But now, he and Bo He seemed to have developed a bit of tacit understanding.

He didn't even need to look at the footprint indicator in the top-right corner; his first instinct was to charge back.

Sure enough, Bo He was downstairs to back him up.

"Let's split up, circle around to both sides, and surround them!"

There's definitely more than one team at the resort. What if the oriole behind is watching us?

A question surfaced in Qin Chuan's mind, but his hands didn't stop for a moment, maneuvering his character as Bo He had said, circling around to the front of the two-story villa.

Ahead, an enemy leaped down from the stairs, and he caught them red-handed!

He opened fire with the AK in his hands without hesitation.

The AK has a strong recoil. Qin Chuan, who was used to the M416, was a bit unaccustomed to it, and two of his five shots went wide. Fortunately, he had struck first, and the opponent was dead before they had time to react.

On the other side, Bo He had also taken care of his teammate and leaped into the house.

Qin Chuan didn't dare to rush over to loot the crate, because it was often at this moment that the oriole lurking in the shadows would emerge and gobble up both the mantis and the cicada in one bite.

Sure enough, just as the enemy turned into a loot box, gunshots came from Qin Chuan's right.

Chicken dinner players fear one situation the most.

There are multiple enemies, and they aren't on the same team.

In other words, after you've gone through all the trouble to kill two or three groups of enemies and relaxed just a little, you'll suddenly be ambushed, and you won't know where they were hiding until the moment you die.

All the supplies you just looted from the enemies will just benefit someone else.

The feeling is like having painstakingly stacked a house of cards, only for someone to reach out and knock it all down.

Everything back to square one. It's the worst.

Conversely, if you're the final victor, the sweetness of the fruit is equally and endlessly rewarding.

Right now, Qin Chuan and his team were, at best, only on the first step of a long march.

When the gunshots came from the right, Qin Chuan's heart skipped a beat. It's over, he thought, he wasn't wearing a bulletproof vest.

He didn't even have a Level 1 vest. If the other person had a gun like an AK, a couple of shots would be enough to send him back to the lobby.

Before he could even run for cover, Bo He had already eliminated two consecutive enemies inside the house.

"Go loot the crates, I'll cover you!" Bo He said.

This was no time for politeness or modesty. Qin Chuan immediately ran over and discovered that the two enemies' Level 3 helmets and Level 3 vests were, surprisingly, both undamaged.

In other words, in such a short amount of time, Bo He had actually managed to consider the integrity of their gear, leaving a valuable inheritance for Qin Chuan.

After he finished looting, Qin Chuan turned back and saw someone pop their head out from behind the house, their gun aimed right at the back of Bo He, who was running towards him.

Without hesitation, he raised his gun, aimed, and fired.

A direct hit.

Bo He couldn't help but cheer: "Nice!"

The corners of Qin Chuan's mouth turned up slightly.

Xiao Ning walked over with a plate of cut fruit, saw Qin Chuan's mysterious smile, and couldn't help but feel her gossipy heart stir.

"Boss, you're smiling so happily. Did something good happen?"

Qin Chuan: "Was I smiling?"

Xiao Ning nodded.

Qin Chuan wiped the curve from his lips with his hand. "I wasn't smiling. You saw wrong."

Xiao Ning: ......

...

After finishing a day of filming, An Baohua returned to her hotel room, feeling an indescribable exhaustion in both body and mind.

Whether in China or abroad, the world of directing was destined to be a man's world. In her step-by-step journey to where she was today, connections and networks had certainly played a part, but without real skill, it would have been impossible to win countless awards and establish a firm foothold in the directing circle.

Skill is a gift, but it also comes from hard work. An Baohua could no longer remember how many sleepless nights she had spent in her youth studying for exams and trying to keep up with her peers.

Back then, she could pull an all-nighter and be revived the next day by a splash of cold water on her face, but not anymore. Now, in her middle age, An Baohua felt that every cell in her body, from her spirit to her physical shell, was screaming for sleep. Still, she forced herself to take a shower before lying down on the bed in her robe.

The soft mattress made her bones let out a comfortable groan. An Baohua had originally wanted to call her daughter, but a glance at the time showed it was already past eleven at night. She figured that child, Yaoyao, must have been asleep long ago.

She was the one who had bounced around excitedly after learning she was allowed to visit her mother on set, insisting on sleeping with An Baohua. And she was also the one who, now that her three-minute passion had faded after discovering that acting wasn't as romantic as she had imagined but instead concealed countless hardships, had lost interest and was now clamoring to go back.

Thinking of her willful daughter, a smile actually appeared on An Baohua's weary face.

Then, there was a knock on the room door.

Standing outside the door was Old Pan.

The two were old partners and old friends who had worked together for many years. An Baohua stepped aside to let him in, complaining as she did.

"Still have business this late? Don't tell me it's something to do with Zhuo Yi and Chu Fengyi?"

"No, no, they're fine," Old Pan said, rubbing his hands together, hesitating to speak. "Didn't you ask me to go see Xiao Bo before? I figured I should tell you about how the meeting went."

Even that trace of a tired, perfunctory smile vanished from An Baohua's face.