.

The more ordinary "Chang Qing" appears in the early stages, the more dramatic the contrast will be when Yan Huan reveals his true nature.

This was Yue Hui's rationale for inviting Lu Xu to play Yan Huan.

From a storytelling perspective, Lu Xu is not the ideal choice for the role of Yan Huan—audiences only need to glance at the cast list to realize that the seemingly unremarkable "Chang Qing" is definitely not a background character.

"Deception" is Lu Xu's first film, and Yue Hui invited him with great ceremony, not to hand him a throwaway role.

But in terms of narrative impact, Lu Xu is suitable, after all, his first leading role was in "The Path of Bones," and the character Yu Yi also had a striking contrast.

...

Once all the players were in position, the game officially began.

The first challenge was a puzzle.

The participants sat around a roulette table, listening to a robotic voice tell a story of deceiving an orphan girl, then embezzling her vast fortune. Even the girl’s orphan status was the result of the protagonist’s premeditated murder.

The culprit had to be identified, and those who guessed right could split the prize the roulette pointed to, while the culprit would face punishment. Those who guessed incorrectly would forfeit some of their props.

If the culprit didn’t get the most votes, then the person with the most votes would take the punishment instead. Their only way out was to correctly identify the culprit.

The roulette offered many clues.

Some real, some fake—clearly, this was a test of wits.

At the table were eight people.

A flashy tycoon, a seasoned celebrity, a studious bookworm, a dancer... Some were nervous, some composed, and others brimming with worry.

The one who was naturally worried was "Chang Qing."

Among all the people sitting at the table, he was the most out of place with the current atmosphere.

Naturally, he became the prey in the eyes of the participants.

When portraying the character "Chang Qing," Lu Xu added a lot of his own thoughts.

Although "Chang Qing" appeared worried and seemed like an unsociable bookworm, Lu Xu didn't want to portray him as the stereotypical bookworm often seen in films and TV shows, with thick glasses, greasy hair that looked like it hadn't been washed for half a month, and a huge bowl-cut hairstyle—that would be too clichéd.

"Chang Qing" was just more focused on one thing.

In this part of the story, he seemed completely unaware that he would become the person with the most votes.

When the final vote showed that he had received a full 5 votes, "Chang Qing" looked panicked. He had no idea who to vote for and could only seek help from the person next to him.

The person sitting next to him happened to be Shi Xinshan.

The other person chose Zou Yun.

"Chang Qing" hastily filled in Zou Yun's name, as if entrusting his fate to Shi Xinshan.

At that moment, the person who panicked became Zou Yun.

He was about to push through and accuse Shi Xinshan of manipulating "Chang Qing" when the mechanical voice revealed the answer to this round—the murderer was indeed Zou Yun.

Since "Chang Qing" voted for Zou Yun, Zou Yun was the one punished, and the three who voted for Zou Yun got all the rewards for this round.

The others lost some props but still got a share of the rewards.

It was a mind-blowing amount of money. Even though the guessers got more, the others still walked away with a decent chunk.

In "Deception," the game has been around for ages. Some have died here, while others have beaten the levels and walked away with insane wealth, returning to the real world to live like royalty.

The players, no matter how rich or glamorous they seemed, must’ve been desperate for money to join this game.

Zou Yun kept laughing like a maniac, insisting the punishment was fake, but in the next instant, his hands were gone.

The blood splatter and Zou Yun’s screams were terrifying, but at the roulette table, it was just another day.

The game was down to seven players, Zou Yun was gone, and the bloody roulette table was swapped for a clean one.

...

Before shooting this scene, Lu Xu grumbled, "Why do I always end up playing dead guys?"

Yue Hui stared at him for a moment, "Maybe it’s just your look?"

Lu Xu: "...Mr. Yue, can you say something positive?"

He might not have Shao Yao’s "good guy" face, but he doesn’t exactly look like Death, does he?

While "Deception" is about winning money, it’s really about gambling with your life.

"Chang Qing" initially followed Shi Xinshan’s random choices, but the second game was a deadly version of hide-and-seek—the faster you were found, the more likely you’d die. Players had to find the best hiding spot in the zone.

If you hid long enough, you’d automatically get paid.

It felt like a scam, but as soon as the money came through, a screen showed their loved ones celebrating the windfall. For instance, one guy’s bonus saved his company, sent his mistress and son abroad, and kept his wife from leaving—all because he got rich again.

Without the money, his mistress and son would’ve been hunted down, his wife would’ve left him, and he’d have lost everything.

The game was brutal, but it served a purpose.

In this round, while others were working hard to hide, "Chang Qing" once again relied on luck to get through.

He said a glowing ball landed near the punished guy, and grabbing it counted as hiding.

It was later revealed that this ball was one of the game’s props, but none of the participants realized it. "Chang Qing" was just incredibly lucky, accidentally grabbing the ball.

At the start, he was clearly the weakest physically. While others had already chosen their hiding spots, he was still struggling to find one—a scene the other participants witnessed.

By the third and fourth rounds, naturally, some began to notice something was off.

But by then, "Chang Qing" had gradually revealed his true nature.

To be honest, the setups of these games were quite twisted and brain-burning. Gao Xingchuan deliberately scrambled the order, mixing the games with the characters’ memories, intensifying the complexity of the entire film.

Fortunately, these scenes didn’t appear haphazardly; the arrangement of the plot had its logic.

Of course, the actors of "Deception" weren’t just there to recite lines. During filming, Gao Xingchuan and several scriptwriters continuously revised the plot, and the actors could also offer suggestions on the script, all to present a more thrilling and interesting final product.

The filming process itself was dry, but the games shown in the final cut were quite intriguing.

As one of the actors in the series, Lu Xu often discusses the script with Yue Hui and other actors.

"The Deception" has a limited number of scenes and is very space-efficient, but the special effects cost more. Whether it's the scene where Zou Yun's hands are severed, with blood splattering everywhere, or the pit where the failed hiders are hiding explodes directly, all require the use of special effects.

However, Gao Xingchuan's previous film was also low-budget, and he has a lot of experience in saving money.

"The Deception" cannot be meticulously crafted frame by frame like "The Swordsman." Gao Xingchuan's artistic vision differs from Zhang Zhizhen's; he aims for the instant thrill the audience experiences when watching the film, rather than the excitement he feels when he sees the finished product.

"The Deception" has a fast pace.

The benefit of actors gathering to discuss the script is that although they haven't collaborated on a film before and don't understand each other's acting styles, as their understanding of the script deepens, a natural rapport forms among them.

Yue Hui rarely has NG takes, and neither does Lu Xu. Driven by the two leads, the filming of "The Deception" went very smoothly.

Although the game mechanics in the script are somewhat complex, the actors didn't grasp them immediately upon reading the day's script. But as the discussion deepened, the game segments were thoroughly analyzed, and naturally, the actors could interpret the script more deeply and respond differently.

Due to the relatively complex plot of "The Deception," Lu Xu spends a significant amount of time each day sketching out game segment diagrams. He has no time to pay attention to the outside world. Aside from occasionally catching up on gossip from "The Swordsman" crew, his daily routine mostly involves watching domestic and foreign films and TV shows similar in genre to "The Deception."

This genre isn't commonly produced domestically, but there are representative works abroad.

Of course, Lu Xu hasn't forgotten to promote "The Year I Was 18."

The show's popularity has remained remarkably stable, from 13,000+ to 14,000+, and the final episode surpassed 16,000+, almost on par with "Voices of the Dead."

"It seems everyone has forgotten that before 'The Path of Bones,' it was quite challenging for a series to surpass 13,000+ in popularity."

"...Lu Xu's popularity leads people to believe that surpassing 10,000 in series popularity is the norm, but a careful look at the annual popularity charts shows that breaking 10,000 is already difficult."

In the final episode, Huang Luning's hurried footsteps as he ran home, along with the warm, dim light inside, became the most memorable images of the year.

Prior to the finale, "The Year I Was 18" lost some of its attention to "The Swordsman."

It's just that "The Swordsman" is so notoriously bad that it's globally infamous, so bad that it dominates the hot search charts. In a year, there aren't many works that can gain notoriety solely based on being 'bad,' and "The Swordsman" happens to occupy one of those positions.

Because of Lu Xu, "The Year I Was 18" and "The Swordsman" have become somewhat associated. Many viewers know that after turning down "The Swordsman," Lu Xu took on "The Year I Was 18."

One is a big director's film, and the other is a TV series with an ordinary cast. The reasons behind Lu Xu's choice can be inferred from the detailed image on the hot search list on the day of "The Year I Was 18's finale.

On that day's hot search list, there was a hashtag "The Meaning of Starting Over," and another hashtag "Huang Luning is Finally Happy."

In the first hashtag, many viewers posted crying emojis.

And in the second hashtag, many viewers congratulated Huang Luning, who only lives in the TV series.

"So what? Huang Luning is still happy!"

It doesn't matter, because what's important is Huang Luning's happiness.