Chapter 1. Hehehe~~

“Cut! Extras dismissed! Teacher Lin Xinru, please prepare to take the stage!”

At a film set in Magic City, the assistant director shouted through a megaphone.

The numerous extras happily began to wrap up and get ready to leave.

Only one handsome extra wore a face of utter despair.

He was truly at his wit’s end!

Ji Yu’s system had just issued another reward.

[Successfully disguised as a fruit stall owner to complete a surveillance mission. Reward: Skill – Disguise Skill Fragment *1, Exposure Points 10.]

Ha! What good is this worthless skill?

He wanted to flip the table!

“Hey, what’s that extra doing? Who told you to overturn the stall?”

Ji Yu not only wanted to overturn the stall; he wanted to quit altogether.

As a reborn individual bound to the profession of actor, this should have been a joyous thing.

The system told him that as long as he kept acting, he could receive professional rewards.

But the system never said the rewards would all be spy-related skills!

Was this some kind of joke?

What use were these skills?

Stealing state secrets?

He wanted to live a few more years, thank you very much!

The key point was that Ji Yu could only obtain rewards by acting.

Was there no justice?

Did no one regulate this broken system?

He didn’t even know which unlucky soul bound to a spy profession panel ended up getting actor rewards.

Well, acting skills were useful for spies, after all.

But what use was a disguise skill to Ji Yu?

Disguise as a background extra?

The point was, he was already a background extra—no disguise needed at all!

Disguise… wasn’t acting itself a form of disguise?

Ji Yu thought about how he had felt quite at ease playing a background extra these past few times.

But disguise alone wouldn’t suffice. Could he even use any other spy skills?

Ji Yu munched on a three-yuan boxed meal from the crew, pondering how best to utilize the system.

After a few bites, he had to give up thinking—it was just too awful!

Though these skills seemed useless for now, the system’s marketplace hadn’t unlocked yet.

There might be surprises once it did.

He decided to switch to another crew and blend in as an extra.

Ji Yu was currently on the set of Endless Love in a Misty Rain.

A melodramatic poor-girl drama.

There weren’t many normal people on set, and the female stars failed to pique Ji Yu’s interest.

Switching to a crew with prettier actors sounded like a good plan.

Otherwise, this damned system would drive him crazy sooner or later.

Ji Yu checked his profession panel.

[Profession: Actor]

[Skills: Basic Disguise, Basic Tracking, Basic Eavesdropping.]

[Tasks Completed: 9]

[Exposure Points: 90 (Please actively participate in film and television productions!)]

[System Marketplace: Locked. 100 Exposure Points required to unlock the beginner marketplace.]

[Professional Evaluation: As an actor, your acting skills are an absolute pile of rubbish!]

Every time Ji Yu saw that evaluation, it broke his spirit!

Damn it, if you don’t reward actor skills, why blame me?!

It wasn’t like he chose to be an actor!

Ji Yu tried to calm himself, then spent half an hour cursing the system with colorful language.

Feeling better, Ji Yu slipped across the Changdun Film City from one side to the other.

“Need extras?”

He asked a background extra leader.

“What can you do? Show me a mischievous grin.”

“Heh heh heh~~”

“That’s not a sly grin, it looks creepy!”

“Heh heh heh~~”

“You’ve got potential, if there’s a rapist role, I’ll come find you!”

“Thanks, bro, you’re the first to say I’ve got potential!”

“Heh heh... heh heh...”

“Bro, your smile’s pretty creepy too.”

“Go play elsewhere. There’s a gangster henchman role, you in?”

“Count me in! I’m the loyal lapdog of the boss—tell me who to cut down, I’ll do it!”

Ji Yu followed the extra leader to the set of Like Mist, Like Wind, Like Rain, becoming a henchman under Liu Huaqiang.

It felt like he was crossing into another drama.

In this show, the gangster played by Sun Honglei was named A-Qiang or A-Zhen?

Oh, A-Lai!

Ji Yu hadn’t watched this drama, but it didn’t matter for playing a lackey.

Today’s scene was trashing a watch shop with Liu Huaqiang.

[Ding~ New task available!]

[Disguise as a gangster, collect evidence of crimes committed by the crime boss A-Lai!]

[Task Reward: Fighting Skill Fragment *1, Exposure Points 10.]

Ji Yu scoffed. What good was fighting? Was he supposed to become a boxer in the entertainment industry?

Hmm, maybe an action actor? Ji Yu tapped his head, feeling a twitch in his brain.

He changed into a black suit, standing behind Liu Huaqiang, perfectly disguised as Henchman A.

The disguise skill made him utterly inconspicuous in the crowd!

Not sure if that counted as good acting or what.

Disguising as anyone could be considered acting, but as an extra, you wouldn’t get noticed.

Only as a main character would anyone pay attention to your acting.

With the director’s cue, Liu Huaqiang charged forward, Ji Yu right behind.

They stormed into the watch shop, smashing everything in sight.

Bang bang bang!

After a chaotic rampage, Ji Yu almost took out the big boss himself.

Scene wrapped!

[Successfully collected evidence against crime boss A-Lai. Task reward granted.]

Ji Yu’s skill panel now had Basic Fighting.

This broken system’s only merit!

Skills had to be accumulated in fragments over time.

Was this some kind of group-buy app?

Extras dismissed. Ji Yu shed his black suit and transformed into a shoeshiner.

[Ding~ New task!]

[Disguise as a shoeshiner, monitor every move of crime boss A-Lai!]

[Task Reward: Disguise Skill Fragment *1, Exposure Points 10.]

Ji Yu squatted by the curb, bored, casually observing the surroundings. Being a background extra was just that easy.

Completing this task would unlock the system marketplace.

He hoped there would be something good inside.

A reward of tons of gold for spy activities would be perfect.

Soon, the director called "Action," and Ji Yu began polishing the shoe of the extra in front of him.

That guy was definitely doing it on purpose; the director never said the shoes had to be polished.

“Clean it up a bit!” the suit-wearing extra bellowed, posing like a model.

Ji Yu wanted to squeeze shoe polish into his mouth, throw a stinky rag in his face, and buff him!

Fortunately, the scene was simple, and Ji Yu finished polishing with a few casual strokes.

Disguise was a piece of cake!

After acting, Ji Yu resumed squatting by the roadside, eagerly awaiting the marketplace unlock.

There had to be something good!

“Hey! You, the shoeshining extra! Come here!”

Before the marketplace unlocked, the assistant director called him over.

Watching the unlock progress bar inch forward, Ji Yu ran over.

In front of the assistant director stood an actress in a qipao.

She was quite pretty, and Ji Yu stole a few extra glances.

Hmm… familiar, but he forgot her name.

The assistant director pointed at the actress’s high-heeled leather shoes and said to Ji Yu, “Polish her shoes, otherwise it won’t look good on camera.”

Ji Yu blinked, pointing at his nose in bewilderment, “You want me to do what?”

“Polish the shoes, of course. You just happen to have the prop.”

Damn my temper!

I’d like to see who’s got such a big nerve!

Ji Yu turned his head—who turned on his auto-aiming?

What a huge trap!

Fuming, Ji Yu rolled up his sleeves and squatted down to polish the shoes.

The towering jail warden… heh heh heh~

Ji Yu grabbed the actress’s ankle, polishing with extra care.

“Um, you don’t need to do that, I can do it myself!”

The actress looked a bit embarrassed. This was the new society.

No one should have someone else polish their shoes!

Li Xiaoran felt quite awkward having such a handsome young man polish her shoes.

Ji Yu looked up, hmm? Why didn’t he see her face?

Tsk tsk, a female teacher with such magnificent assets—he should have seen her work before.

While polishing, Ji Yu asked, “Teacher, what’s your name?”

“Li Xiaoran…”

Li Xiaoran answered softly, feeling very discouraged. She was really unpopular if even extras didn’t recognize her.

Ji Yu gave a short “Oh,” and continued polishing.

The name Li Xiaoran sounded familiar.

Had she played some crazy princess?

Ji Yu had seen clips while scrolling through DouDaddy.