Filming in Progress

When they were rushing to shoot, time always flew by.

In the blink of an eye, it was already mid-December, and the bitter North American winter had quietly arrived.

It was past midnight, yet the work area for the Jurassic Park 3 crew was still brightly lit.

The entire crew was busy working at the company. Even the logistics staff were setting up the filming location.

Though the long hours of intense work had left everyone somewhat tired, their enthusiasm had never been higher.

After days of frantic work, filming had progressed at an incredible pace. It was expected to wrap up in just a few more days.

Christmas vacation was almost here. Director Johnston had promised a long break and hefty bonuses—how could their enthusiasm not soar?

Lin Yuan's addition had originally led to script revisions, significantly increasing the workload.

Yet through everyone's overtime efforts, not only had the completion date not been delayed, it had actually been moved up by more than ten days.

This fully demonstrated Director Johnston's exceptional ability. He knew that properly motivating everyone was the true way to save money.

People were naturally lazy, and figuring out how to slack off was a required skill for every office worker.

So, understanding how to motivate people with generous rewards was the best solution—one that saved both time and effort.

Bosses who were stingy with bonuses often ended up paying far greater hidden costs.

Of course, all of this was thanks to the additional funding Lin Yuan had brought in.

The massive infusion of money allowed Director Johnston to go all out.

And Lin Yuan got what he wanted as well: major revisions to the script, making him the lead with the most scenes.

The original story of Jurassic Park 3 was fairly simple. In summary:

A young boy had been stranded on Dinosaur Island after an accident. In order to find him, his parents tricked dinosaur expert Dr. Grant into serving as their consultant and heading to the island to search for him.

The group had barely landed when they were attacked by the film's villainous boss, the Spinosaurus. Their plane was destroyed, and the satellite phone they could have used to contact the outside world for help was swallowed by the Spinosaurus.

While fleeing for their lives, the group accidentally found the boy. They were then relentlessly pursued by all kinds of dinosaurs, until they finally found the lost satellite phone in the Spinosaurus's dung.

They called for help, were rescued, and escaped alive.

There was nothing particularly remarkable about the film's story. Its only genuinely interesting design was the satellite phone.

This master key to the protagonists' survival was swallowed by the villainous boss, the Spinosaurus, at the very beginning.

Then, every time the protagonists heard the satellite phone ringing, it meant the Spinosaurus had arrived. It was practically the boss's own background music.

When the satellite phone was finally expelled in the Spinosaurus's dung, it meant the protagonists could retrieve their lifeline. But the Spinosaurus's reappearance also became more concealed and deadly, creating an even stronger sense of oppression.

When Lin Yuan watched this movie in his previous life, his biggest takeaway had been: That phone sure had amazing quality. Why didn't they get a product placement deal?

And how exactly had they made that huge mountain of Spinosaurus shit?

Now, he knew the answer: a massive amount of dyed oatmeal paste.

If Third Brother had made that prop, it definitely would have looked more realistic.

In this life, the Jurassic Park 3 script had undergone substantial revisions.

The main change was removing the young boy character and replacing him with a teenager played by Lin Yuan.

His character was an orphan adopted by a white couple and an extreme sports enthusiast.

This change explained why he had an Asian face but white parents.

It also gave him a fitting character background for all the extreme escape action scenes.

Of course, Lin Yuan had another subtle calculation in mind: leave a deep impression on audiences and secure the protagonist's role in future Jurassic films in advance.

Though he felt a little sorry for Star-Lord, Jurassic World would also become an incredibly lucrative film franchise in the future. He had no intention of letting it go.

At that moment, Lin Yuan was sitting in the break area, reviewing what they had accomplished over the day.

Having been tempered by three films, he had continued learning and growing. He was no longer that clueless rookie actor.

A voice interrupted his thoughts. "The takeout is here! Everyone, take a break, have some late-night food, then we'll keep working."

Lin Yuan looked up and saw Director Johnston clapping his hands as he called over the crew members.

He truly understood how to boost the crew's morale. How could anyone work passionately on an empty stomach?

So every night, the director provided different kinds of late-night snacks. But no matter how he changed things up, it was Chinese food most of the time.

"Director, Chinese food again?" one staff member asked.

"Of course. Other than Chinese restaurants, who else would be willing to make takeout for us at this hour?" Director Johnston joked.

"True enough. Chinese food's pretty good. I'll have chow mein and General Tso's Chicken."

"I've had way too much Chinese food lately. On Christmas Day, I absolutely refuse to go eat Chinese food with my family!"

Lin Yuan smiled knowingly when he heard the staffer's complaint.

Could you imagine that in North America, going out for Chinese food had become a Christmas tradition?

Because if you went out to eat on Christmas, Chinese-owned restaurants were the only places still open. If you wanted anything else, there simply wasn't anywhere open.

Some Americans had actually gradually developed the habit of eating Chinese food on Christmas.

It was a very American dark joke, much like ordering Chinese takeout in the middle of the night.

"Lin Yuan, still busy? I was afraid they'd snatch all the good stuff, so I brought you some. How is it? Happy or not happy?" A man walked over and sat beside Lin Yuan.

The man's name was Meng Tao. He was the action coordinator leader Lin Yuan had borrowed from Jackie Chan.

After working together over the past few days, the two had become quite familiar with each other. They could even make completely uninhibited jokes with one another.

Since they were both Chinese, they naturally spoke directly in Chinese.

But to the rest of the crew, the two of them might as well have been speaking in code.

Meng Tao was very easy to get along with. The only thing Lin Yuan found objectionable was this: why did he enjoy mixing English into his Chinese?

Although Lin Yuan knew it was a common problem for many Chinese speakers around the year 2000, when people thought talking that way was fashionable, it was practically torture for him.

"I'd be happier if you stopped mixing English into your Chinese."

"Isn't it fashion?"

"I've seriously had enough of you! Forget it. What did you bring me?" Lin Yuan asked.

"Ahahahaha, chicken soup is here! Have some hot soup first. It's good for your health," Meng Tao said with a laugh.

"..."

"Drinking soup is such a wonderful thing. Why aren't you drinking it?"

"I drank too much when I was young, and I still haven't digested it all. Just get me a Coke," Lin Yuan replied.

Meng Tao smiled without saying anything.

Who hadn't had their fill of inspirational chicken soup when they were young?

He pushed a box of roasted rice cakes in front of Lin Yuan.

"You can't just drink beverages. Try these rice cakes. They're super delicious—they even made the news."

"They just look like ordinary rice cakes. Are you trying to fool me? These made the food news?" Lin Yuan didn't believe him.

"New York man ate thirty Chinese rice cakes in a row; intestinal tract completely blocked!"

Meng Tao pulled out a newspaper and placed it in front of Lin Yuan.

"..."

Meng Tao said, "When I saw this news, my first thought was, what kind of rice cakes could be so delicious? Tonight, I finally ordered takeout from their place."

"I won't eat them. You eat them yourself. No wonder you're so fat." Lin Yuan shook his head. "According to Brother Jackie Chan, you used to be incredibly handsome when you were younger. You were once the brightest guy in Wan Chai."

"You dare say that about me! Are you in such a rush to die?" Meng Tao didn't mind in the slightest. Pretending to look pitiful, he said, "Fine. A guy like you who joined the crew with funding is the boss, while I'm just an outsourced worker. I can't get mad at you."

"Fine, give me a few pieces of rice cake. What else did you bring?" Seeing him play the victim, Lin Yuan could only take the rice cakes.

"Roasted Brain! My memory's not good lately, so I need to nourish my brain," Meng Tao answered.

All Lin Yuan could say was, "The owner is incredible. Not only can he make General Tso's Chicken, he can even make Roasted Brain. What a perfect blend of Chinese and Western cuisine.

You ordered two identical portions of brain? Is it that good?"

"No. I ordered one serving of pig brain from the menu, but then I got curious and ordered another serving of Love Brain."

"Do they taste different?" Lin Yuan asked curiously.

"No. Love Brain is pig brain."

"..."

For a moment, Lin Yuan was completely speechless.