Rise of the Wasteland Chapter 158 - Rumors

Chapter 158        Rumors

It was in the middle of the night and Zhou Qingfeng was standing outside the City Hospital operating theatre.

The hospital was filled with the smell of disinfectant. The medical staff walked back and forth, and various moans could be heard from the patients who suffered from illnesses. Standing in the middle of the hospital could make one value his life like he was on a battlefield.

Zhou Qingfeng disguised himself as one of the patient’s family member. He covered his face with a mask and waited outside the corridor of the operating theatre. There was a nurse’s desk located not too far away from him. A few nurses were working the midnight shift. They were just gossiping as they had nothing to do at that moment.

After asking the nurses as one of the family members, Zhou Qingfeng got the information that Fang Ruhu’s surgery had just ended and he was now in the post-surgery observation period. One to two hours were required before he could return to the general ward. Zhou Qingfeng could only wait patiently in the corridor.

“Oh my Gosh! A poster of your dream man has been released again. Rumor has it that it’s a teaser for Part II of the movie,” a freckled little nurse was holding a mobile phone as she shared her excitement with her colleagues.

“Let me have a look… oh my Gosh, I love him so much! I honestly think that the role he played in the movie is very masculine,” another round-faced nurse desperately grabbed her colleague’s phone so she could take a look at the poster.

“He’s so handsome! It’s too bad that they won’t reveal his real name. Everyone can only refer to him as the role he played in the movie for now. It’s so mysterious!”

“It’s just one of their marketing strategies. The more mysterious the movie, the more people will discuss it. In fact, I don’t actually think he’s that handsome. I’m still more interested in my Oppa.”

“Really? I thought that there was someone shouting ‘Victor’ last night? I also saw someone climbing up from her bed and changing her wet panties.”

“Assh*le, didn’t you guys already fall asleep last night? Don’t tell me that you guys were staring at me the entire night!”

“Hahaha…… we don’t even have to stare at you. Your moan was so high-pitched. Everyone in our dorm knows what you were doing, so stop punching only me.”

The two young nurses laughed humbly and they kept tickling each other. Meanwhile, Zhou Qingfeng was sitting in the shadow not far away from them, silently watching the entire time.

After the nurses played around for quite a while, they discovered that Zhou Qingfeng was staring at them. One of them felt a little embarrassed, but still, she pretended to be bold and unconstrained: "What are you looking at? Have you not seen pretty ladies before?"

The two nurses would never know that the guy with a mask who was crouched in the dark corner was actually the same handsome man they had been discussing vigorously just a few seconds ago.

"Hey, I heard that the 3D-Max version and digital projections of Wasteland are going to be released. They would also be allowing any cinema in the world to play the movie for free. It’s like they’re trying to gain more exposure. Or maybe, a lot of people might still want to watch it once more in theatres as watching it in front of their computer screens couldn’t satisfy them."

"I also want to watch it. But, there’s no 3D movie theater in Tianyang City. I guess we can only watch it in the digital projected versions then. I read an analysis from the internet saying that the movie company is relying on mystery to build up momentum. They even provided free access to the movie stream to open up its market and gain public praise, so that they could make money from their subsequent movies."

"The company is also very rich. Apparently, the special effects in this kind of blockbuster cost up to hundreds of millions of dollars to make. I really wonder how they could afford to let the public watch it for free. They’re not even getting a dime from it!"

“I’ve heard the rumors as well. The movie company is using a bunch of low-cost new actors to reduce cost. However, although the movie was just released globally five to six days ago, the main actors of the movie have already turned into a group of superstars.”

“Now, if you just go and search the keyword, ‘movie’, you’ll be flooded with Wasteland. You’re literally living under a rock if you don’t know anything about the movie. I’ve heard that a venture capital company has conducted an assessment and they found out that the actor who starred as Victor Hugo already has greater influence than all the C-list actors.”

“The movie already has a certain degree of influence around the globe! There are only at most a thousand C-list actors around the world, and their worth is around five million dollars each. If we just talk about the actors in our own country, I’m pretty sure he’s already reached the level of a B-list actor. After all, there are only two to three hundred actors from our country who are in the B-list.”

"I think that his ranking is just an imaginary figure. He’s really popular right now, but no one can guarantee if that’ll be the case in the future. If Wasteland Part II can’t be released as soon as possible, nobody will remember him anymore in two or three months."

“However, he’s still the hottest superstar for now. All the A-list actors, or even the S-list actors, might even lose to him when it comes to popularity during the previous couple of months. Rumor has it that a lot of the movie companies were now discussing with the management team of the movie theatre to avoid the release date of their movies from clashing with that of Wasteland’s.”

“Look…… there’s a new article! It’s posted from our city's Normal College. ‘Superstar appeared in Tianyang City. His girlfriend suspected to be a freshman’. No way…... My dream man actually found a girlfriend in Tianyang City?”

Zhou Qingfeng felt confused and dumbfounded at the same time when he heard the title. He thought to himself, Xu Rong is indeed a freshman from Normal College. Could it be that she’s exposed her identity? This’ll be a little troublesome then.

Zhou Qingfeng’s original mobile phone was reported to be ‘stolen’ because of what happened with Fang Ruhu. He now used a ready-to-use second-hand phone, which was old and could not be used to surf the internet. Curious, he could not help but throw a few extra glances at the two nurses once again.

“Hey! Pervert! Yes, I’m talking to you! Why do you keep staring us in such a perverted way?” One of the nurses then stared at Zhou QIngfeng and said, “Let me tell you that we’re now in the City Hospital. You better not do something inappropriate.”

Zhou Qingfeng smiled and asked, "I heard you talking about something regarding the new poster of Wasteland and the freshman from Normal College. I’m just wondering if I could join your gossip session as well.”

The two little nurses laughed. They soon told him the context of the post, “There’s a girl from Normal College posting on social media. She said that one of her roommates has met with the protagonist of Wasteland and she saw their photos on her roommate's phone.”

“However, it’s probably just a made-up story as they didn’t post any photos at all. She’s now already been mocked by a lot of people. The girl who posted it has explained more than a dozen times to clarify that it’s not a made-up story, but she still couldn't provide any photos at all. In the end, she decided to scold everyone who didn’t believe her post. Others said that she's just seeking attention, and we absolutely agree with that.”

“There’s no photo at all?”

“Nope.”

“It’s just another rumor then.”

“Hehehe…… Exactly! Everyone’s laughing at the girl right now. Someone even began to stalk her. They’ve found out that she hooked up with rich, old men all the time and they reported her to the school for violation of the school rules. They could even proof if with photographs.”

The two little nurses laughed once again. It seemed like they were unsatisfied with the girl who posted the article.

Zhou Qingfeng felt relieved after hearing that no photos had been posted. He had been fooling around with the two ladies the entire afternoon and they took quite a few photos. At that time, he did not pay too much attention to it. It was only until now that he recalled that he had a movie released in public. It was better for his photo to not be spread freely in public.

Zhou Qingfeng then sent two messages to Xu Rong and Feng Wan, respectively. He requested for them to not send his photos away to the public. He did not mention a reason, but the two ladies instantly replied.

Feng Wan replied, Don’t worry. I’ve encrypted all your photos into my hard drive. I will guarantee you that the photos will not be leaked for sure.

Xu Rong replied, Qingfeng, you must’ve seen the article, right? I can swear to you that it was really just an accident. I’ve already destroyed the memory card. No one will be able to look at it anymore. But, to be honest, I’m quite sad about it too. Even I can’t look at those photos anymore.

Although they did not mention anything about the movie, Zhou Qingfeng felt that the ladies have already known something about it. What should I do?

While he thought about it, the door of the operating theatre was suddenly pushed open. Accompanied by several nurses, a stretcher bed was pushed out. Zhou Qingfeng glanced in that direction and he saw Fang Ruhu lying on it.

Guess I’ll have to put this on hold first then. It’s time for some action.

Chapter end