New Century Anime Warrior

The National Day Gala broadcast control room.

Zhao Ying was very satisfied with Lin Lin's performance; the performance was truly excellent.

"Director, the real-time viewership ratings have changed quite a bit."

The person in charge of monitoring the viewership data came over with a tablet.

Within the system, absolute terms are rarely used; people tend to leave room for interpretation. If a person in charge uses "relatively large" to describe something, it means it really is very large.

"Just say it."

"The viewership on traditional TV channels has increased slightly. Based on experience, this is probably because Lin Lin's fans are fighting over the living room remote control."

"Hmm, as expected. What about online live streaming?"

Whenever a popular celebrity appears, the ratings on traditional television channels rise slightly. Combined with some surveys, it's possible to reconstruct the scene of fans turning on their local television sets everywhere.

"The improvement is very obvious, especially on small mobile screens, where the performance has improved dramatically since twenty minutes ago."

The person in charge continued to report: "Moreover, judging from the comments on the live stream homepage, the proportion of women commenting is unusually high, even higher than the group song by those three popular young male celebrities... This is quite rare."

"?"

Zhao Ying didn't understand at first. Was she trying to say that male celebrities have a lot of male fans, or that female singers have a small percentage of male fans?

"It's like Lin Lin is even more charming to women than male celebrities..."

"Stop, stop, stop, let's skip this topic."

Well... no wonder those old guys at the station who are dissatisfied with the status quo are all calling for a youth-oriented reform.

Even I can't quite understand these kids who grew up with the internet.

The person in charge wisely stopped gossiping, but did not end the report. Instead, he added a detail that surprised Zhao Ying.

"There's another situation that I feel you should also be aware of, Director... the live viewership on the international channel has also increased significantly."

"What the heck?"

Zhao Ying was taken aback. The live broadcast ratings on the international channel had increased?

Such a niche phrase.

Normally, the number of people watching such national-level galas overseas is relatively fixed.

They are mostly overseas students, migrant workers, and older generations of Chinese.

In other words, the click-through rate and viewership of the live stream homepage will not change much.

Will the viewership ratings increase significantly now?

Zhao Ying looked directly at the person in charge and asked, "Do you know why?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but on the international channel's live stream homepage, many comments are tagged with 'Love for EdgeRunners,' and the IP addresses are mostly from the United States."

"A love for those on the fringes? Or is it a gaming fandom?"

This is truly unexpected.

"They might also be fans of the theme song, after all, it's almost topped the Billboard World Digital Singles chart."

The person in charge was quite surprised; he had never seen such a scene before.

"Okay, I got it. I'll include this in the summary report later."

After telling the person in charge to get back to work, Zhao Ying looked at Lin Lin on the broadcast screen, who had finished her performance and was bowing for the curtain call, and murmured to herself.

Is it international?

-----------------

As soon as the show ended, Si Hua sent Lin Lin a message congratulating her on her successful first big stage performance.

Unexpectedly, the other party called back immediately with a video call.

"Is this stage makeup?"

"Don't you think my eyes have gotten bigger?" Lin Lin even deliberately put her large, bright eyes right up to the camera.

"Wow, that's a bit scary."

But this was the first time Si Hua had seen stage makeup up close, and she was very satisfied, her curiosity being fulfilled.

However, after only a few words, he sensed Lin Lin's drowsiness and decided to end the conversation.

"You should stay at the hotel and rest for the next couple of days. You don't need to come all the way to the National University of International Business and Economics to hang out with the three of us."

"There's another event for me as a guest at the comic convention the day after tomorrow, so we can meet up then."

This typical, straightforward attempt at being considerate made the girl roll her eyes.

Fine, you actually managed to resist seeing me for three whole days, then I don't want to see you either!

So he hung up the call very decisively.

A moment later, a message came through: "Goodbye!!!"

"Is she angry?" Si Hua asked, somewhat puzzled. "I didn't tell her to drink more hot water."

Women are so complicated.

The next day, at Si Hua's Wonderful House.

Si Hua's job today is to prepare for the comic convention the day after tomorrow.

Meanwhile, Chen Yu and Zhou Zhe were studying the cosplay props that Si Hua had prepared for them.

"Seriously... these are the cosplay props you prepared?"

Zhou Zhe held the camera box in his hand, looking completely bewildered.

It's said to be a brand new camera series from Sony, a mirrorless camera that's completely different from mainstream SLR cameras, called something like "micro-single".

"It's a bit pricey, but for you greenhorns who've never been to a comic convention before, this is the best disguise prop—I mean, cosplay prop."

"What kind of character cosplay requires a camera?" Chen Yu was even more puzzled.

"Yeah, you guys go and cosplay as event photographers."

"?"

When I type just a question mark, it's not that I have a problem, it's that I think you have a damn problem.

"You two aren't cosplayers, nor are you typical modeling geeks, so pretending to be a tour photographer would allow you to get to know the cosplayer more naturally..."

"Oh, right, Fatty Zhe, you could just cosplay as a fat otaku."

"I f***ing..." Zhou Zhehong stammered.

"There's a reason why we're providing you with mirrorless cameras."

"What do you mean?"

"When you approach a cosplayer as a photographer and she asks for photos from the convention, there's a high chance you won't have any to share..."

"I can learn!" Neither of them was convinced.

"Forget it, the three of us went out yesterday, did you guys even see what kind of stuff you filmed?"

"It's not as good as the old lady next to me. At least the old lady's photos are still recognizable as human figures."

"So don't overthink it, I'll only act it out once."

Si Hua grabbed the mirrorless camera and smiled brightly at the two of them.

"When girls ask you for photos, you just say that I'm cosplaying as a photographer, not a real photographer."

"If they don't mind if your photos are bad, just ask them if they know what I'm holding."

"This is called a mirrorless camera, precisely because there are no images to be returned."

"..."

God is so special that no return is no return.

Do SLR cameras only return one image?

Chen Yu and Zhou Zhe were speechless at Si Hua's bizarre move...

This isn't helping the two of them meet the girl at all!

This is clearly meant to put the two of them on the comic convention's吐槽 (tu cao, a Chinese internet slang term for sarcastic or critical comments) wall.

Unwilling to give up, the two decided to use the remaining two days to cram for photography lessons...

It's just pressing the shutter button; it's not like anyone can't do that.

Then we went out as a group to take pictures of flowers and plants.

Si Hua didn't bother with the two of them; they'd figure out his good intentions sooner or later.

After thinking it over, I opened the event schedule for the comic convention that my management team had forwarded to me.

Generally speaking, inviting guests to a comic convention is actually organizing a fan meet-up, and then using the guest's fame to attract fans to the convention.

This is because domestic comic conventions are generally comprehensive exhibitions focusing on fan works, and their main source of profit is visitor admission tickets; the more visitors, the more they earn.

This is quite different from a professional game expo.

Similar to the difference between B2C and B2B.

The "Radiant Spirit" comic convention organized by Lei Huo Nursing Home started as a doujinshi convention, but later, as its reputation grew, it transformed into a comprehensive convention.

Moreover, because it is backed by the Communist Youth League, it has always been held at the National Convention Center, making a grand appearance and attracting an average daily visitor flow of more than 80,000.

"Luckily, I didn't agree to their book signing event. With this kind of audience, even if only one percent of them wanted to see me, they could still sign my hand off."

The thought sent a chill down Si Hua's spine.

"The content of the on-site interview... the first half will discuss animation, then games."

"Interspersed throughout the event was a cosplay show themed around The Edge Walker, with Lin Lin appearing as Lucy's cosplayer."

"I just want to know who came up with this idea... Lucy, who's 1.8 meters tall, wearing high heels, isn't she afraid of getting criticized by haters for not being accurate?"

"After the themed show, Lin Lin, as a guest, also participated in the interview."

"Would you like to discuss your future plans?"

"Isn't this just empty promises? I know it all too well."