Reborn Action Star: Starting in Hollywood

"Turn 30 degrees to the left!" Meng Tao's warning blared in the earpiece.

Lin Yuan jerked the steering wheel as if by reflex, showing his absolute trust in Meng Tao.

The SUV immediately slid to the side, and almost simultaneously, a second wave of lightning struck from the sky.

This time, there were five bolts of lightning arranged in a spiral. The two closest bolts exploded on both sides of the car body, and the resulting electromagnetic field caused all the metal objects inside the car to vibrate.

The metal buckle of the seatbelt vibrated at a high frequency, emitting a deathly "click" sound.

"Electromagnetic shielding is overloaded!" The system alarm blared.

Lin Yuan knew that he was not absolutely safe, because the protection provided by the "Faraday cage effect" was not without its flaws.

The Faraday cage placed in the science museum can withstand countless electric shocks while remaining safe.

But those were specially made experimental props, while the vehicle I was driving was a composite of various materials such as metal, rubber, and glass.

When an off-road vehicle is struck by lightning, the current can be diverted to the ground, but structural changes to the vehicle due to the high temperature are unavoidable.

If a part of the body collapses due to high temperature, causing the Faraday cage effect to break, then he will face the consequence of being struck by lightning at any time.

"Lin Yuan, the discharge channel alarm index has exceeded the limit! We must take precautions against this wave of lightning!" Meng Tao's angry roar came through the headset again.

Lin Yuan glanced at the dashboard; the shielding index had already soared into the red zone.

Without hesitation, he pressed the red button on the center console, and the hum of the hydraulic system working came from under the car.

With a crisp "click," four grounding copper cables popped out from the chassis and embedded themselves deeply into the sand.

This is a device that actively guides the current to prevent the vehicle body from melting metal parts or even rubber tires due to excessive current load.

Just as preparations were completed, the sky instantly turned into daylight.

The third wave of lightning arrived faster than expected.

Twelve bolts of lightning simultaneously pierced the sky and earth, forming a deadly cage around the SUV.

One of the bolts struck the grounding cable directly to the right rear. A dazzling flash of electricity shot through the copper cable into the ground, causing the sand grains within a radius of 100 meters to vibrate at a high frequency, like boiling water.

"800 meters to go!" Lin Yuan counted silently in his mind.

His hands were as steady as a rock, yet his fingertips could feel a subtle electric current emanating from the steering wheel—a tingling sensation caused by atmospheric ionization, a reminder that he was navigating a death maze of millions of volts.

"Get ready, the strongest wave of discharge is coming soon!" Meng Tao shouted in the communication channel.

"I understand!" Lin Yuan replied calmly.

After the strongest wave of discharge, the energy will weaken in a short time, and he can continue driving until he gets into the support.

About three or four seconds later, the most dangerous fourth wave of lightning struck.

This was not an ordinary cloud-to-ground lightning, but a rare combination of forked and ball-shaped lightning.

Three ball lightning bolts, each over two meters in diameter, bounced between the clouds before suddenly splitting into dozens of branching lightning bolts, like a net of thunder thrown down by the gods.

The crew members in the distance were stunned by what they saw.

"Quickly pinch my cheek, is this some kind of magic effect from a AAA game?"

"It's incredible! I actually witnessed such a spectacle!"

"Will Lin Yuan be alright?"

"Can an off-road vehicle really withstand such overwhelming force?"

At this moment, Lin Yuan's off-road vehicle was being subjected to the baptism of the Thunder Net.

One of the streaks grazed the roof, instantly burning out the external dome light and extinguishing all the interior lights, leaving only the emergency red light on the dashboard.

"The overhead lights and shielding equipment are damaged!" Lin Yuan said, raising his voice over the communication channel.

This wasn't because he was nervous—of course, being nervous wouldn't have helped—but rather because the intermittent, delayed thunder forced him to increase the volume.

The next second, the main lightning struck the vehicle.

The world turned pure white in an instant.

Lin Yuan felt as if thousands of steel needles were piercing his skin at the same time. He didn't know if this was real pain or phantom pain.

Through the glass directly in front of him, he saw that the entire vehicle had turned into a transparent blue light and shadow, and the skeleton was clearly visible in the bright light, like a specimen on an X-ray.

Two seconds felt like an eternity.

When his vision returned, Lin Yuan realized that what he had just experienced was indeed an illusion of pain. If it had been a real electrical leak, he would have been instantly burned to a crisp and wouldn't have had time to feel any pain.

The vehicle was emitting blue smoke, but it was still usable.

He gripped the steering wheel tightly with both hands, smelling the strong odor of ozone and the smell of molten metal in the air.

He knew his off-road vehicle couldn't withstand another lightning strike like that.

So Lin Yuan stepped on the gas and sped off.

"The eye of the storm is just ahead!" Meng Tao's voice suddenly became clear, and communication was restored.

Lin Yuan looked up and saw that incredible sight:
In the center of the swirling dark clouds, there is a calm area about 100 meters in diameter, as tranquil as the eye of a typhoon.

But the last 300 meters leading there is the most densely packed lightning zone—lightning strikes more than five times per second, and the sand is completely covered with vitrified craters.

Without hesitation, Lin Yuan floored the accelerator.

The SUV roared into the final death corridor, its tires crushing red-hot glass shards with a teeth-grinding cracking sound.

One after another, bolts of lightning exploded all around, the closest ones almost brushing past the car window, the intense light repeatedly casting Lin Yuan's shadow onto the seat.

The moment the off-road vehicle finally broke through the last lightning barrier and entered the eye of the storm, all the roaring sounds disappeared.

Lin Yuan turned off the engine, and all he could hear was his own heart pounding.

In the distance, the searchlights of drones shone like lighthouses.

Soon, the dense network of lightning gradually dissipated.

Lin Yuan knew that the formation principle and timing of such a dense network of thunderstorms were difficult to predict, but it was also difficult to sustain.

He is safe for now and can continue towards the drilling support.

However, the thunderclouds did not dissipate, but rather seemed to pause temporarily after a warm-up exercise.

The thunderclouds churning and swirling in the sky seemed to be accumulating even greater energy.

Miller's trembling voice came through the communicator:
"Lin! Hurry up and move forward!"

"Roger that!"

Lin Yuan stepped on the gas, and the SUV, kicking up a trail of dust, successfully arrived at the bottom of the drilling rig.

The SUV executed a beautiful drift and came to a smooth stop.

Even after such a thrilling shoot, Lin Yuan remained mindful that he was filming and had to pay attention to every detail. Two filming vehicles were already waiting there, their surfaces still bearing fresh traces of sand.

Lin Yuan pushed open the car door, his boots making a crisp sound as they stepped on the metal platform. He casually took off his insulated gloves, which were fluffed up by static electricity.

"Lin Yuan! That was absolutely fantastic! Before filming, I never imagined I'd have the chance to shoot such amazing footage." Director Miller's voice came through the earpiece.

"This is the result of everyone's hard work," Lin Yuan replied modestly. "Meng Tao, will it rain?"

He was about to begin climbing the drilling rig. If a torrential downpour occurred during the climb, it would greatly increase the difficulty of the climb and the possibility of accidents.

Fortunately, things weren't always so unlucky. Meng Tao answered confidently, "No! Not a single drop of rain will fall."

"Really? How can you be so sure?" Director Miller asked curiously.

Such intense lightning and thunder, based on common sense, would always be associated with a torrential downpour.

"Because this is the Taklamakan Desert, and it's under the control of an extremely dry Siberian cold air mass, there's practically no moisture in the atmosphere. Even if there's a little bit of rain, it's dried up before it even hits the ground," Meng Tao said.

"So this is what they mean by all thunder and no rain." Lin Yuan clapped his hands. "Then I'm relieved!"

"Lin Yuan, do you need a rest?" Director Miller asked, while the hurried conversation of the technical team could be heard in the background.

Lin Yuan looked up at the sky. The rolling thunderclouds were still swirling overhead, but the eerie calm had lasted for almost a minute.

“No need,” he said, adjusting the sensors on his wristband. “Hurry up. We’ll be in trouble if the thunderstorm dissipates.”

Through the earpiece, Meng Tao calmly analyzed, "Quite the opposite."

The distant tapping of his tablet computer echoed: "According to Doppler radar, the cloud top is exceeding 16 kilometers, and the CAPE index is over 35000 J/kg—equivalent to the energy of one hundred Hiroshima atomic bombs."

Lin Yuan narrowed his eyes, feeling a sense of unease.

"Explain?" Director Miller's voice was full of confusion.

Meng Tao strode over, his holographic projector displaying a 3D weather map in the air: "Look at this rotating updraft."

He pointed to the spiral-shaped red area in the cloud image, "When thunderstorms develop to a mature stage, they form mesoscale convective vortices. Like..."

He searched for a suitable analogy: "Stick a straw into the eye of a typhoon and stir it."

The projection suddenly magnified, revealing unsettling purple spots of light.

“These are the charged regions generated by the collision of ice crystals.” Meng Tao’s finger traced the different colored layers: “The separation of positive and negative charges creates a potential difference, and when this difference exceeds the dielectric strength of air…”

“Speak like a human,” director Miller interrupted.

"To put it simply, it's like..." Meng Tao shrugged, "The clouds are charging the supercapacitor."

He pointed to the distant, suddenly brightening cloud base, "Notice those spiderweb-like leader lights."

As if to verify his theory, an unprecedentedly massive bolt of lightning struck down.

It wasn't the common branching lightning, but a rare ribbon-like lightning bolt. Three parallel bolts of lightning, like a divine whip, blasted a crater thirty meters in diameter into a distant sand dune.

"Damn it!" the technical director exclaimed. "That energy is enough to destroy our entire camp!"

Meng Tao said helplessly, "A terrifying negative ground flashover! The peak current is expected to exceed 500 kiloamperes!"

He spoke to Lin Yuan over the communication channel: "Do you know what this means? The next lightning strike will exhibit a 'leader-counterattack' chain reaction pattern."

Lin Yuan was ready to climb the drilling rig. He clapped his hands and said, "Like dominoes."

“Precise.” Meng Tao nodded: “Each counterattack creates a better path for the next one. Theoretically…”

He paused for a moment: "The 7th to 9th strikes may produce extremely terrifying super lightning!"

Director Miller: "...How terrible?"

"Have you ever played a combo system in an action game?" Meng Tao suddenly changed the subject.

“Of course, I’m not some old fogey who doesn’t embrace new things. I just finished God of War 2 last month,” Director Miller said, frowning.

"To use an imperfect analogy, each discharge creates a pathway for the next, like accumulating combo points. Then, when a certain amount is accumulated, it becomes a fully charged, devastating attack," Meng Tao continued.
"So Lin Yuan, you have to be quick. You must complete the filming of the two scenes, climbing the drilling support and sliding in the sand, within 7 minutes."

Otherwise, we might face unprecedented super lightning that exceeds meteorological records! Meng Tao warned solemnly.

The crew fell silent, with only the beeping of the equipment counting down the seconds.

"That's enough, seven minutes is enough." Lin Yuan suddenly chuckled.

He ripped off the excess safety rope, revealing the bulging muscles on his forearm.

With a soft "click," the special climbing belt was fastened.

He stretched his shoulders, the metal frame casting a spiderweb-like shadow above his head.

The drilling rig cast ever-changing shadows in the lightning, resembling a giant skull with outstretched arms.

No one noticed that fine cracks had appeared on the rusted steel beams of the support structure at some unknown time.

"Then let's not waste any more time, I'm off!"

The next second, he leaped up like a cheetah.

The rusty steel beam groaned under the heavy weight, and Lin Yuan's fingers precisely gripped the maintenance grooves of the support.

His movements were incredibly fast: his left hand gripped the crossbeam, his right leg pushed off the rusted rivets, and he leaped upwards using the power of his waist and abdomen.

The entire set of movements was fluid and graceful, as if dancing a deadly waltz in a vertical steel jungle.

During his on-site inspection the day before yesterday, he had already climbed the drilling rig once and developed a clear climbing plan and route.

But when filming actually began, Lin Yuan still encountered many difficulties.

The main reason was that the previous climb was during the day, while the dim visibility at night greatly limited his performance.

No matter how much his body has been enhanced, Lin Yuan is still made of flesh and blood and does not have night vision.

Therefore, he must now be careful with his hands and feet at all times to avoid those severely rusted steel bars that cannot withstand force.

The reality requires Lin Yuan to slow down and see things clearly before taking action.

But the thunderclouds swirling in the sky, gathering energy, did not give him that opportunity.

The two scenes must be filmed within seven minutes!

If you calculate based on a speed of 120 kilometers per hour, it would take at least 2.5 minutes to surf in the sand.

Adding the time required to put on and take off the equipment, 3 minutes is absolutely the minimum that cannot be reduced.

That means he only has 4 minutes to climb the steel support structure in front of him.

Do not!
We also need to deduct the time he spent filming after reaching the top, opening the black box, picking up important props, and sliding down the tower.

Thinking of this, Lin Yuan quickened his pace.

"Click!" (End of Chapter)