[Ding! The host has completed the mission. The movie's box office has exceeded twenty million.] [Mission reward: A-Rank Selectable Talent, issued.] [Please select a talent.]
Looking at the densely packed A-Rank talents, Lin Chuan was nearly overwhelmed by the choices.
Stephen King's horror-writing skills, Cameron's special-effects production techniques, Nolan's nonlinear storytelling, Quentin's multi-threaded narratives.
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It was like having a whole row of beauties standing in front of him, but he could only take one home.
Lin Chuan really wanted to tell the system, "I want them all!"
But obviously, even a fool could see that wasn't going to happen.
Lin Chuan held back the urge to choose a talent for the time being.
He'd wait until he was getting ready to shoot a new movie, then pick the one that suited him best!
Lin Chuan was having hot pot with Xiao Hei and Ren Hang.
Ren Hang had finished shooting Golden Warrior, and Xiao Hei had nothing much to do. Lin Chuan's Balloon had also premiered, and its box office prospects looked excellent.
So they decided to go out and celebrate.
"Your sesame sauce isn't right. Watch how I do it!"
"Hot pot has to go with sweet pickled garlic!"
"Lin Chuan, how come you're not drunk? Your alcohol tolerance has gotten so much better!"
"Hey? Where'd the meat I just put in go? How'd it all disappear?"
The three of them chatted and laughed as they ate.
After a little while, Xiao Hei voiced a question:
"I don't get it. Summer's almost over, but it's still so hot. Why are we eating hot pot?"
Ren Hang, who'd been enjoying his meal, fell silent.
Before they came to the hot pot restaurant, Ren Hang had dragged the other two to see Balloon.
By the time they came out of the theater, Ren Hang's legs had been trembling.
He'd insisted on finding somewhere with plenty of yang energy, so they'd ended up at this hot pot restaurant.
"I think this hot pot is great. The meat's fresh, the flavor's good, Ren Hang's sesame sauce is tasty, and the broth's just the right amount of spicy. It really whets your appetite.
It'd be great in winter, too!"
The food at this hot pot restaurant really was good.
Hot pot didn't take much skill. As long as the meat was fresh enough, it could beat most restaurants.
Lin Chuan tried to save Ren Hang's pride, then took a bite of watermelon.
The watermelon had been freshly cut and was pretty sweet. It was probably greenhouse-grown, though. It was ripe, but it didn't have that fresh-from-the-field taste.
Ren Hang let out a breath and explained, a little sheepishly,
"I just wanted to find somewhere with plenty of yang energy..."
Hearing this, Xiao Hei nodded in agreement.
Lin Chuan remembered something and asked, "I want to order another batch of Balloon merchandise and run another Weibo giveaway."
Ren Hang readily nodded. "Sure, no problem. What kind of merchandise do you have in mind?"
Lin Chuan spread his hands. "What else? Head Balloons!
I want the fans who win to send us their portraits, and then we can make balloons that look just like them!"
Ren Hang shuddered.
Wasn't that the iconic scene from Balloon?
Head Balloons drifting in the wind above Kyoto.
Ren Hang thought it over, then said, "Technically, it's doable, and the cost wouldn't be too bad. Each balloon would cost about twenty yuan to make."
Then, from the depths of his soul, he asked, "But isn't that prize a little too creepy?"
Lin Chuan didn't seem bothered. "What's the big deal? And don't you think this kind of merchandise really suits Balloon?"
Ren Hang fell silent for a long while, then nodded. "From a certain angle, it really does suit it... But would any fans actually want to win one?"
Xiao Hei had a different idea:
"I think they would. Even if they don't use their own portraits, they could use someone else's. They could play a prank!"
At that, Ren Hang's eyes lit up. "That actually makes sense!"
Lin Chuan shook his head. "No. What if we scare someone so badly they have a medical emergency? We'd be legally liable.
So we have to use the winner's own likeness."
Xiao Hei and Ren Hang looked at each other, both at a loss for words.
You couldn't call Lin Chuan evil, since he cared about the victims' health and knew not to scare anyone into having a medical emergency. He was actually a pretty nice guy.
But you couldn't call him kind, either. What kind of decent person gave away Head Balloons in a raffle?
Lin Chuan picked up a piece of brain:
"Aren't comic conventions really popular now? Maybe someone will cosplay the makeup from Balloon, with a Head Balloon hanging around their neck!"
Ever since the female version of Spoon Killer Demon had gone viral,
Lin Chuan had realized he'd underestimated the boundless imagination of the people in this country.
They'd even developed impure thoughts about the female Spoon Killer Demon.
Cosplaying Balloon wasn't that surprising.
Xiao Hei and Ren Hang shuddered in unison.
Come to think of it, what Lin Chuan said really could happen.
It was just the other people at the convention who'd suffer.
This hot pot restaurant was very popular.
Even in summer, plenty of people still made it their first choice after seeing a movie.
Another group came out of the theater and headed straight for the restaurant.
They sounded like they had just seen Balloon.
"Don't tell me hot pot isn't suitable for summer. Eating it in summer is the best! Besides, I need to stay somewhere with plenty of yang energy!
I've never seen such a creepy animated movie.
Wasn't Love Confession Balloon its promotional song? That song was so sweet!"
"A classmate of mine said her company supervisor had rented out a theater and invited the employees to watch a movie. They'd gone in all excited, but came back completely spooked.
I didn't believe her at the time!"
There were three people in the group: a man and two women.
The guy was either living the dream or a very unlucky soul who'd been dragged along to the movies by his two older sisters.
Their table was close to Lin Chuan's group, with only one table between them.
So, naturally, their conversation reached Lin Chuan and the others.
Ren Hang and Xiao Hei exchanged a knowing smile, both of them taking a certain delight in it.
At the same time, they felt a strange sense of pride.
Lin Chuan lowered his head and pretended to play with his phone.
If a fan recognized him, he didn't want to get beaten up in person.
Over the past week, Balloon had become a full-blown hit thanks to all the online influencers promoting it.
He could go out for hot pot and run into people who'd seen Balloon.
The thought made Lin Chuan feel a little bleak.
For other rookie directors, making twenty million at the box office in their first week meant running into fans who wanted autographs and photos.
But after making Balloon, Lin Chuan was worried that if he ran into fans, they'd beat him up. That was a first.
Damn it, one day I'll make you all fall in love with horror movies!
At first, Lin Chuan had merely swiped across a few icons. He accidentally opened Weibo and found a private message from Wang Dong.
Wang Dong wanted to shoot another Head Balloon cosplay.
Talk about perfect timing.
Lin Chuan trusted Wang Dong's photography skills.
Once the photos went viral, they could bring even more attention to Balloon.
Lin Chuan replied to Wang Dong's message right away, agreeing to let him use the Head Balloon.
Besides Wang Dong, two other acquaintances had also messaged Lin Chuan.
One was Old Zhou, and the other was Jiang Kui.
Both had sent him long messages.
Old Zhou's was mostly about what he'd felt after listening to Love Confession Balloon, along with the story of his love life.
It was a few hundred words in all.
Lin Chuan skimmed it and hadn't planned to reply to Old Zhou.
He'd always thought Old Zhou was a bit eccentric.
The last time he went to record a song, Lin Chuan had even smelled incense in the recording studio.
But considering they might work together again someday,
he sent Old Zhou a thumbs-up.
Jiang Kui had also thanked Lin Chuan.
She was very serious and had put a lot of effort into understanding her role.
So Lin Chuan was gentler with her, replying with a little encouragement:
"Your voice is unique, and I really admire that you haven't gone with the flow or changed yourself to cater to popular tastes.
I hope you find your own little corner of warmth in the world someday."
After replying, Lin Chuan browsed Weibo some more.
He noticed a post by a young woman named Zhou Yaoyao was going viral, with over a million views.
She'd seen Balloon five times and claimed to be the bravest person around.
She'd also posted her ticket stubs and a selfie.
How should he put it? She was very well-endowed, and it was hard not to notice.
Lin Chuan felt like he'd seen her somewhere before.
Was it just his imagination?
Thinking nothing of it, Lin Chuan was about to close Weibo.
Then he spotted a long post from a film critic.
The Development Trends of Domestic Animation, as Seen Through the Animated Film Balloon!
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