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

Chapter 791: The Origin of the Name Dragon: It Was a Dragon to Begin With!

[This chapter contains many polyphonic characters and pinyin. Watching the show may make it easier to understand.]

By the time Dragon’s plot reached this point, a lot had already become clear. Compared to the breezy beginning, though, everyone’s mood had gradually grown much heavier.

As one of the lead actors, Xiao He was no exception. After filming these scenes, he couldn’t help but feel weighed down.

Early on, the people were scary, the ghosts were scary, but that had only scratched the surface.

Once you learned about the long trail of blood debts left by the Japanese in China, the ghosts began to seem not so frightening at all.

The most terrifying thing was still people.

Dragon was not only the film’s title, it was the core image around which the entire story revolved. “Dragon” was not a simple monster; it carried layers of metaphor. Only after watching the whole movie could viewers understand the foreshadowing Director Zhuang had buried in that name.

At first, Zhou Zhiyi and the others thought the fragmented page left in the Japanese research institute, the one with the character “mang” on it, was referring to those monsters.

They were not ordinary ghosts or zombies. They were a new breed of creature, like a human-dog hybrid. Neither Zhou Zhiyi nor the other Celestial Masters had ever found any mention of such a species in the ancient texts, so they didn’t even know what to call it. As a result, they all used the code name “mang” from the fragment.

At first, Zhou Zhiyi and the others thought the fragmented page left in the Japanese research institute, the one with the character "mang" on it, was referring to those monsters.

They were not ordinary ghosts or zombies. They were a new breed of creature, like a human-dog hybrid. Neither Zhou Zhiyi nor the other Celestial Masters had ever found any mention of such a species in the ancient texts, so they didn’t even know what to call it. As a result, they all used the code name "mang" from the fragment.

The character "mang" itself is polyphonic. Different pronunciations mean different things. Based on the current circumstances, it was probably pronounced mang.

The Shuowen dictionary says: "mang, a dog with abundant hair."

You could even take its adjectival usage into account: build on that hairy-dog base and add the sense of “big” or “huge,” since in ancient usage it also overlapped with the character meaning grand. Liu Shigu wrote “mangran dawu ye,” a similar record; read that way it would be mang, which conveniently matched those tall, human-shaped monsters.

Of course, in the end, “mang” can also be read long, an ancient alternate for dragon — the pronunciation and meaning that belongs to “dragon.”

You could even take its adjectival usage into account: build on that hairy-dog base and add the sense of "big" or "huge," since in ancient usage it also overlapped with the character meaning grand. Liu Shigu wrote "mangran da wu ye," a similar record; read that way it would be pang, which conveniently matched those tall, human-shaped monsters.

Of course, in the end, "mang" can also be read long, an ancient alternate for dragon — the pronunciation and meaning that belongs to "dragon."

Whether it was Zhou Zhiyi and his two companions or the other Celestial Masters later recruited, that was the pronunciation and designation in common use. Even Wang Budao, when he got excited later, directly called them “dog-born bastards.”

But the truth was far more complicated—

Only after everyone struggled to reach the research institute, slaughtered the creatures, and uncovered the facts did they realize that the existence of this “mang” had been a conspiracy from the start, a complete humiliation and a curse.

The movie’s name was meant to be read long.

Only after everyone struggled to reach the research institute, slaughtered the creatures, and uncovered the facts did they realize that the existence of this "mang" had been a conspiracy from the start, a complete humiliation and a curse.

It should have been dragon, nothing else.

And the reason the Japanese used the character “mang” was precisely the deliberate insult of that project’s head.

He understood Chinese culture but never respected it. So he gave the so-called plan to destroy the dragon vein a deliberately punning name — the “Mang” Project.

And the reason the Japanese used the character "mang" was precisely the deliberate insult of that project's head.

The Southern Dragon governs “culture, fortune, and commerce.” Nanling is a keystone for gathering and locking qi. They literally built the institute nailed onto the dragon vein and produced failed human experiments there, all with the intent of destroying the dragon vein’s national fortune and draining southeast China’s qi from the outset!

Even the character “mang” itself was an obvious hint!

A dragon should be unpierced, with mountains and rivers at peace. Yet they insisted on driving nails into the dragon, severing China’s fortune, turning “dragon” into “mang,” and trying to turn “mang” into “dog”!

Even the character "mang" itself was an obvious hint!

And the things everyone mistook for monsters were actually the result of their human experiments. They sewed people and dogs together. Both humans and dogs had died filled with hatred and injustice, so their souls became entangled and they lost their humanity. Finally, stirred by the earth’s malevolent yin, they became a sort of zombie-like creature that didn’t fit any standard category.

They were not “mang,” and they had never had names.

They were tools, traps left behind, worthless garbage, “livestock” in their mouths.

But they were our compatriots, our predecessors — living people — corpses that had died in hatred and grievance!

When the truth came out, Wang Budao even slapped himself a few times.

They were not monsters.

They were victims.

They were evidence of that nation’s crimes against our people in those years!

They never should have been here, nor should they have remained bound to past suffering…

At last, everyone closed their eyes and sighed helplessly.

The only thing they could do was perform rites to release their spirits, to let them rest in peace…

…

The subsequent scenes were moved to a greenhouse beside the building.

This temporary set served as the later makeshift research institute.

This greenhouse was even harder to endure. Because it was hot and shrouded in black, it absorbed heat badly. When filming inside, everyone felt like they were in a steamer. Even though Director Zhuang had brought in many cooling fans, the oppressive heat still left people listless.

Since these plot scenes were extremely weighty, there was far less joking around.

Under those circumstances, Xiao He’s mood could hardly improve. He threw himself into his work every day, then crashed back at home to sleep. He didn’t even feel like doing any of his usual hobbies.

Liu Rulan and Xiao Chen understood the situation, so they stayed focused on their duties and didn’t bother Xiao He much.

That day, Xiao He had just returned from the set when Liu Rulan came over.

“What’s up today?” he asked.

Xiao He glanced at her and saw she was in good spirits, so he assumed she had good news and played along.

“There is good news.”

Liu Rulan cleared her throat. “The batch of anti-defamation lawsuits filed before the Spring Festival — all the results are in now. We won decisively in several cases.”

Xiao He blinked, then brightened. “Really? That’s fantastic! That was fast!”

That period had been when Xiao He’s popularity soared, which also attracted a lot of uneven-quality fans and caused more than a little trouble.

This was the first time Linghui Entertainment had launched such a large-scale, formal legal attack against black PR.

Fortunately, everything had gone very smoothly.

Liu Rulan smirked, clearly satisfied with the legal team’s efficiency and results.

“And do you remember the fan who tried to poison you at your birthday party?”

Xiao He nodded. “Of course. I remember. I even asked Reporter Zhou to help investigate. Could it be—”

“Yes, exactly that.”

Liu Rulan pulled out her phone and waved it at Xiao He. “You’re number one on Hot Search right now. You can open it and see. They really chose a good time — they didn’t steal the spotlight from you this time.”

Xiao He had been curious, and when he heard Liu Rulan’s second remark he couldn’t help laughing and crying at the same time. He immediately grabbed his phone to check.

Sure enough, Hot Search number one did not disappoint—