I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 168 - 168 167. This movie is toxic_1

Chapter 168: 167. This movie is toxic!_1 Chapter 168: 167. This movie is toxic!_1 Zheng Li soon met with the netizens who wanted to confront him offline.

Unexpectedly, everyone was very kind and polite.

Although they seemed to wish they could curse each other’s families out loud during online spats, in person, everyone turned into mild-mannered fatties, only capable of smiling at each other with a chuckle.

After getting their tickets, they entered the movie theater.

As Zheng Li sat down and waited for the screening room to darken, some people still howled to create an atmosphere.

Once the advertisements ended, the movie officially began.

“Current horror movies are really just giving psychological suggestions, using those scary things to create fear, but for someone like me who has seen many corpses, I simply won’t be scared. Those things couldn’t bother me when they were alive, so what can they do to me now that they’re dead?”

Zheng Li said this to someone next to him and then focused on the movie.

One o’clock in the morning.

The movie ended.

During the credits, no one in the audience left early.

The credits rolled quietly, even the cleaning lady didn’t come over to clean.

Zheng Li felt as if he were engulfed in darkness, surrounded by pitch blackness where not even the outline of a hand could be seen.

He was a forensic doctor, frequently dealing with hospitals, and because of this, the movie felt even more immersive to him.

Those corridors, those hospital beds, that equipment—all were familiar to Zheng Li.

He used to joke around with a scalpel in hand and could eat takeout in front of a corpse.

But now, Zheng Li suddenly felt an invisible fear of hospitals.

Every time he closed his eyes, it was as if he were in the corridors of that hospital, with the pungent smell of disinfectant, the cold tile floor, that endless fear entwining around his body like vines, dragging him into a cold abyss.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to leave quickly; he simply couldn’t stand up.

His legs were numb.

Zheng Li had exerted all his strength not to cry out in front of his netizen friends, his expression stiffening as he turned his head.

“Can we… perhaps?”

He saw that the netizen beside him had already shrunk into a ball, shivering on the chair.

Was he crying?

A big guy, about six feet tall, was curled up in his seat with red eyes and a sniffling nose, which looked rather awkward.

After a while, they finally stood up.

They didn’t say a word about the movie, partly because it was beyond their expectations, with almost no flaws to pick at, and more importantly, once they started talking about the plot, those scary images would flood their minds, triggering PTSD.

Leaving the movie theater, the mall was quiet and desolate. Due to concerns about previous incidents, midnight screenings were held on lower floors with exits directly connected to staircases, brightly lit with cinema staff welcoming at the stairwell.

The night wind was cool, and some taxis had come to the mall entrance looking for customers. It wasn’t until the cold autumn wind poured down his collar that Zheng Li felt a bit more alert.

“This movie is poisonous,” he remarked.

The people around him silently agreed.

“We’re planning to go to the internet cafe and pull an all-nighter. I don’t think we can sleep tonight. You in?”

They invited Zheng Li again.

After a moment’s thought, Zheng Li realized that whenever his mind was slightly unoccupied, all those images would flood back. Indeed, he couldn’t sleep.

“Let’s go!”

He looked at the netizens who had been fervently arguing with him online just yesterday, but now seemed like fellow sufferers, and he made a grand gesture.

…

Nobody expected that “Cry,” which had a box office of less than one million on its first day, would skyrocket to over ten million on the second day.

From the perspective of box office alone, it had undoubtedly become the top contender at the Yannan University Student Film Festival.

And as word of mouth spread, more and more people went to the cinemas to watch what was said to be the most thrilling horror film in nearly a decade.

Consequently, the old stories of Nanhua Private Renji Hospital were dug up as well.

Although Lu Ban dealt with all the people who appeared in the movie, making it difficult to discern their original appearance and names, some still connected it with individuals once associated with Nanhua Private Renji Hospital.

Upon this connection, everyone discovered how real the background of this movie was!

The demolition of Nanhua Private Renji Hospital encountered unexplained accidents, so did the hospital in the movie; there were strange rumors about Renji Hospital, and the hospital in the movie had its share of odd tales as well.

This mockumentary-style film seemed like a real documentary!

Suddenly, on various social media platforms, forums, and microblogs, Nanhua Private Renji Hospital became a hot topic. It was like a public frenzy, discussing the eerie aspects and bringing related supernatural topics into the limelight.

For instance, on popular online novel websites, novels such as “Supernatural: Starting from Nanhua Hospital,” “Forbidden Exploration: Blowing Up Nanhua Hospital from the Start,” and “Strange: I Exposed the Secrets of Nanhua Hospital” emerged like mushrooms after rain, riding the coattails of the trending topic.

Then, various people came out of the woodwork, claiming they were once employees or patients of the hospital, and began to share unverifiable strange tales. Suddenly, Nanhua Private Renji Hospital seemed to have become a place teeming with countless malevolent ghosts and evils.

Luckily, the hospital had already been demolished and the construction site fenced off. Still, many internet celebrities visited the site’s perimeter and the brick walls to take selfies and mark their presence.

Of course, there were still more rational people. “Cry” ended with the appearance of an indescribable monster, which was portrayed as the main culprit—an obviously fantastical element. Any sensible person could tell that these stories were made up, as there couldn’t possibly be real monsters in this world, could there?

So, all that talk about the walking dead, the stitched-together doctors, and all that supernatural stuff, it was all fake.

Perhaps the hospital was just built to look a bit more sinister, and due to management issues, accidents had occurred, which is why it became the subject of the film. There were plenty of such private hospitals in need of reform before this one.

Lu Ban was quite happy with this development. The more intense the discussion, the higher the attention, the greater his film’s earnings would be. Reaching a box office of ten million was a breeze. Plus, once the buzz reached a certain level, winning awards would be easy.

Among the films released at the same time, his had the highest box office, the most buzz, and the best reviews. If it didn’t win a single award at the festival, the audience would suspect foul play in the judging process.

This was, in a way, an act of swaying public opinion.

On his second day in Yannan and the third day of the Yannan Film Festival, Lu Ban had already received many interview requests from journalists, but he hadn’t agreed to any interviews yet. Chasing fame and fortune wasn’t Lu Ban’s style.

If there was to be an interview, it should be on the last day of the festival, after having won the awards.

After checking into the hotel, Lu Ban went out onto the streets of Yannan and checked his phone for messages to confirm the address.

He planned to dine with Feng Yu.

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