Chapter 2: One's Own Future...
“What the hell?”
Chen Jin abruptly sat up in bed.
Suddenly, a virtual panel resembling a game interface popped up before his eyes, displaying a block of white text.
Accompanying it was the same mechanical voice he had just heard.
[At eighteen, defying your family's vehement opposition, you resolutely took the art entrance exams for thirteen academies, including the Nanjing University of the Arts, Shanghai Theatre Academy, Beijing Film Academy, and Central Academy of Drama... yet you failed to pass the first preliminary round at any of them!]
[Too ashamed to return home yet unwilling to give up, you went to Hengdian alone to work as an extra, planning to retake the exams the following year, determined to prove yourself to your parents!]
[In Hengdian, you worked from dawn to dusk, sharing a rented room with others, living in a place with nothing but a bare bed board, and waking up at four in the morning to rush to the actors' service center to look for gigs!]
...
Besides the voice, the virtual panel before him displayed various fast-forwarded video clips beneath the corresponding text.
They were crystal clear, like a movie starring Chen Jin himself, with him as the protagonist, experiencing the failure of the art exams, reflecting on his mistakes to prepare for a retake, and heading to Hengdian.
Then, hitting a wall at every turn in Hengdian.
[At nineteen, having accumulated a year of acting experience in Hengdian, you played over a hundred diverse bit parts—corpses, eunuchs, emperors... You thought you would pass this time, but unexpectedly, you were eliminated in the preliminary round once again!]
“How is that possible?”
“A whole year as an extra and still couldn't pass?”
Chen Jin found it hard to believe. Subconsciously, he reached out and tapped the text, only to find another prompt pop up.
[Do you wish to view the detailed process of the art exam at age nineteen? Yes or No?]
“Holy crap, you can do that?”
“Yes!”
Chen Jin didn't hesitate at all. He still had no idea what was happening to him, but his reason told him he had encountered something incredibly absurd and miraculous.
In 2010, web novels hadn't yet popularized the system genre, so Chen Jin was understandably bewildered.
[At nineteen, you began your second round of art exams, starting with the Communication University of China, the earliest specialized institution in the country to conduct art entrance exams!]
[The preliminary exam at CUC was a test of basic cultural literacy, specifically covering literature, history, and philosophy. Because you hadn't researched or memorized anything in these areas beforehand, you scored a mere thirty-two points!]
Chen Jin: “...”
How utterly humiliating!
Thirty-two points... just two points higher than his English final exam score this time.
“And then?”
[The second was the Central Academy of Drama. The preliminary exam mainly tested voice, speech, movement, and acting. You failed all four!]
[The third was the Beijing Film Academy. The preliminary exam required a self-introduction and a monologue. You failed again!]
[The fourth...]
“Enough!”
“Skip...”
Chen Jin couldn't quite accept it. A whole year running around Hengdian as an extra and still unable to pass the preliminary exams? Were the art entrance exams really that hard?
“Age twenty, let's see what happens at twenty!”
[At twenty, still planning to retake the exams, you drew on the experience of your previous two attempts and decided to earn money for professional training courses!]
[To this end, you went to the Hengdian Actors Union every weekend to study, using the money you earned to enroll in various training programs for voice, speech, movement, and acting!]
“Now that's good!”
“That's exactly something I would do!”
Chen Jin was quite perseverant. As a kid, just to watch movies, he even learned to repair DVD players all by himself.
This time, Chen Jin felt he should definitely get into an art academy.
[This time, you were well-prepared. Instead of applying to every art school, you selectively applied to a few: CUC, BFA, and CAD... You failed the first preliminary round at CAD again, but made it to the second round at CUC and BFA...]
“...”
Chen Jin was dumbfounded.
Damn it, he had worked so hard, juggling work and study for a whole year, and still didn't get in.
Was the difficulty of these art exams really that high?
“Forget it, age twenty-one!”
“Let's see twenty-one...”
Chen Jin chose to continue, but his eyes suddenly caught the large text at the very top of the virtual panel.
[At thirty-eight, having achieved nothing, yet having persisted on the path of acting...]
“Holy crap, don't tell me I kept trying until thirty-eight and still didn't get in?”
Chen Jin suddenly realized what it meant, feeling utterly devastated.
He hurriedly checked his experiences at twenty-one.
Fortunately, he got in this time, admitted to the Communication University of China's affiliated college in the province, while still failing CAD, BFA, and the rest.
But... he failed the national college entrance exam.
Meaning his Gaokao score wasn't high enough, scoring just over a hundred points, missing out on the art academies once again.
“That's just tragic!”
“How on earth did you manage to score just over a hundred?”
“Is this really my future?”
Although Chen Jin was reluctant to believe it, looking at the experiences from eighteen to twenty-one, they distinctly resembled things someone with his personality would do.
Stubborn, refusing to give up until hitting a brick wall... but he still didn't want to believe it.
Could this just be a prank?!
“Messing with me, messing with my head, huh?”
[At twenty-two, failed again...]
[At twenty-three, having been dissuaded by several academies due to your age, you finally decided to stop applying to art schools. Instead, you resolved to develop your career properly in Hengdian, starting from scratch as an extra and seeking your own opportunities!]
[At twenty-four, still an extra!]
[At twenty-five, after seven years of struggling in Hengdian, relying on your good looks, you finally became a featured extra!]
[At twenty-six, through your own efforts, you passed the test to become a special featured actor!]
...
Chen Jin read through year after year, all the way to thirty-eight!
He was still a special featured actor, but after more than a decade as an extra, he had become a renowned top-tier special featured actor in both Hengdian and the capital. On a good day, his income could reach over a thousand yuan.
But he was unmarried, and naturally had no children of his own. The best role he had ever played was a villain in short dramas—the patriarch in "The Dragon King's Son-in-Law," or the domineering CEO in "The CEO Falls for My Menopause"... The middle-aged domineering CEO was the only male lead he had ever played in his life!
“???”
“What the hell is all this?”
“Short dramas, domineering CEOs, dragon king sons-in-law, and menopause?”
Chen Jin found it utterly baffling. Were the movies and TV shows of the future really this absurd and tasteless?
[Host Chen Jin, the 'Extra's Counterattack to Become a Veteran Actor System' has finished loading!]
[Do you wish to activate it and begin your counterattack life after thirty-eight? Yes or No?]
“But I'm only eighteen!”
“Do I have to wait until thirty-eight to start my counterattack?”
“And this system of yours, the name is such a mouthful. Why not just call it the 'Movie Emperor System'?”
Looking at the large white text on the panel, Chen Jin didn't hesitate much. He didn't know what this was, but it felt a bit like a time machine sent back from the future.
A machine here to reform him in advance or change his destiny.
It's just that this machine was in his mind... He waved his hand in front of the virtual panel, but his hand passed right through it.
The system might be old-fashioned, but it looked quite sci-fi, like futuristic high-tech.
“Yes!”
Chen Jin wanted to see what this old system was all about.
If he really had to wait until thirty-eight for his counterattack, then he definitely wouldn't bother with art academies.
Are you kidding? With such a miserable life ahead, he wanted no part of it.
Although the income was quite high, over a thousand a day... it was grueling to grind away for over a decade.
Ding!
[Congratulations, Host Chen Jin, on activating the 'Extra's Counterattack to Become a Veteran Actor' System!]
[Chen Jin, male, thirty-eight years old, unmarried—]
“Ah... stop, stop, stop!”
“Eighteen!”
“I'm only eighteen!”
Chen Jin protested, but the system didn't correct itself, continuing to display text.
[At thirty-eight, you deeply regret not listening to your parents back then. After a massive argument with your family, you held a grudge and didn't go home for over a decade. The tree longs for stillness, but the wind will not cease; the child wishes to care for his parents, but they are no longer there. Awakening to this truth, you feel you have failed your parents!]
[Quest]: Put aside your work and go home to accompany your parents.