Chapter 677: The Changing of the Times

PS: The author's tenosynovitis has flared up. I just went to the hospital for my second IV drip and can't type for the moment. The update will be delayed; I suggest everyone refresh tomorrow at noon.

I apologize for the inconvenience caused to my readers, and I ask for your understanding.

This situation will likely continue until the end of the year. The doctor says it will take this long to recover, and things should be much better after the new year.

Luo Quan opened her big, beautiful eyes wide and stared straight at the female host, her tone frank and open.

If it were Li Ao, perhaps the female host could have pried something out, but Luo Quan truly didn't have much of a relationship with the royal family, having only met them a handful of times.

If forced to talk about her feelings, it would be just like any other bystander watching the royal family's drama.

But saying that out loud certainly wouldn't be appropriate, so Luo Quan changed her phrasing.

The female host probably didn't expect Luo Quan to be so blunt, but thinking about it, there wasn't really any issue with it.

Indeed, it had been less than three years since Luo Quan reunited with her father. In such a short time, her relationship with her immediate family might be relatively close, but to claim she was close to distant relatives would be pure self-deception.

Moreover, given Luo Quan's status, there didn't seem to be any need for her to scramble to climb the royal family's social ladder.

"So your feelings are about the same as a passerby's—you're mostly just watching the spectacle?"

The female host continued her questioning, planting the first trap right there.

It sounded like she was following Luo Quan's lead, but the term "watching the spectacle" was quite malicious.

After all, they were relatives, and they were people of some standing; calling it "watching the spectacle" was going too far.

Luo Quan reacted quickly and explained: "My stance is about the same as the netizens'. Because my country no longer has a royal family, I truly cannot empathize with the grievances of those noble descendants. Since I don't understand many of the issues, I naturally have no right to speak, so I can only stand on the sidelines and watch."

"But saying I'm just watching for entertainment is wronging me; after all, this matter isn't exactly glorious."

Seeing that the first trap had been dodged, the female host continued: "You should also know that in the previous episode, the couple Mo Rui and his wife were interviewed here, and they spoke about many of the injustices the royal family had inflicted upon them."

"You just said that without the right to know, there is no right to speak, but based on the information currently known, what do you think the situation is?"

"As far as what I currently know, it's nothing more than a choice between gaining and losing."

Luo Quan raised both hands and placed them on either side of her: "Royal family members are actually very similar to celebrities; they are roles that receive public attention. Compared to ordinary people, their privacy is actually much less, and any minor flaw will be magnified."

"However, most celebrities want to be popular precisely because they have many people paying attention to them, right?"

"You enjoy the benefits of being watched by people, so naturally, you must also endure the exposure of most of your privacy. This is unavoidable."

"Royal family members are the same; if you want to enjoy the treatment of nobility, you must naturally bear the corresponding responsibilities."

"There is certainly no such thing as a free lunch in the world; after all, I have given people free lunches before."

"But there is definitely no such thing as a free Rolls-Royce or a villa mansion worth tens of thousands of dollars per square meter, because the cost is simply too high."

"I personally feel that since you have separated from the royal family, don't expect the royal family to bear any obligations for you anymore."

"It's as absurd as a son continuing to ask his father for money after severing their father-son relationship."

"So, are you standing on the side of the royal family, speaking up for them?" The host didn't give Luo Quan a chance to rest, continuing to dig a second trap.

Luo Quan picked up the water on the table and took a large gulp. Her swan-like, snow-white, slender neck moved up and down, and her mouth, which had become dry from talking so much, finally felt much more moisturized.

"I don't know what exactly happened to them; I'm just discussing obligations."

"My viewpoint is based on universal values, and I believe most netizens' perspectives shouldn't differ too much from mine."

After hearing this, the female host had a sudden realization and leaned back tactically, thinking to herself that this young girl was too sharp. Her words were truly watertight; it seemed no big scoops could be dug out of her.

After the royal farce was discussed, the female host finally changed the subject and asked about a question that men all over the world were very concerned about.

"We all know that you are a firm believer in not getting married, or rather, you don't even date. So, how do you create so many works full of true emotion?"

"Is it really as the internet says, relying on your imagination?"

With the words handed to her on a silver platter, how could Luo Quan not admit it? She nodded immediately: "I've never dated, so I must have to rely on imagination."

"So it's really true; that's too amazing." The female host didn't use phrases like "Really? I don't believe it" to create drama like some other hosts; instead, she expressed her admiration directly to Luo Quan.

Next, the topic of conversation between the two gradually shifted from her career to her life, such as her usual hobbies.

When Luo Quan mentioned that she liked to lie in bed and scroll through her phone, the female host also showed an expression of "as expected of you."

It seemed that the goddess who had captivated the whole world was actually no different from many shut-ins in private.

Of course, these questions from the female host were actually for those who had heard of Luo Quan but had never been her fans.

Where would fans who frequently watch Luo Quan's livestreams not know her personality?

Let alone her hobbies, they even knew her measurements clearly.

Of course, that was old news from last year. After so long, Luo Quan's figure had also undergone some changes, which certainly needed updating.

However, since she didn't write it down herself, everyone couldn't measure it accurately just by visual estimation.

As for the show, it was certainly impossible to ask such blunt questions, so it remained a mystery.

This interview lasted nearly two hours. The female host asked many questions, covering almost every aspect. She started by digging two traps for Luo Quan, but they were perfectly avoided, and she didn't use such tactics against her again later.

Overall, this interview went quite harmoniously; except for not digging up any big scoops, everything else was quite perfect.

Because it was a livestream, the interview hit the trending searches halfway through.

The reason for the trending search was naturally related to the topic of discussing the Mo Rui couple in the first half.

The world is big, and there are many people; there are those who oppose the couple, and naturally, there are those who support them.

After Luo Quan's interview came out, everyone thought she was clearly taking sides with the royal family, saying that while she claimed to be rational, neutral, and objective, her stance was actually extremely clear—she was completely a lackey of the nobility.

She herself didn't know how she got linked to being a lackey of the nobility. Only after checking the information on the Mo Rui couple did she realize that the two had participated in some equal rights and democracy movement at some point, calling for the elimination of noble privileges.

In this light, if she stood on the opposite side of the couple, wouldn't she just be a lackey of the nobility?

Fortunately, the couple didn't have many fans, and coupled with the fact that Luo Quan and her fans were notorious, some people wanted to curse but didn't dare to speak up, so the public opinion caused in the end wasn't too significant.

Additionally, whether it was because of a guilty conscience or not, the Mo Rui couple didn't respond to her remarks; instead, they went around holding lectures and crowdfunding, collecting money quite happily.

Returning home, her father conveyed some praise from the UK, saying that her talk this time was excellent, venting some anger for everyone and saving the royal family from having to get down and fight in the mud themselves.

Luo Quan felt both amused and frustrated after hearing this; she was just speaking the truth.

Besides, as an outsider, she didn't know who was right or wrong in this matter. Perhaps it really was the royal family's fault, and she might still get cursed after it was exposed.

Facing the question from the UK side: "What reward do you want?"

Luo Quan thought about it and decided against it; it was better to stay out of these muddy waters.

Eric actually held this attitude as well, or rather, the entire Albert family actually held this attitude.

The heat from the *Time* interview hadn't faded yet, and the news that *Resident Evil 2*'s box office had exceeded 1.5 billion USD had already dominated the Twitter trending searches.

For *Resident Evil 2* fans worldwide, this was great news.

Aside from the seemingly reasonable but actually unrealistic fantasy that the higher the box office, the faster the new work would be released.

The high box office also gave them the capital to confront other IPs.

As a new IP, having such high popularity after its release, it would always be met with jealousy or mockery from fans of other well-known IPs.

The rebuttals were nothing more than: "B-movies can't be taken seriously," "They don't even have theater chains," "They only rely on sex and violence to attract attention," "The plot lacks depth," "The production is small-time," and "The filming location is no more than 300 square meters."

To be fair, most of these were true, but it was the first installment. At that time, Luo Quan had just invested in the Nikola Company; funds were short, the *Resident Evil* production cost wasn't high, and no theater chain was optimistic about it.

But facts proved that those theater chains were all short-sighted. The zombies that became a global hit made these theater chains regret their decisions.

Now, if *Resident Evil 2* were to be dismissed as "not being taken seriously," it wouldn't be the place for commercial films to say so. Everyone is just a "for-fun" movie; why are you more noble than me?

Now that the box office was so hot, the *Resident Evil* fans who had been mocked before finally seized the opportunity to rebut, returning all the anger they had suffered before.

Luo Quan didn't support this behavior of returning violence with violence, but she didn't oppose it either.

Spraying back and forth on the internet is a common occurrence. What she could do was to make the movie well, achieve good results and reputation, and at least give her fans an advantage when confronting others.

Taking advantage of *Resident Evil 2*'s global popularity, Luo Quan released the next plan for the Zombie Universe on Twitter.

"*The Walking Dead* is in preparation. When the zombie virus sweeps the world, can you survive this catastrophe?"

Below the text was a photo: a ragged zombie walking on a road without a single car, with a city billowing with thick smoke in the background.

This highly impactful photo immediately made countless zombie fans excited again.

They commented and asked one after another:

"Luo Quan, is this another zombie-related IP besides *Resident Evil*?"

"You can say that, but both take place on the same Earth, just in the timeline after *Resident Evil 2*." Luo Quan stared at the comment section and answered the highly-liked comments.

"Does that mean protagonists like Alice can also have a chance to appear?" This was the thing movie fans were most concerned about. Compared to movies, the scale of TV series is much larger, so they would see their favorite characters more often.

So everyone was actually looking forward to seeing movie characters in the TV series.

However, Luo Quan didn't confirm this directly, only saying: "Perhaps there will be; even I don't know, but a TV series has its own protagonists, and they shouldn't be overshadowed."

Everyone didn't believe this at all. You are the producer, screenwriter, and director; you don't know?

Or are you saying you only came up with this one poster, and you haven't had time to work on any other content?

But this possibility wasn't non-existent. After all, with Luo Quan's habits, she wasn't above doing things at the last minute.

But fans were more inclined to think this was just a smokescreen. It was said to be in the same world; if the two works didn't have a dream crossover, then this setting would be completely meaningless.

However, everyone saw through it but didn't say it, and then they asked about the casting and release time of the TV series.

Luo Quan's next answer made people laugh and cry: "Because it was just approved, the casting hasn't been finalized, and I don't know about the release either, after all, I still have two movies to shoot."

The topic returned to Luo Quan's two new movies. She was a newcomer to TV series and had no works, so everyone didn't have any expectations for now.

But she had already completed many movies, and every one of them could be called a classic, so everyone's desire to watch them was actually very strong.

"By the way, what were the movies again? It's been so long I forgot."

Luo Quan had mentioned the names of the movies she was going to shoot next, but it had been a long time, so fans were still asking in the comment section.

"They are *Forrest Gump* and *Joker*, both are realistic themes, focusing on character experiences, with no special effects."

Luo Quan helplessly recalled it for everyone, but this couldn't be blamed on everyone; after all, it had been nearly half a year since she said she would shoot them last year.

She hadn't mentioned it during this period, so it was normal for everyone not to remember.

After finishing a series of moves, Luo Quan had no stock left.

The movies were basically all arranged. As for music, she had just held a concert, singing for seven hours that night. The fans were certainly high as a kite listening to it at the time.

But afterward, they also expressed heartache for her singing for such a long time, asking her not to push herself so hard next time and to sing for a shorter period.

Consequently, the two promised concerts were also pushed back as a matter of course.

This kind of concern made Luo Quan quite touched, saying that the fans finally knew how to be considerate of her.

As a result, the very next day, she was hit with a trending search, asking when her new album for the new year would be released. It had been so long; even the donkeys on a production team wouldn't rest this much.

Seeing this trending search, Luo Quan was speechless for a long time, calling these fans the same type of people as Zhou Bapi, crazily squeezing her value.

Zhou Bapi crowed like a rooster in the middle of the night; she was being urged to update after half a year. ===== CHAPTER 678 =====