APP: Chapter 16

The halo floated spontaneously in front of Xie Chi, suspended in the air. It exuded a golden light and at the same time, Xie Chi’s mobile phone rang.

[Prop Detected: Baby Head Gu permanent positive buff. Buff effect: Slightly higher luck than ordinary people. Examples of buff effects: If a ghost randomly attacks a person, the probability of you being attacked first decreases or after completing a side plotline, the probability of acquiring new items will increase. For more effects, please explore it yourself.]

[Does Actor Xie Chi want to bind to this prop?]

A luck buff? Xie Chi was a bit surprised that this type of thing could also become a prop. He casually checked it and wasn’t very happy.

This thing sounded very powerful but the key lay in the increase in luck. If the percentage wasn’t clearly marked then it was just immoral behaviour.

Increasing the probability of a prop dropping by one in ten-millionth was still increasing it but there would be no effect.

[This buff is different from other people’s buffs. They can all improve their mental strength or physical strength for a short time. How come his effect is like this? Luck… it is too hard to define.]

[Do you think he earned something or lost something? I think it is quite dubious and it doesn’t seem very useful.]

[It isn’t easy to say. I’m fascinated. Whether it is good or not depends on the specific situation in subsequent horror movies.]

[In fact, buffs are hard to handle but they can be used for any movie. The effect might be weak but imagine if he got a special prop for ghost movies only to be crammed into a weird zombie movie. He won’t need the prop and it would be worse than bad luck.]

Xie Chi didn’t know about the audience’s discussion. He was reaching out to the buff according to the app’s instructions. The gold halo touched his wrist and blended with him before disappearing.

Xie Chi didn’t feel any changes in his body.

The phone rang again.

[The exploration has ended and the comprehensive evaluation results for the actors are loading—]

Xie Chi waited for half a minute and the report was sent over.

[Spirit in Red Clothes’ Cast List:

First male lead: Xie Chi, 100 points are rewarded.

3,977 fans. Rounded up, 40 points are rewarded.

The Baby Head Gu side plotline was completed and 50 points are rewarded.

Perfected the unspoken plot outside the main plotline, 20 points are rewarded.

There was a staggering 100% contribution to the main plotline so an additional 20 points are rewarded.

Total points acquired: 230 points.

Second male lead: Yan Jing, 50 points are rewarded.

156 fans, 2 points are rewarded.

Total points acquired: 52 points.

Actors Jiang Rui and Zheng Ming’s contribution to the main storyline is too low and the increase in fans is too low. This doesn’t meet the evaluation standard and they are listed as cannon fodder.

Dead actors: Zhou Wen, Zhang Bin, Zhang Lan.

[Thank you to the actors for their performance. The rewards will be distributed to the app immediately. Please be sure to check them.]

Outside the horror movie, the comprehensive evaluation ranking was listed on the big screen of the cinema. It was from top to bottom with a portrait of the character in front and the score after it.

The audience saw the 230 points and the big cinema was silent for a moment.

It took a long time for a ghost to gulp and speak. “Why do I remember that the total score of Movie Emperor Shen’s novice movie was 20 points less than this?”

“Shen Yi got 210 points. This record has been maintained for a long time and no one has broken it. 210 is already ridiculously high and now 230…” The ghost’s expression was hard to describe.

“…Didn’t he break a record in the history of movies? Does this mean Xie Chi has more potential than the movie emperor?”

“Don’t joke around. Who is Shen Yi? He is this year’s top.”

“In any case, it is fortunate. I will follow him no matter what. The number of fans is almost 4,000. I remember that the audience limit for a bad movie like this is 5,000. It would be good to get rid of the wait and see part…”

“He has such potential. Do you think Zhou Tong will be good to him?”

“A person should know when to be tactful and obedient. It is estimated that it will be troublesome after he pulled his agent into the blacklist.”

After the comprehensive evaluation of the individuals, it was time for the quality of the horror movie to be defined again.

On the big screen, the green card for Spirit in Red Clothes spun around and the audience whispered.

“Do you think this movie will be upgraded? Will it?”

“Yes, the side plotline is finished and the progress of the main plotline is 100%.”

Three seconds later, Spirit in Red Clothes was opened again. This time, the background wasn’t a cheap green but a comfortable blue.

“My god! It’s really upgraded! It became plain!”

“The last time a novice movie was upgraded, it was done by Movie Emperor Shen. We’re really lucky haha.”

“It is worth it. I bought the ticket for 100 hell money and the value is actually 300 hell money.”

The bottom of the card had the introduction in black letters: The blue ‘Spirit in Red Clothes’. The quality is plain.

Disadvantages: slow rhythm, part of the plot is vulgar and shocking, the horror elements are old-fashions, the service is poor and the supporting roles have no intelligence.

Pros: The outstanding personal performance of Actor Xie Chi, the side plotline embellished the plot.

Comprehensive Evaluation: It is worth looking at the highlights in your leisurely time. It is Actor Xie Chi’s personal show.

The big screen completely darkened. The ghost stood up with satisfaction and walked out of the dark cinema.

“I must save 2000 hell money this year to see Movie Emperor Shen’s movie!”

“Why do you want to be poor for a year? Chasing potential newcomers is cheap and wonderful and there is a chance that the quality of the horror movie will be upgraded…”

“It makes sense.”

***

Xie Chi quit Spirit in Red Clothes and opened his eyes to find himself in a familiar bedroom.

It was his own place. The furnishings hadn’t changed at all and the smell was exactly the same. The tea leaves in the tea cup on the desk were a bit brown and rotting because it had been brewed for a long time.

The phone was occupied by the app. Xie Chi turned on the computer and glanced at the date on the bottom left of the computer. He found it was July 19th. He left on July 16th. Three days ago, he bound to the app and he had spent three days in the horror movie. In this way, the speed at which time passed in the horror movie was consistent with the real world.

Xie Chi reached out to touch his forehead. He no longer had a fever and the sense of weakness in his body had completely disappeared. Since the disease belonged to the ‘character’ and not the actor personally, Zheng Ming’s arm must be restored.

Back in a familiar place, Xie Chi relaxed slightly. He sat on his computer chair and opened the app’s personal information panel.

0+190 points was written in the points column while 0+3975 (40 points) was written in the fans column.

It had just been 3977 so it had decreased by two. It was normal to lose fans and Xie Chi was indifferent to this.

The number of actor’s fans rose and fell. It was a flexible number.

100 fans meant 1 point, 10,000 fans meant 100 points.

The points gained from converting the number of fans could be used immediately but if the number of fans fell, the actor would have to make up for the owed points.

For example, Actor A had 30,000 fans which converted to 300 points. Actor A used all 300 points only to lose 10,000 fans. This meant Actor A had to return 100 points.

Therefore, an actor had to manage his fans well. If they spent a lot of points and suddenly lost fans, failing to fill this vacancy would lead to negative points. The final result was their death. This meant that unless there was an unexpected situation, the actor generally wouldn’t use the points gained from the number of fans. The risk was very high and there was always the possibility of not being able to make ends meet.

Further down was his title.

Xie Chi’s previous title was an 18th tier actor of unknown origin. Now it had been a little-known ghost movie actor. The colour of the title had changed to a cheap green and it emitted a faint light.

There was the following evaluation: You have participated in a ghost movie but there isn’t much fame. Your representative work is the ghost movie ‘Spirit in Red Clothes’ (first male lead). Since you have shot ghost movies, it is easier to be selected for ghost movies.

Xie Chi noticed that there was an expandable column behind the title bar.

The expandable column opened and said: Your current total ranking is now 18,277. There are 13,874 actors with the same colour title as you.

Xie Chi hadn’t expected the app to have so many actors. He had more than 200 points and ranked within the top 20,000. He wasn’t sure how many there were after 20,000 but the number must be really high.

Newcomers like Jiang Rui and Zheng Ming were directly listed as cannon fodder in the horror movie and didn’t get a comprehensive evaluation reward. They might’ve filmed all of Spirit in Red Clothes and gained no more than 5 points.

It was cold but reality was this cruel. It was a place where the income depended on their ability. The gap between the poor and the rich had always existed. Xie Chi could imagine how many points the top actors gained after a successful shoot.

Xie Chi didn’t feel depressed. He just smiled softly and ambition surged inside him. He would surely climb to the top and gain his brother.

Xie Chi exited the personal information panel and found a hidden page by swiping to the right. It was the actors leaderboard but this list only showed the top 10 of the entire app.

The name in first place was Shen Yi and the title was a dazzling red—Movie Emperor.

Xie Chi glanced at it and found there was only one movie emperor. The other nine had the title of ‘first-tier.’

Movie Emperor was a unique position in the app.

Xie Chi smiled and wasn’t envious at all. One day, his name would appear here. He was certain of it. It was only a matter of time.

The young people who just left school might not envy the rich people in the 40s and 50s. These people had just started earlier than them. The unattainable end point of others might be something that wasn’t impossible to reach.

The app didn’t have instructions for the next step. Xie Chi looked at the teacup full of tea leaves in front of him and simply dropped the phone. He picked up the teacup and went out, ready to clean the room.

He just walked into the living room when there was a knock on the door.

Xie Chi was surprised and put down the teacup. He looked through the peephole and found two men in police uniforms standing outside the door.

The police?

Why did they inexplicably come to find him?

Xie Chi observed for a few seconds and determined that they were truly policemen. He opened the door and greeted them with a smile, but the two policemen… walked through his body and entered the living room.

The smile on Xie Chi’s face immediately stiffened.

A policeman muttered, “It’s strange. There’s no one in the house so why did the door suddenly open? It is also an anti-theft door. What the hell, damn it!”

“Yes, I knocked for a while. It was clearly locked yet it suddenly opened. What happened? Is anyone here?” The other person looked wary as he shouted.

“Where did the missing person Xie go? His series of preparations before his disappearance indicated that he seemed to expect his disappearance…”

“He didn’t seem to want it known that he was missing. If it wasn’t for his mother calling the police, no one would’ve noticed that he disappeared into thin air for three days…”

“Eh? There’s a cup here…”

Xie Chi looked down at himself. He was clearly the same as before he left. He could touch objects but he couldn’t touch the living. This had just been verified. Was he now… a spirit?

After binding to the app, he existed spiritually even when he returned to the real world?