Chapter 134: Exploded, Regret (Seeking Subscriptions and Monthly Votes)

"Congratulations, Teacher Lin."

"Congratulations, Teacher Lin."

"Teacher Lin, the hype around *Portrait Crime Finder* has completely taken off now."

...

Just as Lin Xing hung up the phone, the other actors in the crew came over one after another to offer their congratulations.

Currently, the filming of *Bad Kids* was split into two units. Unit A was led by Director Lan Lei, primarily shooting the storyline involving Li Dong, played by Lin Xing. Unit B was led by Assistant Director Niu Xiao, shooting the storyline of Ding Heping, played by Kong Tian.

From the start of production and script discussions to the actual filming, progress had actually been rather slow.

On one hand, this was related to the core creative team. From investment to production, and from screenwriters to directors, they attached immense importance to the project yet had very little budget, while still needing to deliver results. Crucially, most of them were newcomers.

On the other hand, the acting skills of the young child actors still lacked a bit of polish, which made Lan Lei willing to spend extra time properly training and guiding the cast beforehand.

Sharpening the axe does not delay the work of chopping wood.

After all, *Bad Kids* only had 12 episodes in total. As long as all the plotlines and the actors' performances were ironed out in the early stages, the subsequent shooting would go much more smoothly.

To this end, Lan Lei suggested that the experienced assistant director Niu Xiao direct Kong Tian's scenes, while also having Kong Tian get familiar with the young actors in advance, since Kong Tian was, after all, an acting coach.

And he was free of charge.

Such was the current reality of the *Bad Kids* crew.

How the filming was going on Kong Tian's side, Lin Xing wasn't entirely sure, but Lin Xing's own shooting had been going quite smoothly over the past few days.

In *Portrait Crime Finder*, Lin Xing was the biggest star and enjoyed the most generous treatment. Yet in the *Bad Kids* crew, the treatment Lin Xing received was even more lavish.

First, he was indisputably the biggest star on set, and everyone knew that Lin Xing taking on this production meant he was genuinely lowering his usual status, treating Lin Xing's comfort as the absolute top priority in everything.

Second, because of Lin Xing's approachable demeanor—he never demanded special treatment on set, and whenever he had no scenes to shoot, he would stay around to help out—it earned him an even deeper level of respect from everyone.

Everyone felt that Lin Xing truly lived up to the rumors of having zero airs about him.

Precisely because of this, when *Portrait Crime Finder* flopped right upon its premiere, everyone had been worried that Lin Xing would be negatively affected.

After all, this series marked Lin Xing's first time carrying a show as the male lead.

Even Kong Tian, who was currently busy filming, had been thinking of ways to console Lin Xing, genuinely worried that someone who had always sailed through smoothly would struggle with the sudden drop.

To his surprise, Kong Tian saw that Lin Xing didn't take the matter to heart at all, which finally put Kong Tian's mind at ease.

Although both of them were part of the *Bad Kids* cast, they hadn't seen each other once since formal filming began. It was only the day before yesterday that Kong Tian, out of concern for Lin Xing, came over to invite him out for a meal.

Upon learning that Lin Xing was completely unbothered, Kong Tian ended up venting his frustrations about Dong Xia. Although Dong Xia had acting skills, he was a massive pain in the neck with endless drama. If Kong Tian hadn't been trying to keep the bigger picture in mind, he would have started cursing him out long ago.

Dong Xia could act, alright, but he simply had way too much unnecessary drama.

Lin Xing hadn't interacted much with Dong Xia, having only met him during the [Script Reading], after which Dong Xia stopped showing up entirely.

Wildly arrogant and supremely conceited.

Yet hearing Kong Tian complain about Dong Xia's endless antics, Lin Xing couldn't help but think that Dong Xia really was acting recklessly out of sheer delusion.

Often in the entertainment industry, the smaller an actor's star power, the more ridiculous their demands and drama tended to be.

How did that saying go again?

There's always a reason why certain people can never become famous, and the moment they finally do, their public image instantly collapses.

Someone like Lin Xing—who fell out of the spotlight for a decade before making a comeback and rising to fame without a single scandal—was truly a rare sight.

Yet anyone who had ever interacted or collaborated with Lin Xing firmly believed that he deserved his success.

Leaving aside the crew of *Anti-Gangster Storm*, just taking the team behind *Portrait Crime Finder* as an example—whether it was Producer Ma Wang, Screenwriter Wang Yi, Director Liu Zhou, or actors Zhou Wei and Ning Rong—which of them didn't hold Lin Xing in both deep respect and admiration?

Zhou Wei even confessed in private that if he were to achieve that level of fame, he probably wouldn't be able to remain as calm and composed as Lin Xing.

As for the cast and crew of *Bad Kids*, it went without saying.

In their eyes, Lin Xing truly embodied the spirit of remaining calm and unbothered by either favor or disgrace. Just a couple of days ago, when *Portrait Crime Finder* was being mocked by crowds for bombing, Lin Xing had acted as if nothing at all was happening.

Starting from the day before yesterday, however, the viewership data for *Portrait Crime Finder* had begun climbing steadily. Last night's newly updated episode, *The Jewelry Store Robbery*, was so intensely brain-burning that it sparked massive discussions among countless viewers, and coupled with the organic word-of-mouth promotion, it directly broke out of its niche.

Currently, both the view counts and popularity index of *Portrait Crime Finder* were experiencing a surge.

While it might not be a mega-blockbuster yet, it had at least officially become a massive hit.

Even so, Lin Xing remained utterly calm, showing not a single ripple of emotional fluctuation in the face of everyone's congratulations.

His afternoon acting performance remained as conscientious and dedicated as ever.

It was as if Lin Xing had anticipated the explosive data of *Portrait Crime Finder* all along.

Ren Yi: "A-xing, congratulations! I was originally worried that the flop of *Portrait Crime Finder* would negatively impact you, but it looks like you completely carried this show. Let's grab a few drinks whenever you're back in Beijing."

Guan Peng: "Hahaha, A-xing, congratulations! Let's have a drink once you wrap up filming."

Mini: "I just knew this show wouldn't bomb! Congratulations, A-xing. Now I want to see who the real clown is."

...

On the way back to the hotel after wrapping up the afternoon's filming, Lin Xing checked his phone and found that a continuous stream of WeChat congratulatory messages had already arrived.

Because *Portrait Crime Finder* was Lin Xing's first drama leading the cast, many people had previously thrown sarcastic remarks around, even concluding that the series was bound to suffer a bloody defeat.

Internet trolls like 'Trash Star' and 'Old Wang Movie Reviews' were especially eager to capitalize on Lin Xing's downfall for clicks.

During that time, Sister Dao, Lin Xing, and all of Lin Xing's fans maintained a collective silence.

They had almost adopted a posture of lying flat and letting people mock them as they pleased.

Sister Dao had even turned around to comfort Lin Xing, telling him there was no need to care about public opinion.

The entertainment industry was simply like this: today it could lift you up to the heavens, and tomorrow it could trample you into the dirt.

"I never had high hopes for this web drama to begin with. But if it flopped, it flopped. I'll just quickly help you pick a good script next time to build your popularity back up. As for that show *Bad Kids*, just treat it as playing around for one last time."

Those were Sister Dao's exact words when she called Lin Xing the night before yesterday.

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If *Portrait Crime Finder* flopped, then so be it; as for *Bad Kids*, the probability of it bombing was even higher.

They might as well just treat both dramas as a fun pastime.

Fortunately, these two were web series. If they had been traditional television broadcasts and both had flopped consecutively, competitors would easily slap him with the label of 'ratings poison', making it even harder for Lin Xing to select good scripts in the future.

Therefore, Sister Dao remained quite optimistic. After all, among contemporary artists, those who were handsome didn't have Lin Xing's acting skills, and those with great acting skills weren't as handsome as Lin Xing. Thus, Lin Xing still held a competitive edge.

"Just keep a low profile for now. All you need to do recently is focus on your acting. There's no need to look at the online gossip for the time being. At a time like this, other people definitely won't let go of the opportunity to ruthlessly step on us. Just let them be."

Sister Dao was likewise worried that Lin Xing would experience a severe psychological drop, so she only instructed him to concentrate on filming within the *Bad Kids* crew.

As for everything else, he didn't need to worry about it—she, his manager, would handle it all.

Little did Sister Dao expect that on the very same night she finished comforting Lin Xing, the word-of-mouth reputation of *Portrait Crime Finder* would begin to ferment, and organic word-of-mouth fans would practically flatten the trending search lists today.

This stroke of good fortune arrived a bit too suddenly.

"A-xing, you really have a sharp eye."

Sister Dao called Lin Xing later that evening: "The hype around *Portrait Crime Finder* has fully taken off now, and thanks to the contrasting disaster that is *The Correct Way to Open Independence*, our show is receiving universal praise."

Lin Xing chuckled: "Do you still think I was being willful now?"

"How could this be called being willful? You possess razor-sharp insight."

Sister Dao burst into hearty laughter: "From now on, I'll leave script selection entirely up to you! I'll only help you screen things from a macro perspective, and as for which role you want to play, you choose—you have the final say."

Although Sister Dao had her face metaphorically slapped repeatedly, her mood was exceptionally good.

She was more than happy to let *Portrait Crime Finder* continue slapping her face.

Please don't stop!

"It's just good luck, nothing more."

Lin Xing shook his head and said, "I didn't expect the organic word-of-mouth supporters to be this numerous either."

"Luck is also a part of strength,"

Sister Dao said with a smile: "Wanting to become famous in the entertainment industry sometimes really cannot do without a bit of luck. Before a script starts filming, nobody knows whether it will become a hit. Some actors with good luck manage to pick a hit every single time, while those with bad luck reject hit scripts only to take on shows that bomb..."

That was indeed the unvarnished truth.

Why else did people say that minor fame in the entertainment industry relied on backing, while mega-stardom relied on destiny?

If you don't believe it, just look at Dong Xia, who had financial backers supporting him—wasn't he still acting recklessly out of delusion?

"Ma Wang called me today to talk about this. The promotional mall tour is scheduled for this coming Saturday..."

Lin Xing said, "After all, *Portrait Crime Finder* only has 20 episodes in total. If we go too late, the first wave of broadcasts will already be over."

"Right, but you also need to mentally prepare yourself. Initially, because *Portrait Crime Finder* was only rated as an A+ project, neither the production team nor Tencent Video promoted it too heavily..."

Sister Dao said, "But now that *Portrait Crime Finder* has achieved S-tier results, I'm afraid the promotional efforts will be doubled and tripled over the next few days."

"Alright, I understand."

Lin Xing nodded gently.

If a drama bombed, naturally no one would care about it. But if a drama became a hit, whether it was the investors, the production team, or the broadcasting platform, they would undoubtedly pull out all the stops to promote it.

And then... harvest the wool.

Sure enough, Tencent Video had already pushed *Portrait Crime Finder* to its splash screen recommendation. Not only that, they even gave it a platform-wide push notification.

Keep in mind that before *Portrait Crime Finder* premiered, Ma Wang had struggled immensely just to secure a secondary-level recommendation slot.

Now, top-tier recommendations were being arranged for them with ease.

Once again, when a show becomes a hit, the treatment naturally changes.

All kinds of promotional resources came pouring in rapidly.

Precisely because of this, tonight's broadcast of *Portrait Crime Finder* truly welcomed an explosive surge.

Last night's cliffhanger had already left a portion of the audience filled with intense anticipation for today's updates, so almost the exact moment *Portrait Crime Finder* updated, countless viewers flooded in.

"Holy shit, holy shit! So Qiao Hong was actually dead all along, and this Qiao Hong had plastic surgery?"

"So that's how the main plot unfolds! This beauty salon is one of the human trafficking dens; they lure young women under the guise of free plastic surgery while carrying out abductions and kidnappings."

"It really is one ring interlocking with another."

...

When the ultimate truth of *The Jewelry Store Robbery* was finally uncovered, the bullet screen comments were genuinely left utterly stunned.

It was a plot twist, followed by a plot twist, followed by yet another plot twist.

Yet the amount of information packed into today's two episodes was equally colossal, because the very next case—the 7th case—was *The Butterfly Rape Case*.

This case was similarly quite relevant to contemporary societal issues.

In reality, there were indeed many young women who fell victim to date-rape drugs, and certain websites even hosted hidden-camera footage of women coming to bars or being targeted, directly slipped sedatives, and carried off to hotels.

The so-called 'obedient water' was, in truth, a powerful chemical hallucinogen.

What made it even more crucial was that this case turned out to be a case within a case.

The victim of this incident had been gang-raped by three men, and Guan Feng identified the culprits through his forensic portraits.

However, Guan Feng ultimately discovered a butterfly-shaped symbol hidden within the profile sketches.

This was a reflection of the victim's traumatized memory.

As a result, it was ultimately uncovered that the victim had previously been molested by her teacher, but out of fear that it would ruin her reputation, her mother had chosen to keep quiet and swept it under the rug.

"Sigh, many young girls don't dare to speak out after being molested, and even if they tell their parents, they're told to keep quiet about it."

"Yeah, the drama manages to uphold justice, but how many molesters are still walking free in reality?"

"Whether suffering from molestation or date-rape drugs, we must bravely stand up."

...

The discussion volume surrounding today's update skyrocketed vertically.

After all, apart from the loyal viewers chasing the episodes, there were countless newcomers attracted by the viral advertisements.

And then, *Portrait Crime Finder* truly blew up.

"Holy crap, this *Portrait Crime Finder* is the only drama that actually focuses on women's issues!"

"That's right! Although it features dual male leads, this show is practically a documentary on female crime victims."

"Yeah! These cases focus on women's appearance anxiety, campus bullying, arranged marriages, human trafficking, domestic violence, sexual assault, and so on. Watching it makes me feel suffocated."

...

"From beginning to end, the promotional campaign for *Portrait Crime Finder* never used 'women' as a marketing gimmick, yet this show looks at women entirely from a female perspective."

"How should I put it? I think *The Correct Way to Open Independence* is toxic corporate feminism, whereas *Portrait Crime Finder* is genuine feminism—a brilliant show that truly speaks up for women."

"I think every single female character in the episodic cases of *Portrait Crime Finder* was brilliantly acted."

...

Throughout the entire night, discussions regarding *Portrait Crime Finder* never ceased.

If the discussions on the night of the 3rd only signified a minor breakout for the show, then on the night of the 4th, *Portrait Crime Finder* directly went nuclear.

Its real-time popularity index skyrocketed straight from the top five to the number one spot.

In terms of popularity scores, *Portrait Crime Finder* thoroughly crushed *The Correct Way to Open Independence*.

A web drama had directly overthrown a prime-time television series.

"Oh my god, this is getting ridiculous."

"Wait, how on earth did *Portrait Crime Finder* manage to blow up like this?!"

"A sight not seen in a lifetime: an A-tier web drama actually crushing an S-tier TV series."

"Hahahahaha, *Portrait Crime Finder* deserves this! *The Correct Way to Open Independence*, go eat dirt."

...

On the way to the airport, Lin Xing scrolled through the trending topics online, feeling somewhat caught off guard by the scale of it.

"Brother Xing, *Portrait Crime Finder* has already claimed four trending search spots all by itself, and the data shows our show is ranked number one in real-time topic discussion..."

Xiao Nan said with some excitement: "On Weishi, Bilibili, Xiaohongshu, and other platforms, the hype for *Portrait Crime Finder* is also firmly holding top three positions, and many people have already started editing compilation videos of you..."

"Also, those people who were cursing us out before are now being repeatedly dragged back by netizens to be metaphorically whipped."

Xiao Nan said with a sense of vindication: "That 'Trash Star' character—a bunch of people are tagging him, demanding he fulfill his promise, and right now he's just playing dead. As for that 'Old Wang Movie Reviews'..."

At this point, Xiao Nan looked thoroughly gratified: "He lost 80,000 followers overnight, and all 80,000 of those should be active, loyal followers."

Losing 80,000 active fans was fatal for a film review VIP influencer.

This 'Old Wang Movie Reviews' had already crashed and burned once during *Anti-Gangster Storm*. At that time, many people had dragged him out to mock him and capitalize on his downfall, causing him to lose close to 100,000 followers.

And how did he respond? 'Old Wang Movie Reviews' chose to play dead, silently ghosting his audience for nearly two months, before making his comeback right around March 15th, figuring he would climb back up from wherever he fell. He directly opened fire on Lin Xing.

Old Wang simply refused to believe that Lin Xing could slap him in the face twice.

Furthermore, *Portrait Crime Finder*—whether judged by its screenwriter, director, cast, or even the A+ rating given by Tencent Video—was fundamentally a piece of trash drama.

This wave of strategic advantage completely rested on Old Wang's side.

As it turned out, he got his face slapped hard yet again.

Because Old Wang had put all his eggs in one basket by betting that *Portrait Crime Finder* would bomb, he had published numerous Weibo posts since March 15th, and followed up with several video reviews during the first two or three days of the show's premiere.

In short, the harder he had mocked *Portrait Crime Finder* previously, the harder Old Wang's face was stinging now.

For a film review influencer to crash and burn twice in a row—and both times so thoroughly—meant he was effectively finished and ready to be carried out.

Even from start to finish, Lin Xing hadn't even glanced at 'Old Wang Movie Reviews' once.

To put it in a single phrase: "If Lin Xing were to give Old Wang even a single glance, then Lin Xing would have lost!"

"For this guy to jump around so wildly, he totally brought this on himself."

Xiao Nan said, still somewhat unsatisfied: "His account is completely ruined. Unless he creates a brand-new alternative account and builds it up from scratch, no one will ever buy whatever he says on this account again."

While infamous notoriety could also bring traffic, you had to look at what kind of notoriety it was.

Just like certain actors who acted in terrible movies day in and day out and got cursed out by audiences, yet possessed massive web traffic. After a few projects like that, audiences lost all trust in them, and even when they finally acted in a good movie, no viewers would pay to watch it anymore.

What was the point of that kind of toxic notoriety?

Nobody understood this better than Old Wang.

"You really do have the protagonist halo, don't you?!"

Old Wang roared in fury, gnashing his teeth.

Had he known this outcome beforehand, why on earth would he have gone out of his way to provoke Lin Xing?

If Old Wang was filled with regret, then Zhao Yining's intestines were truly turning green from remorse.

"Sister, do I still have a chance?"

Zhao Yining asked his manager, Ding Chunling, with a pale face.

...

...

(End of this chapter)

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