Compared to her previous life, Leonardo was much wealthier and likely took a much harder hit from the incident. That he would be jolted into growth didn't seem all that far-fetched.
And such a transformation was something Laila was more than happy to see. After all, she wanted to finish filming as soon as possible—the fewer retakes, the faster they could wrap up.
However, things never go that smoothly. Sure enough, a new problem cropped up: the crew's logistics had hit a snag.
They purchased a lot of supplies from outside daily, and it had always been business as usual. But in recent days, their supply runs had been intercepted multiple times by unknown assailants.
The amount of money stolen wasn't large—it was mostly food and other consumables. But even a single robbery meant they'd be stuck with just bread for the day. With the high-pressure filming schedule, how long could people last on such a meager diet, going days without even a morsel of meat?
Left with no better option, Laila had to dispatch the mercenaries to handle the procurement themselves.
With several hundred people on set, just the food alone was a massive amount—let alone everything else they needed. This meant they had to pull dozens of mercenaries each day to make supply runs to the nearby cities. Sending fewer just wasn't safe—the attackers were armed and vicious.
But doing this inevitably weakened the set's security. Concerned about safety, Laila gave strict orders for the crew to stay put unless necessary. They were so close to finishing—if something happened now, it really wouldn't be worth it.
Unfortunately, trouble doesn't always wait for an invitation.
No matter how well Laila prepared, she couldn't defend against the schemes lurking in people's hearts.
Near the set, there was a small village whose residents usually lived off the nearby rainforest—hunting, gathering fruits, and crafting handmade goods from animal hides and timber to sell in the city.
The arrival of Laila's crew had brought them many opportunities to earn money, and relations between both sides had been good. When the villagers found something tasty, they'd bring some over for the crew. The crew, in turn, would trade for it using what they considered small change—but what the villagers saw as a fortune.
Then one afternoon, in the middle of filming, a massive column of smoke suddenly rose in the camera's viewfinder.
"What's that?" Laila called for a pause, shielding her eyes from the sun as she looked toward the smoke.
"Looks like a fire?"
Before Roy could finish speaking, several more thinner plumes of smoke shot into the sky.
"It's coming from the village!" someone shouted in alarm, pointing in that direction.
Judging by how widespread the smoke was, it wasn't just one fire. That tiny village being set ablaze in multiple places could only mean one thing: something big had happened!
"Let's go check it out." Laila left a group behind to guard the set and set off toward the village with Roy and a team.
It was only about a ten-minute drive from the set. The closer they got, the more acrid the smoke's stench became.
"It's the village," Roy said, having the driver stop. "Laila, wait here. I'll go see what's going on."
Laila glanced at her small frame and knew she wasn't suited to head into danger. She nodded. "Take more people with you. Be careful."
Roy smiled faintly. "Don't worry—I haven't married you yet, so I've got no plans to die." With that, he took half the team and moved ahead.
As soon as they entered the village, it felt like they had stepped into another era—right into the wartime scenes of the movie they were filming.
Before him, buildings were ablaze, items scattered across the ground, and cries of pain and despair filled the air.
"What happened?" he rushed over to the nearest man, who had a deep gash across his arm, nearly exposing the bone.
"A group of people came earlier. As soon as they entered, they started setting fires and attacking everyone." The man clutched his wound, gritting his teeth as he tried to stand. But the blood loss left his legs too weak to support him.
And he wasn't the only one injured. The destruction wasn't just in the burning houses or scattered bodies—it was in the helpless children who didn't know where to run or whom to turn to.
Roy could hardly believe his eyes. How could something this horrifying happen—in this day and age, in this country?
If he remembered correctly, things like this weren't even supposed to happen in South Africa anymore. Who could be this deranged?
"Laila, I think you're going to have to come in. We can't help all these people by ourselves," he said over the phone, describing the scene to her.
Moments later, Laila arrived with reinforcements. Hearing about the situation had already left her stunned—how could something like this happen in a peaceful modern society? But only when she saw it for herself did she realize how heartbreaking and enraging it truly was.
"Get a few people to put out the fires first. Then check on the wounded. I already contacted the military on the way here—they should be heading over now."
She was referring to the military personnel assigned to protect the film crew. They'd been stationed nearby all this time. When disaster struck, Laila instinctively turned to them. After all, in her mind, whenever catastrophe struck back East, the first ones on the scene were always the soldiers.
Before the military and the rescue team from the film crew arrived, Roy and the others had managed to extinguish the fires and tally the wounded. Fortunately, though there were quite a few injuries, none were life-threatening. The most serious case was someone hit in the head by a collapsing wall while trying to retrieve something from home.
Xiao Ye arrived with the military rescue team. As soon as he surveyed the scene, he went off to whisper with the mercenaries he was familiar with.
Laila noticed the way they were huddled together whispering and couldn't help but frown.
"What's wrong?" Roy came over, noticing the troubled look on her face. "Are you feeling sick?"
The scene before them was something nearly unimaginable for people used to modern civilization—unthinkable even in nightmares. The sheer brutality of it was enough to leave anyone shaken.
Laila shook her head and wiped the dirt from his face. "Have you noticed anything… off?"
"Off?" Roy frowned, thinking it over. "Now that you mention it… yeah, something does feel off. But I can't quite put my finger on it."
Laila waved Xiao Ye over and raised her voice, "Xiao Ye, come here a second."
"Yes, boss?" Xiao Ye jogged over, grinning as he spoke.
"What did you find?" she cut straight to the point.
"Uh…" Xiao Ye scratched his head. "Yeah, there's something strange. Take a look around, boss. A group of people came to this remote village, injured folks, and burned the place down. But they didn't kill anyone, and they didn't take anything either. It's like they came here for the sole purpose of wiping this village off the map. Why would they do something like that?"