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Shang Tao finally understood when he saw Vice President Zhao's shocked expression.

This issue's storyboards are perfect!

The manga awards and the website's launch date! No need to change them!

So he immediately grinned.

"Stop grinning, I'm asking you! What's the deal with that AORI thing?"

But Zhao Fang Sheng wasn't smiling. He put down the storyboards and asked very seriously.

"Editor Tang wrote it."

Shang Tao suppressed his inner joy slightly and replied.

Zhao Fang Sheng confirmed again, "She really wrote it? Not Ou Congquan? Are you sure?"

Hearing this, Shang Tao became intermittently unsure. He became a little more serious and secretly glanced at Zhao Fang Sheng, asking, "What's wrong? President Zhao, are the storyboards not good?"

"..."

Hearing this, Zhao Fang Sheng silently looked down at the storyboards in his hand and didn't answer. Instead, he asked a question unrelated to the topic: "Girl, Boy, and Sword is one of the most important works in our company. I just took office as Vice President... or rather, before I joined, I've been paying attention to this work.

I believe that as long as one is in the industry, most editors won't miss the pillar works that achieve good results in major publications. Whether you like it or want to learn from its success, you'll pay attention to it, go and see it. Ding Yilong's situation is the minority. "

Shang Tao didn't speak, knowing that the Vice President hadn't finished. He waited with good judgment.

"I'm one of those people. I'll look at those excellent works from major publications. After joining the Literature Hall, because it's our own magazine, I pay even more attention. No matter how busy I am, I'll read most of the works, including flipping through some shoujo manga. And this pillar of the Literature Hall..."

Zhao Fang Sheng gently raised the storyboard draft in his hand and continued, "I can say I know it inside and out. I have a general understanding of Ou Congquan's drawing skills, ideas, and methods of advancing the plot.

To some extent, he's a pure person. In other words... he doesn't have many ideas. As long as you pay attention for a long time and look closely, you can guess how he'll draw next from the beginning.

And he rarely pays attention to details. The interaction between the second male lead and the female protagonist this time causing such a big controversy is actually related to his long-standing habits. He's a manga artist who doesn't care about the sense of distance between characters at all.

Perhaps he thinks the sense of distance is irrelevant, but readers don't think so. "

Zhao Fang Sheng took a deep breath and continued, "However, in this issue's storyboards, he started paying attention to the sense of distance.

And his methods of advancing the plot have changed. It's not like him at all."

Shang Tao hesitated, "Isn't that a good thing?"

"It is a good thing, but..."

Zhao Fang Sheng frowned, a look of confusion on his face, and slowly said, "You don't know how shocking this is to someone who knows him... Ou Congquan is developing the plot entirely according to that AORI from the previous issue. He introduced the concept of the 'evil collective' and attributed all the dog-shit developments from the previous issue to hallucinations.

And after a brief summary, he cut into the female protagonist's hallucination, and very cleverly made it so that only the male protagonist appeared in her hallucination. Even though she was affected by the 'evil collective,' no other man appeared. Her eyes were only on the male protagonist's back, and her greatest fear was the male protagonist's death.

As for the second male lead, who readers thought was better than the protagonist in the previous issue, his hallucination didn't involve the female protagonist at all. She didn't appear at all. Instead, his deceased mother appeared. This also completes the character's backstory. The previous serialization mentioned that he was haunted by his mother's death, but then seemed to forget this detail.

This is really brilliant. It can be said that after the development of the previous issue, he achieved the ultimate. Not only did he avoid the pitfalls, but he also did his best to eliminate the impact of the previous issue's development, telling readers that it was just the male protagonist's paranoia... This also leaves a hook, a hook for future foreshadowing. I'm starting to look forward to how the male protagonist will resolve his inner conflict and face the female protagonist and the second male lead after the hallucination. "

"Uh..."

Shang Tao understood. After all, he also read the manga. He asked in a low voice, "Isn't this still a good thing?"

"But this doesn't seem like Ou Congquan's usual style."

Zhao Fang Sheng was silent for a moment and replied, "Not at all. Even if he introduced the concept of the 'evil collective' or hallucinations, I don't think he would draw it like this. I know him... but he drew it this way, and the style is completely different from before. After reading it, it directly made me feel that the dog-shit development of the previous issue was intentional.

It's like he deliberately drew that kind of plot and then reversed it in this issue."

"..."

Shang Tao vaguely heard something, "Vice President Zhao, are you saying..."

"Yes, this is either Ou Congquan seeking change, actively changing his thinking and plot advancement methods, so he buried a big pit in the previous issue and reversed it in this issue."

Zhao Fang Sheng nodded, "He had a premeditated, prepared feeding of shit. That AORI was also prepared by him beforehand, just for this change in this issue."

"So you asked if Editor Tang wrote that AORI... You mean, this whole commotion was a misunderstanding? We were just worried for nothing?"

Shang Tao's eyes widened slightly, then he thought of Tang Yao's face and shook his head slightly, "No, no, no, I don't think Editor Tang is likely to lie."

"So there's another possibility, which is: after Ou Congquan drew the development of the previous issue, that Editor Tang immediately finalized AORI, and then based on AORI, combined with the development Ou Congquan drew and his previous serialization, added new settings. At the same time, from the perspective of a manga artist, using her own ability, she designed the plot for this issue. Not only did it perfectly connect with the previous issue's development, but it also filled in some settings that Ou Congquan had forgotten.

And all of this, she did without communicating with the manga artist."

Zhao Fang Sheng looked down at the storyboards in his hand, "But this is too outrageous... Do you believe it?"

This was truly outrageous.

Zhao Fang Sheng was not Kang Ming, who would think this was the editor's job.

He had also been an editor... He was very sure that this was not the editor's job at all. Editors were not omnipotent. After all, everyone's ideas were unique, and words were sometimes pale. Depending on communication skills, empathy, and other factors, the information conveyed could easily be distorted.

Moreover, many manga artists had poor communication skills and would deliberately hide some small thoughts they didn't want to tell others—even editors.

This made it difficult for editors to fully understand the manga artist's thoughts sometimes. They could only offer suggestions based on the manga artist's requests, such as which direction to draw in.

How could it be like this... You insist on drawing dog-shit developments and refuse to communicate. Fine, then I'll go through your previous serialization, speculate on your thoughts, combine the dog-shit you drew last issue, and design the plot for the next issue.

This is completely capable of being an original screenwriter!

It's too outrageous!

Actually, President Zhao didn't know that this was indeed outrageous for him, but for Tang Yao... it wasn't like that.

From the moment she arrived in this world, she felt that the literary and artistic works of various genres in this parallel world were quite immature in both their settings and plotlines. As for how various tropes were used, it could even be described as infant-level.

To give a simple example… showing off and getting slapped in the face. Here, they were still using the classic template for showing off and getting slapped: the snobbish waiter who looks down on people, the arrogant and brainless second-generation rich kid on the street, the smug show-off at a class reunion.

Basically, you could guess the plot's direction after watching for a while.

So, in a way, for Tang Yao, an 'outsider,' to view most of the works in this parallel world was essentially a dimensional reduction attack.

"...That's truly impressive."

Shang Tao completely understood and was also a bit shocked. "I never thought it could be done like this..."

"...You believe it?"

"I believe it."

"..."

Hearing Shang Tao's decisive words, Zhao Fang Sheng didn't dwell on it. Instead, he looked at the storyboard in his hands, feeling somewhat conflicted.

Although he wanted to believe it too.

His common sense was telling him… this was impossible!