The Director Asked You to Act, Not Actually Be an Agent

In the afternoon, the shoot moved indoors to the chief's office.

The clapperboard snapped.

Lu Cheng sat behind the large desk. Looking at Zhou Jinnan, who had just pushed the door open and walked in, he gestured toward the leather chair opposite him.

“Sit.”

Zhou Jinnan immediately broke into a smile and sat down, perched on the edge of the chair.

“Chief, how was my signature down there just now? The newspapers will definitely reserve the front page for me tomorrow. I’ve really made a name for myself in Shanghai this time.”

Lu Cheng slid a cigar over, his eyes fixed on him.

“Jinnan, I’ve seen your loyalty. Today, I’ll lay my cards on the table.”

He turned around, opened the safe behind him, and pulled out a top-secret file sealed with red wax.

“This was just delivered by the Japanese last night. It’s called the Oriole Plan.”

Lu Cheng tossed the manila envelope onto the desk.

“The strongholds and undercover list of the Shanghai underground intelligence network are all in here. The night after tomorrow, I will personally issue the arrest order. When we pull in the net, not a single one of these rats will escape.”

The fingers Zhou Jinnan used to hold the cigar stiffened imperceptibly.

He bit down on the cigar tip, leaning down to strike a match.

The dancing flame masked the emotions in his eyes.

After exhaling a puff of white smoke, his face still wore that money-grubbing grin.

The Secret Service's defenses were watertight.

Now, only Zhou Jinnan, who had just taken the infamy upon himself and completely cut off any path of retreat, was qualified to lay eyes on this top-secret document in this office.

Right in front of him, Lu Cheng locked the file back into the safe and scrambled the dial combination.

“For the next two days, you will personally lead Squad One to handle security. If anything goes wrong on the perimeter, I will hold you solely responsible!”

“Don't worry, Chief!” Zhou Jinnan stood up, clicked his heels together, and saluted.

“Cut!” Xu Pingqiu watched the playback and nodded. “Good work, everyone. That’s all for today.”

The lead actors dropped out of character and gathered around the director's monitor.

Xu Pingqiu pulled out a revised page from under the table and handed it to Jiang Yue, his expression unusually solemn.

“Originally, I planned to use cutaway shots and a hand double to handle the scene where Zhou Jinnan steals the plan. But I've changed my mind now.”

Xu Pingqiu stared at Jiang Yue.

“In the script, Zhou Jinnan slips into the office while Lu Cheng is attending a banquet. I want you to crack an old-fashioned German mechanical safe blind, purely by listening to the sound.”

“A single continuous shot, with close-ups the entire time.”

Han Song and Chen Jiaming, who were drinking water nearby, were both stunned.

“Director Xu, isn't that a bit too demanding?” Chen Jiaming frowned. “Cracking a mechanical lock blind in a single continuous shot? How do you expect Jiang Yue to act that out?”

“I didn't plan on it originally, but the props team really outdid themselves and managed to get a replica of an old German safe.” Xu Pingqiu's tone was firm. “Since we have the resources, I want the ultimate sense of realism.”

Jiang Yue looked at the revised page of the script, his fingers rubbing the edge of the paper.

A single continuous shot.

Cracking a mechanical lock blind.

He was a complete lock-clueless layman who would call a locksmith even if his own front door lock broke.

However, with the system at his side, he wasn't worried.

Jiang Yue put away the script, stood up, and walked toward the dressing room.

The next morning, at the Qionzhou Film Base.

Jiang Yue sat in front of the vanity mirror and summoned the system panel.

“Ding! High-Tier Ten-Pull complete.”

Jiang Yue skipped past those white and green traits, his gaze locking onto the two most relevant ones.

【Absolute Touch (Purple-Tier): Nerve endings in the fingers will keenly capture subtle vibrations and resistance.】

【Mechanical Deconstruction (Blue-Tier): Once equipped, gear meshing and physical transmissions will be clearly visualized in your mind.】

He chose to equip them.

Jiang Yue opened his eyes, stood up, and walked out the door.

Sunlight filtered through the gaps of the Venetian blinds, casting dappled patterns on the floor of the Secret Service office.

In the center, Xu Pingqiu was arguing with a skinny old man wearing a floral shirt and flip-flops.

Seeing Jiang Yue, the props team leader, Xiang Dong, hurriedly waved him over and introduced them in a lowered voice.

The old man's surname was Xu, and he was a local eccentric in Qionzhou.

His main trade was repairing high-power marine diesel engines. He possessed exquisite craftsmanship and loved tinkering with old items.

The antique-style safe before them was a one-to-one replica he had built based on blueprints. Its internal structure was ingenious, and the crew had gone to great lengths to borrow it.

Right now, Old Xu was slapping the heavy black iron safe, glaring at Xu Pingqiu with his beard bristling.

“Director Xu, I’ll say this one last time! This lock has a three-layer interlocking gear system. It’s anti-theft and anti-pry.”

“You insist on having the actor crack it blind, and in a single continuous shot too. Aren't you just making things difficult on purpose?”

Old Xu waved his hands dismissively. “I'll just teach him a gesture later, and he can pose for it. Once the post-production editing splices it together, which viewer will be able to tell?”

Xu Pingqiu's temper flared up too. “What do you mean splice it? I want realism! Jiang Yue, what do you think?”

Jiang Yue didn't reply but walked straight up to the safe.

The studio was a bit stuffy today. He casually took off his outer vest, draped it over the back of a chair, unbuttoned the cuffs of his white shirt, and rolled them up past his elbows.

The veins on his forearms bulged against his bones, and his fingers were long and slender.

Old Xu was dazed as he watched.

He sized up the young man in front of him. There wasn't a single callus on his palms.

Could a pair of hands like these handle a stiff, unyielding metal dial?

“Master Xu, could you explain the mechanism, please?” Jiang Yue casually rolled his wrists, his joints emitting crisp popping sounds.

Old Xu snapped out of it and reluctantly stepped forward, pointing at the combination dial.

“Turn left three times to find the large gear's latch position, then turn right one and a half times to listen for the small gear's engagement.”

“The key is all in the ‘listening.’ You have to use the pads of your fingers to feel the vibration. It’s a very faint click. Here, put your hand on it and get a feel for it.”

Jiang Yue reached out directly.

The moment his fingertips touched the metal, he closed his eyes.

The three-layer gear structure behind the iron door rapidly unfolded in his mind.

Applying force with his fingers, the dial spun smoothly.

An extremely faint sensation of resistance traveled up through his fingertips.

Old Xu had just opened his mouth, and before he could blurt out, “Yes, that’s the sound—”

Jiang Yue's fingers had already spun the dial in the opposite direction.

Three metal engagement sounds rang out in quick succession without any pause in between.

With a swift twist of his wrist, Jiang Yue grabbed the metal handle, pressed it down, and yanked it outward.

The heavy iron door swung wide open.

Old Xu's mouth hung open, and the half-smoked cigarette tucked behind his ear dropped onto his flip-flop with a soft patter.

“Holy crap!”

Old Xu swore. “Kid, even I have to fumble around for a long time to open this lock. What on earth did you do before this?”

Beside them, Xu Pingqiu excitedly slapped his thigh. “Excellent! That clean, swift technique is exactly what I wanted! Jiang Yue, did you practice this in private?”

Jiang Yue let go of the handle and rolled down his shirt sleeves.

He began to talk nonsense with a straight face: “I was a science student, and I usually like to take apart computer motherboards, servers, and things like that.”

“In terms of principle, this kind of mechanical transmission shares common ground with the logical locks in algorithm codes. Using a brute-force search combined with a bit of physical anticipation, it's not too difficult.”

A row of bullet comments collectively floated through everyone's minds: The world of an Academic God is truly beyond us mere mortals.

Xu Pingqiu waved his hand, dispersing everyone's shock. “All departments, take your positions! Prepare for the actual shoot! If anyone dares to make even a peep during this scene, I'll dock their lunch box!”

Once this highly deterrent warning echoed through the set, all non-essential personnel cleared out instantly.

“Action!”

Inside the chief's office, the lighting was dim and oppressive.

Zhou Jinnan pushed open the door and entered. Closing the door behind him, he flicked his finger deftly, and the latch fell into place with a click.

The door lock engaged.

He didn't rush to the safe. Instead, he silently drew close to the window and lifted a corner of the curtain with his finger.

Peering through the gap, he confirmed that Lu Cheng's black official car downstairs had already driven out of the gate.

The safe window of time: fifteen minutes.

He walked toward the safe and knelt on one knee. His slender fingers rested on the combination dial. After a dazzling display of manipulation, the safe door swung open.

A top-secret manila envelope, sealed with red wax, lay quietly on the top shelf.

Zhou Jinnan did not take the original document directly.

Instead, he fished a palm-sized Prussian Leica camera out of his inner suit pocket.

With precise and rapid movements, he tore open the wax seal and pulled out the file.

Time was of the essence. He could only photograph the key pages by the dim light.

When he flipped to the page with the personnel list, his hand froze mid-turn, his gaze locking onto the line of names at the very bottom.