Chu Zhi hung up the phone and let out a soft sigh.
"What's wrong?" Su Shangbai asked, noticing his expression.
"There's just over a month until The Matrix comes out," Chu Zhi said, "and that was a call from Director Davis. He sounded really nervous. He's called me four times this week already. Nothing specific, obviously, he's just anxious."
"Davis is a famous director, right? Why would he be so nervous?" Su Shangbai asked. "I remember he even won the Oscar for Best Director."
"For an investment of three or four hundred million dollars, even an Oscar-winning director gets scared. At this level, if it flops, even Davis would basically fade from the mainstream scene," Chu Zhi explained.
"It's not just a movie's success or failure, it's his entire career hanging in the balance," Su Shangbai nodded, understanding.
"Exactly." Chu Zhi nodded, then asked curiously why Da Bai came to Las Vegas.
"I'm here for business. The client insisted on Las Vegas, so I had no choice," Su Shangbai replied.
Makes sense, the client's always the boss.
"It's been a while since we met. I'm not familiar with this city either, but I arrived a day earlier than you, so tonight it's on me. I'll take you to eat well, drink, and have fun. We'll skip the gambling though," Chu Zhi said.
Da Bai gladly accepted.
Back in China—
"Are you kidding me? Does it have to be this over the top? Blackening Chu Zhi…" Han Jian pondered. Call him a traitor or heartless, it didn't matter. He was taking money from foreign organizations to push historical revisionism.
Previously, Han Jian's work glorified Song Meili as a great feminist pioneer, fighting for China. Or he'd angle to criticize Old Yuan.
To be blunt, what were Old Yuan and Song Meili even in the grand scheme? Why bother targeting a celebrity now? But if money's offered, Han Jian would do anything.
Han Jian found an angle and started spreading it widely on Zhihu, Weibo, and Douyin.
[Feels like Chu Zhi is a little pro-America, a friendly attitude toward Americans.]
[Am I the only one who thinks Chu Zhi's songs aren't that good? Overhyped, doesn't feel worthy.]
[Can someone tell me what's so good about We Are The World? I'm serious, I'm not a music expert, I just don't get it.]
He didn't attack directly. Han Jian was professional. Straight-up slandering would be too crude and could get his account banned. Instead, he set out bait. Anyone slightly displeased with Chu Zhi would chime in.
And just like that, it started to work.
But Han Jian had no experience attacking popular stars; he didn't know how strong the anti-black squads in fandoms were, and he had no idea Little Fruits was a full-on fighter.
No more than three seconds after posting, he got a reply.
athellrones: [Don't get it? That's okay. Everyone has their own taste. On this long journey of life, you'll meet people who share your interests and people who don't. We must respect individual differences. I wish you well in the future. Farewell, tasteless thing!]
A signal to battle. Little Fruits and other netizens flooded in.
Little Fruits aside, random users left comments like:
"Bro, your standards are really high. Not even talking about New China style, but rock, soul, love songs—his range is insane."
"Chu Zhi overhyped? Nah."
"I don't follow celebrities, but I agree with the fandom: there are only two kinds of stars in the world—Chu Zhi, and everyone else."
Not only that, Wang Yuan noticed suspicious activity. Normally there'd be doubts, but with hundreds of topics and thousands of discussions at once, something wasn't right.
So Wang Yuan had the tech team dig to find the culprit.
"Could it be a rival? No way. Xiao Jiu doesn't have rivals," Wang Yuan thought, standing behind the tech staff.
The director hovered behind them. The techs were nervous, like students being monitored during an exam, but soon they found multiple clues.
After about two hours, Aiguo's company traced the culprit: Wiki Media, a company organizing Chinese Wikipedia, with over three million followers on Weibo and Douyin.
They also discovered Wiki Media was involved in the World Democracy Conference held in Taiwan.
"A traitor company, of course," Wang Yuan realized.
Anyone active online knows the World Democracy Conference is run by America's NED, funding pro-American groups in China. Bad intentions all around.
"Should we report to 12339?" a tech staff asked.
12339 is China's national security reporting platform with a 500,000-yuan reward.
Wang Yuan thought for a moment, then said, "I'll discuss it with Xiao Jiu first, see what he wants to do."
Meanwhile, Chu Zhi was happily editing videos. Following Fei Ge's suggestion, he planned to use concert footage as an MV and do the post-production himself.
Especially satisfying was filling the screen with "9s." Truly, the Emperor Beast's taste differed from typical Gen Z aesthetics.
"Jiu Jiu Daughter Red, brewing an eighteen-year dream…" Seeing the 9s, Chu Zhi suddenly remembered this Earth song.
"What's the name again?" he asked the system.
[Jiu Mei.]
"Huh? That doesn't sound right," Chu Zhi frowned.
[Jiu Jiu on a sunny day, eighteen-year-old brother sitting by the river. Jiu Jiu Daughter Red, brewing an eighteen-year dream. Jiu Mei, Jiu Mei, pretty little sister…] the system sang in its cold, mechanical voice.
The first two lines fit, but the last felt stitched on.
Before he could ponder more, his phone rang. Wang Yuan.
After Wang Yuan explained the situation, Chu Zhi considered the money: some could be taken, some absolutely must not.
"Got it. The propaganda department plans to clean up the internet. I'm nominally an inspector, so I'll propose taking care of these cash-hungry media outlets," Chu Zhi said.
This kind of internet cleanup is usually run by propaganda with cultural tourism assistance. Chu Zhi could serve as advisor, but he was also a Guo Wu Yuan councilor.
Wang Yuan nodded. "Shut down all their accounts. Time to teach them a lesson."
"Account bans aren't enough. Taking money to spread unsafe opinions is clearly illegal. Send them in," Chu Zhi said.
Sending them in? Even better. Wang Yuan wasn't worried about national enforcement; the state could handle the internet's worst.
After hanging up, Chu Zhi prepared to call the supervising leader to implement the plan.
Half an hour later, Xiao Zhuzi knocked to remind him it was almost time.
"Okay, I'll wash up," Chu Zhi said, saving his work before heading to the sink.
Xiao Zhuzi packed the room, organized the computer and luggage, then went downstairs to check out, leaving perfect timing for the airport.
They had a shoot in Las Vegas. The day after and the day of the Grammys, they stayed at the Venetian.
What ad shoot? Sands Group's brand promotion. Yes, the one with the Venetian and Sands Expo.
Sands often hires stars. The previous spokesperson was Akenda, before that Beckham. They paid $6 million per year for Nevada-only promotion, not exclusive, just Venetian ads.
Why Nevada only? Simple. Tourists come for casinos. Sands aims to capture visitors from Caesars, Bellagio, MGM—all casinos. Caesars, especially, was the prime filming location for 70s-80s movies.
The shoot was at the Venetian. Huang Yinguo, Xu Xiang, Xiao Zhuzi—all had free stays. Chu Zhi switched hotels.
In Vegas, he saw something amusing: Horman lost two million at MGM.
Apparently, he regretted donating a million, tried to win it back at the tables, and instead lost over two million. Then he donated two million to charity.
"No reason. I figured losing two million at the table helps no one, but donating can help many. So I donated," the Review Paper reported.
Chu Zhi thought that wasn't Horman's exact words; no "fuck" or "bullshit" in the quote.
"Mr. Chu Zhi, can we interview you? We're the Las Vegas News." Upon arriving at McCarran Airport, he was immediately recognized, despite a cap and mask.
Xiao Zhuzi blocked him from stepping forward. The two journalists quickly showed IDs.
They were sharp-eyed. Not surprising—they waited at the airport for a star.
Xiao Zhuzi checked: Las Vegas News is a Chinese-language newspaper in Nevada, relying on the overseas Chinese online community.
"I'm pressed for time for check-in," Chu Zhi said, "so three questions, please. I'll answer three."
The white journalist set up the camera, the Chinese one quickly thought of questions.
"Thank you, Mr. Chu Zhi. First, We Are The World is hailed as the best gospel song globally. Your thoughts?" Xiao Hua asked.
"Music appreciation is subjective. I'm grateful to fans who think it's the best. Beyond that, I'll let time judge the song," Chu Zhi replied evenly.
Up close, he was stunning… nope, not now! Xiao Hua forcibly reset her brain, reminding herself to focus on filming. She glanced at Lez, who was staring.
Elbow nudge. Lez refocused.
Chu Zhi clearly had immense appeal to foreign men too.
"Second, George Robdrick of the US National Academy of Recording Arts believes Is It Peace? will be the most important album of the 21st century. Do you think you can surpass yourself?" Xiao Hua asked.
He didn't care about sales. "Except for my first two years, I never check sales. I care about expression. Is It Peace? is anti-war, The One Gazed Upon by Gods celebrates courage to live, Chu Ci · Nine Songs promotes Chinese culture. Surpassing Is It Peace? is meaningless—they're not the same core."
Shiny… who's showing off? Xiao Hua thought. Not caring about sales, just like Jack Ma saying "I don't care about money." Obvious, but irrefutable.
Ahem. She coughed to get attention.
Lez couldn't help but ask, "Mr. Chu Zhi, have you had plastic surgery?"
What the hell! Xiao Hua wanted to smooth things over.
"Third question?" Chu Zhi smiled, unfazed.
Lez quickly shook his head. "I just don't get it. If natural, why no flaws at all?"
"Which is more beautiful, man-made or natural?" Chu Zhi countered.
Humans create incredible buildings, but compared to nature's evolution? Night and day. Lez got the hint.
"Boss, time to board," Xiao Zhuzi urged.
"Wait a moment," Chu Zhi told the reporters. "Third question."
Pressure. Xiao Hua panicked, blurting, "Any message for your fans?"
Big question. Amateurish journalism.
Chu Zhi replied, "Above death, every day alive is a flower. I hope Little Fruits do what they love and enjoy life."
After answering all three, he said, "Sorry, I have to go."
"Thank you, Mr. Chu Zhi. Sorry, sorry." Xiao Hua thanked and apologized—thanked for taking time to be interviewed, apologized for delaying check-in.