The Eve of the Film's Release

Despite the jet's range of twenty-five thousand li, Chen Yuanguang felt as if he had lived through centuries.

There was nothing particularly novel about America itself, but his return to China this time meant he was about to be officially thrust onto the stage of the era.

Although he had known from the day he received the ticket to the future that this day would come sooner or later, that he would eventually become the focus of public opinion and the center of the storm, he hadn't expected it to arrive so quickly.

It was still because of this reason, but as a webnovel author, he was indeed very much looking forward to seeing his work adapted for the big screen.

If Kuala Lumpur Affairs had been plagiarized from a future work, he wouldn't have been so excited. It was precisely because it was his own work, his own blood, sweat, and tears.

"Welcome, this must be Mr. Chen. As expected, a man of great talent." Jenny was very polite to both Chen Yuanguang and Lin Jia.

Seeing her demeanor, Lin Jia guessed that the other party had seen the sample footage in advance and was very satisfied with its quality.

This kind of internal screening, while called an internal screening, meant that as the production company, Goose Factory's executives must have seen it first.

Lin Jia extended her hand on behalf of Chen Yuanguang: "Jenny, long time no see."

Jenny's expression remained unchanged, still wearing a professional fake smile: "Ms. Lin, congratulations in advance on the great success of our collaboration this time."

The eight million investment for Kuala Lumpur Affairs was invested by the film and television investment company under Lin Jia's family group. They then signed a separate profit-sharing agreement with Chen Yuanguang. Chen Yuanguang would receive 80% of the profits from the investment, while the film and television company would receive 20%.

Simply put, after deducting costs from the revenue, Chen Yuanguang would get 80% of the profit. If there was a loss, he wouldn't bear it. It had a bit of a gambling agreement feel to it.

Jenny didn't know this. She thought Lin Jia had taken the majority of the benefits, so she wanted to get close to Chen Yuanguang and drive a wedge between the two.

Having seen the sample footage in advance, combined with Chen Yuanguang's academic strength, Jenny had a premonition that the other party would soar.

Goose Factory didn't mind investing in advance and signing the subsequent IP rights for Kuala Lumpur Affairs.

"I believe in Yuanguang, and I also believe in Goose Factory's capabilities," Lin Jia said with the same professional fake smile.

Many people were present, filling a small screening room with a capacity of one hundred people.

Since Wolf Warrior 2, traffic-driven movies had been declining, and last year's Dying to Survive further proved this point.

Traffic-driven movies could only make money, not big money, and they couldn't become blockbusters.

If you gained the box office from the fan base of traffic stars, you were bound to lose the vast majority of normal audiences.

Goose Factory had high hopes for Kuala Lumpur Affairs, hoping it could become a hit like Detective Chinatown, so they didn't use traffic stars for the main characters, instead opting for actors with strong acting skills.

The only traffic star used was for the character based on Chen Yuanguang.

Chen Yuanguang ran through his mind but couldn't connect the person's face with their name until the cast list was shown. Only then did he make the connection: "So it was him."

After the movie finished, there were a few seconds of silence before applause began to ring out. This was because the movie was very exciting and combined science fiction very well.

There weren't many science fiction elements, but they were combined with the mystery in a very exciting way. The rationality, logic, and plot were all excellent.

"Goose Factory is indeed generous. They actually invited Guo Fan to direct Kuala Lumpur Affairs," Chen Yuanguang exclaimed.

At the beginning of this year, The Wandering Earth was released, grossing 4.6 billion at the box office. This movie not only elevated Wolf Warrior to legendary status but also made director Guo Fan a representative figure in the industry for science fiction films.

When he was still a struggling writer in the webnovel world, he was fortunate enough to be part of a group of top authors. The writers in the group would often discuss how the work of a certain big shot in the group was being adapted into a film or TV series.

They would chat in the group about the specific director and actors. If the production company invested heavily, the other authors in the group would congratulate that writer, saying their hard work hadn't been in vain.

Later, people gradually stopped talking about this because they found that the bigger the investment, the more they liked to change the original work, and the more they liked to change it beyond recognition.

At that time, Chen Yuanguang was very envious of the great authors whose works could be adapted. He thought that as someone who wrote Tokyo romance novels, he would never have the chance for adaptation in his lifetime.

Unexpectedly, not only was his work adapted, but it was also a large-scale production, and the original novel wasn't changed much.

Lin Jia said, "Goose Factory has the strength. They have invested in many films before and have also led the distribution of many films themselves. Coupled with the backing of Goose Factory, they have enough capability to invite top-tier cast members.

Inviting Guo Fan was also within my expectations. At that time, when Goose Factory signed him, The Wandering Earth hadn't been released yet.

Moreover, for Guo Fan, The Wandering Earth was his first successful work. He needs more works to prove his box office appeal. The original novel of Kuala Lumpur Affairs is good, the script is good, and with the backing of Goose Factory, it's only natural that he would take it on."

When The Wandering Earth was released, they waited until April in America to see it in the cinema. After the movie ended, the foreigners were applauding.

Even from a future perspective, this movie, apart from the visuals, can be considered first-class, and its spiritual core is top-notch.

Chen Yuanguang asked, "I noticed he didn't change my original work much. Was it because you mentioned it to Goose Factory?"

Lin Jia shook her head, "How could I possibly restrict Goose Factory to adhere to the original work? That's too difficult.

I estimate it's because it's science fiction and mystery, which requires extremely high logical consistency. If he were to change it, he would have to completely overturn everything, so he simply didn't change it.

He seems to have only added some emotional expression between the young man and his father, and buried a thread about Detective Li's past background, probably for sequels and spin-offs."

"Later, you should cooperate with interviews in Shenhai and roadshows. You'll have many opportunities to talk with Director Guo then, and you can ask him what he thinks."

This kind of background not being set in China made the review process particularly fast.

While the movie was being reviewed, Goose Factory's marketing strategy had already begun.

"Jiang University undergraduate publishes two Nature papers within a year, and he even won this award."

"Publishing in top journals, writing novels, making movies, this undergraduate is a decathlete!"

"The legendary life of a post-95 genius!"

After Goose Factory activated their propaganda machine, Chen Yuanguang's name spread throughout China in just one week.

Whether the Nature publications were real or fake was easy to verify, the Science Fiction New Star Award was also traceable, and the film adaptation was about to be released. A large amount of evidence proved that these reports were true.

Public opinion was instantly ignited.

As Jiang University's most famous alumnus, Lei Jun reposted Jiang University's official Weibo about the matter and commented:

"Both are 20 years old, why is the gap between my 20 and someone else's 20 so big? Congratulations, junior! I've already bought Kuala Lumpur Affairs. I'll watch it this weekend!"