"It's terminal..."
"The times are like this, and so are people's hearts..."
The first page showed a handsome man sitting upright on a rock in a forest late at night, gazing up at the bright moon, accompanied by those two lines of dialogue.
There were no redundant images or dialogue. Just the first page was enough to draw readers into the story.
"Not bad..."
"The art's pretty good, too..."
"It seems a bit like a battle manga."
"Those clothes and that setting... Is this a story set on RB Island? That's rare."
Five minutes wasn't enough to read three chapters very carefully.
Everyone read quickly, flipping through each page in about five or six seconds. Many editors leafed through the manga, titled Rurouni Kenshin: Reminiscence Arc, with bored expressions.
But half a minute later...
Not one person in the room, including Editor-in-Chief Pang Feng and Deputy Editor-in-Chief Song Jiayu, still looked bored. Some editors who'd been skimming through the pages were even turning back to the beginning to start reading again.
They'd all worked in the industry for years. If a work wasn't good, a quick look was usually enough to get a pretty accurate idea of its quality.
But likewise, when a work was excellent... you could tell after only a few pages.
Young Kenshin was being hunted by human traffickers when Master Swordsman Hiko Seijuro rescued him.
Kenshin became Hiko Seijuro's disciple and learned swordsmanship. Up to that point, though the art was exquisite, the story had been fairly conventional.
But then the story turned to Kiyosato, the man Kenshin had killed, who remained preoccupied with his fiancée even as he died, remembering her face and repeating her name. Chu Yu devoted considerable attention to this moment, bringing its cruelty to life through the art.
By this point, the editors were already immersed in the manga.
Kenshin wanted to leave so he could use the swordsmanship he'd learned to save more people, and he argued with his master, Hiko Seijuro.
Compared with Kenshin's wholehearted sincerity, his master clearly had a much broader perspective.
One person's strength had its limits. No one could save the times on their own. Instead, organizations would use the name of justice to exploit Kenshin's power.
"A sword is a weapon; swordsmanship is the art of killing!"
"No matter how beautifully you dress it up, that's still the truth."
Unlike Kenshin, who wanted to use what he'd learned to save people, his master understood the true nature of the power he wielded.
"To protect others, you have to kill. To survive, you have to kill..."
"That's the truth of swordsmanship."
Editor-in-Chief Pang Feng's fingers trembled as he read this part.
When Protagonist Kenshin said that even so, he still wanted to use this power to save the suffering people, the image of a passionate hero with a strong sense of justice had already taken shape. It didn't feel hypocritical; all it inspired was a sense of sorrow at the cruelty of the era in which he lived.
After leaving his master, Kenshin became an assassin, killing with his sword while holding fast to his ideals.
The three chapters were tightly paced, with more than ten characters appearing, yet the story never felt chaotic.
Kenshin's master, in particular, delivered one memorable line after another.
Drinking alone in a tavern, Kenshin found the wine tasteless and remembered what his master had once told him.
"Enjoy the cherry blossoms on a spring night, gaze at the stars in summer, admire the full moon in autumn, and welcome the first snow of winter..."
"How could wine taste bad in such a setting?"
"If it still tastes bad, that's the best proof that something is wrong with you."
Many editors who read this part immediately grew fond of Hiko Seijuro.
They also marveled at the author's skill. Was Shui Xin really a newcomer? Could a newcomer draw a manga like this?
After parting ways with his companion, Kenshin was attacked by an assassin in a rainy alley.
After he finally killed the assassin, the splattering blood landed on a woman holding an umbrella nearby.
On the final page, she looked at Kenshin calmly and said:
"You really do... bring... blood and chaos wherever you go!"
The scar on Kenshin's face was bleeding again...
That was the end of all three chapters.
That was it?
It was over?
The editors who wanted to turn to the next chapter couldn't help sighing when they realized it.
They cursed inwardly:
"Cliffhanger Dog, may you never write another poem!"
The five minutes passed quickly. The editors came back to their senses, though they still said nothing.
They simply wrote down their scores for the work on the slips of paper in front of them.
When the next few works were brought out, they seemed to lack something.
After all, the main course had already been served. They couldn't eat much more, even if someone brought out a couple of appetizers.
Soon, all eighteen works had been presented. In truth, though, they already had a good idea of which ones would make the editors' top five.
Song Jiayu might not have been a decent person, but he still had the basic professionalism of a manga editor.
Ever since Rurouni Kenshin: Reminiscence Arc had been brought in, his expression had been grim.
He'd thought that bringing in Dong Yun from Feng Yu Comics would make this serialization meeting a sure thing. Now, though, he wasn't nearly as confident.
It was ridiculous, but he had to admit it.
In terms of pacing, plot, depth, and visual impact, Dong Yun's Secret Girl didn't measure up to Rurouni Kenshin: Reminiscence Arc in a single category.
Compared with the story of a swordsman fighting for his ideals in a chaotic age, a school romance manga about supernatural powers like Secret Girl was in a completely different league.
Song Jiayu glanced at Su Ruo, who sat alone without saying a word, and felt an inexplicable irritation.
Everyone at the Manga Company knew he'd been giving Su Ruo a hard time lately. If he lost to her at this serialization meeting, wouldn't he become Mo Yu's laughingstock?
Besides, he'd gone to great lengths to poach Dong Yun. He'd hoped she'd improve his performance enough for his father to transfer him back to Modu sooner.
As for trying to block Su Ruo at the serialization meeting, that was a minor matter—just an opportunity he'd taken along the way.
But now Song Jiayu realized that he might be the one getting blocked by this work.
If Secret Girl lost to Rurouni Kenshin, wouldn't he become a laughingstock?
Deputy Editor-in-Chief Song Jiayu of Mo Yu and popular manga artist Dong Yun, defeated by the unknown editor Su Ruo and the newcomer manga artist she'd discovered.
If that news reached his father, he might extend Song Jiayu's return date—which was supposed to be a year away—in order to give him more time to prove himself.
No. He couldn't let that happen.
Song Jiayu took a deep breath.
Soon, the votes had been tallied.
After removing the highest and lowest scores and calculating the averages, the five works with the highest scores had been selected.
Editor-in-Chief Pang Feng glanced at the list, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"Next, I'll announce the five works that have made it to the Final Voting Stage."
Before you continue