Phi-Fic Chapter 93: Lu Ran asked his colleagues to do it?
Chapter 93: Lu Ran asked his colleagues to do it?
Online discussions about "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" are slowly gaining momentum, but overall, they are still not as popular as the other two dramas.
The executives of Starlight Entertainment and Star China Entertainment seemed oblivious to the rising momentum and didn't take "The Legend of the Condor Heroes" seriously at all.
"Two episodes every two days is like cutting off your own arms." The production director of Starlight Entertainment said in an internal meeting, "That guy named Lu Ran is still too young. He thinks that making dramas is like writing songs, where you can be willful."
The people below the meeting laughed, laughing at Lu Ran of Xingyao for being somewhat arrogant and overestimating his abilities.
Star Entertainment, meanwhile, has already begun celebrating: "The outcome of the summer blockbuster season is no longer in doubt. We and Star Entertainment will take the top two spots."
But as time went on, viewers gradually turned their attention to the premiere of the third episode of "The Legend of the Condor Heroes".
On the fifth day, the third episode was released.
In this episode, Guo Jing travels south with the Seven Heroes of Jiangnan, encountering the Four Demons of the Yellow River along the way, thus beginning their first real battle in the martial arts world.
The story provides a fairly detailed description of Guo Jing's first battle.
At the same time, the action scenes in the show are very solid.
What's even more remarkable is that this fight scene combines the sharpness of martial arts with the naivety and passion of youth, making it exhilarating to watch.
When Guo Jing, using the most clumsy methods but relying on perseverance and a bit of luck, worked with his masters to defeat the Four Demons of the Yellow River, many viewers laughed and were inexplicably moved.
At this moment, many people felt that they were just like Guo Jing, lacking such profound talent but relying on steady and diligent practice day after day.
"This Guo Jing is portrayed so realistically. He's not one of those protagonists who's born with extraordinary talent; he's genuinely growing."
"The Four Ghosts of the Yellow River are hilarious, they're both wicked and adorably silly."
"An episode every two days is torture, but why am I still waiting?"
"Compared to 'Sword's Roar Across the Horizon' and 'Above the Court,' I'm now more looking forward to 'The Legend of the Condor Heroes,' which updates every two days."
On Weibo, a topic quietly climbed to the bottom of the trending list: #The third day of waiting for the Condor Heroes update#.
Clicking through, you'll find nothing but the audience's varied and heart-wrenching cries:
"Ever since I fell into the 'Legend of the Condor Heroes' rabbit hole, I've been counting down the days."
"Xingyao, you have no heart! Is it even human to produce an episode every two days?"
"But this show is really good!"
"I'm hopeless; I'm cursing and waiting at the same time."
So a strange phenomenon has emerged online: on one hand, there is a constant stream of criticism, and on the other hand, the data keeps rising.
Within twelve hours of its release, the third episode garnered over five million views, while the viewership of the first two episodes also increased significantly.
More importantly, the viewers' dwell time, completion rate, and interaction rate were all far higher than the other two dramas.
When the backend data was transmitted to Xingyao's senior management, Li Mo was stunned.
Two days ago, the data showed only a slow increase; today's data should be described as a crazy surge.
Looking at the data report, Li Mo muttered to himself, "That kid Lu Ran is really something, he's got it figured out again! Judging from this, it really might surpass the other two dramas."
The executives of Star Entertainment and Starlight Entertainment are starting to get restless.
The main issue is that Xingyao's recent data has increased too quickly. Compared to "The Legend of the Condor Heroes," the works of these two companies have not seen much growth, and in fact, the latest data shows a slight decline.
"Could it be that updating one episode every two days is so effective?" The director of Starlight Entertainment looked at the data, completely baffled.
"Let's observe for two more days. If their data remains this good, we'll also switch to updating every two days," the director of Xinghua Entertainment decided at the meeting.
The seventh day, before the fourth episode was released.
Lu Ran, however, didn't care about the data. Instead, he sat in his office and opened a newly completed program on his computer—"Wanning Gomoku".
This is a little game he recently made while staying up late. The rules are similar to regular Gomoku, but some annoying random elements have been added: sometimes the board will suddenly rotate, sometimes there will be extra bomb squares that cannot be placed, and sometimes your opponent's pieces will inexplicably turn into yours...
In short, it's the kind of game that looks simple but makes you laugh and cry when you play it.
After testing a few rounds, Lu Ran nodded in satisfaction and uploaded the game to the platform.
After thinking for a moment, he sent the game link to Shen Yuege: "Senior, I found a new game. You can play it if you're bored."
Shen Yuege replied almost instantly: "What game? It looks like Gomoku! I've played Gomoku before, but I don't want to play it again later."
"Try this one, it's different from the previous one," Lu Ran explained.
Shen Yuege originally didn't plan to play, because she recently discovered a fun game called "Plants vs. Zombies," and she's been addicted to it whenever she has free time lately.
But after thinking about it, since it was sent by Lu Ran, I decided to click on it and give it a try.
An hour later, Shen Yuege sent a string of frustrated emojis: "Lu Ran, this game is addictive! I almost won just now, but the other side used 'Flying Sand and Stones' and threw my flag, and it even landed in some kind of 'Shisha Sea'!"
Lu Ran laughed: "Is it fun?"
"It's fun," Shen Yuege said honestly, "but it's a bit hard on the blood pressure."
After playing a few more rounds, Shen Yuege finally won one.
At that moment, she suddenly noticed a line of small print on the game interface: "Producer: Wool Harvester".
She paused for a moment, wondering why the name sounded so familiar.
It seems that the author of the previous book, "Sheep and Sheep," was also called "Wool Harvester."
She exited the game, searched for "Sheep and the Beast," and also looked up information about "Plants vs. Zombies."
Sure enough, the creators of all three games are "wool-harvesting machines".
Three games, one person.
Shen Yuege finally understood why this game was so cheeky; it was the same old flavor, the same old formula.
At this moment, Shen Yuege was a little curious about who this "wool harvester" was.
The games he creates are all unique and simple, yet incredibly fun and addictive.
Every game has its unique charm, making it irresistible.
Suddenly, she remembered that Lu Ran seemed to know how to code. When he was filming the short drama, he had talked to her about his counterattack methods and how he collected backend data until he found out that the other party's data was fake.
Shen Yuege simply didn't know anything about programming, and she wasn't sure if writing code and creating games were similar.
Coincidentally, the game she was playing a few days ago was the same one she had mentioned in "Skill Gomoku" when she and Lu Ran were watching "The Wonderful Night of Delight".
Only a few days later, this game was created.
Shen Yuege already had a bold guess in her mind.
Could these games be something Lu Ran... asked his colleagues to make?
Just to make yourself happy?
...