Inside the elevator, a young man spoke up with some indignation, "This elevator is a public space, and we got in first. What gives you the right to ask us to step out?"
Though the others inside the elevator remained silent, they nodded repeatedly in agreement.
The male celebrity's assistant was displeased. "Didn't you see how many of us there are?"
Chu Yang looked up at the swarming crowd outside the elevator, noticing quite a few female fans holding support banners and cameras. He instantly guessed the identity of the people before him and couldn't help letting out a cold sneer. "If there are so many of you, can't you wait for the next trip? Did your family build this airport?"
"What do you mean by that?" The assistant's expression turned ugly in an instant. "Don't you know how packed our Hanhan's schedule is? We're about to miss check-in, so hurry up and get out!"
"What does your flight being late have to do with us?" Chu Yang's expression remained unchanged. "Is this your first time flying? Don't you know passengers need to arrive at the airport two hours before departure? Besides, ask the people standing inside this elevator—which one of them doesn't have somewhere to be? Do celebrities get special privileges?"
Hearing this, some of the fanatical female fans surrounding the male celebrity lost their temper.
"Can they possibly be as busy as our Hanhan? He's a top-tier national celebrity with schedules packed all day long! Can't you just let our Hanhan go up first?"
"What's wrong with this guy? If it were me, I would've made way for Hanhan long ago. Giving up the elevator for Hanhan is simply an honor!"
"Why aren't you stepping aside? What are you standing there stunned for? If you ruin Hanhan's chances of making his flight and mess up his schedule, can you people afford to take the responsibility?"
The male celebrity's expression also turned somewhat ugly.
In the years since he skyrocketed to fame in the country, he had grown accustomed to a pampered and privileged lifestyle.
Let alone giving up an elevator, even when he arrived two hours late on a film set, the entire crew had to wait for him.
What was wrong with you ordinary people giving up an elevator?
However, out of professional habit as a celebrity, he remained extremely cautious in certain respects. As a public figure, he never knew when or where paparazzi might be secretly filming him. Doing anything too extreme could easily provoke public backlash. Although he had plenty of brainless fans, he ultimately didn't want to lose any portion of his fanbase.
Glancing around out of the corner of his eye, he instantly spotted countless cameras and cell phones pointed at his position. In the next second, a smile bloomed on his face. After waving back his assistant and bodyguards, he looked at Chu Yang and the others inside the elevator and smiled, "It's fine. Although I'm in a rush, let them go first after all. Everyone is very busy."
Chu Yang's mouth twitched speechlessly. The time wasted on this exchange was already enough for the elevator to go up and down again.
The female fans grew excited.
"Our Hanhan is truly so kind!"
"Even though he's exhausted himself, Hanhan is still being so considerate of these people. I really picked the right idol to stan. Our Hanhan has such great character!"
"They just wanted to use the elevator first, but these people are just bitter in their hearts, jealous that he's a big star. Our Hanhan is so much better!"
Chu Yang shook his head helplessly and ignored the male celebrity. Once the bodyguards and assistants had stepped back out, he directly pressed the close button and waited for the elevator to ascend slowly.
No one asks after heroes' bones in quiet graves, but actors' private lives are known to the whole world.
Even such a minor matter could provoke such indignation and turmoil among fans. He truly felt a sense of sorrow for these people.
Of course, Chu Yang wasn't their biological parent, and he had no right to judge the right or wrong of their behavior. He just suddenly felt that this era held a trace of sorrow.
He didn't deny the value of celebrities. As public figures, if they guided people toward positive energy, they might well serve an educational role, which was worthy of praise and recognition.
Yet the reality was that such people were few and far between.
Furthermore, in his view, a country's progress and strength should stem from learning new knowledge and researching new technologies. If entertainment became the primary focus of a nation's people, then that country was standing still.
Without making a sweeping generalization, at least those who put entertainment on the front line were standing still.
Who could know how many celebrities with flawed character reveled in the spotlight and received lavish praise, while countless anonymous scientific researchers spent their days locked away among formulas and blueprints, racking their brains until their hair fell out, solely to strengthen China's comprehensive national power in science and technology?
How many border defense soldiers endured boundless cold while risking life and limb to guard the frontiers?
Do not forget the contributions of those who came before us; only in times of peace and peril do we truly know the weight of our homeland!
...
Of course, this was merely a sudden wave of contemplation for Chu Yang.
Once the elevator reached its destination, he grabbed his suitcase and hurried toward his boarding gate.
However, Chu Yang's series of actions was more than the male celebrity could bear. Since finding fame, how long had it been since anyone dared to ignore him like this?
Turning around, he looked at the cheering, fanatical fans beside him with a smile, a fleeting flash of chilling coldness in his eyes. "Alright, alright, everyone stop making a fuss. This was just a minor hiccup, and we mustn't let it blow up on the internet. It's time for us to go, everyone scatter."
The assistant quickly caught on and smiled at the crowd, "Everyone disperse now. Remember, absolutely do not spread this matter online, absolutely don't."
Of course, although he said that outwardly, in his heart he was already scheming how to leverage this incident for a marketing campaign once it blew up online.
Brainless fans were simply the best tool for controlling public opinion!
...
Though those fans didn't quite catch the underlying meaning of the male celebrity and his assistant's words, Chu Yang's actions had indeed enraged them. They hadn't thought of it in that direction at first, but with the prompt, the various fan clubs of this male celebrity instantly exploded into chaos.
Hanhan was their heaven. Bullying their "big brother" was simply more unforgivable than killing their own parents!
Among them, rational fans tried to analyze the situation, but they were kicked out of the chat groups in the very next second.
"Hanhan" had tens of millions of fans in the country, and his fanatical followers were countless, possessing formidable combat capability.
Ten minutes later, those fanatical female fans of "Hanhan" began to speak out online.
A slew of maliciously edited videos, slogans denouncing Chu Yang, and even big-data searches for posts about Chu Yang all popped up at once.
Even a post titled "Come out and apologize to 'Hanhan'! Our idol deserves respect!" was pushed straight to the top of the Weibo hot search list by those fanatical female fans, and its ranking continued to climb rapidly!
Right at that moment, however, an emergency red light flashed fiercely in a special office. A man wearing a green military uniform and glasses immediately stood up from his computer. "Report immediately! A large volume of users is leaking the identity information of our country's SSS-class classified personnel online. There is a risk of a security breach. I am ready to intercept; awaiting direct orders from above!"