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 no way out; 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?
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