Influence

Teacher Ou's latest chapter, which he gambled his entire career on, truly delivered an unprecedented shock to readers.

However, this wasn't the kind of shock readers wanted.

After all, while there was a mature system here, it wasn't Tang Yao's Japan from her past life.

This sudden twist and explosive development was simply too novel for the readers of this world.

It was completely trash.

So the readers' anger... exceeded even Tang Yao's imagination.

Readers had already started taking their frustrations out on the manga award.

The planning department at Wenxin Hall had a rather good idea: leveraging the release of the new issue of Big Comic and the release dates of other magazines within the company, they would have Manga Artists with serialized works promote the "Wenxin Manga Award" on their personal social media accounts, an award the company internally valued highly.

This would both use the excellent existing serialized works to endorse the award and utilize the Manga Artists with outstanding works to advertise it.

You see.

The teachers in our company who have works serialized in magazines all recommend this award.

You should also be interested in the works featured in the award they recommend, right?

And if you want to become a Manga Artist, why not try the awards recommended by these experienced individuals?

It was a well-thought-out plan.

But then.

Their flagship manga had a problem.

This was quite the predicament. Big Comic was the magazine's best-selling and most important publication, and Teacher Ou's Girl, Boy, and Sword was its most popular work.

Considering this magazine, which ranked in the top five in sales within the industry, it was easy to imagine how many readers were drawn to Girl, Boy, and Sword.

Now that Girl, Boy, and Sword had pulled this stunt, most readers were completely losing it!

They first flocked to Teacher Ou's social media account, and within two hours, the reply count had directly surpassed ten thousand.

Then, probably because Teacher Ou's last post was about the manga award, and other Manga Artists had posted similar advertisements around the same time, the furious and overwhelmed readers, finding that Teacher Ou remained silent, simply went to other Manga Artists' social media pages and, without much thought, started cursing them!

These emotional reactions were very troublesome... In the end, readers even organized themselves and began mass-commenting on posts related to the manga award!

The manga award, which had no prior connection, ended up taking a hit for no reason due to Teacher Ou's bizarre actions, instead of gaining any popularity.

The calmer readers cursed Ou Congquan and Wenxin Hall under the posts made by other Manga Artists.

The less calm ones cursed everyone! They cursed the manga award too! And it escalated!

[Your top Manga Artist draws that kind of garbage, and you're still holding a manga award!]

Such comments began to spread rapidly.

Soon.

Many Manga Artists who had posted advertisements noticed this and were stunned.

The result was that, before noon, the entire Editorial Department began to be filled with the sound of ringing telephones.

Editor Ding, who had just arrived at the Editorial Department, was called away by an urgent phone call at the same moment the phones started ringing, his expression extremely grim.

At first, no one was clear about what was happening.

But when the editors picked up the phones and heard the complaints from the Manga Artists who had been asked to advertise, they finally realized something.

Something had gone wrong.

Many editors looked towards the workstations near the entrance.

Tang Yao's workstation.

"If you want to delete your post, feel free, but I don't recommend it. I haven't received any notification... Besides, it's not you or your work being criticized, so you can just pretend you don't see it."

Tang Yao was also on the phone, talking to another Manga Artist she was responsible for – Shao Changqing.

Clearly.

His personal social media account had also been affected.

Tang Yao remained calm, gave him some advice, and then hung up the phone, leaning back in her chair with exhaustion.

Even though she knew there would be a storm.

The fact that the blood splashed onto her so quickly was unexpected.

What a hassle.

"Editor Tang... do you think Old Man Ou has a reversal planned later?"

At this moment.

Kang Ming, seeing Tang Yao hang up the phone, cautiously asked.

"If you're referring to the next chapter, there's no twist."

Tang Yao turned her head. "As soon as I saw the storyboards, I went to confirm. Our relationship hadn't gotten that bad back then, and he did tell me a bit about the subsequent developments. The escape segment will last for another five or six issues, and only then will he let the male protagonist reappear, resurrected as a spiritual body... And even after the male protagonist reappears, things won't get much better. He seems to want to depict something like the 'original heart,' and this situation won't improve for at least two months.

This is why I've repeatedly asked him not to draw it this way. If he could have cleverly incorporated a twist, I wouldn't have been so against it.

But he clearly hasn't considered that."

Kang Ming hesitated. "Then the promotional slogan you finally came up with..."

"I was just acting out of professional courtesy, thinking the readers deserved a little hope. I can't interfere with how he draws it, and I don't really want to," Tang Yao replied casually. "If he insists on doing things his own way, then it's no longer my concern... I suspect that Teacher Ou will most likely insist on his own way. After all, it's hard for arrogant and conceited people to regain clarity unless there's an external factor."

"So that means the readers have to endure two months of crap..."

Kang Ming glanced at his phone, his expression turning ashen. "As expected, we should just let the readers tear him apart."

"Actually, the readers' pressure is secondary. The real pressure from higher-ups will probably come soon because of the forced involvement in the manga awards. It's up to them."

Tang Yao stood up, preparing to get something to eat. "You should go eat too. You just got here and can't change the current situation anyway, so thinking about it is useless."

At the same time.

On the fourteenth floor, where the New Media Department was located.

In a certain conference room.

Shang Tao, the director of the New Media Department, glared intently at Ding Yilong, who sat opposite him, panting heavily, like a volcano about to erupt.

The director of the Planning Department and the director of the Operations Department, sitting beside him, didn't look any better.

After all, everything was on track. With the Wenxin Manga Award and the website about to launch, this sudden hammer blow would make anyone lose their temper.

Ding Yilong, stared at by the three of them, immediately started to sweat on his forehead.

He had only just figured out the situation himself, only just realizing... what his beloved Teacher Ou had actually done.

Although Tang Yao had placed the manuscript on his desk as usual.

He... hadn't read it.

You could call it confidence, you could call it trust in Teacher Ou, or you could call it disinterest... In any case, he hadn't read it.

In fact.

A few minutes ago.

He had only just learned that the readers had gone after all the manga artists promoting the manga awards.

"This is truly terrible."

At this moment, Zhao Fang Sheng, the vice president of Wenxin Hall, who sat at the head of the table, put down the magazine he was holding and gently rubbed his temples. He looked at Ding Yilong. "It's no wonder the readers are so agitated."

Wenxin Hall had a typical centralized organizational structure. Simply put... this Vice President Zhao Fang Sheng was the direct superior of everyone present.

"Editor Ding, I need an explanation. Do you know how much effort our entire New Media Department has put into this website and this manga award?"

Upon hearing this, Shang Tao, the director of the New Media Department, finally lost his composure and roared, "Why! Why would you cause such a situation right before the website launch and the opening of the manga award? We communicated early on, didn't we? We informed you of the launch date long ago, didn't we? Now all the readers have exploded, completely affecting the manga award and the upcoming website. What are we going to do? Are we still holding the manga award?"

"I..."

Ding Yilong's forehead sweat increased. The pressure, of course, wasn't primarily from the director of the New Media Department, but from the vice president's assessment.

In fact.

If it were just the New Media Department.

He could have defiantly challenged them, as he was from the content department, and they were just a newly established department.

But with the vice president sitting there, and giving a negative assessment, it was a different story, especially since this parachuted vice president had quite a background.

However, no matter how hard he racked his brain, he couldn't say anything.

Because this incident had indeed exceeded his expectations.

And he hadn't even read the original manuscript! He had no idea what had happened!

So, after much deliberation, all he could manage was: "I'll have to ask the responsible editor about this..."

Upon hearing this, Shang Tao, the director of the New Media Department, exploded even further, barely restraining himself from slamming the table. "You're the editor-in-chief! What the hell is this drawing? Didn't you know anything about it?"

Ding Yilong's gaze shifted.

"It's pointless to say anything now. The problem is how to mitigate the impact."

Finally, the director of the Planning Department interrupted Shang Tao, bailing Ding Yilong out. "Ding Yilong, we need to know how Teacher Ou plans to develop the plot going forward. Do you know if there's a twist?"

This time.

"I..."

Ding Yilong was sweating profusely.

The side effects of arrogance and conceit began to show.

He stammered, but couldn't articulate anything coherent.

"It's meaningless to discuss how it develops later, because that's two weeks from now."

The Director of Operations saw Ding Yilong's expression and felt a bit disgusted, but still spoke to break the tension: "And emotional readers won't care about that now. Ultimately, the most important work in the company happens to be publishing a controversial plot, and it just so happens to coincide with the manga awards and the website launch. This can't be changed. I think it's better to postpone the manga awards and website launch.

Girl, Boy, and Sword is the most important work in the company. We still need to consider the readers' emotions. Forcing a launch now will only result in a lose-lose situation."

"I disagree."

As soon as the Director of Operations finished speaking.

Shang Tao flatly refused: "The promotion and pre-heating have reached the final stage. I cannot accept this. Because of this inexplicable reason, all the efforts of everyone in my department for so long will be in vain."

"I can understand your feelings, but..."

"I absolutely disagree, Editor Ding! You should have something to say!"

Shang Tao suddenly turned his head and looked at Ding Yilong, who had been silent since the beginning.

He knew very well that he, the New Media Director, was the common enemy in the eyes of these 'old timers.' They would definitely side with Ding Yilong for their common interests.

So he chose to bypass everyone else and directly address Ding Yilong.

Everyone else also looked at him.

In fact.

This incident was indeed caused by the content department.

But Ding Yilong, from the content department, hadn't said a word since the beginning.

"..."

Facing the gazes of many, Ding Yilong wanted to assert himself.

But unfortunately, he hadn't paid attention to Ou Congquan's work recently. After all, that guy was a pillar of support, and his reader survey rankings had always been far ahead.

Who would have thought he would suddenly pull this stunt!

From the head seat, Vice President Zhao Fang Sheng sized up Ding Yilong, then narrowed his eyes and suddenly spoke: "Stop arguing. I know all your opinions. Shang Tao, you and Ding Yilong discuss it together. See if there's a way to quell the readers' dissatisfaction and negative impact, and then evaluate the impact on the manga awards and website launch. If it's acceptable, proceed as planned. If not, postpone."

Shang Tao looked troubled: "But, Vice President, how can we..."

Zhao Fang Sheng flipped open the magazine on the table again and said calmly: "If you want my advice, then my suggestion is... first, use the AORI from this issue to appease the readers. But this requires confirming the subsequent plot development with Teacher Ou."

Shang Tao was stunned: "AORI?"

Zhao Fang Sheng didn't speak, just pushed the magazine in his hand over.

He didn't push it to Shang Tao, but to Ding Yilong.

Ding Yilong was also stunned, but he nervously picked up the magazine and looked at the AORI, the promotional slogan confirmed by the editor on the last page of Girl, Boy, and Sword—[Next Issue! The Embodiment of All Malice! A Sudden Twist! Is it a Dream? Or Reality?]

"..."

What the hell?

Ding Yilong was stunned again, then subconsciously looked up.

As soon as he looked up, he noticed Vice President Zhao Fang Sheng's icy gaze.

"It seems you not only don't understand the subsequent plot development... you haven't even read the AORI! Then go ask the responsible editor under you."