Chapter 73: A New Drama Arrived

Lu Xu observed the drama unfolding at Lin Ge Entertainment for a few days and could only sigh. Although he had once been a part of V-School, the current V-School had evolved to a level he could no longer comprehend.

V-School had even developed new branches, with the VX, VG, and VM series each making waves in their own way.

Lu Xu: “…”

Learning never ends. I’m out.

Meanwhile, Shao Yao gave up after a few days of trying and decided to ride his bike around instead. In his words, he should start with the basics instead of diving straight into the advanced evolution version.

Lu Xu: “…”

#He even summarized his experience.

#Such a clear sense of self-awareness.

In short, Lin Ge Entertainment’s drama lasted for a few days, and the resources in Xie Qingyang and his two teammates’ hands plummeted. Marketing accounts even compiled lists of their losses in endorsements and business deals—total damages had already surpassed eight figures.

The three of them hadn’t been able to withstand scrutiny from the start, but idol filters had previously kept them afloat.

After being dissed by Lu Xu, their filters had already cracked slightly. Now, they had completely shattered. From the stage positioning during the Verse era to the cutthroat rivalry in their independent careers, fans were shocked to realize that the one they once labeled as Verse’s “king of scandals,” Lu Xu, actually had the least dirt on him.

[I’ve known it for a long time. Lu Xu is really popular now, but his life is… super introverted.]

[He’s just been b*llied all along.]

The Verse group fans expressed their guilt towards Lu Xu by spending money to support his endorsements.

As a result, the sales of the brands endorsed by Lu Xu hit a new peak. Z-brand’s men’s shampoo gained an excellent reputation, while G-brand achieved its strongest quarterly performance in the past three years.

After transitioning into an acting career, Lu Xu’s reputation had gradually improved. The only thing that could be considered a “scandal” for him was the material Lin Ge Entertainment deliberately fabricated during his time in Verse.

Some of this dirt had been cleared by Lu Xu himself through his works.

The rest was exposed by the constant revelations from the fans of Xie Qingyang, Gu Sinian, and Meng Qin.

For instance, there were details about Lu Xu’s treatment when he first joined the group, or how he debuted despite insufficient training. After all, it was impossible for an idol group to be completely free of scandals. To fans, an idol being too perfect could itself be seen as a flaw.

Lu Xu had been intentionally positioned by Lin Ge Entertainment as the “flaw” of Verse.

With Lu Xu in the group, fans could enjoy the seemingly flawless performances of the other three members while venting their dissatisfaction with Lin Ge Entertainment.

[For years, Lu Puppy was cursed by so many people, told to ‘just die, just die’!]

[Looking back now, the real culprits were clearly someone else, haha. I did some digging and found that Lu Xu actually cared a lot about Verse.]

[But now, there’s not a single trace of Verse left on his Weibo.]

[…]

Lu Xu had wiped his Weibo not too long ago. Tan Qi vaguely remembered how that event had been a feast for the haters.

At the time, the haters had laughed triumphantly. But now, when the topic came up again, all Tan Qi saw was silence.

Someone who had genuinely loved Verse was crushed and then reborn.

Fortunately… Lu Xu was living well now.

All things considered, the outcome wasn’t bad at all.

Looking at the current state of Verse, Tan Qi even felt that Lu Xu’s timing in deleting his Weibo had been perfect.

Still, for fans, admitting that those three words—not worth it—were true was an incredibly painful experience.

After wrapping up Voice of the Dead, aside from attending events organized by G-brand, Lu Xu participated in several other commercial activities.

During this time, Extraordinary Night also sent an invitation, though this would likely only be realized after Voice of the Dead was officially released.

If all went as planned, Voice of the Dead was expected to air next month.

According to Xu Yan, several platforms had indeed competed for the rights to the show, but in the end, the well-funded Grape Film emerged victorious.

The director couldn’t help but marvel at how Grape Film essentially operated as a “Lu Xu fund”—using the profits from The Path of Bones to finance Voice of the Dead.

However, Grape Film didn’t mind the expense. Dramas starring Lu Xu were now widely regarded in the industry as guaranteed hits.

The success of The Path of Bones, with its unique premise and cast, had even outperformed The Empress, a feat that was once considered almost impossible in the industry.

Naturally, this elevated Lu Xu’s status, giving him a seat at the table.

Grape Film offered Voice of the Dead’s production team a price they simply couldn’t refuse.

Once the release date for Voice of the Dead was finalized, Shao Yao became active again. After overloading himself with V-School lessons, his agent handpicked a pile of scripts for him to review. His next project was likely to be a serious drama—despite his personality being at odds with such works, his features suited the genre remarkably well.

Meanwhile, Lu Xu balanced selecting scripts with promoting Voice of the Dead.

As his second leading role, Voice of the Dead didn’t carry the same level of pressure as The Path of Bones. With the latter breaking records in popularity, Lu Xu could afford to have one or two flops under his belt.

“We didn’t encounter much resistance this time,” Xu Yan remarked. “There aren’t any major productions in this release window.”

Voice of the Dead was slated for an October release, which, in the TV drama market, was considered a fairly solid slot.

Given that The Path of Bones was still holding the top spot for year-round popularity, with no summer drama surpassing it, many people began to believe that the release window wasn’t as critical as the quality of the work itself.

Of course, it was widely acknowledged that the success of The Path of Bones was inextricably linked to The Empress.

Without The Empress stirring up hype, The Path of Bones would never have garnered such a massive amount of attention.

Perhaps because of the precedents set by The Empress, Nine Revolutions, Rising Sun, and The Watchers, many of the highly anticipated major productions in the industry intentionally avoided clashing with the release of Voice of the Dead this time around.

Zhao Jincheng couldn’t help but complain, “There are way too many precedents now, aren’t there?”

Xu Yan replied, “…In reality, Lu Xu has only acted in four dramas.”

Four dramas, each serving as a glaringly brutal precedent. While Lu Xu had achieved fame and success, those four dramas were forever pinned to the pillar of shame.

Even star-studded casts and relentless marketing couldn’t overshadow Lu Xu. From this perspective, Lu Xu seemed unbeatable.

The industry had previously analyzed several failed cases. In summary, those dramas would not have performed so dismally if they hadn’t gone head-to-head with Lu Xu.

Thus, this time around, Grape Film was going all out in marketing Voice of the Dead.

Lu Xu noted that it was rare for him not to see disparaging remarks targeting him during the release of a new drama. The experience was actually… quite novel.

Although it wasn’t entirely absent—

For instance, there was a certain blogger who had published an article titled Why I Don’t Believe in Son of Heaven during its release. Later, when Supreme aired, they wrote Why I Don’t Believe in Supreme.

Now, they had evolved to Why I Don’t Believe in Voice of the Dead.

This so-called “Reason Guy” was somewhat well-known in the industry. Lu Xu, however, summed up his constant disparagement as simply being jealous of the handsome.

The only possible explanation for consistently disliking every drama Lu Xu participated in was precisely this.

Xu Wen: “…Aren’t you being a bit too self-absorbed?”

“I’m not,” Lu Xu denied decisively.

Being dissed like this didn’t anger Lu Xu. In fact, he found the act of persistently doing the same thing over and over somewhat admirable.

Lu Xu had decided to make acting his lifelong career. His hope for “Reason Guy” was that, years later, the blogger’s series of Why I Don’t Believe in XXX could be compiled into a literary collection.

The reason Voice of the Dead was disliked? It was “detached from reality, pure fantasy, catering to the audience’s curiosity.”

Lu Xu: “…”

He earnestly suggested, ‘Could you please not write like this anymore?’

Because before Lu Xu himself had even said a word, the gossiping netizens had already thrown a classic “X Pleasure House” meme at the blogger.

The classics never go out of style.

The promotion for Voice of the Dead started early. Over a month before its release, both Grape Film and the official drama account released two trailers simultaneously.

[Two versions? What a surprise!]

[Voice of the Dead is airing so soon—I feel like they just finished filming!]

[That’s because Lu Puppy’s star power is on a whole different level now.]

Tan Qi remained one of the first fans to watch the trailers for Voice of the Dead.

During the broadcast of My Baby Prince, it had been hard for Tan Qi to find anything related to Lu Xu. Now, there was no need to worry—one quick search would yield a ton of material.

For a while, Tan Qi was obsessed with fan-made edits. She felt that as Lu Xu became more famous, the number of talented fan editors seemed to grow as well.

Even though The Path of Bones had been airing for quite some time, she could still stumble upon new edits regularly.

And because Lu Xu’s acting was strong enough, every edit felt seamless, requiring little to no additional background music to enhance it.

[This is the joy of being a Lu Xu fan,] Tan Qi remarked to her friends, sharing her happiness.

[Go watch the Voice of the Dead trailer! I love the version from the official account, but you can start with Grape Film’s version,] Tan Qi’s friend suggested enthusiastically.

Following the advice, Tan Qi first watched the trailer released by Grape Film.

The opening scene delivered an intense feeling of horror—a corpse bag sinking into the depths of a lake under the cover of night. The lake water was so dark and foreboding it seemed capable of swallowing everything. Blood seeped into the desiccated corpse lying motionless at the lake’s center, its original form long unrecognizable.

Until one day, it resurfaced.

This segment of the trailer was paired with a hauntingly deep and far-reaching melody, reminiscent of a siren’s song, evoking an indescribable sense of sorrow and unease.

Accompanying the music were fragmented sounds of sobbing and pleading, more unsettling than the melody itself.

“…When I first heard the voices of the dead, I thought it was a trial from above. But later, I realized it was a weapon—a gift.”

A male voice narrated off-screen, and Tan Qi instantly recognized it as Lu Xu’s voice.

Though not conventionally melodious, his voice carried clarity and precision, delivering the character’s emotions with striking accuracy.

The drama’s title, Voice of the Dead, likely stemmed from this premise.

The screen transitioned abruptly, plunging into momentary darkness before revealing two lines of text:

[Listen, the dead are speaking.]

[They lead you to the truth.]

The next scene shifted to another case—

A swarm of black rats filled the screen, surrounding a bloodied figure collapsed in a pool of their own blood. The person, unable to scream, could only emit labored breaths as the rats gnawed at their flesh.

It was undeniably a portrayal of the most brutal punishment.

But this horrifying scene was just the beginning.

What followed was a series of similarly gruesome and unsettling moments, each more harrowing than the last.

Perhaps owing to the inclusion of “sound” in its title, Voice of the Dead took full advantage of auditory elements. The gnawing sounds of rodents were so vivid they made one’s scalp tingle, while the camera deliberately lingered on the perspective of the person being devoured.

From this viewpoint, it felt as though the audience themselves were experiencing the agony of the victim.

The visual impact was equally striking.

Then came the third case—an eerie ancestral hall, a conservative community, and an avenger returning after years to settle old scores.

The fourth case…

And finally, the first case Jiang Lin personally experienced.

Tan Qi: “…I’ve been scammed.”

[Wasn’t this supposed to be a less tragic drama? Just watching the trailer, I already feel so, so, so heartbroken!]

[Lu Puppy is practically the ambassador of heavy dramas!!]

[That’s why I told you to watch the official trailer from Voice of the Dead! It’s super sweet,] her friend teased mercilessly.

[Are you lying to me? Ugh!]

[I swear it’s sweet!] Her friend sent a meme of a sad puppy captioned “A good dog is b*llied by others”. [Honestly, after watching the two trailers from Grape Film and the official account, I almost thought they were promoting two different dramas.]

Reluctantly, Tan Qi clicked on the other version of the trailer, her curiosity piqued. The first thing that caught her attention was the flood of comments overlaying the video:

[Jiang Lin has this kind of personality? I thought he’d be another serious character.]

[Lu Xu and Shao Yao have such great chemistry!]

[This version feels way too sunny—finally, my nerves can relax.]

Now, Tan Qi was even more intrigued.

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