I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

"Uh, it's nothing."

Li Zijian thought he had misread the list and asked the surveyors to leave. He checked the list again and found that there was indeed one extra person.

But Li Zijian couldn't find out who was the extra person. He checked each name one by one, writing one down and crossing one out, but found that the extra person was nowhere to be found.

"how?"

Lu Ban, who was tidying up, saw Li Zijian looking confused and came over to ask him.

"It seems...there's one more person?"

Li Zijian showed the list to Lu Ban.

"There's one more person?"

Lu Ban wasn't unfamiliar with this situation.

A group of people went to the mountains for fun, and as they walked, another person appeared, but they didn't know who it was when they returned.

This situation usually occurs in deep mountains. Some people die in the mountains because of accidents, and their bodies are eaten by wild animals and cannot be buried. So they want to follow others out and take over their bodies.

This is a folk superstition.

According to Lu Ban's scientific understanding, this should be some kind of strange rule. If people who have strayed into the mountains cannot distinguish who is the extra one, then the extra creature can establish its own identity and obtain its true identity.

If it is discovered, it can only flee back into the mountains and wait for the next opportunity.

In fact, having one more person is not a big problem for Lu Ban. These extra people are originally human beings or similar creatures, but they are trapped by strange rules. Now that they are returning to society, it's just one more mouth to feed. Who knows, they might even become internet celebrities by doing live-streaming e-commerce.

The biggest problem is that there's more than one extra person.

For example, ten people go in, and eleven people come out, but two of them are strange creatures.

That would inevitably mean that one person remained in the mountains, gradually transforming into those strange creatures, waiting for the arrival of the next person.

Lu Ban took the roster from Li Zijian and glanced at it briefly using [Real Vision].

Fortunately, there was just one more person.

It's likely that something slipped in under the cover of darkness when we left the town.

Lu Ban also recognized who had appeared out of nowhere.

Then, the name was erased as if burned, without leaving a trace.

Once recognized, the strange creature will return to the deep mountains and will find it difficult to escape.

"Director Lu, is the development of this live-action game still proceeding normally?"

Li Zijian didn't understand Lu Ban's thinking either. After taking back the list, he couldn't help but glance at it and count it. Surprisingly, the number of people matched up.

“Of course, it will proceed as planned, Brother Li. We will use this town as the center to arrange the corresponding landscape.”

Lu Ban nodded.

"Believe me, this place can definitely be transformed into a brand new amusement park. When that happens, people from all over the world will come to Jiangcheng. Brother Li, can you find me some top-notch legal professionals in advance?"

"why?"

Li Zijian didn't quite understand.

"Because the Ministry of Justice cannot fall behind others."

Lu Ban answered as a matter of course.

Chapter 430 History Will Remember Them

Construction work is proceeding in an orderly manner.

Lu Ban was initially worried that the poor conditions in the mountains and the terrible construction environment would slow down the workers' progress.

But he actually discovered that as long as there was enough money, the speed would take off.

In just one month, the construction team demolished all the dilapidated houses in the town, cleaned up the foundations, and prepared to pour new concrete to build brand-new buildings.

As for the songs coming from the mountains and the children in the grass, none of them appeared.

It might be because Lu Ban broadcasts the great being's ramblings here every night when the construction team stops working and takes a break.

Only the abandoned amusement park by the river is usually not visible on a clear day, but when the south wind blows and fog rises along the river, it will appear and disappear on the banks of the Lingjiang River, giving people an uneasy and eerie feeling.

However, that only exists here.

Since that surveyor team member, nothing like this has happened again.

Lu Ban wasn't idle either.

Such large-scale escape rooms require more than just building structures; they also need set design, interior decoration, and professional NPCs.

Sets and such are simple; you can buy them as long as you have the money.

But NPCs are not that simple.

Those who have played escape room or murder mystery games may know that the biggest requirement for these NPCs is that they are professional.

There's a common saying in gaming: "When playing through story content, please at least dress like a human being." In the context of escape rooms, it means, "Please don't break character during story sequences."

Often, the more an NPC tries to perform, the more amused the player becomes due to their own immersion in the role, leading to a lack of corresponding reactions. Some players may even become distracted and continue playing on their phones. This is where the NPC's strong ability to control the situation and their perseverance to finish the performance even if others are uncooperative are required.

This is something that many actors might not be able to do.

Immersion is the most important thing for NPCs.

If you're going to play a ghost, then you have to act like a ghost.

Like the NPC Lu Ban encountered in the secret room last time, he felt that it lacked the necessary skill.

The real NPCs in the locked room, even if they really see ghosts, are more terrifying and frightening than those ghosts, and they have to scare the ghosts away.

For example, some NPCs, when they look in the mirror with makeup on, almost scare themselves to death by their own reflection. That's very professional. If you can't even scare yourself, why should you scare others?

Lu Ban felt that his acting skills were excellent, but the script required a lot of random NPCs, and players could only play a few of them, so he still had to recruit people.

The job posting caused an uproar in the industry.

Countless comments flooded the comments section under this Weibo post.

[Holy crap, Director Lu, what are you trying to do? Making movies isn't enough for you anymore? Do you have to hurt the audience in real life?!]

Amber, my amber

Is this some kind of experimental film project? Could it be that the actors arrive thinking they're playing NPCs, but there are hidden cameras filming them as they act out their roles?

Although I think Lu Ban has definitely gotten cocky, he managed to do it the last few times. This time I think I should just sit on the fence and wait for the final product.

[Are you all stupid? Look at how professional the actors are in Lu Ban's movies; they must have received guidance from Lu Ban. This is a great opportunity for newcomers to receive guidance from a top director and improve their acting skills!]

Is the stage in the ruined city this time? I wonder if I'll get to see that stone; it's quite cute.

[Lu Ban is finally no longer satisfied with hurting people through movies; he wants to break the audience's defenses live!]

[Don't even bother looking. The question of whether you can afford tickets for this game is, well, you probably can't even get them. You'd have to find scalpers to buy them at exorbitant prices. For ordinary people, forget about it.]

In this regard, if Lu Ban were to make a new movie, the vast majority of responses would be "positive reviews," "amazing," and "highly anticipated," because he is a director who has already proven himself. Unless he's out of his mind and decides to make a politically correct or vilifying film about Chinese people, he generally won't fail.

But what are large-scale immersive real-life games really? They're basically escape rooms. These kinds of performance-based projects are similar to theatrical performances, and they depend heavily on the actors' performances. If the NPCs playing these roles are unprofessional or make mistakes, the player's experience will definitely be compromised. And no matter how powerful Lu Ban is, he can't guarantee that all the NPCs will be at their best every moment.

The job posting attracted countless applicants.

After a week of screening, Lu Ban had collected approximately two hundred resumes.

These resumes include many students about to graduate from film academies, extras working at film studios, unknown actors, and many more amateurs with no acting experience.

Lu Ban didn't have high requirements for these people; the most important thing was that they were bold and could withstand pressure.

He felt that perhaps everyone has a hidden level of rationality and a threshold for tolerating pollution.

People with a high threshold for fear are not easily frightened by ordinary scary scenes, and their rationality will not be lowered.

However, even if a small person has a high enough sanity value at the beginning, they are easily corrupted and their sanity value decreases because of their low threshold.

For the sake of the employees' health, Lu Ban would definitely choose someone who could withstand the strain.

Otherwise, they'd lose all their sanity after a few performances and we'd have to replace them. They're not consumables, so how could we keep replacing them?

Lu Ban still hopes that these employees can live well, grow well, and have a happy and fulfilling life.

In addition, Lu Ban also recruited some employees who were not so ordinary.

For example, the patients with severe mental illnesses at Jiangcheng Mental Hospital.

After being influenced by "All Quiet in Spring," the patients' conditions improved significantly. Many of them obtained their psychological counselor licenses with the help of doctors and nurses, and were even able to assist doctors in communicating with new patients.

For example, some people who watched "All Quiet in Spring" felt remorse for their past crimes, turned themselves in, or re-examined themselves in prison and won a reduction in their sentence and were released early.

Even after being released from prison, these people find it difficult to adapt to modern social life and face severe discrimination when seeking employment, making it difficult to find suitable jobs.

In the past, some people might have succumbed to this and fallen back into the abyss of crime, or become depressed and eventually go astray.

Just like the old man who was released from prison in "The Shawshank Redemption".

Therefore, Lu Ban felt that since they already knew they were wrong, they could be given a chance to correct their mistakes. If they could make their own contribution to the cause of all mankind fighting against alien pollution, then their lives would not have been in vain.

History and the people will remember them.

Having received so many resumes, Lu Ban's first task was to interview these people.

Chapter 431 Group Interview

Xu Chen was a little nervous.

He previously worked in a secret room in Jiangcheng, playing the role of a female ghost.

My work was going smoothly until one time I saw a couple in a secret room where the woman was my friend's girlfriend, but the man wasn't. Otherwise, I hadn't encountered any trouble.

However, Xu Chen encountered a problem recently.

While he was working in the secret room, a guest seemed to have seen a ghost.

More importantly, it seems that the ghost has also become attached to him.

From that day on, Xu Chen often dreamed that he was lying in bed with a girlfriend in a red wedding dress sleeping next to him. When he turned his head, his girlfriend would stare at him with extremely resentful eyes.

After waking up, Xu Chen realized that he didn't have a girlfriend.