Huayu: This director is pretty strong.

Chapter 169 The Souls of the Mines, The Hunt

Abandoned illegal coal mines in Datong, Shanxi Province.

This was the first filming location for the movie "Thunder".

Instead of building an interior set in a studio, Chen Yan directly bought a real mine that had been abandoned for five years due to a mining accident.

Two hundred meters underground.

Damp and cold.

The air was filled with the stench of coal ash and groundwater.

A muffled sound of air being blown in came from the ventilation duct.

Zhang Yuan carried the Steadicam and carefully moved through the flooded alleyway.

His boots made a slapping sound as he stepped into the puddles.

Ahead is a collapsed work site.

Several thick hydraulic supports were deformed, and the rock strata at the top were teetering on the brink of collapse.

This is the most crucial scene in "Thunder": Zhao Xiao, playing the mine owner, personally goes down the mine to confirm the deaths of the trapped miners and decides to seal the mine.

Chen Yan, wearing a safety helmet, stood behind Zhang Yuan, staring at the monitor.

"All departments, prepare."

Chen Yan gave the instructions into the walkie-talkie: "Dim the lights, only use the headlamp beam. Move the microphone stick back, preserving the sound of dripping water. Action."

Zhao Xiao, wearing a dirty military overcoat and a miner's lamp, trudged into the frame.

Two extras playing thugs followed behind him.

At the end of the alley, a huge pile of fallen rocks blocked the way.

Dark red water seeped from the cracks in the rocks.

Zhao Xiao stopped in front of the falling rocks.

He didn't speak, he just quietly looked at the stones.

The beam of his headlamp flickered on the rock face, illuminating the texture on his face that resembled withered tree bark.

An extra stepped forward, his voice trembling: "Mr. Zhao, there's no sound from inside. They're probably... probably all suffocating inside. Should we call a rescue team?"

Zhao Xiao turned his head and looked at the extra A.

There are no lines.

Zhao Xiao just watched him quietly.

That's the look you give to an inanimate object.

The extra, A, had prepared his next line, but it got stuck in his throat, and his legs began to tremble uncontrollably.

A genuine killing intent emanated from Zhao Xiao.

"Call the rescue team?"

Zhao Xiao finally spoke, his voice echoing in the narrow alleyway, "Dig up the stones, carry the dead body out, then have the safety supervision bureau come and seal it off, check my accounts? And finally send me to jail to be shot?"

Zhao Xiao approached extra A.

The extra instinctively stepped back until his back hit the cold rock wall.

Zhao Xiao reached out and patted the face of extra A, which was covered in coal dust.

"The rocks collapsed; it's a natural disaster. When it's a natural disaster, you have to accept it."

Zhao Xiao turned around, looked at the pile of fallen rocks, took out a cigarette from his pocket, and lit it.

"Go upstairs and bring down two truckloads of cement. Seal off this section of the alley completely."

Zhao Xiao exhaled a puff of smoke, which swirled in the beam of his headlamp. "Let's just say they've been buried alive with this mine."

He turned and walked back.

The sound of footsteps faded into the puddles.

"Card."

Chen Yan's voice rang out in the alleyway.

The extra's legs gave way, and he collapsed into the puddle, gasping for breath.

For a moment just now, he truly thought he was going to be buried alive.

Zhang Yuan put down the machine and wiped the cold sweat from his forehead.

"Boss, this old guy is something else. The look he gave me just now sent chills down my spine, even when I was looking at the camera."

Chen Yan walked to the monitor and reviewed the footage from earlier.

The composition, lighting, and performance all possess the highest level of raw, textured quality.

Zhao Xiao perfectly embedded that primitive savagery, unrestrained by modern civilization, into the film.

"Get ready for the next scene. Lin Qingqiu's scene."

Chen Yan gave the order.

On the ground, inside the film crew's temporary tent.

Lin Qingqiu is having her makeup finalized.

The makeup artist applied a special dark foundation to her face to cover up her originally fair skin.

Her hair was cut into a short, uneven style, and the strands were smeared with hair oil, making it look greasy and messy.

Wu Gang walked in and handed her a prop scalpel.

"Director Chen said that this scene had to be realistic. The props team prepared half a pork belly with the bone in and hid it inside the mannequin's belly."

Lin Qingqiu took the scalpel and ran her fingers along the handle.

The muscle memory from the slaughterhouse was instantly awakened.

She closed her eyes and regulated her breathing.

Half an hour later, on the second floor of the office building in the abandoned mining area.

This place has been set up as the office of the male protagonist, Zhao Xiao.

A cheap plaque with the words "Great Ambitions" hangs on the wall, and a statue of Guan Yu sits on a mahogany desk.

Lin Qingqiu plays a female assistant who sneaks into the office late at night to search for the real ledgers from the mining disaster years ago.

This was the moment she had been lying in wait for ten years, ready to close the net.

Chen Yan, sitting behind the monitor, made a hand gesture.

Filming begins.

Lin Qingqiu pried open the safe's lock with lightning speed.

She took out the account book and quickly flipped through it.

They found the page that recorded the money spent on buying lives.

Footsteps came from outside the door.

Zhao Xiao pushed open the door and entered.

He had been drinking and reeked of alcohol; he was carrying a steel pipe.

The two met in the office.

There were no screams, no questions.

Zhao Xiao swung the steel pipe and smashed it directly at Lin Qingqiu's head.

Lin Qingqiu dodged to the side, and the steel pipe smashed onto the mahogany table, sending wood chips flying.

Lin Qingqiu pulled out the scalpel hidden in her sleeve with a backhand motion.

This is a close-quarters combat fight that completely abandons traditional martial arts routines.

Wu Gang designed dangerous moves, each strike aimed directly at vital points.

Zhao Xiao, relying on his instincts from years of fighting, possessed great strength and overwhelming power.

Lin Qingqiu, on the other hand, was like a cold, venomous snake, searching for an opening to strike and kill.

The two rolled and bumped into each other in the cramped office.

The tables and chairs were overturned, and documents were scattered all over the floor.

Zhao Xiao grabbed Lin Qingqiu by the neck and pinned her against the wall.

Lin Qingqiu's face turned bright red, and she had difficulty breathing.

But there was no panic in her eyes.

She twisted her wrist, which was holding the scalpel, and the tip of the blade pierced through the muscle fibers of Zhao Xiao's arm, severing the tendon there.

Zhao Xiao winced in pain, and his grip loosened.

Lin Qingqiu broke free of the restraints and kicked Zhao Xiao in the knee.

Zhao Xiao knelt on one knee.

Without pausing, Lin Qingqiu circled behind him, the blade of the scalpel pressed against Zhao Xiao's carotid artery.

With just a gentle swipe, this demon's life can be ended.

The camera zooms in, giving Lin Qingqiu's face a close-up.

According to the conventional script, at this point, the female lead should shed tears, accuse the male lead of his crimes, and complete the emotional release.

But Lin Qingqiu did not.

Her face was expressionless.

There was no hatred, no thrill of revenge, only the numbness of cutting through meat day after day in the slaughterhouse.

She looked at Zhao Xiao's struggling profile as if she were looking at a piece of pork hanging on an iron hook.

"Card!"

Chen Yan shouted.

Lin Qingqiu put away the prop knife, took two steps back, and leaned against the wall, panting heavily.

Zhao Xiao stood up, rubbed his stabbed arm, and looked at Lin Qingqiu with a hint of fear in his eyes.

Chen Yan stepped forward and looked at the two of them.

"Maintain this state. We need to use this sense of pressure to pierce the retinas of those judges in Venice."

Just then, Su Wan strode into the film set with a satellite phone in hand, her face grave.

"Director Chen, something's happened."

Su Wan avoided those around her and lowered her voice, "Lu Haiming's men have made their move. They bribed local thugs and dug up the only mountain road leading to the mining area. The crew's supply trucks can't get in, and we can't send out the film negatives we need for filming."

Chen Yan frowned.

"Not only that."

Su Wan pulled up an email on her phone: "News from Venice. Harvey has used all his connections in European cinemas, uniting with the five major distributors to pressure the organizing committee. If 'Thunder' is screened as scheduled, they will boycott this year's Venice Film Festival. Marco Müller is under immense pressure, demanding that we send the complete rough cut to Italy within three days. Otherwise, he will have no choice but to compromise."

The highway was cut off, and the film could not be sent out.

There are only three days left until the deadline.

Although Lu Haiming was inside, the tentacles of capital were still trying to strangle Chen Yan's living space.

Harvey and Lu Haiming's forces formed a strange tacit understanding at this moment, creating a two-pronged attack both domestically and internationally.

Chen Yan turned to look out the window.

The continuous mines resembled a lurking beast in the night.

He took out his walkie-talkie and tuned it to all channels.

"The entire crew, listen up! Stop resting. Work non-stop!"

Chen Yan's voice echoed in the night sky, "Zhang Yuan, pack all the film negatives into boxes. Wu Gang, take your men and go to the convoy to modify that heavy-duty off-road pickup truck. Add a crash beam."

Su Wan looked at Chen Yan: "What are you going to do?"

"If the road is blocked, just crash into it."

Chen Yan looked at the dark, winding mountain road. "They want to trap us in this coal mine. Well, we'll step over their bones and charge into Venice."