In late December, trailers for four A-tier dramas scheduled for the winter season were released one after another.
The trailer for 'Rain in Hudu: The Sequel', the follow-up to a highly popular predecessor, broke ten million online views within two days, proving just how much attention it was receiving.
The trailers for both 'Blazing Sun' and 'The Mystery of Time' were also well-received, with many praising the high production quality of their visuals and storytelling.
However, the highly anticipated trailer for 'Life is Strange' left many drama critics and viewers a little puzzled.
["Why does it look like a detective mystery series from the trailer?"]
["Time reversal... whoa, Su Yan, you mad genius!"]
["Isn't this a bit like 'An Ancient Love Song'? Another show that plays with the timeline?"]
["Okay, now I'm interested. I've always wanted Su Yan to make something like 'An Ancient Love Song'—you know, messing with time and history."]
["But there's no male lead in this one? Is it about the friendship between two female protagonists?"]
["Whatever, I'm still hyped. Let's wait and see!"]
["Let's look at the elements in the trailer: gangs, murder, school bullying, a deranged killer, time reversal, detective mystery... Su Yan's never done anything like this. Can he really pull it off?"]
["You're seriously doubting Su Yan? Sure, he mostly did romance before, but that doesn't mean that's all he can do."]
["Whatever. As long as the show isn't a heart-wrenching tearjerker, I'm in."]
["Exactly. Su Yan's previous dramas always had painful separations between couples as the emotional core. This one has no male lead, so hey—maybe this time it won't be emotionally brutal!"]
["You know what... that actually makes sense. I usually get emotional when couples are torn apart. If it's just two women and one of them dies, I probably won't feel much."]
["Alright, hearing that makes me feel better. I'm in!"]
With the anticipation of Xia Nation's TV drama fans running high—
December came to an end, and January arrived.
This quarter featured four A-tier dramas, along with sixteen B-tier dramas aired by the three major networks and other mid-to-large networks, plus several C-tier ones.
Friday, January 3rd.
The first to premiere was Sakura TV's 'Rain in Hudu: The Sequel'.
That evening, a large number of fans of the original series waited by their TVs, full of expectation.
And the first episode didn't disappoint.
The story opened in a fun and engaging way, showing the male and female leads from the first season navigating life after getting together—predictably, it was just as rocky as before.
Then came a sudden, sweet ending scene.
The first episode launched with a viewership rating of 4.43%.
Next came 'The Mystery of Time' and 'Blazing Sun', both airing on Saturday night.
'Life is Strange' had already been officially scheduled for Sunday at 8 p.m. since October.
If the other three major networks launched their A-tier shows in that slot, it would mean going head-to-head with Su Yan's new drama—mutually assured destruction.
The production departments of the three big networks were frustrated, but still unwilling to challenge Su Yan, not after the storm he created back in April.
After all, Su Yan had boldly torn into Akasaka Yoshitoki before leaving Sakura TV.
Now that he was working with Aozora TV, it was clear—he was aiming straight for the seasonal crown.
And if he wanted to stake out this prime time slot, who could stop him?
Su Yan wasn't afraid of other shows crashing into his. Worst-case scenario? Everyone goes down together.
But who among the big network staff would gamble their future like that?
As the saying goes: "The barefoot aren't afraid of the ones wearing shoes."
Back when Su Yan wasn't famous and didn't have any success, he would avoid competing with the big three A-tier premieres.
But now, if he still dodged them, what had the past year in the industry been for?
In the end, Zhongxia TV and Hudu TV compromised.
Of the four major A-tier dramas, the one with the weakest presence pre-premiere, 'Blazing Sun', willingly took the Saturday 9 p.m. slot.
Still, the three major networks weren't going to just swallow this without a fight.
They began re-airing their classic hits on Sunday at 8 p.m., obviously to mess with 'Life is Strange'.
After how tragically 'Scarlet Love', a B-tier show from the summer season, got steamrolled in the same slot, no network dared go head-to-head with Su Yan again.
But using reruns of popular classics to disrupt his momentum? Low-cost and low-risk.
Sunday noon.
Ratings for the first episodes of 'The Mystery of Time' and 'Blazing Sun' came out:
4.23% and 4.39%
Unexpectedly, 'Blazing Sun', despite having the worst time slot and weaker hype, did better than expected.
Still, the leader remained 'Rain in Hudu: The Sequel' on Sakura TV.
As a result, the media didn't focus too much on 'Blazing Sun'.
Everyone in the industry knew about the feud between Su Yan and Sakura TV.
So far, Sakura TV's drama has been the seasonal ratings leader.
And the only A-tier drama yet to air was Su Yan's 'Life is Strange'.
Which meant the buzz was now at maximum levels.
That afternoon, on the set of 'Life is Strange':
Su Yan, Shinozaki Ikumi, Gu Qingyuan, Shen Liqian, and others had gathered.
"Looks like our number one rival this time is Sakura TV," Su Yan said with a grin.
"Judging by both reputation and performance, 'Rain in Hudu: The Sequel' is currently in first place."
4.43%.
Everyone felt the pressure of that number.
And that was just the premiere episode—who knew how high it would go by the finale?
"Alright. We've sized up our opponents. Tonight's our turn for the premiere," Su Yan smiled.
"Even though my shows usually gain traction later, I hope we get off to a strong start tonight!"
Starting at 7 p.m., Su Yan's fans—long-starved for new shows—were flooding the comment sections of his profile.
One discussion thread after another popped up.
Cen Jia took a deep breath, watching fans post on the forum, counting the minutes until 'Life is Strange' aired.
Aozora TV hadn't seen a drama break 4% in viewership since their hit back in April.
But tonight, as soon as the clock struck 8:00 p.m.,
Live ratings finally crossed the 4% threshold.
The opening theme of 'Life is Strange' played on the TV.
The scene transitioned smoothly into the story.
A girl struggled through stormy weather.
A strange-looking deer led her forward.
She climbed a mountain alone, dodging falling trees blown down by the violent storm.
Suddenly, a massive tree collapsed, blocking her path.
Her eyes focused—
The screen warped and distorted as time seemed to rewind.
When she opened her eyes again, it was moments before the tree had fallen.
She dashed forward, sprinting up the mountain and passing the danger zone just in time.
Having seen the trailer, Cen Jia now understood the scene:
The protagonist, Max, had activated her time-reversal power to go back before the tree collapsed.
At the mountaintop, she gazed at the devastated city below, ravaged by a giant tornado—
Then the lighthouse collapsed, falling toward her.
Cut to a new scene.
Max woke up from a nightmare.
She was a photography major in college, attending class, but she had just dozed off.
The dream had been too real.
Startled awake, her sudden movement got her called out by the photography instructor, who demanded she answer a question.
Cen Jia blinked.
A dream?
Was that really a dream?
But the following scenes grabbed her attention.
Max soon realized she truly had the power to reverse time at will, just like in the dream.
She fumbled the instructor's question, and he made her stay after class—
But then he gave away the answer himself.
Max activated her ability.
She reversed time.
And nailed the answer perfectly.
["Holy crap. This is a cheat code!"] Cen Jia was thrilled.
Just imagine using this for lottery tickets... or even darker purposes—it's a game-changer.
Then came the core of Episode 1.
After solving some minor problems, Max went to the school restroom.
There, she took a photo of a blue butterfly with her camera.
The camera gave this shot a close-up.
But Cen Jia—and the rest of the audience—couldn't make sense of this detail.
Next, Max stumbled upon something no one expected:
A shooting incident.
Li Sen (Nathan), the hated son of a wealthy family, was arguing with a girl from another school over contraband items.
That girl—
Was Chloe, played by Shen Liqian.
Their argument escalated.
They shoved each other.
Bang!
Chloe collapsed in a pool of blood.
Nathan stared at the gun in his hand in horror, all the aggression gone from his face.
Hidden in the restroom, Max had seen the whole thing.
And she recognized Chloe—her best friend from years ago.
Terror and determination filled her eyes.
Cen Jia instantly understood:
This was the turning point.
The gears of fate had begun to turn.
And so had the tragedy.
At that moment, driven by fear and the will to save her former friend—
Max activated her power again.
Cen Jia's eyes widened.
So this is what her ability is for!
Unlike Su Yan's past shows, 'Life is Strange' was gripping from the very beginning.
The way it started had her instantly hooked.
Compared to other fantasy dramas in Xia Nation, this one was way more interesting.
Even though the story was set decades ago in a city infamous for crime, the bold premise of a private university student bringing a gun to school and firing it was a sharp departure from today's TV norms.
And the time reversal power?
Totally her kind of thing.
At the very least, 'Life is Strange' was shaping up to be nothing like what she expected.
-------------------------
Original Author's Note:
I feel like a lot of readers don't know about 'Life is Strange'. Choosing it for the main character to create was partly just my personal taste.After all, writing fiction is about exploring things that probably won't happen in real life.But now that I think about it, maybe that's not very considerate to my readers—stories should be more grounded.
I truly think this story is amazing. But if most readers aren't familiar with it, I'll try to speed things up and move on to the 'Cyberpunk' arc or 'The Garden of Words'.
Most of the people reading this novel are anime fans. Even though the original game is from Japan and pretty well-known in narrative-driven game circles, it seems to have no name recognition among my readers.
So I'll pick up the pace.