After spending half a day practicing drawing the bow, positioning his shoulders, and releasing, Jiang Yue finally began formally shooting at targets the next day.
He stopped aiming for the bullseye, focusing instead on the sensation of each arrow as it left the bow. The landing spots of the arrows, initially scattered all over the place, gradually clustered in the bottom-left corner of the target, forming a tight grouping.
“Interesting.”
Old Hong stood to the side with his arms crossed, a hint of approval in his eyes.
On the third day, Jiang Yue began adjusting his stance and point of aim.
“Thud!”
An arrow flew out, hitting the outer ring of the bullseye.
Repeating his movements, he shot a second arrow, then a third, the arrows landing near the bullseye one after another.
While Jiang Yue was immersed in his monotonous yet highly engaging closed-door training, the internet was in complete upheaval over the broadcast of 《The Hidden Sentry》.
At the end of October, 《The Hidden Sentry》 reached its grand finale.
The Technical Department of Penguin Video.
Wang Lei stared at the steeply rising red curve on his screen. Beside him, a colleague from the Operations Department raised his voice by several decibels: “Engineer Wang! The real-time online viewership has broken eight million! And it's still climbing!”
This curve represented the real-time viewership for tonight's finale of 《The Hidden Sentry》. They were about to challenge the platform's historical record, set three years ago by a phenomenal historical idol drama.
“It's coming, it's coming! The last ten minutes!” the operations staffer exclaimed excitedly.
Tonight, the final two episodes were airing, bringing the plot to its climax.
Inside the dimly lit warehouse, Fu Xiao lay collapsed beside a car. Lu Cheng stood before a concrete pillar, finally seeing clearly the trusted subordinate he had personally groomed for three years.
Zhou Jinnan picked up the leather suitcase from the floor, his gun aimed steadily at Lu Cheng.
“Instructor Lu, the very first lesson you taught me back then was to never ask about right or wrong, but only to follow one's heart.”
Covered in blood, a faint smile played on his lips.
“I learned it well.”
His response was Lu Cheng drawing his gun and firing without hesitation.
What followed was their final shootout and hand-to-hand combat.
Bullets were spent, handguns dropped to the ground, and the dull thuds of fists and kicks slamming into car doors and concrete pillars echoed through the screen.
Lu Cheng choked Zhou Jinnan, pinning him against the car hood. On the verge of suffocation, Zhou Jinnan drew his dagger, the blade slicing precisely across Lu Cheng's throat.
Lu Cheng collapsed with a heavy thud. Zhou Jinnan picked up the suitcase and walked toward the warehouse exit step by step. Without looking back, he pulled down the brass detonator at the door.
Flames soared into the sky as the warehouse collapsed in a series of explosions. Zhou Jinnan walked into the night, turning his back on the raging fire.
The final scene cut back to the Paramount.
Tang Jingran left alone. Zhou Jinnan stood in the dim shadows of the second floor, watching his retreating back through the haze of smoke and music.
Qiao Wan handed over new intel from behind. He accepted the cufflink, the emotions on his face sinking back into the darkness.
Almost at the exact same moment, in the Penguin Video building, a young technician shouted out.
“Broken! The record is broken!”
“Peak concurrent viewers at 9.87 million! We've broken the platform's historical record!”
The entire office instantly erupted into a mountain-shaking wave of cheers.
Meanwhile, on the internet, seventeen of the top thirty trending topics on Weibo were related to 《The Hidden Sentry》.
The hashtags #TheHiddenSentryFinale#, #HeartacheForZhouJinnan#, and #JiangYueLegendaryPerformance# were all followed by a bright red “EXPLOSIVE” tag.
On the Doubanban review section, the score, which had initially opened at 7.8, bucked the trend after the finale and surged to 8.8.
The comment section was flooded with reviews:
【I declare that 《The Hidden Sentry》 is the best spy drama of the past five years, bar none! Every character's IQ is off the charts, and the pacing is incredibly fast!】
【I'm crying my eyes out. Zhou Jinnan clearly won, but he couldn't even say 'take care' in person. He can only continue to stand in the shadows.】
【Jiang Yue's acting is truly god-tier! His final smile—thirty percent determination, thirty percent relief, and forty percent lonely courage—made me an instant fan!】
Short video platforms like Bilibili and Douyin became a sea of user-generated content.
Videos like “Zhou Jinnan's Hype Montage,” “The Man Who Fights with Physics Formulas - Complete Version,” and “Jiang Yue and Chen Jiaming's God-Tier Face-off Compilation” easily garnered millions or even tens of millions of views.
Countless casual viewers were drawn in by these high-quality clips, clicking over to Penguin Video and adding more fuel to the fire of 《The Hidden Sentry》's viewership.
Because of his closed-door special training for 《The Pivot Bone》, Jiang Yue couldn't attend the live finale event. Jiang Kevin, who had accompanied him to the Beijiao Film and Television Base, could only join a joint livestream with the studio to monitor Penguin Video's finale broadcast.
In the production crew's hotel suite, Jiang Kevin held his tablet, pacing back and forth excitedly beside the coffee table.
“Sister Qing! Sister Qing, look! During 《The Hidden Sentry》's finale livestream, Director Xu publicly thanked Third Brother in front of the host and the chat!”
In the small video conference window, Su Qing held a cup of coffee and glanced down at the livestream on her own screen.
On screen, Xu Pingqiu sat at the temporary livestream booth set up by the platform, his voice booming: “I have to thank two people! One is Chen Jiaming, my anchor! The other is Jiang Yue! He is my lucky star! He is Zhou Jinnan! Without him, 《The Hidden Sentry》 wouldn't be where it is today!”
The bullet comments went wild.
【Director Xu took the words right out of my mouth!】
【Waaaah, Jiang Yue deserves this!】
【Jiang Yue carries the show! I'm typing these words on the screen!】
Su Qing's lips curved slightly, though her voice remained relatively calm. “I'll have Chen Fei save all this material. We can use it for our future PR press releases. Also, Lamerd should be making their move soon.”
Meanwhile, at the Beijiao Film and Television Base, the atmosphere within 《The Pivot Bone》's production crew had completely transformed.
The young actors who had previously looked down on Jiang Yue or doubted him now looked at him with a degree of awe and admiration.
To receive unstinting praise from a veteran of Chen Jiaming's caliber and to carry a record-breaking S+ blockbuster drama meant that Jiang Yue's name was no longer just a traffic symbol. It had become synonymous with "acting chops" and "show-carrying ability" among the new generation of actors.
In the evening, training ended.
Jiang Kevin rushed to the side of the field holding his tablet. On the screen was the finale battle report that Su Qing had just compiled, listing public trending topics, platform popularity, and feedback.
“Third Brother, look at this yourself.”
Jiang Kevin handed over the tablet. “Sister Qing said this material will be useful for future business and promotional negotiations.”
Jiang Yue glanced at the astonishing numbers and raised an eyebrow. “The results exceeded expectations.”
“It's not just exceeding expectations; it's a straight-up ascension,” Jiang Kevin couldn't help but marvel.
He Chuan, who had originally come to confirm tomorrow's training schedule with Jiang Yue, stopped in his tracks upon hearing this and waved his phone.
He and Xu Pingqiu knew each other and belonged to the same social circle, so news traveled fast.
“Director Xu just messaged me to brag. He said negotiations for the investment of the second season can officially begin.”
Jiang Yue smiled. “It seems he's fulfilled half of his military pledge then.”
“Indeed.”
He Chuan looked at Jiang Yue, his expression serious. “So, the pressure for 《The Pivot Bone》 is all on you now. Everyone is watching to see if you can sustain this momentum.”
Jiang Yue handed the tablet back to Jiang Kevin and patted the protective gear on his palms.
He looked at the distant target, a sharp glint flashing in his eyes.
“Director He, rest assured.”
Jiang Yue's voice was steady, but his words carried a rare edge. “I am the last person to fear pressure.”
He Chuan laughed heartily. “Good! That's exactly what I wanted to hear! Extra training starts tomorrow!”
“No problem.”
As night fell, Jiang Yue returned to his hotel room.
His phone vibrated. It was a WeChat message from Han Song.
【Brother Song: Not bad, kid. You stole the entire spotlight. Next time we have a fight scene, I'm definitely going all out! I won't go easy on you either.】
Jiang Yue looked at Han Song's message and clicked his tongue. Who was going easy on whom was still up in the air.
He replied directly: 【Anytime.】
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