Good News

When faced with a truth they simply couldn't accept,

people often went through five stages.

After Su Deqiang refreshed the webpage countless times and checked his internet connection over and over, confirming everything was working fine and the comic really was gone,

he smoothly entered the second stage, moving from denial and disbelief to anger.

"...You bastard! You fucking bastard!"

Su Deqiang let go of the mouse and slumped back in his chair, fists clenched.

So this really was an unfinished work! It had really stopped just as the story was getting good!

After such a fantastic opening, after introducing such an intriguing, captivating premise... it had run off!

Was this even human!?

Now he'd have to wait another week, maybe two, before he could read the next installment...

Wait.

No.

That wasn't right.

Something was wrong.

As Su Deqiang thought it over, he suddenly realized what was bothering him. He sat up straight again and looked at the screen, trying to remember what he'd originally come here to do...

He was on summer break, and he'd gotten up early to get back at Girl, Boy, and Sword for its awful plot development this issue. But since the next issue wasn't out yet, he'd turned his attention to the Manga Award that Ou Congquan had been advertising.

The Manga Award.

?

It took Su Deqiang a moment to remember what he'd originally come here for. At the same time, he recalled something very important: this wasn't a magazine series, nor was it a webcomic.

It seemed to be a submission... a one-off entry for the Manga Award.

So whether it was a week or two, this comic called Fate/Zero might not get another update at all.

After all, he'd heard that works still being serialized could enter manga awards.

The entries were all complete works.

What would they be judging otherwise? Would they wait until a series finished before deciding the winners?

So...

"...You bastard!"

Su Deqiang's eyes widened as he stared at the screen in disbelief. He cursed again, then hurriedly grabbed the mouse, hoping the comic might have some other note besides "To Be Continued"—like which magazine it would run in, or when the next issue would be released.

But there was nothing.

The comic had barely begun before it ended cleanly, leaving behind only a single "To Be Continued."

No!

After checking again and again and still failing to find what he wanted... Su Deqiang completely broke down.

If all he had to do was wait a week, two weeks, or even a month, it wouldn't have been enough to make him lose it.

After all, comics were different from other forms of entertainment. Their particular format meant updates took a long time. Weekly releases were already the limit. A manga artist had to work nonstop to keep up: as soon as the current issue's pages were submitted, they had to start storyboarding the next one to stand any chance of making the deadline—and that was when everything went smoothly.

It was not something just anyone could handle.

So in this parallel world, most manga magazines still came out every other week or once a month.

That gave artists a lot more time. For example, Big Comic, where Tang Yao worked, was a biweekly magazine, and some of its ongoing series even had a backlog of completed chapters.

Readers like Su Deqiang were used to waiting.

Sure, he'd been impatient just now—really impatient, wishing he could see what came next immediately.

But deep down, he'd automatically treated it like a serialized work, so he could understand why the story had ended right as the Heroic Spirits appeared.

If anything, the first installment had contained so much that it was far more generous than he'd expected!

But all of that depended on this being a serialized work, with a clear date for the next update.

If no one even knew when the comic's next installment would arrive, readers wouldn't just be impatient.

"Come on, it can't be that bad! You wouldn't put an unfinished work in a manga award, would you? Surely it's getting serialized? Give us an exact date! Please! You could at least say it'll be serialized once the comic officially launches on the website!"

At that moment,

Su Deqiang moved on to the third stage—bargaining.

He went back to the website's homepage and started searching through it, hoping to find even a single note about Fate/Zero.

But of course there wasn't one.

Fate/Zero had only appeared there because Zhao Fang Sheng had made a spur-of-the-moment decision. The comic was simply too good, and he'd convinced himself that Ding Yilong had blocked its magazine serialization, leaving Tang Yao with no choice but to recommend it to Shang Tao.

Since it had already happened, Zhao Fang Sheng had decided to let readers take a look first and see how they reacted. So he'd added it to the list of works released early.

Both Zhao Fang Sheng and Ding Yilong believed the work would definitely be serialized in a magazine in the end. Neither had thought to include any kind of explanation.

But now the problem was that readers had reacted far too well...

Unbelievably well.

"Seriously, there's nothing???"

Su Deqiang searched every corner of the website, but he couldn't find a single explanation.

Unwilling to believe it, he opened Fate/Zero's introduction page again and checked the author's name. Then, after a moment's thought, he opened his chat app and clicked into the group he was always hanging out in—the fan art group... no, the fellow-enthusiast group. He still wanted to ask whether anyone had heard of this manga artist.

Did anyone know what was going on with Fate/Zero?

But as soon as he opened the group, before he had a chance to type out his question, a flood of messages popped up.

"Everyone!! This is urgent!!! Has anyone heard of Third-rate Painter?"

"I was about to ask the same thing!! Urgent for me too!!"

"Yeah, does anyone know which manga artist is using that pen name!? No way someone who can draw something like that is an unknown! That's pure genius! Uzumaki! And Fate/Zero, too! Where's that one supposed to be serialized?"

"Same question. Their work is so interesting! I was going to trash it, but by the time I finished, I'd been completely won over by Third-rate Painter's work!"

"Huh? You all read it too...?"

"That category was impossible to miss. Of course I checked it out. I was only expecting a laugh, but instead I found such an interesting manga artist! What a damn genius!"

"It really was good! So, does anyone know who Third-rate Painter is?"

"...No need to ask. We already discussed it. What reputable manga artist would use a name like that? Probably only the editor knows. As for Fate/Zero, we couldn't find any information about it either. The Wenxin Manga Award's social media account hasn't said anything."

"Huh? So Fate/Zero isn't finished... could there really only be one installment!?"

"From what we can tell, there's only one installment so far. No one knows when the next one will come out or whether it'll be serialized... If it's being treated as an entry for the Manga Award, then I guess it counts as finished?"

"..."

"..."

"..."

After that helpful fellow explained the situation, the group chat began filling up with ellipses.

Then messages like "What the hell" and "You've got to be kidding" started appearing, and the whole group exploded.

And Su Deqiang... exploded too!

Bang—

An hour later.

At the Literature Center.

The door to Vice President Zhao Fang Sheng's office was suddenly shoved open.

Shang Tao rushed inside in a panic.

"...What's wrong?"

Zhao Fang Sheng looked up at Shang Tao, who was covered in sweat and seemed both anxious and guilty. He frowned and asked, "Did something go wrong with one of the Manga Award entries we released early?"

"..."

Shang Tao panted lightly. At Zhao Fang Sheng's question, the guilt on his face became even more obvious. He hesitated for a long time before replying quietly, "It's not exactly a problem..."

"If you have bad news, just say it."

Zhao Fang Sheng put down the documents in his hands and said calmly, "Don't beat around the bush."

He wasn't only in charge of the new media department, so unlike the readers, he hadn't been waiting early that morning for the Manga Award entries to be released. Naturally, he hadn't been keeping an eye on the readers' reactions either.

"Um, President, it really isn't bad news... It's good news, actually."

"Good news? What good news?"

"..."

Shang Tao looked at Zhao Fang Sheng, then said guiltily, "The good news is that readers aren't paying attention to the controversial development in Ou Congquan's latest issue anymore. Our strategy of releasing the Manga Award entries early worked, too..."

Zhao Fang Sheng could tell he wasn't finished. "And then?"

"And then... there's some bad news, too."

Shang Tao looked as though he was about to cry. "The bad news is... two of the works we released early have become way too popular! Or, to be more precise, Fate/Zero has become way too popular! It seems like no one's reading the other works! And the readers have shifted their attention to the Manga Award—and to our new media department!"

Zhao Fang Sheng: "..."