This director is vindictive.

Chapter 594 On the Highest Level of Marketing: Making the Whole World Beg You to Deceive
Chen Mo himself was completely bewildered by the shift in public opinion.

He was particularly puzzled by the actions of these movie fans.

If Chen Mo himself is in this state, then it goes without saying that it's like this to ordinary people.

Even casual observers were taken aback by this unusual reaction: "When other idols are accused of marketing, their fans would explode, but why is Chen Mo's fandom acting like it's New Year's?"

"Yeah, what's with these fans? Is it true that the type of idol determines the type of fans they have?"

"What's going on with this thought process? I'm a bit confused. Can someone with a big head explain this to me?"

Immediately, Chen Mo's fans explained: "You don't understand! This means we can continue to profit even after the official announcement!"

"Understood. Pass it on and help Chen Mo solidify the marketing, so we can continue to profit from the profits!"

"Spread the word: Chen Mo's retirement from the entertainment industry is a marketing ploy; he hasn't actually retired. Anyone who wants to continue profiting from this, step in!"

Now everyone truly understood why Chen Mo's fans were behaving so strangely.

They're actually following the lead of the haters, and they seem determined to make this marketing campaign a reality.

Many people suddenly realized.

"Damn, I get it now, isn't that right? It's pointless to worry about whether Chen Mo is doing marketing; he really doesn't need that kind of money! And if it really is marketing, then it's actually a good thing for everyone!"

"No problem! Although I'm not a fan of Chen Mo, I'm still a casual moviegoer. There shouldn't be many people who haven't taken advantage of Chen Mo's popularity, right? So, what good would it do us if Chen Mo really retired?"

"Quick, let's go show our support!"

At this moment, Chen Mo's influence exploded to its fullest extent. Even if you are not a fan of Chen Mo, the welfare activities that Chen Mo has been organizing to benefit the general public are real.

Putting aside everything else, just take the 814 Welfare Festival as an example. It's a nationwide carnival every year. Even if not everyone has taken advantage of Chen Mo's benefits or the 814 Welfare Festival, at least hundreds of millions of people have definitely benefited from it.

So, suddenly everyone realized that worrying about whether it's marketing or not is completely unimportant. Chen Mo's work is also different from the shoddy production of "731". No matter how much marketing he does, there's no need to worry about the film's quality.

Needless to say, Chen Mo is definitely not short of money.

It's true that they like to give out perks!
So, even passersby started playing along with the "tacit understanding" meme.

At this time, this magical phenomenon also made marketing accounts, self-media, and even mainstream media understand why Chen Mo's fans suddenly launched a full-scale whitewashing campaign across the internet!

I also realized that the previous doubts about whether Chen Mo was playing marketing games or exploiting people were completely irrelevant.

Bilibili's content creators released a video overnight titled "On the Three Major Benefits of Chen Mo's Marketing".

They managed to preserve the annual "814 Welfare Festival" as a celebration!
His final film might turn out to be a "fake," but a new film is just around the corner!

The Seven Fairies' live-streaming e-commerce is finally going to be a success!

The comments section instantly turned into a wishing well: "Please continue with the quiz! The robot vacuum cleaner I won last time has lasted five years and still hasn't broken down!"

"I want to see Sister Yuqi selling products while cursing in the street!"

"Let's reopen the Museum of Broken Relationships. I remember crying my eyes out when I found a message from my ex on the exhibit wall."

"It would be great to recreate the Dragon Treasure Hunt event! I've been collecting lucky charms for years, and after all that fuss, it's only two yuan! So stingy! Chen Mo is so generous!"

"How about a 10 billion yuan betting bonus?"

The haters were completely dumbfounded—this generation of fans is really unconventional!

A marketing account that specializes in stirring up trouble posted a sarcastic post with the title, "You're being manipulated by Chen Mo without even realizing it? Wake up, you gullible fools!"
"Strange things happen every year, but there are especially many this year. Chen Mo faked his retirement from the entertainment industry, but it was a real marketing ploy. It was a complete way to fleece his followers. As a result, a group of followers were still foolishly being manipulated without realizing it. What's the difference between this and being a simp or someone with a love-struck mind?"
Wake up, you suckers! Only three days left! Only three days left! A year has passed, and it's still the last three days! It's such an obvious scam, and you're all willingly falling for it! It's outrageous!

The comment section was instantly flooded with messages from fans:
The top-rated comment from a hot-tempered guy went straight for the jab: "Bullshit! So what if I love giving money to Brother Mo? It's like Zhou Yu beating Huang Gai—one is willing to hit and the other is willing to be hit! Who are you, you marketing dog, to spout nonsense?"

This comment received over 10,000 likes instantly.

The comments below are even more brilliant:

"Sour chickens are jumping up and down, aren't they? Our Brother Mo's 'scams' have a price tag—giving away movie tickets, giving out benefits, and doing charity work, every time it's done with real money. What else can your boss do besides hiring online trolls?"

"Hilarious! Some people want to be fleeced but have no way to do it! Do you know how big Chen Mo's lottery pool is? Every year on August 814th, there are billions of real money giveaways. Who can do that? Would your idol be willing to buy a bottle of mineral water for his fans?"

"Hehe, Chen Mo never makes empty promises, that's common knowledge. Every time he boasts, he always comes true."
They really mean giving away houses when they say they're giving them away, unlike some celebrity fans who at most get a "good luck" card. Come on, tell me, which kind of PUA is more appealing?

Even passersby found it amusing:

"I've seen fans defend their idols before, but I've never seen them do it so confidently—but they do have screenshots of the benefits as proof!"

"I suggest that anti-fans first teach their idols the basic principle of 'giving away money before deceiving fans'!"

This is such a surreal thing; it's unprecedented not only in the Chinese entertainment industry but also globally.

Knowing full well that they are being manipulated, they still willingly accept it.

Even though they knew they might be being scammed, they all ended up hoping that Chen Mo was actually lying to them.

Even though they knew it might be a marketing ploy aimed at emptying their wallets, everyone still gave it their full support, fearing that Chen Mo might actually be retiring from the entertainment industry!
This surreal reality quickly sparked heated discussions across the internet. A popular post appeared on a gossip forum titled "Rational Discussion: How to Help Chen Mo Solidify His Marketing Strategy?"

Countless hilarious suggestions from netizens flooded the comments section.

"We suggest crowdfunding and sending an email to the studio: Please, keep lying to us!"

"I suggest launching the 'Chen Mo's Routine Blind Box'! Randomly open it to get handwritten apology letters, used promotional draft paper, and you might even get a USB drive with a recording of Zhang Yuqi swearing! Guaranteed to sell millions a month!"

We should stage a performance art piece! Everyone should go to the studio's building and hold up signs that read: "We want to see the ringleader of this scam!" and "Unscrupulous businesses, open for business!"

"If we're going to do it, let's do it big! Let's launch an 'Anti-Routine Marketing Contest'—fans help Chen Mo design a scam, and if the best plan is adopted, the reward is to be a 'hostage' at a villa by Erhai Lake for a day!"

Originally, this issue was only spreading domestically.

But no one expected that Chen Mo would have a large following overseas because of his past works and "814 Welfare Festival".

It can be said that his fame is in no way inferior to those so-called domestic international superstars.

However, the barriers of the internet have long been broken down, so this magical storm quickly spread overseas.

The whole thing is indeed quite surreal, and with Chen Mo's influence, netizens around the world have started to join the frenzy of "please let Chen Mo continue his work."

Twitter trending topic: #SaveChenMo suddenly surged into the top three trending topics worldwide.

Overseas fans spontaneously translated Chen Mo's classic marketing cases, added subtitles, and they went viral on TikTok.

Under the tag "Chinese director pretends to retire from the entertainment industry, fans beg him to continue scamming money," netizens from various countries are making wild jokes and memes.

Japanese netizen Yamashita Korou: "Chen-san's '814 Welfare Festival' is even crazier than our 'Lucky Bag Festival'! Please continue to scam us! (bows)"

The attached image shows the scene of netizens redeeming their prizes on-site during the 814 Welfare Festival, as reported by Japanese media.

A post on a Korean forum exploded: "Damn! How come YG can't learn this kind of 'fraud'?"

The accompanying image contrasts the gold bars Chen Mo received in his "Dragon Treasure Hunt" contest with the meager retweet campaign for a Korean idol group's autographed photo giveaway.

Western movie fans were equally vocal: "Chen Mo is Chinese, but he's also global! Retiring from the entertainment industry is fine, but could he at least find a few more girlfriends? His wedding promotional video is way more exciting than any fashion week show!"

The most bizarre ones are the Indian netizens.

They even photoshopped Chen Mo into a Bollywood musical:
“If he comes to Mumbai to film, we’re willing to pool 1 million rupees to let him ‘scam’ us!”

The background music is a heavily modified version of "Tunak Tunak Tun"—"Money Money! Dhoom Again!"

A Hollywood Reporter's front-page quip: "Eastern marketing genius has given fans worldwide 'Stockholm Syndrome'—being fleeced and still saying 'Thank you, sir!'"

The accompanying image is a GIF of Zhang Yuqi removing her makeup during a live stream, with the caption changed to: "Real is more valuable than fake! (Certified by Wall Street investment banks)"

Now, whether it's the haters or their peers who envy, are jealous, or resentful of Chen Mo, they're all speechless.

I'm speechless.

If it were someone else, and they were subjected to such overwhelming accusations of being exploited and using retirement as a marketing tactic, they would probably explode on the spot.

But what about Chen Mo? Damn it, even foreign netizens unanimously support him continuing to "lie"!
Is this even allowed to have fun?

Unlike the general public, they all wished that Chen Mo would really retire from the entertainment industry.

After all, who understands the suffering of being dominated by the Great Demon King all these years?
Soon, this idea was taken out and studied by mainstream media.

Online, numerous articles have even appeared with titles such as "Why do fans so readily accept Chen Mo's 'tricks'?"

The top-rated comment from netizens hit the nail on the head: "When the entire entertainment industry is using PowerPoint to paint a rosy picture, only Chen Mo actually stuffed abalone and lobster into the pie—you can say he's doing marketing, but you can't say he's lying."

This absurd yet heartwarming global relay has truly shown the entertainment industry what to do—

When sincerity meets creativity, even a "liar" can become a world-class influencer.

And Chen Mo? To be honest, seeing all this, he felt quite proud.

Chen Mo shook his head as he scrolled through his iPad on the terrace of his villa by Erhai Lake:
"Good heavens, I've become an international fraudster?"

"So here's the question, Director Chen, what are your thoughts at this moment?" Zhang Yuqi, that fierce woman, asked Chen Mo, holding a banana as a microphone.

Chen Mo snatched the banana from Zhang Yuqi, peeled it, took a bite, and mumbled:

"My impression? My impression is—the leeks all over the world are growing quite lush and green!"

That evening, Chen Mo suddenly posted an old still from the TV series "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer" on his Weibo account, which had been inactive for a long time.

This is the famous scene of Liu Zhengfeng retiring from the criminal world.

The caption read: "So you were all sent by Zuo Lengchan?"

(End of this chapter)