I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 193 Premiere
August 2, early morning.

Yanjing, [Haishu Garden] residential community.

The first rays of dawn shone into the room.

Zhou Yang's fiancée, Zhang Ying, couldn't sleep all night. On the [Zhou Yang's Home] website, she repeatedly refreshed the prayer posts spontaneously organized by fans. The flickering candle icons and messages of "Zhou Yang, be safe" on the screen made her eyes redden...

"How could he possibly be in trouble..." Zhang Ying's hand trembled as she scrolled through the shocking headlines on the mouse.

"Zhou Yang Dies in Filming Accident, Body Transported Back to Yanjing," "Exclusive: Bloodstain Identification Report from Mine Collapse Site," "Industry Insider Reveals: Zhou Yang's Last Words Were 'Keep Filming'"...

The titles left Zhang Ying bewildered, but she gritted her teeth and silently read through the stories.

The story writers are unknown; they are all newly registered accounts. Each story is written to its most crucial point, then suddenly disappears, and then all of them are accompanied by "exclusive scoops" from websites such as Douban Movie, Movie Fans' Home, or Sohu Zhouyang Tieba.

in the past……

These websites are all uniformly filled with criticism of Zhou Yang!
But this time, these websites acted out of character, constantly using various tragic stories to portray Zhou Yang's dedication to filmmaking, how he sacrificed all safety for art and the most realistic visuals, how he willingly risked his life, how much pain and despair he endured, and how, even when suffocating to the point of near death, he still waved to signal the paramedics not to come, ultimately missing the optimal time for treatment, and then…

While browsing these websites to read the follow-up news "stories," Zhang Ying wiped away tears, her nose stinging. In the "Zhou Yang's Home" section, she posted various messages of encouragement for Zhou Yang.

Liu Jiasheng's face turned ashen as he watched the scene unfold. Especially when he saw the top headlines on websites like [豌豆电影网], [影迷之家], and [华夏电影] all proclaiming things like "Zhou Yang is dead" and "The death of China's most promising director," he finally lost his temper, picked up a teacup from the table, and smashed it on the ground: "These bastards! They'd even fabricate a death for traffic!"

He picked up his phone and dialed the number of a staff member at [Xuan Shi Entertainment].

The reply from the other end of the phone was still very clear: Zhou Yang is not dead!

He put the phone on speakerphone and said to Zhang Ying, "Zhou Yang is not dead, he's alive and well!"

"But online sources say that these are just temporary statements made by [Xuanshi Entertainment] to stabilize the situation..."

"Do you believe them, or do you believe I am Jesus?" Liu Jiasheng was utterly speechless at his fiancée's delirious state!

Liu Jiasheng stayed up all night with Zhang Ying.

My fiancée was obsessed all night.

My fiancée, who is usually quite rational, has been brainwashed by those messy, brainwashing stories and has even lost all her ability to make her own judgments.

"Da Liu, I don't care whether this is Zhou Yang's posthumous work or not, but I hope I can support Zhou Yang. I want to buy a ticket and go to the cinema to see it..." Liu Jiasheng's fiancée Zhang Ying was taken aback by Liu Jiasheng's question, but then looked at Liu Jiasheng seriously.

Upon hearing this, Liu Jiasheng fell silent instantly!

For the first time, I felt a sense of powerlessness!

“In the past, he was able to get a few VIP tickets for movies through his connections with [Xuan Shi Entertainment].

But this time!
Even he, a film critic, couldn't get tickets. That's fucking outrageous!

[XuanShi Entertainment] It seems like they're out of tickets over there!

....................................

Outside the Changkong Cinema in Yanjing, the crowds were bustling and surging.

Looking around, all you could see were reporters with their long lenses and microphones, completely surrounding the [Changkong Cinema].

Besides, countless young people, holding banknotes, frantically squeezed inside!
The premiere of Zhou Yang's version of "The Mine" is scheduled for early this morning.

The advance tickets for cinemas such as Changkong Cinema, Wanxin Cinema, Xinde Cinema, and Meixing Cinema have long been sold out.

However, it still couldn't stop countless movie fans from flocking to watch the spectacle and join in the fun!
Even some people who don't usually watch movies saw news articles like "Zhou Yang Died for Art" written by unscrupulous tabloids...

Oh shit!

Watching people make movies until they die!

His final work!

See how people die...

That feeling of curiosity welled up inside me, and I could no longer suppress my curiosity. Regardless of whether he was dead or not, it was good to come and join in the fun!
The media nearby went even more wildly. Every now and then, a media outlet would appear from the crowd, loudly interviewing passersby who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, crying their eyes out...

The scene was like an earthquake!
At 10:00 a.m., Liu Jiasheng and his fiancée squeezed through the crowd and rushed into the screening room.

As expected, there were no tickets left!
Just as we were about to leave, we suddenly heard a roar outside!
Someone was holding up a movie ticket and shouting!
"Zhou Yang's final work! A documentary, recording the process of his death!"

"Last two tickets! One thousand! Not a penny less!"

"..."

The scalpers' cries drew a barrage of curses, and a huge crowd surged forward...

But the scalpers ignored the stares, excitedly collected the banknotes, and then disappeared into the crowd in a flash.

Not long after, a sudden wail rang out again: "My grandson wanted to see this movie before he died! Please give me a ticket!"

Several reporters immediately set up their cameras and pointed them in that direction. They saw an old woman kneeling on the ground, wailing to a few movie fans. The fans couldn't bear it and sold the tickets to the old woman for the original price of 15 yuan. The old woman was very grateful and hurriedly avoided the camera lens, disappearing into the crowd. But Liu Jiasheng immediately noticed the ten resold ticket stubs clutched in the old woman's hand...

Not long after, several scalpers appeared, shouting "premiere tickets" at the top of their lungs, with prices that were outrageous, reaching a whopping 1500 yuan!

……

"Damn it, these bastard scalpers drove the prices up!" "They're sick!"

Liu Jiasheng cursed fiercely, but in the end, he was helpless!
This movie!

It's fucking hot!
..............................

"The premiere tickets are already being resold for as much as 2500 yuan!"

"This isn't a movie; it's a carnival of profit and viewership!"

"Our [Wandou Movie Network] has finally surpassed 35 registered users, a large portion of whom were brought in from [Zhouyang's Home]. This topic has gone viral! Damn, the [Zhouyang's Home] website has actually exceeded 35 daily visits, that's insane!"

"Keep writing stories, keep making up stories!"

"it is good!"

Zhou Yang has issued another clarification!

"Zhou Yang's mother isn't dead yet, so you all better die! Suppress the news of Zhou Yang's clarification... Also, keep making up stories, make up the reasons why [Xuan Shi Entertainment] is so eager to clarify that Zhou Yang isn't dead... Even if Zhou Yang isn't dead, you still have to write that Zhou Yang is seriously injured!"

"But...aren't we going too far by doing this..."

"There are no buts, you see? Traffic, traffic, all this traffic is money! I told you before, Zhou Yang is traffic, insulting Zhou Yang will make you rich and powerful!"

"it is good!"

"..."

[Wandou Movie Network]

Boss Zhao Mingyi stared with bloodshot eyes at the traffic that [Wandou Movie Network] had brought in from various media channels such as [Zhou Yang's Home].

He's so excited he's practically going crazy!

From the moment the news of Zhou Yang's death appeared!

He knew!
This is a crazy traffic extravaganza!

Who was the source of this massive online frenzy is no longer important, and whether Zhou Yang is dead or not is even less important!
He only knew that if he didn't capitalize on this wave of traffic, he would regret it for the rest of his life!

In fact, the traffic on [Wandou Movie Network] has been surging since yesterday, equaling the total traffic of the past few months.

After giving instructions to everyone in the company, he immediately checked other websites. On other websites, the stories of people taking advantage of others' misfortunes were particularly outrageous, practically explosive!
Did our film critics get premiere tickets?

"got it!"

"Okay! Tell them to go see the movie as soon as possible, and keep in touch via text message. After the premiere, we'll harvest another wave of data..."

"Row!"

..............................

Evening of February 22nd!
This frenzied surge in online traffic has not ended; on the contrary, it has become even more intense.

In the evening, across China, apart from the three major cinema chains—Huaying International, Tianxing Film & Television, and Fengyu International—other cinema chains immediately issued statements saying they had acquired the premiere rights and source material for "The Mine" and were making urgent preparations for a nationwide simultaneous release at 10:15 PM…

The premiere tickets were sold out in just half an hour after they were released!

Liu Jiasheng is very lucky!

I managed to snag two tickets at a small cinema chain called [Tianhe Cinema].

The small cinema was also packed with people!
All sorts of products, such as "Bingbingyang Beverages," were being transported here by truckload. Even some of Zhou Yang's handsome posters were brought over. It seems like these people are all waiting to make a fortune from this movie!

Finally, around 10 p.m., he and his fiancée Zhang Ying squeezed into the screening room.

Looking at the somewhat outdated screening room of the Tianhe Cinema, Liu Jiasheng was utterly speechless!

This is Liu Jiasheng's second time visiting this type of screening room since becoming a film critic. He remembers the first time was at the Feihe Cinema...

The screening room was extremely noisy!

A lot of people were standing there, totally excited!

Ok!

Oh shit!

At this rate, this movie might just achieve another miraculous attendance rate of over 150%!
The dark and gloomy screening room made Liu Jiasheng feel a little suffocated, especially the cramped space of this dilapidated theater, which once gave him a sense of claustrophobia.

Ten minutes later, the screening room went dark.

Immediately afterwards, the large screen in front of the screening room shook slightly, and the old screen lit up with a dim yellow light.

There was a moment of silence in the audience.

The screen displayed no production information, no name, only a line of blood-red text...

No one was injured during the filming of this movie.

(End of this chapter)