The cinema was dead silent.
Although everyone had long expected the younger brother to meet an unfortunate end,
when his hanged corpse appeared before Hezi, everyone felt a heaviness settle over them.
After a long while, the sound of someone slowly moving their feet finally broke the silence.
The audience began filing out of the cinema.
After leaving the cinema, Zhou Yaoyao felt a little dazed.
Her steps were unsteady, her legs weak, and tear tracks still lingered at the corners of her eyes.
Anyone who didn't know better would have thought she'd run into a criminal in the cinema!
Of course, besides the fact that Balloon itself was terrifying enough,
the reason she was so shaken was that she still had to watch Balloon five more times.
Zhou Yaoyao and five of her close female friends had agreed to watch Balloon together.
Zhou Yaoyao was a voice actress.
She had almost become one of the voice actors for Balloon, too.
But she'd been cut during the audition.
At the time, she'd actually accepted it.
There had been three people auditioning in total.
Zhou Yaoyao herself was short, only 163 centimeters tall, but she was beautiful, had a sweet voice, and was well-endowed.
There was also a tall, elegant older-sister type.
Although Zhou Yaoyao really didn't want to admit it,
she had to concede that the other woman seemed to be just a little more well-endowed than her.
If the older-sister type had won the audition, Zhou Yaoyao could have accepted it wholeheartedly.
She would have thrown herself at her and cried, "Big Sis, let me cling to you!"
But instead, Jiang Kui had been chosen.
A girl who was unremarkable in every way, from her voice and figure to her looks.
So Zhou Yaoyao had bought a ticket and gone to the cinema by herself in advance, just to see how much worse she was than Jiang Kui.
But after watching Balloon, Zhou Yaoyao clearly understood the gap between herself and Jiang Kui.
That voice, brimming with immersion, had conveyed the deepest despair.
And Lin Chuan's handsome face kept appearing in Zhou Yaoyao's mind, too.
You really couldn't judge a book by its cover.
"Hey, miss, would you like to buy a balloon?"
A little boy asked Zhou Yaoyao.
Zhou Yaoyao looked up at the balloons and couldn't shake the feeling that there were human faces growing on the backs of them.
What if one of those balloons had a face exactly like hers...
She shuddered, shook her head, and started walking home.
As she walked, she broke into a jog.
The little boy selling balloons was a little confused when she turned him down.
He'd heard that an animated movie called Balloon had recently come out, so he'd bought a bunch of balloons wholesale to sell.
But he had very few customers.
And the few customers he did get made the strange request of having their Close Friend's face drawn on the balloons.
Usually, the young men who came with their girlfriends were the most enthusiastic.
But lately, whenever the boy ran into a young man with his girlfriend, the guy's legs would go weak as soon as he saw the balloons.
As for the girls, they would either scream or collapse into their boyfriends' arms.
Some of the young men would stomp their feet while making fencing motions with their hands, shouting:
"Back! Back! Back!"
The sight left the boy utterly baffled.
That pose was so cringey. Even elementary school kids didn't do that anymore!
The girls' reactions confused him even more.
They hid behind their boyfriends, and when they saw the guys striking those strange poses, they not only didn't look down on them, but actually seemed to feel protected.
The little boy was completely perplexed.
It was just a balloon, not a ghost. What was so scary about it?
He'd even asked a strange older girl wearing a black cloak for help.
Who would've thought she'd trip in fright at the sight of a balloon and leave with tears in her eyes?
The little boy was usually very observant. He'd noticed that all these strange people had come out of the screening room for Balloon.
Minors weren't allowed inside that screening room.
At the thought, his curiosity grew even stronger...
Should he sneak in?
The first wave of moviegoers to leave the cinema looked up at the sky and saw that there was nothing there.
They all felt as though they'd narrowly escaped disaster.
The scene in Balloon where hundreds of millions of balloons floated over Kyoto had been seared into their minds forever.
Most of the audience had seen Spoon Killer Demon.
They'd thought that even if Balloon was as scary as Spoon Killer Demon, it would still—
Even if it was a horror movie, seeing that it was animated had made them instinctively assume it only had a touch of horror to it.
Who could've guessed that this movie would be so terrifying!
They were so shaken that even hearing the words "Love Confession Balloon" made their legs tremble.
Usually, after watching a movie, modern people would go eat hot pot or soak their feet to unwind.
But those who had watched Balloon instinctively headed straight home.
They just didn't feel safe anywhere unfamiliar.
Of course, some people were rushing home to change their pants.
After getting home, netizens burrowed under their blankets and began leaving complaints beneath Lin Chuan's Weibo posts.
"You call Balloon mildly scary?"
"Everyone, do not go into the cinema! Do not go into the cinema! Do not go into the cinema!"
"I only realized my pants were wet after leaving the cinema. Who peed in my pants?"
"I never would've thought Lin Chuan would go after balloons, too!"
"You think that's bad? Right after I left the cinema, I happened to see a new shop nearby having a grand-opening sale.
All those balloons flying around nearly scared me to death on the spot!"
"Lin Chuan, you old scoundrel! Pay me back for my pants!"
Usually, the title "old scoundrel" was an honorary "term of endearment" given by players or viewers to an artist with a long-standing reputation in the industry,
whose distinctive style made countless players and viewers both loathe them and hunger for more.
But Lin Chuan was a newcomer who had just made an animated movie.
Because of Balloon, he'd earned himself that title—for now.
Quite a few moviegoers had also gotten lucky despite their fright.
Some had gone to see Balloon at the cinema with their girlfriends.
They'd thought they were going to watch an ordinary horror movie.
They'd expected their girlfriends to hide in their arms in fright, giving them a chance to show off their manliness.
Who could've guessed it would be a horror movie unlike anything they'd ever seen!
They were the ones who ended up diving into their girlfriends' arms in terror.
After the movie ended, their girlfriends took them by the hand and refused to go back to the dorms no matter what.
Just like that, the young men grew closer to their girlfriends.
Of course, it was only after they found out at the hotel that their girlfriends' underwear was part of a matching set
that they realized they were the ones who'd been caught.
Fortune and misfortune were intertwined.
Even Ren Hang's Weibo account wasn't spared.
Before Balloon premiered, Golden Warrior aired as scheduled and got pretty good ratings.
Quite a few people had also seen Balloon because Ren Hang, who played Golden Warrior, recommended the animated movie.
That was what brought them to the cinema.
"Aren't you Golden Warrior? Aren't you supposed to protect the people of Jianghai City?
How could you recommend a movie like Balloon? That's absolutely heartless!"
"Golden Warrior, tell us honestly: have you seen Balloon? If you have, we'll forgive you!"
"By the way, can Golden Warrior beat Balloon?"
Quite a few ordinary viewers had been scared by Balloon.
But for seasoned audiences who loved horror movies, watching Balloon was nothing short of a feast.
Its atmosphere was masterfully crafted!
Its horror effects were top-notch!
Its monsters were fresh and unique!
All of it gave horror fans an entirely new viewing experience.
"The old scoundrel has nailed the atmosphere!
That scene of the two heads kissing beneath the moon was absolutely beautiful!"
"I think the best shot in the whole movie was when the guy picked up a crossbow and shot through the Head Balloon.
The monster seemed invincible, but its weakness turned out to be so obvious. The next second, the real person corresponding to the Head Balloon deflated and died.
It gave you hope, then left you in despair!"
"The scene with the balloons flying densely across the sky was the best shot. The oppressive feeling was off the charts!"
"Speaking of giving you hope and then leaving you in despair, I think that has to be the ending.
After the helpless heroine had been stuck at home for a week, she was nearly out of food and supplies.
Then she suddenly heard her younger brother's voice. His figure stood by the window, and not only had he returned safely, he'd brought food.
But when the heroine opened the door, she discovered that her younger brother had been hanged. It was the Head Balloon imitating his voice.
It reminded me of the terrifying stories about man-bears. They say those bears stand outside your door in the dead of night, pretending to be human.
Once you open the door for them, they barge in and eat everyone in the house."
As Balloon continued gaining traction online, more and more people noticed this unique animated movie.
Of course, one group of people online had helped fan the flames, too.
After watching Balloon, they had two thoughts.
First, a movie this terrifying couldn't be something they kept to themselves. They had to share it—or inflict it—on their brothers and sisters.
Let them wet their pants, too.
Second, they'd developed a fear of balloons because of a movie.
If that got out,
those adopted brothers and sisters of theirs would laugh them to death.
No matter what, they had to trick them into the cinema!
And so a self-organized "astroturfing army" was born.
"Who says Balloon is scary? Balloon is amazing! I've never seen such a wonderful movie!"
"To be fair, Balloon is scary, but everyone's reactions are a bit exaggerated. At least I didn't have to change my pants after I got home."
"For horror fans, Balloon is a masterpiece you absolutely can't miss.
For ordinary viewers, watching Balloon will still leave a vivid mark on their moviegoing history."
"I don't want to watch Balloon alone. Anyone up for being my movie buddy~"
Besides leaving comments on social media platforms like Weibo, these people also turned their attention to classmates, adopted siblings, colleagues, and friends and family.
A college student messaged a classmate.
"You there? There's a movie called Balloon out lately. Have you heard of it? It's pretty good—heartwarming, moving, and healing."
"What, you say netizens think it's scary?
Come on, what's scary about balloons? I recommend watching the director's short film Spoon Killer Demon.
All I can say is that this director completely turns the usual horror-movie scare tactics on their head."
"I swear on my conscience, Balloon isn't scary at all!"
After watching Balloon, a junior manager at a company sent a message to the work group:
"Team-building this Friday. We're all going to the cinema to watch Balloon."
"Don't worry, the company will cover the tickets!"
Amid a chorus of "Got it" and "Thank you, boss," the manager smiled with satisfaction.
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