You Don't Understand the Character at All

Battle Royale...

Yu Xing looked at the Lingren's face.

The image is blurry and indistinct, as if the actor is missing, but in our perception, the Lingren is still the same as before.

The script was changed, so the plot unfolds earlier, but is it merely a matter of moving it forward, without any real change?

That's all there is to it.

Yu Xing thought listlessly.

"I'm not playing with you anymore." He withdrew his hand and, surprisingly, turned around under the Lingren's dangerous gaze, exposing his back to the Lingren.

He walked toward the sculpture studio, past the small courtyard, past the winding red corridor, and past his own easel, without giving these things even a glance.

The Lingren behind him said cryptically, "Young master, do you know what you're doing?"

"No matter who told you those things, you shouldn't have let me know."

"I had hoped you could enjoy a little more happiness, but now, it's clear you no longer have that chance."

In the blink of an eye, flames shot into the sky.

It was as if, without anyone noticing, the Lingren had set a fire, swerving the plot back to its original course.

Screams echoed from outside the small courtyard. Some of them evoked a sense of familiarity in Yu Xing, while others were completely foreign, swallowed up by the river of time.

Yu Xing sat back in his original spot in the firelight. In front of him was an unfinished plaster statue, with various tools piled up to the side. He picked up a suitable carving knife and began to carve the face of the plaster statue.

The Lingren followed.

According to the original "plot", in that fire, Yu Xing should have been filled with anger at being betrayed and despair at his family members dying one by one in front of him. Then the Lingren would trample him underfoot, grab his hair, and force him to see that hellish scene.

But Yu Xing was very calm. The firelight and screams seemed to have failed to provoke any emotion in him, which made the Lingren want to do something, but he had no reason to do so.

The Lingren could only lean against the wall, tilting his head to watch Yu Xing intently creating the plaster statue, and then said, "You've changed a lot."

"What caused this? What happened to you without my knowledge...?"

"Ah, young master, your performance has truly disappointed me; it was utterly boring."

Yu Xing ignored him, letting his voice go in one ear and out the other. In no time, the plaster statue's face became more detailed, looking more and more like Zhao Yijiu herself.

He didn't listen to the villain, and then the narrator started speaking again.

[Protagonist, what are you doing? Those are your family! They've been destroyed by the villains! Such intense conflict should provoke anger and resistance! We should have a battle royale scenario: you escape, he kills!]

"Ugh, so noisy." Yu Xing rubbed her temples, a speechless expression on her face. "Speaking of which, as a vengeful spirit, it's one thing to lack ability, but your IQ is also so low. Yi Qing is right, you really can't compare to him."

The Lingren asked, "Who are you talking to?"

"Isn't it all the same who you're talking to? You're a vengeful spirit, and so is the narrator. It's all you. Anyway, there's no audience now, so just make do. Don't be so dramatic." Yu Xing clicked her tongue, then lowered her voice and muttered to herself, "I was originally hoping to see how amazing the virus was, whether it could really mimic the thinking of that Lingren, but this is it."

"..." The Lingren stood silently in place.

On the contrary, the narrator seemed to be provoked, and his usually serious and gentle broadcasting voice showed emotional fluctuations, becoming urgent.

How could you say that? You don't understand movies at all!

"Then you don't understand character design at all." Yu Xing knew exactly how to break someone's defenses, and her sharp tongue was incredibly biting.

[Nonsense, how could the scriptwriters not understand character design!]

"Since you're so eager to know, then I'll reluctantly offer some guidance." Yu Xing sighed. "Regarding the Lingren, the first few lines are quite similar. Because your virus exists in my mind, polluting my spirit, I can naturally use the persona I have in mind."

"But when I chose to overturn the instance, the plot started to change, and your character fell apart..."

"If it were just a matter of the plot being moved forward, the Lingren's character wouldn't change much. But I deliberately told him everything I knew, things that the real Lingren could never have experienced. So, a virus with such low intelligence like you can't simulate the Lingren's reactions."

[Your life is a script, and according to the script, the Lingren, as the villain, should have these lines... If you say that's not right, then how should a villain act?]

"Sigh... Of course he'll be very happy." Yu Xing shook her head, her tone even tinged with regret. "I know he might have been sincere back then, and he might have hesitated, but I exposed him on the spot, cutting off any possibility of him hesitating. He'll definitely be very happy."

"What's gratifying is that the young master who made him hesitate about whether to drag me into the abyss is no longer so innocent and noble. He doesn't have to bear the guilt of turning white into black, nor does he have to hesitate over the last bit of goodness he has left. He can recklessly and even more wickedly destroy everything I have."

"And the more difficult it is to destroy me, the more interesting it will be. It would certainly be a pity not to see my shocked and desperate expression, but in my many years of experience, a prey that will fight back, that confident and composed gaze during a standoff, is also on his list of preferences."

Yu Xing continued to break through the narrator's defenses, "So, you're saying that if you can only see the second layer of a character's personality, but can't analyze the third, fourth, or fifth layer, you can't make a good movie with that kind of ability."

He blew away the plaster dust, cleaning the loose bits from the plaster statue.

Unexpectedly, the narration calmed down, perhaps because it mentioned film. The virus wasn't a domineering artist, but something that loved film and wanted to make progress.

[So, according to you, what should the villain be doing at this point?]

"Ah, of course, he'll continue to be my friend." Yu Xing thought for a moment, putting the Lingren she knew into the situation, and laughed, "What he loves to do most is pretend, continue to be a superficial friend with people who already know all his evil thoughts. In front of outsiders, they seem very affectionate, but when they're alone, they're at each other's throats. Then, while he's cooking delicious food for me, he'll tell me that there's deadly poison in it."

[...]

Perhaps it was the first time they had encountered someone like this, and the narrator fell silent.

"He wouldn't kill my family; instead, he would use them as leverage to coerce me into cooperating with his act. He would treat me terribly, yet make my family sing his praises, leaving me feeling stifled and unable to speak out."

Yu Xing unleashed a torrent of words, leaving the virus completely bewildered. "In the end, I will grow increasingly desperate, blaming, and hateful towards my family, until my hatred for them surpasses my hatred for him. The Lingren's goal will then be achieved as well."

"After all, my goal was always me. My family was just a means for him to achieve his objectives. If I had really known about the so-called script all along, my family wouldn't have had to die." Yu Xing lowered her eyes and curled the corners of her lips. "Do you understand now?"

The narrator suddenly understood.