Second Episode!

Xin Man Net, the largest gathering place for Dragon Country's ACG fans.

It not only provides channels to purchase various ACG merchandise but is also a place for many ACG fans to discuss anime and manga plots.

Similarly, it's a website where ACG fans from various provinces recommend excellent manga from their own provinces.

Because Dragon Country only has seven national periodicals, all concentrated in Modu, and these local periodicals are restricted by industry barriers in each province, they cannot spread widely. Often, a manga that is extremely popular in a neighboring province might not even be known by name in one's own province.

Therefore, many ACG fans who love to share gather here to recommend what they consider excellent works to the entire Dragon Country ACG fan community.

Xia Yang is an ordinary university student from Yun Province. As a decade-long veteran ACG fan, he naturally browses Xin Man Net frequently, especially the manga recommendation section.

As soon as he clicked into this module, he saw a post on the homepage, boosted to the top due to its high click count.

"Strongly recommend a work, a new work from Man Ying, a manga periodical from Luo Province, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal!"

"A work from Luo Province, how did it get to the homepage?" Xia Yang was a bit confused.

Besides Modu's Seven Great Manga Companies, the manga industries of Yun Province, Han Province, Ning Province, and about four or five other provinces are quite strong. Posts recommending manga on Xin Man Net usually only see works from these provinces gaining attention.

But Luo Province...

In his impression, there haven't been any particularly stunning manga works appearing in recent years.

Could it be that this work was boosted to the homepage because it's too brainless?

Generally speaking, there are two types of works that get boosted to the homepage in the manga recommendation section: those so good that everyone raves about them, and those so trashy that everyone bashes them.

Xia Yang clicked in out of curiosity!

Old rule, since it's a manga recommendation, the manga should be posted first.

Although Luo Province's periodicals are not sold in other provinces, for these people, taking photos of manga with their phones and posting them online is basic operation.

The poster's phone camera quality was average, and the picture looked a bit blurry, but it was still understandable.

Xia Yang read on, thinking to himself.

Let me see where this work is so bad that it got boosted to the homepage.

Oh, the first point of contention found: the protagonist is an RB Person.

Hmm, the setting is RB Island over a hundred years ago. RB Island wasn't yet part of Dragon Country's territory then, right! This counts as the second point of contention!

Whoa, this scene is too bloody! Is it necessary to draw the scenes of people being cut in such detail?

However, when Xia Yang saw the young Kenshin spending a whole day burying the human traffickers who wanted to kill him and the women who died saving him, he felt a touch of emotion. He had already forgotten his intention to pick apart the manga in his mind!

When fifteen minutes later, the ending of the manga on the computer screen froze on a woman in a white dress, her face and hands stained with blood.

Xia Yang only then noticed how long he had been watching without realizing it. If the poster hadn't run out of manga, he might have kept watching!

At this moment, he had already forgotten that he had clicked in with the mindset of mocking trash work.

Damn it, Poster, hurry up and update!

Why did it stop here?

Xia Yang scrolled down with his mouse wheel, wanting to leave a comment urging the poster to update quickly.

But to his surprise, as he scrolled down, all the comments were about urging an update. This post was created at 1 PM, and in just four hours, it had already garnered over 20,000 views and 5,000 comments. Eighty percent of the comments were urging an update, while the other twenty percent were discussing the plot.

He glanced at the poster's replies below.

Xia Yang also understood the basic information about this work!

Newcomer's work.

Only updated to the plot above.

There was nothing he could do about it. He could only wait for the original author to update before the poster uploaded it online. Xia Yang immediately bookmarked the post and left a comment.

"Poster, after the new chapter of this work is published, if possible, please use a clear phone camera to take a picture! The post has been bookmarked. I'll come back next week to check for updates!"

Luo Province, still the same Luo Province. Ming City was also as usual, as if every day was this busy.

This Friday, the temperature dropped again, and snowflakes began to fall. It was only six o'clock, and the sky was already a hazy gray.

At Chu Yu's home, the doors and windows were closed, and the heater was on. The same three people were gathered around, eating hot pot.

It had to be said that Su Ruo had the potential to lead people astray.

Since they became familiar with each other, Su Ruo often came to Chu Yu's house to freeload before work ended. She even called it "caring for her subordinate manga artist" and came to "supervise" Chu Yu, lest he slack off.

This also made Zhao Qinyin, who was with her, become thicker-skinned. After school, she would directly run to Chu Yu's house to start her work as a manga assistant. Of course, having a meal at the home of Chu Yu, her nominal boss, before starting work was no longer something embarrassing for her.

"The second episode was published today!" Chu Yu said suddenly.

"Mhm, that's right!" Su Ruo took a sip of hot tea.

"I wonder what the results will be this week!" Zhao Qinyin said with some worry.

Ever since Chu Yu mentioned last week that he wanted this work to reach first place in the Man Ying popularity poll, their mindsets, including Zhao Qinyin and Su Ruo's, had changed compared to before.

Although Su Ruo and Zhao Qinyin didn't know if this work could truly achieve Chu Yu's goal of topping the charts, no matter what, since he had this ambition, they naturally cooperated with him wholeheartedly!

Zhao Qinyin has become more demanding of her manga artwork, which naturally slows down her progress. As a result, she often works late into the night before returning home. Sometimes, she even seeks out Chu Yu at school during the day to discuss her artwork.

This has led to a constant stream of rumors about the two of them circulating throughout the school.

Rumors like they're dating, they're childhood sweethearts, or it's a love triangle – all sorts of messy speculation.

Su Ruo, as their editor, was originally responsible for discussing plot points and content with Chu Yu. However, with a work like Rurouni Kenshin, she found herself unable to contribute much. She could only offer Chu Yu as much practical help as possible. If they ran out of drinks or ingredients at home, she would proactively buy them. After finishing meals they shared, she would also take on the chore of washing the dishes.

The three of them felt a bit frustrated by how Man Ying seemed to be overlooking this particular work. The editorial department was doing alright, as they were the ones who chose the project. The main issue was with other departments. At Song Jiayu's subtle suggestion, they had offered Rurouni Kenshin almost no support. The trio hoped that Rurouni Kenshin could achieve better results to silence the doubts of the personnel in other departments of the manga company.

So tonight, although they maintained calm exteriors, all three were actually feeling anxious.

What... what will be the result this issue?

Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal has a total of four arcs: Executioner, Lost Cat, Yoshioka, and Cross Scar!

The first arc officially concluded in this issue, which was released today.

As the saying goes, a good start is half the battle.

If even the first arc ends without attracting many fans, it's highly unlikely that the subsequent plot will suddenly captivate readers.

Between six and seven o'clock, Ink Fish Manga Company would send the compiled voting results to each editor's phone.

The current time... is just right!

Su Ruo placed her phone on the table. The three of them sat on the sofa, watching television, but it was evident from their frequent glances at their phones that none of them were paying attention.

Beep beep beep!

The phone on the table vibrated.

The faint, brief buzzing sound instantly drew the attention of the three.

They looked at each other. Su Ruo hesitated for a moment before picking up her phone.