Early in the morning, the fans whom Fang Zheng had kept up all night got out of bed with dark circles under their eyes. The first thing they did was open A Company's forum to check on the voting issue they cared about most.
But the moment they opened the voting page, the fans collectively fell into despair.
Couldn't they use descriptions that normal people could understand?
Tough Guy Must Watch—what the heck was that supposed to mean?!
Quite a few fans left comments beneath the forum post, bluntly saying that Fang Zheng was stirring up trouble.
"Brothers, based on my years of experience roaming the internet, this so-called Tough Guy Must Watch is definitely a hot-blooded battle anime. The key word is 'tough.' Nothing highlights a man's might better than battle, right~"
"So I boldly speculate that Tough Guy Must Watch is absolutely a battle anime. Brothers who like this genre, don't miss it!!!"
The comment section beneath the voting page was never short of posts like this that claimed to be "educational."
Quite a few people agreed with the post's analysis. After all, when people thought of tough guys, the first image that came to mind was usually a burly man who could take on ten people at once—an absolute powerhouse.
"Big praise for the original poster! I've wanted to watch this kind of anime for ages. I'm voting for it first!"
"I like battle anime. As long as it isn't a 'healing' type like Star Dream, I'll love it!"
"Battle and passion are what men are all about! Everyone, charge!"
"..."
The netizens who saw the post all felt that it made perfect sense. In particular, the viewers who enjoyed that smooth, exhilarating sense of battle seemed to have been injected with stimulants, eagerly casting their precious votes.
"Exactly right, original poster. Great minds think alike! While I'm here, I'd also like to share my thoughts on G Section. I'm sure everyone had the same reaction as me when they saw the name—complete confusion. What the heck is that supposed to mean~"
"But think about it carefully. Put simply, G Section is a medical institution. I think Big Shot Fang may have some kind of medical-related idea. But if it were merely about medicine, that would be too narrow, so let's make a bold extrapolation: G Section might represent an anime about workplace life!!!!"
The analysis was logical and clearly thought out. At first, the netizens who saw it didn't take it seriously. Based on their understanding of Fang Zheng, their Big Shot Fang would never make the answer so obvious.
But after thinking it over again and again, they couldn't find any other explanation. In the end, they could only reluctantly accept this somewhat far-fetched answer.
The heated debate online continued without end. One side insisted they were right, while the other side insisted they were right. In short, until there was a definite answer, everyone kept arguing.
Meanwhile, Fang Zheng arrived at Qinghui Building. The moment he stepped into the office, Zhang Siyu blocked his path.
"Director Fang, this is yesterday's payment report for A Company. I've organized it for you. Please take a look."
"Sure. Sorry for the trouble."
Fang Zheng took off his coat and hung it on the coat rack. Then he walked over to his office chair and sat down, accepting the documents Zhang Siyu handed him before flipping through them.
Maybe it was just his imagination, but Fang Zheng felt that Zhang Siyu's gaze was strange today. Even her expression seemed completely out of place.
Zhang Siyu usually gave off an efficient, decisive impression. She always acted like a strong career woman, with an assertive personality and plenty of opinions of her own.
But today, Zhang Siyu felt incredibly strange to him. Take the current situation, for example.
If Zhang Siyu had come to report to him in the past, she would have handed him the documents and immediately turned to leave.
But today was different. Zhang Siyu had actually stayed in his office!
Not only had she stayed, but she had also walked over to the cabinet and fiddled with it for a while, seemingly intending to brew him a pot of tea!
Fang Zheng raised his head and looked at Zhang Siyu's back. Judging from her obviously clumsy movements, it was clear that she wasn't very skilled at housework.
Good grief, what's gotten into this overbearing CEO today?!
Fang Zheng gave Zhang Siyu a suspicious look. He had a strange feeling that something was off.
"Director Fang, please have some tea~"
Before long, Zhang Siyu carried the brewed tea over to Fang Zheng's desk and spoke softly.
"Hiss~!"
For no apparent reason, Fang Zheng suddenly shuddered all over. Hearing Zhang Siyu's soft, gentle tone made his skin crawl.
"Um... Siyu, are you feeling unwell today?"
Fang Zheng carefully examined the teacup before him and thought it over. He didn't seem to have offended Zhang Siyu recently, so she probably wouldn't go as far as poisoning him, right?
When something was out of the ordinary, there was bound to be a reason. This girl had obviously gotten her character setting wrong today!
You were an overbearing CEO, not some gentle, delicate maiden. Where had your usual competence gone? Where was your dominance?
How could you put on such an affected act and still live up to voicing Esdeath?!
Fang Zheng complained frantically inwardly. He finally understood where this sense of incongruity came from.
"Unwell? No." Zhang Siyu gave Fang Zheng a puzzled look. "Why do you ask, Director Fang?"
"Hehe, it's nothing, nothing. I was just worried that working overtime every day might wear your body down~" Fang Zheng smiled awkwardly and lowered his head, pretending to read the documents. "Good to hear you're fine, good to hear you're fine!"
But Zhang Siyu didn't see it that way. Looking at Fang Zheng, who had his head lowered over the documents, a trace of shyness flashed through her eyes.
As expected, Director Fang is worried about me!
Zhang Siyu nervously twisted her hands for a moment. Her heart was pounding fiercely, leaving her, who had never experienced anything like this before, utterly at a loss.
She had been strong-willed since childhood, even stronger than most boys. As a result, she had hardly any male friends.
She had always been solitary and independent. But ever since Fang Zheng had stirred her heart last night, Zhang Siyu suddenly realized that she had become somewhat abnormal.
All night long, whenever she closed her eyes, Fang Zheng's face and smile would appear in her mind, lingering for a long time.
Before coming to work that morning, she had put on light makeup for the first time in her life.
Even so, she felt that it wasn't enough. She had then gone online and read some guides, discovering that most men liked obedient girls.
Zhang Siyu knew that her personality had nothing to do with obedience. In the past, she wouldn't have cared in the slightest.
But today, an unusual desire to change had welled up inside her.
Please, my beloved Big Shots, show me lots of support~~~~~~~~*
A new day, a new beginning. The latest episode of Akame ga Kill! finally began airing amid the audience's eager anticipation.
"It's here, it's here! Akame ga Kill! is finally here!"
"After all that anticipation, it's finally out. We've waited so long~"
"The sixth episode opens with a red-light district scene. Big Shot Fang, you really know your audience~"
"Ahaha, little fanboy Tatsumi got carried away by the big sister in a princess carry. That's hilarious!"
"..."
The anime exploded with entertainment value right from the opening. After all, the audience had been waiting for this day for ages. It was hardly an exaggeration to say that each day had felt like a year.
As Tatsumi, Leone, Shiru, Mine, and the others appeared one after another, many viewers practically licked the screen.
Soon, the audience was drawn into the plot. When they saw Shiru and Mine encounter Seryu and engage in a tense battle, the exhilarating combat and gorgeous special effects made them cheer with satisfaction, unable to tear their eyes away.
"My Shiru is so cool~!"
"Wake up. Your wife may be a little airheaded, but she's a genuine assassin~!"
"Wow, that flash of the blade was insanely cool!"
"Damn it, I came here to look at pretty girls, so why am I getting all fired up?"
Watching Shiru and Mine fight Seryu together, many viewers admitted that they had been captivated by the blazing battle scenes.
As for whether these fans were fired up with fighting spirit or something more primal, that was hard to say.
Bang~!
With the gunshot, the previously rapid-paced BGM that had made everyone's hearts race suddenly fell silent, as if everything had frozen. Many people instinctively held their breath, their expressions turning blank.
The sudden shift from extreme motion to absolute stillness made the audience's hearts clench. A bad premonition surged through them.
On the screen, Shiru was hit by an anesthetic round while trying to save Mine.
"My body... won't... move..."
At that moment, the barrage of comments came to a halt. Everyone stared blankly at the unfolding plot, anxiously watching the scene on the screen.
When the hideous monster with a mouthful of savage teeth appeared behind the immobilized Shiru, every fan's eyes widened.
No!
Everyone silently screamed at that moment. Humans always hoped for beautiful things to happen, and they hoped that a miracle might occur.
But the reason miracles were called miracles was that their chances were vanishingly small. The audience's hopes were doomed to go unanswered.
In the next moment, as the monster bit down on Shiru and tore her body in two, everyone seemed to hear the sound of their hearts breaking.
Suppression, pain, fury, disbelief!
How could the Shiru they loved so dearly have died just like that?
They couldn't accept it!
Not one person could accept this ending!
Almost instantly, every negative emotion surged into their hearts. Watching the Shiru they loved wither like a violet in the wind left everyone feeling utterly drained, so oppressed that they could barely breathe.
Once the anime reached this point, not another comment floated across the screen, as if no one had ever been watching. The silence was so strange that it felt uncanny.
The calm before a storm was always peaceful, but the quieter it became, the more violently the storm that followed would rage.
"Night Raid... my home... I love everyone the most... I'm so happy~"
"I'm sorry... Tatsumi. I'll never be able to hold you in my arms again~"
On the screen, tears glimmered at the corners of Shiru's eyes as she revealed her most heartrending smile. It was filled with her attachment to her comrades and her reluctance to part from her friends.
Seeing Shiru's heartbreaking smile seemed to stimulate the tear ducts of many sentimental viewers. Their reddened eyes immediately overflowed with tears.
The anime finished airing in an oppressively heavy atmosphere. From the moment Shiru died, not a single comment appeared during the rest of the latest episode of Akame ga Kill!
Such excessive silence truly didn't seem like something the silly netizens would do.
Since ancient times, netizens had never lacked talent. No matter the situation, there were always a few "gifted" netizens who attracted everyone's attention with their nonsensical remarks, making people laugh and cry.
But at the moment Shiru died, the entire Akame ga Kill! screen fell terrifyingly silent. Even the netizens who usually loved liveliness became unusually well-behaved at that moment.
Before you continue