Chapter 252: Comet Breaks Records
"Are you serious about this?" Liu Hongmin asked in surprise.
Xu Xiaoming smiled and said, "Of course it's for real? Otherwise, why would I come to Beijing?"
Liu Hongmin shook his head and said, "I wish you success!"
Ma Weidu: "Hongmin, whether we can succeed depends on whether we can find a suitable filming location."
"What's going on?" Liu Hongmin asked.
"We want to go to the mountain city to find a suitable viaduct for filming, but we don't have anyone familiar with it at the railway bureau, so we can only ask you to think of a solution."
Liu Hongmin thought about it, picked up the phone and called Yang Xiao.
"Teacher Yang, do you know anyone at the Shancheng Railway Bureau?"
Yang Xiao asked puzzledly: "My friend knows him, Hongmin, what do you want to do with the Shancheng Railway Bureau?"
Liu Hongmin told Yang Xiao about Xu Xiaoming and Ma Weidu's plan to shoot Source Code, and Yang Xiao immediately said, "That's good news! So, I want to talk to my friend and ask him to help make the contact. I'll let you know when there's a result."
"Okay! I'll wait for your news."
Liu Hongmin hung up the phone, and then said to the two of them: "It may take a while, you just wait here for news! I'll ask Azhen to prepare some food, and we can leave after dinner!"
Xu Xiaoming readily agreed. He hadn't been to Beijing for several years.
Li Lizhen was very welcome to Xu Xiaoming's arrival. She hadn't seen anyone from Hong Kong for a long time.
While they were eating, Yang Xiao called. Liu Hongmin came back after answering the phone and said to the two with a smile: "You are lucky. The Shancheng Railway Bureau has agreed."
"Really?" The two were very happy and wanted to rush to the mountain city immediately.
Ma Weidu asked: "What is the specific situation?"
Liu Hongmin smiled and said: "The leader of Shancheng Railway Bureau is my reader, and he highly praises Source Code. If Shancheng can be the filming location of Source Code, it is equivalent to promoting Shancheng, which is also a political achievement for him."
"Not bad, not bad!" Ma Weidu smiled and said, "This is also a pleasant surprise. Hongmin, please sign for me later. When we go to Shancheng, we will take your autographed book as a gift to the leader."
A book only costs a few dollars, so it is not considered corruption for the leader to accept it. However, the effect of this gift is thousands of times greater than a few dollars.
After the meal, the two left with Liu Hongmin's autographed book. A few days later, they went to the mountain city to choose a filming location.
Not long after, Liu Hongmin received a call from Yang Xiao.
"The filming location for Source Code has been confirmed. It's a newly built viaduct. The mountain city is expected to be open to traffic next year, so it's just the right time for the crew to use it and test its explosion-proof effect."
There are many train explosions in Source Code, and if it is made into a movie, it will also need a lot of explosion scenes. There are so many explosions that even if it is shot with multiple cameras, it will take several explosions to shoot enough footage.
Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "They really hit it off!"
"Of course not!" Yang Xiao said with a smile. He changed the subject, "Hongmin, the 11th issue has once again broken the sales record of Science Fiction World. You have helped us a lot."
Liu Hongmin: "Teacher Yang, it's really polite of you to say that."
Yang Xiao smiled helplessly, as he and Liu Hongmin were not very familiar with each other. The reason why Liu Hongmin submitted manuscripts to Science Fiction World many times was, firstly, because Liu Xinwu introduced him to Liu Hongmin. Secondly, Liu Hongmin wanted to keep Science Fiction World as the only science fiction publishing platform. "After more than half a year of development, the manuscripts submitted to us are getting better and better. We have completed the manuscript collection for the January issue next year. Although they are not as good as your novels, they are all very good. If we can rely on these people's novels to stabilize sales, then Science Fiction World can truly gain a foothold in the publishing industry."
Liu Hongmin: "Then I would like to congratulate you in advance."
Yang Xiao laughed, "I'll give you some good luck."
Liu Hongmin counted the days and found that it had been almost a month since the November issue was published. The Peking University Press should also be releasing the single volume of The Night the Comet Came soon.
I don’t know how the sales will be!
"The Night the Comet Came" has a certain reading threshold. You must have relevant knowledge to understand this novel.
The Beijing University Press specially asked someone to write a preface for Liu Hongmin, explaining all the theories involved in the book. This was because Beijing University considered that the readers' level might not be high enough, so it had to add this second volume.
Yang Xiao could do nothing about it. They really didn't pay attention to this matter. Otherwise, they would find a place to analyze "The Night the Comet Came" to help readers understand it.
In other words, they missed the opportunity to take the sales of Science Fiction World to a higher level.
Yang Xiao was a little annoyed. It was all his fault. He forgot how difficult it was to read The Night the Comet Came. However, the loss was not that big. The November issue of Science Fiction World had already sold 11 million copies, so there was not much room for growth.
But even if the sales volume increases by 10,000 copies, it will be good!
After the single volume of "The Night the Comet Came" was put on the shelves, it immediately aroused people's desire to buy because the front-line was written very clearly and the reading threshold was lowered.
Soon, "The Night the Comet Came" broke through one million sales, and this number is constantly being refreshed. From one million sales to two million and three million sales, there is almost no obstacle.
Moreover, the sales speed has not slowed down, and it is still increasing by 100,000 or 200,000 copies per day. Judging from this situation, it is only a matter of time before the sales volume reaches 4 million or 5 million.
When Ma Weidu and Xu Xiaoming returned to Beijing from the mountain city, Liu Hongmin received the news that "The Night the Comet Came" had sold five million copies.
After Ma Weidu and Xu Xiaoming found out, they came to congratulate them.
Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "What's there to congratulate? Sales of five million copies are nothing to me."
Ma Weidu showed a helpless smile, but still wanted to make his boss happy.
"'The Night the Comet Came' is different. It's a top-notch science fiction novel. If you don't have a certain foundation of scientific knowledge, you probably won't even understand it."
Xu Xiaoming also echoed: "That's true, I just didn't understand this book."
He picked up the single volume of "The Night the Comet Came" and said, "To be honest, if everyone hadn't followed suit and bought this, I probably wouldn't have bought it."
Liu Hongmin smiled and said, "In fact, if you look carefully, you will know what is going on."
Xu Xiaoming smiled and said, "You are so modest! But I never expected that so many people in the mainland could understand this book. A large population base is good, and there are even more geniuses than in other places."
Ma Weidu smiled and said, "There aren't that many geniuses. They are just science fiction fans."
"That's amazing!"
(End of this chapter)
