The set of "Heart of Embers" was unusually gloomy today.
The director sighed repeatedly while thinking about the actor who had backed out of playing the fifth male lead. The other actors tiptoed around, careful not to provoke his bad mood.
Amidst this oppressive silence, casting director Xiao Song came running up excitedly.
"Director! Director! I've found a replacement actor!"
The director glanced up skeptically. "What? You just stepped out minutes ago. How could you find someone so fast?"
Xiao Song flashed a bright smile and thumped his chest confidently. "Don't worry, Director! I guarantee you'll love this guy!"
With that, he pushed forward a young man in black standing behind him, his face full of ingratiating smiles. "Director, take a look. Doesn't he look exactly like a murderer?"
The very murderous-looking Xiao He gave a faint smile, removed his sunglasses, and introduced himself. "Hello, Director. My name is Xiao He."
As the director examined the young man before him, his drooping eyelids suddenly shot wide open.
This was a youth with an exceptionally unique aura.
At first glance, one wouldn't be immediately struck by his handsome features, but rather drawn into those deep, indifferent eyes that radiated an icy detachment sending chills down the spine.
His tall, imposing stature also carried an overwhelming presence, inexplicably making others feel shrouded in shadow.
In that moment, the young man perfectly embodied the psychotic killer the director had envisioned.
It was as if the character from the script had come to life before his eyes.
The director gulped.Just which crime scene had Xiao Song dragged this lunatic from—
Seeing the director staring speechlessly, Xiao Song mistakenly thought he was dissatisfied and whispered in his ear, "This guy said he doesn't want payment—just let him kill someone in the first scene."
Hearing "no payment," the director's eyes lit up brighter, but upon hearing "kill someone in the first scene," he shuddered involuntarily.
His gaze at Xiao He grew increasingly peculiar.
Could this be some psychopath looking for thrills?
Facing the director's scrutiny, Xiao He could only maintain his smile.
—If only they knew! He was suffering internally!
Originally, Xiao He was just an ordinary college student. But after waking up one day, he inexplicably gained a Criminal Cheat Skill system.
As long as he kept killing and spreading terror, he could acquire various criminal skills. Conversely, if he stopped killing, his lifespan would rapidly decrease until he died suddenly from complete exhaustion.
Having grown up under the sun—never daring to forget his red scarf as a child, never skipping useless college classes, with the worst thing he'd done being sneaking over the wall to browse the "world," and the harshest punishment being his father's scolding—how could he possibly be a bad person?
Considering that nowadays even sixth graders were physically stronger than him, while old people could outwalk him, and given his college student physique that left him panting after climbing stairs, Xiao He was seriously worried about getting killed instead.
That would be utterly humiliating.
Fortunately, heaven never seals off all exits. While anxiously searching for solutions—even considering stalking targets outside courthouses—Xiao He was dragged by a friend to act in an anti-Japanese drama—The kind where college students would pay to kill " devils" for a day.
Xiao He got lucky, securing civilian costumes with his friend, and successfully "killed" a little devil during filming.
Unexpectedly, his cheat system lit up!
It showed he had successfully "killed" one person and earned a point.
Only then did Xiao He realize he'd found a system loophole!
After repeated testing, Xiao He confirmed that as long as his character "killed someone," the system would count it.
However, since he only played extras with low criminal prestige and minimal impact, each "kill" earned pitifully few points.
Thus, Xiao He decided to try his luck at a nearby film studio, hoping for more substantial roles.
And sure enough, within minutes he ran into Xiao Song.
"This scene is about your killer identity being discovered, chasing victims with a chainsaw before silencing them..."
The director enthusiastically explained the scene while Xiao He removed his jacket and put on the blood-stained one from the costume department, letting the makeup artist quickly do his face.
This was a low-budget romance disguised as a crime drama with simple, predictable cases. Xiao He would play a well-educated psychopath—normally refined and elegant, but actually obsessed with chasing victims through forests with a chainsaw.
Though Xiao He didn't understand why the character had such an exhausting and deranged hobby, he respected the low-budget web drama's dumb premise. After putting on the obligatory gold-rimmed glasses for refined villains, he grabbed the chainsaw and followed the director out.The moment he stepped out, everyone gasped.
The man's pallid face, sinister eyes, chainsaw dripping with fresh blood, and bone-chilling aura made even Xiao Song stutter: "Th-this—"
Had he actually picked up a real killer off the street?
Should they call the police?
The actress playing the victim trembled as she asked the director, "Director... this isn't real, right?"
She was too young to die—
The director calmly wiped cold sweat from his brow and glared. "What are you staring at? Get ready—we're rolling! Every minute costs money!"
Everyone snapped out of it and scrambled to prepare equipment.
Seeing the terrified actress frozen in place, Xiao He sighed and gently said, "I'm Xiao He. Nice to meet you!"
The pale-faced actress managed a smile more ghastly than death. "H-hi... I'm Meng Lulu."
This was a legitimate production, right?
Wahh...
Xiao He quietly stepped back and set down his "weapon."Ever since gaining his cheat skills, he'd developed strange passive abilities and undergone a dramatic personality shift—now carrying a criminal's sinister aura with natural "murder scene" background music. Holding weapon props only intensified the horror, as if witnessing an actual crime.
To prevent actors from breaking down before filming, Xiao He figured he'd better keep his distance.
—Not that it helped much.
When the director yelled "Action!", Xiao He charged at Meng Lulu with the roaring chainsaw.
As the chainsaw revved, Meng Lulu unleashed bloodcurdling screams—genuine, piercing shrieks—before collapsing and scrambling backward on trembling legs.
Xiao He's face twisted into a delighted, psychotic grin: "Heh heh heh—"
"AAAAHHH—HELP! AAAAAHHH—"
The director behind the camera: "..."
The crew: "..."
Was this even a real production? Shouldn't this footage go straight to the dark web?
What they really needed right now was to call the police...
Perhaps Meng Lulu's screams were too realistic, because the commotion drew the attention of the neighboring production. Director Hou Rongxuan peeked over and inearly had a heart attack—
"Holy shit! The killer next door has gone berserk! Someone call the police!!!