Superstar's Development Diary
Chapter 427 - 428: Twilight of the Heroes

Chapter 427: Chapter 428: Twilight of the Heroes

Individual strength can’t compete with team strength, and with such strong support from a nation, it was hard for Sheng Yan not to become popular.

Luckily, Sheng Yan’s acting skills were up to par and he was quite low-key. Additionally, being a key figure in Tonghua Entertainment, domestic media hardly reported any negative news about him, which made his title as a superstar more solid.

However, the only downside was that after becoming a superstar, the movies Sheng Yan starred in had progressively higher box office returns, which drastically raised people’s expectations of him.

When the day came that Sheng Yan’s movies no longer broke box office records, netizens would question him, saying his popularity wasn’t what it used to be.

And if there came a day when a movie Sheng Yan starred in suffered a huge loss at the box office, the voices dissing his regression would only grow louder, even potentially leading to feelings of love turning into hate.

"World" did well in terms of plot and the actors’ performances were all on point, compared to other movies released later that year, its seven-day performance was enough to top the charts.

"World" looked good in every aspect, yet there was one problem: compared to other movies Sheng Yan had starred in, "World" did not perform as well in any aspect.

In cinemas where the number of screenings was the same, "World" had the lowest attendance rate, the fewest people returning for a second viewing, the worst reviews, and the lowest box office...

Even the netizens felt, amid this wave of questioning, that maybe Sheng Yan’s acting was regressing. Although the movie was exciting, it didn’t meet the high expectations they had imagined.

In this wave of public denouncement and questioning, Sheng Yan’s fans from the Imperial Army showed their formidable strength.

Phoenix Dancing in The Sky: "Even if the box office can’t match the previous few movies, the excellence of this one is plain to see. You all only care about ’World’s’ box office performance in Huaxia, why not consider its global performance?

As it stands, ’World’ may have a lower box office than the superstars’ movies released at the beginning of the year from other countries, but that was during the Spring Festival, one of the busiest holidays for Huaxia people, and ’World’ was released on a normal day. Such a comparison is originally unfair, not to mention ’World’ has also performed very well in other countries."

Rice is Loved by Everyone: "Compared to Emperor Sheng’s previous films, ’World’s’ performance indeed isn’t eye-catching, but that’s only when compared to his past glory.

But why don’t you mention the movies of other superstars? Also made by superstars, there are plenty that performed worse than ’World’! Without being released during a holiday, ’World’ still stands proudly among its peers!"

Jian: "Aren’t you all being too harsh on Sheng Yan? He’s only entered the global Star Celebrities List TOP 100, not NO.1! If each of Sheng Yan’s movies had to break the box office record, then the NO.1 throne should be his!"

...

The arguments of the Imperial Army were fierce, aiming to convince with reason.

Their analysis was also of high quality. ’World’ failing to KO the box office of Sheng Yan’s previous films had a lot to do with its release date and current political events.

Moreover, among all the films made by superstars this year, ’World’s’ performance was not weak, just looking at the Huaxia region alone, squeezing into the top five was no problem.

But unfortunately, the internet is a place that can make people lose their sense of reason.

No matter how logical the Imperial Army was, among the vast crowd accustomed to seeing people fail, if ’World’s’ box office didn’t break records, then it was viewed as Sheng Yan regressing.

During a fierce barrage, suddenly a voice emerged, taking over many social platforms and instantly landing in the first position on the trending search list—

#Sheng Yan’s Sunset Years#, exploded in popularity!

In the audience seating at the concert, after He Jinxia finished singing and left the stage, Luo You and Zhang Dayou lost interest in continuing to listen.

They left their VIP seats one after another, struggled out the main entrance, and made their way to a quiet spot outside the stadium.

From a distance, the crowd of fans at the entrance was dense like a swarm of bees; even though they were men, they felt flattened when they emerged.

These fans were those who hadn’t managed to buy tickets, and some had come from nearby specially after hearing about the guests at the concert, just to catch a glimpse of their idol.

Luo You glanced nervously at the crowd in the distance, then turned to Zhang Dayou, "It’s a good thing we disguised ourselves. Otherwise, if we had been recognized, we wouldn’t have been able to get out without getting squished."

Zhang Dayou shook his head and said gleefully, "I heard many people shouting Fat Emperor’s name among them. You’ve appeared in public, so fans might recognize you, but they would definitely not recognize me."

He patted Luo You on the shoulder earnestly, "If you really get surrounded, don’t worry, I will make sure to escape, including your share."

Luo You shrugged helplessly; his image had been revealed to the audience, leaving him without a choice.

Why don’t fans pay attention to the agents of other stars? When it comes to Jinxia, why must everyone associated with her be thoroughly scrutinized by fans?

Several times, he had found reporters secretly taking photos around his apartment, making him afraid to bring his girlfriend of one year home, for fear of frightening her.

If there were any diehard fans of Fat Emperor around, they would undoubtedly say bitterly:

"Isn’t it just because Fat Emperor is too mysterious? Apart from work, he hardly releases any news about his personal life, forcing fans to come to the agent to seek a glimpse of him!"

As for the reporters, that was an even easier explanation, If they couldn’t catch He Jinxia, they would go after the agent and assistant, since He Jinxia was mostly likely with them.

Next to him, Zhang Dayou said with a serious expression, "The situation doesn’t look promising!"

Luo You snapped back to attention, saw him looking at his phone, and quickly took out his own to check.

About ten minutes had passed since they left the arena, and the internet had undergone drastic changes.

Sheng Yan was being dissed, and it had topped the trending searches!

Luo You clicked into #ShengYanPastHisPrime# and noticed traces of a Water Army, although the users’ accounts, despite being of low level, were not throwaways.

Being a real-name platform, traces left by a Water Army are hard to cover on W platforms.

Outsiders might not notice these traces, but insiders could spot them immediately.

Luo You furrowed his brows, "Do the general public really have such a poor perception of Sheng Yan?"

Zhang Dayou thought for a moment, then pulled out a device from his backpack and started tapping on a small keyboard. Soon, he confirmed:

"No, the main force supporting this trending search is coming from overseas servers."

Luo You raised an eyebrow, "Overseas?"

Although W Bo is a Huaxia app, it targets global users, and each country has its own custom version of W Bo, with a global version available as well.

The influx coming from abroad meant that the forces pushing the topic and supporting the trending search were foreign... Instantly, many thoughts crossed Luo You’s mind.

He leaned close to Zhang Dayou’s ear and whispered, "I remember that the annual Star Celebrities List is released on December twelfth, right?"