Life and Death Vote

When the audience saw the words on the ballot, everyone in the theater was stunned:

"Th-This is insane!" A young man in a baseball cap in the back row suddenly sat upright. "It's just making a movie. Is it really this dangerous? The entire crew has to sign a life-and-death waiver?"

"Doesn't this mean asking everyone to voluntarily give up their own safety?" The woman beside him clenched her bucket of popcorn, her knuckles turning white.

"Of course not!" A middle-aged audience member in gold-rimmed glasses pushed up his frames. "Didn't you hear Meng Tao's explanation earlier? The vote is completely anonymous. No one will know if you oppose it. And it needs more than 90% approval to pass. That's practically an impossible condition."

"I know Lin Yuan's films from the past few years too well." An elderly movie fan with graying hair murmured, "Meng Tao, his longtime partner, has always been the most cautious one. Setting such harsh conditions... he must have been deeply conflicted."

At that moment, the image on the big screen changed.

On a somewhat worn plastic table, a dark red ballot box looked especially glaring beneath the stark white fluorescent lights.

Meng Tao's right hand reached deep into the bottom of the box, veins standing out across the back of his hand. The camera zoomed in, clearly revealing his reddened eyes and trembling lips.

The entire theater fell silent.

Meng Tao's hand searched around the bottom of the box, moving so slowly it was suffocating.

At last, his fingertips touched the final ballot.

When he slowly pulled it out, he took only one glance before tears could no longer be held back, sliding from the corners of his eyes.

"Approve."

The two words were light as a feather, yet heavy as a mountain.

Meng Tao