587: Chapter 587 Ah Zu is here!

"Boss Yang, this is too sudden. I'm currently in Los Angeles, and I've just set up my stall; I really can't get away." Lin Chuyan gripped his phone, his gaze sweeping over the desert landscape within the Vasquez Rocks Natural Area Park.

Boss Yang on the other end of the line sounded helpless: "The release schedule waits for no one. It's better to release during the summer season. If we delay any longer, I'm afraid we'll clash with your 'ne zha' and 'crazy stone'... not to mention you have 'mr. & mrs. smith' coming up later. If our own people end up fighting our own people, and the flood washes away the Dragon King's temple, it won't be a pretty sight."

"Ahem." Lin Chuyan spoke the truth: " 'mr. & mrs. smith' is still a long way from release; we're just preparing to start filming these days. Although the script for 'crazy stone' is good, it is a small-budget production after all, and the box office certainly won't be able to compete with 'new police story'. But 'ne zha', you really should avoid."

Boss Yang couldn't quite believe it: "Is 'ne zha' really that good?"

There were some things he was too embarrassed to say, so he swallowed the words back: after all, it was just an animated film, and the director wasn't very famous. Could it possibly beat 'new police story', which was backed by the two major stars, Chen Jiaju and Lin Chuyan?

Lin Chuyan could roughly guess what the other party was thinking and couldn't help but laugh: "Boss Yang, don't underestimate 'ne zha'. That duo of ne zha and Ao Bing might actually be able to outperform me and Big Brother."

'new police story' had the police-versus-thief conflict of good and evil, and 'ne zha' had the fateful showdown between the Spirit Pearl and the Demon Pill... If their schedules really clashed, and he and Big Brother were defeated by ne zha and Ao Bing, that scene—just thinking about it was interesting...

"Fine, then I'll wait and see."

Boss Yang said this with his mouth, but he was still skeptical in his heart. However, this was normal. Before 'ne zha' was released, who would believe that an animated film could make such big waves?

The promotion for 'new police story' was overwhelming. From Chen Jiaju's thrilling action scenes to Xue Ting's professional performance, the most eye-catching thing was the gimmick: "The biggest villain in Lin Chuyan's Acting career."

And this point, gradually, shifted the film's promotional focus entirely toward "Duel of the Two Heroes" and "Game of Good and Evil."

In reality, Lin Chuyan was only the third male lead in the film, and the Douban cast list was ordered that way as well. But given his current popularity, how could the production team let go of this promotional point?

Fortunately, Xue Ting was a die-hard fan of Lin Chuyan and didn't mind this at all.

And after this reminder, the audience suddenly remembered something: this guy was a professional villain, almost "whitewashed" by his positive roles in 'lotus lantern' and 'la la land'. But, how ruthless could the "biggest villain" be? Murderous? Could he be more brutal than Xie Yu in 'the hovering blade'?

Lin Chuyan had also been actively cooperating with the film's promotion these days. Since he was in Los Angeles and couldn't return, he had no choice but to post a few more Weibo updates.

In addition to reposting the official movie Weibo, he also came up with something unique and posted a photo on Weibo. It was something he had stored on his phone—a photo of him wearing an Ah Zu mask, leaning lazily on a sofa. The caption read: [Ah Zu is coming.]

It really made netizens itch with curiosity, and they couldn't help but buy presale movie tickets in advance.

[Brother, this mask looks a bit creepy...]

[Playing cosplay, huh? Can your wife sleep at night? Or is she happy again?]

[Your wife is bold. Honestly, I suggest pairing this with your wife's photo holding a gun to make a couple's avatar. It's a perfect match!]

In short, thanks to the drawing power of Chen Jiaju and Lin Chuyan, the presale box office for 'new police story' quickly broke 100 million. In other parts of Asia, it was even more unstoppable—one must know that these two were both international superstars. There was no one in the entire Asian region with a higher status than them; it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say they were absolutely crushing it.

Over in Japan, the poster's promotional slogan was particularly exaggerated: [The ultimate showdown between crimson justice and jet-black evil, performed by Chen Jiaju and Lin Chuyan!]

Looking back now, Boss Yang's business deal was truly shrewd. He traded a 10% investment share to get Lin Chuyan to join, and as a result, because of his inclusion, the film actually earned even more.

However, Lin Chuyan had a question in his heart: now that Ah Zu was being portrayed as a heinous villain, when the audience saw the family tragedy behind this character, combined with his Acting, wouldn't the audience be heartbroken when Ah Zu eventually died?

This kind of charming villain character was destined to leave an indelible mark in the hearts of movie fans.

Three days later, 'new police story' was finally released.

On the day of the premiere, Mosquito Brother brought his Junior to the cinema early.

Recalling the last time he and his Junior watched Lin Chuyan play a villain, it was 'the hovering blade'. At that time, after watching it, his Junior almost went from a fan to a passerby of Lin Chuyan, but fortunately, he guided her in time. It was precisely that time that Mosquito Brother truly realized that Lin Chuyan was a talented actor different from other young idols.

And this time, what kind of Acting would Lin Chuyan bring?

To be honest, he was skeptical about the production team's promotion of "The biggest villain in Lin Chuyan's Acting career": how bad was that white-haired Xie Yu in 'the hovering blade' who raped and then killed? Could there be anything more evil than that?

Taking the popcorn handed over by his Junior, the lights dimmed, and the movie officially began.

The opening scene was Chen Guorong, played by Chen Jiaju, lying drunk on the street: a taxi refused to pick him up, and he stumbled and fell to the ground. He vomited and collapsed in a dim alley, like a street rat that no one cared about.

The flashback editing technique made the audience curious: as the male lead, why did Chen Jiaju fall into such a state?

The camera went back to a year ago.

At that time, Chen Guorong was high-spirited; he had a beautiful and gentle girlfriend, and everyone in the police force respected him. It could be said that he had a bumper harvest in both love and career... All of this seemed very perfect. Until the appearance of Ah Zu.

The five-person group led by him hijacked bank hostages. Just when the audience thought they were only seeking money, the masked Ah Zu held a gun to a hostage: "Do you have a phone?"

"Y-yes, I do."

"Call the police." Ah Zu's tone was calm.

"Huh?" The hostage thought they had misheard.

Yes, their goal was never money, but to hunt police. The five of them agreed to see who could kill more.

Ah Zu used the hostages as bait, used them as shields, and stood on the open street, facing the three police cars speeding from afar, calm and composed.

He was smiling.

Mosquito Brother watched in astonishment: his idol was playing a madman this time...

The most exaggerated part was that these five people actually completely defeated the police.

Ah Zu and his group were all equipped with assault rifles and submachine guns, against the police's handguns, directly forming a crushing firepower advantage.

Mosquito Brother was completely dumbfounded by this point: no, this firepower gap is too huge, right?! Everyone said the villain Lin Chuyan played this time was more evil than before, but he never expected it to be this big. In 'the hovering blade', Xie Yu knew to hide from the police after killing, but this time they were directly calling the police out for a hard confrontation, right?

This was a meticulously designed massacre. And the same trap would force Chen Guorong, the former police elite, step by step into a desperate situation.