Chapter 35 Naza: Do you believe in past and future lives?

"Elder brother?"

Zhang Yang repeated the name Naza had used to address him, a hint of teasing in his eyes. "Naza, did you study the script all night and get yourself all muddled up?"

Muddled up?

Not exactly. She still remembered looking through the peephole before opening the door, and the security chain had been latched. Yet, she felt as if she had experienced so much. Naza looked a bit dazed.

That was it; she was Guli Naza, not Zhao Jingniang. *Thoughts by day, dreams by night.* She must have been too immersed in the script before bed, leading to such a dream. But could a dream be this vivid? Could she remember those scenes so clearly? Yet, the scenarios, the story, and the dialogue in the dream were exactly the same as the script Zhang Yang had written. Perhaps... it was just a dream.

"I suppose I must have been a bit muddled," Naza said with an embarrassed smile. "Elder... Brother Yang, did you need something?"

"Need something? I don't think it's a 'suppose'—you really are muddled." Zhang Yang unlocked his phone and held the screen up to her. "See for yourself what time it is."

"Eight-seventeen!" Naza’s pupils constricted, and she snapped into focus.

She had her first scene today. She was supposed to head to a nearby Taoist temple with Lin Feng's sub-unit for location shooting, and the departure was set for eight-thirty. There wasn't much time left.

"Ah, Brother Yang, wait a moment, I'll be ready right away."

Touching her pajamas, Naza let out a startled cry and hurried into the bedroom, not even bothering to close the door. She felt an inexplicable trust in Zhang Yang now, with no defenses in her heart.

Zhang Yang leaned against the doorframe, watching her fret over a pile of clothes in front of the sofa. He crossed his arms and said, "You'll be changing into costume later, so you don't need to dress up too much. The simpler, the better."

Hearing this, Naza immediately made up her mind. She picked out a yellow floral dress, laid it on the bed, and prepared to change out of her pajamas.

Zhang Yang: "..."

*Should I look? Or should I look?*

Before the "holy light" could descend, Zhang Yang reached out and pulled the door shut. He didn't consider himself a saintly man, but he wasn't a lecherous peeping tom either. If he wanted to admire Naza's form, he would do it on his own merits; otherwise, what was the point of his rebirth and his cheat code?

"Ah!"

Naza, just about to change, realized Zhang Yang was still watching from the doorway. Instinctively, she stopped and turned around. Seeing the door was now closed, she let out a sigh of relief and murmured, "How could I doubt my elder brother? He escorted me for thousands of miles and never once overstepped... oh."

Naza felt she was going mad. She had heard of method actors getting too deep into a role and being unable to detach, sometimes even developing feelings because of the performance. But she hadn't even started filming yet, and she was already unable to leave the character?

Was she... a natural-born talent?

Taking a deep breath to steady her emotions, she stopped overthinking. She took off her pajama bottoms, put on safety shorts, and pulled on the dress, leaving only her graceful swan-like neck exposed to the air. After a five-minute wash in the bathroom, she grabbed her phone, room key, and a few pages of the script, then opened the door.

"Brother Yang, let's go." Naza, with her face bare of makeup, possessed a fresh and ethereal quality.

Zhang Yang didn't speak. He took her to the elevator, went down to the lobby, and met up with Lin Feng and the others.

"Everyone's here. Let's move out."

The crew had chartered a bus, and the small team rode together toward the nearby Taoist temple. Zhang Yang and Naza sat together. They didn't speak, both occupied with their scripts. But one only had to look closely at their eyes to see they weren't truly focused.

Naza was still thinking about last night's dream; many details were starting to blur, but the emotions were becoming clearer. Zhang Yang, meanwhile, was studying the "Opportunity Manual" in his mind. The benefits he gained from entering the dream had given him a taste of success, and he was impatient to accumulate more Role Points and Opportunity Points.

[Time: March 18, 10:18 AM]
[Location: Hong Kong, XX Hotel, X Floor, Room X]
[Guide: (Locked/1 Role Point)]

[Time: March 18, 2:21 PM]
[Location: Xi'an High-tech Zone, Jinye Road No. 1, Greenland Century City, Zone A, Building 1 (Jaywalk Media)]
[Guide: (Locked/2 Role Points)]

[Time: March 18, 7:04 PM]
[Location: Hunan...]
[Guide: (Locked/1 Role Point)]

[Time: March 19, 7:01 AM]
[Location: Old Hengdian Steamed Bun Shop]
[Guide: (Locked/1 Role Point)]

"The first three are out of the question; no time to get there."

"The fourth opportunity is close by, though. I'll get up early tomorrow and check it out."

For days, Zhang Yang had been tracking the updates in the Opportunity Manual. Some opportunities were too far away, and others were clearly too difficult to manage based on their location alone. He only had nine Role Points left; he couldn't grab everything and had to be selective.

"Still, it's not like I can't seize an opportunity without spending points."

"Using an Opportunity Point just tells me the method to seize it, but it doesn't mean I can't succeed through my own ability."

"I just wonder if seizing an opportunity on my own will still reward me with points."

"Role Points allow me to enter a character's dream and randomly inherit their abilities."

"Perhaps in the future, I could obtain cultivation techniques or black-tech manufacturing skills?"

Zhang Yang remembered that when inheriting roles, abilities changed according to the rules of the current world, but he couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.

"Brother Yang." Naza tugged at his sleeve.

"Hmm?" Zhang Yang pulled his thoughts back, smiling.

"Do you believe in past lives?" Naza asked with expectation in her eyes.

"I do," Zhang Yang replied decisively.

"Really?" Naza’s eyes brightened.

"Of course," Zhang Yang answered with a straight face. "I believe that in my past life, I was Qin Shi Huang."

"I am Qin Shi Huang. Send me money!"

Naza: "..."

*If you had said you were Emperor Taizu of Song in your past life, I might have actually sent you money.*

"I can't be bothered with you," Naza rolled her beautiful eyes. She felt she was truly losing her mind. She might have been Zhao Jingniang in a past life, but Zhang Yang was definitely not Zhao Kuangyin.

"Haha." Zhang Yang found Naza amusing. "Let's run through our lines."

"Okay." Naza steadied her gaze. The most important thing now was to perform the role well.

But as they started, she felt a moment of trance. *Why does this feel so familiar?*

Over an hour later, the bus pulled into a parking lot. The crew disembarked and began setting up equipment under Lin Feng’s direction in front of the Taoist temple. Before filming officially began, Zhang Yang sought him out. "Brother Lin, I have some new ideas for tomorrow's horse-riding and action scenes. Could you listen to them?"

Lin Feng had gone from being a stuntman to a stunt coordinator, and finally, a renowned action director. He had a solid foundation, plenty of ideas, and was always happy to listen to his actors—provided the ideas were useful.

"Weren't the movements we designed a few days ago quite good?" Lin Feng asked, puzzled.

He currently admired Zhang Yang, who not only had the looks of a top-tier idol but was also well-trained and a natural for action films. Among the young actors he knew, only Liu Yifei—whom he had worked with on *The Return of the Condor Heroes*—shared Zhang Yang's ability to endure the hardship of filming action scenes while looking the part. It was a shame she was currently filming *The Four* on the neighboring set.

"I was doing some research recently and found something. Zhao Kuangyin was a master of both fist and staff. Beyond the Taizu Long Fist that everyone knows, his most lethal skill was the Taizu Coiling Dragon Staff. I want to design a set of sequences using the staff," Zhang Yang said directly.

In truth, he had long known about Zhao Kuangyin’s dual mastery, but because his own staff skills were merely average, he had defaulted to sword and spear techniques to ensure a cool aesthetic. In a melodramatic TV series, one didn't need to be too pedantic—looking cool was enough.

But things were different now. He was, in essence, the very person of Emperor Taizu of Song. The Coiling Dragon Staff was not only effective but also sufficiently cool and imposing.

"Staff techniques," Lin Feng mused. "Can you handle them?"

He hadn't rejected it outright, which meant there was a chance.

Zhang Yang smiled. "Shall I show you?"