I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 345 Premiere!

The dawn light at five in the morning was bluish-gray.

Zhou Yang lay on the bed, holding his phone. Zhang Changlong's deliberately subdued voice came through the receiver: "I just finished looking at the screening data. The prime-time screenings of 'Dark Knight' in North China have indeed decreased significantly due to 'Eragon Knight'... But don't worry, it's alright..."

"Um, I'm not nervous, boss... I'm just a little sleepy..."

"Well, I just thought about it..." The background noise was the rustling of papers turning over, sounding somewhat hurried.

Zhou Yang glanced at the time with a hint of helplessness...

This is the seventh phone call tonight, with each call occurring no more than forty minutes apart.

Zhou Yang gazed at the faint light seeping through the gap in the curtains and sighed. Several times, just as he was drifting off to sleep, the urgent ringing of the phone would instantly snap him awake…

"Don't feel pressured. It's precisely at times like these that you need to stay calm. The Film Bureau will issue an official document tomorrow to organize government agencies to book screenings. I've also spoken to Huaying Film Studio. We'll support the film's box office..."

The crisp metallic sound of a lighter came from the other end of the phone, and it seemed that Zhang Changlong, who rarely smoked, was smoking while on the phone.

"Boss, I'm fine. Don't worry, if we fail, we can always start over..."

A violent coughing fit came from the other end of the phone, followed by a laugh: "Alright, alright, I won't disturb your rest anymore. Get some rest!"

"it is good……"

"and many more!"

"You say……"

"Don't feel pressured. One movie doesn't mean anything."

"Oh, I know."

Zhou Yang eventually hung up the phone.

....................................

The long night has finally ended.

Dawn broke on the horizon.

In the spring of March, the grass grows and orioles fly.

The city of Yanjing, shrouded in morning mist, was still filled with the lingering smell of gunpowder.

Three movies were released at the same time, but in reality, except for "Eragon Rider", the premiere screenings of "Fast & Furious" and "Dark Knight" were staggered.

Outside the giant screen hall of Feihe Cinema, Zhang Yunyi repeatedly wiped his glasses with a tissue.

His hands were trembling as he held his glasses.

The visual effects team members were curled up in the rest area, dozing off. Some of them were still holding the hard drive that had failed to render—keyframes that they had worked three sleepless nights to salvage.

In fact, after learning that "Dragon Knight" was going to be released, Zhang Yunyi went crazy and frantically rewrote the parts of "Demonic Knight" that he didn't like.

The more he revised it, the more regretful he felt; the more he revised it, the more he felt that the time was too short...

"Mr. Zhang, the attenuation parameters of the flame particles seem to be..."

"Shut up!" Zhang Yunyi suddenly shouted, startling his assistant into taking two steps back.

He paused for a moment, then quickly put on an apologetic expression, rubbed his temples, and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry, I'm not feeling well... I've been under too much pressure lately."

He took the parameter report from his assistant and added in a hoarse voice, "Thank you for your hard work. Take a rest, and leave the rest to me."

"It's alright, please take care of yourself..."

"..."

Zhang Yunyi remained silent, staring at the poster for "Dragon Knight" not far away...

"Old Zhang."

A suit jacket, still warm from his body, was suddenly draped over his shoulders.

Zhou Yang was standing next to him at some point, holding two cups of soy milk.

"What the audience wants to see is never the technical specifications; we're already good enough!" He pried open Zhang Yunyi's fingers and stuffed soy milk into them: "Let's go! Let's see the audience's reaction!"

Just as he finished speaking, the turnstile at the ticket gate not far away suddenly turned on a green light.

The crowd surged into the theater like a flood bursting its banks...

Zhou Yang, along with the others, put on masks and quietly walked into the private VIP theater.

..............................

Liu Jiasheng walked into the cinema, sat in the screening room, and glanced at the synopsis of "The Devil Knight".

In a purgatory where darkness and fire intertwine, the cursed knight fights for redemption!

This film reportedly has a total investment of nearly 1.4 million RMB, and it is Zhou Yang's first time directing such a large-scale production.

It is reported that the film began preparations as early as late March last year, and the inspiration for the project is said to have come from a line that Liang Xiaogang once said: "Guan Yu riding a Harley motorcycle to fight zombies." During that period, Liang Xiaogang was ridiculed by the public countless times because of this...

Although the original intention behind this film was full of absurdity.

However, as Zhou Yang's first directorial and acting project with a huge investment, all signs indicate that he attaches great importance to "The Demon Knight".

His wife, Zhang Ying, watched the screen gradually darken with a mixture of excitement and nervousness; the atmosphere in the entire screening room seemed to freeze.

I'm both excited and nervous!

We hope Zhou Yang can create a miracle, but we're also worried...

After all, this director, who has never directed a blockbuster before, may very well end up like "The Last Supper" – a complete flop.

Everyone understood that this was the most crucial battle of Zhou Yang's career—a victory would make him a legend, a defeat would mean...

The path to blockbuster films in China's film industry may be interrupted once again; at least this year, it will be difficult to find any works that can compete with Hollywood...

After a brief silence.

The lights in the screening room gradually dimmed.

Immediately afterwards...

The screen lights come on!

Then!

Unlike other films produced by [Xuan Shih Entertainment], this film breaks with convention from the very beginning.

There were no product placements, and the lengthy cast and crew credits were omitted.

The moment the screen lit up, the blood-red flames of the "Dark Knight" opening sequence swept in like a tidal wave, instantly engulfing the entire theater.

The movie then quickly got into the plot.

……

From the very beginning, the film showcases Zhou Yang's signature explosive aesthetic style!
in the dark.

The V5 engine of the Suzue motorcycle roared like lava, tearing apart the silence in the screening room.

Countless viewers instinctively stared at the screen!

On the screen!
The protagonist, played by Zhou Yang, speeds out of the darkness on a motorcycle, tearing through the night.

The camera suddenly zoomed in, giving him a sharp close-up of his eyes—

His eyes were as wild as a beast's, fixed on the front, with an eerie flame burning deep within his pupils.

It is both captivating and deadly attractive...

Cold-blooded, like a warrior!
Immediately afterwards...

"boom!"

The motorcycle engine roared up again!

After a brief close-up of Zhou Yang's eyes, the camera instantly switched to a downward shot!
Under the lens!
The motorcycle sped along at an almost suicidal angle, its engine roaring like a beast as it tore through the night. In close-up shots, sparks flew as the tires scraped against the asphalt, the scorching tracks seeming to set the entire road ablaze—a visually intense spectacle…

As the motorcycle hurtled up the steep slope, he twisted the throttle sharply, lifting the front wheel 45 degrees in an instant, and the entire motorcycle soared into the air.

The camera then rotates and zooms out, making the whole world seem to spin and turn in sync with the motorcycle's trajectory.

In slow motion, he suddenly ripped open his leather jacket in mid-air, spreading his arms like a winged demon. This crazy action made all the viewers hold their breath.

The screen illuminated each face, and some viewers instantly held their breath, staring intently at the screen.

On the screen...

When the car landed with a thud, the precarious situation of only the right wheel touching the ground caused the metal to rub violently against the ground, sparking sparks like a meteor shower.

When he took off his helmet, a close-up shot captured the blood seeping from the corner of his mouth and that sinister smile.

Right now!

"boom!"

The shockwave from the exploding oil tank behind them created a backdrop of fiery rain!

He simply licked the blood from the corner of his mouth...

……

The first scene is over!
The screening room erupted in deafening screams.

Liu Jiasheng subconsciously picked at his ear, silently turned to look at his wife who was so excited she almost stood up, and then helplessly glanced at the boiling audience in front of him.

The girls couldn't help but scream when they saw Zhou Yang's wild and charming appearance on the screen!

This is in stark contrast to the image they saw in Twilight!
In Twilight, the melancholic and mysterious exorcist left viewers with a lingering sense of oppression, an emotion they couldn't express...

At this moment, the characters on the screen exuded a dangerous wildness—their sharp eyes and crazy aura made the air in the screening room suffocate, and all the audience members involuntarily held their breath, and then screamed!
Clearly, Zhou Yang knows exactly how to showcase his unique charm as a character, and uses every move to precisely hit the girls' excitement points, making their hearts race!
The movie's plot gradually unfolds during this race at the beginning of the film!
……

The beginning of the story of "Dark Knight" is actually not complicated, and there are no twists and turns.

[This story tells of a motorcycle stunt rider (played by Zhou Yang) who, in order to save his lover who is suffering from cancer, ultimately makes a pact with the devil!]

On the screen!
The plot begins with screams and excitement, but gradually shifts to a touch of sorrow and resentment!
When Johnny (played by Zhou Yang) rushed into the hospital covered in blood, his trembling hand clutching the sweat-soaked examination report, they understood why the protagonist was racing so recklessly!

On the screen!
The corridor lights were a stark white, reflecting off his sunken and haggard eyes!
To raise the exorbitant surgery fees for his girlfriend Eileen, he risked his life at an underground racetrack for three consecutive months, breaking three ribs and still having steel pins in his right arm.

In the footage, when he stumbled and pushed open the hospital room door, his girlfriend Erin was looking out the window at the sunset.

She turned her head, a smile blooming on her pale face: "Did we win today?"

Johnny nodded silently, gripped the stack of blood-stained banknotes tightly, and turned to leave the ward.

The corridor lights cast a long shadow of him as he stood in front of the payment window, staring at the shocking figures on the receipt. This amount of money wasn't even a fraction of the surgery fee.

On camera, he mechanically handed over the money, but suddenly froze as he turned around.

Through the glass of the hospital room door, he could see his girlfriend's pale sleeping face, while the blood-soaked smell on his body seemed like the sharpest irony.

Silence fell over the screening room once again.

Everyone watched as the protagonist, played by Zhou Yang, slumped against the cold wall, his fists clenched and trembling.

He heard a nurse's footsteps at the end of the corridor, and he quickly wiped his face and stood up!
He turned and walked away into the distance; he had to keep fighting for his life, even if it meant risking it.

........................

Zhang Ying held the movie ticket, somewhat dazed.

On screen, watching Zhou Yang's character perform all sorts of dazzling motorcycle stunts like a madman, it still wasn't enough...

Then, as his girlfriend's condition worsened, and as the protagonist knelt on the ground in despair, Zhang Ying couldn't help but tear up...

Just when the plot was at its most desperate, she saw that she was being pursued by the devil, which made Zhang Ying feel a little hopeful!
He stared at the camera.

On a night of torrential rain, Johnny knelt in the mud, his trembling hands clutching the demonic contract tightly.

The devil's whisper echoed in her ears: "Sign it, and her terminal illness will be cured instantly..."

He once tore up a contract in a torrential downpour, but one night, seeing his girlfriend trembling in pain, he knelt back in the hellfire alone, gritted his teeth, and cut his palm: "I'll sign!"

On screen, when his girlfriend Erin's cancer cells miraculously disappeared, Johnny hugged her tightly, tears mingling with the rain.

Zhang Ying felt a sense of relief. She had originally planned to be happy for the star-crossed lovers, but...

Three weeks later, she suddenly passed away due to a rare brain tumor.

When the doctor handed over the death certificate, his voice was icy: "This kind of genetic disease...it's impossible for someone to live past twenty."

In the screening room, Johnny knelt in the morgue, screaming and pounding on the wall, his knuckles a bloody mess.

The camera pans to the headboard of Eileen's bed, where medals he had fought tooth and nail to win are piled up, and under the medals is a yellowed note: "I'm sorry, please don't risk your life for me anymore..."

"You must live well."

In the screening room, the screen went dark again.

……

The screen light flickered on Zhang Ying's face as she clutched a tissue tightly, tears streaming down her face.

Whether it was due to her excellent acting or the pacing, when a close-up of the suicide note hidden under the medal appeared, a sudden, devastating cry erupted from the corner.

That sudden cry was like a fuse igniting the suppressed emotions throughout the entire venue…

"Why must it be so cruel!"

Zhang Ying buried her face in her husband's shoulder, tears soaking the fabric of his suit, while Liu Jiasheng simply held her tightly in silence, his gaze fixed on the screen that had lit up again.

On screen, the protagonist who has lost his beloved seems to have had his soul ripped out.

He began a frenzied self-imposed exile, relentlessly challenging himself with various deadly stunts under the horrified gazes of onlookers…

From leaping off cliffs on motorcycles to traversing raging fires, each journey teeters on the edge of life and death.

But strangely, this person who was determined to die could not die.

Then, like a walking corpse, he shuttled between different cities, performing one thrilling act after another, mechanically repeating this self-punishing and dangerous cycle.

These scenes brought tears to Zhang Ying's eyes again; she couldn't hold back her emotions any longer...

……

The plot continues, but it's gradually taking a turn!
During his self-imposed exile, Johnny unexpectedly discovers a shocking truth—he is not an orphan from America, but a Chinese, and has a long-lost sister named Roxanne.

This young caregiver, struggling at the bottom of society, is deeply mired in the country's high-interest loan scam.

It turns out that the gangsters Johnny had offended at the underground racetrack had investigated and found his relatives to take revenge.

When Johnny arrived at the scene, he was horrified to see his sister being roughly pinned against the wall, with a gang member's dagger gleaming as it was pressed against her throat.

To save his sister, Johnny fights the gangsters with his bare hands.

During the fierce fight, his wounds miraculously healed on their own.

When he grabbed a rusty steel pipe and smashed it hard against the enemy, an even more astonishing scene unfolded: the steel pipe suddenly melted into molten iron in his hand, scalding the enemy and causing him to scream in agony.

After Johnny saves his sister, the demonic power he had been suppressing completely spirals out of control.

The gangster's bullet pierced his chest, but strangely melted into molten iron.

He knelt on the ground, the devil's sinister laughter ringing in his ears: "The contract is in effect—"

……

In the screening room, Liu Jiasheng stared intently at the screen.

The next second, he witnessed the most shocking scene of his life!
The protagonist is transforming!

(End of this chapter)