Recognition

The location was an old pier in Kwun Tong, not far from the nearby highway.

Fish Head Xu parked the car outside. After Yang Chu stepped out, he saw that the area around the pier was already bustling with stuntmen and crew members.

Without needing anyone to call them over, the two joined the fray, helping to move equipment and props.

"Tonight's shoot is the first major sequence. There will be a lot of people involved, plus martial arts and gunfights, so everyone needs to get the set ready."

Fish Head Xu unloaded some prop firearms from a truck and gave Yang Chu a brief rundown of the night's work. "You'll mostly be doing a few stunt doubles for the male lead from yesterday. For the rest, just keep an eye out for where they need bodies to fill the frame. If there's any falling or fighting to be done, Jia Le will call you."

At this, Fish Head Xu seemed to get chatty and gestured toward the pier. "Renting this place was expensive. Big Brother wants it done in one day, two at most, three at the absolute limit. That's just how it is now. Back in the day, we'd just sneak into locations at night when no one was around. Places like Nathan Road in Tsim Sha Tsui—the police station couldn't exactly block off the roads for us, so we just forced our way through.

Once, we were filming a jewelry store robbery. We'd cleared it with the store beforehand, just to get the shots, but passersby saw us and thought it was a real heist. They called the cops to arrest us..."

Yang Chu nodded slightly, signaling his understanding.

Even though this pier looked desolate, that didn't mean renting it for a shoot was free.

Throughout the morning, Yang Chu followed the stunt coordinators, prop masters, production assistants, and lighting crew, busy here and there.

Yang Chu's performance once again earned him praise from everyone. Although he was new to filming, he understood things the moment they were explained and mastered tasks instantly, showing aptitude far beyond the average stuntman.

While Fish Head Xu and the crew discussed the set design, Yang Chu remained quiet, but by simply listening to their discussion, he could visualize a three-dimensional layout in his mind.

Occasionally, a word or two of advice from him to Fish Head Xu would suddenly clarify tasks that had previously seemed aimless.

Lunch was a boxed meal eaten at the makeshift set on the pier. Yang Chu ate two portions, and later, Fish Head Xu grabbed another one for him from the production assistant.

Afterward, there wasn't much to do for a while. With the weather being hot, Yang Chu saw groups of crew members playing cards, betting on horse races over the phone, or finding spots to nap.

Yang Chu found a shaded area, pulled out the book he had borrowed that day, and began to read. Fish Head Xu, unable to sit still, wandered over to watch the card game, but soon returned to Yang Chu's side to lie down for a nap.

By around four in the afternoon, everyone was urged back to life by the assistant director, Quan, and the stunt coordinator, Jia Le, and they began to busy themselves once more.

Not long after, one of the male leads for the night, Wu Zai, arrived, along with the director, San Bao, and the group led by Black Skin Sha that they had seen earlier on Fu Shan Road.

Director San Bao inspected the set, suggested a few changes, and then communicated with the props, wardrobe, and lighting departments, as well as briefing the actors appearing that night.

Yang Chu and the male lead, Wu Zai, were pulled aside by Jia Le, who explained the few shots Yang Chu would be doubling.

It wasn't complicated. The plot involved the male lead and the veteran cop played by San Bao ambushing a gang deal. Mid-way, the veteran cop discovers a kidnapping incident on the side of the pier and gets into an argument with the male lead. The male lead wants to focus on the mission and not lose the big picture, but the veteran cop can't ignore it and runs off to rescue the victim, leaving the male lead with no choice but to follow.

The shots Yang Chu had to double involved the male lead jumping from a shipping container where they were monitoring the scene onto the roof of a truck, stepping from the roof onto a nearby iron fence to land, and then vaulting over another truck.

As for the subsequent fight scene, stunt coordinator Jia Le felt Yang Chu wasn't quite ready for the reactions yet, so he didn't assign him to it.

By the time this flurry of activity ended, the sky had turned dark.

They ate boxed meals on set again that night. The gang members Yang Chu had noticed earlier received no special treatment and ate the same meals. Since arriving in the afternoon, they had stood far off to the side whenever they weren't needed, not interfering with the crew's work.

"Positions! All departments, prepare!"

At eight in the evening, the crew began filming in earnest.

The shot before Yang Chu's was the director San Bao's own. He jumped from a container, grabbed an iron pole, and performed a clean turn. It was hard to imagine a man weighing over two hundred pounds could be so much more agile than the average person.

Yang Chu's stunt shots were completed in one take. His movements were clean and sharp, prompting the stuntmen present to applaud again.

A vaulting scene, a chase scene, and two fight scenes between the police and the gangsters—the work scheduled for the pier that night was completed smoothly.

The speed was faster than Yang Chu had imagined.

"Chu Zai, I heard from Jia Le that you did a great job today."

As he passed by, Director San Bao walked up to Yang Chu and patted him on the shoulder, offering more praise.

He was very satisfied with the speed of the night's shoot. These night scenes were usually complex to coordinate, but the lighting, set, and props had gone off without a hitch.

The dim lighting and the fact that most shots were wide angles meant the requirements for the actors weren't high, allowing for a smooth completion.

"Ah Sha, thanks!"

After greeting Yang Chu and the other stuntmen, Director San Bao went over to greet Black Skin Sha and his crew, who had come to make a cameo.

They were essentially playing themselves tonight—standing there looking tough and showing a few expressions of anger.

"Sha, we waited all day for this fat guy just for those two shots."

After Director San Bao left, one of the lackeys standing next to Black Skin Sha complained with some resentment.

"What do you know?"

Black Skin Sha flicked his finger. Another lackey nearby tactfully pulled out a cigarette, handed it to him, and stepped forward to light it.

Puff—

Black Skin Sha took a satisfying drag and continued, "If this fat guy hadn't lost his touch over the last two years, do you think he'd even bother with you just because you called him 'Big Brother'?"

"Then, Sha, why are we investing in his movie?" the lackey asked, looking completely confused.

"Of course we have to invest."

Black Skin Sha puffed on his cigarette, looked at his confused lackey, and patted his cheek. "Let me ask you, can you deposit the cash we make from the drug dens into the bank every month? Can you just take it out to buy cars and apartments? It's dirty money, you idiot! People will investigate it!"

The lackey scratched his head, clearly not understanding.

This time, Black Skin Sha didn't bother with him. He just looked at the crew members packing up in the distance and muttered to himself, "Our money is dirty, but we can invest it in movies privately. The labor, the expenses—the tax bureau won't know.

Once the movie is released, you go to the theaters, book out the screenings, and buy up the tickets. Then you hoard a bunch of the tapes and discs. When the dividends come back through the theaters and distribution, the money is clean. It's taxed, and the cops can't touch you."

"If we set up a few more companies to wash the money through, we won't even have to pay taxes; it'll be squeaky clean. Besides, the film industry on Hong Kong Island is booming right now. A three or five-million investment can rake in tens of millions. Only a fool wouldn't do it."

The underling who had been speaking was left dumbstruck by Black Skin Sha's words. Only then did he truly understand why his boss had dropped everything else just to desperately cozy up to that fat man.

"Sha!"

"Sha!"

Just as Black Skin Sha was lecturing his underling, another car arrived at the open space by the pier. Two men stepped out and approached him.

"How did it go?"

Black Skin Sha looked at the two men walking toward him, pointing his cigarette-holding finger at the youth with a ponytail.

"Sha, that kid seems to have vanished into thin air. We asked everyone he used to know, and they all said they haven't seen him." A look of distress appeared on the ponytail youth's face.

"I've been waiting for days, and now you're telling me you can't find him? I might be easy to talk to, but Tai isn't."

Black Skin Sha's expression turned vicious and sinister, glaring at the ponytail youth as he spoke in a cold voice.

"Sha, I really can't find..." The ponytail youth's face was bitter. He had been driven nearly insane by Black Skin Sha and his men over the past few days, but there was nothing he could do; he had tried every avenue, yet he simply couldn't find the person they were looking for.

Just as he was about to beg for mercy, the ponytail youth's gaze suddenly drifted toward the crowd in the distance, and he froze.

"What? Did you lose your soul?" Black Skin Sha found it strange that the youth had suddenly gone blank.

"Sha!"

The ponytail youth pointed toward the crowd of crew members packing up their gear, his voice trembling slightly: "That... that right there is Black Fish Zai..."