This Was Absolutely Impossible

Li Jianxue answered, took out his phone, and opened Eagle Eye Movies Pro.

Eagle Eye Movies Pro, produced by Eagle Eye Movies, provided timely, accurate, and professional data analysis for people in the film and television industry, including movie box office figures, TV ratings, and web drama popularity (real-time box office and scheduling data updated by the second, TV ratings, online popularity, and more).

"Manager, the current view count for I Was a Detective in Ancient Times is 15 million, putting it first in Gua Video's real-time rankings." Li Jianxue spoke as he looked down and tapped at his phone.

Xu Jun's lips curled into a smile. "I Was a Detective in Ancient Times is an adaptation of a top-tier IP owned by Yue Long Group. I hear that woman Dai Ying is really invested in the novel, too. Gua Video spared no expense to get the TV adaptation rights. Its CEO is ambitious, and they've given it an S-Class budget—over three million per episode. They're counting on this suspense drama to make a spectacular comeback. But how's it doing? Its views are only a little more than half of our The Mortuary."

Li Jianxue pulled over a chair and sat down, smiling. "Exactly. Top-tier IP, top-tier investment, top-tier actors, top-tier production team—and in the end, it only got half the numbers our The Mortuary did. They spend a fortune buying IPs; we make our own. When it comes to suspense IPs, our The Coroner can call itself number two—who'd dare call themselves number one? Now The Mortuary has made a great start, and after it, we can make The Constable. We can keep going indefinitely. After a few dramas, once we've fully established the world of The Coroner, it'll be an inexhaustible gold mine!"

Xu Jun nodded with a smile, then asked, "By the way, what are the numbers for Young Bao Qingtian?"

Li Jianxue scratched his head and gave an apologetic smile. "You see? I completely forgot about it."

"Check it. Chen Minghao values this drama so highly, so maybe it really does have something special."

"How special could it be? I heard its screenwriter had been working at Penguin Video for less than a month. That means the script could only have been polished for half a month at most. And I also heard the screenwriter used to deliver takeout!"

"A delivery guy?"

"That's right. Though I hear he's quite handsome, and Dai Ying thinks very highly of him. If you ask me, what she values probably isn't his talent, but his... heh heh heh. No matter how capable that woman Dai Ying is, she's still a woman!"

"But that woman Dai Ying really is a knockout. If I weren't married, I'd definitely pursue her!" Xu Jun said with a chuckle.

"Can't argue with that. If you weren't married, you and Dai Ying would be a good match."

"Even if this screenwriter used to deliver takeout, Chen Minghao's endorsement means the script probably has some merit. Otherwise, given Chen Minghao's status today, why would he say those things?"

Li Jianxue smiled. "I Was a Detective in Ancient Times has 15 million views, and I suspect half of them come from the IP boost. Young Bao Qingtian doesn't have an IP boost, and its budget was supposedly 2.4 million per episode. It's only an A-Class Production. I'd estimate it'll get seven or eight million views at best—maybe 10 million in a day if it's lucky. More than that is unlikely."

Xu Jun smiled and nodded.

Li Jianxue's analysis matched his own.

"Manager, The Mortuary has already reached 26 million views. At this rate, it'll definitely pass 30 million before midnight, and it'll probably break 40 million tomorrow. Breaking The Coroner's record of 50 million views in a single day is only a matter of time."

"After spending so much more on The Mortuary than we did on The Coroner, if we still can't break The Coroner's record, then what have we been working so hard for over the past two months? What's the point?" Xu Jun laughed heartily.

"Huh?" Li Jianxue furrowed his brows.

"What's wrong?" Xu Jun asked.

"Manager, these numbers for Young Bao Qingtian don't look right! Could the site's real-time data be wrong?" Li Jianxue asked after checking carefully several times.

"What's wrong with them?" Xu Jun asked again.

"This doesn't make sense. How could its view count be so high?" Li Jianxue said with a frown.

"High? How high?" Xu Jun asked curiously.

"Twenty-one million real-time views? Second place on Penguin Video's real-time rankings? How is that possible?!"

"Could there be an error in the data?" Xu Jun found it hard to believe, too.

The Mortuary was currently at 26 million views, far exceeding the site's original projections. Xu Jun would have been perfectly satisfied if it had reached 20 million that night. But he'd never expected it to surprise him like this, breaking 26 million views in just over two hours! Honestly, it wasn't just a pleasant surprise anymore—it was a shock.

But now, Young Bao Qingtian had apparently reached 21 million views? It had even surpassed the site's earlier projection for The Mortuary?

The Mortuary was a sister drama to the hit The Coroner. It had achieved the miracle of breaking 25 million views thanks to the enormous traffic drawn in by The Coroner's powerful IP. But what did Young Bao Qingtian have? Its budget was lower than The Mortuary's, and it wasn't based on a well-known IP. How could it possibly achieve numbers like these?

Just because Chen Minghao had praised it?

Could having a Big Shot praise a drama really make its view count only a little lower than The Mortuary's?

"Manager, it looks like Chen Minghao's influence really can't be underestimated. I think we should try to get him for every new drama we make from now on. No matter how high his fee is, we should hire him! Look at Young Bao Qingtian's results—it's worth every penny! And Huang Zhou, too. Their fees may be high, but judging by what happened with Young Bao Qingtian, they're an absolute bargain!"

Li Jianxue immediately attributed Young Bao Qingtian's success to its Big Shot stars. It was the only explanation he could think of that made sense.

That was more believable than the possibility that Young Bao Qingtian was simply exceptionally well made—perhaps even close to the quality of The Mortuary.

Xu Jun looked up at the big screen displaying The Mortuary's real-time numbers. It was currently 9:58 p.m., and the drama had reached 26.5 million views. The number had risen again.

"Jianxue, refresh the data again. Maybe there's a bug in Eagle Eye's statistics."

"Sure, Manager!" Li Jianxue replied with a nod.

In Xu Jun's mind, 20 million views in a single day was a psychological threshold. Only the handful of screenwriters, directors, and producers he respected had the ability to cross it. A completely unfamiliar newcomer shouldn't be able to break through that threshold.

"Huh?" Li Jianxue looked utterly astonished.

"What is it? Has the data been corrected?" Xu Jun asked anxiously.

Li Jianxue scratched his head and said slowly, "Manager, Young Bao Qingtian is now at... 23 million real-time views. It's taken first place on Penguin Video's real-time rankings?!"

"It's climbed again—and by quite a bit?!"

Xu Jun looked up at the big screen. The Mortuary was now at 27 million real-time views! And Young Bao Qingtian, with 23 million, was now only four million views behind his The Mortuary?!

Xu Jun's heart gave a sudden lurch.

"At this rate, could Young Bao Qingtian actually surpass The Mortuary? The Mortuary has the boost from The Coroner! It's an S-Class Production! What does Young Bao Qingtian have? It's only an A-Class Production! And it isn't based on a famous IP. What gives it the right?!"

Xu Jun suddenly thought of something and said, "Jianxue, check the Dou Miao Scores for The Mortuary and Young Bao Qingtian, too. Ratings should be open by now."

Li Jianxue nodded and tapped at his phone.

"Manager, our The Mortuary currently has a score of 8.1. That's 0.1 points lower than The Coroner had on its release day, but it's still a very good score."

"What about Young Bao Qingtian? What's its score?" Xu Jun suddenly felt nervous.

"Young Bao Qingtian currently has a Dou Miao Score of... 8.5???"