Chapter 141: Hit the Billion!

"The Matrix 2" is a film over two hours long, with extremely shocking visuals and stunning plot twists.

When Neo took the Key Maker's key, he opened the door of light, and with Neo's room playing on all the wall TVs, he finally saw the white‑haired Matrix designer.

The designer bluntly said, he has been waiting for Neo for a long time!

The current Matrix is actually the sixth version; the earliest two versions were both designed to be perfect Matrices.

But because humans have emotions, causing the system to be unstable, ultimately the first two versions collapsed.

And no matter how perfectly the system is designed, there will always be a small portion of people who doubt the reality of the world, awaken, escape the Matrix, and build a human city.

To keep the system stable, the designer allows the system to have flaws or anomalies; when the anomalies accumulate enough, he upgrades to eliminate those accumulated anomalies.

Before walking into the cinema, I never would have guessed!

The shock of the guests and audience lasted only a few seconds before warm applause broke out.

"Hit the billion!"

Because there were too many people on site and no staff were arranged to organize shouting, everyone in the venue shouted whatever they wanted.

During a meal break, Jiang Heng went to the restroom; upon coming out, he met Li Meiqi, who had been waiting for him outside.

Over in Hollywood, they also went on to film two movies.

Treating the trilogy as a single film to write the script and shoot it—looking worldwide, few directors could pull that off!

In the Matrix world, Neo was like a god; he pulled the bullet from Trinity's body and even performed a manual heart‑start surgery on her, saving her…

This twist was truly unexpected; I originally thought the ending would be Neo entering the Matrix core, destroying the designer, saving Zion and humanity.

Although most are low‑budget, fortunately they basically all have female leads.

"There really is a pattern in the film industry: sequels tend to be flops. The reason is simple: when making the first film, nobody thinks about a sequel. Only after the film releases and the box office booms do they consider making a sequel."

The interactive promotion lasted a full hour, and only then did the audience reluctantly leave.

"Will you pick me? Director Jiang, I really like you…!"

The beautiful host went on stage and invited Jiang Heng to converse with the audience.

As a result, when they later tried to devise the plot, they discovered it was constrained by the first film's setup, making it hard to shoot a sequel that could match the predecessor.

"Hello Director Jiang, this film is about to be released worldwide; may I ask what your box‑office expectation for it is?"

……

In the prescribed choice process, Neo either chooses the right door, returns to the source code, the system reboots, and Zion is rebuilt.

When the film ended, the audience inside was still shocked by the film's grand setting and shocking visuals.

"Not at all!"

Relying on the fame from The Matrix, Li Meiqi has been doing quite well these years, with work in both Xianggang and Neidi.

"Congratulations, Director Jiang, the trilogy is now secured!"

Later on, it was basically the male audience shouting "Hit the billion!" while the females shouted "Director Jiang, I love you!"

The Matrix is different; in fact, as early as five years ago, the scripts for all three parts were already finished. How much setting each part reveals and how much story it tells were all planned in advance.

Neo resolutely chose the left door, turned into a superhero, charged out of the exploding building, and at terrifying speed saved Trinity, who had been shot and was falling.

Jiang Heng sighed, "Hearing you laugh like that, I know quite a few of you have seen it!" The guests and audience burst into laughter again.

Or choose the left door, return to the Matrix, the system crashes, and humanity perishes.

"Long live Chinese‑language cinema!"

"Director Jiang, I love you!"

If it were a low‑budget drama, that would be fine, but instead it's a huge‑investment effects‑heavy blockbuster.

Neo himself is actually a conglomeration of system anomalies; when the anomalies accumulate to a point that could crash the system, a savior is summoned here to let him choose to save humanity.

She had signed with Xianggang Outstanding Rising Film Company; initially the treatment was ordinary, but after Jiang Heng's company grew and had more staff, they arranged a dedicated agent, assistant, and driver for her—so she also had a dedicated team.

Reporters and cameramen from CCTV Movie Channel and Oriental Satellite TV saw the scene, couldn't stop laughing, and kept snapping photos nonstop.

As for the guests, they were naturally arranged to the banquet hall of a nearby five‑star hotel.

Jiang Heng smiled and said to the beautiful host, "From now on, read less gossip from the tabloids!" The venue instantly burst into laughter.

The girl, having said that, was already unable to contain her excitement.

The human city was destroyed, and Neo led a small number of survivors to rebuild the human city.

The final box‑office result of this trilogy might have to hit twenty billion US dollars—how much would that earn!

Thinking of this moment, men looking at Jiang Heng are mostly full of envy, while some girls develop affection.

"Let a domestic film appear that grosses over one billion worldwide!"

Even Tang Yan, Li Meiqi and the other girls joined in the shout.

In film series, the sequel surpassing the original is actually a low‑probability event. Could you tell the audience how you managed that?

During the Q&A, a girl directly asked, "Director Jiang Heng, I heard you now have a girlfriend—is that true?"

Jiang Heng smiled and said, "This is really hard to say; my original expectation was only seven or eight billion US dollars, but seeing how much everyone loves and supports it, I feel we have a chance to break ten billion, so I hope everyone keeps supporting!"

"Congratulations, Director Jiang, you've made another great work. To be honest, before coming I thought this film might not be as good as the first. But I never imagined that, whether in plot or visual scenes, it's actually a full upgrade."

After saying that, the venue fell silent for a few seconds, then erupted in even warmer applause.

But at this moment, Trinity, in order to save Neo, went alone into the Matrix, was unfortunately shot, and was about to fall to her death.

With the conclusion of The Matrix trilogy, she felt that her development under Jiang Heng had basically reached its end.

The first part is the beginning, the second is the development; therefore, whether from story setting or visual effects, the second far exceeds the predecessor. I also believe the box office will be the same!

These three parts are three films, but in terms of overall story they are actually one.

As soon as that was said, the audience inside let out another gasp and shouted in unison, "Director Jiang, we support you!"

Who would have thought the meaning of the savior's existence is merely to patch the system?

The audience's impression is, Director Jiang is awesome!

Although the slot is a bit low, the pay is comparatively higher.

The guests' first reaction was that Jiang Heng had pretended too successfully this time.

Jiang Heng could only reply formally, "Thank you for your liking and support; please have the staff pass the microphone to the next audience member!"

Seeing Jiang Heng sign a younger, prettier girl and also adopt a posture of looking after Liu Tianxian, she felt her big sister position was not secure.

After a few pleasantries, Li Meiqi asked, "Am I going to be abandoned?"

(End of chapter)