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Director Zhang Chaofan went along with it. "We have to get up early to film tomorrow morning. I'll take the actors back to rest first."

Zhang Xianyang nodded. With something like this happening, there was no point in the crew staying. They might as well return to the hotel and get some proper rest.

Zhang Chaofan asked worriedly, "Will Mr. Wang be able to come film tomorrow morning?"

Zhang Xianyang reassured him, "Don't worry. Wang Zhaoyi may be a little flighty, but he's quite reliable when it comes to getting things done."

Zhang Chaofan acknowledged him. With Zhang Xianyang's word, he was relieved.

After the crew left, Zhang Xianyang looked at the grown men who had already linked shoulders and started drinking in such a short time. He smiled at Jiang Peize. "How about we have a good meal and drink today, and leave the sparring for another time?"

Hearing that, Jiang Peize turned to look at the soldiers, most of whom were already swaying drunkenly. He nodded. "That works. We'll be together for half a year anyway. There's no need to rush these things."

Zhang Muyang draped an arm over his younger brother's shoulder and asked, "Did you come to the Old District for any mission besides filming?"

Jiang Peize's heart tightened, but he smiled without showing it. "Cooperating with your filming is our biggest mission. What else could there be?"

"Interested in making some extra money?"

Jiang Peize glanced back at his soldiers and asked with interest, "What kind of extra money?"

"It's not certain yet. We'll talk about it later." Zhang Muyang had hooked his interest, then irresponsibly tossed out that line. Jiang Peize looked at him speechlessly and tipped his head back to stare at the sky.

The drinking session did not break up until nearly the middle of the night. Under Jiang Peize's lead, the soldiers all returned to their dormitories to rest. Meanwhile, the Old District brothers charged off to the nightclub full of energy, howling and carrying on all night. The next morning, when they entered the set to film, the somewhat listless soldiers saw the gang brothers bouncing around as if they had taken stimulants and asked suspiciously, "Where do you get all that energy? I heard you didn't sleep all night."

Feeling that they had already forged a bond over the drinks, one of the brothers threw an arm around a young soldier's shoulder and shared his experience. "When you get drunk, you can't go straight to sleep, or you won't recover even in three days. You've got to ride the buzz and play all night until it wears off. Then get a good night's sleep the next night, and by the third morning, you'll be fine."

The young soldier nodded, half believing and half doubting. Looking at the gang brothers who were excited like animals, he felt that their physical condition was truly impressive.

A gang brother who was practically hanging off the young soldier like a sloth reached out and punched his ramrod-straight body. "Don't you get tired standing so straight all the time?"

"Not really. You get used to it. Seeing you stand all crooked like that is what makes us tired. Good thing the leaders in charge of military appearance aren't here, or they'd have lectured you long ago."

"You soldiers are so damn fussy. My great-grandfather was a militiaman for a while during the war of invasion. When I was little, he nagged me every day about not standing straight and not walking properly. Tell me, what the hell does the way you stand or walk have to do with fighting..."

Through idle chatter on set, communal dinners at night, and nighttime activities after they had gotten familiar, the Old District brothers and the soldiers from Yanjing gradually began interacting with one another in a tolerant spirit of seeking common ground while reserving differences. Meanwhile, under the Old District big shots' deliberate hospitality and their repeated draws in several written contests, the upper leadership of the military region also showed an increasingly friendly attitude.

Especially after Jiang Peize's report reached Yanjing, many military-region big shots learned that the Old District's current strength was not even all of its strength. At the very least, every gang had kept its hidden armed forces tightly concealed. This forced many people who had not taken the Old District seriously to finally face it head-on. The soldiers the military had sent to the Old District this time were only above average, nowhere near top-tier. But there was no need to compare a nation's full strength with another side's family power, was there?

Under these circumstances, the higher-ups gradually split into two factions. One was the conciliatory faction represented by the Gu Family's old master, which mainly wanted to steadily develop the country's capabilities in all areas through cooperation with the Old District. The other was the threat-theory faction represented by the Li Family and the Kyoto Zhang Family, which believed that the Old District's existence had seriously endangered social stability and development. If it was not eliminated, public outrage could not be quelled; if it was not eliminated, the nation could not be at peace.

As those two schools of thought clashed fiercely, some high-tech instruments and equipment under international blockade that Gu Anming had secretly transported back from the Old District, along with a newly developed individual combat system from the United States, strongly supported the Gu Family old master's position. They allowed the many big shots to see the tangible benefits that cooperation with the Old District could bring.

At the leadership meeting, the Gu Family old master pointed at the materials Gu Anming had sent back from the Old District and said with a faint smile, "No matter what, the Old District Zhang Family is considered an in-law of your Li Family. Yet now your Li Family keeps pressing them step by step, while the Zhang Family has only defended itself passively. The moment your Li Family suffers a loss, you demand that the state punish them, completely disregarding national and public interests. This inability to distinguish public matters from private ones truly runs in the family!"

The big shots present were all exceptionally well-informed. Upon hearing the Gu Family old master's words, they immediately thought of the seven special forces soldiers who had died in the Old District. Their gazes toward the Li Family old master gained a trace of suspicion.

Li Chong'en flew into a rage from shame, slammed the table, and glared. "What kind of bullshit are you talking about? My position comes entirely from public interest and responsibility for the safety of the nation and its people. I'd advise you not to let petty gains cloud your judgment. You're plotting with a tiger and raising a tiger into a menace, nurturing a breeding ground for crime among elements that threaten social stability."

"That's not necessarily how it should be put. No matter what, the Old District's problems are still contradictions among our own people. Old Li, don't blow things out of proportion. Besides, the Old District's actions now show that their hearts are with the nation and the people. Our country is tolerant and broad-minded. The nature of certain forces in the Old District is certainly controversial, but it is precisely that controversy that gives us an opening. Certain instruments and equipment secretly brought back from the Old District this time prove that perfectly. Looking throughout domestic and foreign history, violence used to seek profit will never disappear. But some countries handle it very well. They can use such forces to develop their domestic economies and seek a balance between officials and civilians. That isn't bad either."

The speaker was Jiang Rongzhen, a general in the military region and Jiang Peize's grandfather. After several long talks with his grandson, the general, already over seventy, had keenly sensed the goodwill of the Old District forces and their desire for more and better contact with Yanjing. Thinking of the benefits and advantages those forces could bring to the country, this military giant who commanded the Southwestern Military Region did not hesitate to rise and stand firmly with the conciliatory faction.

As soon as he spoke, most of the neutral big shots at the meeting voiced their agreement as well. Li Chong'en and Zhang Zhaoqian were left unable to hold their ground alone and could only fall silent for the time being.

At the same time, the Gu Family old master said with a smile, "Word from the Old District is that filming for Gunfire there is basically finished. In a while, the crew will return to Yanjing for post-production. I hear the two Zhang boys and the young people from the other families will also come to Yanjing as producers and screenwriters to help with promotion. This is the Old District's first time stepping into the public eye openly, and I hear they take it quite seriously. We'll send people to make contact again when the time comes."

Those people who had always huddled in the Old District and refused to come out would actually take the initiative to show themselves?

The big shots who keenly picked up on certain implications from the Gu Family old master's words looked at one another. They felt that the Old District might truly be ready to open up this time.

Still, that was a good thing. It would save everyone some trouble.

Meanwhile, in the distant Old District, Zhang Xianyang had no idea that the Yanjing big shots had such high expectations for him. He was standing by the set, watching Wang Zhaoyi's final scene.

Sun Liancheng, whose identity had been exposed and who had been captured and brutally tortured by the Japanese without uttering a word, was tied up with explosives and suspended high above the city gate. Below him were the Old District militiamen who had come to rescue him, as well as the XX Army, which had successfully made contact with the Old District forces through Sun Liancheng's introduction. At this moment, Sun Liancheng was supposed to shout out the location of the Japanese biological weapons experiments targeting the Old District militia, then bite his tongue and kill himself.

It was an extremely tragic scene. The director painstakingly drew out every actor's emotions before calling loudly, "Action!"

Standing behind the director, Zhang Xianyang watched the smoke-filled battlefield through the round camera lens. The bitter north wind howled as it swept up remnants of snow. Rows of Japanese soldiers carrying guns and cannons stood atop the city gate. Sun Liancheng's clothes were torn to pieces, and his body was covered in wounds. Even his eyeballs had been gouged out by the Japanese soldiers, leaving his dark, blood-filled eye sockets looking terrifying.

Below the city gate were the militia and the XX Army troops who had come to rescue him. Zhang Chenye, the militia leader played by Chen Feng, shouted, "Brother Sun, don't be afraid! We've come to save you!"

And the innocent, spoiled eldest daughter of the Zhang Family, played by Su Man, who had fallen in love with Sun Liancheng at first sight, said with deep feeling, "Brother Sun, you'll be all right. I'm still waiting to marry you and bow to Heaven and Earth. I'll definitely save you."

At this moment, Sun Liancheng, hanging from the city gate, should have loudly shouted out the Japanese plan against the Old District and the location where they were researching biological weapons. He should have urged the militiamen and soldiers who had come to save him to abandon the rescue immediately and destroy the Japanese plan instead. Then he should have exchanged a few lingering words of love with Su Man and persuaded her to stop thinking about him. For the sake of the country and the nation, he was destined to have no blessing of romantic love. After that, he was supposed to cry out tragically, "When mountains and rivers lie shattered and the nation stands in peril, I shall spill my blood for China!" Then he would bite his tongue and kill himself.

But Sun Liancheng in the shot treated the rope around him like a swing, swaying back and forth. He even winked flirtatiously at the actors below and called out in a coquettish voice, "Gentlemen, come up and play with me!"

"Cut!" Zhang Chaofan, so angry his vision had gone dark, ripped off his director's cap and hurled it to the ground. "Sun Liancheng, can you fucking do this or not? Film properly!"

As for the rest of the staff on set, including the actors performing alongside him, they were already laughing so hard they were doubled over. The tragic mood Zhang Chaofan had painstakingly built vanished completely. Zhang Chaofan cursed furiously, "Stop laughing! What's so funny? Shut up, all of you!"

Feng Mianmian, who was sitting to one side ostensibly visiting the set but actually watching her husband, could barely suppress her laughter. She quickly grabbed the director's megaphone and shouted, "You're supposed to be dying heroically, so stop thinking about that sort of thing. If you really want to play, I'll go up and play with you after filming. Should I order candles and a whip right now?"

The crazed Wang Zhaoyi immediately behaved himself. Turning toward the camera, he said, "Let's do it again."

Zhang Chaofan shot Wang Zhaoyi an irritated glare. After several months together, he had long since lost the nervous caution he had felt at the beginning, when he had not dared to offend anyone, having grown used to Wang Zhaoyi's occasional bouts of madness. He immediately shouted, "If you don't get it right this time, I'll keep you hanging there until tonight. Then I'll send you home with the rope and everything."

After thinking for a moment, he added bitterly, "And I'll throw in a candle and a whip for free!"

Wang Zhaoyi gave Zhang Chaofan a resentful look and fell silent.

Zhang Chaofan ordered the crew to get ready again. This time, under Feng Mianmian's special attention, Wang Zhaoyi clearly had no mood to fool around. He smoothly finished the final scene.

The following plot had the Old District militiamen and the soldiers who came as reinforcements storm the Japanese secret base together, destroy the biological laboratory, and win a great victory. Then news arrived that Japan had been defeated in the main theater of the war of invasion. The Old District militia leader and the XX Army commander who had come to their aid accepted the Japanese surrender together. The Japanese all withdrew from the Old District, while the XX Army troops who had come to help also had to return to Yanjing. The local people of the Old District organized a lively farewell gathering to send off the soldiers who had come to their rescue.