The name of this stage play was "The Root of Evil," a fictional story set in an alternate-universe Western medieval background.
Roughly, it told a story: starting from a certain day, monstrous calamities broke out in the mortal world. War was continuous, plagues were incessant, and even extreme natural climates gradually became a norm of people's lives. Famine and looting were everywhere, the people were destitute, and those at the bottom wailed in grief, beginning to want to resist and overthrow the rule of those above.
Naturally, those in power were extremely anxious, yet they could not find the root of all this for a long time. In the end, they simply blamed all the faults on "divine punishment," concluding that an "Evil God" who controlled the Seven Deadly Sins was manipulating everything and toying with the mortal world.
Thus, from among the representatives of these commoners, they chose the bravest and most righteous hero, bestowing upon him the mission to "save the world and slay the Evil God," telling him that as long as he killed the Evil God and removed The Root of Evil, all these calamities would stop.
Possessing bravery and benevolence, the Hero naturally accepted this task and embarked on this journey of "God-slaying"—the grand stage of the story also slowly unfolded from this moment.
But what the Hero did not expect was that when he first met the "Evil God," that deity, who appeared high and mighty and could have killed him with a simple wave of a hand, did not make a move against him. Instead, the god gave him a gift—
A seed named "Pride" was quietly planted in the Hero's heart.
Thus, when the Hero met the deity for the first time and returned completely unscathed, everyone in the mortal world began to cheer and dance for joy. Even those consistently arrogant rulers cast looks of gratitude and hope toward the Hero.
Amidst the flowers and applause of the commoners, and the praise and rewards of the upper class...
The seed of "Pride" rooted in the Hero's heart began to take hold and sprout...
As the story developed thereafter, the Hero continued to come into contact with the deity and was planted with the "Seven Evils" of human nature, eventually walking down a path of no return.
The stage play "The Root of Evil," as can be seen from its name, was a satirical story full of metaphors.
Throughout the play, the rulers all wanted to find the root of the evil, but in reality, they were "well aware" of everything happening before their eyes. They knew where the source of the calamity lay but were simply unwilling to admit it. In the end, they could only grandiosely create an opposing "deity" and push forward the Hero, who stood out most among the commoners, as a "scapegoat" to go and "slay the god."
But for a mortal to slay a god with a physical body, the act itself was ridiculous.
And the Hero, supported by the commoners, after being accepted by the helpless upper class, witnessed the breadth and glory of the upper world. Instead, he was "enlightened" by the deity and awakened to the Seven Evils of human nature. Thus, after slaughtering all the rulers of the upper class, he became the new master of the land, replacing the past rulers and continuing to exploit the people at the bottom.
So the whole play spoke of The Root of Evil, but the exploration was not just about the "root of evil." Was the source of human suffering divine punishment, or the work of human nature?
This was a story of a rebel who eventually became a puppet, a story of a dragon slayer who eventually became a dragon, and a story that used fiction to mock human nature, pointing its sword at war and lies—
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A rehearsal session ended successfully.
Qu Kangcheng watched the final training results of Xiao He and Yang Heng from the side for a while and couldn't help but clap and cheer.
"Good! Very excellent."
The pride of the deity and the tenacity of the Hero were expressed vividly in this scene.
And once the other subsequent scenes were layered together, the effect would surely be fantastic.
Yang Heng and Xiao He, who had been completely immersed in the plot, only then looked over one after another and greeted Qu Kangcheng.
"Hard work, you two."
Qu Kangcheng took the opportunity to approach them.
"During this time, I mainly have to thank Yang Heng for constantly coordinating with my performance,"
Xiao He said with a smile.
Yang Heng immediately shook his head with some helplessness: "This can't be considered my credit."
After training with Xiao He for such a long time, Yang Heng had gained a profound new understanding of him.
Although he didn't come from a professional background and was very young, Xiao He's talent and level of effort were far beyond what most people in the industry could reach.
Just from the fact that Xiao He had the leisure to go to the neighboring classrooms to audit classes on top of his training here, Yang Heng felt he fell short.
To be able to maintain a humble and studious attitude, always treating himself as a student who needed to improve and learn even after winning two highly prestigious domestic awards... this was something many people couldn't compare to.
Moreover, before inviting Xiao He, it wasn't as if Yang Heng had not tried the role himself.
But compared to Xiao He, who could quickly get a handle on it as soon as he got the script, Yang Heng's bit of ability was not even worth mentioning.
His understanding and interpretation of the deity were far above Yang Heng's.
Thus, during this period, Yang Heng was truly convinced by Xiao He.
The terrifying thing about a genius is not the unreachable distance between you and them, but in witnessing the genius's effort with your own eyes and feeling ashamed of your own laziness.
"I sometimes really suspect that Xiao He actually doesn't sleep and has no rest or entertainment time of his own,"
Yang Heng couldn't help but complain.
"How can you be self-disciplined to this extent? The more I interact with you, the more I feel like you're not human."
Xiao He took a sip of water, his expression somewhat complex. He didn't explain, only smiling at Yang Heng.
"—To be honest, I'm cheating, brother."
The system's gold finger indeed helped Xiao He a lot, especially regarding rest; it almost gave Xiao He seven or eight extra hours out of thin air compared to others.
During this extra time, Xiao He could do exactly what he wanted to do.
Oh, but of course, when it was time to sleep, Xiao He would still let himself sleep for an appropriate amount of time. This way, his energy would be more abundant, giving his busy life enough room to breathe.
Seeing that Xiao He didn't speak, Yang Heng only thought Xiao He was truly that kind of super self-disciplined, high-energy warrior, and he suddenly let out a long sigh with mixed emotions.
"Actually, I'm very interested in the final presentation of your work,"
Xiao He took the opportunity to chat about other topics.
This stage play contained a lot of content, including singing, dancing, and storytelling performances, but unfortunately, there were only the two of them for this training; Xiao He currently couldn't see most of the group dance parts.
However, looking at the script, he felt it should be very stunning when the time came.
"Currently, the personnel are not all here, so it might not be viewable yet," Yang Heng spoke truthfully. "Aren't you going to Hong Kong to film in a while? Then you'll only be able to see it during the final rehearsal."
"That works too. I have to come then anyway, so keeping a sense of mystery like this is also quite good."
Xiao He nodded with great interest.
At this time, Qu Kangcheng also asked, "I see that Little Xiao's completion level here seems to be about done. Are you preparing to go to Hong Kong in the next few days?"
"Around July, I think. I have an event to attend in Shanghai, so I need to go back first. Once that's over, I'll be heading to Hong Kong."
"What's the genre of the work this time?"
Yang Heng asked curiously, and Qu Kangcheng also looked at Xiao He, his eyes full of interest.
"Uh—"
Xiao He froze for a moment.
"If it's not convenient to say, it doesn't matter."
Seeing Xiao He suddenly stop talking, Yang Heng thought it was inconvenient to say.
But in reality...
Xiao He scratched his head and gave a wry smile, not beating around the bush and speaking truthfully: "It's a supernatural film."
"Ah?"
The other two were shocked at the same time.
Subsequently, Xiao He received a look from Qu Kangcheng that was akin to grief and regret.
This kid, why did he go off to film a ghost movie when everything was going so well?!"}】,
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