I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 167 - 167 166. Midnight showing_1

Chapter 167: 166. Midnight showing_1 Chapter 167: 166. Midnight showing_1 On Weibo, under the topic related to the Yannan University Student Film Festival, discussions about the movies were blazing like fire.

[I just went to see “The Brevity of Spring Night” today, and it really resonated with me. Thinking back to the hard times right after I graduated, I couldn’t help but shed tears.]

[This “Gaokao! Gaokao! Gaokao!” is just too far-fetched. A bunch of high school seniors are neglecting their revision and gossiping about family matters instead. Back in my senior year, we didn’t have all these nonsensical distractions.]

[“Cry” was the biggest surprise for me this time. I couldn’t imagine a horror movie could be made like this. I won’t say more, my closet just moved.]

[The lead actors in “Past Like Smoke” really have a divine romance. It’s so delightful to ship—they’re truly extraordinary!]

[I heard a lot of people didn’t dare to leave the cinema after watching “Cry”. To clarify, they didn’t dare to leave the mall!]

[Let me tell you, “Cry” must be watched in the late-night showing. It’s the most thrilling and immersive when you finish watching at eleven or twelve at night! I won’t say more, I watched it during the day before and kind of regret it, planning to find time to rewatch it at night!]

[“Cry” seems very scary, so someone as timid as me better not go to the cinema. It would be so embarrassing to get frightened.]

Within these topics, there were also some news items. For example, some audience members last night were too scared to take a cab home by themselves after leaving the mall, and since public transportation had stopped, many who lived nearby simply chose to walk home in groups. This led to some midnight drivers thinking they had seen ghosts and calling the police.

There was also an incident where a cinema employee who had screened “Cry” last night was found curled up in the staff lounge this morning. Reportedly, after watching the movie in the lounge, he was too scared to leave or even go to the restroom and just shivered there until dawn.

For young viewers, what the movie is about isn’t that important.

Many people go to the cinema purely out of boredom, to kill time—not for the wine, as the saying goes, but for the chance to hold hands during the movie and for the discussions afterwards.

Most viewers also don’t care much about the specifics of the movie’s logic. As long as the story seems generally coherent, they’re satisfied. Strong visuals and an exciting plot can compensate for a lack of logic.

Then there’s the trending factor. If a movie becomes popular and everyone is watching it, many people will instinctively choose to watch it too, so they have something in common to talk about. For example, if a girl you secretly like posts on her social media that she just saw a certain movie, wouldn’t you be inclined to watch it too, to have a shared topic of conversation?

Thus, “Cry” had really caught the wave of popularity.

When the first day’s box office results were released, most of the movies had similar ticket sales due to comparable scheduling, so their box office takings were more or less the same. However, “Cry” was different—by the second day, all its advanced bookings were full, even for the third and fourth days, and its projected box office had surged to first place.

In response to this situation, both the cinemas and the festival organizers were no fools. By the afternoon of the second day, they had announced additional screenings for “Cry”.

But to be fair, these additional screenings wouldn’t take over the time slots of other films. Instead, they were all scheduled for midnight shows.

Midnight shows—screenings after twelve o’clock—are typically reserved for the premiere of certain films, or for either a compilation of low-rated movies or classic old films, as well as all-night marathon sessions screening three movies from midnight till six in the morning.

Normal people don’t go watch movies at those times.

Who would skip sleep to go to the cinema for an all-nighter?

But this time was an exception.

“Cry” is a horror movie.

A horror movie should be watched late at night for the thrill!

Plus, the cinema’s sound and visuals are top-notch, and watching a horror film in that atmosphere just can’t get any cooler.

So, when the news about the midnight screenings came out, “Cry” saw quite a few ticket returns—people were exchanging their daytime tickets for the midnight one.

Of course, not everything is for everyone, and even the most popular things have their critics.

“Cry,” with its horror and suspense as selling points, naturally faced some who are numb to horror films and seek thrillers, snubbing it with disdain.

On Weibo, some people expressed their opinions.

“I study forensic medicine, and I’ve seen all kinds of corpses. I thought a movie like ‘Cry’ might be just a gimmick, probably terrifying enough for the general public, but it shouldn’t scare me. I was preparing to go try it out with some classmates.”

The person who posted this under the account name Spicy Eggplant is indeed a forensic medicine student named Zheng Li.

He made this post partly because he genuinely felt that most horror movies were bland, and that ‘Cry,’ a film everyone was raving about, was probably just traditional jump-scare material.

On the other hand, he was posturing to grab some attention and heat, just in case it went viral.

However, there were quickly people challenging him in the comments of his post, asking him to go live or make a movie theater challenge.

Zheng Li certainly couldn’t back down, as backing down would make one a wimp. After some online argument, he bought tickets for the night’s midnight show and agreed to watch ‘Cry’ with a few netizens.

Having bought the tickets, Zheng Li decided to play it safe and searched for keywords related to ‘Cry.’

“This isn’t because I’m scared, this is about knowing your enemy to ensure victory in every battle.”

He was looking for analysis or spoilers. He wasn’t afraid of horror movies, but he still couldn’t quite handle the kind of scare that involved a ghost face suddenly popping out. It wasn’t about being psychologically unprepared; it was more that his body would instinctively react.

Zheng Li felt that he wouldn’t be scared at all, but he couldn’t help the body’s reflexive response. He couldn’t suppress his instincts.

So, he wanted to find out in advance if the movie had any of these shock moments to prepare himself, since he couldn’t lose face in a real-life challenge.

However, when Zheng Li searched for information related to ‘Cry,’ he unexpectedly found news about Nanhua Private Renji Hospital, which, according to the synopsis, seemed to be the hospital where the movie was based.

Following the link, Zheng Li saw that it looked like this hospital actually existed?

Reading through the summary of information in the post, and comparing various photos and news articles, he realized something.

“Could this movie be real?”

He felt a chill behind him, after all, it was too realistic. It wasn’t just netizens’ comments, but even the local news had reported on it which didn’t seem fabricated for publicity.

“No way, I can’t look at this stuff anymore, the more I see, the more scared I’ll be later…”

Zheng Li decisively closed the webpage and tried to expel those things from his mind, to stop himself from overthinking.

At night, past eleven, he arrived at the cinema. Surprisingly, the cinema was bustling with noise, as if everyone had gathered here instead of preparing to sleep.

They were all here for the midnight show.

Close to half past eleven, Zheng Li suddenly heard a commotion in front.

He saw that it was the audience from the previous showing of ‘Cry’ coming out.

The audience was silent, seemingly still immersed in the movie, unable to extricate themselves.

One of the girls, being supported by someone next to her, took a few steps then suddenly seemed to see something. Her expression contorted, she stepped back several times, and let out a scream.

“Don’t come over, don’t come over…”

She fell to the ground as if she had seen some terrifying entity.

“Hiss—”

Zheng Li took in a breath. He thought that as a forensic student, he’d seen everything and wouldn’t be easily shocked.

But this was something he truly hadn’t seen before.