Chapter 1240: Who dares to claim invincibility?

One advantage web novels have over movies is that you can read the first hundred thousand words or so for free, giving you enough understanding of the book to decide whether or not to pay to continue reading.

Movies aren't like that; they are a one-shot deal. If you want to watch, you must pay, and if you realize a few minutes in that it's not your cup of tea, you can't get a refund. This makes moviegoers need to be much more cautious when choosing a film.

But web novels are different. Since the beginning part is free anyway, as long as the title or synopsis sounds even slightly interesting, you can just add it to your library.

Plus, web novels can be read anytime; a quick swipe on your phone and you're in. As long as the quality is good enough, it can attract a large number of paying readers.

Of course, the prerequisite is that the Zhongdian Literature website is willing to give it exposure. With exposure, more people will see the book; after all, even fine wine fears a deep alley.

The good news is that Miss Luo Quan's fame helped her a great deal.

After the book was uploaded, it not only passed review in seconds but also received a contract invitation simultaneously.

Once the contract is signed, the website can legitimately give you traffic, letting you appear immediately in the most eye-catching positions to attract a large number of readers.

The reason they could make a decision so quickly was mainly because of Miss Luo Quan's fame.

A Saint Mother writing a web novel—what an interesting gimmick; there will definitely be people willing to read it.

With the website's vigorous promotion, as long as the work isn't particularly lackluster, it usually becomes a hit.

However, the website's operations team clearly underestimated Miss Luo Quan this time; *Shrouding the Heavens* was not only not lackluster, it was extremely excellent.

Even with only twenty thousand words, the reader retention rate reached a staggering eighty percent!

This means that out of every ten people who clicked into the book, eight read up to the latest chapter.

Even with such results, compared to those veteran web literature masters, it was a fairly explosive existence.

At the very beginning, it was all her fans showing support, but as the exposure increased, more and more passersby poured in.

After seeing the latest chapter, they one after another voiced surprised questions: "Which old eunuch is using a side account? The writing style is actually this good; it doesn't look like a newcomer at all."

Clearly, the content of this book didn't look like the level a rookie could write, so it's no wonder the book friends were asking such questions.

Seeing that there were too many people asking, Miss Luo Quan specifically posted a single chapter to explain: "The author is indeed a newcomer; I am really not an old eunuch."

Subsequently, the book friends aggressively swarmed the comments:

"Holy crap, why are you still using the Saint Mother's avatar and nickname? Is it really you?"

"Stop joking, can the Saint Mother even write novels?"

"Can I interpret this as you looking down on the Saint Mother's cultural attainments?"

"Miss Luo Quan fan here to testify: this is indeed a book written by her. If you don't believe me, just go to her livestream and take a look."

"Holy crap, it really is her. I repent for my previous remarks."

"The writing style isn't anything to brag about, but in web novels, it can definitely be called impressive."

"It's already number one on the new book list. I predict the first-order subscriptions will break a trillion; finishing the book will surely make it a classic!"

………………

This last sentence was probably the greatest blessing for a web novel writer.

However, what Miss Luo Quan wanted wasn't just financial success; she hoped this book could enter the Dao and then enter into it.

She didn't dare to think about proving the Dao and becoming an Emperor, but if she could get a few stalks of Undying Medicine or Immortal Medicine, that would be very nice.

If that didn't work, she would settle for second best; anyway, good things were everywhere inside, and any harvest could bring improvement.

However, only twenty thousand words had been posted so far; the popularity and reviews were quite good, but there was no movement regarding entering the Dao.

It's probably because the word count is still too low; let's wait until it's officially listed and see.

And after experiencing the failure of *Prehistoric*, Miss Luo Quan didn't bet all her chips on *Shrouding the Heavens* this time; the *Fantasy World* test had been going on for a while, and that could also be taken to the Universe platform to open servers directly.

Whether anyone plays it or not isn't the point; the point is that it can be one more experimental subject.

There are also quite a lot of treasures in this game; taking them out would definitely be very useful.

Now that she had two plans, at least one should succeed; if both flopped, her luck would be too terrible.

Harboring such thoughts, Miss Luo Quan didn't spend any more energy on the Universe platform; every day, besides uploading twenty thousand words on time, she was fully focused on filming her new movie.

Twenty days or so, it's not long, but it's not short either.

The movie was filmed, *Shrouding the Heavens* was listed, and *Fantasy World* had entered public beta.

But the latter two works still had no movement even now; Miss Luo Quan once suspected that they had failed just like *Prehistoric*.

However, in terms of completeness, both works still had a considerable amount of content yet to be released, so they were still worth observing.

Of course, even if she didn't enter the Dao, she wasn't without any harvest.

At least *Shrouding the Heavens* had gained quite a few fans on the Universe network and created many popular memes.

"Who dares to claim invincibility?" was a phrase fans loved to spam, and it seemed very fitting in many places, while also being quite addictive.

At first, it was only used by book fans, but later, because this phrase could be seen everywhere, others were gradually drawn into spamming it, and then it was everywhere.

Although this meme had a tendency to become a stale meme, for *Shrouding the Heavens* itself, the pros outweighed the cons; as long as it could attract more readers, even bearing some infamy was acceptable.

After all, in this internet age, what popular person or event doesn't get scolded?

If you have positive energy, people scold you; if you have negative energy, people scold you; if you appear too frequently, people will still scold you.

Anyway, since you're going to be scolded regardless, there's no need to worry so much; let's get the popularity up first.

*Shrouding the Heavens* was considered a successful hit; although the first-order subscriptions didn't reach the master-level trillion subscriptions, over three hundred billion subscriptions was already very good.

Even for the current Miss Luo Quan, this was a huge fortune, and with the updates, subsequent subscriptions would definitely go higher and higher.

If she could enter the Dao at one million words, that would be the perfect script.

However, Miss Luo Quan no longer had the energy to care about these things; *Sea* was finished, and Miss Luo Quan had already sent it for review, while also mentioning that she would take this movie to compete, and who knows, she might win a Cannes or Venice Film Festival award or something.

This meant that the movie's scale would be a bit large, so she asked the censors to please be lenient.

With the connection to Director He here, she believed that the review process shouldn't encounter too much trouble... hopefully.

While sending it for review, Miss Luo Quan also edited the movie's promotional trailer.

The BGM was the emo version of *Sea Floor*; once the mournful singing started, paired with the movie's dim color tone, the atmosphere instantly became gloomy.

As the movie clips flashed one after another, everyone finally knew what kind of story this was.

Sexual assault, campus violence, class oppression, the indifference of bystanders, the refusal to compromise in the face of power, the final executor of justice, the unyielding struggle against fate…………

Although it was only a short two minutes or so, it embodied so many elements that it managed to turn a somewhat artistic tragedy into the feel of an action blockbuster.

At the end of the trailer were a few lines of red text on a black background:

"Annual tear-jerker masterpiece, *Sea*, please look forward to it!"

Once the trailer came out, it hit the trending list in less than a few minutes, with comments increasing by the hundreds every second; the netizens' enthusiasm for discussion looked very intense:

"These themes all feel so sharp; just one appearing would feel like a huge scale, but now they're all mixed together—can this really be released?"

"Regardless, Miss Luo Quan being willing to try such themes is worth a thumbs up; after all, current directors are basically living off their past achievements, and few are willing to innovate."

"Actually, there's no need to be so sensitive; *Sheep Without a Shepherd* and *Memories of Murder* also had quite large scales, didn't they still get released? Just add a 'fictional world' disclaimer at the beginning."

"Haha, now that you say that, it feels even more ironic."

"Did anyone notice Miss Luo Quan is appearing with black hair this time? It feels like once the hair is black, she has a bit of a classical beauty vibe; if you don't look closely, you'd think it was a Chinese face."

"Probably because the eyes are black; Miss Luo Quan was originally blonde with black pupils, but now that she's changed to black hair, other than the nose being a bit sharper, she really doesn't look that different from a Chinese person."

"If you look closely, there's still a difference; it's probably because of the makeup."

"The styling is beautiful, but looking at the movie plot, why does it feel so miserable?"

"The movie synopsis says the protagonist suffered sexual assault…………"

"Holy crap, my mentality is shattered; I'll be sad for a whole year."

"Where is this a tragedy? This is practically the end of the world!"

"My mood right now is the same as when I watched *The Return of the Condor Heroes* and saw Little Dragon Maiden being molested by the Dragon Knight."

"My heart was already hurting, and now that you say that, it hurts even more; it's a super double-up."

"What to do, I can't bear to watch it."

"Why not watch it? Luo Bao only films one movie after so long; the character is just miserable, you wouldn't actually project yourself into it, right?"

"I feel sad inside; I can't quite accept it."

"Look at the plot; Luo Bao said it's a happy ending."

"With this opening, is there really a happy ending?"

"If she says there is, then there must be."

………………

An art film that hadn't even been released yet had already sparked such a huge discussion; the last one to do that was *Farewell My Concubine*.

This movie was said to have moved half of China's moviegoers to tears, and a tragedy selling well at the box office during the Spring Festival was also a first in the industry.

If the movie hadn't been truly excellent, it would have definitely been scolded to death by netizens long ago.

And the release time for *Sea* this time was very good, catching the tail end of the year, the moment when everyone's stress had accumulated to the maximum.

They just needed a tear-jerking blockbuster to properly release the pressure in their hearts, and then welcome the new year and the long Spring Festival with a relaxed mood.

Whether it could actually relax their mood, no one dared to guarantee, but that's how the hired internet trolls were promoting it.

Miss Luo Quan felt that this promotional strategy was much better than those that filmed passersby's reactions.

Who films reactions while others are watching, and with such a huge camera stuck in their faces? And these pure passersby making so many exaggerated expressions without being affected at all—isn't this just treating the passersby like fools?

Miss Luo Quan had seen several similar promotional videos and felt they were both awkward and silly; she felt that for the group under forty, it could only have a negative effect.

Therefore, her promotional strategy mainly focused on the movie's atmosphere, clarifying from the start what type of movie this was, what would happen after watching it, and what benefits they would get.

What is the biggest problem for people now?

It is the pervasive anxiety that fills their lives.

Body anxiety, relationship anxiety, health anxiety, appearance anxiety, learning anxiety, and so on.

And Miss Luo Quan told everyone: you come to the cinema, and if you want to cry, you can cry out loud, because the movie is very moving, and there will definitely be more than just you crying then.

And such a place where many people can accompany you to cry and vent together will definitely be a place that many people feeling pressure in life are willing to choose.

Go enjoy an excellent movie, release some pressure, then eat a hearty dinner, take a comfortable hot bath, and have a beautiful sleep.

Just thinking about this day's arrangement makes one unable to help but show a smile.

As for the question of whether the movie will be too heavy, causing the mood to get worse the more one watches, Miss Luo Quan had emphasized it many times before the movie started filming.

This is a movie that starts as a tragedy and ends as a comedy.

It will make people sad, but the final ending is definitely good.

You can't not believe the director's words, so there's absolutely no need to worry about watching yourself into depression.

Of course, if your psychological endurance is really too poor and you can't survive the heartbreaking part at the beginning, that's another matter.

In short, Miss Luo Quan intended for everyone to have a good cry in the cinema; during the livestream, facing countless fans asking about the plot, she answered in the same way.

"If you want me to spoil the plot, there's no way, but it's definitely very good, at least the visuals are very beautiful."

Miss Luo Quan described this much about the movie and then stopped mentioning related topics, instead opening a folder full of fair-skinned beautiful legs and abdominal muscles.

"Holy crap, what blinded my eyes!"

"So white... no... so bright."

"Luo Bao's skin is really good; when the sun hits it, it's like cold jade."

"She really took quite a few good photos on Hailan Island this time; this one of her climbing a tree to pick coconuts is very interesting."

"She's done the sexy look too many times, so she's going for the comedic route this time, right?"

"It's actually quite good."

………………

Just as the fans said, because the sexy style of beach bikinis had been done too many times, she took a different path this time and went for a comedic style.

Besides climbing trees to pick coconuts, there was also splitting durians with her bare hands, catching crabs in the sea, beach volleyball...

This last one, beach volleyball, was originally intended to be a bit sporty to show off her abdominal muscles.

But perhaps because the range of motion was too large, it looked very sexy when she spiked the ball.

And this sexy style, which was far more intense than walking on the beach before, actually received unanimous praise from the fans.

They even said to try for a big slam dunk on the beach next time, the bigger the range, the better.

This made Miss Luo Quan truly unable to laugh or cry. ===== CHAPTER 1241 =====