I have a persona specifically for acting.

Tong Zhao’s sleeping face captured the audience’s attention.

The girl, who had been resolute and formidable like a war deity since the broadcast began, suddenly showed signs of vulnerability, making people feel even more pity and sympathy for her. One of the advantages of live broadcasts in instinct films is that both your strengths and weaknesses are visible to the audience. If you have the talent, it will shine.

With each cough, her long eyelashes fluttered lightly—

With such beauty, why endure such suffering?

Many viewers felt a pang of sorrow upon seeing this scene, and even the backstage staff were no exception. Only the cold-hearted screenwriter proudly revealed the truth: “The faster the heartbeat, the quicker the virus spreads in the blood. Combined with her injury and lowered immunity, her blood virus concentration should be higher than others.”

“…”

Everyone turned to look at him.

“These are things Anna would have originally reminded them about, but now the strategy is gone…”

The screenwriter shrugged and put on an innocent expression.

Clearly, it’s not his fault!

It’s all Xuzhu’s “true self” being too selfish!

His CP was reversed and the plot was altered, which was already quite tragic!

The director pulled up Tong Zhao’s personal data, and her temperature had risen to 65%, showing signs of fever: “Besides the fever, what else is there?”

“Well, if you want to talk about this, there’s plenty more,” the screenwriter listed off: “Though she feels hot to the touch, the infected person will experience cold hands and feet, a sense of mental confusion, occasional random body pains, and an increasingly strong desire to suck blood… If Anna were still alive, or if they had cooperated every time they faced difficulties, the average value should have been around 60% by the time they reached the final level, with these symptoms being quite mild.”

But now?

The assistant director pulled up the personal data of the other two actors. Song Kaiyu was at 50%, while Feng Sisi’s was shockingly low at only 43%. This proved that playing dead and doing nothing was indeed very effective. Considering her performance every time they encountered a challenge, even knowing it was just a movie, people couldn’t help but question Xuzhu’s character.

How can we pass the final level with a patient, a bystander, and a selfish person?

Everyone’s expressions changed.

Only the supervisor showed interest: “This background setting can be shown to the audience. Also, make sure to synchronize and publicly release the personal data.”

“This…”

“What’s the matter? Isn’t it what everyone loves to watch in live movies?”

The supervisor was very amiable, lacking the domineering CEO vibe, and his fox-like eyes were smiling.

But once he spoke, no one dared to contradict him. The director immediately had people act according to his instructions.

The supervisor found this little actor interesting and wanted to give her a helping hand, a favor in passing. The stubborn “true self” would suffer in silence when unnoticed, but if handled correctly, it could quickly attract fans. After all, the most loyal fans are those who have been through hardship.

Sure enough, once this newly introduced data-checking feature became familiar to the audience, the discussion heat skyrocketed exponentially.

The official sources didn’t directly indicate the relationship between infection levels and fever, but based on previous clues from the official blog about the story’s background, it was easy to deduce. Observant viewers made inferences, while those less inclined to think later received educational content, leading to the understanding of one fact—

Tong Zhao is the one who put in the most effort, so she’s the most severely infected.

Then there’s the guy who’s useless at everything, but still alive with a 43% infection rate.

[Can I say I envy Feng Sisi a lot? If I had an older sister like that, I could win just by lying down.]

[Seeing her dragging behind is so annoying.]

[My heart aches for the sister…]

In instinctive movies, the suffering of actors is the most real, leading to the emergence of a specific audience group.

They were originally reality show viewers, interested in seeing how far others could push their limits, dissatisfied with traditional movies for lacking authenticity and failing to engage the audience’s emotions. Instinctive movies perfectly cater to this hidden preference.

When this audience learned about the shooting mishaps in “Countdown 72 Hours,” they flocked to watch the live stream.

Especially the video of Tong Zhao using tweezers to remove bullet fragments from her flesh.

So exciting!

Even if paying to enter now means only experiencing one-third of the content, it’s still worth it.

In instinctive movies, viruses are not just about adding a poisoning debuff.

Humans enter the holographic system with their consciousness, and the virus is another string of code. The effects of different codes vary. Because it involves human nerves, the difficulty of creating these codes is quite high. The production team usually prefers to purchase existing virus code rights because it is much cheaper and safer than creating a new virus code.

The virus code used in “Countdown 72 Hours” is codenamed [Desire].

It’s quite well-known.

Because it’s cost-effective and fits the general public’s imagination of zombie viruses, it’s popular.

At a 65% infection rate, movement difficulties begin to appear.

Every virus has a ranking chart showing how long actors’ “selves” were able to continue performing after reaching a certain infection level.

Some viruses that cause immediate breakdown are rarely purchased by production teams.

After all, the show must go on.

[Desire] is a more moderate choice. At the top of the ranking chart is Darren, a foreign actor from “Glacial Survival.” In the freezing cold, with a 70% infection rate, he lasted 20 minutes until the rescue team arrived. It was said that the director was most worried he might attack the female lead, but fortunately, the couple was married in real life, and the female lead had just given birth to their baby. Their strong relationship helped Darren suppress his instincts.

Tong Zhao is currently at 65%.

But her challenge is not just to endure the desire to attack the living.

It’s about moving, using both mind and body to find the antidote.

[Feels like this movie might end badly, the female lead has already come a long way.]

[Not easy, and if she doesn’t find the antidote, don’t mock her.]

[Admiring how the female lead has persisted until now with a sidekick who only tags along and drags on her progress.]

[Female lead’s Weibo handle @Tongzhao, come join us in supporting the fierce and cool Empress!]

“Cough, cough…”

The Empress was awakened by the coughing.

Just after a few coughs, Song Kaiyu next to her quickly covered her mouth.

It wasn’t fully dawn yet, so they couldn’t cough too loudly and attract the zombies’ attention.

Tong Zhao glanced at him gratefully.

“You’re running a fever…?” Song Kaiyu asked in a very low voice, leaning close to her ear.

“A little,” Tong Zhao said as she touched her forehead, hesitating, “It feels different from the usual cold and fever, maybe it’s a change due to the virus. Do you feel uncomfortable?”

“My throat seems a bit inflamed.”

The two of them conversed softly.

With an infection level of 50%, Song Kaiyu began to feel slight discomfort. He sympathetically held Tong Zhao’s hand and said, “Even though my stamina isn’t great, you can rely on me. Whatever you think I can handle, just let me do it.”

Tong Zhao nodded.

“Get some more sleep; it’s not dawn yet.”

Song Kaiyu shifted slightly, allowing Tong Zhao to lean against him.

The director captured this moment between the two with a separate shot, excluding Feng Sisi from the frame.

So what if the female is strong and the male is weak?

It can still be heartwarming and sweet.

At this moment, most of the audience sensed the chemistry between the two and began to cheer for them in the comments, hoping they could overcome the challenges together.

※

When Tong Zhao woke up, she looked much better.

Song Kaiyu was quite pleased. “Rest is indeed very important.”

However, the audience with the god’s-eye view knew that Tong Zhao hadn’t improved at all. Even though she was just sitting and resting, her infection level had risen by another percentage point—she looked better only because she was well-rested and had the energy to suppress her physical discomfort.

The image of a beautiful, strong, and tragic character was fully on display.

By the time Song Kaiyu drove the car to the front of the research institute, Tong Zhao’s infection level had reached 68%.

The research institute was a building about twenty stories high.

From the outside, it looked like any other office building in the city, but according to Anna, it was equipped with many security measures unfriendly to intruders. The primary challenge was how to enter the building without Anna’s fingerprint.

The building’s doors were completely shut.

It wasn’t just an ordinary glass door but also a solidly closed metal door.

Neither manpower nor firearms could break it; blasting methods would be needed.

[Where’s the demolition team?]

[There’s no blasting team. It would have been great if the female lead had awakened some special power from her fever last night.]

[I’m too lazy to comment. This isn’t a supernatural theme… but I really want to see Tong Zhao in an action-packed supernatural movie. She’d be amazing! What was she doing before entering the entertainment industry? She looks like a top soldier!]

[There were rumors she was a high-end escort during the filming of “The Ming Emperor’s Legend.” No need to guess anymore; this woman is hard to figure out.]

Facing the challenge, Feng Sisi looked towards Tong Zhao.

This was a very familiar action.

Many large trucks were parked near the research institute.

Tong Zhao slowly turned her gaze to the vehicles parked nearby, focusing on one particularly long truck with an open cargo door containing steel bars.

“I have an idea.”

?

What have you thought of now?

Amidst a flurry of question marks in the comments, Tong Zhao smashed all the glass windows of the truck with a wrench. She then reached inside to open the truck door, violently broke open the control panel, and, after studying the wiring for a while, called over Song Kaiyu to help bind several steel bars to the front of the driver’s seat and the passenger seat.

What was originally an unremarkable truck now had steel bars protruding from its front.

Tong Zhao then drove the off-road vehicle and forcefully maneuvered the truck, which was originally angled away from the research institute’s main gate, to face directly toward the gate.

[Hey, I have a bold idea…]

[Don’t even think about it. No one here has the guts of Zhao Ge.]

“Step back a bit. The scene might get a bit explosive soon,” Tong Zhao instructed.

Due to the virus affecting her vocal cords, her once melodious voice had become faintly hoarse.

The two complied obediently and drove the off-road vehicle to the end of the street.

Next, Tong Zhao crouched down, and found the ignition wire among a tangle of wires, and after several attempts by short-circuiting the positive terminal, she finally heard the engine start! This was a vulnerability of older cars, and since the steering wheel couldn’t be unlocked, Tong Zhao had to adjust the direction in advance…

With the throttle set to maximum, the truck barreled towards the research institute’s main gate at an unstoppable, suicidal speed.

At the critical moment, Tong Zhao leaped out of the moving truck through the open door!

The steel bars acted like an ancient battering ram, smashing through the research institute’s first line of defense. The explosion door and its frame were shattered into pieces. The loud noise stirred the zombies in the city, causing a faint disturbance.

She rolled on the road and finally came to a stop, with blood slowly seeping through the bandages on her thigh.

[Tong Zhao’s infection level: 70%]

She only slightly furrowed her brows.