199. The Horror Movie Universe

Midnight.

Just as "The Crying" was released nationwide and was about to trigger a year-end horror frenzy, Lu Ban's plans were quietly launched.

Bai Qiquan at Yannan University of Media, is still staying up all night in the study room.

Since watching "The Crying," he felt that his sleep quality had deteriorated significantly, and he couldn't feel sleepy at all before midnight every night.

However, his main purpose today was to review.

After all, it's the end of the year, and the final exams are right after New Year's Day. Failing a course would be a disaster.

A little past midnight, Bai Qiquan, who was preparing to stay up all night, yawned, got up, poured himself a cup of hot coffee, and prepared to check his phone to stay awake.

It's good to play on your phone for a while when you're tired of studying; a balance between work and rest is important, but you can't overwork yourself.

Bai Qiquan had just picked up his phone and replied to two messages to his girlfriend when he saw the notification.

[Lu Ban's New Plan: Is a Horror Cinematic Universe About to Be Established?]

This was a browser notification, and he clicked on it directly.

"Today, 'The Cry' was released, but Lu Ban announced at the premiere that he would be building a connected cinematic universe and released a new short film, ' The Nameless City.' According to our reporter, this plan is called ' The Silence Project,' and includes a website, official social media accounts, and the latest film."

The news report briefly introduced the situation. Bai Qiquan logged out and checked Lu Ban's account on his phone. He saw that Lu Ban had indeed posted a new Weibo post, tagging a new account. He immediately followed the post.

By browsing Weibo, Bai Qiquan found the official website page.

Upon entering the page, Bai Qiquan suddenly heard a sound coming from his headphones.

He couldn't describe the sound. With his eyes closed, he felt as if he were standing between a silent night sky and a vast meadow, listening to the twinkling of stars.

At the same time, the phone screen was completely black, with only a few stars twinkling on it, seemingly forming the shape of some constellation.

Bai Qiquan touched it with his finger.

He discovered that the page would change as he touched it, as if a thick layer of dust was being wiped away.

With a light swipe of the finger across the screen, the entire page suddenly lit up.

The two large characters for "silence" are displayed in the center of the page, creating an eerie and mysterious feeling.

Bai Qiquan saw that the website had encyclopedia entries, project descriptions, and video links, so he first clicked on the project descriptions.

"The Silence Project is a series of works with a unified setting, featuring exotic adventures, bizarre monsters, and indescribable evil gods. It's a cold and insane universe where humanity is nothing more than a tiny ant. The more one tries to grasp the truth, the easier it is to fall into madness."

The project description provided a general overview of the plan's background, and after reading it, Bai Qiquan couldn't help but feel a surge of anticipation.

Modern fantasy and science fiction movies generally feature humans overcoming nature, with superheroes defeating villains and monsters, which can become somewhat boring.

This project, like Lu Ban's previous film "The Cry," seems to focus on things that humans cannot fight against. Such works have a considerable sense of horror, and Bai Qiquan is quite interested in watching them.

After watching these movies, his girlfriend held his hand a little tighter.

He then flipped to the encyclopedia page.

Here are some monsters and keywords categorized by exotic location.

Bai Qiquan clicked into the "Night Country" page. After watching "Crying", he looked for other works by Lu Ban. The interactive video in particular left a deep impression on him. Although it was not as scary as his later works, the mode where even copying homework could not guarantee a smooth pass still intrigued Bai Qiquan.

Incidentally, he himself tried for several hours without success, and finally finished the game by watching other people's walkthrough videos. Although watching other people's videos was a bit like repetitive videos, it wasn't a big problem.

" In the Night Country, the Gray Tower and the Black Tower echo each other. Mages, assassins, mercenaries, and warriors roam this dark land. Monsters from the Black Forest surge like a tide when the red moon falls, attacking humanity. And in those areas where the light of civilization has not yet reached, evil gods and their followers flourish."

Looking at these encyclopedia entries, Bai Qiquan nodded slightly.

"It looks like a fantasy world, and there are mages, but it doesn't seem to be shown in the video. I wonder when we'll see the mages' magic."

He then looked at the other world settings.

Bai Qiquan noticed that these world settings always felt somewhat incomplete.

This isn't referring to Lu Ban the Riddler, but rather to the mysterious aura emanating from the text, which always made Bai Qiquan feel that there was another truth behind these worlds.

For example, the Wa Island Grand Shrine on Harmony Island, although mentioned in the movie "Hyakunin Isshu", never actually appeared in the film, leading Bai Qiquan to speculate that the shrine might also have some mysterious and eerie aspects, and there might be a twist later on.

At the bottom of each settings page, there is a note that says "Information that can be made public now," which seems to be unlocked as the project progresses.

"These alien lands seem extremely dangerous; our world is much safer now."

After reviewing everything, Bai Qiquan drew a conclusion.

Although stories like those from Nanhua Private Renji Hospital are all around him, he knows very well that these are just movie stories, and how could there be monsters and ghosts in the real world?

Looking at the time, Bai Qiquan he had been slacking off for thirty minutes. He glanced at the video links on the webpage and decided to slack off a little longer.

If I put down my phone now to study, I'll definitely keep thinking about the new video, and I'll be distracted, which will lower my learning efficiency. So, I should watch the video now before I can study properly!

This is reasonable!

Bai Qiquan clicked on the video.

The first thing he saw was a desert, a silvery desert, completely different from the yellow sandstorms he had seen on television.

Then, Lu Ban, a familiar face, appeared again, and Bai Qiquan also saw a girl.

With blonde hair and emerald green eyes, she looks like a foreigner, yet possesses some Eastern charm; she is quite beautiful.

Bai Qiquan couldn't help but glance behind him, afraid that his girlfriend might suddenly appear and catch him in the act.

Seeing that everyone else was studying diligently, he continued to look at the screen.

A huge worm crawled out of the gravel. The ugly worm made Bai Qiquan feel disgusted instinctively. He turned the volume down a little to avoid being frightened.

However, it seems he misjudged the situation.

Campfire, roasted insects, treasure map—this film doesn't seem to be in the thriller/horror genre; it's more like an adventure movie, such as Indiana Jones or The Mummy.

Teaming up with a group of friends with extraordinary powers, searching for ancient ruins and treasures in the desert, and battling other hunters—this classic storyline sounds pretty exciting.

Bai Qiquan felt a sense of longing, imagining himself as one of the Wasteland Hunter.

He soon realized he had been a bit naive.