The protagonist of this comic is also one of the drug victims from back then. She's the little girl who dragged her younger brother away when the drug victims appeared at the beginning.
After many years, the little girl from back then has now become an old lady, living alone in her bookstore, leisurely enjoying the last moments of her life.
But one day, her younger brother, who had been living abroad for most of the year, suddenly returned to China and brought her bad news—
A group of people are discreetly arresting drug users for research!
With the development of modern technology and the decline of the bodies of those who use drugs, they are no longer as calm as before when faced with some high-tech firearms. It seems that they have no other choice but to run away.
Now, most of the drug users who went abroad have been arrested and become research subjects for those people, and only a small group of drug users who remained in China have escaped this fate.
However, according to reliable sources, a group of assassins has now entered the country in an attempt to capture them and take them out of the country.
In order to avoid being researched as a drug, the female protagonist decisively formed an alliance with the remaining friends in the country to investigate the matter, which was also a way to resist those people's attempts to capture her.
The story begins from this moment.
Xiao He quickly flipped through the first volume and roughly understood the plot and world view.
However, the first volume only tells the story of the female protagonist and several companions forming an alliance and, despite being elderly, working together to kill the assassins who came to capture them. The villain that Zhuang Hongyi mentioned has not yet appeared.
After reading it, Xiao He thought the plot was indeed quite interesting.
The fight scenes are exhilarating, the lines of the characters fighting are clean and crisp, and the shot composition is not confusing or dazzling. The overall character relationships and story development are very clear. At the end of this volume, the female protagonist and her group also discover a way to restore their superpowers and appearance. It seems that after they regain their "younger selves" later, there will be even cooler and more stylish fight scenes.
As for the character portrayals, Xiao He has a pretty deep impression of the few characters who have appeared so far. Although the main perspective of this comic is the female lead, the other characters also have a lot of screen time. It's basically an ensemble drama, and everyone gets a memorable highlight. If it could be filmed, their brilliance would be no less than that of the main characters.
Xiao He had a rough guess about the book's title, "Yu Ye," after reading the first volume of the comic.
The original meaning of “隅” is “corner”, which can be extended to mean “remote place” or “edge area”. “也” generally has no real meaning and is a modal particle. Combining the meaning here, it may refer to people or things that are hidden, namely the “medicine people” in the plot, and the stories about each of them.
Of course, it's possible that the comic artist simply wanted a sophisticated name to elevate the overall image.
Overall, it's not bad.
The action scenes are thrilling and ruthless. Although we don't know who the villain is, the main characters have killed so many people, so he must be just as capable. Xiao He is already looking forward to it.
“I hope that Xiao He’s role is Yin Qi.” Zhuang Hongyi said seriously, “I think that although the first half may be a special challenge for Xiao He, the overall temperament of the second half is very close to Xiao He’s.”
Xiao He: Hmm... Hmm? Wait, who is he talking about?
Unsure if he had flipped through the book too quickly and missed the title, Xiao He opened it again and read it a second time...
The boy in the comic has a bright and sunny smile, and the author even deliberately drew stars in his eyes to express his admiration and reliance on his sister. Even though he is wearing a simple white short-sleeved shirt, he can't hide his youthful and energetic student temperament. Like a little sun, he shines positively and optimistically on everyone.
His name is Yin Qi, the female lead's younger brother!
He was the one who brought the firsthand information to the female lead, allowing her and the other drug users to prepare in advance. He was also the one who helped everyone catch all the assassins who came to capture them!
He is the ~Nоvеl𝕚ght~ youngest member of the team, and he is optimistic, cheerful, and even the comedic relief in the storyline from the beginning. He is the source of everyone's joy and is always full of enthusiasm and energy.
Based on the current storyline, Yin Qi was definitely going to be one of the main characters in the future!
And now you're telling me this is the villain?
Xiao He: ...
He now feels a sense of helplessness, as if he has been suddenly spoiled without any warning.
No, Director Zhuang, is this one of your quirky interests?!
This unexpected spoiler just blew my mind!
However, Xiao He could only...keep smiling.
Zhuang Hongyi glanced at Xiao He and continued, "The main thing is that this meeting brought me some surprises. I felt that Xiao He's aura was too strong before, and he was only suitable for playing some purely bad guys. But now that I've seen him in person, he's not so exaggerated. He can still try some other character types."
Xiao He: Ah, that's great! Finally, someone said he doesn't seem like a bad person...
But the problem is... this Yin Qi is so different from his original image!
"Thank you for your guidance, Director Zhuang. I will work hard." Xiao He nodded politely to express his gratitude.
Liu Rulan smiled and said, "Director Zhuang is right. I was also troubled by this! I am grateful to Director Zhuang for giving me the opportunity to try to break through my established image and choose a new role."
"It's alright." Zhuang Hongyi waved his hand. "Then you guys go back first. I'll talk to the crew later and tell them to study the characters carefully, especially their personalities in the early stages."
"Okay, thank you, Director Zhuang."
Xiao He and Liu Rulan stood up together, said goodbye to Zhuang Hongyi, and then took a private car back to the hotel.
On the way, Xiao He sighed deeply.
Liu Rulan turned her head to look at him: "What's wrong? Does this role put pressure on you?"
Xiao He smiled wryly: "A little."
Especially after receiving Director Zhuang's sharp criticism, he is now somewhat worried about his performance on set.
In fact, Hsiao Ho is a relatively quiet person. Most of the roles he plays are fierce, bad, and cold, which fits his criminal temperament very well. He relies half on his natural acting style and half on the acting skills he has learned. He has already surpassed many young actors.
But this time, he suddenly jumped to a personality completely different from his own, and he couldn't even make up for his acting shortcomings with a criminal aura, which made Xiao He start to feel anxious instantly.
Is he really capable now? Are there no problems? Is he truly qualified for this role?
If it's purely based on acting skills, can he act well?
“This is a challenge in itself.” Liu Rulan noticed Xiao He’s anxiety and offered words of comfort. “Besides, your acting skills have improved very quickly. Your acting teacher often praises you to me.”
Since gaining access to psychological suggestion, Xiao He has generally completely suppressed his criminal tendencies and focused solely on practicing his acting skills with his acting teacher.
But from then on, Xiao He was scolded more and more often, and sometimes the teacher would spend two or three days arguing with him about the performance of a role.
Xiao He didn't feel he had made much progress. Most of the things the teacher said to Liu Rulan were rather tactful.
Seeing that Xiao He still looked preoccupied, Liu Rulan leaned back helplessly.
A few days ago, Xiao He's acting teacher was telling Liu Rulan that since Xiao He learned to restrain his cold and ruthless temperament, his acting skills have skyrocketed. He can master a relatively complex role in just two or three days. He is simply an acting genius whose talent has been wasted on studying.
The teacher also said that he would be stricter in the future and urge the boy to hone his basic skills so that he could take on more different types and personalities of roles in the future.
Now it seems like the strictness was too much...
This kid has absolutely no self-confidence!
