Chapter 488 - 321: Holy Shit! Golden Giant Dragon

Chapter 488: Chapter 321: Holy Shit! Golden Giant Dragon

Warner Bros. Burbank Studio.

The motorcade entered through the VIP entrance, passed through a security gate, and drove onto the studio’s internal roads.

From this point on, it was a completely different world from Hollywood Boulevard outside.

Hollywood Boulevard was a tourist trap where visitors snapped photos, a faded Walk of Fame populated by street hustlers and junkies in shoddy cosplay costumes begging for tips.

But here, this was the real dream factory.

Dozens of massive soundstages, each nearly the size of a football field, lined both sides of the asphalt road. Their exteriors were painted a uniform off-white, with stage numbers marked in bold black digits.

The asphalt was swept clean. Every few dozen yards, a white golf cart was parked by the roadside—the primary mode of transportation on the lot.

Every now and then, Li Wei would spot some peculiar sights.

Golf carts would sometimes zip past carrying people in all sorts of costumes. Some wore suits of armor, others were in spacesuits, and one person, clad in a head-to-toe green motion-capture suit, sat in the passenger seat.

Li Wei had a strong feeling that this place could trigger his system again.

He silently released the [Chattering Court Jester’s Skull].

The Cadillac Escalade parked outside a soundstage labeled Number 16.

The structure was enormous, looking like a silver-gray hangar from the outside.

A sign with red text on a black background stood at the entrance, reading:

[HBO: THE LAST OF US]

[NO UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY. ALL CELL PHONES MUST BE SURRENDERED AT THE ENTRANCE]

Jason was the first to hop out of the car. He walked quickly over to a middle-aged woman waiting inside the stage entrance, and the two exchanged a few words in low voices.

Daria, sitting in the back of the Mercedes V260, took the opportunity to thank Li Wei.

"Thank you," she said. "It’s thanks to you that I get to see a live set. *The Last of Us* is a global sensation right now."

She paused, patting her chest. "If you ever come to Kazakhstan, be sure to let me know. I’ll take good care of you, no question."

Li Wei smiled and agreed. It seemed there was a reason Anya was friends with her; at the very least, she knew how to appreciate a kindness.

Meanwhile, Jason finished his conversation with the woman and returned with a stack of non-disclosure agreements and a handful of chest badges printed with "VIP GUEST."

After the group signed the NDAs, put on their badges, and got out of the car, they passed through a heavy, soundproof door.

The moment a crack appeared in the door, a wave of sound flooded out.

A noisy, organized chaos.

Someone was shouting, "Back to one! Back to one!" Others were adjusting the angles of light stands, and the crackle of walkie-talkies rose and fell in waves.

"They’re still shooting the last take," Jason reminded them. "Once we’re inside, let’s stick to the wall and don’t cross the red tape on the floor."

Once inside, Li Wei was surprised to find the soundstage was even larger than it looked from the outside.

The soundstage had a ceiling at least fifteen meters high. A dense thicket of lights, tracks, and cranes of all kinds hung overhead, like an inverted mechanical forest.

In the center of the stage, a vividly realistic post-apocalyptic scene had been constructed.

It was the interior of an abandoned supermarket. Shelves lay toppled on the ground, overgrown with fake fungal spores and vines.

The floor was covered with shattered glass, broken bricks, and scattered tin cans.

An overturned shopping cart lay across an aisle, its wheels tangled in artificial ivy.

Everything was crafted with extreme realism.

If not for the lighting rigs overhead and the marker tape on the floor reminding him this was a set, Li Wei would have thought he had truly walked into a world after the collapse of civilization.

Anya had never seen anything like it either and was visibly thrilled.

The [Jester’s Skull] flew up and down, and for the first time, Li Wei sensed a hint of shock from the dialogue box it produced:

[Where have I come to? Have I slept for another few millennia?]

[Civilization... All traces of civilization have vanished... There is only destruction all around... Where in the world am I?]

’Surprised?’ Li Wei asked silently in his mind.

[Is this... Is this the magic of space and time?]

The [Jester’s Skull] was stunned. It seemed to have been genuinely fooled.

’How interesting,’ Li Wei thought. ’The system and the items it provides can see through a person’s heart, but they can’t see through their eyes.’

’Could it be that the system can’t comprehend the concept of a realistic set?’ His theory was further confirmed.

Filming was currently underway in the core area of the set.

About thirty or forty crew members were spread across various positions—lighting, camera, sound, props—each one diligently working at their station.

In front of the monitor sat a middle-aged man with a full beard. A blue card hung from his chest, bearing the name Craig Mazin.

He was the writer and executive producer of *The Last of Us*, and one of the hottest names in Hollywood at the moment.

The show was so famous that even Elizabeth would discuss the plot with Anya, and Li Wei himself had beaten the game several times.

Since its release, the series adapted from the game had dominated the streaming market with overwhelming force. The first season was an instant global hit, sweeping multiple major Emmy Awards and maintaining a long-term Rotten Tomatoes score of over 96%.

Craig Mazin caught sight of Li Wei’s group of visitors out of the corner of his eye.

More accurately, he caught sight of Li Wei.