Chapter 142: The IP War is About to Begin!

Su Mu: "The entertainment industry is in a turbulent state, with winds and clouds converging—it is precisely a fine time for the likes of us to rise from our coffins! Yet, we must never forget our original aspirations. Only by firmly upholding our corporate culture can we conquer the realm!"

[Speech +1]
[Absurdist +1]
[Skill Point +0.01...]

"???"
"!!!"
"..."

Master Zhu: "Good."

...
...

A few days after the premiere of Candle in the Tomb, its popularity completely took off.

Whether it was the content, Su Mu's acting, or even the various details and atmospheric immersion of tomb exploration, every single aspect left the audience in awe.

Simply in terms of the surprise factor of its theme and content, it even surpassed any television drama Su Mu had filmed before.

This statement was by no means an exaggeration. Even in his past life, those two early super-IPs, Candle in the Tomb and Grave Robbing Notes, could completely be considered the enlightenment of this genre.

Perhaps there were works older than the two, but able to be adapted onto the screen, make everyone fall in love with this genre, and even drive a vast derivative industrial chain—those belonged exclusively to these two.

One could say that tomb-exploration elements were still novel to contemporary audiences. As long as the clues were laid out in a interlocking manner, people would find themselves unable to stop watching.

In fact, the beauty of this genre was that until you reached the very end, you might never know what the truth was.

Therefore, many people now wanted to know what kind of entity the Ancient City of Jingjue actually was. And the more curious they grew, the more they would be hooked by the tiny clues trickled out piece by piece within the plot.

Coupled with Xu Jiang's meticulous post-production work, it completely fulfilled people's mystical imaginations of ancient burials.

It could be said that the initial phase had already achieved success.

Within just a few days, its popularity began to skyrocket frantically. With astonishing impact, it swept across contemporaneous television dramas on major platforms, pushing the tomb-exploration genre to its absolute peak!

Discussions were endless for a time.

Yet it was not limited to Candle in the Tomb alone; even related literary works began to explode in popularity alongside it!

Su Mu, together with Xu Jiang, was thrust onto the trending searches for days.

Until the end of the first week, when even VIP members had to wait for the next week's episode updates, some people finally realized that the tomb-exploration series might genuinely be blowing up.

[Yang Shen V: The biggest difference between tomb exploration and suspense lies in the fact that tomb exploration requires spatial construction, as well as captivating exploration techniques and details. This is not merely suspense; Director Xu Jiang's success this time has also shown those who follow how such a genre should be constructed.]

[Meow Meow Binging Dramas: Su Mu is indeed suited to play Hu Bayi. One can tell that he possesses relevant skills himself. Little Meow observed the details closely: the Luoyang shovel, compass, and other techniques Su Mu used in the drama can be considered quite professional—very legal, very cool!]

[Werewolf Film and Television V: Having watched this drama, I am very much looking forward to what kind of surprises Su Mu can bring us in the future! From villains to ancient costume idols, from idols to national heroes, and finally to the tomb-exploration series, every single time is a different challenge. I said before that Su Mu's plasticity is extremely strong, and now that has been completely verified! Looking forward to his New Year release!]

Comments flooded the internet like a tidal wave. Especially renowned influential film critics also offered exceptionally high praise one after another.

This made even more people gain renewed confidence in Su Mu, eager to see what kind of results his New Year film at the end of the year would achieve.

...
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Fengjun Entertainment.

At this moment, Lin Haoming's mood was far from as rosy as it had been last month.

That five-hundred-million box office hadn't even had time to warm his bedding before it drifted away like a gentle breeze rustling through willows.

He had previously posted wildly on Weibo, making insinuating remarks about Su Mu, but the other side didn't even care to flap a wing at him, nor did it cause the slightest ripple.

This left him feeling rather aggrieved. When you throw a punch and the opponent refuses to receive it, it end up making you look petty-minded.

Furthermore, there was that gossip account known as "Black Material Monarch."

It had clearly been an account specializing in exposing dirt previously, yet over the past few months, it had undergone a complete style transformation, frantically playing favorites for Su Mu.

And those exposures—could they even remotely be沾边 (associated) with black material?

The titles were certainly clever, claiming things like "Su Mu's murderous nature runs deep..." which turned out to be a video of him killing fish.

Then it claimed Su Mu's lifestyle was extravagant, leading his brothers astray in dissipation, which turned out to be nothing more than finding a bunch of mares for his horse to live a happy and blissful life.

Every single post seemed sensational, yet in the end, they were all mundane daily routines.

However, that wasn't even the most speechless part. What truly made Lin Haoming unable to accept was that right before the New Year season, Su Mu had actually filmed a blockbuster new series, Candle in the Tomb.

This seemed to make Lin Haoming appear entirely unthreatening.

Meanwhile, Su Mu strolled leisurely through the park, able to film other television dramas along the way.

Still, Lin Haoming had watched Candle in the Tomb. Unwilling to admit it in his heart, he nonetheless had to utter the word "good."

Moreover, the current explosive momentum was likely to persist even longer, allowing Su Mu to amass a full stock of fans, which would still provide no small boost to his year-end New Year film.

Although he had previously felt that his box-office success was in the bag, after watching Candle in the Tomb, he felt somewhat diffident.

In past years, it wasn't as though there hadn't been cases where television adaptations led to films achieving high box office figures. The hotter the drama, the more it could drive box office returns. If Su Mu chose to adapt the Candle in the Tomb series into a film, then any film investment producer in China who wasn't a fool would want to try investing in it.

That was a guaranteed profitable business.

Of course, this was merely a possibility Lin Haoming had thought of. After all, the copyright of Candle in the Tomb didn't belong to Su Mu. Even if it were adapted into a film, whether they could continue to cast Su Mu remained an unknown.

At this moment, across from him, Huang Wenshan held his phone, having finished watching the final clip of Candle in the Tomb, his expression turning grave: "Haoming, I think the worry we had earlier was correct."

Lin Haoming was startled: "President Huang, what are you saying?"

Huang Wenshan wiped his forehead: "You've watched this Candle in the Tomb, haven't you?"

Lin Haoming replied helplessly: "Mm."

Huang Wenshan: "Then haven't you noticed? What that Su Mu acts out in there is clearly real! This kid definitely knows geomancy and feng shui; he's a grandmaster.

I've been wondering why Fengjun's business hasn't been going smoothly lately, including your side too—after that five-hundred-million box office, it seemed calm on the surface, but in reality, our fortune was declining.

Do you suppose Su Mu has been tampering with our feng shui?"

Lin Haoming wore a dark expression: "..."

He had thought Huang Wenshan was going to say something substantial, but in the end, the bastard was starting to get suspicious and paranoid again.

This president of Fengjun Media was good at everything, but he usually loved dabbling in metaphysical nonsense. Every few days he would burn incense and worship deities, or else find some master to predict the future.

Now look at this: before, he merely suspected Su Mu might have this ability, but after watching Candle in the Tomb, he believed it even more firmly.

Huang Wenshan: "Haoming, you really shouldn't take some things lightly. When we went to Thailand before, we met a master, and he was remarkably accurate."

Lin Haoming: "President Huang, Su Mu is a celebrity. Let's be realistic; besides, he probably doesn't even know where our company is."

Huang Wenshan shook his head, his gaze unwavering: "Haoming, you're still too young. You don't understand the inner workings of this."

"..."

Lin Haoming was speechless.

Meanwhile, Huang Wenshan continued muttering mystical nonsense: "Anyway, in my view, it's just a cloud over the northwestern mysterious sky—this Su Mu is like a crow landing among a flock of phoenixes. Who knows, something major might actually happen!"

Lin Haoming: "???"

...
...

Candle in the Tomb continued to blaze with popularity into its second week.

Meanwhile, an even greater number of people in the industry quickly cast their gazes toward related thematic works, preparing to ride the coattails of Candle in the Tomb's explosive success to thoroughly hype up this IP.

Oleg Film Investment Building.

At this moment, Wang Taiming was holding a meeting with his team.

On the big screen behind him appeared the cover directories of dozens of works, almost all of them being tomb-exploration novels.

"President Wang, based on our analysis and market research, the audience has extremely high stickiness and interest in this thematic series, and we project it could remain popular for a long time."

Wang Taiming nodded, then pointed to the screen behind him.

"Everyone, Oleg has always been a leader in the film investment industry, and the reason we can succeed is that we are able to seize market trends and opportunities. This time will be no exception.

The derivative potential of the tomb-exploration series is vast and possesses immense commercial value. This is precisely the strategic direction Oleg proposed long ago: we must produce content with core competitiveness, aside from purchasing the copyrights of domestic and foreign film and television works. Incubating major IPs is also an essential component of Oleg's strategy!

Missing out on 'Su Mu and Candle in the Tomb' doesn't matter. Now I believe the opportunity has not yet faded; being able to seize this year's market trend is what matters most!

Behind me are the most popular tomb-exploration works screened by our research team, and our next task is to find a work that can serve as the flagship super-IP for this series!

I have a hunch that as long as we can successfully incubate it, this series will allow us to feed on its success for several years to come.

Without further ado, let each team begin now, starting from the first book... serialized last year called *The Endless Burial of Old Wang*—cough, let's begin searching..."

...
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iQiyi Video Building.

In truth, anyone who could sit in a high-position within a related industry lacked no shortage of sharp intuition. Zheng Quan and the others were no exception.

What Oleg's Wang Taiming could think of, they naturally could as well. And everyone basically understood that the key to such trends was seizing the initiative.

Either spend a huge sum to buy Candle in the Tomb, or start anew and find a comparable work, then run a major IP operation.

Currently, given Candle in the Tomb's level of popularity, purchasing it might not be easy, and the investment would be astronomical. It would be better to find a new one and start fresh.

Zheng Quan looked at the people below and spoke up: "The online literature page of iQiyi has been open for some time now, hasn't it? Haven't there been any submissions for tomb-exploration books?"

Editorial Team: "President Zheng, our iQiyi online literature works are only targeted at buyout submissions to serve as reserves for our platform's self-produced video content, so we didn't vigorously solicit a wide range of genres previously. Moreover, we don't accept serialized works, so..."

Zheng Quan: "Then change it immediately to solicit serialized works."

"President Zheng, when all is said and done, we are a video website. Carving out this section might very well impact our core video business."

Zheng Quan shook his head: "What kind of impact could it have? Look at Tencent—aside from video, don't they have online literature, animation, and gaming all thriving? Our iQiyi right now desperately needs a major IP that we can hold onto and control ourselves!

The tomb-exploration theme—think about it: it's suspenseful enough, mysterious enough, thrilling enough, and exciting enough. It completely fits the elements and demands of film and television content, and I imagine it would even be welcomed abroad.

Tomb Raider, Egyptian Pyramids, National Treasure, and high-production games like Uncharted—aren't they all themes of this sort? Therefore, if China can produce one that stands out, it will definitely sweep the market!"

"President Zheng, but we are a step behind. Candle in the Tomb might already be targeted by others."

Zheng Quan shook on his head: "Who is fast and who is slow isn't certain. Their film and television adaptation has indeed laid the foundation, but the derivative industrial chain cannot be monopolized by a single company.

Go look for it; go find related works right now. That is the root. After being verified by the reader market, it will have even greater potential to be moved to film and television, and even other fields.

There was a pretty popular one on the internet before, what was it called again, Tomb..."

"Grave Robbing Notes, but it's still serializing."

Zheng Quan: "Go find out about it first. If the content is genuinely awesome, regardless of whether it's serialized, snatch the copyright first."

"Understood, we'll set up a team right now and get started."

Zheng Quan nodded with satisfaction, a slight smile playing in his heart.

When dealing with copyright issues, one had to strike early, fast, accurately, and ruthlessly in order to pick up bargains.

Those minor authors and newcomers in the online literature circle could sell their copyrights for just a bit of money. After all, not everyone was like Su Mu, throwing out hundreds of thousands or millions at a word.

Picking up bargains was something Zheng Quan was quite skilled at.

In this battle for the tomb-exploration IP, he could only say sorry to the other companies.

The more he thought about it, the happier he grew. Zheng Quan couldn't help but chuckle.

...
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Tencent Video Building.

Having returned from Beijing just a few days ago, Yu Hong's mood was still quite good.

Because they had invested in Su Mu's New Year film, and Tencent's investment share was larger than the other two companies.

Actually, it wasn't really about fancying that bit of box-office return rate. Primarily, investing in Su Mu—once successful—would provide a better-looking reflection in next year's report to the board of directors.

This would still be a great help for his subsequent promotion of projects and approval of funds.

Of course, there was an even more important project to handle right now.

Yu Hong looked at the few people before him: "Tencent Animation division, first secure the comic copyright for Candle in the Tomb, and then go find original works of related themes! Remember, it must be original, and then we'll take it and operate it ourselves."

"President Huang, there is a pretty good novel serializing online, but it's not the premiere release on Tencent Literature, nor is it signed exclusively."

Yu Hong: "Is it well written?"

"It's been very popular online lately, though it's only updated its early stages. Still, people are saying it doesn't lose out to Candle in the Tomb. I heard a signed artist from Tencent already contacted the author over there, wanting to buy the copyright and serialize it on our comic platform."

"What did they say?"

"The other party hasn't replied."

Yu Hong: "What's the name?"

"Grave Robbing Notes."

Yu Hong nodded: "Go contact them, and make your moves fast. Don't wait until it completely explodes across the entire internet, otherwise the price will only get higher."

...
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Youku Building.

Zhao Zhouming looked at the mobile webpage, a flash of ruthlessness appearing in his eyes.

Right on top was the homepage of *Grave Robbing Notes*.
Author: Old Driver
Serializing... Chapter 143...
Author's Note: Begging for monthly votes, only 40 short of two thousand, I'm begging you!

Zhao Zhouming: "I admit I can't snatch Su Mu away from the two of you, but this tomb-exploration IP—no matter how much money I throw, I'm going to get my hands on it..."

PS: Thank you for your support! There will be more updates later. Let's maintain ten thousand words a day for now. Once my body adapts next month, I'll try twelve to fifteen thousand, haha. Once my proficiency level goes up, I'll keep you well-fed~ Thanks~
(End of chapter)