Chapter 155: Irresistible Momentum, the Gods Unleash Their Wrath! / Mentality Shattered, Questioning Life Itself!

With the release of all the New Year seasonal films, the box office competition officially began.

However, the first day appeared rather calm and uneventful.

Although many people online were making snide remarks, the relevant trending searches and the debates between various celebrity fan camps were far less intense than imagined.

Perhaps it was simply because it was only the first day.

Or perhaps some people had already made up their minds in their hearts beforehand.

In fact, after *Ancient Martial Qilin* was released a week early, many people believed that Du Qifeng was most likely going to dominate the field uncontested.

The content of his film was quite decent.

Its word-of-mouth reputation had no negative reviews, and even if it wasn't an explosive success, it was performing very steadily.

In its very first week, it had already grossed over 200 million in box office revenue.

It was among the top tier in the past two years, performing even stronger than Lin Haoming did last year.

Therefore, this was enough to indicate many things.

[Online Review:
Du Qifeng's advantage is already very obvious. To be honest, it's a bit of a disappointment, haha.
Yeah, before the battle could even get intense, it's already reaching the finale?
I haven't even watched Su Mu's *Goodbye Mr. Loser* yet. I'm just waiting for the first batch of brave souls to test the waters. If the word-of-mouth becomes explosive, then I'll go—note this, I said explosive! If it's just averagely good, then I won't watch it!
Do you know how high my standards for comedy are?
Do you guys even know?!]

...
...

Inside the office of Fengjun Entertainment.

The atmosphere felt somewhat stifled.

After seeing Du Qifeng's first-week box office figures, Lin Haoming and Huang Wenshan could already predict the outcome.

At Du Qifeng's current pace, he would probably break his own record of 500 million in box office revenue by the end of the second week.

Initially, they had considered the possibility of him not being a match for Du Qifeng, but they hadn't expected the gap to be this huge.

Perhaps the only thing that could offer Lin Haoming any comfort was that Su Mu's side probably wouldn't be doing much better.

Chances were, Su Mu would turn out to be the biggest loser of the year.

Lin Haoming's gaze was resolute: "It looks like I must go all out next year, otherwise I really won't be able to compete with Du Qifeng."

Huang Wenshan nodded slowly: "We'll just wait for the news from Aolai."

Lin Haoming smiled.

Then he leaned back onto the sofa behind him.

People are sometimes like this: in a competitive environment, if you are not the one at the very bottom, even if you are bound to lose, seeing someone behind you doing even worse somehow makes you feel not quite as terrible.

Thinking of Su Mu's arrogant demeanor at last year's award ceremony, Lin Haoming suddenly felt an urge to see his reaction right away.

He then pulled out his phone, preparing to browse Weibo.

With a hint of contempt in his voice, he muttered: "Did he really think comedy is something anyone can just touch casually? The heavyweights in the industry who can break through with comedy can be counted on one hand. If anyone who tries can do it, then it wouldn't be called comedy...!"

Just as Lin Haoming was halfway through scrolling.

His expression suddenly shifted.

Opposite him, Huang Wenshan had just finished offering a stick of incense to the God of Wealth and turned around to see Lin Haoming's strange reaction.

"Haoming, what's wrong?"

"This..." Lin Haoming was speechless.

At this moment, his brows were tightly furrowed, and his expression grew increasingly abnormal.

His eyes were locked firmly onto the trending search list.

Those few search terms that had suddenly popped out, burning a blazing shade of purple!

The situation seemed to have taken a turn...

...

Inside the Beijing Media building.

At this moment, some members of Du Qifeng's team were already discussing the celebration banquet.

Several people were seated in the office.

Ning Yuyan, Chen Yang, Yang Hao, and manager Zhao Lan were all present.

"Sister Zhao, there probably won't be any formidable contenders in this year's New Year lineup. A whole day has passed, and the backlash isn't as strong as imagined. The opening day box office for Su Mu's comedy was barely over ten million. By the end of the first week, crossing a hundred million would already be considered decent. There's just no comparing it to Brother Feng's film."

Hearing Yang Hao's words, the group remained silent for a long while.

True to what he said, this was most likely going to be the outcome.

Yet for some reason, both Ning Yuyan and Chen Yang felt deep down that something might still happen.

A very strong intuition of it.

Perhaps it was because they had both interacted with Su Mu before.

They just always felt that this person couldn't possibly be limited to this.

After a long silence.

Chen Yang suddenly wore a peculiar expression and then said, "Are you guys going to watch it tonight?"

Ning Yuyan: "Watch what?"

Chen Yang: "Su Mu's *Goodbye Mr. Loser*. Let's rent a VIP booth and go watch it together. It should be well worth seeing."

Ning Yuyan looked skeptical: "Are you sure?"

Yang Hao: "Wait, what do you mean?"

Zhao Lan: "..."

Chen Yang smiled, then took out his phone and shook it: "Sister Zhao, if I were you, I'd go find Du Qifeng right now and tell him not to let his guard down. The tiger is about to leap out and bite someone~."

"!!!"

"???"

As soon as Chen Yang finished speaking.

Everyone's eyes turned in that direction.

The trending searches had been overtaken by a 'new hot term'.

And the most eye-catching purple text consisted of just four characters: Su Mu is invincible!

Without needing to think twice, Zhao Lan immediately stood up and walked out the door.

Back in the room, Ning Yuyan and Yang Hao were still utterly bewildered.

With an expression that suggested he had anticipated everything all along, Chen Yang said, "Let's go, book a private booth and see how Su Mu obliterates everything."

Yang Hao: "???"

Ning Yuyan: "!!!"

At this moment.

Zhao Lan had walked out of the office and headed straight to Du Qifeng's location.

Upon entering,

seeing Du Qifeng's slightly solemn expression,

she understood that Du Qifeng must have already known.

Zhao Lan: "Have you checked the box office data?"

Du Qifeng shook his head, looking somewhat dazed: "I don't know, but... the bite is vicious."

Zhao Lan: "???"

...
...

Weibo Trending Searches:
Hot 1: Su Mu is invincible ↑HOT!
Hot 2: *Goodbye Mr. Loser* is so good!
Hot 3: *Goodbye Mr. Loser* is hilarious!
Hot 4: Su Mu's Charlotte!
Hot 5: Tickets for *Goodbye Mr. Loser* sold out for the third day!
Hot 6......
Hot... Super Topic #Oh my god, *Goodbye Mr. Loser* is simply the ceiling of comedy this year!

In reality, the actual time elapsed was less than two days.

However, counting by the number of screening days, it was two days.

Thus, two days after the release of *Goodbye Mr. Loser*,

it completely erupted!

Without any warning, and with a ferocity that left people completely defenseless!

Indeed, due to the prior influence of *Ancient Martial Qilin* and public skepticism, the numbers had shown no intention of soaring on the first day.

However, by the second day, after several batches of people had watched it,

the reviews and popularity simply took off!

Good things are just like that—a good wine fears no dark alley. No matter how much skepticism there was beforehand, once it became fragrant to a certain degree, people would follow the scent right over!

Favorable reviews for *Goodbye Mr. Loser*

flooded in like a tidal wave, overwhelming everything.

[Online Review:
F***! It's so good, so good! I laughed to death! You must go watch it!
Do you know how high my standards for comedy are? They're as high as Su Mu's movie!
I am a brave water-tester and I have already died, but I wasn't poisoned to death—I was laughed to death by this film!
Su Mu is so talented, this movie is full of punchlines, and I can responsibly say it's all f***ing punchlines! Go buy tickets quickly!
Hey bro above me, let's address each other on our own terms, I'll call you big brother...
Second floor: You can call me dad! Hahaha!
Starting the gags already? Then let's go!]

The comment section had completely exploded.

For a time, no one cared about the competition anymore; people simply began enjoying the memes brought by this comedy, and everyone started joining in on the fun.

Within a few days,

many of the lines had already begun to circulate widely.

Those who hadn't watched it naturally had no idea what they were talking about.

Consequently, many people went to watch the entire movie simply for that one funny punchline!

Following that, after the first week ended, the box office figures for *Goodbye Mr. Loser*

shattered records with jaw-dropping numbers,

directly blowing *Ancient Martial Qilin* out of the water!

It truly shot up like a rocket, acting like a sky-bound firecracker.

[Doumiao Box Office Data /
First Week of New Year Season:]
No. 1: *Goodbye Mr. Loser* ↑ 490 million
No. 2: *Ancient Martial Qilin* (2 weeks) 480 million
No. 3: *Xiaotian's Diary* 189 million
No. 4: *Departure* 76 million
No. 5: *...* 20.2 million
...

As the first-week data was released,

the entire world fell into a dead silence.

Yes, it was that moment when the air suddenly goes quiet.

Some people were dumbfounded.

Some people began to doubt their entire lives.

And even worse, some people suffered a complete mental breakdown.

...

Inside a certain apartment.

Looking out the window, Du Qifeng felt a heavy tightness in his chest.

Just thinking about that figure of 4.9 made it hard for him to breathe.

His backside burned with a sharp pain.

It came too fast and too fiercely.

Giving him no time to react, this shockwave completely shattered his mindset.

The ironic part was that for this New Year season, he had deliberately resorted to underhanded tactics by releasing his film a week early.

His original goal was to crush everyone below him as much as possible.

Yet in the end, after two weeks of busy work, his box office volume couldn't even match what the other guy pulled in four or five days!

To be precise, *Goodbye Mr. Loser* had started taking off on the third day.

And the momentum of this wave was so high and massive

that it left him completely dazed.

Du Qifeng naturally knew what it meant to have his box office blown out of the water in the first week.

The true gap

would begin to manifest in the second week.

Of course,

at this very moment, the most miserable person wasn't him.

It was the one about to be rubbed flat against the ground.

...

Fengjun Media.

There was no longer a shred of incense aura left in the office.

Huang Wenshan stopped worshiping the gods and stopped turning his prayer beads; he just stared blankly at the box office data board.

Opposite him, Lin Haoming was completely dazed.

Damn it!

This was only the first week, and the first week alone reached 490 million, nearly tying with him!

Then what the hell are you even competing for!

Lin Haoming genuinely never expected to lose this disastrously.

Being crushed was one thing, but being thoroughly humiliated was the key point.

How could this box office fly up so fast?

A newcomer entering the film industry, who also chose a comedy genre with a completely different style from his previous work.

Was this reasonable?

No matter how you looked at it, it wasn't reasonable.

That was why, last night, he and Huang Wenshan had gone to watch a screening.

And after coming back, they ended up in their current state.

After an unknown amount of time,

Huang Wenshan suddenly spoke in a gloomy tone: "Look... I f***king told you before... Under the northwest mysterious heaven, Su Mu is a crow landing in a flock of phoenixes! He truly is not a simple character... You insisted on provoking him, why did you have to provoke him?"

Lin Haoming: "..."

...
...

Following the explosive start of the first week,

everyone began frantically praising and recommending *Goodbye Mr. Loser*.

Almost every major theater had every single seat sold out.

A unique 'Charlotte language' gradually formed online.

And immediately after,

the second week continued with an unstoppable momentum.

[Doumiao Second Week Box Office Data Released:]
No. 1: *Goodbye Mr. Loser* ↑ 990 million
No. 2: *Ancient Martial Qilin* (3 weeks) 690 million
No. 3: *Xiaotian's Diary* 209 million
No. 4: *Departure* 99 million
No. 5: *...*

As the data was exposed once again,

everyone was shocked anew.

*Goodbye Mr. Loser* had actually nearly reached 1 billion in box office revenue by its second week.

Many people found it hard to believe.

Yet with the data laid out before them, it was only at this moment that some people finally recalled Su Mu's initial statement.

And savoring it now,

some people suddenly perceived the majestic and heroic aura contained within those words!

[Undefeated in six years since debut, with modest expectations! F***, I'm bowing down to Su Mu, so this is what it feels like!]

[Wait, I just want to ask, how dared this bunch led by Lin Haoming pull that stunt back then...]

[I apologize to Su Mu. I mocked him back then, but now it seems my vision was simply too narrow.]

[Standing at the peak of the mountain like a god, no wonder when he said those words, it felt a bit arrogant—turns out he was standing simply too high... Su Mu is awesome!]

[Watched it for the second time! This comedy is too good, watching it a second time made me want to cry!]

[Second watch!]

...

Huayi Building.

Wang Jun: "Damn, he's really tying 50-50 with him..."

Zhang Huaimou: (乛乛)

PS: Sorry for the late update, but a promise made is a promise kept! Thanks again to Beitong but Seiyuu for the 10,000 reward! Thanks to everyone for your monthly tickets and comments, as well as the support from the little penguins in the group! Bowing in gratitude to you all! I will continue to work hard and write a bit more.
(End of this chapter)