Top Chinese celebrity: Debuted from Running Man

Chapter 362: First Day Box Office Results (3k+)
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Before we knew it, an hour had passed.

The atmosphere in the theater subtly shifted. The initial humor of "Detective Chinatown" gradually faded, and the main detective storyline became increasingly serious and suspenseful. Finally, the grand finale—"Sinu"—was officially released!

The once cheerful theater gradually quieted down. The audience members who had been talking loudly earlier now spoke in suppressed whispers, as if they were holding their breath in the plot.

"My God... Isn't that the actor who played Xu Xian? Why does he look like that? It's so scary..."

"He looks really weird. Sinuo is so pitiful. How could she have such a foster father?"

Amidst several suppressed gasps, the scene on the screen abruptly shifted—

A bloated, calloused hand suddenly grabbed the elevator door that was about to close.

Accompanied by the grating sound of metal scraping together, the adoptive father's lifeless and distorted face slowly emerged in a close-up. He stared silently and intently at Gu Qing inside the elevator.

"Ahhhh——!"

The entire theater erupted in terrified screams.

"It's all over! My little brother is going to die!!"

"No! Help!!"

The girls were so frightened that they clung tightly to their companions, burying their faces in each other's shoulders, their bodies trembling uncontrollably.

Even Da Tian Tian, ​​who was sitting in the corner, was no exception.

Fortunately, her assistant was right beside her. Without thinking, she grabbed the assistant's arm tightly, closed her eyes, and dared not look at the screen again.

Following the typical horror movie formula, how could the protagonist possibly survive being in a confined elevator with a serial killer?

The ugly and deranged criminals and the clean and bright teenagers created a stark visual contrast that left almost all viewers breathless and unable to bear watching any longer.

Fortunately, the elevator eventually landed smoothly.

"Director Chen has had a change of heart??"

"I was so scared... I was so sweaty that my clothes were soaked."

"Me too, my hands are still freezing..."

The audience breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Gu Qing had escaped unscathed, unaware that this was merely the calm before the storm.

The case was quickly deduced and solved thanks to Qin Feng's extraordinary ability, which could be described as "photographic memory".

Through Tang Ren's words, he sharply and bluntly exposed his adoptive father's twisted and morbid love in front of everyone at the hospital.

As the plot progressed to this point, almost all the viewers breathed a sigh of relief, and then felt sorry for the seemingly pure and fragile girl in the hospital bed whose plight was heartbreaking.

"This little sister is so pitiful, having such a foster father..."

"Yes, it's heartbreaking to watch. Thankfully, evil deeds get their just deserts, and the scumbag deserves to die."

"Shouldn't this be over? The truth is too cruel for her."

As the main characters happily boarded the car and headed to the airport, many viewers began packing their belongings, preparing to leave.

Da Tian Tian rubbed her calves, which had gone numb from maintaining one position for so long, and whispered to her assistant, "Open the door, we..."

Before he could finish speaking, a new wave of gasps suddenly erupted in the theater!

Da Tiantian subconsciously looked up at the screen, her steps faltering instantly, her face filled with astonishment: "There's a plot twist?!"

-

On the way, Gu Qing's gaze was drawn to a sign on the roadside, which looked strangely familiar.

Tang Ren casually mentioned it, and he learned that it was a chain store of a bar with the same name in Bangkok.

And this name... he had glimpsed it in an old newspaper from the Songpa workshop!

In a flash, all the clues were frantically rearranged and overturned in my mind—

"Sinuo is lying!!"

A chill suddenly ran down Gu Qing's spine, enveloping him and spreading throughout the entire theater.

"Sweetie...Sister Sweetie...Aren't we leaving yet?"

The assistant's voice was already trembling, and she asked in a low voice with a sob in her throat.

"Let me...let me take another look."

Da Tian Tian herself wasn't very brave either, and at this moment she also felt a chill run down her spine, a coldness rising from the soles of her feet.

But she was even more eager to see for herself the quality of the film Gu Qing was involved in.

The entire theater fell into an eerie silence, as if an invisible hand were gripping the throats of all the audience members, who waited anxiously for the final outcome.

"Squeak-"

A soft, aged, and hesitant creaking of a wooden door broke the deathly silence.

Gu Qing walked slowly into the ward.

The afternoon sun slanted lazily into the room, making the dust particles in the air clearly visible.

The girl, dressed in a loose pink hospital gown, sat quietly on the hospital bed, an IV drip in her left hand and her right hand resting lightly on a book spread out on a beanbag chair.

She lowered her head slightly, her long eyelashes casting a light shadow below her eyelids, and a few strands of hair softly clung to her forehead.

Bathed in a golden halo, her profile was soft and beautiful, as pure as an angel who had accidentally fallen to earth, completely out of place with the sins and darkness around her.

Gu Qing walked to the bedside, gazing at the girl with a complex expression, his heart still filled with disbelief and astonishment—all his reasoning had ultimately pointed to this seemingly most unlikely, fragile, and innocent girl. He spoke slowly and deliberately, clearly and calmly recounting his reasoning process—how he had meticulously unraveled the mystery, overturned all previous conclusions, and ultimately revealed the truth to her.

The girl raised her head in response, her face showing no panic or fear, but rather a perfectly appropriate, slightly bewildered confusion.

She even slightly curved the corners of her mouth, revealing a clean and pure smile, her voice as crisp as morning dew: "Brother, I don't know what you're talking about."

That smile was so innocent, so pure, so incredibly deceptive; it could almost instantly dismantle any defenses.
It makes one involuntarily believe that she is merely a pitiful girl who was ruthlessly swept into the eye of the storm.

Gu Qing gazed silently into her clear, deep eyes, her mind uncontrollably flashing back to her tragic past as an orphan.
The adoptive father who harbored a twisted love for her and ultimately led to her destruction, and the dark, unknown past she may have silently endured...

He took a deep breath and forcibly suppressed the urge to reveal the final truth.

Forget it.

He was the first to look away, seemingly abandoning the idea of ​​completely exposing her at that moment.

He silently turned around, walked towards the door, and prepared to leave this hospital room filled with sunlight, yet permeated with lies.

Just as his hand touched the doorknob, about to open the door and leave—

The girl's light, carefree, and even somewhat innocent and curious voice, like a soft feather, floated over and precisely entered his eardrums:

"This book says,"

Her fingertips lightly tapped the pages, a gesture as natural as if she were sharing a common and interesting discovery.

"Individual lives may differ, but the total amount of good and evil in the world remains constant. From birth, each person is destined to play their own role..."

Gu Qing's hand, which was on the doorknob, suddenly stopped.

"Some are good, some are evil."

The girl's voice remained clear and melodious, as if she were merely discussing a philosophical proposition.
And you, brother?

When Gu Qing turned her head very slowly and her gaze fell on the hospital bed again—

The sight before him caused his pupils to contract sharply, and his blood to freeze instantly!
That face, which had been as pure as an angel just moments before, was now blooming with an incomparably radiant, even dazzling, smile.

The curve of his lips was wider than ever before, and his row of white teeth gleamed almost blindingly in the sunlight.

But those eyes!
Those eyes, which had just been filled with innocence and confusion, and were crystal clear, now resembled two suddenly frozen deep pools, cold, dark, and unfathomable.

There was no hint of a smile in his eyes, only an extreme indifference that seemed to see through everything, manipulate everything, and even carry a touch of mockery and ridicule.

"the wicked……"

Zhang Zifeng gently held the book by the two corners with both hands, lifting it slightly to show it to Gu Qing. His movements were as delicate as if he were displaying a prized work of art, and his voice floated down softly.

"Should I... laugh like this?"

In an instant, all the sunlight in the ward seemed to lose its warmth, the air froze into ice, and a silent fear gripped everyone's throat.

"Ah ah ah ah ah--!!"

"Mom!! I don't want to watch anymore! Help!!"

"Hurry, hurry, let's go!!!"

It was impossible to tell who was screaming.

Da Tiantian, like a frightened ostrich, buried her head in her assistant's elbow, and the two of them staggered out of the theater as if in a 100-meter sprint.

Behind them,

Other audience members, especially the girls, were also terrified and scrambled to escape their seats, rushing towards the exit in a panic.

In a blink of an eye,
The previously packed theater was now empty and deathly silent.

On the screen,
As Si Nuo watched all this, her face, bearing a strange smile, slowly disappeared into the darkness.

In the silent air, her unspoken whisper seemed to echo:
"We...will meet again."

……

"Breaking news!! Breaking news!! The opening day box office figures for the Four Heavenly Kings are fresh out!!"

Just after midnight, major film media outlets and entertainment marketing accounts seemed to have agreed to release the opening day results of the four main films in the Spring Festival season.

Unsurprisingly, the top-ranked film is "Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back," a collaboration between Stephen Chow and Tsui Hark, which grossed a whopping 1.56 million yuan!
The second place, however, surprised many people.

Despite having the lowest number of screenings, "Detective Chinatown" managed to rake in 1.48 million yuan at the box office on its opening day!

Only eight million behind the top spot!

This astonishing box office conversion rate is enough to demonstrate its explosive word-of-mouth and popularity.

followed by,
Kung Fu Yoga ranked third with 1.38 million.

The Sino-US co-production "The Great Wall," which had the largest investment and the highest screening rate, only grossed 1.1 million yuan on its opening day, a dismal result that destined it to flop.

The most excited people at this moment are none other than Kris Wu's fans.

Seeing that their idol's "Journey to the West" outperformed Gu Qing's "Detective Chinatown," they spread the word and tried to "overwhelm" the audience on various platforms, while also strongly urging the production company to increase its promotional efforts.

However, to everyone's surprise,

That night and in the early hours of the following day, almost all the trending headlines were dominated by "Detective Chinatown".

Number one on the trending searches

It was none other than: Gu Qing - Photographic Memories!
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(End of this chapter)