Results

The room was quiet, Chu Yu could even hear his own breathing, and he felt nervous without realizing it.

Zhao Qinyin was the same. Although as a manga assistant, she didn't need to care about the manga's performance at all, she couldn't help but feel her heart race.

Su Ruo opened the message and read it for a long time, saying nothing.

"What's going on?" Zhao Qinyin asked cautiously.

"It's higher than eleventh place last issue, right? Regardless, it's a turning point in the plot... I feel like it should at least be in the top ten!"

Su Ruo still didn't speak.

"Could it be... lower than eleventh place last issue?"

Zhao Qinyin took a deep breath.

That would be troublesome. Although from her perspective, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal was definitely an excellent work, the manga world was like that. If the readers didn't buy it, there was nothing that could be done.

There was no doubt about the plot of this work; she had that kind of discernment. But the reason Zhao Qinyin and the others were still worried about this excellent plot was because of the setting.

Japanese people, RB Island, Japanese history from over a hundred years ago – although such a setting was acceptable to Mo Yu's editor, and Zhao Qinyin didn't think it was a big deal, it was hard to say how readers would accept it.

The Dragon Country manga industry wasn't without such precedents. Ten years ago, a popular romance manga, because the author liked happy family endings and paired up the second female lead who was rejected by the protagonist with the second male lead who was rejected by the female protagonist, its popularity plummeted. No amount of later damage control helped! Not long after, with declining popularity, it was canceled.

But before that chapter was published, from the manga author to the editor, no one thought it was a big problem.

It would be a pity if Rurouni Kenshin also suffered from declining popularity for such a reason.

But such a setting couldn't be changed. If it were changed, could this work still be so brilliant?

"What exactly is the situation?" Chu Yu's heart was also pounding.

Did the results actually get worse? That shouldn't be the case!

He had just said last week that he would reach the top of Man Ying. Was he going to be proven wrong after only a week?

If the results were actually lower than eleventh place among the twenty works in Man Ying... what should he do?

Work harder and strive for a reverse ascent to the top, would that count as saving face for what he said?

Shaking his head, Chu Yu tossed the messy thoughts in his mind away.

"Sister Su, just tell me directly! I can handle it," Chu Yu took a deep breath and looked at Su Ruo.

Su Ruo looked at her phone, then at Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin.

"Fourth!" Su Ruo said very directly.

"Tenth place?" Zhao Qinyin's originally solemn face suddenly relaxed.

"Isn't this even better than the last issue's ranking?"

"Not tenth..."

"It's fourth!" Su Ruo held up four fingers!

At the same time, Su Ruo flipped her phone over, allowing the two to see the content of the text message.

The message was simple.

The first line read: Man Ying Issue 721 Manga Reader Voting Support Statistics.

First Place: Magic Realm, 34,626 votes.

Second Place: Secret Girl, 33,977 votes.

Third Place: Tian Shu, 28,403 votes.

Fourth Place: Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, 14,703 votes.

Fifth Place: Monster Academy, 8,413 votes.

Twentieth Place: My Husky Became a Spirit, 761 votes.

In Man Ying magazine's serialization, readers can often vote for multiple works simultaneously. So, don't be fooled by the tens of thousands of votes for the works above; in reality, out of the over 300,000 people who buy Man Ying, perhaps only forty to fifty thousand will log in to the website to vote for their favorite manga after reading.

"Fourth? And over ten thousand votes..." Zhao Qinyin's tone was a little unsettled.

Unlike Chu Yu, who had only joined Inkfish a few months ago, she understood the significance of this achievement.

The key wasn't fourth place, but surpassing ten thousand votes.

Manga artists who could consistently maintain over ten thousand votes in popularity polls during serialization were already at the pinnacle of Luo Province's manga industry.

"Fourth place?" Chu Yu breathed a sigh of relief after seeing the results. Fortunately, it wasn't trending towards the opposite of topping the charts.

But immediately, he sighed again.

"Fourth..."

Looking at his own vote count of over ten thousand and the first place's over thirty thousand, he felt the vast gap between his work and others.

"Chu Yu, why do you sound a little disappointed!" Su Ruo said.

Actually, Su Ruo was also a bit dazed, impressed by the results of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

Whether this work could succeed hinged on whether the manga fans in Luo Province could accept the protagonist being Japanese.

Some people might think this doesn't matter, as long as the story is good. But imagine if Mr. Jin's Eight Dragons in Hong Kong had Duan Yu's identity changed to the son of a Japanese daimyo, Qiao Feng became the leader of the RB Island Beggar Gang, and Xu Zhu became a monk on RB Island who could marry, drink, and eat meat. If the rest of the plot remained the same, would it still feel immersive? Would it have such widespread fame in Dragon Country?

But conversely, as long as readers can accept the premise, Su Ruo believes that with the plot of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, this work will definitely make a name for itself in Luo Province.

In Su Ruo's opinion, the specific situation might only become clear after a few more chapters are serialized. But she never would have imagined...

With only two chapters serialized, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal has shot up from eleventh place last week to fourth place now.

Furthermore, the number of votes has broken the 10,000 mark.

Ten thousand votes is not just within Ink Fish. Even if you consider the other two manga companies of the same caliber in Luo Province, or even all the works currently being serialized in Luo Province combined, there wouldn't be more than ten that could reach this level.

Keep in mind that before Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal and Secret Girl began serialization, there were only two works being serialized on Man Ying with over 10,000 votes.

Magic Realm and Tian Shu, and they far exceeded 10,000, reaching around 30,000 votes.

It is precisely because of this that the authors of these two works are known as the two pillars of Ink Fish Manga Company, and the entire company's resources are tilted towards them.

Last week, after Secret Girl was serialized, its first chapter alone nearly surpassed Magic Realm, which had held the first place for a year, pushing Tian Shu, the second-place holder, to third!

This past week, everyone in the manga company marveled at Dong Yun's large fanbase and the sharpness of her work. Magic Realm and Tian Shu are old works that have been serialized for over three years. To have their accumulated popularity caught up by a work with only one chapter is astonishing!

This clearly demonstrates the sheer number of fans Dong Yun brings with her and the quality of her work.

But today, Su Ruo personally witnessed something even more shocking than Dong Yun's debut performance last week.

The second chapter of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal received over 10,000 votes!

You must understand that before Rurouni Kenshin was published, Chu Yu had only the lukewarm The Garden of Words. He didn't have the fanbase accumulated from Dong Yun's seven years of manga career. Yet, even so, he managed to attract over ten thousand votes with just two chapters.

In Su Ruo's view, the achievement Chu Yu obtained is far more difficult than the achievement Dong Yun attained.

Su Ruo could even imagine the shock of the other editors at Ink Fish Manga Company seeing this result right now.

Su Ruo looked at Chu Yu, recalling what he had said last week about reaching the top. Now, Su Ruo truly felt... the feasibility of that statement.

Seeing Chu Yu's expression, still not satisfied with fourth place, a thought arose in Su Ruo's mind... Genius? No, it felt more appropriate to describe him as a monster.