Chapter 80: Appearing on a Variety Show!

On the day Voice of the Dead surpassed a popularity score of 15,000, all major platforms unanimously concluded: Grape Film had struck gold!

“Why didn’t we just grit our teeth and fight for it back then?”

After Voice of the Dead cast Lu Xu as the male lead, more than one platform expressed interest in signing the series. In the end, Grape Film secured the project thanks to their deep pockets.

At the time, a few senior executives at other platforms thought Grape Film was just throwing money around recklessly. While Voice of the Dead was a decent investment, they doubted it was worth the exorbitant price.

Now, those who had passed up the opportunity regretted it deeply.

“Voice of the Dead was still relatively manageable to compete for. What are we supposed to do about Lu Xu’s next series?”

Imagining a scene where competitors were pulling out all the stops to secure a single drama, the platforms collectively felt a wave of despair.

Wouldn’t it end in a bloody battle?

Grape Film’s luck… was truly exceptional.

In the first half of the year, The Path of Bones had already brought in a significant wave of VIP subscribers. In the second half, Voice of the Dead further extended that momentum.

While the commercial partnerships for The Path of Bones had stayed within reasonable bounds, the mid-show advertisements and brand shoutouts during Voice of the Dead had every platform green with envy.

It was obvious without needing to speculate—Grape Film’s financial report this year would undoubtedly be spectacular.

As Voice of the Dead soared in popularity, Grape Film’s chubby CEO was seen bouncing from one interview to another, shamelessly singing his own praises.

“What’s he so smug about? Always bragging about how he had the sharp eye to recognize Lu Xu’s potential. Wasn’t he saying the same thing about Gu Sinian a year ago?”

“Tch, aside from jacking up prices and disrupting market order, what else has Grape Film ever done?”

Recently, at any meeting where senior executives from various platforms gathered, Grape Film inevitably became the target of sarcastic remarks.

The executives at Grape Film couldn’t care less. After all, the strong always walk alone.

They were terrifyingly strong!

Besides Grape Film, G-brand was also recognized as a major winner in the industry.

In less than a year since signing Lu Xu, both The Path of Bones and Voice of the Dead had become massive hits, catapulting Lu Xu from a promising newcomer to a top-tier star.

Within G-brand, everyone understood that if they were to start pursuing Lu Xu now, the cost would be at least five times what it had been before. Moreover, the brand would face countless competitors vying for his endorsement.

Even within the men’s fashion category, G-brand had several formidable rivals. However, while those competitors were still betting on up-and-coming talents, G-brand could now sit confidently and gracefully atop the metaphorical mountain.

Luxury brands were typically aloof, but G-brand had recently liked several Weibo posts from the Voice of the Dead production team, unable to suppress their urge to show off.

[Who said luxury brands are always so cold and detached?]

[Some celebrities chase after it for years without success, while others don’t even have to lift a finger, and the brands come flocking to them. The disparity is real.]

[And why not mention that while some stars are fading into irrelevance, others are rising to become the hottest names in the industry?]

Lu Xu’s commercial value had doubled yet again. However, he wasn’t the type of celebrity who casually accepted endorsements. Both he and Feiyang Entertainment were extremely selective when it came to collaborations. Even now, with Voice of the Dead exploding in popularity, Lu Xu’s commercial partnerships remained relatively quiet.

This put brands in a particularly difficult position.

Executives and users alike were quick to point fingers, saying, “Why don’t you just get Lu Xu?” But no one seemed to understand how hard it was to secure someone like him.

It wasn’t just about the high asking price—they also had to face an overwhelming amount of competition.

Did people really think Benboerba didn’t want to eliminate Tang Sanzang and his disciples?

During the promotional period for Voice of the Dead, Lu Xu made another appearance on Extraordinary Night. He became one of the rare celebrities in the industry to be featured on the show twice in a single year.

For this episode of Extraordinary Night, Lu Xu appeared alongside Shao Yao. To match the theme of “voice,” the production team arranged a lip-reading and word-guessing game for them.

The result? From start to finish, the two managed to guess only two words correctly: one was “bicycle,” and the other was the foreign word “dancer.”

[…Seriously, these two geniuses! I couldn’t stop laughing!]

[Lu Xu’s mouth was practically cramping from opening so wide, and Shao Yao still couldn’t guess. Then, when it got to the word ‘bicycle,’ Lu Xu clenched his fist in frustration, and Shao Yao finally got it.]

[Ahhhh, the host only gave one English hint, and they guessed ‘dancer.’ I can’t take it anymore!]

[The program team is to blame for not putting ‘night cream’ in the word pool! These two were so hilariously clueless. Where was their brilliance? Their supposed wit?]

On set, Lu Xu and Shao Yao kept their Voice of the Dead costumes—Lu Xu in a Hawaiian-style T-shirt and jeans, and Shao Yao in a formal shirt and slacks. However, their hairstyles had been neatly styled for the show. With the soft lighting from the Extraordinary Night production team, fans were left wishing the two could appear on the show 800 times a year.

Unknowingly handsome is truly handsome, but being aware of one’s own charm often leads to overconfidence. Fortunately, both Lu Xu and Shao Yao fell into the category of people who didn’t bother much with their appearances in private. It was such a waste of their good looks!

The other variety show Lu Xu appeared on was Who is the Culprit?.

This show was the perfect platform to promote Voice of the Dead.

The broadcast schedule for this season of Who is the Culprit? overlapped with that of Voice of the Dead. It was a rare occasion when both a detective-themed variety show and a detective drama were simultaneously trending. The comments section on the official Who is the Culprit? Weibo account was flooded with fans asking the show to invite Lu Xu and Shao Yao.

Then, the new episode of Who is the Culprit? teased that Lu Xu would be appearing.

[Ahhh! Lu Puppy is on two variety shows, triple happiness!]

[What I’m curious about is, with Lu Puppy’s IQ, will he even make it through the first round on Who is the Culprit??]

[Don’t be fooled by his looks, just because Lu Puppy gets bad grades? Who says the puppy has no brains? Puppy’s forehead is huge, okay? Plus, he can even ride a bike!]

…Clearly, the audience’s opinions had an impact on the production team.

The case in this episode was a “sleight of hand” style story, similar to Agatha Christie’s The ABC Murders. The killer had staged a series of events to hide their true intentions, and the real culprit wasn’t any of the ABC suspects, but someone hidden outside the ABC group—D.

Lu Xu was the new guest on the show, and from the very start, the clues pointed toward him.

As a result, the live comments flooded in—

[No way, right?]

[I don’t think Lu Xu has the brainpower to solve the case, but if it’s about arguing, he’s definitely the one to call!]

[Is the production team really going to put such a huge responsibility on Lu Puppy?]

[You can tell Lu Xu is really trying to clear his name…]

The other guests’ thoughts mirrored those of the fans. As more evidence came to light, they naturally began to rule Lu Xu out as the suspect.

Then—

When the voiceover announced the result, the camera panned over each guest participating in that episode of Who is the Culprit?.

When it reached Lu Xu, many fans’ eyes widened in surprise.

Because Lu Xu on camera flashed an evil, spine-chilling smile.

It was a smile even more sinister than Ji Xiuya’s.

While Ji Xiuya’s smile could be described as creepy or twisted, Lu Xu’s expression at that moment conveyed a deep, hidden malice.

[No way, no way, no way?]

[???? Puppy, are you lying to me??]

The answer was revealed—Lu Xu was indeed the real culprit, D, hidden outside of the ABC group. The suspected A was just his distraction.

[Ahhh, Lu Xu, when did you turn bad? How did I not know about this?]

[Honestly, even if I was tricked, I’d gladly be deceived with that final expression of his! Ahhhhhh!]

[@Directors and screenwriters, find Lu Xu to play the villain, the kind full of evil intentions, the kind that’s so wicked it’s impossible to overlook.]

[Upstairs, that’s not possible anymore. Casting a handsome guy as the villain will mess with the audience’s perception of right and wrong. What if, when the protagonist points out the villain, others just say ‘So what?’ What will we do then?]

The viewership for this episode of Who is the Culprit? spiked a little, and Lu Xu’s final evil grin went viral across major platforms.

The fans urging Lu Xu to appear on more variety shows grew even more numerous.

Not only were fans flooding Lu Xu’s Weibo with requests, but they also managed to find and flood Xu Wen’s account, and even Feiyang Entertainment wasn’t spared.

Feiyang Entertainment: “……”

How could a veteran agency like them not know how lucrative variety shows were?

But Lu Xu himself was unwilling!

Some fans even complained that the Who is the Culprit? production team hadn’t done enough. Lu Xu’s evil smile only lasted a few seconds, which wasn’t enough for them to make a short video.

The production team: “……”

If we gave them more footage, wouldn’t that just spread negative energy?

No way, absolutely not.

For this episode, Who is the Culprit? had Lu Xu as a guest, and the next episode brought in Shao Yao—one of the two leads from Voice of the Dead for each episode.

With Lu Xu’s appearance as a precedent, the other guests were extremely cautious with Shao Yao. As soon as they found any evidence, they tried to pin it on him. Fans were no different, flooding the comment section with messages like “There’s only one truth—the killer is Shao Yao.”

However, when the result was revealed, the killer wasn’t Shao Yao at all.

Shao Yao was left feeling as wronged as a two-hundred-pound puppy.

[It’s so tragic, but also so funny.]

[Are you just going to pick on Shao Yao? Do you think we, Shao Yao’s fans, don’t exist? Huh, I’m telling the production team: next time you invite Shao Yao, make sure to b*lly him more. Thanks!]

[Dead from laughter, Lu Xu causes trouble, and Shao Yao takes the blame. Is this the usual dynamic on the Voice of the Dead set?]

[Why is the whole world picking on Shao Yao?! I’m not having it!! I need to watch ‘Dance and Roar’ to de-stress; I can’t go a day without hearing Shao Yao’s rooster crowing.]

The three episodes of the variety shows covered the entire period from the launch of Voice of the Dead to its finale. The first case in Voice of the Dead already had strong popularity, and with the hot memes from the three episodes, the drama’s buzz kept growing.

The final case even showed viewers the moment when Jiang Lin’s character exploded—

The killer was brutal and ruthless, holding a high position, and if not for a series of coincidences, Jiang Lin and Su Yang wouldn’t have been able to track his movements.

It all seemed as if fate had determined it, with the flower shop owner placing flowers in front of his daughter’s grave, breaking the killer’s plan to buy flowers and cover his tracks.

At the exact right moment, his alibi disappeared.

In solving the final case, Voice of the Dead emphasized the concept of cause and effect—each clue was discovered thanks to a previous victim piecing together the puzzle.

One person provided a bit of information, and eventually, it formed a large net that trapped the killer, choking his throat and ensuring he wouldn’t harm others again.

“Someone is pulling your hair, someone is binding your legs, someone is pointing out every scar on your face…”

This line from Jiang Lin became a classic moment in Voice of the Dead, and it solidified his character’s role in the drama.

The final episode of Voice of the Dead officially surpassed a popularity score of 16,000.

This number left many in the industry speechless.

The talent agencies of several first-tier young actors regretted not putting more effort into creating a production to compete with Voice of the Dead. Even if Voice of the Dead still won, there was no way it could have been this successful!

Who could have imagined such a level of popularity?

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