Volume Two: Shadows of the Past Chapter Eighty-Four: Box Office Rankings on Opening Day

Faced with Ling Ruohan’s alluring gaze, Chen Jing immediately found himself unable to resist. “Alright, alright! You want to be like them too, don’t you?”

Ling Ruohan nodded repeatedly, “Yes, yes, yes.” Then she teasingly turned to Xue Yue, “Yueyue, do you want to join us in standing united against Boss Jing, this big bad overlord?”

Xue Yue, who was nearby reviewing the survey statistics, was momentarily stunned by Ling Ruohan’s jest. “Huh?” Then, catching on that Ling Ruohan was inviting her to bet with Chen Jing, she glanced at him and smiled, “Sure.”

“Hehehe, then you better hope you don’t lose, or else I’ll be winning all three or four bets on my own, hahaha,” Chen Jing laughed exaggeratedly.

Lin Xi cast a faint glance at Chen Jing, smiling as she retorted, “Could it be that you’re the one losing to four people all by yourself?”

“Uh…” Chen Jing’s laughter abruptly ceased.

Time quickly came to six o’clock, the designated hour for Chen Jing’s live broadcast.

“Hello everyone, long time no see!” Chen Jing greeted with a smile. Seeing the flood of viewers’ messages on the screen greeting him back, he continued, “First of all, I want to thank you all for supporting my movie. Thanks to you, the box office is doing quite well.”

“Really? Boss Jing, don’t lie to us.”

“Yeah, yeah. Don’t try to comfort yourself.”

“Boss Jing isn’t lying. I just went to check the theater today, and there were indeed many people watching his movie. Also, I highly recommend you all watch ‘SPL: Kill Zone.’ My only comment: it’s awesome!”

“I went too, the film is genuinely great. The fight scenes especially make your blood boil.”

“Me too, me too…”

Sure enough, once the movie was mentioned, many viewers began sharing their thoughts, almost all praising the film.

Chen Jing was delighted to see fans promoting his work, but his purpose today wasn’t just to advertise the movie, so he didn’t let the discussion continue. Instead, he said, “Alright, let’s set the movie aside for now. Since only a few have seen it, talking much won’t help. We’ll discuss it more once everyone has watched it. For now, let’s check the results of the Weibo likes contest for giving away songs. Let’s see who will claim these ten songs.”

With a smile, Chen Jing opened the ranking system on the Jingyu live platform, specially prepared for the Weibo likes giveaway event.

All the songs he had performed in previous live streams were ranked by the number of likes on Weibo. After a quick glance, he picked one at random, “Let’s start by seeing who won the song ‘Fairy Tale Town.’”

Looking at the top-ranked Weibo user, Chen Jing was surprised to find it was Jingyu streamer Xiao Xuan!

Though taken aback internally, Chen Jing showed no sign of surprise. Smiling, he said, “Oh, the final winner of ‘Fairy Tale Town’ is Jingyu streamer Xiao Xuan. Let’s congratulate her. Xiao Xuan, if you’re watching this, contact me later to claim your song.”

Meanwhile, on her own live stream, Xiao Xuan screamed with delight upon hearing she had won, “Ahhh! I did it, viewers! I’m so happy. Thank you all! Without you, I wouldn’t have gotten Boss Jing’s song.”

Viewers in her chat began sending congratulatory messages.

“As expected, Xiao Xuan is amazing.”

“Haha, this song is officially Xiao Xuan’s now—looking forward to her version of ‘Fairy Tale Town.’”

“My Xiao Xuan, is she finally rising to fame...”

Chen Jing was unaware of the commotion in Xiao Xuan’s chat. After announcing the winner of ‘Fairy Tale Town,’ he proceeded to confirm the recipients of the remaining nine songs.

Among the ten winners, there were several familiar faces. Besides Xiao Xuan’s ‘Fairy Tale Town’ and Ling Ruohan’s ‘Youth,’ which he already knew about, Huang Wenhao had also won ‘Can I?’ The most surprising was that although Li Manru didn’t get ‘Youth,’ she still managed to secure another song. Li Manru clearly had some skills.

Thinking it over, four out of the ten songs went to people associated with Jingrun. Chen Jing couldn’t help but wonder if Jingrun had pulled strings behind the scenes. Yet, he wouldn’t raise such suspicions during the live stream.

However, since Chen Jing kept quiet, others took the opportunity to stir the pot. Some viewers who didn’t get his songs began posting sarcastic messages to sway opinions.

“Heh, four out of ten songs going to Jingrun? This ranking must be rigged.”

“I think so too. Chen Jing is their artist. Could this be some staged fake event?”

“Exactly... How else could Jingrun get so many songs? I refuse to believe this is a fair ranking.”

“Definitely rigged...”

As the chat filled with accusations, Chen Jing remained calm and responded smoothly, “To those who say this event is rigged, please be cautious with your words. Firstly, this event is a collaboration with Weibo. If Jingrun wanted to manipulate it, they’d have to bribe people at Weibo. But think about it—would a huge social platform like Weibo risk its reputation over my mere one or two million? Also, if my company wanted these songs, they could just ask me directly. I’m not short on songs. Why would they sacrifice their credibility for just a few tracks? So, claims of rigging are impossible. Black operations only happen when there’s enough incentive, but frankly, my songs aren’t worth that much.”

Chen Jing’s argument was logical and convincing.

Fans in the chat began rallying behind him.

“Exactly, I’ve never heard of Weibo likes contests being rigged. Sounds like sour grapes to me.”

“Jingrun: I have Chen Jing’s apple tree. You expect me to fight over fallen apples? Who do you think you are?”

“I almost got fooled by their nonsense. Good thing Boss Jing opened my eyes...”

Those who had accused the event of being rigged quickly fell silent as the crowd turned against them. The suspicious comments vanished.

Chen Jing didn’t want arguments in his stream, and feeling the time was right to wrap up, he smiled and said, “Alright, everyone. Now that all the winners are confirmed, that’s it for tonight’s live stream. I still hope you’ll watch my movie. Whether you’re a fan or not, if you like action films, give it a chance. Trust me, it won’t disappoint.”

As Chen Jing chatted with his viewers, no one realized that this would be his final live stream promoting his own movie. It was the last because future films of his would no longer require such promotion...

That night, after 11 p.m., Chen Jing and his team received the day’s box office statistics.

Topping the list was the sci-fi film “Alien Wars” released by Fumei Hollywood, with a first-day box office of over 65 million.

Second place went to Zhang Qishan’s movie “Blood Battle at Ancient Mountain Ridge,” with over 53 million.

Next was Disney’s animated film “Adorable Elves,” at over 43 million.

Fourth was another Fumei Hollywood film, the monster movie “Abyss Devourer,” with over 33 million.

Chen Jing’s “SPL: Kill Zone” ranked fifth, earning over 31 million on its first day.

Sixth was the comedy “Where Am I From?” with over 25 million.

Seventh was the martial arts film “Flying Sword Inquiry,” with over 17 million.

The remaining movies all grossed less than 10 million on opening day, so Chen Jing’s team paid them no mind.

Chen Jing was fairly satisfied with his film’s first-day earnings exceeding 31 million, confident that “SPL: Kill Zone” had much more room to grow. He was especially sure it would surpass the fourth-place “Abyss Devourer.”

Though Chen Jing’s team was not surprised by the box office results, others were astounded.

A first-day gross of over 30 million was almost unimaginable for a debut director’s film.

Some speculated that others must have used gimmicky promotional tactics, creating an unprecedented buzz. But regardless, the fact remained: audiences were buying tickets to see it, and that was no small feat.

Thanks to “SPL: Kill Zone”’s strong first-day numbers, many theaters began reassessing the film, sensing something unusual.

Theaters evaluate films by a pattern: if the opening day performs well and subsequent word-of-mouth is strong, the movie is destined to become a hit. Now that the opening day figures were out, what about the film’s reputation?

That question had already been answered by some diligent investigations.