Henry Clark was feeling both dejected and relieved at the same time. The camera could no longer put any pressure on him, so he could turn around and scratch his crotch.

"Wasted half a day’s worth of facial expressions," Simon King muttered quietly to Henry Clark.

"Exactly, I thought we were filming. Didn’t you say that when the red light is on, it means we’re shooting?" After scratching his crotch, Henry Clark felt much better. He watched the crew bustling about, but no one was paying attention to them anymore, so he started chatting idly with Simon King.

"That’s how it is. When the camera’s indicator light is on, it means it’s filming."

"But the cameraman clearly said he was just checking the shot."

"Maybe the cameraman’s a goofball—turned the camera on and still thought it was off."

"That’s the only way to explain it." Henry Clark nodded, joining in the complaints. The cameraman, with his scruffy beard, didn’t look like any big shot, and after messing with them for half a day, they couldn’t help but grumble about the injustice.

……

They said they were going to shoot, but after all this time, nothing had happened.

Watching the crew members scurrying back and forth, but with no one paying them any mind, Henry Clark took out his smart entertainment watch, Xiaobao, and checked the time. All his clothes and belongings were packed in a bag by the crew’s prop van. He kept his valuables on him—this was common knowledge in Hengdian.

Because there’s so much turnover, losing things on set is a regular occurrence, and some extras in Hengdian have sticky fingers and can’t stand to see others with nice stuff.

The time showed 9:35.

"Hey, what kind of watch is that?" Simon King craned his neck over, asking curiously.

"Smartwatch," Henry Clark replied, then added, "A knockoff from a street stall."

Xiaobao itself was a retro-style replica from the future world, and with its high level of intelligence, no one but its owner, Henry Clark, could tell that it was actually an insanely advanced watch from the future.

"How much did it cost? Is it an Apple or a Samsung?"

"It’s a generic brand, no idea which small factory made it—Xinbao brand." Henry Clark handed Xiaobao over for Simon King to check out, curious to see if Simon King could spot anything special about the watch. If he did, Henry Clark really wouldn’t dare wear Xiaobao on his wrist anymore.

Clearly, Simon King had never even played with a smartwatch before, let alone discover Xiaobao’s secret. He fiddled with it a bit. "Pretty cool, you can make calls, send texts. I’ll get myself a smartwatch one of these days too. I heard Huawei is coming out with one?"

"There are tons now—Baidu, Tencent, Xiaomi, Samsung, Apple, Huawei—they all make smartwatches. Maybe one day, phones will be replaced by smartwatches. Haven’t you seen the news? There are smartwatches with built-in projectors that can be used as a phone," Henry Clark bragged.

"Built-in projector?"

"Yeah, the watch projects onto your arm, and with smart light sensors, touching your arm is like touching the screen."

"Seriously?"

"Why would I lie? They just haven’t figured it out yet. But there are already wristbands that can project the time onto the back of your hand. Technology’s advancing so fast—who knows what they’ll make next? A nuclear-powered watch isn’t impossible." Henry Clark wasn’t lying—he was literally wearing a miniature nuclear bomb on his wrist.

A nuclear-powered watch—just thinking about it made Henry Clark feel smug. Ordinary people could never get their hands on such high-tech gear.

Even those Apple fanboys with their watches were several levels below him!

Boasting always leads to digressions. As they chatted, the two of them drifted onto world affairs, from Ukraine to the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, and then to island-building in the South China Sea. When the other two extras, Frank Thompson and Ivy Young, joined in the boasting, the topic had already shifted to "Keep Running" ("Running Man").

"Season two doesn’t have Wang Baoqiang, I’m not watching," Frank Thompson said, his strong Shandong accent making him sound every bit the down-and-out extra.

For extras, Wang Baoqiang was a spiritual leader. Coming from an ordinary family, starting out as a bit player, and step by step becoming a big star—he was the biggest inspiration for all extras chasing their dreams. Even though Wang Baoqiang was a Beijing drifter, not a Hengdian drifter.

In the past, many people in Hong Kong had made it big from bit parts, like Stephen Chow, but the Hong Kong entertainment industry always felt a bit distant from the mainland, and nowadays, there aren’t really any Hong Kong stars who made it from the bottom—most are second-generation stars. So, Wang Baoqiang, the grassroots icon, became the spiritual pillar for Hengdian extras.

Many people came to Hengdian to chase their dreams for one reason: if Wang Baoqiang could make it, so could they—they could be the next Wang Baoqiang.

Henry Clark had often thought the same.

Especially after learning that Wang Baoqiang married a beautiful campus belle, Henry Clark was so envious and jealous he could barely stand it—he wished he could swap places with him right away.

……

Time flew by as they chatted and boasted. The four of them leaned against the wall by the villa entrance, holding plastic guns, slouching like defeated soldiers.

In a flash, it was already 10:30.

Finally, someone came over to call them—it was the same Director Warren as before: "Stand up straight, we’re about to start filming. No more talking."