Happy Family

Lin Chuan figured there probably weren't many hosts who took the initiative to make things harder for themselves.

Unfortunately, so far the system hadn't shown the slightest ability to think.

So Lin Chuan's idea of having a conversation with it had come to nothing.

As soon as Lin Chuan finished speaking, the system's notification sounded:

[Host has perfectly completed the main quest. A chain of quests will now be issued.]

[The system has detected that the host holds himself to higher standards, and has specially increased the quest difficulty.]

[Quest 1: Write a movie script]

[Quest reward: S-grade Random Talent]

[Quest 2: Film and complete production of the movie]

[Quest reward: A-grade Random Talent]

[Quest 3: Release the movie and earn over 100 million at the box office]

[Quest reward: S-grade Random Talent]

The quests had become more difficult, but the rewards had also become much more generous: S-grade talents.

Unfortunately, they were random, so he might draw a talent that was practically useless.

Still, it was S-grade. It shouldn't be that bad, right?

After mastering Stephen Chow's Comedy Character Creation Techniques, Lin Chuan had realized just how vast the gulf between A-grade and B-grade talents was.

Presumably, S-grade talents would be even more extraordinary.

After briefly looking over the system rewards, Lin Chuan devoted himself completely to writing the script.

The script Lin Chuan chose this time was called Happy Family.

The down-and-out male lead had lost all hope in life and had attempted suicide several times, only to fail. After being revived from his latest attempt, he discovered that he could see ghosts.

A chain-smoking middle-aged man, a weepy older sister, a perverted grandpa, and a gluttonous little ghost all latched onto the male lead, sticking close to him wherever he went.

To get the four troublesome ghosts to leave, the male lead decided to help them fulfill their unfinished wishes in the world of the living...

This script was considerably more complex than Balloon.

So Lin Chuan had to put in quite a bit of work.

It took him a full five or six hours of typing to finish the script.

After sitting in front of the computer for five or six hours straight, Lin Chuan's back and waist were sore.

He also regretted not spreading the writing out over several days.

But Lin Chuan had a bad habit: once he opened a document, he couldn't help but finish it in one sitting.

Sometimes Lin Chuan would indulge in a little daydreaming. It would be nice if he had a keyboard that could type on its own.

Generally speaking, what limited a writer wasn't typing speed, but thinking speed.

When they were just typing, ordinary writers could usually manage four or five thousand words an hour.

But if they were thinking as they wrote, their speed dropped to around two thousand words an hour.

That was because thinking took time, too.

Lin Chuan was different. Before he started typing, he had already worked out what he was going to write.

All he had to do next was type it out.

Whether before or after his rebirth, Lin Chuan had an exceptionally good memory.

It was so good that he could remember every detail in a movie.

After all, someone with a poor memory couldn't make a living as a plagiarist.

The moment he completed the first quest—writing a movie script—the system's crisp notification sounded in Lin Chuan's ears.

[Congratulations, host. You have written a movie script. Quest complete.]

[Quest reward: S-grade Random Talent is being drawn.]

[Draw complete.]

[S-grade Talent: Christian Bale's Rubber Man has been granted.]

Christian Bale was an actor Lin Chuan had greatly admired in his previous life.

He had starred in excellent films like American Psycho, The Dark Knight Trilogy, and The Machinist.

The guy was known as Hollywood's Rubber Man.

That was because his control over his weight had reached an almost unbelievable level.

For The Machinist, in which he played a mechanic suffering from severe insomnia, he lost 57 pounds and became practically a living skeleton.

Then, for American Hustle, he played an overweight con artist,

and gained nearly 200 pounds to suit the role.

Of course, such drastic weight changes over a short period had also harmed his health.

Christian Bale had mentioned in interviews that his extreme weight-loss methods had caused problems with his health.

He'd suffered cardiovascular abnormalities, high blood pressure, and frequent dizziness and headaches.

So in the later part of his career, Bale rarely made such huge sacrifices for a role.

Christian Bale's Rubber Man was the first S-grade talent Lin Chuan had acquired.

He believed the talent had to be more than it appeared on the surface.

So Lin Chuan decided to test it out first.

Half an hour later, Lin Chuan stood in front of the mirror, thin enough to see his bones, and took a deep breath.

He watched as his body slowly returned to its original shape.

His muscles filled out, going from gaunt to well-defined.

His chest, arms, abs, back, and thighs all returned to their best condition.

Ever since awakening the memories of his previous life, Lin Chuan had maintained the good habit of exercising every day.

It had given him a better physique than most people.

He didn't have rounded shoulders or a hunched back. His shoulders were broad, his waist slim, his legs long, and his figure was nearly perfect.

After mastering Christian Bale's Rubber Man, Lin Chuan was amazed to discover that he could control his body shape to a certain extent.

Although Christian Bale was known as Hollywood's Rubber Man, his natural physical abilities were actually quite ordinary.

To suit his roles, he had lost or gained weight in an extremely short period.

But he'd achieved those results through a scientifically sound diet and grueling training.

Even with a world-class team, Christian Bale had still harmed his health through these weight-loss and weight-gain methods.

The Rubber Man talent Lin Chuan had acquired, on the other hand, wouldn't harm his health. It actually made him even more "healthy."

The simplest way to understand this talent was to think of it as a weakened version of Luffy's Gum-Gum Fruit from One Piece.

Lin Chuan could flexibly control every muscle in his body, shaping them however he wanted.

His experiments showed that he could gain as much as 30 kilograms and return to his original shape in an extremely short time.

He could also lose about 45 kilograms.

Just now, in the space of half an hour, Lin Chuan had first tried turning himself into a 95-kilogram fat man.

Then he'd made himself into a skinny skeleton weighing 63 kilograms.

Finally, he'd returned to his original shape.

Despite the extreme weight changes in such a short time, he hadn't felt the slightest discomfort. In fact, he'd felt great.

And more importantly, Lin Chuan discovered an even more incredible use for the Rubber Man talent.

He could actually reshape his face!

He could literally reshape it. By adjusting the muscles in his face, Lin Chuan could transform into someone else in a very short time.

The highest honor for an actor was to become a Thousand-Faced Movie Emperor.

It meant becoming a different person in every role, using one face to portray a thousand characters.

But Lin Chuan could actually turn into another person.

As expected of an S-grade talent.

If Christian Bale found out that Lin Chuan had gained this ability from him,

he would probably be green with envy.

With such a powerful talent, Lin Chuan's thoughts began to change.

Originally, he'd planned to save the male lead role in Happy Family for Ren Hang.

Ren Hang was sunny and handsome, and he was tall, but he had an unmistakable loser vibe about him.

Lin Chuan thought Ren Hang had quite a bit in common with the male lead in Happy Family.

The thing was, Ren Hang was a genuine rich second-generation, so it would be difficult for him to act out the male lead's disheveled, hopeless demeanor.

Ren Hang was only a sophomore, and his acting skills weren't yet good enough to fully embody the role.

Even so, Lin Chuan had still listed Ren Hang as his first choice.

When Happy Family originally came out in South Korea, it ranked second at the Korean box office that year.

It earned nearly 20 million dollars.

With James Wan's Directing Skills, Jun Ito's Manga Technique, and Stephen Chow's Comedy Character Creation Techniques at his disposal,

Lin Chuan was confident that the movie he made would earn at least 100 million at the box office.

If the role was done well, it could give the actor playing it a huge boost in popularity.

It was better to give the role to one of his own brothers than to some outsider.

Besides, not many people in the country could handle this role. If Ren Hang could get the role's execution to over eighty percent under Lin Chuan's guidance,

then Ren Hang would definitely attract more renowned directors.

That would help him open up more opportunities in the future.

Of course, Lin Chuan had a reason for treating Ren Hang so well.

Who could say no to a good brother willing to put up his Magic Pill as collateral for him?

But now, after acquiring the Rubber Man talent, Lin Chuan seemed to have found an even better choice...

In Happy Family, the ghosts all possessed the male lead at some point.

That meant the actor playing the male lead had to portray five roles, showing off five distinct personalities.

Lin Chuan could handle it.

If he gave the role to Ren Hang, it would be like asking a gorilla to learn stand-up comedy.

When Lin Chuan was little and watched Journey to the West, there had been scenes in the TV series where a monkey turned into Erlang Shen, Tang Sanzang, and the king.

As a child, Lin Chuan had thought those characters all looked like monkeys.

He'd genuinely believed they were monkeys in disguise.

Only when he grew up did he realize it was because the actors had such formidable acting skills.

Lin Chuan wanted children to walk into the cinema and truly believe that ghosts had possessed the male lead.

He set aside the question of who would play the male lead for the time being.

Next, Lin Chuan started considering who to cast in the supporting roles.

School was about to start. Maybe he could recruit a group of suitable amateur actors from his university.