The unparalleled talent of the country started from Harbin Institute of Technology

June 28, 2002, Hong Kong, Causeway Bay's busiest street, New World Plaza, New World Theatre.

Many celebrities have come to this grand theater today because it's the premiere of "Infernal Affairs".

"Infernal Affairs" is hailed as the last hurrah of Hong Kong cinema, and it certainly sparked a movie-going frenzy when it was released.

Today marks the beginning of summer vacation. As we enter July, many schools will be on holiday, and some middle schools have already started their break in the last couple of days.

Therefore, the film's release at this time is aimed at the summer movie season.

On the same day as "Infernal Affairs", the Hollywood blockbuster "The Battle at Lake Changjin" was also released!
Yes, you read that right. "The Battle at Lake Changjin" is a Hollywood blockbuster, a war film made by a domestic film company for audiences worldwide.

The key point is that Paramount and MGM, two giants, actually helped with the publicity and distribution, and even invested more than $150 million in publicity and distribution funds, seemingly believing that the film could achieve very good box office results.

However, the film "The Battle at Lake Changjin" does not promote American soldiers, but rather the Chinese People's Volunteer Army soldiers.

Ironically, Paramount and MGM, the two giants, even used anti-war propaganda slogans.

That's fucking hilarious!
What's even more interesting is that the movie "The Battle at Lake Changjin" actually grossed $130 million on its opening day in North America.

The CIA headquarters in Washington, D.C., the director's office.

"God, how is this possible? I can accept that previous movies had high box office returns, but what kind of movie is 'The Battle at Lake Changjin'? It's a movie that promotes the bravery and fearlessness of soldiers from other countries. How could it be released so openly and even get such high box office returns?"

Burton Byron's face contorted in horror; he could not believe his eyes.

But that's what it is.

After thinking for a moment, he picked up the phone and called in Herodotus Murphy, Dominique Strauss, Domenicolov, and others for a meeting.

The CIA has given up on the hunt for the counterfeit money ring, but they will continue to investigate if given the opportunity.

For the past six months or so, they have been busy with several things, one of which is counter-terrorism.

After the Nine Demons incident last year, Bush Jr.'s Herbert had already been planning this, and now he's going to go around the world to deal with those disobedient forces.

The CIA was at the forefront, and naturally they needed to gather information for George W. Bush and Herbert.

Secondly, they want to cause trouble within Russia, because they are still very wary of Russia, since Russia inherited almost 90% of the Soviet Union's assets.

The third thing is the action against the EU, which is relatively complicated. In short, it's about comprehensive monitoring, and it would be best to gain more benefits from it.

If that doesn't work, then the main approach will be sabotage, since the current EU is so dynamic and making rapid progress.
The last thing was to crack down on the counterfeit money ring.

Although it has been more than a decade and still has no effect, and the CIA has basically given up, it does not prevent them from discussing it at the meeting.

It is still necessary to pretend.

"By the way, Burton, news has come back from the Somali peninsula that those companies have brought in more than 50,000 people from the Far East, and these people have arrived at the port of Pebera by ship..."

Intelligence chief Dominic Strauss suddenly spoke up:

"Should we impose some restrictions? Since last year, the number of Chinese in the Somali peninsula has exceeded three million, almost half of the original total population of the Somali peninsula..."

Upon hearing this, a collective gasp filled the office.

The Somali Peninsula is not a pleasant place to begin with, but its geographical location is very important, after all, neighboring Djibouti is a very good port.

Back when the United States was in Somalia, it wanted to capture warlord Aidid, but in the end it was forced to sink several Black Hawk helicopters and was captured by many soldiers, losing all face.

If they had succeeded back then, they would have truly planted a pawn in the Middle East, which would have been more effective than stationing troops.

Now, the Somali peninsula is showing signs of revival, and many multinational giants are investing there, as if there is a huge gold mine on the peninsula, which has attracted much discussion from the outside world.

And what's most perplexing is why so many Chinese people keep heading to this desolate desert peninsula in Somalia.
More than three million people, and they are still migrating!

What exactly are they trying to do?

Burton Byron's expression turned solemn. After a moment's thought, he said:

"Let's keep an eye on it for now. We don't have enough people to investigate this right now. Let's focus on counter-terrorism and counterfeit money..."

Upon hearing this, the others could only nod in agreement.

Time flies, and July has arrived as scheduled.

The summer box office battle has officially begun, with Marvel Studios' "The Amazing Spider-Man" holding a grand premiere on July 3rd.

This film was released simultaneously in multiple countries and regions, including Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Japan, Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Canada, and Australia.

As a blockbuster in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Amazing Spider-Man carries most of Marvel Studios' hopes.

If this movie is successful, then next year's Avengers movie will be a huge success.

The next day, the box office figures were released, and cinemas around the world were busy compiling statistics and reporting them one by one, quickly obtaining the latest data.

In the US market, the daily box office reached a staggering 213 million US dollars, which is absolutely terrifying.

This is Wednesday, a weekday, not a weekend. These box office figures are a bit too dramatic.

Did tens of millions of people go to the cinema to watch movies yesterday?

There are only about 300 million people in the United States. Where do so many people come from to go to the movies?
Aside from the elderly and children, there aren't many people who actually go to the movies.

Ugh!
Those counterfeit money gang members are fucking arrogant and domineering!
Over the next few days, the box office revenue was no less than $200 million almost every day, and the box office revenue on Saturday and Sunday even exceeded $230 million.

In just four days, the total box office exceeded 800 million US dollars, almost reaching 900 million US dollars.

In other global markets, the total box office over four days reached $1.25 billion, bringing the total to over $2 billion.

In just four days, even the Federal Reserve's printing presses wouldn't dare print money like that. The counterfeit money ring is really too arrogant.

The world was shocked, and movie fans were thrilled because the film was top-notch in both plot and special effects.

The IMAX picture quality, in particular, is highly favored by movie fans.

The second week has just begun, and the weekday box office is still over 100 million yuan. However, the box office continues to decline, and a new movie is being released this Thursday, so the box office is expected to drop further in the second week.

Unfortunately, the summer movie season is packed with blockbusters, making the competition extremely fierce. "Die Another Day," co-released by 20th Century Fox and MGM, was released on July 11th, also simultaneously in multiple countries and regions worldwide.

However, compared to The Amazing Spider-Man, The Movie Die Another Day did much worse at the box office, but it still grossed over 007 million yuan in a single day.

In just four days, "Die Another Day" grossed over $007 million at the US box office, which is an impressive achievement.

Unfortunately, it didn't perform as well as "The Amazing Spider-Man" the following week, as the Spider-Man movie grossed a total of $590 million in its second week over seven days.

With such terrifying growth, the global box office has already reached 3.41 billion US dollars, and breaking 4 billion US dollars is just around the corner.

As for whether it can break the previous box office record, that remains to be seen.

The CIA agents were going crazy. The box office success of two consecutive Hollywood films was terrifying. How did the counterfeit money syndicate manage to do it?

Burton Byron and other CIA insiders believe that the counterfeit money ring's factories may be hidden in Russia.

Because in earlier years, counterfeit money was rampant in the Eurasian continent.

Keep in mind that this was in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and the Moscow region was in a state of considerable chaos at that time.

Furthermore, corruption and embezzlement are rampant, and anyone with money can do whatever they want.

Perhaps the factory of this counterfeit money ring really is located in Russia.

However, how do we capture them now?

On July 18th, Disney released a movie called "Signs," a science fiction horror film. The story focuses on a former Episcopal priest named Graham Hess who discovers a series of crop circles in his cornfield, and that this phenomenon is caused by extraterrestrial life.

Disney invested nearly $100 million in production costs and $50 million in marketing and distribution.

Upon its release, it grossed $007 million in its opening weekend, far less than The Amazing Spider-Man, and also less than The James Bond film.

However, compared to previous ones, this Disney movie has finally turned things around.

Half of July has passed, and three Hollywood blockbusters have already been released.

Other blockbusters are also scheduled for release, such as "Ice Age" produced by Blue Sky Studios, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Paramount, DreamWorks; "Men in Black II" produced and distributed by Sony Pictures; "Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones" produced and distributed by 20th Century Fox; and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" co-distributed by Paramount and MGM.

These are all blockbuster movies, but they're all crammed into the summer season. They really don't seem to mind the crowding at all.

While the movie "Signs" was raking in box office revenue worldwide, far away in Harbin, Wang Yifei calmly walked into the examination hall with her admission ticket and other relevant documents.

The National College Entrance Examination (Gaokao) has arrived as scheduled.

She finished reading all the high school material in her first year of high school, and then spent a year reviewing and organizing it while doing practice problems. She had already completely mastered all the high school knowledge.

"Sisi, just take it easy!"

Before entering the examination room, Wang Duoyu and Liu Xiaoli both offered to personally escort her there, but she refused.

As a superstar, she no longer considers herself a child. It's shameful that she still needs her parents to pick her up and drop her off at the exam venue.

Moreover, her parents didn't accompany her second and third brothers when they took the college entrance exam. It's impossible for them to break with tradition just because it's her turn. That's definitely not going to work.

As for her older brother?
He didn't take the college entrance exam at all, entered university early, and even became a professor in the mathematics department of Harbin Institute of Technology before he was an adult. He became a professor at the age of seventeen, while his peers were still in high school.

Can't compare!
The college entrance examination passed quickly. When Wang Yifei finished her last exam and walked out of the examination room, she was surprisingly calm, which surprised Wang Duoyu and the others.

"From now on, you're on vacation. Where would you like to travel or what activities would you like to do?"

Liu Xiaoli asked, but Wang Yifei looked at her father instead:
"Big Fish Bro, where are my songs? I want to record songs, I want to release an album, now you can't stop me, right?"

Wang Duoyu was both amused and exasperated.
"Don't you want to relax a bit?"

"I didn't do anything. Going to the recording studio was like a break for me. Being able to sing is already a mental refreshment for me, much better than going somewhere to play around!"

"Sissi, I think you definitely have a plan, right?"

"Big Fish Bro, just leave me alone. Anyway, I've already finished the college entrance exam as you asked, and I'm confident I'll be the top scorer in the province. Hmph, you can't stop me from releasing an album now!"

As she said this, Wang Yifei wrinkled her cute nose.

Although she spent most of the past year preparing for the college entrance examination, it doesn't mean she didn't pay attention to the music scene.

During the two years she disappeared from the music scene, many new stars have emerged.

She's only fifteen years old, but she's considered an old hand in the music industry.

"Alright, alright, go ahead and sing if you want, I won't stop you," Wang Duoyu nodded in agreement, both amused and exasperated.

He couldn't disagree, because Wang Yifei had grown up and had her own ideas. Besides, he had promised Wang Yifei before, and as a father, he had to keep his word.

"Yay, thanks Big Fish Bro, where's my playlist?"

Wang Yifei burst into laughter with joy, stretching out her snow-white hand to ask for the playlist.

"Let's talk about it when we get back. I don't have it with me right now."

The family returned to the villa, and Liu Xiaoli went to the kitchen to busy herself. Well, she wasn't cooking; she was just giving instructions.

Over the next few days, Wang Yifei went out with her classmates to play, including at Happy Valley, horseback riding, and rafting. After playing, she went home to rest for a day before immersing herself in the recording studio.

Her father collected many songs for her, and she plans to record them as quickly as possible, aiming to release a new album before the summer vacation ends, thus announcing her comeback.

Moreover, her results will be available in less than a month.

This year's college entrance examination in Heilongjiang Province was not particularly difficult; the most challenging subject was mathematics, especially the last two major questions, which were extremely difficult.

But who is Wang Yifei?
With her father, a math whiz, as her father, and her two older brothers, she was arguably the least afraid of these challenging questions.

Therefore, she believed that her chances of becoming the top scorer in the province were very high.

Time flies, and the day to check the results has arrived. (End of Chapter)