A real killer playing a villain; the guy surnamed Zhen in Detective, run!

Xu Changlin took the notice from Lao Jin, flipping through the pages, his brows furrowed.

He had done his homework before coming. The news of Zhao Xiujie leaving the group had spread like wildfire in the industry, with many versions but the main storyline was the same: a non-celebrity second male lead who was suddenly brought in caused a top star with millions of fans to spend 15 million yuan to breach his contract and leave the group.

The methods? Opinions vary. Some say it's about looks, some say it's about underhanded tactics, and some say it's about having powerful connections.

Xu Changlin doesn't eat these.

He had read the script; the amount of dialogue and psychological depth of the character Shen Yibai would be top-tier in any domestic crime film. Could an amateur actor who started as an extra, without systematic acting training or long-term camera adaptation, really meet Su Qinghan's demands?

He didn't believe it.

He shoved the notice onto the table. "Where is he?"

Old Jin pointed to the corner.

Xu Changlin looked in the direction indicated. Behind a low wall made of cardboard boxes, a young man in a gray hoodie was crouching, fiddling with an orange cat. The hoodie collar was loose, revealing his collarbone, and the lace on his left canvas shoe was undone and untied.

This is the person who drove Zhao Xiujie away.

Xu Changlin pushed the script back into Lao Jin's hands and walked away.

His leather shoes clattered on the concrete, each step causing several lighting technicians who were adjusting settings to stop simultaneously. Over a hundred pairs of eyes followed his retreating figure.

"You're Lu Yuan?"

Lu Yuan looked up.

Xu Changlin stood directly above him, backlit by the overhead light, the light and shadow on his face splitting in two.

"No need to wait for the machine to boot up, and no need to move around." Xu Changlin's voice wasn't loud, but it drowned out all the voices from the crowd outside the arena.

"Scene 30 of the script: Chu Tianxing interrogates Shen Yibai for the first time. Five minutes of intense tug-of-war. Now, right here, go through it with me."

Lin Yue nearly dropped the notebook from her hand. She turned to look at Lao Jin. Lao Jin swallowed the steamed bun too quickly, making a gurgling sound in his throat, his eyes wide like saucers.

The thirtieth game.

This is the most emotionally intense dialogue scene in the entire film. The male lead, Chu Tianxing, as an investigative reporter, exposes Shen Yibai's facade for the first time, with the dialogue containing six layers of psychological maneuvering.

Screenwriter Song Yun spent a full eleven days writing this scene. Su Qinghan marked the rehearsal period on the storyboard as three days.

Xu Changlin wanted Lu Yuan to come immediately.

Jiang Yan, who was leaning against the wall in the corner, straightened up.

On the director's chair, Su Qinghan held a coffee cup, but stopped halfway as she raised it to her lips, her eyes fixed on the young man squatting next to the monitor.

There was only one piece of cat treat left. Lu Yuan squeezed out all the meat paste, and Lao Liu licked it all up. He folded the empty package in half and stuffed it into his sweatshirt pocket.

Then I stood up. My shoulders opened up, my cervical spine straightened, and my arms hung naturally at my sides.

When Lin Yue later recalled this scene, he said that it wasn't a person standing up, but a knife being drawn from its sheath.

Xu Changlin noticed it.

interesting.

Xu Changlin gave him no chance to breathe.

He stepped in, leaned forward, and his entire aura surged forward.

"Shen Yibai, do you really think you can clean up all this mess?!"

The skill honed over twenty-eight years was fully displayed at this moment. The tension of the vocal cords was controlled to the limit, and the resonance in the low register gave the words a physical impact. Old Zhou, the stagehand closest to the speaker, got goosebumps all over his arms.

The three-time Golden Horse Award winner's signature skills are on a completely different level than Zhao Xiujie's desperate shouting.

Lu Yuan didn't move his feet, but tilted his head to one angle.

The gaze moved from Xu Changlin's jawline to his pupils. Xu Changlin could feel his face being peeled away layer by layer.

"Reporter Chu."

It paused for a moment.

"Who are you yelling at?"

The voice is not loud; a person who truly holds power never needs to raise their voice.

Old Jin forgot to chew the steamed bun in his mouth. Lin Yue's fingernail left a white mark on the paper. All the dozen or so workers stopped what they were doing.

Xu Changlin's eyelashes twitched.

He caught it! That kid caught it!!!

A fine layer of granules appeared on the back of Xu Changlin's neck.

His stride quickened, reducing it from forty centimeters to thirty. His delivery of lines accelerated, the intervals between sentences compressed to half their normal length. His limbs followed suit; his left hand rose, his index finger almost poking Lu Yuan's chest.

This is Xu Changlin's trump card. A storm of pressure, completely overwhelming the opponent before their rhythm can be disrupted.

Of the veteran actors who have worked with him, eight out of ten will falter in this round.

Lu Yuan rubbed his thumb against the edge of the thermos.

He went to meet them, and the distance between them decreased from 1.2 meters to 70 centimeters.

Xu Changlin's index finger was just centimeters away from poking the other's chest. Instead of retreating, he advanced, compressing the distance to the point where their breaths almost overlapped.

Xu Changlin stopped instinctively.

Just half a second. The inertia of the dialogue was abruptly cut off at the window where breathing shifted.

Lu Yuan's voice cut in from this window.

"What you see—"

Segmenting.

"It's just that I allowed you to see it."

The second half of the sentence has arrived. The intonation descends, and the final sound ends at the critical point where the vocal cords are about to close, like the tip of a knife against the skin; a slight difference in pressure would draw blood.

Xu Changlin tried to regain control of the rhythm. He opened his mouth, the next line on the back of his tongue.

But he noticed that his breathing rate was off.

He was breathing in sync with Lu Yuan's rhythm.

When did it begin? From the moment the other person took that half-step? Or even earlier? He didn't know.

Twenty-eight years. Three Golden Rooster Awards, two Golden Horse Awards, and one Golden Statue Award. He has worked with Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Wong Kar-wai. No other actor could control his rhythm during impromptu rehearsals.

Behind the monitor, Su Qinghan's pen broke.

There were over a hundred people inside the shed, but no one was breathing.

Xu Changlin's facial muscles relaxed one by one. His brows unfurrowed, and the lines of his mouth softened.

He laughed and slapped Lu Yuan on the shoulder with considerable force.

"Good lad."

"That's steady enough. That's how Shen Yibai should be."

Old Jin finally swallowed the steamed bun in his mouth, almost choking. Lin Yue poked a hole in the paper in his hand with his fingernail. The young men in the lighting crew exchanged glances and simultaneously let out a breath they had been holding for who knows how long.

The three-time Golden Horse Award winner personally confirmed it.

In this industry, this statement carries far more weight than any press release, trending topic, or resource exchange. Because Xu Changlin never makes empty promises. In twenty-eight years, he has praised only a handful of actors.

Su Qinghan threw the pen, which had broken in two, into the trash can and took out a tissue to wipe the ink off her fingers.

In the corner, Jiang Yan leaned her back against the wall again.

Her right hand, which had been pressed against her lower back for the past five seconds, was now slowly lowering. The notebook lay open in her left palm, with a new note on the title page.

"The target possesses a complete psychological manipulation mechanism. Within an interaction window of no more than two sentences, it can hijack the opponent's speech rhythm and breathing pattern."

"Method Determination: Advanced social engineering + Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) implantation. Known Case Reference: FBI File No. JK-0447, codenamed 'Puppet' Interrogation Interference Incident."

She closed the notebook.