After some time had passed since Screwllum watched Wall-E, the commemorative work for Clockie was finally announced as completed.
On the day of the completion announcement, Clock Studio erupted in deafening cheers, almost tearing the roof off!
Wait, do they even have a roof? (Ponders, stroking chin) Never mind, this is a dream, no need to care about such details!
That's how dreams are!
Keep the music playing, keep the cheers going!
They! They can finally release the movie!
They had waited too long for this moment; almost every Animator had tears of excitement shimmering in their eyes.
Do you know what we've been through these days!?
"Quick, quick! Can't wait another second!"
"I want to see the reactions of audiences across the universe to these two masterpieces right now!"
"God knows how long we've held it in! If it doesn't get released soon, I'll turn into a zombie!!!"
Thus, on the very day the Clockie commemorative work was completed, the two highly anticipated films simultaneously landed in cinemas across major Star systems at an astonishing speed.
Bai Luan, as a core creative, appropriately participated in some of the premiere promotional activities.
After showing his face to the media and satisfying the expectations of fans and the media, he quietly returned to the Space Station, continuing to diligently pile up his curio collection.
Of course, after the movie was released, he didn't choose to focus on everyone's reactions but instead chose to honestly make curios, not because he was diligent.
It was because he knew that he needed to accumulate some reviews before watching to get the best viewing experience.
So, he held back from watching for now.
At least he had to hold back for these few hours.
With this mindset, Bai Luan furiously crafted curios in the laboratory.
A few hours quietly passed in concentration... Bai Luan looked at the curio in his hand, sighed, and casually tossed it aside.
Another ordinary curio effect.
Beside him, a tall pile of identical curios had already accumulated.
He had just cleared out the laboratory not long ago, and now it was almost full again.
Fortunately, his three accounts had enough followers; no matter how many ordinary curios he made, he could give them away as merchandise.
However... after making curios with high intensity for so long, not a single rare one appeared, which inevitably caused a slight shift in Bai Luan's mindset.
An emotion called "Despair of the Non-Chief" began to quietly spread in his heart.
Bai Luan looked at the piled-up curios and fell into thought.
Three seconds later, he slapped his thigh!
"It's decided!"
"From now on!"
"I officially surrender to the Path of equilibrium—"
He paused, then solemnly declared:
"—for one hour!"
Colloquially: taking a break.
I've held back from looking at the comment section for so long, all for this moment!
Bai Luan left the messy laboratory behind, then found a comfortable spot to sit down, happily took out his phone, and logged into the Yi Mu account—to make sure he could resist looking, he had even specifically logged out of the account.
Now, let me see what netizens have posted.
As soon as he logged in, Bai Luan felt something was off.
Because as soon as he opened the interface, he saw a massive number of notification alerts, countless people were @-ing him, and these @s seemed to all point to the comment section of the same video.
Even stranger, almost everyone who @-ed him included a similar phrase:
"@Yi Mu, watch out for Screwllum!!!"
"@Yi Mu, run! Screwllum is coming to get you!"
"@Yi Mu, protect yourself!"
Bai Luan scratched his head in confusion.
No, what are you all talking about?
What do you mean, watch out for Screwllum?
Why should I watch out for Screwllum?
With strong curiosity and a hint of an ominous premonition, Bai Luan followed the prompt and clicked into the video that was being frantically @-ed.
The video had only just been released, merely ten minutes ago.
And Bai Luan was very familiar with the person appearing in the video: Screwllum.
So it was the promotional short film Screwllum had mentioned to him earlier for wall-e.
Since Screwllum had given Bai Luan a heads-up, Bai Luan wasn't surprised.
It seems Screwllum's little joke was quite successful; he could tell just by the number of @s he received.
Even though the video had only been released for a short time, it already had such a high level of discussion, which was truly gratifying.
However... what exactly was the little joke Screwllum mentioned?
Why was everyone telling him to be careful?
Bai Luan only knew that Screwllum had specifically returned to Screwllum's Planet to record this promotional short film, but he didn't know what exactly was filmed.
Screwllum deliberately didn't tell Bai Luan the content of the joke, considering it a small retaliation for Bai Luan secretly making Wall-E.
With a hint of curiosity, Bai Luan clicked on the video.
This promotional short film was recorded in an interview Q&A format.
The company's reporter asked Screwllum questions about Wall-E from various angles—including its unique visual expressiveness, its deeply moving plot, and the profound themes the film explored regarding Automaton awakening, life, environment, and technology...
Screwllum, with his usual elegance and professionalism, calmly answered all questions.
From his words, one could clearly feel his undisguised appreciation and praise for the film.
Then, the interview came to an end, and the reporter asked a question directly related to Bai Luan:
"Screwllum, what are your thoughts on the director of this film, Mr. Bai Luan, the Animator?"
"Statement: As an Automaton, I am fortunate to have such a cherished friend among different life forms.
Although the entire film has few lines, it consistently explores the theme of Automaton awakening, and it further outlines the romantic vision of Automatons and humans working together towards a beautiful future.
Conclusion: Mr. Bai Luan is undoubtedly an outstanding and rare organic life form.
Finally, allow me to make an inappropriate joke here:
Sometimes I also feel the urge to use unconventional means to bring him back to Screwllum's Planet—but considering my deep friendship with Ms. Herta, I decently dismissed this absurd thought."
Huh?
What does "unconventional means" mean?
Bai Luan now understood why so many people were @-ing him, telling him to watch out for Screwllum.
He didn't expect Screwllum to pull such a stunt on him.
Bai Luan scrolled through the comment section of this short film, which was filled with people @-ing him:
"Tell @Yi Mu to watch out for Screwllum!"
"Danger! @Yi Mu is in danger!"
"Yi Mu: Everyone rest assured, I am very safe and have not been kidnapped to Screwllum's Planet.—IP location: Screwllum's Planet."
"The IP location detail is Screwllum's Planet."
"@Yi Mu! Reply!"
"@Ms. Herta, don't look, it's a bad review!"
"@Ms. Herta, great Ms. Herta, what do you think about this? Someone wants to steal your Boyfriend! (Watching the drama unfold.jpg)"
Bai Luan looked at these netizens' carefree antics, feeling a bit amused and frustrated.
He felt it was necessary to post an update to clarify.
"That was just a joke, and I'm really on the Space Station, not Screwllum's Planet! Stop @-ing me!"
Soon, a large number of replies flooded the comment section of this update:
"I don't believe it! Unless you show me a photo of the starry sky outside the Space Station window!"
"I don't believe it! Unless you collaborate with Robin on a new song for me to listen to!"
"I don't believe it! Unless you immediately update a cyberpunk DLC for me to play!"
Bai Luan: ...No!
You're just using this meme to urge me for updates!
I'm really fed up with you trolls!
But soon,
They themselves derailed the discussion.
"I don't believe it, unless you transfer me 50 credits to see your strength!"
"Upstairs, I don't believe you only want that much!"
"I don't believe it either! Think bigger!"
"Exactly, don't ask for too little. If it were me, I'd ask for 51 credits."
"Huh? No! Why is the firepower shifting to me?"
However, it was also because of this that Wall-E popularity exploded.
This unexpected buzz allowed more people to see this excellent work.
Presumably, this was precisely why Screwllum chose to make such a joke in a public interview—to leverage the greatest attention with the smallest cost.
As expected of Screwllum, he immediately thought of the most popular method.
Hmm... Speaking of which, has Screwllum been watching too many of his own videos, getting infected with a bit of elation?
『Isn't this also a kind of boomerang?』
Bai Luan wanted to refute, but then felt there was nothing wrong with it. As he thought about it, he couldn't help but laugh.
His precious boomerang is still chasing me!
...
T/N: There about 10 chapter to go before we hit the raw, after that i will make a poll which next work i should focus on updating.