That Year, 2000

In 2000, at the Los Angeles set of The Fast and the Furious.

Lin Yuan sat in the rest area, fiddling with the Nokia 3310 in his hand.

"A legendary phone that could crack walnuts... Have I really been reborn?"

Even though he had been reincarnated for over ten days, Lin Yuan still found it hard to believe.

He turned to look at the mirror beside him. The reflection showed a slightly youthful but strikingly handsome face, and he could not help sighing. "Youth is wonderful. Anything is possible."

This was not 2024, when he had been bedridden. He was no longer that down-and-out middle-aged man who had wasted half his life and stood on the brink of death.

Time had returned to October 2000. He had just turned eighteen, and the film The Fast and the Furious, in which he had taken part, was about to wrap filming.

As someone who had been reborn, he naturally knew this movie would become a huge success.

Starting with this film, one of the most profitable movie franchises of the next twenty years would begin.

Unfortunately, as a Chinese American, he could not possibly land an important role and could only play minor parts.

Was such a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity about to slip through his fingers?

Absolutely not! He did not want to live a pathetic life like he had in his previous life.

Lin Yuan looked toward the set. He was waiting for an opportunity that would let him soar, even if he had to risk his life for it.

I wonder how Uncle's discussion with the director went. Once this scene is done, I'll have an answer.

At that moment, a street-racing scene was being filmed on set.

Vroom! Vroom!

Amid the piercing roar of engines, a black Dodge Charger and an orange Toyota Supra shot through the air like lightning.

Bang!

The barrier ahead was smashed to pieces.

The two speeding sports cars tore through the shower of wooden debris before landing in perfect unison.

At the same time, a train thundered past dangerously close behind them.

Cut!

The director raised a thumbs-up, signaling that the scene had been completed in one take.

A burly bald man stepped out of the black Dodge Charger and walked straight toward Lin Yuan.

The bald man was Vin Diesel, thirty-three years old this year. In the film, he played the leader of a street-racing gang. He was broad and muscular, dark-skinned, and carried a rebellious air, looking more like a football player—an American one.

As he approached Lin Yuan, a song drifted into his ears.

"Hey yo, hey hey hey yo hey, nothing can stop me from charging toward my future..."

"On this vast, unknown journey, I will face my life with all my heart..."

"Uncle, what did the director say?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Great song. Jackie Chan's?" Vin Diesel did not answer right away and instead asked a question.

"Yeah, it's Jackie Chan's 'My Ambition in My Chest.' You've heard it too?"

"Of course. He's my idol. But if you want to become a legend like him, the road is extremely dangerous.

"If something really happens to you, how am I supposed to face the trust your parents placed in me before they passed away?" His concern for Lin Yuan was obvious.

"More than risking my life, I'm afraid of living an ordinary one," Lin Yuan replied.

"The Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon you starred in received rave reviews at its Cannes premiere in May. It's about to be released in the United States and mainland China in the next few days.

"You already have a pretty good start. Wouldn't it be better to take things steadily? Why insist on taking such a dangerous path?" Vin Diesel tried to persuade him again.

After being reborn, Lin Yuan discovered that this life was somewhat different from his previous one. In this life, the role of Luo Xiaohu in Director Ang Lee's Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon had been played by him.

Because of that role, he had already attracted some attention.

Lin Yuan knew that the film would eventually gross two hundred million dollars and win next year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, bringing both fame and fortune.

Riding the wave of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, his career would naturally rise as well.

But Lin Yuan had no intention of lying down and waiting for the wind to come. If he wanted to ride the wind, he had to learn how to create it himself.

In an era when Bruce Lee was gone and Jackie Chan was gradually growing old, if he wanted to become a new generation of global action superstar, he had to seize every opportunity and never back down.

"Uncle, I'm grateful for your concern. But life only gives you so many chances to fight for it. Please help me!" Lin Yuan's attitude was utterly resolute.

"All right. The director agreed to let you try, but you'll have to bear the consequences yourself." Vin Diesel pulled out an agreement and handed it to Lin Yuan.

The "Risk Assumption Agreement" clearly stated that the upcoming high-risk scene had been requested by Lin Yuan himself. If an accident occurred, the production crew would bear no legal responsibility.

Lin Yuan flipped through several pages, signed his name, and handed it back to Vin Diesel.

"All right, I'll take you to see the director. Good luck."

The two got up, walked onto the set, and came before the director.

"Our handsome young man is here. Have you really made up your mind?" the bald director greeted him.

Director and producer Rob Cohen had directed the biographical film Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story and had always been fond of Chinese action stars. That was why he was willing to give Lin Yuan an opportunity.

The Fast and the Furious was a film centered on street-racing scenes. The lightning-fast duels over quarter-mile tracks sent viewers' adrenaline and dopamine soaring.

Director Cohen was highly confident in the racing scenes he had filmed, but the two action scenes in which the street-racing gang hijacked cargo trucks seemed far too crude by comparison.

Originally, Director Cohen had planned to make do with them, but the Chinese American extra on the crew had unexpectedly proposed an astonishing filming plan.

If his idea could be realized, it would add another bold stroke to both the film's highlights and its promotional gimmicks.

But wasn't this plan far too dangerous? Just reading it was enough to make someone break out in a cold sweat.

Perhaps only Jackie Chan at the height of his career could pull off a scene like this. Could Lin Yuan really do it?

"Yes, Director. I've made up my mind." Lin Yuan nodded.

"Good. Then I'll look forward to you creating a miracle. Get ready. We'll shoot your scene next."

Lin Yuan nodded, moved to the side, and began warming up while reviewing the action details for this shoot in his mind.

At the beginning of The Fast and the Furious, there was a scene where the leader of the street-racing gang led three sports cars to hijack a large truck.

The original design had the gang members drive their sports cars around to the front of the truck, then jump into the cab and seize the vehicle directly.

That approach was not particularly eye-catching, so Lin Yuan's proposal made two major changes.

The first was that the gang member he played would jump from the rear of a car onto the truck, then climb along the jolting, swaying trailer all the way to the cab.

The action would be more thrilling. Rather than ending with a single jump like the original version, its entertainment value would be significantly increased.

The second change was even crazier: instead of using studio green screens and post-production, they would shoot it directly on location in a single uninterrupted long take.

If Lin Yuan's plan could be carried out successfully, it would definitely become one of the biggest highlights of the film.

Although this was already an era of mature special effects, under the many constraints of post-production, such as the camera budget, the results would still be somewhat inferior to practical filming.

However, action actors willing to risk their lives had all but disappeared, because the work was simply too grueling and dangerous.

If anything went wrong during this scene, Lin Yuan's best possible outcome would be spending the rest of his life paralyzed in a hospital bed.

But so what? It was not as if he had never been paralyzed in his previous life.

Rather than live an unremarkable life, Lin Yuan would rather blaze brilliantly for an instant like fireworks.

At that moment, Lin Yuan calmly stared at a line of golden text on his retina:

Action Scene Danger Level: D. Host success rate: 50%.

Complete an action scene of this difficulty to receive 1 attribute point.

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