Execute promotional campaigns at the highest priority level.

The Daxia film market was in a slump.

Video-sharing platforms, struggling for survival in the cracks, were having a hard time as well.

Currently, it was an era of a hundred flowers blooming; the various platforms had always been locked in fierce competition, each wanting to use high-quality content to attract users and poach traffic from the others.

The internal competition was exceptionally brutal.

After all, traffic was scarce to begin with, and in a zero-sum game, no one could afford to lose.

As the founder of Goose Entertainment, Yan Zhang dreamed of crushing all the scattered minor platforms on the market.

At present, however, Sweet Potato Video was his biggest stumbling block in expanding his territory, which was why he had initiated this micro-film competition as a declaration of war against them.

Unfortunately, the campaign had suffered a setback before it even truly began, and the battle situation was on the verge of collapse.

Yan Zhang was so anxious that he had lost handfuls of hair.

He genuinely had very few cards left to play.

Otherwise, he would not have gone against public opinion and appointed Jiang Wenxuan as the project director.

Fortunately, Jiang Wenxuan turned out to be a lucky general, actually managing to persuade Qian Lang to join forces and lend a hand.

With a billion-box-office director willing to help set the benchmark, Yan Zhang believed that other directors in Daxia would no longer sit on the fence and watch.

Success or failure hinged on this single move, and Yan Zhang felt that Qian Lang was his final straw.

Once the situation was blown wide open, the future of Daxia's micro-film market would undoubtedly be promising.

"You must provide him with absolute support!"

Yan Zhang instructed Jiang Wenxuan with utmost solemnity.

As for the latter, over the past few days, he had been eating and living with Qian Lang, sticking close like a shadow, and would even wait outside the restroom door when Qian Lang went to the bathroom.

This put a certain amount of pressure on Qian Lang.

He was beginning to regret agreeing to help President Chen.

Yet backing out now was impossible; he could only bite the bullet and finish editing the micro-film as quickly as possible to get it off his hands.

It is easy to invite a deity, but hard to send one away!

Recently, Qian Lang had experienced the long-lost "blessed" working system.

He kept working despite minor fatigue.

Though he felt slightly annoyed, Jiang Wenxuan grew more spirited with every passing battle.

Of course, as an assistant, he didn't need to worry too much; mostly, he just watched from the sidelines in sheer awe.

"Director Qian, you are amazing!"

Jiang Wenxuan had truly come to appreciate the charm of a million-tier editor.

Being friends with a genius was an indescribably exhilarating experience!

The footage from *Little Big Soldier* underwent a fresh arrangement and combination in Qian Lang's hands, magically transforming into an entirely new story.

"Done!"

Tossing his mouse aside, Qian Lang stretched out his arms in a long, lazy stretch.

He was finally done and could report back.

These past few days had worn him out completely!

Although he had the ready-made micro-film in his mind, editing the raw footage wasn't like a feature film where corresponding slate numbers provided a clear trail to follow.

Much of the footage had to be thoroughly scrambled and reordered, making the editing of a micro-film even more mentally taxing than a feature-length movie.

Still, seeing the completed work brought a strong sense of accomplishment.

"That's brilliant!"

After watching the micro-film, the stone in Jiang Wenxuan's heart finally landed.

He hurriedly sent it via work email to Yan Zhang, who had been waiting until the flowers in his courtyard were practically withering.

Yan Zhang had estimated that the final cut would be ready around these days.

Every little while, he would refresh his inbox to check the status.

Disappointment had greeted him time and again, but this time, he finally saw the long-awaited new email.

*Journey Home*!

It was the micro-film sent by Jiang Wenxuan!

Yan Zhang eagerly downloaded it.

Yet when he clicked to play and saw the runtime was only ten minutes, a slight chill washed over him.

Wasn't this a bit too short?

Feature films easily spanned around two hours.

Even though it was called a micro-film, it shouldn't be *this* short, right?

It's over, it's over!

This was supposed to be his ultimate trump card!

With a fluttering heart, Yan Zhang began to watch.

Ah, the texture of the visuals was quite good!

A battlefield stained with yellow sand and littered with corpses exuded a tragic and heroic atmosphere.

Vultures swooped down, and wherever the eye fell, there was utter desolation.

Yan Zhang had no idea where the story would go next, but a sudden wave of sorrow welled up inside him.

Suddenly, a soldier popped his head out!

Ha, someone was still alive. A glimmer of hope surged deep within his heart.

The soldier played with a fake arrow before looting the dead bodies.

This made Yan Zhang chuckle.

It seemed this common foot soldier was an old hand at this trade.

As the camera zoomed in, he began to grasp the core of the story.

The foot soldier had been press-ganged into the war.

He was cowardly and afraid of death; whenever danger loomed, he played dead, and whenever there was loot, he picked it up.

He possessed all sorts of small survival skills.

He took things as they came on his journey home, only to discover upon reaching his doorstep that his country had fallen and his home was destroyed.

It was at this moment that he realized there was no retreat left in this world.

When foreign enemies invade, every ordinary citizen bears responsibility!

"Did I bring shame to my hometown?"

Those were the soldier's final last words before falling. In the story, no one would care about the inner voice of such an insignificant character, but Yan Zhang knew that this micro-film would undoubtedly spark a massive wave across the hearts of Daxia's netizens.

He immediately copied the short film onto a USB drive and picked up his desk phone.

"Send Director Qian's work to the technical team immediately. Have them release this short film right away and promote it with the highest priority!

Additionally, handle the promotional campaign for Director Qian's new movie with top-tier resources!"

Resource swapping was the fundamental etiquette of doing business.

Though Qian Lang hadn't made any demands, Yan Zhang wasn't the kind of person to take things for granted.

"Got it, I'll go arrange it!"

The assistant took the USB drive and turned to leave.

...

Meanwhile, in a luxury mansion in Beijing.

Cheng Jie's expression was as gloomy as if it could drip ink.

"Are you an idiot?

You spent millions and this is the result?"

The cigarette in his hand was burning close to his fingers, yet consumed by rage, he didn't notice it at all.

"Boss Cheng, you can't blame me for this!

Clearly, the paparazzi gave me information that those old fellows from Hong Kong were at loggerheads with Qian Lang!

Who could have predicted they'd go crazy and pull a collective plot twist?"

Sun Jianjing was so terrified that he dropped to his knees.

Though his body shook like a sieve, his mouth kept frantically defending himself.

"Ouch, damn it!"

Cheng Jie finally felt the burning heat of the cigarette butt and hurriedly flicked it away.

By some coincidence, it landed right on Sun Jianjing's head.

"Aah! Ah!"

A pig-slaughtering scream echoed through the mansion.

Cheng Jie was startled, but upon seeing Sun Jianjing's pathetic and ugly display, his eyes filled with utter disgust.

"Boss, why don't we just let this matter go?

That kid Qian Lang actually has a pretty good reputation, and there's no need for us to keep throwing money into this bottomless pit, right?"

On the surface, Sun Jianjing was advising Cheng Jie to call it quits.

Between the lines, however, he was implicitly accusing him of being too stingy with his money.

After all, if online trolls were to make any real impact, what did a mere few millions amount to?

"Let it go?"

Hearing this, Cheng Jie flew into a towering rage.

If they stopped halfway through, wouldn't the millions spent earlier go completely to waste?

Oh, just thinking about it made his heart ache.

"No way! Keep going all out to destroy him!"

He directly issued an ultimatum.

"As for the expenses, then?"

*Heh, I knew you wouldn't be able to resist pumping more money in.* A triumphant smile flashed across Sun Jianjing's face.

"You start working on it first!

We'll talk about the expenses once we see results!"

Cheng Jie resorted to playing rogue.

This time, Sun Jianjing was dumbfounded.

In all his years in the business, he had never fronted his own money to work for someone else.

Didn't they say people in the entertainment industry didn't care about money?

How could he know that Cheng Jie had already been kicked out of Starlight?

He had neither a regular salary income nor any source of tribute from his former lackeys below him.

Now, pulling out a mere few million yuan was genuinely painful to his flesh.

"It's a five-million project. I'll transfer fifty thousand to you first. Let's see the results, and then I'll pay the balance!"

Cheng Jie knew that without tossing a bit of bait, it was impossible to drive people to work.

So, he fed it a mouthful of grass first, then hung a carrot in front of its nose, ensuring the stubborn donkey would keep moving forward.

"I suppose that works!"

Sun Jianjing rolled his eyes.

Something was better than nothing; fifty thousand wasn't much, but wasn't it better than an empty check?

Besides, you get as much work done as you're paid for!

He wouldn't lose out anyway; as long as the business got moving, he would make a profit.

Even a mosquito's leg is meat!

"Then I'll get to it!"

With that, Sun Jianjing accepted the decree, offered his thanks, and withdrew.

As for the internet, tiny ripples were already beginning to stir.