Chapter 213: Familiar 《xing Ni》 Explosion
“Huh…”
The writer’s eyes lit up, muttering softly: “Interesting… this hated character… doesn’t seem like a brainless villain.”
He got interested, and the subsequent development confirmed his guess.
Zhao Tai is set as a person who appears extremely excellent on the surface. Besides being fluent in languages from various countries and having an excellent education, he is also proficient in various combat skills, with terrifying personal combat power.
……
In the 88th-floor meeting room of Zhao’s Group, more than twenty executives were like frozen specimens.
The financial report curve on the central projection screen was suddenly covered by a stack of photos—the finance director shaking hands with a competitor in a series of close-up shots.
“Explain?” Zhao Tai toyed with the paper cutter, its blade gleaming blue under the light.
The finance director’s throat rolled violently: “Chairman Zhao, that was just routine…”
“Shh—” Zhao Tai suddenly pressed the knife tip onto the financial report, precisely piercing through the third quarter’s loss figures: “My father often said, betrayal is like stomach cancer.”
He slowly paced behind the old man, the knife tip sliding down along the other’s spine: “No symptoms in the early stage, by the time it’s discovered… it’s already in the late stage.”
The meeting room echoed with the sound of mechanical operation—the electric shades on the floor-to-ceiling windows slowly rising.
Noon sunlight poured in like a searchlight, making the sweat beads on the old man’s nape particularly obvious.
“Do you know how many seconds it takes to fall from the 88th floor?”
Zhao Tai intimately draped an arm around the trembling shoulders: “I bet 3.7 seconds, the stake is… your grandson’s international school spot.”
He suddenly kicked over the swivel chair, sending the old man crashing into the glass curtain wall along with the chair.
The tempered glass emitted a teeth-gritting tremor, several files floating up from the table.
“Just kidding.” Zhao Tai straightened his cuffs as he walked back to the head seat: “Go to HR and pick up your resignation letter.”
He raised his coffee cup to the deathly silent directors: “Continue the report, where were we? Oh right, the layoff plan.”
The secretary timely handed over a new financial report, covering the hole pierced by the knife.
Zhao Tai sipped his coffee, frowned, and spat it into the potted plant: “Too much sugar.”
……
“Holy shit!”
“This villain… I’m numb, can the protagonist beat him?”
“I’m dead, so crazy, this movie is addictive… first time worrying the protagonist team can’t beat the villain…”
“Why do I kinda like this villain…”
“He’s hateful, but he’s not trash.”
In the capital city, inside a crowded cinema.
Sheng Ning sat alone in the front row, listening to the surprised and excited discussions from the other audience members around her, her phoenix eyes showing clear surprise and daze.
—She came to watch the movie today alone, told no one, and originally had no expectations for 《Big Shot》, though Chi Ye’s acting in 《Influenza》 was good, but a villain is a villain, yet now…
She realized she was wrong.
This character Zhao Tai… something’s off, very off.
Yes, Sheng Ning was different from others. Ordinary audience members were shocked by Chi Ye’s acting skills and the excitement of 《Big Shot》’s first half, but Sheng Ning cared about the role’s success or failure in career terms.
Based on the current plot and setup… 《Big Shot》 will absolutely be a dark horse beyond everyone’s imagination, Zhao Tai…
Zhao Tai is going to explode.
If the subsequent plot doesn’t clash with the movie’s first half—
Sheng Ning continued watching.
Facts proved that Chi Ye was indeed “smart.” Zhao Tai as a villain is bad to the extreme, but he didn’t act in a flat way; he truly made everyone know the character is bad, yet still able to resonate at a certain moment.
I know you’re bad, but that doesn’t stop me from “understanding,” even “liking” your badness.
His face added too much color to the role of Zhao Tai, and his performance completely subverted past villains in Chinese movie history.
Zhao Tai is becoming a “classic.”
He encountered everything he should have.
Due to various “accidents” destroying his business, he habitually resorted to extreme actions; due to maggots in his team, he mistakenly killed several ordinary people, affecting the company’s reputation, and flew into a rage at the golf course.
The object he painstakingly pursued was stolen by the trash big brother; a business deal that was all but settled was snatched away; at the company board meeting, he was slapped and humiliated by his father… After self-inflicted twelve bloody marks, he decided to kill his own father and the trash big brother.
And he was close to succeeding.
The film also entered its climax phase.
—Xu Zhe and others stopped all this; they seized several handles on Zhao Tai, and the two sides staged a thrilling fight scene like a dragon-tiger battle.
In fact, the literary scenes in the first half of 《Big Shot》 exploded; Chi Ye and Wu Zhenyu both perfectly subverted their past public images, overperformed, and completed the character shaping.
In the second half, the fast-paced, punchy, refreshingly extreme fight scenes that Hong Kong crime films excel at became mainstream, continuing all the way to the end.
《Big Shot》 didn’t scam the audience; unlike other movies, their promotion of punchy fights meant real punchy fights, no pee breaks throughout.
And what does no pee breaks throughout mean?
Namely, elevator smashing mirror, restroom vomiting, car chase, nightclub standoff, rooftop beating, police station provocation, mall battle, and a series of mixed literary scenes and fight scenes, with rhythm so tight it doesn’t give the audience time to go to the toilet, firmly “pinning” people to their seats, enjoying this exhilarating movie viewing.
Ling Han was extremely exhilarated right now.
“The fight scenes are this strong too?!”
She stared at the almost exaggeratedly handsome fight scene on the screen.
Chi Ye and Wu Zhenyu were entangled in a frenzied fight; under the Dolby Theatre’s enhanced sound and visuals, it was heart-pounding, adrenaline surging.
Although Teacher Wu fought well too, but… her gaze was always locked on “Zhao Tai.”
Hmm… unwilling to admit it, but her senses and impression of Chi Ye seemed to be quietly changing during this movie viewing.
2:00 AM.
The movie reached the final chapter.
After experiencing various incidents, Zhao Tai’s mental state was extremely abnormal, but he still maintained his final calm.
Because he firmly believed that in Binhai—he was the law.
Under the dome of the Binhai District Court, Zhao Tai’s pointed leather shoes clicked crisply on the marble floor.
The public gallery instantly fell silent; over a dozen reporters raised their cameras simultaneously, shutter sounds like a mini gunfight.
“The defendant, please be seated.”
The judge adjusted his reading glasses, the gavel hesitating to fall.
A lady in the jury box suddenly fainted, causing chaos at the scene.
Zhao Tai strode straight to the plaintiff’s seat and patted the shoulder of the victim’s family member.
The old man bounced up like electrocuted, the mourning photo in his arms shattering on the ground.
Amid the glass shattering, Zhao Tai bent down to pick up the photo frame and gently wiped the dust off the girl’s photo.
“Such a pity.”
He whispered to the photo, his voice just audible to the microphone: “If she had accepted my dinner invitation, she’d be studying in Singapore by now?”
As the courtroom erupted in angry roars, Zhao Tai’s legal team stood up simultaneously.
The lead lawyer opened a tablet and played a blurry video—the deceased willingly entering Zhao Tai’s villa while alive.
The timestamp in the video corner showed exactly two hours before the police-determined time of death.
“Fabricated evidence!” Someone slammed the table and stood, only to see Zhao Tai pull a piece of paper from his inner pocket and methodically fold it into a paper airplane.
The paper airplane glided past the central chandelier in the courtroom, landing precisely in front of the judge.
The old judge didn’t open it, because he knew it was Zhao Tai reminding him of his son’s gambling debts in the United States.
This plot was subtle, but everyone understood; the old judge paused for a long time before the gavel finally fell with a faint “Court adjourned.”
As Zhao Tai walked out of the courtroom, sunlight rain began to fall from the sky.
He stood at the top of the steps, not bothering with an umbrella, letting rainwater soak his hair; reporters frantically snapped photos, but he suddenly snatched a camera, aiming the lens at his dripping face.
“See clearly?” He winked at the lens: “This is what you call—”
Rainwater slid over his upturned mouth: “Not guilty.”
“Rumble.”
Heavy rain poured down at the scene, and countless cinemas across the nation echoed with gritted teeth, gasps, and angry sounds.
“Not guilty?!”
“Handsome, but even more hateful!”
“Not beating him up?!”
Almost everyone was fully immersed, and the movie screenwriter seemed to have anticipated everyone saying this.
A thunderous roar resounding through cinemas nationwide exploded suddenly—
“—Zhao Tai!!!!”
Xu Zhe could no longer tolerate it, rushing out from the crowd and landing a hard punch on Zhao Tai’s face: “This punch is for all the people you destroyed!”
Bang!
Zhao Tai was knocked to the ground by the punch, and the two grappled together.
After another round of punchy, viciously brutal fight scene, Xu Zhe’s people finally obtained solid evidence and hurried over.
At this moment, Zhao Tai’s mentality calmed instead; he hummed the tune of 《Xing Ni》, his suit still impeccably straight, even though his left eye was swollen shut.
Sirens blared as Zhao Tai was escorted into the police car.
Inside the cinema.
The end credits began rolling on the screen, Teacher Shi’s gentle singing voice echoing in the cinema.
The dim theater lights suddenly brightened, everyone snapping out of their daze.
Then, they were confused for two seconds.
—Done? That’s it?
Suddenly, the subtitles were still rolling on the screen, but other footage appeared.
Postscript · Arrest.
TV news played the report of Zhao Tai being sentenced; Xu Zhe squatted at a roadside stall eating instant noodles.
The boss’s wife shoved him a free plate of pickles: “Big hero eating this?”
He gazed at the still brightly lit Zhao’s Group building in the distance, closed the instant noodle lid, and smiled: “Eat it every day, never get tired of it, haha.”
When the police detectives rushed into the Zhao chairman’s nursing home, Zhao’s father had been dead for some time; the doctor said it was due to “mis-ingesting” medication, but the detectives all remained silent.
Zhao Tai’s trash big brother was also dead, pushed off the top of Zhao’s Group’s highest building before Zhao Tai went to court—he usually loved standing on the rooftop overlooking his younger brother, so Zhao Tai let him “die” that way.
At the end of the postscript, Xu Zhe gave an interview but didn’t detail his meritorious deeds; finally, his superior asked him: “Any regrets?”
During this pursuit of Zhao Tai, Xu Zhe injured his right leg and would likely limp thereafter.
Perhaps the superior was asking this of others too.
He thought for a moment and replied earnestly: “In this world, someone has to take it seriously.”
The screen went dark again, the scene silent for a second, then emotions surged like tidal waves crashing in the cinema as everyone reacted.
“Well said!”
“Someone has to take it seriously.”
“The movie’s ending is interesting; was Zhao Tai really sentenced?”
“Probably, otherwise how to pass review?”
“…The ending mentioned Zhao Tai has mental illness, which can’t be shown.”
“Unexpectedly good, holy shit, this movie has high quality!”
“Wanna rewatch…”
Ling Han listened to these voices and came back to her senses, glancing back to see the front-row audience recovering first; someone rubbed their sore eyes, still immersed in the movie’s emotions; a few young people in the back discussed the plot excitedly, not quite satisfied.
Especially Liu Xiaoxiao’s boyfriend, who couldn’t help shouting: “Holy shit! Chi Ye acted so well, no… Xiaoxiao, he’s not an idol actor, he’s strength faction!”
Liu Xiaoxiao was smug but also a bit immersed in 《Big Shot》’s final “sadness.”
Ling Han glanced at the two; she too felt a bit unsatisfied.
《Big Shot》’s ending wasn’t the forced education type; through various shots in the conclusion, the director and screenwriter had foreshadowed an even crueler outcome.
But… precisely because of this, everyone suddenly felt Xu Zhe’s final words rang especially true.
In this world, someone always needs to take it seriously.
《Big Shot》… is likewise a high-quality film worth people “taking seriously” to study.
Whether in literary aspects like plot, lines, performance, or fight aspects like action, shots, rhythm… it’s the best movie Ling Han had seen this year.
This was evident from the near-zero negative feedback from the on-site audience.
—Wait.
Ling Han suddenly reacted, realizing a problem: with 《Big Shot》 like this… can 《Magic City Fortress》 really win?
Unlike casual bystanders, even after watching 《Big Shot》 and feeling shocked and delighted, she still held great expectations for the yet-to-be-released 《Magic City Fortress》.
She was an “insider” who had actually seen the screening inside 《Magic City Fortress》.
Before, she thought it was her personal bias, that 《Magic City Fortress》 was actually a very excellent work, but now after watching 《Big Shot》…
Bad.
Is it my personal issue?
She was shocked and uncertain, even forgetting to “check in” at the end, and dazedly walked out of the cinema.
Only to find many of the first batch of holiday moviegoers around her had just come out, enthusiastically discussing.
“Ahh! Professor Chi is so handsome!”
“Zhao Tai is hateful, badly pitiable and hateful, but Chi Ye is really handsome!”
“Stacking armor first, purely sucked in by Chi Ye’s crazy vibe, really crazy to the point my legs went weak!”
“Eh, you guys watched 《Big Shot》 too?”
The crowd buzzed; girlfriends’ conversations were even quite “revealing”; Ling Han suddenly felt this scene familiar, like she’d seen it somewhere.
Where…
Oh right, when 《Xing Ni》 aired.
But different was, 《Xing Ni》 was a TV series, while 《Big Shot》 was a movie.
A movie’s explosion and a TV series’ explosion would be different, right?
Ling Han fell into a daze; she felt she now needed to call her older sister… and tell the Beijing Circle—something’s off, this “Big Shot” is off.
