Huayu 05, our science fiction movie universe

Wang Hao went home empty-handed at the 34th Golden Rooster Awards, but after the awards ceremony, he overshadowed the list of winners and became the headline of the entertainment section that day.

However, most netizens' comments on this situation were positive.

"Although I also think that Director Wang's 'Game Era 1' is too commercialized, it would be too much to have no success at all."

"Director Wang is really going all out to support Guo Fan and Jiaozi. He's such a good boss, giving up his own award to fight for his subordinates."

"It's just a Golden Rooster Award. Director Wang has already won it before. If 'Game Era 1' doesn't win an award, he can just make a film about a genre that can win awards next time."

……

Wang Hao was very touched by the widespread support online. However, now that the footage for the new movie had been filmed, he was busy with post-production processing and also had to handle various year-end affairs for the group company.

For example, the annual work summary reports of each branch office, the progress of each project, the plans for next year, as well as year-end benefits, annual meetings, and various year-end conferences, etc.

Wang Hao's schedule is basically always packed.

Fortunately, this busyness was endless. As time passed like water and the employees of Xinghe Group gradually welcomed the Spring Festival holiday, Wang Hao finally ushered in a slightly more comfortable period.

He had more time to spend with his wife Jing Tian and children. In addition, after a series of promotions, Guo Fan's new movie "Kunlun" was finally released.

However, unlike in the past, the series of promotional activities for "Kunlun" before its release relied more on the increasingly powerful Douyin channel of Xinghe Group, in addition to offline roadshows in cinemas.

If we're talking about the fastest-growing domestic film and television culture and mobile internet sector in recent years, Douyin is definitely the one.

According to external data surveys and the year-end work summary report of Xinghe Group, by the end of 2021, the number of short video users in China had exceeded one billion, with user activity and stickiness continuing to improve, and usage time overwhelmingly ranking first in the ranking of network usage time.

It can be said that in China, short videos maintain a dominant position as a traffic hotspot and a time drain in mobile internet applications.

Among these short video applications, Douyin, developed by Galaxy Group, stands out from the crowd and maintained a high growth trend in 2021.

The data shows that Douyin's revenue in 2021 was $580 billion, a year-on-year increase of 70%.

Undoubtedly, Galaxy Group's mobile internet business is still the fastest growing among similar companies in China. At the same time, when we compare it with overseas companies, Galaxy Group is on par with top global technology giants such as Meta and Google in terms of user growth and revenue, and its growth rate far exceeds that of companies in the same period.

TikTok's rapid growth demonstrates the continued global short video boom. As the world's largest short video platform, it is not only constantly expanding its business boundaries but also having a profound impact on the internet industry.

In addition, the rise in Douyin's stock price also drove up the stock prices of other listed companies under Xinghe Group.

In the second half of this year, after integrating some of the resources acquired by Wanda, Xinghe Shopping Plaza, a subsidiary of Xinghe Group, officially became independent as Xinghe Supermarket Co., Ltd., and successfully listed on the domestic A-share market.

After going public, the company's market value has been on a continuous upward trend, thanks to its reputation as a competitor to Pang Donglai.

The recent rise in Douyin's stock price has further boosted its performance.

According to Xinghe Supermarket, the funds raised from the stock market will help the company expand its business to Tianjin.

This is just one company; not to mention other companies like Xingyue Culture, Xingkong Video, and Xinghe Pictures.

It can only be said that after 2020, with the continued efforts of Douyin and the rapid development of the mobile Internet, Xinghe Group, with its cultural industry as its foundation, has squeezed into the first tier of domestic Internet companies, ranking alongside Tencent, Alibaba, and Baidu.

Next year, Douyin will continue to expand, focusing on areas such as food delivery, live streaming, and group buying.

Of course, that's for next year.

Moreover, Wang Hao didn't make too many decisions regarding Douyin's business; he mainly left it to the management team to handle.

Therefore, returning to Galaxy Group's core cultural business, the new film in the Galaxy Cinematic Universe, Kunlun, was released during the 2022 Spring Festival.

During this period, although "Kunlun" was far ahead in terms of both popularity and influence, and many films avoided its competition by either moving up or postponing their release dates, some bold films still chose to compete with it in the same period.

Among these, "Little Tiger Dun: The Great Hero", "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf: The Basket Out of the Future" and "Boonie Bears: Return to Earth" are all animated films.

Clearly, the 150 billion yuan box office of "Ne Zha 2" has greatly boosted the morale of domestic animated film industry peers, leading them to choose to release their films during the Spring Festival season.

Even this doesn't include "Lion Boy," which premiered more than a week earlier; otherwise, there would have been four animated films released during this Spring Festival season.

In addition to these animated films, there are four live-action films: The Killer Is Not Calm, Kunlun, The Four Seas, and The Battle at Lake Changjin.

Among them, "The Killer Is Not So Calm" was created by the Happy Twist team, with Xinghe Pictures as an investor, and starred well-known comedians such as Ma Li and Wei Xiang.

In recent years, apart from the science fiction films produced by Galaxy Group, the comedy films produced by Happy Twist and Shen Teng have been the most successful at the box office.

Therefore, Shen Teng also appears in the art-house racing film "Four Seas" directed by Han Han.

As for "The Battle at Lake Changjin", this patriotic film is a sequel to "The Battle at Lake Changjin". The two films were originally shot together but were edited into two parts. The first one was released during the National Day holiday, while this one was released during this year's Spring Festival.

To be honest, these movies are not without competitiveness.

For example, the "Shen-Ma duo," who starred in films like "The Killer Is Not Calm" and "The Four Seas," still had a strong box office appeal.

Moreover, comedic elements undoubtedly have an advantage during the Spring Festival film season.

As for "The Battle at Lake Changjin", the previous film did quite well at the box office during the National Day holiday. Now that patriotic films are at their peak, it is still very competitive due to a combination of factors.

However, after watching the trailer and promotional materials, most moviegoers said they were more looking forward to Guo Fan's "Kunlun".

This is also reflected in the premiere data and word-of-mouth of various films after the start of the Spring Festival film season.

On February 1, 2022, the first day of the Lunar New Year, the total box office reached 16.6 billion yuan, with "Kunlun" far ahead, taking in 6.73 million yuan.

Then came "The Battle at Lake Changjin" with 380 million, "The Four Seas" with 220 million, "The Killer Is Not Calm" with 180 million, "Boonie Bears: After Earth" with 110 million, and "Pleasant Goat and Big Big Wolf" and "Little Tiger Hero" which together didn't even reach 100 million.

The following day, the daily box office of the other films also showed a downward trend, with the total box office dropping from 16.6 billion to 13.7 billion. However, the box office of "Kunlun" did not decline but increased, earning 7.1 million in a single day.

Meanwhile, online reviews of "Kunlun" are almost unanimously positive, with countless people commenting that it is "shocking enough," "mind-blowing," and "my fascinating ancestors."

As for just how amazing this movie is?
At the beginning of "Kunlun", the plot should continue from the previous film "Wallfacer 2".

However, the opening scene featured an aerial view of the Kunlun Mountains. The entire scene was magnificent and grand, with blue skies, white clouds, snow-capped mountains, and a bright sun, almost a visual shock to the audience.

Then the camera gradually lowers and zooms in, focusing on the mountaineering team on the ridge.

The light quickly dimmed, and the mountaineering team set up tents to rest on a flat snow-covered mountain surface. At this moment, several people in the team revealed their faces; they were the main characters of this movie.

Huang Ji, Xia Feng, Qin Yanni, Liu Peiqiang, Hu Bayi... as well as professional guides and soldiers.

The team was quite large. After setting up the camp, they gathered together for a meal. Through their conversation, the audience learned the purpose of their mission: to find the legendary "Kunlun".

"So this isn't Kunlun under our feet? I remember ancient texts describing Kunlun as a mountain!"

Hu Bayi asked in confusion.

"yes!
Its location, size, and even what it contains are clearly described in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. Even the original text of the Great Wilderness West Classic explicitly states: "There is a great mountain called Kunlun."

"Ever since you mentioned the Classic of Mountains and Seas last time, I've read that book countless times."

“Wrong!” Huang Ji shook his head: “The book says it is named Kunlun Hill!”

"Huh? What's the difference?" Xia Feng blinked.

"Of course there is a difference."

Huang Ji then began to explain in detail, and the scene transitioned to daytime, showing them continuing to climb the snow-capped mountains, as well as the magnificent scenery of the majestic Kunlun Mountains.

Throughout history, many people have sought Kunlun but could not find it, and could only refer to this mountain range originating from Tibet as 'Kunlun'.

However, what they did not know was that the so-called 'Kunlun' in the ancient books was actually the name that extraterrestrials used to refer to Earth, the only habitable planet in the solar system.

As for the name 'Kunlun Hill,' it's actually because it's a unique functional structure on Kunlun Mountain, hence the prefix "Kunlun Hill."

It's like a BJ website having "BJ" in its name, but it's not actually a BJ website.

In ancient books, Mount Kunlun has only two formal names in the "Classic of Mountains and Seas": "Hill of Kunlun" and "Void of Kunlun".

"Xu" means "empty" or "ruins".

The change from 'Kunlun Hill' to 'Kunlun Ruins' clearly reflects a shift in terminology due to changing times.

This change is indeed too great. Could it be that Mount Kunlun collapsed later?

This is clearly not true. The logic is simple: after the advent of human civilization, large-scale plate tectonics ceased. It is impossible that geological plate movements capable of turning a mountain into ruins would be completely undocumented.

On the contrary, cities occasionally have this kind of name change, such as Yinxu and Zhurongzhixu.

Therefore, this shows that the so-called Kunlun Mountain was not a natural mountain, but a magnificent spectacle created by nature, which was later destroyed.

It's like taking an ancient person to Beijing's CBD; they would feel that Beijing's skyscrapers are surrounded by mountains.

If the building is built like a pyramid, it will look even more like one.

Of course, the scale of Kunlun Hill must far exceed that of skyscrapers, after all, the Classic of Mountains and Seas uses the phrase "there is a great mountain".

Therefore, the real 'Kunlun Hill' is more likely a huge interstellar base station with urban living functions, capable of traveling between the planet's surface and space.

As the Classic of Mountains and Seas aptly states, "The capital city is below the Emperor."

The earliest emperors in Chinese culture were all dragons. This 'Kunlun Hill' was the spaceship and space base of the Celestial Dragons that landed on Earth and became their only land city, so it was named after this planet.

Perhaps it has golden pavilions and jade towers, magnificent chambers, purple and green rooms, brocade clouds and candlelight, and nine rays of crimson light. On the hills are jade pools, fairy gardens, and hanging gardens, just like a city with fountains, lakes and other leisure places, a corridor-like overpass and... a hanging garden.

It is not just a spaceship, nor just a city, nor just a base station, but a place that combines life and work, and integrates the beauty of art and the beauty of technology.

It is a comprehensive super building that integrates functions such as transportation, residence, work, leisure, and even combat.

It is perfectly normal for such an entity to be named after the planet it resides in.

The ancestral home of all mountains, the capital of the emperor—truly deserving of its name!

"Then where is what we're looking for? Even if Kunlun Hill was destroyed, there should still be ruins, right?"

Xia Feng interrupted and asked.

Huang Ji's voice rang out:
"Since Kunlun Hill was the Dragon Clan's spaceship, when the Dragon Clan and Phoenix Clan lost their battle and were driven away, Kunlun Hill flew away, and the remaining ordinary empty mountain naturally became Kunlun Ruins."

Of course, don't underestimate Kunlun Ruins.

A megacity the size of a mountain must have a lot of supporting facilities around it.

It is recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

On Kunlun Mountain stands a tree called Muhe, five fathoms tall and five spans in circumference. There are nine wells with jade railings. Each well has nine gates, guarded by the Kaiming Beast, the abode of a hundred gods. Located on the eight corner cliffs, at the confluence of the Red River, only the benevolent Yi could ascend these cliffs.

Clearly, the main body of Kunlun Hill is gone, but some of the surrounding buildings and terrain remain. The Nine Wells and Eight Corner Rocks that once guarded the four sides of Kunlun Hill are still there.

Among these is the 'abode of a hundred gods,' and you should know what gods are.

Our mission is to find the 'Hundred Gods' in the Ruins of Kunlun.

Perhaps these things are just 'household appliances' abandoned by aliens when they moved, but given the technological gap between us and extraterrestrial civilizations, if we could find these numerous alien devices and reverse engineer them, we might be able to break the Trisolarans' technological blockade against us, giving us a better chance of success in the future.

"So our search for Kunlun Ruins this time is just to dig for treasure, right? I'm familiar with that."

Hu Bayi's voice echoed through the majestic snow-capped mountains, and the two large characters "Kunlun" appeared on the big screen as the film's title. (End of Chapter)