I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 519 - 519 518. Urban Legend_1

Chapter 519: 518. Urban Legend_1 Chapter 519: 518. Urban Legend_1 Domestically, in a well-known Chinese-language forum’s general discussion area.

Among a mix of nutritious and not-so-nutritious posts, a new post suddenly appeared.

[Supernatural Event, the Ghost of the Ecological Park!]

Clicking in, one could see a long paragraph from the original poster.

[…I’m telling you, this is real, I saw a ghost on my usual way home! I noticed a new shop appearing on the street, went over out of curiosity, and found it was a botanical garden with all sorts of plants, animals, and a woman who even educated me about ecological and environmental matters. But when I went to check it out the next day, everything was gone!]

The replies below were very real as well.

[No pictures, no truth, you gotta post pictures or it’s hard for us to believe you.]

[Did you encounter an environmental princess who wants you to become vegetarian in the future?]

[Are you sure you didn’t run into a lunatic or something?]

[I’ve had a similar experience; later, that woman said if I gave her 648 yuan, she could fulfill my wish. You should try sending the money, OP.]

[Poor writing skills, there’s no scary atmosphere at all, go back and rewrite.]

Normally, this post should have, like countless others, received no response after a while and gradually disappeared from view.

But with some comments, this post gradually started to gain popularity.

[Damn, I thought I was just drunk before, I saw the same thing, a place called Ecological Park with a cute little girl. Why did I forget to take a picture then?]

[Shocking, my cousin told me about something similar yesterday, she said she encountered some Ecological Park and even asked me to take her to the city’s zoo this weekend, interrupting my gaming time!]

[Are you guys making this up, or is it a bunch of alt accounts boosting traffic?]

[Yeah, release your group number, let’s all make money together!]

[This morning when I was going to work, I saw an Ecological Park as soon as I left the subway station, right in the food court opposite our office. I went in and had a look, and the girl inside introduced everything passionately. When I wanted to take my colleagues to see it at noon, I found I just couldn’t find it, really spooky.]

[Speaking of which, I’ve seen similar things mentioned on a foreign website I follow. If you say domestic postings are all planted, surely the foreign ones can’t be fake as well?]

[I know, this is a form of collective unconscious delusion, meaning people might embellish some memories, and when someone else talks about it, you subconsciously think you have experienced something similar. Like if someone didn’t do well on a test and failed, or got rejected after confessing their feelings, maybe you never experienced it, but you imagine yourself having done so after listening to others.]

[Above, failing an exam really is failing, and getting turned down really is being rejected. Promise me, don’t lie to yourself, okay?]

Initially, there were some replies agreeing with the original poster, and everyone thought it was just those seeking attention for traffic on the forum. However, as more and more people with similar experiences came forward, and similar statements also appeared on foreign social media, the content of this post seemed to become a bit more credible.

[The Little Girl of the Ecological Park] gradually became one of the urban legends in the forum circles.

At the same time, Lu Ban had produced the initial promotional video and posted a Weibo message on the Project Silence.

[May 1st]

This was the simple phrase, accompanied by a box of master tapes used for copying, sparking imagination.

In the Weibo comments, within minutes there were hundreds of messages.

[This has got to be a new work, 100% sure!]

[Damn, Director Lu, I’ve been waiting for your new movie for so long!]

[Forget it, it’s another movie tricking people into watching animal abuse, I swear I’ll never go to a cinema to see his movie again in this lifetime!]

[Is it premiering on May 1st? Impossible, I think it’s more likely they’ll release the news on May 1st.]

[I said it, what Lu Ban did with some real-life gaming, flashy but meaningless, is really back to basics with movie-making!]

[I only went to see his last movie after it was spoiled for me, this time I’m definitely going to the premiere!]

[Is Lu Ban aiming for the global box office record with this new one, proving his strength?]

The news of Lu Ban’s new project spread quickly around the globe; after all, one of his previous movies was among the top five global box office hits, and another had swept awards at three major art film festivals. Having achieved either one would have made Lu Ban an outstanding commercial or artistic director. But now, with both achievements combined, Lu Ban’s place in history became hard to define.

After all, compared to directors whose every movie is legendary, achieving great success both in box office and critical acclaim, Lu Ban was still young, and no one knew if he might fail in the future.

But even if Lu Ban were to fail later on, his current achievements would ensure him a special topic in film history textbooks and turn him into an exam point for students, which was quite subtle.

Most serious media outlets avoided comparing Lu Ban with other directors when assessing him because it was difficult to weigh.

A few media outlets that liked to stir things up were fond of tearing down some to hype up others.

[Rising Director Lu Ban Set to Become Number One in History]

[A director from the East, on the verge of completing his film legend]

[Where do other directors fall short compared to Lu Ban?]

Headlines and contents like these that compared Lu Ban with other successful directors would either lavish excessive praise on him or elevate him to an unattainable height, denigrating other directors and their works to the point of worthlessness, which caused a lot of opposition.

The mindset of many people was like this: if you say someone is the greatest in history, most people would have objections and would want to discuss the strengths and historical standing.

If you take a step back and say someone is very impressive and ranks well in history, there would be far fewer detractors.

Of course, many were just binary thinkers, believing things to be either the best or the worst, with no room for other opinions.

Lu Ban didn’t care about these comments; he just felt that having his name in the film-related textbooks wasn’t enough for what he was doing now.

What he was working on was securing his name in history books, having an entire chapter dedicated to telling his story, and becoming the bane of students’ exams.

Lu Ban respected all the pioneers.

But now it was a new era.

In the face of Foreign Domain’s Pollution, arguing about these things was pointless; better to have everyone watch his movie instead.

May 1st, midnight.

Project Silence updated a Weibo message, and at the same time, all its video website accounts synchronized a new video, just over a minute long; it was a trailer.

Contrary to many people’s expectations, Lu Ban’s new work was a disaster movie.

*

Happy Spring Festival to everyone, new year, new month, seeking recommendations and monthly votes!