38: Chapter 38 Xianteng Film Agency

Xuan Continent, Linhai City.

Meng Zhu woke up from the virtual pod, surveying the environment that felt both strange and familiar.

"Anna, how long have I been asleep?"

"Master, you have slept for three hours and twenty-seven minutes."

The home smart system was on standby at all times.

Meng Zhu rubbed his head.

"I felt like I had been acting for a long time; I can't believe it was so short."

"Master, you have forgotten. The virtual world incorporates dream technology, so the flow of time differs from reality. Your actual performance duration was twenty days, the live broadcast duration was two days, and the final cut is exactly 57 hours long."

To think there was such a huge difference.

As his headache subsided, memories of this reality flooded back, and he recalled everything.

Unlike his previous life, film runtimes here were generally very long, with the longest ones lasting even several months.

As for why the performance duration differed from the live broadcast duration, it was because sometimes, trivial, solitary performances were not broadcast.

For example, when someone was doing chores.

Meng Zhu had a good method for distinguishing whether his actions were being broadcast.

That was the bullet comments. If the bullet comments suddenly disappeared and there were none, it meant he was not being broadcast at that moment.

Sometimes he would do things during these times that the audience in the bullet comments wouldn't know about, but when it came time to reveal them, the Heavenly Dao would often play them back in the form of memories.

"Master, are you hungry? There is fast food prepared in the kitchen; would you like me to heat it up?"

"Yeah, heat it up."

Meng Zhu replied indifferently.

Unlike intelligent life forms, the real world only had artificial intelligence, except for the three great super-intelligences.

Therefore, Meng Zhu appeared somewhat casual when talking to Anna.

The original body he had transmigrated into was a young man who had recently graduated from university, also without parents and all alone.

However, in today's world, citizens' basic necessities were met, with the government providing a safety net.

For example, basic living expenses, as well as schooling and accommodation.

Although the apartment was not large, it had everything he needed, even two bedrooms, which was convenient if a friend visited.

He had saved up slowly for the virtual pod; fortunately, the country encouraged the acting profession, so the price of virtual pods was not expensive.

"However, it seems I have received my performance fee?"

This was different from his previous life; it was a direct cut of the total box office, which was quite substantial.

He opened his phone, and sure enough, there were countless notifications of transfers, all of which were performance fees.

Pretty good.

At least he didn't have to worry about money.

But then, Meng Zhu saw the trending searches online.

Movie Home.

This was the world's largest video platform. As for general surfing platforms and super-topics, any trending search related to movies would also be synchronized to Movie Home.

There was no helping it; that was the status of films in this world.

It was so outrageous that one could tell at a glance there was something fishy going on.

However, this was also common knowledge.

The status of actors was abnormally high.

The country did not shy away from this, openly telling everyone that if they wanted to know the secret, they had to level up.

A Best Actor could know everything.

But that's getting off track; back to the trending searches.

At this moment on Movie Home, netizens were all intrigued by Meng Zhu's trending searches.

#Explosive# The Strongest Newcomer Actor #

#Explosive# Supporting Actor Reverses the Protagonist #

#Explosive# The Heroine Falls in Love with the Actor #

#Shocking, Newcomer Actor Actually Did This in the Script World! #

For a time, Meng Zhu's already rising popularity skyrocketed.

At the same time, Meng Zhu also received many invitations from talent agencies.

Most star actors in this world had talent agencies, and their teams generally included stylists, health consultants, nutritionists, personal assistants, work assistants, psychological consultants, script analysts, script screeners, and so on.

To be honest, it was still very necessary.

But with Meng Zhu's current achievements, at most, it would be some mid-sized companies.

Truly powerful large companies would not place their bets based on just one movie.

There were plenty of people who had lucky successes, became overnight sensations, then stumbled on a certain movie, fell into a slump, or even suffered social death and retired from the industry.

However, there were always exceptions to everything.

Among the many talent agencies, there was actually a contract from a top-tier company?

They even sent an intent contract directly.

S-Class.

It even had a note stating that this type of contract was generally only available to six-star actors or actors with nine-star potential.

What kind of concept was this?

The Light and Shadow Federation had thirteen continents; a four-star actor was enough to become famous across an entire continent.

"Is there no problem with this contract? Can you explain the reason?"

"Approved by the Board of Directors, nine-star potential verification passed."

This was the company's reply.

When asked what would happen if they judged wrong and the next movie flopped.

The answer was also very generous.

If there was a judgment error, the company would bear the loss itself.

In addition, the other party replied that unless he was completely finished, the company would not easily give up on him, but would only continuously review him, thereby lowering his treatment.

Good, good, good.

How was this any different from a pie falling from the sky?

One had to know that in this world, talent agencies dared not mess around with contracts for actors.

Things like yin-yang contracts or unfair clauses were akin to courting death and committing crimes.

Under national supervision, it was impossible to be deceived.

Sign it, what else was there to say?

It was a top-tier contract right from the start; only a fool wouldn't sign.

If there was a performance error, there was even a chance for correction; they wouldn't just write him off completely.

Thoughtful, so thoughtful.

Xianteng Film Agency, legal representative Li Linxian.

"Anna, have I heard of this Li Linxian somewhere before?"

"Master, Ms. Li is the CEO of Xianteng Film Agency. More importantly, she is a nine-star actor, though she hasn't acted for many years."

Meng Zhu looked up more information on her.

The most interesting thing was that she had failed the Best Actor assessment many times before transitioning to opening a company.

It seems the Best Actor assessment is not simple at all.

Meng Zhu rubbed his chin, deep in thought.

He wasn't exactly afraid.

His confidence came from a full three golden fingers.

The next day.

"You came so quickly?"

Two people had come, a man and a woman.

The man was named Chen Fei, and the woman was named Li Qing.

They were the work assistant and the personal assistant, respectively.

"To be honest, I'm a bit surprised. Isn't this too rushed?"

Chen Fei smiled and said, "Meng Zhu, you don't need to worry. Today is just for you to meet everyone. Below three stars, the company will not arrange any endorsements or commercial performances for you; you just need to focus on improving your rank."

"In addition, the company does not have strict control over the time you participate in acting; at a minimum, one movie per year is fine. You have enough time to rest."

"Alright."

Over the next few days, Meng Zhu did not move to the accommodation provided by the company and continued to live in his own apartment.

However, he did indeed become much more familiar with his team.

In his spare time, he also beat around the bush to inquire about why they had given him a nine-star potential contract.

The answer surprised him greatly; that legal representative, Ms. Li Linxian, was not doing this for the first time.

She seemed keen on collecting actors capable of reversing the protagonist's fate.

They didn't need to be as successful as Meng Zhu.

Even if it was a brief reversal, successfully bullying the protagonist, she was interested.

Although he didn't fully understand, knowing this made Meng Zhu breathe a sigh of relief.

Kindness for no reason always made one feel uneasy.

Having settled these things, Meng Zhu lost interest in the real world again; he was ready to take on another movie.