Everyone went crazy after the villainous female supporting character was bound to the system.

Chapter 156 Memories of the Past Are Fading Away

A tense atmosphere permeated the entire "Doomsday Carnival" crew.

Liu Tao rubbed his hands together: "As long as she's not afraid of the camera and doesn't have any extra ideas about her performance, I'll use her!"

Jia Youwei: "I think her acting skills are pretty good. I've seen her previous works."

Zhang Hong: "You have to trust my judgment. Our Sister Liu will definitely not let you down."

As soon as Liu Tianqing was led into the room, he met three pairs of bright eyes.

She paused slightly: "The way you're looking at me is scaring me."

His tone was light and cheerful, his eyes were smiling, and he was very easygoing.

Liu Tao and the other two breathed a sigh of relief; their true personalities were quite different from what they portrayed on variety shows.

Zhang Hong excitedly approached Liu Tianqing and swiftly pulled out a notebook: "Sister Liu, can I get your autograph?"

Liu Tianqing raised an eyebrow: "Fans?"

"A fan for thirty years!!" Zhang Hong nodded excitedly.

"Ha!" Liu Tianqing laughed: "So you're already a fan of my ghost in the underworld before I've even been reincarnated."

Zhang blushed, but fortunately Liu Tianqing didn't tease her any further and took her notebook.

After she signed her name, Zhang Hong put away the notebook with a satisfied look on her face.

Liu Tao covered his mouth and coughed lightly: "Alright, now let's start talking about this audition."

Liu Tianqing raised an eyebrow: "On the way here, I looked at the script you sent me. It's about the apocalypse."

Zhang Hong nodded frantically: "That's right, I've watched your escape reality show, that's the feeling I want."

"I see." Liu Tianqing suddenly realized. She knew it! It had been so long since she had acted, how could Liu Tao have noticed her?

Liu Tao asked Liu Tianqing, "What would you like to know about the script?"

After a moment's thought, Liu Tianqing slowly spoke: "Well, I don't quite understand. Since the script is set in an apocalyptic world, why would the female lead save so many people?"

"If the female lead has the ability, she should naturally save people; otherwise, wouldn't she be too cold-blooded..."

Zhang Hong looked puzzled. The protagonist is also a human being, and naturally has emotions. Moreover, the protagonist has the ability to save those people, so naturally he will do his best to save them.

However, Liu Tianqing, who had actually survived the apocalypse, knew better than anyone what the real apocalypse was like.

It's cruel, but humane, though not much of it.

There is humanity, but only if one can survive.

Don't talk about sacrificing everything to save people. Didn't you see that in her past life, because that idiot boyfriend pushed her into a horde of zombies and killed her, even after she transmigrated, once she learned that she had a chance to go back, she would run back without hesitation to kill him?

In the end times, the Virgin Mary will not live long, and human nature is the most vulnerable to test.

But saying that out loud is too cold-hearted...

“That was the end times. It was not easy for anyone to survive. There was nothing wrong with saving people, but your so-called ability to save those people is, in my opinion, harming others and yourself. She was saving people without any restraint.”

Who will support so many people we've saved?

The available resources are already pitifully scarce, yet so many people are being saved. These people will feel as if they are being kept in captivity, developing a sense of dependence on those who rescued and support them, which will eventually turn into taking it for granted.

This is human nature.

When things are obtained too easily, we never learn to cherish them.

Thinking of that world he once knew, Liu Tianqing took a deep breath:

"The female lead is just one person. She has saved countless weak people, two-thirds of whom are unable to survive on their own. She saves them casually every time, but has she ever thought about how these people will survive after she saves them?"

Zhang Hong disagreed with Liu Tianqing's view, feeling that Liu Tianqing was overthinking things.

"If she doesn't save those people, they'll just have to wait to die. People have feelings..."

"This has nothing to do with emotions."

Upon hearing the word "emotion," Liu Tianqing's head spun. It's the apocalypse, and they still talk about emotions? Are emotions so deep that they'd die together? Or is it that emotions can wipe out zombies?

Only those who have lived through the apocalypse can understand how helpless it feels to see familiar people around you turn into zombies little by little.

Liu Tianqing tried his best to offer Zhang Hong suggestions on how to make the script more reasonable.

"The protagonist saves so many people who can't survive on their own, so she can't possibly support them all by herself. That's why she needs other capable members of the team to help out. But what makes the protagonist think that others will be willing to support a bunch of useless people who are just dragging her down?"

"Moreover, by blindly saving people, the female protagonist puts herself in a position where she cannot afford to make a mistake. Once she makes a mistake, what awaits her is utter ruin, everyone's blame, and even abandonment."

Such things have happened before in the apocalypse.

Liu Tianqing still remembers the first time she left the city, she encountered a man of extraordinary strength. He was accompanied by a group of people, all of whom he had supposedly rescued himself.

Later, the man built a new base three kilometers away from Liu Tianqing's base to facilitate the residence of these people.

One day, the man took pity on another child and saved him, but he didn't expect that the child had been bitten by a zombie.

In just a few hours, the child turned into a zombie and began attacking the people in the base, causing many others to become zombies as well. It was a tragedy.

From that day on, the people in the base resented the man, blaming him for bringing back a zombie out of kindness.

The man was then expelled from the base and left alone. Liu Tianqing never saw the man again after that, and no one knew whether he was dead or alive.

After the man left, the base quickly changed lords, and his departure did not have any real impact.

If a child is bitten by a zombie, who would know if he didn't say anything?

Didn't those people who were rescued by men go through the same rescue process as children?

Why didn't those people say the man was being overly kind back then?

Thinking of the past, Liu Tianqing's expression became somewhat dazed; she hadn't thought about the events of the apocalypse for a long time.

It was as if an eraser was slowly erasing that memory from her mind.

Suddenly, Liu Tianqing remembered a bizarre plot point in the script of "Doomsday Carnival"—the male protagonist's touching love story!

Thinking about love... Liu Tianqing couldn't suppress his urge to rant.

"And what's with the male lead's character? The female lead abandons all her teammates and rushes into a horde of zombies to save the male lead who has been bitten by a zombie. Isn't that just toxic? What did her teammates do to deserve being part of their play?"

Those are zombies. People bitten by zombies will turn into zombies in a short time. So why bother saving them?

Should we rescue them to increase the zombie population?

Just send them an incinerator package, set them on fire, burn them to ashes.

With red eyes, Zhang Hong argued, "I love this part the most. The female lead is so kind. Only after going through life and death together can you cherish each other more. I think this part is right."

Jia Youwei complained, "I told you before that this part wouldn't work, but you were so stubborn! See, now even your idol says it won't work!"

Zhang Hong glared at him: "You don't understand love at all! No woman dislikes this kind of love that transcends life and death."

"No! Don't drag me into this. I don't like it. I'm perfectly normal. My parents created me, not so that I would be bound to some man through thick and thin."

Liu Tianqing was utterly disgusted by this situation: "When I encounter this kind of situation, I just give the other party a quick death, which may also be the first step in eliminating the possibility of him turning into a zombie."

For example, before he turned into a zombie, they cut off his head.

Zhang Hong opened her mouth. What was supposed to be a very touching scene suddenly felt a bit brainless. What was going on?

Seeing that she was listening, Liu Tianqing said even more:

"You're writing a story about a strong female protagonist, and all she wants is romance, right? Can't she focus on her career? Building new shelters, recruiting soldiers, expanding her influence, and providing humanity with a relatively safe living environment—isn't that a better direction?"

"Why force a man who's about to turn into a zombie onto the female lead? Does she have a grudge against you? Or are you a misogynist? Why do you have to insult her intelligence like this?"

Liu Tao stroked his chin. He hadn't thought there was anything wrong with the setting before, but now he felt that there were bugs everywhere.

His gaze towards Liu Tianqing was scrutinizing. This woman seemed to know a lot about the apocalypse; she spoke in such detail, as if she had personally experienced it…

He touched the button on his clothes, a dark glint flashing in his eyes.

Meanwhile, on a small island deep in the ocean, a young Asian man was looking at a monitor in front of him.

The screen prominently displayed was a scene of the "Doomsday Carnival" crew, including Liu Tianqing, discussing something.

The Asian man parted his lips slightly: "The apocalypse...heh...it's getting more and more interesting..."

The crew of "Doomsday Carnival" are getting increasingly excited about their吐槽 (tu cao, a form of online commentary/criticism).

"And another thing, the protagonist is such a hypocrite! When her boyfriend gets bitten by a zombie, she rushes to save him and can't be stopped, but when her teammate gets bitten by a zombie, she cries and abandons her teammate without hesitation. What kind of behavior is that?"

Your boyfriend's life is more important than your teammate's, right?

Damn it, she was thinking about her scumbag boyfriend again. She really wanted to kill all those lunatics.

After saying that, Liu Tianqing felt great: "But whether or not to change it in the end depends on the director's opinion. After all, you are a professional, and I am just a small actor."

Liu Tao suddenly burst into laughter: "After your critique, I also think the setting is a bit off. Xiao Hong, come down here and change the setting."

"Xiaoliu, although I know your abilities, we still need to try out the act."

Liu Tianqing nodded: "Come on, which part do you want me to try?"

Jia Youwei flipped through the script and then selected the scene where Liu Tianqing's teammate was bitten by a zombie and was transforming into a zombie, and Liu Tianqing decisively led the other teammates away.

This is exactly what Liu Tianqing mentioned.

"to make!"

Liu Tianqing rubbed his face, got up and stretched his joints, and got into the zone in the next second.

"Aiding!"

Liu Tianqing stared at the void ahead, his eyes filled with pain. His hands were clenched tightly, but his feet were firmly planted on the ground, and he did not move closer.

A moment later, she seemed to hear something unpleasant, and her eyes turned red at a visible speed. The veins on her temples bulged instantly, as if she were enduring immense pain.

This scene completely terrified Liu Tao and the other two.

They've seen actors with rich emotions before, but it's rare for one to express it so directly and physiologically in a single second. At least other actors need to prepare themselves before they can do that.

Just then, Liu Tianqing called out in a hoarse voice to those behind him, "Let's go!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she swiftly rushed forward.

This swift reaction was completely different from the dragging plot in the script, yet it was even more unpleasant than the dragging plot.

A sense of helplessness and despair permeated the air, and the three of them, including Liu Tao, remained stunned for a long time.

The performance continued, but the atmosphere was very oppressive and desperate.

When Liu Tianqing finished his performance and returned to the table, he saw the three people looking sad and tapped the table speechlessly: "What are you three doing? Cosplaying capybaras?"

Zhang Hong suddenly slammed her hand on the table, snapping out of her daze:

"I get it! In the apocalypse, everyone is fighting for the survival of humanity. Who has time for romance? Our female lead just needs to be beautiful on her own. Who needs a male lead? A male lead will only affect the speed at which the female lead kills zombies."

Liu Tianqing's lips twitched slightly: "It's not that we don't need love. Compared to love, survival is more important. In a person's life, there is not only love, but also family, friendship, and responsibility."

In her past life, in the world she lived in, the biggest factor that kept humans from killing each other was responsibility.

In a world of despair, everyone takes on the responsibilities they can, and it is this responsibility that allows the living to suppress the tyranny within them.

Liu Tianqing was slightly lost in thought for a moment, and suddenly she couldn't remember many details of her past life in the apocalypse.

In a panic, she asked the system, "Ah Bai, my memories are fading."

System Abai remained silent for a moment before replying, "You are being assimilated by this world. When your original memories completely disappear, that will be the time when you are fully accepted by this world."

Liu Tianqing panicked a little: "I don't want to lose my memory, do you have any ideas?"

System Abai: "I'm on vacation right now, so there's not much I can do. Don't panic. I'll go find out if there's any way to stop your memories from fading. Some of them will fade during this time, but it's not a big problem. As long as you don't want to forget, the difficulty of being assimilated by this world will increase."

Hearing the rest, Liu Tianqing breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed that she hadn't been vigilant enough before. If this script hadn't come knocking on her door, she might not have noticed it even after her memories had completely faded away.

Just as she was lost in thought, Zhang Hong also seemed to be missing something. After a moment, she understood what Liu Tianqing meant: people can be saved, but not just anyone.

It's fine to support those who have been rescued, but we can't support idle people; everyone must have something to do.

Love is possible, but it's not the most important thing. The end times should look like the end times; survival is the most important thing.

Jia Youwei suddenly spoke up: "Since our drama is about the apocalypse, let's not turn it into a romance drama disguised as an apocalypse."

Liu Tianqing nodded. That's right, that's exactly what she meant. Since it's about fighting for survival, then the whole main storyline is about fighting for survival.