Chapter 59: Opening Day Box Office Released, Let the Bullet Fly for a While

[Just found out about this movie and I'm so relieved. A relative of mine was lured to Southeast Asia by a shell company back in February, and the person who tricked him was a colleague he had worked with for a whole year. Out of a group of eighty people sent there, he was the only one scammed. It was only later that we found out he was treated like a piglet and sold to a compound boss for two hundred thousand.

The line Shang Shi said in the movie left a deep impression on me: a person has two hearts—a heart of greed and a heart of unwillingness. Either one can push you into an abyss. Up until now, my relative could make a call once a week at first, but now there is complete silence. I hope everyone takes this as a warning and never trusts anyone abroad! Listening to Shang Shi's description, it feels like the film portrayed it quite nicely; the reality is that nothing can be done. I hope everyone stays safe and avoids falling for scams!]

"This is also why I must recommend this movie because even if just one person listens, saving one person means saving a whole family!"

"The reality is that most people end up in shallow earthen pits behind the mountain!"

"Ah, this made it to the trending searches. Eighty people scammed. Someone had a guard up, overheard the phone call, and recorded it. A squad leader scouted the path and the leader went first, and out of eighty people, only one was scammed. How could something that caused such a huge uproar still not be rescued? I thought they were saved. It trended several times!"

"Not yet. There's nothing we can do. At first, he could make a call once a week, but now there's been no news for over half a year. Anyway, inside there, he fights with dogs for food every day. It's really miserable. You can't speak freely either, with armed guards watching nearby. I just hope he can return safely. He still has a son in elementary school, and his elderly parents are raising the child at home. They divorced a few years ago too. It's really tough."

[I had the exact same experience as the uploader. I planned to go see *Glorious Era* with my classmate, but the theater announced it was unavailable. My classmate didn't want to bother because the two of us had other plans, and being in the county seat, it was far from other theaters, so we had no choice but to watch *No More Bets*. I didn't expect it to be super, super good!!! Totally worth the ticket price!!!

And it conveys the correct values; the storyline is not boring. What I like most is the multidimensional portrayal of characters in the movie. Although there is a distinction between right and wrong, there are no absolute good guys or bad guys. A Cai letting Anna go, Lu Bingkun ultimately hoping Pan Sheng would send his daughter away, and Anna's repentance are all reflections of this.]

"Same! I went to see it too, but not by accident—I went purely to support Frog Brother! I was pleasantly surprised! And the best part is that this movie is truly full of details; many shots are deeply metaphorical, and it's actually very restrained. Including the scene where the manager played by Cheng Cheng makes Anna kneel down, which is a metaphor for sexual assault, and that segment at the police station—it's such an implicit expression technique!"

[As a die-hard anti-fan, I am actually moved to tears! Every actor in this movie is incredible, portraying the kindness, gentleness, greed, and madness of human nature to the bone.

Especially since this production is so passionate and moving both on and off screen! In the story, Pan Sheng and Wen Lian escape death, and the Tianxia police rescue the victims. Off screen, before the film's release, Frog Brother, Wen Lian, Li Yang, and the rest were written off by everyone, yet they brutally shattered all doubts and exceeded everyone's expectations! They are simply amazing!]

"Frog Brother mighty!"

"Let me tell you something even more terrifying! From filming to release, this movie took only a short three months! Frog Brother is definitely a quick shooter, holy crap!"

"Oh my god, I wouldn't have noticed if you hadn't mentioned it. Can you make a movie of this quality in three months?"

"I'm an anti-fan too, buying my ticket tomorrow!"

"Qua!"

In the comment section, users who had already watched *No More Bets* were cheering wildly! Users who hadn't watched *No More Bets* were completely dumbfounded:

What is going on?

Could *No More Bets* really be that good? Is Cheng Cheng's acting really as god-like as they are hyping it up to be?

"Well—shall we buy a ticket to see it tomorrow then?", many users found this thought crossing their minds.

——

286 million!
292 million!
298 million!
301 million!

With three minutes left until midnight, *Glorious Era* finally managed to break the 300 million mark!

Inside the office, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

However, Lü Zhuofeng's expression was not looking good at all!

Originally!
Originally, today was supposed to break his personal record for the highest box office opening day, but it was all ruined by that damn "technical glitch"! That was a fatal flaw in his meticulously planned strategy!

And the technical glitch wasn't just once! It was twice!

Damn Quanri!
Damn *No More Bets*!

For no reason, Lü Zhuofeng transferred all his anger onto *No More Bets*.

If not for *No More Bets*, if not for it stealing box office revenue during the "technical glitch," how could *Glorious Era* have struggled so hard to cross three million?

If not for the fact that during the technical glitch, *No More Bets* was the only watchable thing, how else would the audience have been given an alternative choice?!

The box office earnings of *No More Bets* were all supposed to be my box office earnings!

Lü Zhuofeng roared and howled internally!

Yet, while he was angry, furious, and resentful, he never once considered that *No More Bets* wasn't even originally scheduled for the National Day holiday slot; it was entirely because of him that *No More Bets* was pushed up to the National Day slot.

But he could not possibly think of that, nor was he willing to.

I am the number one director in the country! How could I possibly be wrong?!

The entire office fell into a heavy atmosphere because of Lü Zhuofeng's expression.

Those who wanted to celebrate stopped; those who wanted to cheer swallowed it back.

Heavy dark clouds seemed to weigh on everyone's mind.

Zhao Wenliang patted Lü Zhuofeng on the shoulder and comforted him:

"Zhuofeng, we still have next time. You are the most outstanding director in the country; your talent and hard work are unmatched. Although we failed to break the record this time, didn't we take first place? Now the opening day box office champion is already ours. Moving forward, what we need to do is solidify our position and leave other films far behind."

Lü Zhuofeng took a deep breath: "Wenliang, I'm counting on you."

Zhao Wenliang assured him: "Don't worry, *Comical Road* is not to be feared, *Flames of War* is not to be feared, and *No More Bets* is nothing more than a minor skin rash!"

When mentioning *No More Bets*, Zhao Wenliang even let out a disdainful scoff:

"External circumstances only gave *No More Bets* a lucky break to scrape together this meager box office when trouble hit our screening, and from here on out, it probably lacks staying power anyway. How can such an opportunistic, low-quality movie compare to our work? The eyes of the audience are discerning; they won't be fooled by this kind of film. Our *Glorious Era* is the true box office guarantee, the masterpiece in the hearts of the audience."

"Only movies with grand casts and renowned directors like *Flames of War* and *Comical Road* are worthy of being our competitors!"

"As for a movie like *No More Bets*, we don't need to pay it much attention at all!"

——

00:00, the box office results for the first day of the National Day holiday finally settled.

*Glorious Era* led the National Day holiday box office with 305 million.

Closely following behind was *Comical Road*, reaching 275 million. Although there was a certain gap with *Glorious Era*, it still demonstrated its impressive strength.

Meanwhile, *Flames of War* ranked third with a box office of 201 million, trailing behind the top two.

Compared to the top three, the box office performance of *No More Bets* looked rather dismal, totaling only 62 million.

——

*Comical Road*.

Ning Shan's eyes flashed with light:

"275 million, only 30 million short. Right now, our movie's online word-of-mouth is better than *Glorious Era*'s. Over the next month, there's a strong possibility we might surpass them!"

——

*Flames of War*.

Ma Qibin's eyes surged with reluctance and anger: "How can there be a hundred million difference?! Fine, fine, fine, I refuse to believe that opening day box office represents everything! Just you wait and see!"

——

The opening day box office results were out.

There was a brief silence in the group chat, and everyone's mood was rather heavy.

It was Beret who first broke the deadlock, saying:

"Actually, 62 million at the box office is already very good. We're only 30 million away from 100 million, and this was achieved while caught in the crossfire of three blockbuster giants: *Glorious Era*, *Flames of War*, and *Comical Road*. This alone proves that our movie is excellent!"

Though he said that, Beret felt terrible inside:

If this were an ordinary movie, achieving 62 million while sandwiched between three blockbusters like *Glorious Era*, *Flames of War*, and *Comical Road*, he would definitely jump for joy!

If he felt even the slightest bit unsatisfied, it would mean he was being greedy and ungrateful.

However, his expectations for *No More Bets* were much higher than this!

He went to watch the other three movies today as well. Not to say *No More Bets* utterly crushed them, but it was at least absolute equal in quality! Yet precisely because of that, he found 62 million so hard to accept.

Clearly—clearly *No More Bets* wasn't lacking anywhere!

Clearly *No More Bets* was fantastic!

Special effects, acting, theme, plot—compared to the other three movies, it was superior in every way. Why on earth did *No More Bets* get the lowest box office?!

He even caught himself thinking: if *No More Bets* hadn't been moved up to the National Day holiday slot, would its performance have been better than this?

Yan Gou'er was afraid Cheng Cheng would be upset, so she immediately chimed in: "Yeah, Director Dao is right. 62 million is already a great start. After all, this is our first movie, and it's totally normal for people to lack confidence in us. I don't think we should be disappointed; we should be happy!"

"Yeah! Exactly!"

Including Wen Lian, Li Yang, Meng Cai, Qi Hao, and others, everyone else chimed in as well.

They knew that compared to anyone else, the person least willing to see this result was definitely Cheng Cheng.

For this movie, he really gave too much!

More than all of them combined!

Yet Cheng Cheng only posted a single, seemingly baffling sentence:

"Let the bullets fly a little longer!"

Day one box office relies on star power and hype, but day two box office depends entirely on word-of-mouth.