That evening, Xiao He's short video went viral, garnering over ten million views and a million likes in just a few hours, becoming the number one trending topic on the music chart that day.
A large number of fans rushed in.
【Group photo in the front row.】
【He's so handsome I'm crawling all over the floor.】
【Brother Xiao, I love your Mu Ze and Shen Jue so much! I'm looking forward to your next project!】
【Teacher Xiao, are you filming a second season? I really love Shen Jue and Jiang Rushuai!】
【Agreed, agreed! I request a sequel with the original cast! I request a sequel with the original cast! Don't make me beg you on my knees—】
【Brother, tell me honestly, how did you learn this swordsmanship? How many people did you have to fight to become so skilled?】
【To be honest, I just watched this swordsmanship frame by frame. It's real skill, not special effects or post-production editing. Xiao He really did shave the bone clean with his sword. That's truly amazing.】
【Haha, this is outrageous! The official team even started a video campaign called "Let's all learn how to use a boning knife," they're actually trying to drag us into it, hahaha—】
【I also filmed the same video, come check it out!】
The funniest thing was Pu Rong, who left a string of question marks in the comments section after Xiao He posted the video.
【Pu Rong: ? ? ? ? Why are you so handsome?】
Pu Rong then filmed a video.
In the video, Pu Rong is dressed more casually, in an old man's shirt and shorts. He is holding the long sword he used when filming Jiang Rushuai. The background music is the same as that used by Xiao He. However, in the video, Pu Rong is not cutting meat, but drawing his sword and performing various sword flourishes.
As the music reached its climax, a handful of flower petals poured down from off-camera. Pu Rong's sword swiftly slashed horizontally, and the video once again split open with the sharp blade. The two petals that had been split fell slowly onto the sword in slow motion, and behind the sword, reflecting the silver light, were Jiang Rushuai's eyes with a carefree smile, just like the character when he first appeared in the movie.
Unsurprisingly, Pu Rong's video also went viral.
Even though neither of them filmed any disguise scenes, and it was just a close-up of their eyes, it was enough for viewers to recognize each other at a glance. This kind of direct performance in acting left a particularly deep impression.
Furthermore, both videos contain genuine artifacts: Xiao He's boning knife technique and Pu Rong's swordsmanship. These are the skills of the characters in "The Thief Catcher," and they are also the real skills they possess, which makes them even more admirable.
Following Pu Rong, other members of "The Thief Catcher" uploaded videos. Although the video quality was not as impressive as Xiao He's and Pu Rong's, they all attracted many passersby. In particular, one actor who played the thief catcher wielding a meteor hammer was also found by Pu Rong. He was a weightlifter himself. In his video, he first lifted a heavy-looking barbell, then put it down and picked up a large iron ball with one hand, smashing it towards the camera.
However, due to a lack of control over the force, the lens was ultimately smashed.
The actor even tagged Director Lin Yipeng in the comments section of the video, sincerely asking whether his phone use constituted a work-related injury during publicity.
While netizens were laughing heartily, they only cared about one question—
【Huh? No, bro, you guys are all serious?】
【I was grinning like an idiot, but it turns out you guys are all real experts?】
【Oh no, are you guys serious? I thought you were filming a movie.】
【Good question. Does this movie count as evidence of their armed fight?】
【Haha, I think this warrants punishment.】
【What a tricky question! You actually thought of that.】
【No way, everyone in the Chinese entertainment industry is so inexperienced, how can you guys be serious? Then I'll definitely have to give "The Thief Catcher" a huge boost.】
【Highly recommend "The Thieves"! Everyone should see it! I think it's the best movie I've seen this year, even better than many theatrical releases!】
【Agreed! Such authentic action scenes are truly rare. It's a rare treat for my parents and me to watch the same movie together, and we both gave it a high rating.】
【I think it's a real shame this movie wasn't released in theaters. Although the plot has some flaws, they don't detract from its overall excellence. I would even assert that the fight scenes are the best in the last decade. Martial arts films have been weak in recent years, and who would have thought that more than twenty years ago, they were at their peak? Now, they've almost all been relegated to online streaming, and we can't see such excellent works in theaters anymore. It's truly regrettable.】
【Indeed, you simply can't find this kind of smooth and exhilarating action scenes on the market these days. Towards the end, I was even getting my blood pumping; it felt like my long-dormant dream of «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» becoming a martial arts master had been rekindled! I've decided to send my roommate to martial arts training tomorrow.】
【No? You upstairs?】
【The main problem is the current environment; if an actor gets even slightly injured, their fans can harass the director and crew. Even action scenes are done with stunt doubles and camera tricks, making it impossible to recreate the effects of the past.】
【In recent years, with capital pouring in, actors and directors have collectively become complacent. Directors prefer to shoot romance films—it's simple and easy. Actors can't even do any action scenes; being able to do a few somersaults and spin around on wires is considered a model of dedication. Who's really spoiling them?】
【Alright, alright, stop arguing! Let's watch "The Thief Catcher"! Pu Rong, a former child star, delivers both excellent acting and action scenes. The other actors are equally impressive. Fans of action-packed films are in for a treat! Join our enthusiastic supporters!】
Following these viral videos, the music notes sparked a wave of imitations.
There are imitations of this editing technique. For example, a pet blogger filmed himself being bullied, then he raised his hand and a fierce and handsome giant dog slowly jumped and flew across the frame, "slicing" the image with its body, while behind the dog was the blogger's proud and surprised expression.
There are many similar videos, which have even spread to the fields of anime cosplay. In addition, some people have started to learn Xiao He's bone-removing knife technique frame by frame, trying to make it a challenge, but almost all of them have failed. One blogger even refused to believe it and insisted on learning and imitating it. As a result, he twisted his wrist when he swung the knife and fractured his own bone. It was really funny and sad.
These videos are all tagged with hashtags like #TheThiefCatcherImitation# and #TheThiefCatcherBoningKnifeChallenge#, which has brought tremendous popularity to the movie "The Thief Catcher". The buzz has spread from the music video to other social media platforms, and the scale of this promotion even exceeds that of other theatrical films.
As the show gained popularity, more and more people flocked to Tencent Video, eager to see what made "The Thief Catcher" so appealing.
As a result, once they stepped in, they couldn't get out.
