I Forged the Myth of the Ancient Overlords
Chapter 546 - 546 545. Black red is also red_1

Chapter 546: 545. Black red is also red_1 Chapter 546: 545. Black red is also red_1 In the past, these self-media writers always had references to look to.

For example, if Lu Ban’s film grossed high at the box office, there would naturally be a basic opinion formed: Lu Ban made a good movie.

If the box office is high, the movie must be good—no problem there.

Of course, from here, a contrary opinion could also derive: unmerited success, the movie isn’t good, it’s just the timing and various external factors that led to high box office sales.

With opposition, there’s discussion; with discussion, there’s heat; with heat, there’s high readership; with high readership, there’s high traffic; and with high traffic, there’s money to be made.

In short, the job of self-media is to put forth opinions.

Whether it’s good or bad doesn’t matter; in any case, it must polarize, it must create opposition, and it absolutely cannot be moderate.

Because if someone reads an article of yours that’s lengthy, with both praise and criticism, they’ll feel like it’s no different from saying nothing at all. Isn’t this just nonsense? I already know there’s good and bad, do you need to teach me what to do?

You must either praise to the skies or bash it mercilessly.

In the past, Lu Ban’s movies always had their critics and fans. There’s no need to mention the fans—annual box office champions, top five in historical box office records, sweeping awards at the three major art film festivals; any of these points could be praised.

And there were plenty of criticisms, too.

Some of you might ask, with Lu Ban’s films being so popular and raking in awards, why the criticism? Have these people been dumbed down by Lu Ban’s halo, acting like those foolish characters in fantasy novels who know the protagonist is powerful yet still choose to provoke them, or like masochists who enjoy being slapped in the face daily?

Of course not.

Life is life, work is work.

Lu Ban’s critics might very well be his fans in real life, watching premieres of every one of his films.

But for self-media and public accounts, you need a gimmick. Think about it: amidst a sea of praise, when suddenly someone bashes Lu Ban, wouldn’t you be involuntarily tempted to click and read?

This is why these self-media were all waiting.

Because Lu Ban’s movie contains a lot, everyone is uncertain about their own understanding. If they hastily adopt an opinion and end up unable to sustain it or just blend into the crowd, wouldn’t that be a wasted effort?

Moreover, the movie has no box-office data, and its ratings are surely very high, hard to use as a reference, relying purely on individual interpretation.

So the best strategy at this time is to wait for the first person to break the ice, see what their opinion is, how everyone reacts, and then make targeted revisions.

The common public accounts had prepared more than two drafts ready to go, to be used as the situation demanded.

This is why there were countless articles commenting on the movie right after its release in the past, but this time, not until the next morning did any articles appear.

The title of the article was “Doomsday has arrived, and Lu Ban shows us the despair of humanity.”

The article started off talking about the plot and after a brief description, it began to delve into the main theme.

“…The horror in Lu Ban’s past films stemmed from the unknown, from not knowing where monsters might appear, from the twist and eeriness of everyday life, but this one is different. Volcanoes, typhoons, tsunamis, these natural disasters are certainly terrifying, but in this film, such special effects scenes are better described as exhilarating ‘thrill points’ for the audience…”

“…What truly inspires fear in this film are not these calamities, but the all-too-familiar humans. The measures chosen by the humans in the movie to save the world seem unproblematic at first glance, but as the situation grows more desperate, many people—even the audience—start to feel that the behaviors in the movie are correct. That’s what’s most terrifying…”

“…Imagine this: we see a murderer in a movie and think they are evil, which is normal. If this person murders to rid the world of violence and bring peace, most people might accept their criminal act, showing that we have simple concepts of justice and morality. But this movie places the scene in extreme conditions, testing humanity, bringing viewers into the same dilemma, and their conclusions are astounding, yet, they gain a lot of people’s approval in that context…”

“…There was a classic experiment regarding whether humans would choose to harm others under extreme conditions. Subjects were given a button that would shock another person if they failed to answer a question or disobey. Initially, the subjects maintained their conscience and did not continuously shock the other person, but as the experiment continued, most of them started to accept the measure of shocking the other person. It’s difficult for human nature to maintain its initial integrity in such environments…”

“…We fear because in such circumstances, we truly might become devils. What we fear is not the unknown, but our own mutation. When survival becomes contingent on abandoning humanity and sanity, would you make that choice?”

“…Doomsday is less a disaster movie and more a prophecy that predicts the consequences of what happens when humanity and sanity are cast aside in the face of disaster. After watching this film, I can’t help but feel fortunate that I’m not in such Doomsday, and at the same time, I’ve gained a different understanding of the world. In Lu Ban’s words, my soul has been healed.”

The tone of the article was straightforward—it praised the film.

As this article emerged, commentary articles on “Doomsday” surged. There were both positive and negative reviews; it trended several times within a day.

Even on the well-known RPG website “Got It?”, there was a broad forum war about the movie, with one side agreeing with the views conveyed in Lu Ban’s film, believing that one should never lose humanity and sanity under any circumstance. The other side felt that at critical moments, humanity and sanity could be sacrificed for survival—after all, the film’s setting was just that, a setting.

Lu Ban looked at the System’s cold, indifferent text and the numbers that kept fluctuating within, feeling confident that transforming a hundred million worldviews shouldn’t be a problem.

For many people, if you mention an extreme situation, they won’t agree with it. But if you first present the extreme situation and then moderate it a bit, they might agree.

Lu Ban’s film presented the most extreme scenarios. He didn’t expect everyone to agree with these views, but many would reflect after watching and come to their own conclusions.

This, too, was a transformation of perception.

He shifted his gaze away from the System’s text on the wall and looked towards Feng Yu, who lay on the couch.

Her eyes were tightly closed, appearing to suffer from a high fever.

Lu Ban unzipped Feng Yu’s down jacket.

Then, he saw that inside the down jacket was not an ordinary coat or sweater.

A mass of flesh was slowly melting, moving, about to drip down.