Chapter 44: Changing Agents
“……” Xie Xinglan coaxed for a long time. Xie Chi just laughed. He called out Brother constantly but he never mentioned that one word again.
Xie Chi soon regretted this. Since his brother was absent-minded, he was heavy handed and the food was very salty.
After dinner, the app rang again.
[It has been detected that your agent has died. Do you want to change your agent at random?]
[Once confirmed, the app will randomly assign an agent to you.]
Xie Chi immediately clicked on [No.]
He had no agent after Zhou Tong’s death. He obviously needed an agent who didn’t pit him or had to become his own agent. The randomly assigned agents could be good or bad and Xie Chi was unwilling to use this. After all, it would be troublesome to meet another person like Zhou Tong.
[You have rejected the random allocation of an agent. Now the page will jump to agents that can be selected.]
There were the names of more than a hundred agents on the screen. Xie Chi opened one at random and the information was very clear: Zheng Yuan, male, an actor with a purple title. Specializes in ghost movies, is good at ghost movies and has rich experience with ghost movies.
Zheng Yuan asked his agents to hand in 18% of their points in each instance as a fee.
Next was: Zhang An, male, an actor with a blue title. Has shot two haunted house movies. Actors interested in the haunted house theme can choose him.
Zhang An asked his artists to turn in 8% of their points in each instance as a fee.
Xie Chi’s frown became deeper the more he looked. At his current level, he could apply to almost all agents. However, the slightly more well-known and competent agents charged higher fees. The low ones had to hand in at least 5% of the points in each instance while the high ones could even exceed 30%. From a data point of view, the higher the required compensation, the stronger the level of the agent.
Xie Chi tried a precise search and found that all-rounder agents were very few. 95% of them were agents specializing in a certain type or two or three types of movies. This was different from Xie Chi’s demands.
In addition, the hiring fee for all-rounder agents was around 10% more expensive than the specialized one. The cheapest one had a blue title and had to pay 15% of the points.
It seemed it wasn’t feasible to find an agent. Xie Chi was more accustomed to relying on himself than relying on others. Moreover, he didn’t know these people. The relationship between interests didn’t seem very reliable and he would have to deal with gratitude, grievances, or love.
If the agent told him the wrong information because of potential grievances of selfishness, it would be fatal to him. Xie Chi wouldn’t hand over his life to others.
Xie Chi searched for information on becoming an agent and his frown deepened.
He had to first submit 100 points to become an agent. Then he must continue to spend points to upgrade his agent level to be eligible to choose a higher quality horror movie. After successfully becoming an agent, only the rough quality horror movies were open to him. If he wanted a bland horror movie to be open, he needed to spend 50 points. Then if he wanted a pros outweigh the cons movie, he needed to spend 100 points.
There was also selecting the horror movie. If the agent wanted to know anything other than the name and subject manner, they needed to spend extra points to buy it.
It could be called another upgrade system completely. It was no wonder why the agents had to charge the actors. Based on this calculation, 5% was actually very generous. Of course, Zhou Tong’s previous request of 50% was pure robbery.
The income of a low level agent wasn’t high because most of the actors under them were cannon fodder. It wasn’t bad if they could earn 10 points in a movie. Even if the agent demanded 50%, it would only be 5 points. This was why Zhou Tong thought about it before letting him join. He had 230 points.
Using this comparison, the income of being an agent was far worse than filming a horror movie himself.
There were also strict restrictions on senior agents. For agents with a purple title or above, they could only bring two actors at most.
[You have seven days to consider. After seven days, if there is no agent then the app will randomly assign you an agent to help you enter the next horror movie.]
Xie Chi sneered. The agent system was indeed unreasonable. An agent wasn’t needed to give help for people like him. All he wanted was a direct connection between the actor and horror movie. The agent was like an intermediary between actors and horror movies, so he had to pay points to let the intermediary pick the horror movie.
Xie Chi’s throat felt choked up. He… was an independent player.
There were seven days so Xie Chi wasn’t in a hurry to choose. He returned to the study and turned on the computer to judge the pros and cons of the two options. Then the phone on his table rang and Xie Chi glanced at it.
[Your title is now blue and it has reached the standard. Congratulations on gaining your own office. The office has been set up last night and you can enter at any time.]
[The role of the office: You can send an invitation to someone you know through the mobile app. Once the other party agrees, they will be sent to the office immediately.]
Previously, Zhou Tong had sent an invitation to Xie Chi. Xie Chi agreed and immediately appeared at the door of Zhou Tong’s office. Now Xie Chi also had an office and it would be more convenient to meet people he knew from the app.
Xie Chi wanted to check when he received an invitation from Lu Wen first.
Lu Wen: Xie Chi, Jing is also in my office. Are you free? Can we meet? Jing wants to tell you something.
Xie Chi had nothing to do so he clicked on [Okay.]
It was strange at first but he was soon accustomed to it. Xie Chi looked at the office that appeared in front of him and wasn’t surprised. He knocked on the door twice and the whispers in the room abruptly stopped. Xie Chi frowned slightly and he felt a bit strange.
“Brother Xie, come in!” Yan Jing finally called out.
His voice was trembling slightly. He seemed a bit… nervous?
Xie Chi brushed away the doubts in his mind and pushed open the door. He scanned the room. The office layout of Lu Wen’s office was exactly the same as Zhou Tong’s office but it was half as small. The app probably considered Zhou Tong’s agent status and gave him a bigger office.
“Fuck!” Yan Jing glanced at the door and instantly stared. Then he turned to Lu Wen for confirmation.
Lu Wen nodded and lowered his voice. “He is Xie Chi.”
Yan Jing was dumbfounded. Yan Jing moved his computer swivel chair and sat beside Lu Wen. Xie Chi walked over and wondered, “Why did you curse?”
The face was infinitely magnified and Yan Jing couldn’t bear it. “Brother, don’t come over. Stand far away and let me slowly adjust.”
Xie Chi stiffened and he stared at Lu Wen blanky, asking what was going on with his eyes. Lu Wen touched his nose and didn’t answer. He just smiled secretly.
After Yan Jing left Zombie Lovers, he was no longer a living zombie and his original appearance was restored. It was just that he looked a bit more shabby due to the zombie blood. Xie Chi’s eyes showed some sympathy. Fortunately, Yan Jing couldn’t look at himself in the mirror.
“Brother, I just looked in the mirror!” Yan Jing saw Xie Chi’s expression for the first time and felt the ridicule. He spoke with shame and indignation. He had been wondering why Xie Chi was laughing while talking about the zombie lineage with him. Now he fully understood.
“You can’t see. Why look in the mirror—” Xie Chi suddenly stopped and he met Yan Jing’s eyes, which were focused.
Xie Chi abruptly glanced at Lu Wen. Lu Wen grabbed a chair for him and explained, “He made a new wish in the wish interface to temporarily restore his sight for three minutes. It cost 10 points.
Xie Chi sat down and his legs were so long that they seemed to have nowhere to go.
“Brother, you previously said that you look average!” Yan Jing stared at him and complained angrily.
Xie Chi laughed. He didn’t feel bad about fooling a blind person at all and calmly changed the topic. “Why did you spend points? Don’t you want to achieve the wish you made when you came in?”
Yan Jing glanced at Lu Wen before announcing with a smile, “My wish has been fulfilled.”
Xie Chi was startled. “It has been fulfilled?”
Lu Wen explained for Yan Jing. “His wish only needed 200 points. After Zombie Lovers ended, he had 461 points. He fulfilled his wish and had 261 points remaining. He spent 10 points because he wanted to take a look at us.”
Xie Chi nodded. “Don’t you have any practical wishes?”
Lu Wen stated, “This kid’s wishes are all fleeting things. He just wanted to see his late grandfather for a bit.”
Xie Chi was a bit surprised. Then he recalled Taoist Lian Xi’s evaluation of Yan Jing and suddenly felt relieved. He asked, “Then your wish is fulfilled. Can’t you unbind the app and leave?”
Yan Jing nodded. “Yes, the app asked me this.”
Xie Chi realized that Yan Jing was meeting them for the last time before leaving.
Xie Chi smiled and wanted to bless him with a few words when he heard Yan Jing say, “I actually made a real wish.”
Xie Chi was taken aback. “What?”
Yan Jing and Lu Wen glanced at each other with a bit of embarrassment before Yan Jing explained. “Brother Xie, isn’t your agent dead? Brother Lu and I have been thinking about it for two hours. It is too expensive for you to hire a good agent and you don’t need it. You just need an agent to provide you with the correct information. If you become an agent yourself, you have to pay points. It isn’t cost-effective and is a lot of trouble. You can shoot a lot of movies in that idle time. I don’t know what your wish is but you must be very eager to achieve it. I can see it.
“So… didn’t I have over 200 points remaining? I spent 100 to register as an agent myself and the remaining points were used to open the bland and pros outweigh the cons movies.”
Xie Chi froze.
“After that, the app will reward me with bonus points when you upgrade. If I have nothing to do then I can go to the low level zombie movies to collect points. In any case, I now have zombie blood and it is absolutely no problem for me to survive in such movies. I can definitely save enough points to open up higher quality horror movies for you. Don’t worry about this. I’m not the previous Yan Jing. I definitely won’t drag you down. In addition, I think I understand Brother Xie well compared to others. Brother Xie can trust me. I can trade with other agents for the information that you want.” Yan Jing was a bit nervous because he was afraid of being rejected. He lowered his head and didn’t dare to look at Xie Chi.
There was a hint of movement in Xie Chi’s eyes.
Yan Jing didn’t wait for a decisive answer and stammered, “Brother Lu now has over 800 points. He said that once he gains 1,000 points, he can change his agent. He will also change his agent and let me be his agent. Brother Xie, if you don’t need me as an agent then don’t feel pressured and just say it. It is the same for me if I stay as an agent for Brother Lu. After all, you save my life. I would feel too regretful if I left without saying a word. Moreover, once I go back, there are no relatives in that world…”
The more Yan Jing spoke, the darker his eyes became.
Xie Chi suddenly interrupted. “That’s enough.”
He understood Yan Jing’s meaning. Yan Jing was staying here to repay him. He acted first before reporting later. Yan Jing feared that Xie Chi would be unwilling and in order to save him from the burden, Yan Jing pulled in Lu Wen.
Xie Chi laughed in a dumbfounded manner. Yan Jing thought that Xie Chi had refused him and looked at Lu Wen in an aggrieved manner, wanting to be comforted.
Xie Chi raised his eyes and smiled. “Are you prepared to sell yourself to me? What if I stay here for three or five years…”
Yan Jing exclaimed, “Who cares how many years? Brother, previously you protected me and now I will help you. It is justified!
“In addition, I’m not losing! If you become a movie emperor in the future then I can make any wish with the points I can’t! I have to work hard at this time to enjoy our old age. Then I’ll be the agent of the movie emperor.”
Xie Chi stood up and smiled. “Then Agent Yan, I will join you.”