Breaking the record was an unexpected surprise!
Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian exchanged a glance, and Fang Yinnian said with a smile: “Are we going to gain another wave of fans?”
Mo Xun said: “Of course. You and Tang Che performed best this time—many netizens will probably come to admire you two scholars.”
Fu Fei gestured excitedly: “Our small unknown group is improving again. Both variety shows were effective exposure, hehe!”
Tan Junwen smiled and said: “If Sonic hadn’t given up the opportunity due to other commitments, we wouldn’t have had this chance to break the record. I really feel our luck is quite good?”
Tang Che said coolly: “Luck is also a kind of strength.”
Fu Fei agreed: “That’s right, that’s right. If Sonic had come for this episode, they definitely wouldn’t have broken the record!”
Fang Yinnian asked with confusion: “Why do you say that? Aren’t they also a boy band?”
Fu Fei glanced secretly at their manager, lowered his head, and said mysteriously in a quiet voice: “They’re a talent show group—each person has many hidden agendas. They’ll definitely disband and go solo after two years, so they just maintain a decent public image. Their private relationships aren’t that good, and their fans often fight.”
Xu Baichuan raised an eyebrow and said: “Xiao Fei, how do you know this again?”
Fu Fei chuckled: “I follow their fan super topics with my alternate account. Their most popular member, Qu Yan—his fans curse the other team members every day for dragging their brother down, constantly counting down to ‘when will my Brother Yan go solo.'”
Fang Yinnian: “…”
Such a group would easily have harmony on the surface but discord underneath, right?
Sonic was established with a limited activity period and would definitely disband when the time came. It was understandable that each member would plan for their own future.
But FTM was different. All five started as nobodies, and currently had no ability to go solo—staying together for warmth would be better.
Seeing Fang Yinnian lower his head, Mo Xun softly asked: “What are you thinking about?”
Fang Yinnian said: “What if one day FTM fans start fighting with each other? For example, my fans cursing you all, or your fans cursing me?”
Mo Xun smiled and said: “Solo fans cursing teammates is normal, don’t take it to heart.”
Fang Yinnian thought for a moment: “That’s true. Anyway, I rarely browse fan super topics, so I wouldn’t see if I’m being cursed.”
Xu Baichuan listened to their conversation and couldn’t help but twitch the corner of his mouth.
There was always a strange “exclusive” aura between these two. When Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian started chatting one-on-one, the other three teammates found it difficult to join in.
Xu Baichuan rubbed his temples: “Mo Xun, how many times did you grab Yinnian’s wrist during this escape room show?”
Mo Xun was startled: “What do you mean, how many times?”
Xu Baichuan: “Four times.”
Mo Xun and Fang Yinnian: “…”
Xu Baichuan: “Your CP fans counted, and even made a special edit. I watched with my own eyes as your #MagicCubeCPEscapeRoomLivestreamThread# was pushed to today’s HOT with over a thousand replies—the CP fans are shipping you wildly.”
Fang Yinnian carefully recalled for a moment, saying: “The lights went out and the room was very dark, with monsters coming after us. Mo Xun reacted faster and pulled me to hide in the wardrobe.”
Mo Xun thought back carefully: “When going downstairs, I was holding the flashlight, right? I was worried you might fall, so I steadied you.”
Fang Yinnian looked puzzled: “They ship this?”
Tan Junwen smiled: “It is quite shippable—you held hands!”
Fang Yinnian turned to look at him: “Grabbing a wrist isn’t holding hands.”
Tan Junwen: “It’s basically holding hands if you round up.”
Fang Yinnian was speechless: “You can round up like that? Isn’t it normal for guys to put arms around each other’s shoulders? Should I grab you right now too?”
Tan Junwen quickly dodged backward: “No, no, I won’t break up the CP.”
Tang Che expressionlessly: “Last time they shipped them chasing each other, this time they’re shipping them holding wrists. Why do these CP fans keep changing their tastes?”
Tan Junwen summarized: “In CP fans’ eyes, even your breathing is an act of loving him.”
Everyone: “…”
Xu Baichuan looked at Tan Junwen: “Junwen, you seem quite knowledgeable?”
Tan Junwen smiled and said: “My alternate account follows the Magic Cube World super topic. Their CP fans are really good at imagination—I’ve learned a lot.”
Fu Fei guiltily thought: I follow it too. After all, a CP in FTM suddenly became popular, so it’s normal for a teammate to keep an eye on it.
Only Tang Che remained unable to understand from beginning to end.
Xu Baichuan glanced at Mo Xun: “You weren’t deliberately playing it up?”
Mo Xun immediately denied: “Are you kidding? It was pitch black with monsters chasing us—I was only focused on escaping. How would I have time to think about playing up a CP?”
Xu Baichuan: “…”
Only focused on escaping yet still pulled Fang Yinnian along.
So, naturally occurring moments were the most shippable.
Deliberate marketing would seem too forced. In this episode, Mo Xun’s several instances of pulling Fang Yinnian to escape were based on instinctive “protection.”
No wonder the entertainment group had raised another high-rise thread for CP shipping.
For this CP, Xu Baichuan had recently been thinking about how to create a marketing strategy, but… without his intervention, it had already become this popular.
If they marketed it more, the CP fans would go completely crazy.
Better to keep it low-key—Xu Baichuan had become somewhat afraid of the natural chemistry between these two.
***
After returning to the hotel that evening, everyone scrolled through Weibo together, sharing interesting information in their group chat.
The hashtag #FTMBreaksDespirateEscapeRoomRecord# had surged to the top three, reaching the same high position as their previous #BringingTeammatesDownWithYou# trending topic.
However, last time casual viewers clicked in with a “laugh first” attitude, with the hashtag filled with “hahaha” comments. This time, people were praising them for being calm, intelligent, and well-coordinated, with the hashtag filled with “666”
Many familiar IDs were taking the opportunity to promote FTM’s work.
These early-investing fans, whom Fang Yinnian had noticed during the previous trending topic, seemed more confident this time, with more content to promote.
Fu Fei excitedly posted in the group chat: “Brothers, we have fan creators now! Look at these bloggers who’ve drawn many Q-version avatars for us!”
Tan Junwen commented: “Better than what I could draw.”
They finally had some fans who created content!
For instance, a blogger named “Music Note Heroine” had drawn a set of cute Q-version avatars with their escape room outfits based on their distinctive features.
Another blogger called “Daily Star Chaser” had turned all the classic moments from this escape room variety show into Q-version animated emoji stickers, adding fun captions like “Save me,” “Don’t come near me,” “Skeleton bro, why are you in the wardrobe,” and more.
These adorable emoji stickers and avatars received extensive praise.
There were also bloggers skilled in photo editing who took screenshots from the show, enhanced them, and posted images that looked even better than official promotional photos.
Fang Yinnian happily saved all these images.
These fan creations maintained the hashtag’s popularity, which stayed on the entertainment rankings from 9:30 PM until 2 AM, with tens of millions of views!
All five of them started gaining followers rapidly again.
Fu Fei sent a row of crying emoji in the group chat: “This wave seems even stronger than the last one, brothers. Will my followers reach 500,000 tonight?”
Tan Junwen said: “After the marketing efforts kick in, we can continue growing tomorrow, Sunday. Reaching 500,000 should be easy—Yinnian might even break a million.”
Tang Che had stood out during their debut stage, but his image as a cool, aloof guy with braided hair wasn’t accepted by some people, so his follower growth was relatively slower.
This time he performed exceptionally well in the escape room. Netizens discovered he was a top student at Jiangzhou University who scored 650 out of 750 on the college entrance exam.
How many people in the entertainment industry scored 650 on the college entrance exam? Some couldn’t even reach 250.
Tang Che’s Weibo followers began to surge.
Many comments said: “Following the scholar, bless me not to fail my courses~”
“The highest-achieving student among idols!”
“Wow, Jiangzhou University is my alma mater. A junior actually went to become a boy band idol? Following!”
“Handsome guy, what is your brain made of?”
“This is my math homework—could you help me calculate the area?”
His latest Weibo post received over a thousand new comments.
Then, Tang Che actually replied to the comment asking for help with math homework, even handwriting the complete solution formula.
Fans: “!!!”
Damn, who would have thought one day they could ask an idol for help with math homework!
Tang Che hadn’t made much of an impression in “Red-Blue Competition,” but he gained popularity through the “Desperate Escape Room” variety show, with followers quickly catching up.
Of course, Fang Yinnian still gained followers the fastest.
Fang Yinnian had a boy-next-door face that was most easily accepted by the general public, plus he had highlights in every variety show. After seeing FTM’s debut stage, casual viewers would also prefer him as the piano-playing lead vocalist.
Mo Xun was the captain, performing excellently in each variety show. With an increasing number of CP fans, his popularity was no less than Fang Yinnian’s.
Each person had their own appeal points. This wave of variety show exposure was effective in gaining visibility, with everyone gaining followers collectively, including FTM’s official Weibo account.
Before long, press releases began flooding the internet.
***
Headlines, entertainment express, industry reports—all major social media platforms and entertainment marketing accounts were posting news about FTM breaking the escape room record.
The press releases written by the PR team sister were passionately enthusiastic, as if they had broken some world record.
The traffic from numerous press releases, plus Taohe platform’s featured promotion on their homepage, attracted countless viewers to rewatch this episode.
Fang Yinnian clicked into Bilibili and found content creators making analysis videos of this episode, giving high praise to FTM’s completion process.
“Worthy of being called a team—they all trust their teammates. At critical moments, no one complained; they just did what needed to be done.”
“I don’t really follow boy bands and haven’t heard their songs, but I think these five are very harmonious and affectionate together—a very coordinated team.”
“No exaggeration, no downplaying—although this episode had imperfections, FTM’s five-person coordination was invincible. Breaking the record was quite impressive! Their logical reasoning was very clear, and they didn’t drop the ball at critical moments.”
“Everyone’s intelligence was on point… well, not Xiao Fei’s intelligence hahaha, he screamed the loudest—the atmosphere team is also indispensable!”
Fang Yinnian felt a warmth in his heart reading this.
The most outstanding aspect of this variety show performance was actually—teamwork.
They finally felt like a real team.
From Fang Yinnian’s initial unfamiliarity and bewilderment about boy bands to now, he had gradually begun to accept and love the FTM team.
All five of them were nobodies, stumbling together through the entertainment world, which was why outsiders perceived them as united.
Perhaps because they were so unknown, they couldn’t stand out without unity.
But Fang Yinnian hoped that even if they became popular in the future, even if they became top stars in the entertainment industry, the relationship between the five would remain as harmonious as during their rookie period.
From childhood, he had spent all his time studying and practicing piano, with no time to go out and play, and hardly made any real friends.
But now, he suddenly had four good brothers!
This was truly the best gift heaven had sent him.
You sure one of them is your good brother?
I’m betting everyone but Yinnian and Mo Xun will motice they unconsciously prefer each other when teaming up or running away haha
Hopefully next activity will highlight Fu Fei and Tan Juwen more. Thanks for the chapter!