001 Daily Intelligence System and Yuwen Chengdu

June 2002, Hengdian.

In a cramped hotel room, Yan Li pressed stop on his incessant alarm clock. He opened his eyes, about to get up and wake his roommates for class, only to be greeted by the sight of an aging ceiling fan.

He froze for a second or two before realizing he wasn't on the Beijing Film Academy campus. He was in Hengdian, shooting for the crew of "The Legend of the Sui and Tang Heroes."

"It really is cooler here than in Beijing."

Stretching, Yan Li got up to use the bathroom, then brushed his teeth and washed his face. The hotel he was staying at was provided by the production crew; it was a typical, modest establishment from the turn of the century. It wasn't large, and apart from the bed, wardrobe, quilt, and table, the only electrical appliance was the fan. He had to fetch hot water from a communal room with his own thermos. Fortunately, there was a private bathroom, though he had to figure out his own way to shower.

Still, Yan Li was quite satisfied. To say nothing else, having a single room made Yan Li, who had lived in a dorm for nearly two years, feel deeply emotional. He finally didn't have to listen to his "beastly" roommates snore.

After washing up, shaving, and getting dressed, he saw that there was still plenty of time, so he sat back on the bed and whispered in his heart:

"System."

A virtual screen instantly appeared before Yan Li. Even after seeing it for nearly half a year, the sci-fi-like interface still felt slightly surreal.

[Daily Intelligence System]

This thing had appeared to Yan Li a few months ago. He could control it at will, and the virtual screen was invisible to others. Its core function was to push relevant information and intelligence to him every day.

Such an absurd thing wasn't even in the movies or sci-fi novels Yan Li had read; he had once thought he was possessed. But after calming down and delving into the [Daily Intelligence System], though he still didn't understand where it came from, how it worked, or why he had received it, he had figured out one thing:

This thing was good for him! And the benefits were significant!

As Yan Li focused his thoughts, the virtual screen began to shift, and after a moment, the intelligence for the day appeared.

[Daily Intelligence 1: "The Legend of the Sui and Tang Heroes" director Hu Mingkai has an upset stomach. He tossed and turned until dawn, and is expected to be in a very bad mood this morning.]

[Daily Intelligence 2: The "Book and Sword, Gratitude and Revenge" crew is recruiting guest actors at the Dazhi Zen Temple in Hengdian this afternoon. Contact person: Assistant Director Sun Jiang. Phone number: 138XXXX... (Note: A red envelope will increase your chances of getting the role.)]

[Daily Intelligence 3: A new restaurant called "Northeast Eatery" has opened on Hengdian Pedestrian Street. As an opening promotion, they are offering 10% off for bills over 100 yuan, plus a small complimentary portion of Guo Bao Rou (Note: Northeasteners are more likely to trigger larger discounts).]

[Daily Intelligence 4: Da Liu from the lighting crew of "The Legend of the Sui and Tang Heroes" confessed his feelings to Wang Xiu from the makeup crew last night. This has caused strong dissatisfaction in Sasha, also from the makeup crew, who has a crush on Da Liu. She plans to give Wang Xiu a hard time today.]

[Daily Intelligence 5: Under the fourth tree to the north of the grove below the Beijing Film Academy dormitory building, there is a dropped 100-yuan note.]

Hmm, not much intelligence today.

After having the system for a few months, even without a manual, Yan Li had figured out quite a few tricks. For instance, the number of [Daily Intelligence] entries per day had a minimum of three and a maximum of ten, depending entirely on luck. In addition to [Daily Intelligence], a set of [Monthly Intelligence] would appear on the first of every month, with a variable count of between three and ten.

[Monthly Intelligence] entries were generally more valuable and substantial than [Daily Intelligence], with some even containing future information or predictive qualities. Yan Li speculated that there might also be [Yearly Intelligence], which would likely be even more explosive. But since he had only had the system for less than half a year, he hadn't seen any [Yearly Intelligence] yet, so it remained a mere hypothesis.

Furthermore, Yan Li had discovered patterns in the intelligence content. The vast majority of it was connected to him—tied to his daily life, his environment, his thoughts, his observations, and the people he knew or encountered.

For example, Intelligence 1 and 4 were both related to the "Sui and Tang Heroes" crew he was currently with. Having just joined the crew, he was most concerned about internal dynamics, and these two pieces of information came just in time to help him avoid trouble.

As for Intelligence 2, he hadn't heard of the "Book and Sword, Gratitude and Revenge" crew. However, he had thought yesterday that since so many crews were filming in Hengdian, he could find time to inquire about other crews and help himself and his roommates get roles, which likely triggered the system.

Intelligence 3 about the new restaurant didn't surprise him. A person's life revolves around the essentials—food, clothing, housing, and transportation—and similar daily life intelligence had appeared quite frequently before.

As for the 100 yuan in Intelligence 5, it did surprise him slightly. He had received this kind of "windfall" intelligence before, but he didn't expect to still be receiving information about the Beijing Film Academy after arriving in Hengdian. He suspected the system might not have fully "migrated" from the school to Hengdian, causing a slight delay. Or perhaps it was because he had called his roommates yesterday.

This intelligence system was like that: most of it was truly relevant to Yan Li, but it was beyond his control, and sometimes the scope of the connections was random and vague. He might have glanced at a sports newspaper cover while passing a newsstand without even seeing the person clearly, only for the [Daily Intelligence] to reveal two days later that the athlete had a hidden ankle injury.

Sometimes, information about people who had interacted with him—without him even knowing—would show up. For instance, he once saw that his younger cousin had secretly flipped through his copy of "The Legend of the Twin Dragons of the Tang Dynasty" that he had hidden at his grandmother's house, effectively opening the door to his puberty.

Yan Li had experimented and found that while he couldn't completely control the content, he could guide it to some extent. Through psychological suggestion and strengthening connections, he could increase the probability of the information he needed appearing.

Regardless, the power of the [Daily Intelligence System] was undoubtedly immense. Yan Li found it more impressive the more he studied it, and he regarded it as his greatest secret and reliance. At the very least, his successful entry into the "Sui and Tang Heroes" crew and his securing of a role were all thanks to the system.

All [Daily Intelligence] was stored in the system, searchable at any time, with functions for categorization, highlighting, and reminders. Thus, Yan Li didn't have to worry about forgetting it or it being leaked. After briefly noting the two useful pieces of information and thinking about how to handle them, he took out his Nokia 5110 and called his college roommate who should still be at school.

"Hello, Jiacuan, are you at school?"

"Stop sleeping. I dropped 100 yuan, it should be in the grove by the dorm building. You and Songwen go look for it. I'll text you the approximate location. Get up quickly, don't let someone else pick it up."

After hanging up, Yan Li felt at ease. The long-distance calls they’d been making these past two days had been expensive; this would just about cover it. Long live the system!

As for picking up lost money or items based on intelligence, Yan Li had initially felt some moral struggle about "finders keepers," but he was used to it now, and he didn't even flinch when facing a potential owner. If it were a lost item with identification, that would be one thing, but as for cash—forget it. All renminbi look the same; if you say it's yours, does it answer when you call it?

As a newcomer to the crew, Yan Li didn't dare dawdle. After hanging up, even though he had time to spare, he got ready and headed out. "The Legend of the Sui and Tang Heroes" didn't provide breakfast—or at least no one had told him it did—so he decided to eat on the street to avoid trouble and inquire about the arrangement later.

This area was full of Hengdian hotels, and there were many snack shops and stalls nearby, making breakfast convenient. Just as he stepped into a bun shop, he saw an acquaintance and greeted him warmly: "Teacher Kou, good morning."

Kou Zhanwen paused, looking at Yan Li with a sense of familiarity but failing to place him. Seeing this, Yan Li spoke as if they were old friends.

"You might not remember, but last year on the set of 'Lü Bu and Diao Chan' in Zhuozhou, you played Zhang Fei, and I was an extra."

Kou Zhanwen came from the Beijing Wushu Team—the same one that produced Jet Li—so he was considered a junior brother to Jet Li, and he had followed his senior's footsteps into the film industry. His most notable credit was being the Chinese martial arts instructor for the movie "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," though he was best known to the public for playing Er Niu (Hou Yi) in "Sunny Piggy."

Although Kou Zhanwen wasn't exactly a superstar, he was still a figure in the industry, and naturally, he wouldn't have any impression of a mere extra. Seeing Yan Li's enthusiasm, he assumed they must have interacted on set and he had simply forgotten, so he covered up slightly.

"Oh, oh, I remember now. Sorry, it's been a while, I didn't recognize you just now."

"No worries, no worries."

Yan Li waved it off dismissively. It would have been a miracle if Kou Zhanwen *had* recognized him. He had indeed been an extra on "Lü Bu and Diao Chan," but he had never even crossed paths with Kou Zhanwen's Zhang Fei. That opening line was just a pretext to build a connection.

"What a coincidence to run into you on the same crew again, Teacher Kou."

"Ha, you're on 'The Legend of the Sui and Tang Heroes' crew too?"

Kou Zhanwen was surprised. Yan Li wore a restrained smile; after a year of running errands as an extra, he had finally made it.

"I didn't get a chance to tell you, but I'm fortunate enough to be playing Yuwen Chengdu in our 'Legend of the Sui and Tang Heroes'..."