Chapter 553

Although the show was forced to rely on a *deus ex machina* for the sake of censorship, leading to a somewhat lackluster ending, the first twenty-six episodes can be called an absolute masterpiece!

Lu Xun once said: In an excellent film or television work, every character is brilliant, and every plot segment is worth savoring.

Clearly, *The Knockout* is just such an excellent work.

Every character in the show is extremely vivid: "Fish-Seller" Qiang, Gao Qisheng, Gao Qilan, Sister-in-law Chen Chen Shuting, An Xin, Meng Yu... even Xu Lady Jiang, who exits the show quite early, provides many laughs and excellent characterization.

The plot setup goes without saying; the two parallel lines of light and dark unfold simultaneously. On one side is the growth of An Xin, and on the other is the growth of Gao Qiqiang. These two lines run parallel, yet influence and entangle with each other... coupled with the struggle between good and evil, it makes for a thrilling watch!

If *Reset* made people realize for the first time how terrifying bus drivers and chemistry teachers can be, and *The Bad Kids* made people realize for the first time that hiking carries risks, then *The Knockout* is telling everyone to treat fish-selling merchants with calm and composure.

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God knows if the next line they say will be: "Old Mo, I want to eat fish."

Back to the topic.

For such a hit TV series, the sisters are very eager to film it.

"It seems we need to add *The Knockout* to our filming schedule as well," the twins muttered to themselves.

November 30th was destined to be an uneasy day, and it was destined to be a long one.

First, the video of Xu Xu Mingyou's concert was released, shocking the entire internet.

Immediately after.

At eight o'clock in the evening, Xu Xu Mingyou's first album went on sale.

But because it contained foreign-language songs and was released globally at the same time, it stirred up a massive wave across the entire internet in China!

Supporters and mockers were arguing incessantly online!

Just when the audience thought the day would end in such bickering, at eleven o'clock at night, a bombshell suddenly hit, causing another sensation across the entire internet!

This bombshell was: the sales figures for the *Twin Souls of the Other Shore* album in various countries!

The United States, over one million copies!

Japan, nearly two million copies!

South Korea, over one million copies!

Various European countries, over two million copies!

Various Southeast Asian countries, over one million copies!

Australia, 450,000 copies!

Boom, boom, boom!

At this moment!

All the netizens who hadn't gone to sleep yet were subjected to indiscriminate bombardment!

Thunderclap after thunderclap rang out!

Everyone stared at their web pages with mouths agape and eyes wide, their jaws seemingly about to drop, their expressions frozen!!

Everyone was dumbfounded!

The world seemed to become deathly quiet for an instant, and then, in the next second, it erupted like boiling water!

"One, three, six, seven, nine! In three hours, overseas album sales have topped nine million!"

"Holy crap!"

"Oh my god!"

"This must be fake news, right? How is that possible!"

"Are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"It's fake! It must be fake! They don't have much of a fan base abroad, how could they sell so well?"

"..."

Dazed and confused!

No one dared to believe it!

Even the fans who supported Xu Xu Mingyou and the leader of the Moon-Worshipping Cult didn't dare to believe it.

For no other reason than that these figures were simply too terrifying, too shocking, and too unbelievable.

But... as more and more news came in, and some even went to verify it themselves, everyone finally realized...

"Damn... it seems to be true!" Heavenly King Zhang Xiaotian looked at his phone screen, swallowing hard with difficulty.

Suddenly realizing that the clown seemed to be himself.

Waiting until midnight, when the clock struck twelve, November ended and December officially began.

At the same time, it meant the biggest event in the Chinese music scene this year, the War of the Gods, had begun!

In previous years at this time, major entertainment companies and many singers would sound the charge, launching an assault on the highest honor in the Chinese music scene, the "War of the Gods Champion." The entire internet would be in a frenzy, its intensity not a bit inferior to the Double Eleven shopping festival.

This year, it was just as lively—no, even much livelier than in previous years—but it was very strange. Some singers and major entertainment companies were all silent, without the slightest movement, seemingly uninterested in this year's War of the Gods.

Were they really uninterested?

Actually, that was not the case.

It was because, within a mere hour, news was everywhere on the internet that Xu Mingyue's first album, "Twin Souls on the Other Shore," had achieved terrifying sales figures.

Weibo.

Douyin.

Zhihu.

Bilibili.

The trending search lists on all major platforms were completely dominated by this news!

The War of the Gods?

Who still cared about the War of the Gods at a time like this?

The competition here was only within China, but those twins had already charged out of the country, and this time, the charge was not just fierce—it was ferocious!

At this very moment, under the number one trending search on Weibo:

"Holy crap! Holy crap! Holy crap! Ten million copies overseas!"

"Oh my god, heavens!!"

"These sales are too crazy!"

"I can't believe it!"

"It seems that in the history of the Chinese music scene, no singer has ever had such explosive sales! It's only been four hours, god! Is the Cult Leader trying to challenge the global album sales chart? Those on that list are the absolute peak figures of the Blue Star music scene!"

"Be more confident, remove the 'it seems'! Based on current sales, if they can really break into the global album sales chart, I wouldn't be surprised! They are too heaven-defying!"

"Crazy, everyone's gone crazy!"

"Are those foreigners crazy? Why do they like this album so much? Or is it that the Gu King really knows how to cast a spell..."

"Come, come, tell me how you cast a spell on a digital album? Even Nüwa would have to give you a thumbs up."

"I went over to see the foreign comments; the main reason is that Xu Mingyue wrote the songs too well. Especially the English and Japanese songs on the album written specifically for the overseas market—the reviews abroad are simply glowing. You don't know how crazy those Japanese anime fans were after hearing those two Japanese songs!"

"Xu Mingyue is the GOAT!"

"I'm kneeling!"

"So satisfying!"

"The last time I felt this satisfied was when the national football team made it to the World Cup!"

"Don't mention the national football team, they aren't worthy of being compared to Xu Mingyue!"

"..."

Crazy!

Excited!

Manic!

It filled every corner of the internet.

Countless netizens were like they had been injected with adrenaline, or like they had pinned their enemies to the ground and were rubbing them into the dirt—super satisfying.

At the same time.

On the internet, the countless marketing accounts and paid trolls who had recently launched online attacks against Xu Mingyue's actions had all vanished at this moment.