Chapter 525: Worshipping Any God in Difficult Times

“No… I don’t believe a word of your nonsense. Dragons haven’t been seen in this world for over a hundred years…”

On stage, Johnny Depp acted opposite the assistant director while Director Guillermo Del Toro and a group of staff and reporters attentively recorded and observed.

Li Wei also appeared to be looking at the stage, but his mind had been immersed in the system panel for a while now.

[Active Skill – Fish in Troubled Waters (Bronze): When activated in a chaotic scene with 3 or more people (arguments, conflicts, battles), your subtle movements will not be noticed. You can steal, place, or swap items in plain sight without attracting anyone’s attention. Duration: 1 minute. Cooldown: 24 hours.]

[Active Skill – Trim Sails to the Wind (Bronze): After activation, when you speak with someone face-to-face for over 3 minutes, they will find your words very agreeable and lower their guard around you. Effect lasts for 1 hour. Cooldown: 72 hours.]

[Passive Skill – Cheating Death (Bronze): When you are in a situation of certain death, there is a small chance to obtain an opportunity to delay death. For example, a fired musket has a small chance of suddenly being damp or misfiring.]

[Active Skill – Bluff (Bronze): When activated, allows you to make one statement involving a number. As long as the number you state does not exceed twice the actual amount, others will believe you. Cooldown: 24 hours.]

[You may select 1 skill from the Wandering Pirate Captain (Bronze) to equip into the Deceiver’s Mask (Silver).]

‘If you’re going to drop skills for me, at least give me some good ones.’

Li Wei stared speechlessly at the skills before him.

Although these skills fit Captain Jack’s persona perfectly, from the looks of it, only the first two might be barely useful. The last two were completely worthless.

As for the third passive skill, Cheating Death, he probably wouldn’t encounter a situation of certain death unless he was facing large-caliber sniper rounds or even more powerful explosives.

The fourth skill, Bluff, seemed even more useless. At best, it would only make people believe him if he claimed to be fourteen inches long. It offered no real practical benefit.

The first two skills seemed somewhat useful. However, by comparison, anything he could do with Fish in Troubled Waters, he could probably also accomplish with his [Vision Obscuration (Silver)].

The only thing he couldn’t already do was covered by the skill [Trim Sails to the Wind (Bronze)]. Perhaps this could be another means of gathering intelligence, besides using the [Jester’s Skull].

In the end, Li Wei chose to equip [Active Skill – Trim Sails to the Wind (Bronze)] into the [Deceiver’s Mask (Silver)].

After making his selection, Li Wei suddenly heard a round of applause.

Looking up, he saw Johnny Depp bow toward the stage and slowly walk off.

You had to admit, the man had talent.

Although Li Wei hadn’t watched the entire performance carefully, judging from the reactions of those around him, it was at least a level above the previous three actors.

Just then, the casting director walked over from the audition area.

“Thank you all for your hard work,” she said with a smile. “Today’s auditions are now complete. We will contact the actors who have been shortlisted within two business days. The specific arrangements will be communicated through your agents.”

She glanced discreetly at Li Wei and at Johnny Depp, who was in the dressing room.

“Regardless of the outcome, thank you all for your wonderful performances today.”

Johnny Depp nodded, then turned to Li Wei. “Want to get a drink together?”

Ten minutes later, Depp’s assistant brought a cup of coffee from a nearby shop and handed it to Li Wei.

“Aren’t you having any?”

Li Wei took the coffee and looked at Johnny Depp, who was empty-handed.

“I’m in the mood for something else,” Johnny Depp mumbled, pulling a silver flask from his coat. “Sorry, things… haven’t been going so well for me lately.”

When he wasn’t acting, he looked like a fat Los Angeles drunk dressed in avant-garde punk attire.

“Want some?” He offered the flask to Li Wei. “At least I’ve still got plenty of good liquor.”

“I’m not of age yet,” Li Wei shrugged. “Can’t drink until I’m 21.”

“Right…” Johnny Depp took a sip for himself.

The two of them, one holding a coffee and the other a flask, walked outside the studio.

Johnny Depp found a random camping chair and plopped down into it.

“Which set does this chair belong to?” Li Wei asked, turning his head to look.

“Who cares? Just sit.” Johnny Depp gestured for Li Wei to sit down. “I’ve seen you compete before.”

“I’ve seen you act before, too,” Li Wei said, sitting down. “Captain Jack Sparrow.”

Sitting next to Johnny Depp, he had a sudden impulse and activated [Trim Sails to the Wind (Bronze)].

“Ha,” Johnny Depp let out a dry laugh. “There won’t be any more Captain Jack. Back in 2018, when I was just getting dragged into that lawsuit with that damn bitch, Disney dropped me.”

“Didn’t you win the lawsuit last year?” Li Wei asked. “They still haven’t invited you back?”

“Who knows,” Johnny Depp said, loosening his collar. “Who knows what that old bastard Jerry is thinking.”

“Oh, right, Jerry is a top executive at Disney and the producer of ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’,” he said with a self-deprecating laugh. “Maybe he’s waiting for me to beg him to let me come back. You know, I used to be an A-list actor, after all. My salary isn’t low.”

As he spoke, he pulled out a whole bunch of necklaces and charms from under his collar.

Just among the ones Li Wei recognized, there was a Guanyin, a Buddha, a Daoist figure, and some gods from India.

Looking closer, Johnny Depp had at least seventeen or eighteen different strings of them hanging around his neck.

“What are you lookin’ at… oh, right,” he said, noticing Li Wei’s gaze, and started to explain. “I got these from a master in the Celestial Dynasty.”

He held up a Guanyin, a Buddha, and a Daoist deity that was hard to identify.

“Honestly, they were pretty expensive. This one, supposedly a blessed necklace, cost me 70,000 or 80,000 USD. This one’s a bit cheaper, around 30,000,” he said. “The master who sold them to me said that in the Celestial Dynasty, they all represent good luck and fortune.”

Li Wei pointed to the three necklaces. “Are you saying the same ‘master’ sold you all of these?”

Johnny Depp nodded.

“Well, in that case…” Li Wei hesitated. “I think you might have been scammed.”

Johnny Depp looked down at them and nonchalantly stuffed them back into his collar. “I think so too,” he said. “If even one of them worked, I wouldn’t have ended up in this state, right?”

“But there’s really nothing to be done about it,” he said with surprising optimism. “Everyone goes through hard times. You try every door, you pray to every god you see.”

He rambled on, seeming to truly treat Li Wei, whom he had just met, like a close friend.

“This audition,” he said, scraping the flask with his fingernail and glancing at the studio, “I wasn’t originally planning on coming.”

“Why?” Li Wei asked. “Is it a bad project?”

“In Hollywood, no one can tell if a movie will be good or bad after it’s released, kid,” Johnny Depp said with a small laugh. “Director Del Toro is very experienced and has made a lot of films, but… the pay is a bit low.”

“10 million is a lot,” Li Wei said.

“My previous movie salary was 20 million USD plus a cut of the box office,” Johnny Depp said, holding up two fingers. “After ‘Pirates of the Caribbean 2,’ ‘Alice in Wonderland’… every single one was that much.”

“If I take this 10-million-dollar picture, then no matter if the final box office is 500 million or 1 billion, my starting point for negotiating my next film becomes 10 million,” he said. “Because the studio will say, ‘You only got paid 10 million for your last movie, why are you asking for 20 million for this one?'”

“So, you get it?” He glanced at Li Wei and took another drink. “It’s a label. Once it’s stuck on you, it’s hard to peel off. It’s like I’d be knocking myself down a whole tier, and my treatment on set would be a lot worse than before.”

He drained the flask and clicked his tongue. “But I really do need the money right now, and that’s the shittiest part. My asset maintenance costs are at least 700,000 USD a month, and all of Hollywood is waiting for me to bleed myself dry and take a ridiculously low offer…”

Li Wei had seen similar news reports. After the years-long lawsuit against Amber Heard, Depp’s current position in the industry was actually far more awkward than the public realized.

He won the lawsuit, but public opinion hadn’t swung back in his favor. Moreover, the fact that he had been dropped by Disney and Warner was set in stone, and the multi-year gap on his resume was there in black and white.

The two chatted for a while longer. Under the influence of the [Trim Sails to the Wind (Bronze)] skill, Johnny Depp didn’t seem to see Li Wei as a rival, but rather as a good person to confide in.

They talked about everything from Hollywood’s salary system to Del Toro’s directing style, and even about his younger days working with Tim Burton.

An hour passed quickly. Johnny Depp suddenly blinked.

He looked at his watch and stood up. “That’s enough talk for today,” he said abruptly. “It was nice chatting with you, but I’m afraid I’ve had a bit too much to drink… I have something to take care of.”

“See you next time, Mr. Depp,” Li Wei said with a nod. “Take care.”

“Thanks,” Johnny Depp said, turning to leave. After taking a couple of steps, he looked back. “You too.”

Li Wei watched him meet up with his assistant and bodyguards, get into an MPV, and leave.

“Let’s get going too,” he said, waving to Don Quixote, who was smoking with Jason Miller nearby. “Now we just wait for news, right?”

“I just saw Del Toro’s team leaving with the people from Netflix,” Jason Miller said. “Maybe I can try to dig up some information?”

…

“I’m pulling my funding!” a white-haired old man declared. “If you insist on choosing a new face instead of Johnny Depp, who has proven box-office appeal, then I’m out!”