Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore

Chapter 716: "Fast Speed Shadow 7" Release Anecdotes, Xiao He Earns a New Nickname

Having already returned to China, Xiao He naturally had no idea that more and more people abroad were now believing he had gang connections.

And all the credit for that went to Ban Zheyu and Moses.

The former resolutely shared his observations with his own people, insisting that Xiao He had major backing overseas.

The latter had been completely cowed by Xiao He, to the point that even his underlings had caught wind of something, becoming evasive and tight-lipped about Xiao He. Other gangs had also gotten word, and combined with the incident from a year ago—where a bunch of street thugs suddenly turned themselves in—more and more minds started racing down that other unspeakable path...

Meanwhile, having just returned to China, Xiao He was being rushed so urgently by the "Imperial Enterprise" production team that he didn't even have time to catch his breath before throwing himself back into filming. He didn't even get a chance to go to the theater and watch "Fast Speed Shadow 7" for himself.

However, the rest of the team managed to squeeze in some time one day to go see it and brought back plenty of the latest updates for Xiao He.

"The domestic release of 'Fast Speed Shadow 7' is doing quite well. It's already been confirmed as the Qingming Festival slot's box office champion."

As mentioned before, the Qingming Festival slot isn't exactly a major holiday period for the entire Chinese film market. In fact, because of the festival's somber connotations, many film schedules actually avoid this date, or directly opt for the more commercially promising May Day season.

So during this period, most of the competition came from imported films, making the pressure relatively light.

But that doesn't mean it has no market potential. At least a few years ago, when the film market was at its peak, imported foreign films once took in over three billion yuan at the box office during this very slot.

And while "Fast Speed Shadow 7" faced certain policy restrictions due to its American backdrop, its performance this time was still quite impressive. By the time Xiao He found out about it, its domestic total box office had already surpassed the 800 million yuan mark, while all the other films in the same period hadn't even managed to exceed 200 million yuan combined.

Comparing this data to the international box office market, it looked pretty bleak. But when measured horizontally against similar track records, it was still a remarkable achievement.

After all, overseas, "Fast Speed Shadow 7" was absolutely exploding. The final chapter of a franchise series, combined with a generation's movie nostalgia, the addition of new cast members, and the pre-release promotional campaign, "Fast Speed Shadow 7" had already grossed $500 million globally in its opening week alone.

Especially across North American platforms—they were completely dominated by "Fast Speed Shadow 7" trending topics. Logging onto any young person's social media platform, you'd see movie fans and enthusiasts everywhere promoting and imitating scenes from the film.

This incidentally sparked an interesting side note: thanks to the explosive popularity of these topics, many repair shop owners were stunned to discover that damaged motorcycles were increasingly piling up.

Huh? Wait a minute, that doesn't add up! If "Fast Speed Shadow 7" mostly features high-speed car chases, shouldn't there be more wrecked cars?

Why is it all motorcycles?

At the same time, many renovation workers, one hand carrying a bucket of wood paint and the other on their hip, stared blankly at the massive hole punched into the stairwell landing. Utterly bewildered, they asked the homeowner beside them: "So... can you tell me exactly how you managed to wreck it like this?"

The homeowner—who had just sent his motorcycle off for repairs, being loaded with cash but light on brains—offered a polite yet awkward sheepish grin: "Ah, I was originally trying to copy Shan's move—riding a motorcycle down a spiral staircase—and then film a short video to post online. But I never expected... well, to be honest, I thought it wouldn't be that hard. But you know how it is, and now it's just... like this."

Renovation worker: ...

The repair shop owner who heard the exact same excuse: ...

Huh?

What the hell is he saying?

You're telling me all this happened because you tried to ride a motorcycle down a staircase to imitate a movie character?

Uh?

Are you crazy?

Who in their right mind rides a motorcycle down a staircase?!

But foreigners are notoriously gutsy and brimming with an adventurous (suicidal) spirit. While the high-speed car chases in "Fast Speed Shadow 7" certainly fired them up with adrenaline and the itch to try it, they weren't completely stupid. Compared to the life-threatening, one-mistake-and-you're-dead racing scenes, they much preferred to recreate Shan Cheng's iconic moment of riding a motorcycle to rescue the female lead.

After all, street racing was expensive and dangerous. But riding a motorcycle inside your own house—as long as you kept the speed slow—wouldn't get you caught by traffic cops handing out tickets, and nothing too major could go wrong... right?

At that moment, these audacious fools completely forgot that in the movie, Shan Cheng was racing through a castle.

And that castle, as a medieval relic, naturally had plenty of space. Not to mention, Shan Cheng—played by Xiao He—was obviously highly skilled. So under these completely mismatched conditions, their idiotic attempts at recreating the scene were doomed to spectacular failure, with no outcome other than sending more motorcycles to the repair shop.

And so, this earned Xiao He a new nickname overseas: the "Vehicle Killer."

When Xiao He heard about this, a giant question mark materialized over his head.

Xiao He: ?

He had originally just been asking Sister Liu about the box office results for "Fast Speed Shadow 7." He never expected that in the middle of the conversation, things would suddenly take a bad turn—

"So they crashed their own bikes. How the hell does that make me a Vehicle Killer?"

Xiao He had never been more confused, and he was even a little aggrieved.

Huh? What did I even do?

You can't just spread rumors like that.

It's not like I was the one driving and crashing into things!

For someone who had held a championship trophy, this was practically an insult!

"Ahem—"

Liu Rulan coughed lightly, barely suppressing her laughter as she explained: "Maybe it's because your mere existence indirectly sent a lot of foreigners' vehicles into repair mode."

Just Xiao He, all on his own, had remotely crippled a massive number of motorcycles in other countries. How was that not another form of Vehicle Killer?

He didn't even need to show up in person, and the results were already this impressive.

Xiao He: ... Is that how it works?

"There's an even juicier bit of gossip."

Liu Rulan said as she pulled out her phone, giving Xiao He a look full of pity that sent a chill down his spine. "What?"

Then she handed her phone over to Xiao He. On the familiar Douyin short video platform, the standard voice of one of those ubiquitous marketing accounts rang out:

"What?! A massive crowd of gang members fangirling has appeared on the streets of the US?!"

Set to some upbeat music, the marketing account launched into its well-worn routine: one picture as bait, and the entire video was fabricated.

"Recently, a netizen in the US shared a bit of their daily life, saying that the movie theater in their neighborhood had been taken over by local gangs. When she mustered up the courage to ask what was going on, she found out that these terrifying-looking gang bosses were actually there to support their idol..."

"It turns out they were all there to watch 'Fast Speed Shadow 7'! And they're all fans of Xiao He!"

"Oh my god, our Little Box fan base is really getting bigger and bigger. Even gang members are here to support Brother Xiao..."

...

Xiao He himself broke out in goosebumps: ...

When the hell are these marketing accounts going to blast off this planet?