Enforcer Manual
Chapter 218: Audition_1

Chapter 218: Chapter 218: Audition_1

Su Li really hoped that Song Lan would join the cast.

It wasn’t just an acknowledgement of his genetics and temperament, but also because the Queen’s Nest had now ordered him to ensure the movie was completed smoothly, and being able to communicate with Song Lan at any time was much more reliable than trying to fathom out the logic of a "concerned citizen" on his own.

Who could match the image of a "concerned citizen" better than the man himself?

"This, this isn’t right, we still have work to do in our department."

Song Lan’s excuse was weak, and it was even more infuriating to Lu Xiang when he brought it up.

"Since you started researching the Horn Bug, when have you ever been serious about work?"

Every day under the guise of discussing work, he’d come straight to her to lounge around, sometimes never even returning to his own department. She now understood why Song Lan always promoted automated production—Roger, Valerian, and Zhuang Chi had become familiar with the Law Enforcement Handbook’s production process for each issue. With the three of them often nabbing the navigation robot Nami to help in their department, Song Lan only needed to discuss the general direction of the Handbook on the first day of each week and then could leave the rest to the three to handle.

And all this automation was so he could slack off.

Now, Lu Xiang suspected that the deployment of the military force in District Seventeen was for the same reason; once the district’s military power could automatically fend off enemies, the "concerned citizen" could proudly retire.

Ignoring the powers that they currently held, like the Barrosa Group or the Rebel Army, Song Lan and his team no longer needed to personally tackle other criminal elements active beyond their borders.

The patrolling mechanical Horn Bugs could easily take care of them.

She felt Song Lan was a good man in all but one aspect; his initiative remained perpetually at its lowest setting.

"Going for an audition would be good for you, and once the shooting officially begins, Su Li won’t have the time to come over to my place to study theoretical knowledge every day. You can personally guide him on set, and I can grant you leave so you won’t have to report to the department every day until filming is over."

He was assigned a job.

Since the supervisor had spoken, Song Lan had no choice but to put down his tablet and go home to change into the outfit he had bought with money reimbursed by the department.

Just after two in the afternoon, he was taken by Su Li to the cast’s audition scene.

...

These past few days, the entire film crew had been feeling exasperated.

Ever since they arrived in District Seventeen, they started auditioning for someone to play the role of Chai Ke, and among those who came to audition were many who had actually joined gangs before.

They had originally thought that in a city with sky-high crime rates, finding a suitable actor wouldn’t be difficult. However, after several days of auditions, they encountered a serious problem.

Amongst the auditionees, there were indeed quite a few so-called tough characters, but their kind of "tough" often suited small fry, suitable for brawling but chickening out when it came to big deals like handling nuclear weapons.

Another reason for the lack of progress was that even the director hadn’t fully imagined a new image that fit Chai Ke’s identity, because from the information they had, Chai Ke himself seemed to look like a small fry.

If there was no progress, they feared they would have to contact the head office in the core district to scout for some famous actors.

With the goal of promoting Su Li, they didn’t want to hire too many well-known seasoned actors for the movie, since Su Li had just switched careers. Sharing the screen with those famous actors, it was all too easy for them to steal the spotlight, especially for the villain, a role that could easily stand out. They wanted to choose someone without fame but with solid acting skills.

This requirement seemed straightforward, but there were very few who met it.

Under circumstances where even the director didn’t fully comprehend what kind of image they needed, it became even harder.

Now, the entire crew was only sure about one thing—they didn’t want those small fry who just kept brawling and causing trouble.

"Director, Su Li says he’s found someone to audition."

As the director fretted, his assistant suddenly came over.

"Su Li?"

The director was slightly taken aback.

During the script discussion meeting, everyone had indeed complained about not being able to find an actor with the right antagonist presence, but... what did an actor know about casting, especially one who had entered the industry halfway through his career? Kolo Film and Television Media valued him more for his image and the identity as a three-star rescuer.

As for acting skills, they could be developed over time.

The director hadn’t held much hope, but since the lead actor had brought someone, he at least had to arrange a courtesy audition.

However, upon seeing Song Lan dressed in an expensive suit, wearing a tie printed with a skull, he sat up straight—this person’s presence and dress completely distanced himself from that of any riffraff, and more importantly, the impatient expression on his face didn’t seem feigned.

Before the other party even spoke, it gave the impression that if you angered the person in front of you, something terrible might happen.

"Let’s start."

Song Lan spoke first without waiting for the director to say anything.

Unlike all the previous obsequious auditioners, he didn’t overact.

They’d found him!

Everyone on the crew exchanged glances, and they could see the joy in each other’s eyes.

But, they couldn’t jump to conclusions just yet.

Image and presence were indeed important, but they also needed to assess whether he had the acting skills to master the role of Chai Ke. The director restrained his ecstatic joy; having been in the industry for so long, he knew all too well the truth of greater hopes leading to greater disappointment.

"Come, take a look at this."

He stopped the tablet on a page, an important scene at the beginning for shaping Chai Ke’s character, "First familiarize yourself with the script; we’re going to set up the audition scene."

Upon hearing this, the crew was shocked.

Because according to the normal audition process, the first step only involved reciting a few lines of dialogue in front of them for some improvisational acting, what the director was doing belonged to the next phase.

Moving on to the next step without even hearing him read the lines first clearly showed how satisfied the director was with this image.

Song Lan started reading the script, which seemed to be the beginning of the film. The first to appear in the audience’s field of vision was Chai Ke, and this content, titled "Getting the Goods," was self-explanatory. It showed Chai Ke and his subordinates meeting with a leader of an international criminal group, mainly to establish Chai Ke’s ruthless character.

Such scenes weren’t uncommon in films, and he only needed a quick glance at the script to roughly understand what was required.

Soon after, the assistant who finished making the phone call reported, "They’re ready on their end, and we can go over any time."

"Good."

The director nodded, "Let’s go, they’re already waiting for us."

Song Lan had intended to casually read a few lines as a formality, thinking that if he passed, he passed, and if not, at least he’d have an explanation for Lu Xiang. He didn’t expect the other party to make it so formal.

"The location is at the ’Outlands’ station."