Chapter 1

The so-called "blackout," literally means a certain condition. If you have ever been to a theater with front and back rows and a VIP section to watch a midnight show, you might have had a similar experience: when the movie is halfway through, the projector overheats and burns the film, causing the screen to go blank and the theater to light up, which is called a "blackout."

There is another scenario, which occurs in a specific environment where the six elements of time, place, people, events, cause, process, and outcome are incomplete, or the logical sequence is reversed, resulting in fragmented language or a temporary mental short circuit. Sometimes, when people drink too much, they experience a blackout, and they won't remember what they did or what happened.

Chen Tiandu opened his eyes and found himself lying on a hospital bed, surrounded by white. The pungent smell of disinfectant filled his nostrils. His head was dizzy, his eyes were swollen, and when he raised his hand to rub his head, he discovered an IV needle in his arm.

What's going on?

Seeing that the IV was almost finished, and fresh red blood was flowing up the tube, he was startled and quickly pulled out the needle, leaving a bleeding puncture wound. "Doctor, doctor..."

After a while, with the nurses apologizing and stopping the bleeding, Chen Tiandu lay back on the bed. His eyes were closed as if he were sleeping, but he was actually very alert, and his brain was working furiously.

"Nurse Liu, with a charming demeanor, a face score of 78, and a body score of 91, has an excellent figure and is extremely sexy. She wears the latest Chanel and sprays Chanel perfume, indicating that she is quite wealthy. With the nurse's salary, it's clearly not enough to spend, so this kind of woman either comes from a good family or is supported by a rich man. If you want to date her, the success rate is less than 10%..."

"Nurse Zhu, cute type, face score of 80, body score of 85, but with low emotional intelligence and little worldly experience, the success rate should be around 55%..."

"Doctor Li... gentle type, face score of 88, body score of 99 (drooling...), success rate less than 1%, because I already asked, and her boyfriend is both handsome and rich."

Actually, Chen Tiandu was not a lecher, nor was he particularly promiscuous. On the contrary, he was a very low-key person. However, any adult male, lying in a hospital bed with nothing to do but look at the white ceiling, would probably only be able to indulge in some fantasies to pass the time.

After fantasizing about all the female doctors and nurses he found attractive, Chen Tiandu suddenly felt a bit off topic: "Should I be thinking about these things? I am in the prime of my youth, full of enthusiasm for starting a business, so why am I lying in a hospital bed? Oh, right, I was hosting a banquet, drinking with a coal boss to discuss investing in his movie theater... Ah, I remember."

Just thinking about it made him feel bitter. He, a high-caliber graduate of the directing department at the Central Academy of Drama, found it so difficult to secure funding for a movie?

Hong Kong is about to return, John Woo's new film "Face/Off" is a huge success in Hollywood, and Zhang Yimou is winning awards in Europe. My movie is still a long way off.

45° white wine, downed like water, bottle after bottle, even a wine vat would suffer from gastric perforation.

The worst part is, even if he drank, he ended up hitting the coal boss on the back of the head with a bottle. Naturally, the coal boss whistled for his men, but fortunately, Chen Tiandu was strong and had studied Xingyi Quan for three to five years. Drunk, he and Kong Yiji fought their way out of the encirclement. Thinking they had escaped, they were knocked down by a cell phone falling from the sky...

Well, the 200,000 investment was all ruined by that bottle.

"Slap~"

He slapped himself hard, "Deserves a life of no achievement. Is the coal boss's money not money? Why should he invest in your movie? Isn't it just that you want to play with a female star? It's human nature, the industry's rule. If you grit your teeth and get through it, it won't be you who suffers. Everyone in the industry does it, but you couldn't swallow your pride and hit him with a bottle when you were drunk?"

Sigh, the past is not worth recalling, but what's done is done, and it's too late to regret it.

Perhaps in old age, he could still sigh, "My life is full of no regrets, thinking of that run in the sunset, it was my lost youth..."

On the TV outside the ward, news about Hong Kong's return was being broadcast, which at least let Chen Tiandu know the current date: March 8, 1997. "So, have I been in the hospital for a week?"

"You Are My Little Apple, no matter how much I love you, it's never too much. Your rosy face warms my heart, lighting the fire of my life, fire, fire, fire, fire..."

Suddenly, a noisy ringtone sounded, and Chen Tiandu grabbed his phone from under the pillow, "Hello, who is it?"

"Old Chen, it's me, Old Kong. Thank goodness you're finally awake. If you didn't wake up, I wouldn't have been able to hold on and would have had to report to your mother."

"What, you told my mother?" Chen Tiandu was shocked and sat up abruptly.

Kong Yiji said, "I was holding on, but fortunately, you woke up. The doctors almost diagnosed you as a vegetable. How are you? How many more days until you can be discharged? I'll come and see you later. I've found a big job and am waiting for you to make a comeback."

"Really?"

Chen Tiandu didn't believe it, "Don't fool me. I don't want to go through what happened with the coal boss again."

"I promise it's not. This time it's a big company. Do you know Pantene? A brand under Procter & Gamble, it has been the leading brand in the domestic shampoo market since entering China in 1989. They are spending a lot of money on an advertisement, and the entire advertising industry is excited. You have to put in all your effort this time. If you can get this ad, even if you don't make a million, you'll earn at least a few hundred thousand."

An ad? Chen Tiandu fell silent.

Hearing the silence, Kong Yiji knew his stubbornness and said angrily, "Old Chen, you really need to change your attitude. Don't look down on shooting ads. Shooting ads doesn't make you any less of a director. Which big director was born with the money to make movies? Besides, do you know the situation in China? How many people like Jiang Wen or Feng Xiaogang are there? Even if you make a movie, you might not have a way to release it. In short, you must help me get this ad. If you mess it up, don't come to me bragging about being a high-caliber graduate of the directing department. Don't blame me for not being a good friend, and don't go to your mother to complain."

Chen Tiandu felt depressed and muttered, "Did I say no?"

"Alright, it's settled then. I'll go check the situation and come back to see you later."

After hanging up, Chen Tiandu lay back on the bed, his mind in a mess.

After experiencing setbacks, he realized how difficult the journey was.

He had gone to great lengths to visit the location and wrote a story called "Past of a Floating City," a nostalgic love story. It tells the story of a pair of ordinary people struggling to stay together during the war. The man is a pianist, and the woman is a nightclub singer. In the end, the woman dies tragically, and the man endures great hardships to survive the war... a typical art film and World War II love story, using a poignant love story to highlight the cruelty of war.

Many such films have won international awards. In China, for a newcomer to stand out, they need to win awards to gain attention. His film was also aimed at winning awards. However, after more than a year, he was about to graduate, and there was still no sign of it.

Old Kong was right, "I shouldn't be too ambitious. It's unrealistic to think that I can make a film and become famous with just the knowledge I learned from school. Maybe shooting ads can help me improve."

This summer, he would graduate, and he needed to consider his future. For a directing student, graduation means unemployment. He was one of the better ones. At least he looked decent and could work on a film set.

His mind was filled with random thoughts, but he seemed to be missing something, something was off.

Right, the phone ringtone.

Chen Tiandu looked at the sleek phone in his hand, puzzled. It felt great in his hand, with a sci-fi design and a large screen with no buttons. "This isn't my Motorola."

His Motorola CD928 was bought with the 5000 yuan he earned from working on multiple film sets. 5000 yuan was a significant amount in those days, something an average family would find daunting. But could 5000 yuan buy such a sci-fi phone?

He had never seen this phone before, but strangely, it felt like he had owned it for a long time. He knew exactly how to operate it, unlocking it with a fingerprint, and the screen lit up.

Camera, dialer, contacts, browser; music, movies, TV, videos, social media, Twitter, Facebook, and other applications were listed. He had never heard of these things, but strangely, he knew how to use them. Of course, they were currently unusable. He opened the simplest music and movie applications, but they were empty. Fortunately, there was a browser to access the internet. As soon as he opened it, a pop-up appeared: "Internet, Time Network."

Chen Tiandu was puzzled and clicked on the Internet. The screen displayed "Unlimited data" and instantly connected to the internet, a light screen appearing before his eyes.

He was startled and cautiously looked around to make sure no one was watching before carefully tapping the light screen. The screen responded...

Chen Tiandu was amazed, his heart pounding. He went back to the previous option and chose to enter the Time Network.

A pop-up appeared, "Your monthly data is 300M, which allows you to download future films, music, literature, art works, and related information, but you cannot browse real-time information such as politics, finance, and sports."

At first, Chen Tiandu didn't take it seriously, thinking it couldn't be that advanced. He half-believed and half-doubted as he operated it. Suddenly, a loud shout echoed through the hospital ward: "This time, I'm finally going to make it big—"

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