I created the myth of the Great Old Ones.

"No, that was decades ago. Wait, so this old man has been living from decades ago until now?"

His mind was filled with a myriad of thoughts.

Suddenly, in front of Liu Huajian, an electric car suddenly accelerated, as if it had stepped on the accelerator instead of the brake, and rushed towards him.

Liu Huajian had no time to dodge and watched as the car was about to collide head-on with him.

bang——

However, just as the car was about to hit Liu Huajian's car, it suddenly skidded, barely grazed his car, and crashed into the trunk of a tree on the median strip.

Everything happened in an instant; Liu Huajian hadn't even had time to react.

His heart began to pound wildly at that moment, and a feeling of exhaustion, as if he had survived a disaster, washed over him.

Liu Huajian saw the driver of the wrecked electric car climb out of the door, muttering retaliatory words like "You all die" and "I'll kill you all." Liu Huajian didn't dare open the door.

Liu Huajian finally breathed a sigh of relief when someone called the police, traffic officers arrived, and subdued the driver who attempted to attack passersby.

At that moment, he remembered the paper figure the old man had given him.

Opening the glove box, Liu Huajian took out the paper figure, his eyes widening.

The paper figure's body was broken in two, as if it had been violently torn apart by someone. Liu Huajian clearly remembered that it was intact when he put it in, and it shouldn't be damaged like this.

"Could it be... that what he said is true, and that I have really been corrupted by something?"

Liu Huajian thought of the books he had studied about the ruined capital and the basic information about the alien world that he had discussed with others.

One of the most important points is that knowledge can lead to pollution!

I had errands to run during the day, so I'll skip the extra chapter for now.

Chapter 590 Let some people get polluted first

As temperatures rise, Wuhan is becoming increasingly hot.

The Lingjiang River flows through the city, bringing relatively humid winds. When heated by the direct sunlight, these winds become excellent steamers. Some university dormitories don't have air conditioning, and small fans are no match for the heat. The floor becomes a battleground for male students, with straw mats and makeshift beds on the floor being at least a little cooler than beds.

At times like these, rainy days are the most enjoyable.

Suddenly a gust of wind swept in, followed by a torrential downpour. Standing on the ten-story dormitory building of Jiangcheng University, all that could be seen was a misty rain. Many people dressed up as seagulls, cheering, screaming, and shouting "Let the storm rage on!" as they were then soaked by the wind and rain, laughing heartily.

The girls listened with disdain to the incessant wailing of monkeys coming from the boys' dormitory, hiding in the corridors of supermarkets or classrooms, watching the heavy rain helplessly.

These cheers can occasionally be heard in the neighborhood.

Raindrops pattered against the windowpane, making the outside world seem ambiguous.

Lu Ban was in the room, checking the contents of the trailer.

The second trailer was playing on his screen.

This trailer is completely different from the first one. If the first trailer showcased the supernatural abilities of the lowly, then this one is different.

The second trailer is entirely composed of the memories of the elderly people of that era shared by the people of Jiuliu.

The accounts, including those of Tang Yu, Professor Hu, and other successors, are unadorned and simple, yet filled with genuine emotion.

The bizarre and unpredictable characters who appeared in the first trailer have had their legendary aura stripped away in this trailer, leaving only their human warmth, no different from that of ordinary people.

Tang Yu talked about her great-grandmother's kind face and how she told the younger generation stories about the fields. Professor Hu recalled his father's bulky and hardworking back. He Jiaoyang held the books left by his grandfather and talked about his experiences with his elders.

In these people's accounts, those legendary figures of the Nine Streams, each possessing unique and extraordinary abilities, have all become ordinary grandparents, fathers, and mothers.

In many superhero movies, people often feel a sense of alienation. These heroes may have had their parents shot and killed, grew up alone, or their parents may not be mentioned at all, leaving them all alone. The stories that unfold around them are all about world crises with great ups and downs, and intense love and hate.

Although many directors try to add personal flaws to these heroes to enrich their characters, this still fails to solve one problem: these heroes are "unrealistic".

The second trailer for Lu Ban brings those low-level characters back to reality, bringing them from the legendary figures in the story who could steal a train from the enemy with just two guns. Instead of making them seem ordinary, it makes them feel more real.

Since the movie will be released during the October holiday, this trailer is basically the last one.

The two trailers for Lu Ban are about the supernatural and depict a group of powerful people with extraordinary skills in that turbulent era.

One film returns to simplicity, telling the story of a hero's twilight years after his curtain falls.

Viewers had a different reaction to the trailer.

On the old video website, there are some highly-rated comments under this trailer.

I initially thought this was one of those superhero movies about fighting monsters, but it turned out to be like this. After watching the second trailer, I'm almost starting to believe that there really are people like this in the world.

This documentary-style approach is too much; it reminds me of my grandfather, who also participated in the war. He often sat alone by the window watching the sunset. I, who was born in a peaceful era, may never be able to understand the passion of that time.

Judging from this trailer, it seems like everyone survived? Lu Ban didn't kill anyone this time, which is really unsettling. Was he possessed by something?

Am I the only one who thinks this way? Does Lu Ban really want us to believe that these things actually happened?

[Holy crap, isn't this blind old man the same one who did paper cutting in the previous video? Is he a magician or something? I went to Panjiayuan to look for him, but I couldn't find him!]

[What do you call this? This is called kneeling before reality. That's how mockuments are made. If you believe this is real, then you've fallen for Lu Ban's trick!]

Lu Ban knew that it would be difficult to convince the audience of the existence of the Nine Streams Master. What decent person would believe in something like the Yin-Yang Eye or a corpse-stitching craftsman? Even Lu Ban himself wouldn't believe it.

Unless you see it with your own eyes.

But group cognition is a very strange thing.

Some things, if repeated many times, may become true.

Moreover, with so many people on this planet, there are bound to be some highly intelligent individuals who can gain knowledge from Lu Ban's films.

After being tormented by so many movies by Lu Ban.

Having been influenced by Lu Ban's many movies.

Many people are already highly contaminated, especially those who have carefully studied information from other realms. Through their own research and exploration, they have acquired a certain amount of knowledge about other realms. In terms of the degree of contamination alone, they are far superior to those chosen ones who have only experienced one or two missions.

The more polluted it is, the easier it is to be polluted again.

Rather than saying that Lu Ban wanted to make the audience believe the content of the movie, it would be more accurate to say that he needed to deeply corrupt the audience with the content of the movie. Once the audience accepted this knowledge, Lu Ban would have succeeded.

In fact, since the trailer was released, Lu Ban's mission completion rate has already started to increase, and he has completed one-fifth of the task, which is about two thousand people.

Some of these people are "land scholars" from all over the world. Because they study land and alien knowledge every day, they are highly corrupted and more willing to believe. Among them are some fanatical supporters of conspiracy theories. To these people, the alien sightings of land are no different from alien spaceships, and they all believe it.

Some are highly inspired individuals who may have witnessed supernatural phenomena before encountering Lu Ban's films, such as the tourists trapped in the amusement park. Therefore, they quickly resonated with Lu Ban's films after watching them.

Lu Ban's idea was to let some people pollute first, then let the pollution spread to others, and finally achieve a great harmony of pollution for the whole world.

perfect.

The sweltering summer in Jiangcheng passed swiftly amidst torrential rain and brilliant sunshine. As a new batch of students stepped into the university campus, and the back streets of the school were once again filled with young people in military training uniforms, the breath of autumn was approaching.

There is less than a week left until the nationwide release of "Nine Streams".

Chapter 591 Subtitle Team

Lu Ban did not conduct a global promotional campaign because he believed that the film's subject matter was quite unique, and the ideas it conveyed were not something that people all over the world could understand and accept.

Some creators in this world want their works to attract the general public as much as possible. There are two types of creators. One type grasps the common human emotions and creates works that transcend nationality, ethnicity, ideology, and cultural level. No matter what country or what kind of person reads these works, they will be touched.

Another form of development is to package what one believes to be right into a form that is acceptable to everyone. For example, superhero movies may seem like a collection of special effects and large-scale scenes, but they are actually a cultural export of individual heroism and liberalism.

There are also some creators who focus on creating things that only a small number of people can appreciate or accept. Their works are full of national and regional characteristics. If you don't have a certain understanding of their creative background and culture, it is basically difficult to understand the content.

Of course, what is national is also international. As long as the content is excellent enough, it will attract many people to study these cultures and understand the content of the creations, which can also be considered a form of cultural export.

Therefore, Lu Ban's "Nine Schools" contains a mindset that is closer to the Chinese saying of self-cultivation, family management, governing the state, and bringing peace to the world. Each of the Nine Schools practitioners also upholds the idea of ​​helping others when one is successful. These core ideas may be seen abroad as the collective being above the individual, forced individual sacrifice, or even the oppression of human rights.

From a cognitive perspective, Lu Ban believes that Chinese people are more likely to accept the content and complete the task.

Anyway, his goal wasn't to make money, but to change people's perceptions.

However, Lu Ban's behavior clearly exceeded many people's expectations.

The most heated discussion came from foreign media when he announced that the premiere of "Nine Streams" would only be held in China.

Is Lu Ban drifting away?

His previous films, if not achieving both fame and fortune internationally, were at least huge hits. This film, "The Ninth Class," is clearly meant to solidify his previous status, rake in another wave of box office revenue worldwide, and create a frenzy.

However, Lu Ban did not grant overseas theatrical premiere rights, and did not even produce a subtitled version.

This means that this play, "Nine Schools of Thought," can only be seen in the country.

Why is he not making money when he can?

Of course, the opinions of the media reporters could not change Lu Ban's decision.

A week before the National Day holiday, some foreigners began buying plane tickets to China, planning to watch the premiere in Chinese cinemas.

In addition, they also face the problem that they do not understand Chinese.

When Lu Ban's movies were released overseas, they were either the original audio with subtitles or dubbed. Regardless of the quality of the translation, at least there were no difficulties in understanding them.

But now this movie doesn't even have Chinese subtitles, let alone English ones. Not to mention foreigners, some Chinese people feel they might not be able to understand it.

Historically, there have been movies without subtitles. Early movies didn't have subtitles either, and people still enjoyed them. But the actors back then were very skilled, speaking clearly, forcefully, and with great intonation, making listening to their lines a pleasure.

Many actors nowadays lack basic acting skills; they can't even speak clearly, and without subtitles, it's impossible to understand what they're saying.

In the two trailers for "Nine Schools of Thought", the first one is so clear and articulate that it makes people overlook the existence of subtitles. In fact, many people only realize that there are no subtitles after watching the whole trailer.

The second trailer is simple and sincere, like someone next to you telling you a story. They speak in a more down-to-earth way and don't use the tone of subtitles.

Therefore, most viewers felt that whether or not there were subtitles would not have a significant impact on "Nine Schools of Thought".

As for foreigners, I'm sorry, please learn Chinese.

On foreign forums, some translators of Lu Ban's early works added subtitles to the videos Lu Ban uploaded online, forming a subtitling group. Some members of the subtitling group are planning to watch the movie as soon as possible and then give spoilers to foreign audiences!

Stephen, a college student, is a member of a subtitling team.

He studied Chinese at Yannan University and speaks fluent Chinese. Just by listening to him speak, people would probably think he is from some ethnic minority. Many domestic reports about Lu Ban were translated by him and sent to foreign enthusiast forums.

This time, he also received an important task: to go see the premiere of "Nine Streams".

Like many foreigners visiting China, Stephen was interested in kung fu, opera, and Yannan roast duck. As soon as he saw the trailer for "Nine Streams," Stephen fell madly in love with the movie.

Stephen believes that Lu Ban's previous films were somewhat pandering to the audience, while "Nine Streams" embodies traditional culture, and Stephen is very curious about how Lu Ban will present these.

In October, on the first day of university vacation, he bought advance tickets and went to the movie theater next to the school to catch the early show.