I, Hiroshi Nohara, the star of Japanese cinema!

On the other side, there is the "Kyoto Millennium Elegance" cheering group, wearing purple happi hats that symbolize the ancient charm of Kyoto and holding round fans with the words "Heian-kyo" printed on them.

"Naniwa's soul is number one in the world! Kyoto cowards, go back home!"

"You, the common people, are ignorant! How can you desecrate the thousand-year-old elegance?"

“Our creativity comes from life! Yours comes from textbooks!”

"Our idols are here to bring glory to Osaka! Your idols are just trying to flirt!"

The slogans became louder and louder, and the atmosphere became more and more enthusiastic.

Passersby around stopped to watch. The scene was more...hotter than any street performer's performance!

Behind this seemingly spontaneous civil conflict, the camera of "Super Change Audition Edition" is hidden in the crowd, quietly recording every moment full of dramatic tension.

These will become the golden materials that can spark the most discussion and stimulate the ratings in the next episode.

……

TV Tokyo, 17th floor.

Hiroshi Nohara calmly watched the public opinion reports from the Kansai region spewing out of the fax machine one by one.

The report records in detail the size and slogans of the cheering groups in each region, as well as the "friction" incidents between them that are full of black humor.

There were even some hilarious records of "mediation of verbal disputes among the masses" issued by the local police.

"Minister...is this...is this...a bit too much?"

Kei Tanaka stood aside, looking at the reports, a look of uneasiness on his face.

He felt like he was witnessing the birth of a huge vortex that was enough to stir up the entire neon world.

The man standing in the center of the vortex just calmly sipped his cup of black tea, which had already become a little bland.

"Is it big?"

Nohara Hiroshi put down his teacup, his clear eyes filled with indifference. "Section Chief Tanaka, do you know why during the Warring States Period, those daimyo always liked to give their armies names that were full of regional connotations? Like the 'Tiger of Kai' and the 'Dragon of Echigo'?"

"This... this is to... rally the troops' morale?" Kei Tanaka answered tentatively.

"Yes, but not entirely."

Nohara Hiroshi stood up, walked to the huge floor-to-ceiling window, and looked down at the steel city beneath his feet, where undercurrents were surging under his stirring.

"This is more about creating enemies."

His voice was calm, but it was like a heavy hammer, hitting Tanaka Kei's heart hard.

"When a person is labeled an 'Osaka native,' he is no longer himself. What he represents is the honor of all of Osaka. His enemies are no longer any specific individuals, but all 'outsiders' who pose a threat to the honor of his hometown."

"All I did was provide them with a stage to vent their emotions."

He turned around and looked at his subordinate who had already been shocked beyond measure, with a confident arc on the corner of his mouth.

"Traffic is war. War requires soldiers, but it also requires enemies."

"Now, my soldiers have been assembled. My enemies have also been established."

"Next, let's see what magnificent ratings this grand performance can generate when this regional fire, which has been suppressed for hundreds of years, is completely ignited!"

……

A few hours later, in the office of the deputy director of the production bureau.

Suzuki Seito, deputy director of the director group of Kanto TV, is sitting upright on the sofa in his office with a smile on his face and an extremely excited look.

Those eyes, which had been somewhat clouded by time, were now filled with an incomparable fanaticism.

Also in the office are Asumi and Hiroshi Nohara.

"Deputy Director Asumi, Nohara-kun... I... I really don't know what to say." There was a hint of suppressed excitement in his voice, and an unnatural blush appeared on his face.

He placed the ratings report printed with "16.3%" carefully on the huge mahogany desk as if it were a rare treasure.

"This number... for the current Kanto station, it is simply... a miracle."

His voice was filled with loneliness and bitterness. "I'm not afraid of you two laughing at me, but ever since our Kanto Station was merged into Tokyo Station... we haven't seen double-digit ratings in almost five years."

The words were bitter, like the cold ripples on a lake on a winter day.

The smile on Ming Hai's face faded a little.

He picked up the cup of green tea, and the amber liquid in the cup swayed gently, reflecting the complex light in his eyes.

"Qingdou, this... is not your fault." His voice was low and helpless. "This is a solution that doesn't matter. It looks like Tokyo TV is suppressing Kanto TV, but in fact, it's something else."

"No, this isn't just a competition between TV stations."

Ming Rihai slowly exhaled a breath of turbid air, which was filled with a hint of awe for the higher-level power: "This is... national policy."

"National policy?" A look of surprise appeared on Suzuki Seito's face.

"Yes."

Asumi nodded, his eyes, always gleaming with shrewdness, gazing out the window at the boundless expanse of Tokyo sky. "You've surely heard of the Greater Tokyo Metropolitan Area Plan? The government's ambition is to completely integrate the entire Kanto region into the vast melting pot of Tokyo. The economy, transportation, culture... everything must be integrated. Given this backdrop, do you think the government will allow the emergence of two distinct voices within this future mega-metropolitan area?"

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over Suzuki Seito's head, completely extinguishing the flame of fire in his heart that was ignited by the surge in ratings.

He was silent.

And they understand that what they are facing is not simple commercial competition, but an irresistible trend of the times coming from the national level.

There was a long silence in the office.

Only the expensive Swiss clock on the wall was ticking, as if it was mercilessly counting down to the end of an era.

"But..."

After a long moment, Ming Ri Hai finally broke the silence. His elegant face once again bloomed with the confident smile of an old fox: "Time has changed. We in the Kanto faction have finally...made it through."

His eyes fell on the young man who had been quietly drinking black tea from beginning to end, and his eyes were full of undisguised admiration and pride.

"Guangzhi-kun, you're more than just our Kanto faction's trump card now." Asumi put down his glass. His voice was loud and full of undeniable affirmation: "You are the future of our entire Kanto faction."

He said this with absolute certainty.

Suzuki Seito, who was present, was not surprised at all.

Because this has long been the consensus of everyone in the Kanto faction.

From the moment that young man rescued them from the oppression of Takada Shunei with the film "The Wonderful World"; from the moment he pushed the reputation of the entire faction to the peak with the film "Super Transformation"; from the moment he used an "independent production department" to reunite countless veterans of the Kanto faction...

The name Nohara Hiroshi has become synonymous with "hope".

Asumi even half-jokingly and half-seriously called Nohara Hiroshi his "successor" at several private high-level cocktail parties.

No elder of the Kanto faction raised any objection to this.

Because it's as it should be.

"Deputy Director Ming Rihai, you are too kind to me."

Nohara Hiroshi put down his teacup and smiled calmly. "The success of 'Audition Version' is just the beginning. It proves one of my assumptions—the audience wants to see more than just perfect performances. They want to see ordinary people like themselves, chasing their dreams, and the most genuine, clumsy and cute moments."

"And what I have to do next is to turn this 'cuteness' into the sharpest weapon in our hands."

He didn't want to continue talking about politics.

So he stood up, walked to the portable blackboard in Asumi's office, picked up a pen, and wrote two words on the board that were unfamiliar to both Asumi and Suzuki Seito:

[Fan economy] and [topic creation].

"Fans?" Asumi frowned. "Are you talking about those...enthusiasts who write letters to stars and ask for autographs?"

"That's right, but not entirely." Nohara Hiroshi's lips curled up with a confident arc: "What I want is not fans in the traditional sense. What I want is 'fighters'."

"Warrior?" Suzuki Seito's face was full of confusion.

"Look." Hiroshi Nohara drew a simple neon map on the whiteboard, and then used a red marker to circle several core cities such as Osaka, Tokyo, Fukuoka, and Sapporo.

"The second season of 'Super Mutant' is a regional competition. The audience in Osaka will cheer for the Osaka team, and the audience in Tokyo will cheer for the Tokyo team. This is the most primitive sense of regional belonging. What we need to do is to provide a battlefield for this sense of belonging to be expressed."

He paused, and under the astonished gaze of the two men, he slowly threw out the ultimate weapon that was enough to subvert the rules of the entire Japanese television industry.

"Starting next week, we will officially open the telephone voting channel on the show."

"Every viewer can cast their precious vote for the team they support by calling our designated pay phone number. Each vote will directly affect their final ranking and the ownership of the 100 million yen!"

"boom--!"

This decision, like a real atomic bomb, exploded in the minds of Asumi and Seito Suzuki!

"Pay...pay call?!" Asumi's voice changed. "Guozhi-kun, you...you are asking the audience to spend money to buy ratings?!"

"No." Nohara Hiroshi shook his head. His eyes, like a god overlooking a mortal war, were filled with calmness and indifference. "I'm not buying ratings. I'm selling a sense of participation."

"I want every viewer to feel like their choices can change the outcome of the game. I want them to move from passive spectators to active participants. They will canvass for votes, argue, and build their own fan clubs for their favorite teams."

"Osaka fans will look down on Tokyo's creativity, thinking it's flashy and superficial; Tokyo fans will laugh at Osaka's performances, calling them vulgar. They'll argue furiously in the letters-to-the-editor sections of newspapers and on community message boards to defend the honor of their hometown."

"And these arguments, these conflicts, these seemingly negative comments from 'anti-fans'..."

Nohara Hiroshi turned around and looked at the two men who were already shocked beyond measure by his advanced theory. The corners of his mouth curled up into a cold smile as precise as a scalpel.

“…that’s what we want most, free traffic.”

silence.

Deathly silence.

Asumi and Seito Suzuki stared blankly at the young man in front of them, feeling that their brains, those two professional brains filled with the "iron rules" and "experience" of traditional television, were completely crushed into powder at this moment by a more primitive and purer powerful force called "human nature"!

They finally understood that this young man was not producing a show at all.

He is directing an unprecedented large-scale social experiment, with the entire Neon as the stage and 120 million people as the actors!

And they were not even qualified to be pawns in his hands.

They are just mortals who are lucky enough to stand by and witness the miracle.

“Haha…hahahahahahaha!”

After a long time, Ming Hai finally came back to his senses from the huge shock. He let out a hearty laugh that had been suppressed for too long, full of ecstasy and excitement.

"Great! What a 'fan economy'! What a 'topic creation'!"

He slammed the table, and all the shock on his elegant face faded away, leaving only a desperate madness!