If the sudden popularity of "Sea Fog Tracking" is an inevitable result of the gradual accumulation of positive word-of-mouth in the earlier episodes.
Its later surge in popularity, which caused the data for "Sea Fog Tracking" to skyrocket, was due to the appearance of several highly charismatic characters.
The first character to become incredibly popular is naturally Ji Baili, the uncle of the protagonist Mu Wen.
Ji Baili returned from the neighboring country of White Elephant. He was originally groomed to be the old man's heir, both his son-in-law and his apprentice. However, due to an encounter with an enemy, he was delayed abroad, and upon his return—it was terrible! His house had been robbed, and the old man's only grandson had been implicated in this smuggling crime!
But there was nothing he could do; Mu Wen had already been dragged into this, and there was no way he could leave now.
So Ji Baili had no choice but to grit his teeth and lead his little nephew on this "tightrope walk".
Ji Baili was highly respected in the entire land smuggling team. Whenever Mu Wen encountered any problems, he would appear like a timely rain and help Mu Wen resolve all difficulties.
Every time Ji Baili appears, it inevitably sparks a wave of comments and gives people a strong sense of security.
There's no way around it; a man who can solve problems will have double the charm in any situation.
The actor who played Ji Baili also successfully rose to fame through this role, transforming from an ordinary "middle-aged male supporting actor" who had been working in the industry for more than ten years into a well-known representative of the "uncle circle" in the Chinese entertainment industry.
Besides this character, there's also Xiao He, who appears later in the story.
Mo Tun's appearance left a deep psychological scar on all the viewers.
Unlike the other big shots who appeared with mysterious and unpredictable attire, Mo Tun had messy, curly, medium-length hair, wore the same short-sleeved shirt and shorts that could be seen everywhere on fishermen by the sea, paired with a pair of flip-flops, and occasionally chewed a betel nut. His eyes were sinister, like a terrifying creature lurking in the sea, eyeing its prey.
His bloody methods, such as gouging out people's mouths at the slightest provocation, also chilled the audience to the bone.
Some bloggers have already analyzed that his act of digging out people's tongues and teeth is actually related to local folk culture.
Fishermen living by the sea often have beliefs and deeply respect the sea gods. They believe that the sea is naturally the place where the sea god resides, and that criminals who kill people and then throw the bodies into the sea may cause the innocent to appeal to the sea god and thus be punished by the gods. Therefore, the saying "do not swallow or gouge out people's mouths" may be a folk metaphor for "one's words and deeds cannot be appealed to the gods."
Of course, "Sea Fog Tracking" also involves a lot of other antique knowledge and Taoist and Buddhist culture, which can be considered a small detail about the production team combining folk culture.
Getting back to the main point, the character Mo Tun, just like Mu Ze back then, dominated the entire Bilibili platform as soon as he appeared.
What's funny is that Xiao He is currently the only person on Bilibili who is still alive but often appears with a black and white filter.
Why?
Because he's always covered in blood, every time he appears he's either stabbing someone or on his way to stabbing someone.
Although the censorship has been relaxed now, Bilibili is still very strict. For example, Xiao He's indiscriminate killing on TV would not pass the censorship there. But every time Xiao He kills someone, his charm is off the charts and he leaves a deep impression. So since Xiao He's debut, his figure has never been associated with any other villain in the list of villains.
So the audience will see the black and white Mu Ze carrying a chainsaw and chasing down the victims, the black and white Zhu Laosan chopping people up and throwing them into the pigsty, the black and white Shen Jue removing people to the bone, the black and white Meng Zetian torturing and killing undercover agents... and the black and white Mo Tun chewing betel nuts and "pulling teeth" for people.
Oh, you're asking why there are always so many black water splatters on my face and body? Haha, you must have accidentally spilled ink, right? Could it be blood? Haha, how could that be? Our video has passed censorship; there's no blood or violence involved!
The most famous one, of course, is the latest video from Xiao Zhao Liu Bu Liu, the representative content creator who made the character Mu Ze a hit on Bilibili and pushed the "refined villain" series into a "new era" of Mu Ze.
This Xiao Zhao is quite something. Nowadays, he can be considered one of Xiao He's benefactors online, and also one of Xiao He's earliest fans.
Originally, she was just a moderately famous film and television editing blogger, mainly posting high-energy mashups and funny videos on Bilibili. Later, with the ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) rise of short videos and the popularity of editing studios, she, a small content creator, was almost forced out of the industry by the fiercely competitive environment.
And it was at that moment that Mu Ze, played by Xiao He, appeared.
After being recommended by one of his fans, Xiao Zhao saw a clip about Mu Ze's character in "The Burning Heart" and was amazed. He immediately edited it into a very high-quality and textured short video, which went viral on Bilibili and made it to the top of the Bilibili homepage overnight.
As a result, Xiao Zhao Liu Bu Liu regained a huge amount of traffic and attention. And she is also a smart person. Taking advantage of the high popularity at that time, she continued to produce high-quality content. Based on some of the most popular ideas, she produced many edited videos about the character Mu Ze, and successfully broke through the million-follower mark with that popularity, rekindling the flame of her career.
Later, she continued to create some videos related to Xiao He's personal life. In particular, after the broadcast of "The Thief Catcher", videos of various types, such as high-energy mashups of Shen Jue's personal action scenes and mashups with storylines, once again topped the trending list on Bilibili.
It can be said that Xiao Zhao's rise to prominence was largely due to Xiao He.
Of course, it can also be said that Xiao He's ability to maintain his high popularity on Bilibili is largely thanks to content creators like Xiao Zhao Liu Bu Liu, who have added the finishing touches to Xiao He's character.
This time is no different.
In fact, after noticing that Xiao He was in "Sea Fog Tracking", Xiao Zhao Liu Bu Liu had been paying close attention to the show and had already planned to edit the character's scenes.
After all, both "Sea Fog Tracking" and "Burning Heart" were directed by the same person, and she became a hit on Bilibili because of a mashup of her character Mu Ze in "Burning Heart". Now Xiao He is playing the role of Mo Tun in "Sea Fog Tracking", which has a special commemorative significance for her.
So even though the initial viewership of "Sea Fog Tracking" was extremely poor, with good reviews but no viewership, Xiao Zhao Liu Bu Liu didn't give up at all, persisting in watching the episodes and even recommending it everywhere. In the end, she finally got to see Xiao He's appearance—
All I can say is that Xiao He truly lives up to his name. Compared to the elegant madness of Mu Ze, Mo Tun is clearly the other extreme – unconventional yet ruthless and vicious.
The scene where someone's mouth is gouged out, in particular, with bright red blood and silver teeth, drew a lot of question marks in the comments. Later, because it was too gory, it had to be censored when it was reposted on other short video platforms.
Many people found it hard to accept; the visual impact was too great. However, Xiao Zhao was so excited that his eyes were shining.
Great! Great! Inspiration struck! It's all my inspiration!
