This director only directs blockbusters.

The inspection team set off at five o'clock in the morning.

Three SUVs sped through the morning mist towards Hebei. Yang Ning sat in the passenger seat of the lead car, Lao Xu drove, and Liu Yong and Chen Qiming squeezed into the back seat.

"Is that place really as dilapidated as it looks in the photos?" Liu Yong asked, leaning against the back of the chair.

"You'll know when you get there." Yang Ning flipped through the map. "It's a third-line factory from the 1980s, abandoned for fifteen years."

"The walls are high enough, the factory buildings are big enough, and most importantly—" he paused, "it's free."

"Free of charge?" Chen Qiming peered over.

"The local government is more than happy to have someone film a movie there, for publicity purposes," Old Xu chimed in.

"I negotiated with them, and they waived all the venue fees, only charging for security and cleaning."

Liu Yong rubbed his hands together: "That would be great!"

The actors were sitting in the car behind.

Fan Binbin leaned against the window, closing his eyes to catch up on sleep. Huang Xiaoming was playing a mobile game, while Zhou Xun looked down at the script, scribbling with a pen in his hand.

"Binbin, did you not sleep well last night?" Huang Xiaoming suddenly asked.

Fan Binbin opened his eyes: "What?"

"Your dark circles are a bit heavy."

"I'm tired from training." Fan Binbin closed his eyes again.

Zhou Xun looked up, glanced at her, and smiled slightly, but said nothing.

After a three-hour drive, we exited the highway and entered the mountains.

The road became increasingly bumpy, and abandoned factories and chimneys began to appear on both sides.

The plaster has peeled off, revealing the red bricks; the windows are gone, leaving dark, gaping holes like eyes.

"We've arrived." Old Xu stepped on the brake.

The convoy stopped in front of a huge factory area.

The iron gate was rusted shut, so we could only enter through the small side door.

The gatekeeper was an old man in his sixties, wearing a military overcoat. When he saw them coming, he slowly got up and opened the gate.

"Making a movie?" the old man asked.

"Yes." Yang Ning offered her a cigarette.

The old man took it and tucked it behind his ear: "You can look around inside as you like, just don't go into any dangerous buildings. There's lunch in the canteen, one yuan a serving, all you can eat."

The factory area is frighteningly large.

The main factory building is a Soviet-style structure, three stories high, with half of the roof collapsed and the steel frame exposed, like the ribs of a giant beast.

The ground was covered with a thick layer of dust, and footprints were clearly visible when you stepped on it.

"Here!" Liu Yong excitedly rushed into the factory building. "This structure is amazing! Look at these pillars, this high ceiling—"

His voice echoed in the empty space.

Yang Ning went inside.

Sunlight streamed down from the dilapidated roof, casting beams of light that swirled with dust particles.

Rusty machine parts were scattered on the ground, and faded slogans with blurred words were on the wall.

"This place can be the main battlefield." Chen Qiming raised his camera to take pictures. "The lighting is layered, the space is large enough, and it's easy to coordinate."

"Is it safe?" Old Xu kicked a steel beam, and rusty debris fell down.

"Just reinforce it a bit." Liu Yong had already taken out his notebook and was sketching. "Build a city wall here, pile up rubble here, and here—" he pointed to the depths of the factory, "it can be used as an underground shelter."

Fan Binbin walked in, stepped on a metal can, and made a loud bang.

She looked up at the roof.

The light shone directly on her face, casting delicate shadows under her eyes with her eyelashes.

"Lam Suet has a scene where she's looking for medicine in a place like this," she said softly.

"Which one?" Yang Ning asked.

"Page sixty-seven. She sneaked into an abandoned hospital alone, searching for antibiotics in the pharmacy." Fan Binbin turned to look at him.

"The script is set in a hospital, but I feel... this kind of place is more suitable."

Yang Ning thought for a moment: "Why?"

"Hospitals are too specific." Fan Binbin walked to a row of rusted iron cabinets, brushing the dust off the cabinet doors.

"And this kind of place... you don't know what it used to be for."

It might have been a workshop, or a warehouse, but after the apocalypse, it all became ruins.

That uncertainty is more desperate, and also more real.

Zhou Xun walked over and looked at it as well: "She's right. When Su Man uses her special ability to explore, it's less interesting if the environment is too clear."

It is precisely in this kind of ambiguous, unknown space that her abilities and value can be demonstrated.

Huang Xiaoming squatted down and picked up a gear: "Where was Lu Ran's first awakening again?"

"The school laboratory," Yang Ning said.

"Can it be changed?" Huang Xiaoming looked up. "Change it to a place like this. For example... he hides here, is chased by monsters, and awakens in a desperate situation."

Yang Ning remained silent.

He looked around the factory.

Soaring spaces, dim lighting, rusted steel, thick dust.

It's definitely more exciting than the lab.

"Let me think about it," he said.

The investigation continues.

Behind the factory area is a residential building for employees, five stories high, with broken balcony railings.

The hallway was cluttered with miscellaneous items, and there were faded chalk drawings by children on the walls.

"This can be a survivor hideout." Chen Qiming patted the window in the stairwell. "The light comes in from here, and the angle is nice."

"The view from upstairs is great." Old Xu climbed to the roof and looked down. "You can see the entire factory area."

Yang Ning followed.

The wind was strong on the rooftop, making clothes flutter loudly. Looking out, all I could see was a desolate industrial wasteland, with mountains in the distance.

"This is a good spot to film Lu Ran keeping watch," Huang Xiaoming said as he came up. "He looks at these ruins and thinks about the world he used to live in."

Fan Binbin didn't come up. Yang Ning looked down and saw her standing alone in the open space below, looking up at the building.

Too far away to see their expressions clearly.

We ate lunch at the factory canteen.

It really was a canteen, with large round tables and long benches. There were only three dishes: cabbage stew with glass noodles, braised pork with potatoes, and scrambled eggs with tomatoes. Rice was served in large bowls.

The actors squeezed into one table, while the staff squeezed into two.

"This meat is a bit dry," Huang Xiaoming chewed.

"It's good enough to have something to eat." Old Xu shoveled rice into his mouth. "That's how it is at filming locations. In the middle of nowhere, it's not easy to even have a fire going."

Fan Binbin ate slowly, picking out each grain of rice one by one.

Zhou Xun nudged her arm: "What are you thinking about?"

"I miss Lin Xue." Fan Binbin put down her chopsticks. "If she lived in a place like this for three years... what would she become?"

"What is it like?"

"My skin will become rough, my hands will develop calluses, and my eyes will become more wary." Fan Binbin looked at his hands. "I might even learn to find food in places like this. For example, where to dig up wild vegetables, and where to find non-poisonous wild fruits."

Yang Ning heard this and looked up at her.

Fan Binbin didn't look at him and continued to Zhou Xun: "She used to be a medical student and loved cleanliness. But in the apocalypse, there aren't the conditions, and she might not be able to take a shower for months. Her hair will get tangled, her clothes will wear out, and she'll have scars on her body."

She spoke calmly, as if she were talking about someone else's affairs.

"But you have to portray her as pure at heart," Zhou Xun said. "Even if her appearance is dirty and broken, her eyes... still have to shine."

"Mm." Fan Binbin nodded.

After finishing my meal, I continued watching.

In the afternoon, we visited the boiler room. The huge boiler was rusted through the bottom, and pipes climbed all over the walls like vines. There was a thick layer of coal ash on the floor, which felt like snow when you stepped on it.

"This location is amazing!" Liu Yong exclaimed, his face flushed with excitement. "Look at these pipes, this structure—the scene of the monster emerging from the pipes is absolutely breathtaking!"

"Is it safe?" Old Xu asked again.

"Reinforce it, it absolutely has to be reinforced." Liu Yong took out a measuring tape to take measurements. "We need to put up a protective net here to prevent rust from falling down."