What the Hell Is Wrong with You?

Su Deqiang was furious. Truly furious.

Deep down, he knew he was taking his anger out on the Manga Award for no reason. What Ou Congquan drew had nothing to do with it.

But he couldn't suppress the urge to make Ou Congquan pay.

Because this was just too ridiculous. Ou Congquan had actually used his comic to promote the Manga Award, even at the expense of his readers' feelings.

He was treating them like they weren't people!

Ou Congquan's next issue hadn't gone on sale yet, so Su Deqiang could only curse him on social media. He couldn't actually boycott anything.

So he turned his attention to the Manga Award, which Ou Congquan seemed to be putting above everything else.

It was an act born of a desire for revenge, and it was a little impulsive.

There was no reason for it, but it did bring a certain satisfaction.

Like right now.

Su Deqiang sat in front of his computer, saw that it was almost nine, and immediately opened the online comics site closely tied to the Wenxin Manga Award. He imagined the early-release comics being flooded with curses and downvotes... and it made him feel downright thrilled.

Putting the greater good first, huh!

Ou Congquan could advertise the Manga Award while drawing that trash, could he?

Go eat shit!

I'll tear this damn website and the Manga Award to pieces!

Excellent?

I don't believe it! There's no way the works in this lousy Manga Award could be so good I can't find anything to criticize!

With those slightly twisted thoughts in mind, Su Deqiang angrily refreshed the site, ready to start tearing into it the moment the clock struck.

And soon, it was nine.

The moment the time arrived... the site refreshed, and around twenty comics appeared right on schedule. Since they'd been released early, they weren't sorted into categories. They were displayed right on the homepage, like items in a showcase. Readers would spot them as soon as they opened the site, and could click to read.

[Outstanding Manga Award Entries]

Su Deqiang glanced at the heading above the twenty-odd comics, then slowly lowered his gaze to the outstanding entries... Wait.

He'd thought the twenty-odd comics were all displayed like items in a showcase, with no categories. That was wrong.

There were categories after all.

Two of the works had one. He only had to scroll down a little to see them.

And the category was called—"Specially Recommended! Comics recommended by editor Tang Yao, who works with manga artist Give It Your All!"

"!!!"

Su Deqiang stared blankly at the category, then his face flushed red with fury.

Seriously?

You're doing this?

Give It Your All had just finished promoting the Manga Award yesterday, then made a big show of thanking his editor. And now you've gone along with it and put two comics recommended by his editor in the Manga Award? Are you setting up two targets for readers to attack, hoping they'll leave the other entries alone?

Do you think readers are idiots!?

Why not just stick a bucket on the ground, prop it up with a stick, put Girl, Boy, and Sword underneath, and hope readers crawl in to have a go?

"Specially recommended," too! You're practically begging readers to notice!

Actually, that really wasn't what Shang Tao had in mind.

Though in Tang Yao's eyes... Shang Tao's plan was just doubling down. Getting Ou Congquan to advertise was a brazen move that invited chaos.

But Shang Tao had his reasons.

Not many.

But he did have some.

Like that rather odd category.

It was an idea he'd come up with after reading the two comics Tang Yao recommended and asking Ou Congquan about them... Of course, the point wasn't simply to give readers two targets to attack.

He wanted to accomplish two things at once with the two comics Tang Yao had recommended!

First, he wanted to make sure readers saw those two comics as soon as they opened the site, giving them a little taste of the Manga Award's quality.

Second... he wanted to give readers some confidence—in the editor Ou Congquan had mentioned.

That was why Shang Tao had specifically asked Ou Congquan to help promote the award, and why he'd dared to ask him in the first place.

If there'd been no follow-up plan, and he'd just asked Ou Congquan to promote it while all this attention was on him...

If the whole thing ended up looking like they were rubbing it in readers' faces,

he would've lost it too!

That was right.

Shang Tao had read the two comics Tang Yao drew as well.

And clearly, he had a great deal of confidence in them! A tremendous amount! You could even say he was overconfident!

He was even willing to bet... that even if Ou Congquan promoted the award against the prevailing mood, and even if readers were furious, they'd still give those two comics a good review once they saw them! That way, the other early-release entries wouldn't get caught in the crossfire! Readers might even start looking forward to the next issue of Girl, Boy, and Sword!

It was a bold move, to say the least.

Of course,

to readers—or at least to Su Deqiang right now—it looked like they were treating readers like idiots and setting up an obvious target.

"Fine. Fine."

Looking at the inexplicable category, Su Deqiang laughed in fury. "So that's how you want to play it? Then I'll see what kind of crap you're recommending!"

He moved the mouse and clicked on one of the so-called comics specially recommended by Ou Congquan's editor.

"Uzumaki?"

Although the comics had been released early, Shang Tao had clearly put effort into them... The title, cover, synopsis, and all the other information were complete.

Readers could get the basic information about a comic at a glance.

Seeing the title, Su Deqiang immediately scoffed. "What a stupid title! And that author name—Third-rate Painter? You know you're third-rate and still submitted this? They really did just find two pieces of garbage to put up for readers to tear apart, didn't they?"

Honestly,

in that moment,

Su Deqiang even wondered if the people in charge of the Manga Award and the website were trolls.

They'd come up with such a moronic plan... He'd almost lost the desire to read the comic and wanted to start cursing right away.

But he followed the old wisdom—since he was already here and had already clicked on it...

He pressed the Read button anyway, looking it over with a critical eye.

"Ha, realistic art? The artist really is third-rate. They don't even know what the general public likes."

After reading the first page,

Su Deqiang snorted, then went on. "And they're trying too hard to be mysterious! They don't even know how to set up a mystery. What's so strange about knocking on the window? Someone's outside, obviously."

"And he's been cooped up at home for a week, and he's run out of food? Why not go out and buy some? They're making it sound like the world's ended, but all the furniture in his home is intact. What could possibly be outside? It's obvious they're depicting the character's inner struggles."

"Flashback? Boring!"

"A celebrity's death? Ha. Of course it's the usual plot where the protagonist overcomes his inner demons!"

"Oh, a mass suicide, and now they're pretending to criticize obsessed fans?"

"Human-head balloons? What a brain-dead plot."

"Really hilarious."

"They set up a legend about human heads floating through the sky like balloons, but they're too afraid to show it directly, so they call it a hallucination. They obviously won't show it directly because they're saving it for the twist."

"Ha, I already know what kind of story this is."

"I... What the hell is wrong with this comic!?"

When someone approached something with a bias, they were sure to find it riddled with flaws.

That was how Su Deqiang had started reading the comic.

He really did criticize every page as he read it, though he admitted that the artist had some decent skills.

But what did that matter? The plot and pacing were trite, and it was obviously going to be boring.

Then

he saw two human-head balloons kissing.

The moment he saw it, he forgot to criticize. His eyes went wide, and he blurted out a curse.

What the hell was wrong with this comic!?

He'd just said they wouldn't show it directly, and then they pulled this???

And what kind of deranged plot was this!?

What kind of person even thought up an image like that!?

So how was this supposed to end?

Su Deqiang stared at the screen, then... clicked to the next page.

Under the realistic art style,

a terrifying spectacle unfolded, a massive horror party growing out of a single spark.

And the story began racing madly toward chaos!

"..."

The room fell silent. Only the clicking of the mouse remained.

A look of bewilderment slowly appeared on Su Deqiang's face. As he kept reading... his features seemed to twist together, his brows furrowing until they could have crushed a fly.

He read more and more slowly.

But no matter how slowly he read, he eventually reached the end.

Soon,

he came to the final pages.

And when the thing knocking at the window was revealed... when Su Deqiang saw the female protagonist's human-head balloon grin viciously and loop its noose around her real body's neck,

he froze, his ears ringing as if he'd been plunged into that horrifying comic world.

After a long while,

he shuddered and snapped back to his senses, then drew in a sharp breath.

What the hell was wrong with this comic!!!