Thousands of years later, humanity has divided history into three major eras: the Ancient Earth Era, the Space Era, and the current Galactic Era.
Xize, as an “ancestor” reborn from the Ancient Earth Era, sometimes really can’t understand how the brains of people from the future work. The internet users today seem quite different from those in his time. This phenomenon of idol worship where everyone seems to unite over a celebrity—tsk tsk—he had never seen anything like it before.
Xize held a mobile light screen, scrolling through web pages, and saw that the followers on his official website had exceeded 35 million. His feelings were mixed—happy because he became famous overnight and was so popular right after his debut, but sad because—damn it, he had nothing to do with Arnold!
Since Xize didn’t have a social media account, he used Jian Anning’s account to log in to FW. As soon as he logged in, he saw a popular picture of him and Arnold standing together. At first glance, he was puzzled about how the photo got posted, but when he opened it, he realized it was actually a GIF.
The image wasn’t very clear—whoever took it probably had shaky hands. The GIF went like this: at first, he was smiling directly at the camera, but after a brief, puzzled pause, he suddenly turned his head, just in time to meet Arnold face-to-face.
Xize didn’t think much of the image at first. Back then, Arnold had just asked whether he couldn’t act or didn’t want to act. As a straightforward guy without a complicated thought process, Xize’s answer was simple: “I’ve never acted before, so I’m afraid I’ll mess it up.”
After giving his answer, Xize had just nodded seriously, indicating he understood, and then walked away.
See? It was a perfectly innocent exchange, nothing questionable at all!
But when he clicked open the comment section and saw the top comment—
[Look closely, everyone!! Isn’t Xize in the video way better looking than in the photos? When he smiles at the camera, don’t you all feel like retreating to your beds to, ahem? But! That’s! Not! The! Point! The point is what happens next! Arnold walks toward Xize. As a male idol who’s been cool, handsome, and aloof for so many years, when has Arnold ever actively approached someone, much less gotten this close?! And another hint: slow the video down by 0.5 seconds. What do you see when Xize turns to meet Arnold’s gaze?!?]
Xize slowed the GIF down by 0.5 seconds himself and still… saw nothing!
What did you all see?
Xize scrolled through the tens of thousands of comments under that top post, and all the replies were saying:
[We saw it! OP, we saw it!! We know, we all know!!]
[Already, um, done! OP, you’re the best. We all get it!]
[You understand, I understand, let’s hope Arnold and Xize understand too.]
…
What exactly do you understand?! Xize couldn’t be blamed for being slow to react. He never intended to associate himself with Arnold in the first place. At first, he naively thought slowing the GIF by 0.5 seconds might reveal something meaningful. But after reading a few more comments, he suddenly realized—dammit, this GIF was being used to imply that Arnold and he were gazing affectionately at each other!
After realizing the misunderstanding, Xize quietly closed the light screen, lit a candle for himself in his heart, and then comforted himself. Well, if this were still thousands of years ago, with a face like his, there would probably still be fangirls fantasizing about him. After all, being a celebrity means bearing that crown and dealing with its weight. He just debuted, and so many people already like and support him. He should be grateful to his fans for their… fantasies.
In this respect, Xize and Arnold were quite level-headed, clear-minded, and rational. However, if another newbie had just debuted and was being linked with Arnold, they might have let it go to their head.
But at this point, Jian Anning was about to lose her calmness and rationality. TV stations, movie programs, entertainment talk shows—they were all reaching out to her. Some wanted Xize to audition, others wanted to create a show just for him. There were offers for TV dramas, commercials, and even an emotional interview program just for Xize… ˍ(：」∠)ˍ
Jian Anning turned down as many offers as she could. Among them were many high-profile shows with excellent ratings, and some offers came from famous directors of both TV dramas and movies. When she turned them down, she could almost feel the pain in her flesh.
But there was no other choice. Xize was just one person, and he couldn’t handle everything. They couldn’t disrupt the filming schedule for Dragon Sparrow, so the rest of the work had to align with the movie’s shooting schedule. Fortunately, Player wouldn’t start filming for a while, so there wasn’t too much work right now. They could still take on some other projects.
Initially, Jian Anning carefully selected only one endorsement and two scripts. Xize considered the endorsement but worried that participating in product launches and events might clash with the shooting schedule for Dragon Sparrow. In the end, he turned it down, leaving only the two scripts to choose from. Follow the newest chapters on g.com.
The more Jian Anning worked with Xize, the more she realized how talented he was. Sometimes, she even wondered how someone so talented and good-looking had only become famous at 19. With the internet being so widespread, his photos should have gone viral long ago. But now wasn’t the time to dwell on that. Jian Anning said to Xize, “Since Dragon Sparrow won’t air until mid-to-late October, and you’ve already debuted, it’d be good to have some works appear in the public eye beforehand.”
Xize flipped through the scripts in his hand. “So, a web series is the best option.” Back in Xize’s time, web series were just in their infancy. Now, they had become a perfectly commercialized operation: short filming cycles, low investment, excellent scripts, and quick approvals. Most importantly, they had a unique revenue model. Viewers had to pay to watch, and since it was a mature business model, viewer loyalty was strong, and people were already accustomed to paying for web series.
Moreover, because web series catered directly to paying viewers, actors’ pay wasn’t calculated per episode but instead by profit-sharing. If the series had high viewership, the earnings could be quite substantial. Last year, a professional team had analyzed the earnings from web series, and the results showed that the top-ranking web series’ profit-sharing revenue exceeded that of an A-list movie star’s fee for a film!
A short production cycle, fast release, and the ability to choose from a wide range of good scripts—Xize was full of enthusiasm for his future work in the entertainment industry.
He had two scripts in hand, both for web series. One was set to start filming soon, while the other was a web series reportedly invested in by Silver Fox, specifically created for Xize. The screenwriter and production team had produced last year’s top-ranked web series.
Since the second series was specifically tailored for Xize, there wouldn’t be any scheduling conflicts, and the planned filming start was two months away.
The other web series was episodic, with future episodes depending on viewership. If the viewership was too low, the script would be dropped, and no more episodes would be made. If the viewership was good, they would continue filming. Some episodic series had three episodes, some six, and others even dozens. The key was the online viewership.
Jian Anning had chosen this web series from many offers because, as an agent, she had a unique understanding of the market. The script was based on an Eastern mythological story from the Ancient Earth Era, and Xize’s Asian features fit the character perfectly. Moreover, it was the kind of light, humorous show with a bit of mild angst that online viewers loved. The episodic format meant it wouldn’t be too exhausting to film, and Xize could quickly present a work to his fans in the shortest time possible. So, all things considered, this script was the best choice.
Xize trusted Jian Anning’s judgment. He might not fully grasp the current market and audience preferences, but Jian Anning certainly understood it better than he did. After reading the script for the web series, he also thought it was pretty good. The characters were distinctive, and the plot was solid. It would be a good first project to try.
After Xize agreed to the project, Jian Anning contacted the director. After a brief discussion about the script, the female director suddenly asked him, “I heard you have a romantic subplot with Arnold in Dragon Sparrow. Would you mind if I added a romance plot to this web series?”