The daily life of the crew of "Beasts".

Chapter 279 Fire on the Film Set

Crimson flames spread across the sunken wooden beams, the curtains fluttered in the wind as they burned and shortened, and the crackling sound of burning wood stimulated the senses.

A huge fire broke out at the deer-themed shop, with thick smoke billowing into the sky. The crew members frantically tried to pour water into the fire using various containers.

Xiaoyun circled around the roof, squeezing out every drop of water from her body and sprinkling a few drops of rain.

Puss in Boots stared blankly up at the raging fire, the intense flames making her desolate figure appear as a pale silhouette.

——Crack!

Xiaohang took a picture with his phone to record this rare scene, and then he went up to pat his colleague on the shoulder to comfort him.

"It's okay, the sponsor should reimburse us. Don't worry about the expenses. The brokenness of your back view could be the climax of a movie."

……

The story begins not long ago, today we were filming the main storyline of episode 700 of "Beast Stories":

Taotie emerges from the water.

The cast includes Walnut, Meimei, the Pixiu brothers, and the Taotie itself.

At that time, in the Deer Man shop,

Puss in Boots lifted the curtain and casually pressed the switch, turning on a dim, yellow light that flickered for a moment before finally going out.

He paused for a moment, then pressed the button twice more, unwilling to give up. The light bulb flickered and then went completely silent, with a wisp of smoke rising from it.

"Director, how long has it been since this place was repaired?" Mei Mei popped out from behind, her paws clasped together in a puzzled gesture.

"Uh...so the circuits haven't been repaired since the building started, except to maintain the appearance...I didn't expect it to break down today."

"what……"

A few drops of cold sweat slid down the little red fox's forehead, and its tail twitched uneasily behind it.

"Director... the weather is dry now, and if the aging electrical circuits aren't repaired, it could cause a fire."

"Okay, I'll get someone to fix it later. We need to focus on filming now; it's impossible for a fire to break out right at this time," Puss in Boots shrugged and spread his paws with a smile.

Then I heard a "Holy shit!"

The cat and fox instinctively turned their heads to look; on the other side of the television, a series of circuits were bent and twisted, sparking tiny bursts of light.

The nearby wood was scorched with black spots, and coincidentally, the Taotie was standing right next to it. In the dry environment, its needle-like fur was instantly ignited!

"Damn it! What bad luck! I just happened to be passing by and I got burned!"

He instinctively swung his arms and legs, but the sparks were not shaken off; instead, they shot up due to the wind generated by the movements.

Puss in Boots and Mimi stared wide-eyed at the scene.

The Taotie screamed in agony as it was burned, and with all its might, it tried to shake off the fire, but instead of getting rid of it, its claws were flung away because the connection was not secure.

Two blank stares followed the spinning, flying claw of the beast.

A perfect parabola was formed, and the flames on it burned brighter and brighter. As it passed the paper window, the flames flickered and instantly burned several charred holes, with the edges still glowing red from the high temperature.

……

Time returns to now,

Thanks to the efforts of all the beasts, the fire at the deer-man's shop was finally extinguished, and the charred Taotie was dragged out of the shop.

Its once complete body was now broken into six pieces, and its hedgehog-like fur was burned black and curled, making it almost unrecognizable.

The beasts surrounded the creature, trying to determine if it was still alive. Bai Jie touched its claws and wrists, finding its pulse still beating steadily.

It truly lives up to its reputation as a mythical beast; it's incredibly resilient. After being burned for so long, only its fur got burned black, and its skin didn't even break. It feels like it can grow back to be a hero after a wash.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Tianlu kicked the head in front of him that was closed-eyed and sticking out its tongue. A layer of hot black ash rose on the pink flesh, which he shook off in disgust.

"Uh..." Taotie slowly opened its eyes, its scarlet pupils dimmed, and its voice became extremely weak.

"I...I'm injured at work...the film crew, the film crew has to pay me compensation."

The beasts: “???”

Huh? You said this as soon as you opened your eyes?

Aren't you a hot-tempered guy? Aren't you a powder keg? Shouldn't you be yelling about revenge and killing us? How come you're starting to demand compensation?

Just as Puss in Boots had calmed down, she came over and heard this. She immediately clutched her chest and pretended to fall down. Xiaohang quickly and clumsily supported her, while glaring at Taotie.

"If you hadn't acted recklessly, the fire wouldn't have gotten this big. Should we carefully divide the responsibility, or should we just let this go? The choice is yours."

"Uh... I was just saying..." Taotie's eyes cleared up in an instant.

That wretched Qiongqi! Extortion is clearly not working at all!

That was how the matter was resolved. Puss in Boots rallied and, together with Xiaohang, directed the staff to clean up the mess.

The Taotie wriggled its body, trying to reassemble itself. Its claws and elbows bent like a caterpillar as it crawled away from Bai Jie and towards the chaser.

Bai Jie moved his lips silently, then turned his head and saw the Taotie's head rolling away beside Tian Lu.

How bizarre!

Suddenly, a furry body came into the light. Walnut's eyes shone, and it looked up at Bai Jie expectantly, its ears twitching slightly.

"Hey, Bai Jie, since the Deer Man Shop has been burned down, does that mean we can have a day off today?"

Bai Jie was taken aback, scratching his head uncertainly. "Huh? I don't know."

"Then ask the director?" Bixie approached and patted the dust off his body. He had been called to help earlier, as many heavy objects required powerful divine beasts to move.

Tianlu was nearby, and upon hearing this, he immediately turned around and shouted at Puss in Boots who was busy at work, "Director! The set is in such a state! Do we still need to film?"

"No need! Just go home and wait for our call. I'll call you when the Deer Man store is fixed!"

Puss in Boots waved her paw in the distance, the sound carrying far away. Then she turned around, picked up her phone, and started calling Tanuki.

This good news reached Bai Jie's ears, and before he could react, Walnut let out a cheer.

"Great! No school, no filming, time for vacation!"

Soon the four of them flew away from the film set with Xiaoyun.

Meanwhile, on the other side,

Mei Mei looked up, her purple pupils reflecting the sky and two drifting white clouds. She glanced at Xiao Hang beside her, then stepped outside.

"where are you going?"

After arranging the group of beasts in front of him, Xiaohang turned around and found that his relatives were already a few meters away.

"Huh? Aren't we on holiday together?" Meimei paused, turning around in confusion.

"Where are you going? Come here."

Xiaohang took two quick steps, raised his hand and put it on the other person's shoulder, his gaze intense and slightly forceful, making Meimei feel a weight on her body.

“I know you are ambitious, and this is the perfect opportunity.”

"I……"

"The more you work now, the more experience you accumulate. Even if I'm not around in the future, you'll still have the capital to be independent."

Mei Mei's open mouth gradually closed, her hands clasped together and slowly clenched, a thoughtful expression on her face as she listened intently to Xiao Hang's long-winded explanation.

He suspected the other party was making empty promises, but he had no evidence.

Shortly after,

He let out a burp, relaxed his clenched fist, nodded with a look of realization, and his expression turned serious.

"I understand, I will try my best. So, what do I need to do next?"

Xiaohang patted him with satisfaction, then pointed to the Taotie that was still trying to piece itself back together not far away, "Go and clean it up, wash its fur, and then put the body back together."

"Ok."

Meimei obediently agreed.

……

—Splash, splash.

The cool water poured over her dark head, and Meimei, with a long face, grabbed the hose and started rinsing it. The splashing water made Taotie yell and scream.

"Ptooey! You better be serious, you're splashing water in my eyes, ugh, ugh, ugh, cough, cough!"

In the puddles created by the jet of water, the Taotie, whose true form was obscured, coughed violently. It was unclear how it could cough when it didn't even have lungs.

"You should be content. The director originally wanted to just throw you into the lake, rinse you off, and then take you out."

Meimei shook the hose twice more and rinsed herself twice. Then she picked up a towel and slowly approached. Her black paws stepped into the puddle and got wet, and her paw pads felt a faint coolness.

He couldn't help but shiver.

"Hiss... It's a bit chilly. I'm worried I'll catch a cold in this weather."

Taotie was so angry that it almost couldn't help but turn around and bite this bastard. You're only a little bit of water and you're afraid of catching a cold, so you gave me an ice water bath, huh?

After a period of cleaning, the black ash from the roasting was wiped away, and the hedgehog-like yellow and black bristles reappeared. The Taotie's six brand-new parts were placed on the grass.

"Can your body be pieced back together?"

Meimei patted the Taotie's body, and felt a little prickly when her paw pads touched the bristles.

"Not for now. I'm not strong enough right now. I need to recover for a while. Then you can put your body back on for me, and then we can slowly reconnect."

The Taotie replied irritably, and at the same time, it shifted its body and flipped over, trying to crush the guy to death.

Compared to Meimei, the adult divine beast's body was surprisingly large, making this little fox, who was still in its single form, appear almost crushed. He quickly jumped away.

"Hey, don't move! I'm going to call the director right now. You wait here." With that, he turned and ran away.

Meanwhile, Puss in Boots...

"It won't be fixed until tomorrow? Uh... could you hurry it up? We're on a tight schedule here. Given your testing speed, it shouldn't take that long, right?"

Puss in Boots, clutching her phone and pacing back and forth with a toothache, knew tomorrow was the weekend and she was worried that if she waited two more days to film, there wouldn't be enough time to produce the final product.

"Ah... Director Boots, the project is on time, that's true, but I've taken on a lot of projects lately, and my son and I are too busy to handle them all."

Xu Dashan's troubled voice came from the other end of the phone. Puss in Boots rubbed her forehead. The air was silent for a few seconds. She clutched her chest and squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth.

"I'll add money."

"Okay, director, I'll spend a little more money to hire someone to transport the materials over, and it will be fixed soon."