"... not so fast, you wine waster!" Wu Xiaoming jumped from behind a broken bar table, flailing his right arm and tossing a green cloth sack stuffed with cotton and bubble wrap at an actor with a half shaved head and face tattoos, who also happened to be running through the scene. The sack hit its target right on the head. The actor's body movement froze for a brief moment before he fell and tumbled onto the floor.
Kurtis and Detective Lee rushed to this fallen actor's side, Detective Lee pulled out a pair of handcuffs and began reciting the Miranda Rights: "You have a right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law…"
"Okay! That's a wrap!" When the take ended, Timothy Manchester seemed quite pleased and waved his hand in the air.
"That was a good throw, man." The actor playing the escaping perp smiled at Wu Xiaoming: "I didn't think you'd actually hit me - I was worried how I was gonna act being hit."
"Just luck - I guess." Wu Xiaoming scratched his head. It seemed ever since he assigned those skill points on his skill tree, his physical state also saw a pretty obvious improvement. He had better stamina, he slept better, his muscle strength reached a level slightly higher than that of a healthy grown man, and his hand eye coordination appeared to be swifter and more accurate.
"Good work. " Thomas Lundt, the actor who played Kurtis came over and complimented both Wu Xiaoming and the actor who played the escaping perp: "Pleasure working with both of you."
"Yeah, yeah, it was my pleasure - and honor!" The actor who played the escaping perp was almost shaking when talking to the main star of the show.
Thomas Lundt shook hands with this actor, then shook hands with Wu Xiaoming: "I'm looking forward to working with you again."
"Than - thank you." Wu Xiaoming nodded. Even though he had no idea how big this TV star in front of him was, he still could not help but still be nervous.
"Mr. Wu?" Just this moment, a PA came over and tapped Wu Xiaoming on the shoulder: "Someone just called for you."
"Alright, thanks." Wu Xiaoming nodded then turned to Thomas Lundt and the other actor, whose name he could not remember: "Thank you very much, it was great working with both of you."
Wu Xiaoming followed the PA outside of the studio. Time was already late, as the sun was setting. He probably needed to text Douglass Kirkland and his father again to let them know he would stay for one more night at the hotel.
The PA led him to the spot where the trailers were parked. The door to his trailer was open. He went in, as instructed by the PA. A man in a suit was waiting inside, sipping on a mug of coffee. Upon a quick look, this man looked just a bit like Timothy Manchester
"Mr. Wu." The man stood up and extended his hand at Wu Xiaoming: "My name is Charlie. Charlie Manchester. You can call me Charles. I am Timothy's brother."
"Nice to meet you, Mr. Manchester." Wu Xiaoming shook hands with the man.
Right this moment, some red words flashed before Wu Xiaoming's eyes. It had nothing to do with the man in front of him - "+300 Spirit Fragments, +3 Vision Slivers". And beside the picture, was a face - the face of Bradley, the ghost golden retriever.
"Now, you're probably wondering why I'm here." Charlie Manchester smiled, not bothered by Wu Xiaoming's confusion and brief zone-out: "I am a producer of Worldly Entertainment, and as you can guess, I am one of the executive producers of Timothy's show."
"Oh - wow." For a moment Wu Xiaoming did not know what he could say, so he just simply nodded: "Thank you! Thank you for - for producing this show."
"Hehe, not a problem." Charlie Manchester chuckled a few times, before fixing his eyes on Wu Xiaoming, with curiosity and eagerness: "Tell me something, Mr. Wu. Do you see things normal people can't?"
Chills ran down Wu Xiaoming's spine: "... ex - excuse me?"
"I saw you picking up something yesterday and then talking to Samantha - or was it Sally? I don't remember." Charlie Manchester shrugged: "I was curious, so I asked her. She told me what happened - you found a locket belonging to her friend's dog, didn't you? Before that, you were talking to something in the air, something I can't see - I assume, it was some kind of invisible being? Your spirit? Or some kind of ghost?"
"I - " Wu Xiaoming struggled and squirmed, there seemed to be nothing he could say, so he just shut up and stood there.
"I know. I know. Everyone's got their secret." Charlie Manchester smiled: "But - believe it or not, you're not the first one with gifts that work in this industry."
"..." Wu Xiaoming sighed, still refusing to say anything.
"It's fine. Completely understandable that you don't give me a real answer. Plausible deniability and all that." Charlie Manchester not only appeared unbothered, but even happy that Wu Xiaoming did not answer him: "Okay, how about this? I would like to extend an invitation to you, to audition for a position for a host - a host of a paranormal investigation series."
"A - what?" Wu Xiaoming could not help but ask.
"A show, a reality series. " Charlie Manchester smacked his lips: "As for paranormal investigation, that's pretty obvious - you will be visiting different haunted locations famous for their haunt and folklore, and - basically that's it. You'll go to haunted houses, woods and other locations and you will record everything. How does that sound? "
Wu Xiaoming scratched his jaw. This was indeed a really good job for him, for he would be able to visit various haunted places and "farm" there. He had no concrete evidence to support this idea, but so far all evidence pointed to the fact that the ethereal realm of actually haunted locations would be more populated by those spirits. But the cons of this job would be quite obvious - he would actually need to go to haunted places, he would forced to be rather restless if the ethereal realm in their respective locations were really dangerous, and he might be exposing his abilities to a public audience - which was not ideal to say the least.
"I will send the details to your agent, just - think about it, will you?" Charlie Manchester stood up and patted Wu Xiaoming on his left shoulder: "Trust me, this is a really good opportunity. It's no movie role or TV star, but it's a regular show with lots and lots of potential."
"Thank you. Mr. Manchester." Wu Xiaoming nodded at the man.
"Please, call me Charles." The man chuckled and put on a pair of sunglasses: "Now if you'll excuse me, I have a date with a beautiful woman."
"... good luck." Wu Xiaoming waved the man goodbye.
A steak dinner with a tiramisu for dessert later, Wu Xiaoming came back to his room. Beside his bed was another box, from what he could tell was from the online shop he placed some book orders before.
He tore open the box in no time - inside of it were very small books, one was significantly thinner than the other. Buddhist scriptures, one was the Heart Sutra and the other was Diamond Sutra, both were classics. He had placed the order the second night he was in his father's place, and they were delivered today.
The Heart Sutra was rather short, even with the English translation and Chinese Translation placed together line by line, the original text took only about four pages to lay out completely. The rest was the original text in Sanskrit, guides for interpretation, and short history of the sutra. The copy of Diamond Sutra had a similar style, though visibly thicker
After a quick read-through of the Heart Sutra, Wu Xiaoming closed his eyes and checked his skill tree.
As expected, and to his delight, he had just unlocked the Buddhist Tree - it was a good decision that he saved the two spare skill points. Without any hesitation, he assigned one skill point to the first skill on this tree: Path to Enlightenment: enhances bodily strength potential, enhances mind potential; Grants aura skill: Mind Clearing Aura.
"Potential", this was a new word added to the description that was not in the game. Wu Xiaoming moved around a bit, jumped up and down. It seemed his physical abilities DID get stronger, though not to any ridiculous extent. He sat on the bed and tried to recall some memories from before his "coming" to this world, more pieces of memory surfaced, with higher clarity, though nothing useful. It appeared that "potential" was just like what it meant, potential, he needed to practice and work out for the full effect.
The Mind Clearing Aura would be just what it meant - in the game, it would provide a passive buff to the player character and allies that would provide increased resistance to illusions, hallucinogens and make mind-altering curses and debuffs expire faster. No doubt a good thing to have.
The next skill in the Buddhist Tree would require 2 skill points, so he could not afford it right now. If possible, it would be best that he unlocked the Taoist Tree and assigned the remaining spare skill point there, for as a design principle, the first points of the three main skill trees were all cost-effective.
"I got the offer details. Let's talk tomorrow at your father's place." Douglass Kirkland texted: "For now, rest. I'll pick you up at 10 tomorrow, how does that sound?"
"Sounds good." Wu Xiaoming responded: "Thank you."