Dragon Star Award

"Dragon Star Award..." Chu Yu thought for a moment, then finally nodded.

"I've heard of it. It seems to be a manga award competition held in Modu."

"What's up? Why are you bringing this up?"

"That's good. Since you have some understanding of this award, it will be much easier for me to explain," Su Ruo said while eating.

"The Dragon Star Award is initiated by the Modu Seven Great Manga Companies, aiming to select excellent manga from Dragon Country outside the Modu region."

"It's held once a year, and the eligibility for participating works is..."

After a while.

"You mean I... no, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal is eligible to participate in this award selection?"

"Did you say it wrong?" Su Ruo shook her head.

"It's not just eligible to participate, it's eligible to compete for the nomination slot..."

As Su Ruo continued to explain, Chu Yu finally understood what she was trying to say!

Dragon Country has over forty provinces and a population exceeding 1.6 billion. In this land, the manga industry is in its golden age, with countless manga companies, big and small.

However, if we exclude the RB Island region and look at the mainland, in the entire Dragon Country, apart from the Modu Seven Great Manga Companies, most provincial manga industries only publish within their own provinces. Often, excellent manga artists emerge in some provinces, but due to platform influence, it's difficult for such artists to gain fame across Dragon Country.

To prevent these excellent manga artists and their works from being buried, the Modu Seven Great Manga Companies invite influential manga works from each province every year to gather and hold a manga award selection.

This award is the Dragon Star Award selection!

"In Luo Province, there are three nomination slots. The allocation rights are held by Luo Province's three major manga companies: Feng Yu, Ink Fish, and Long Ya, each getting one."

"Normally, according to past practice, our Ink Fish's nomination slot is always given to Magic Realm. However, the situation is different this year..." Su Ruo said.

"After the results of the last popularity poll came out, our entire Ink Fish Manga Company has four works that are considered in another dimension on Man Ying: Shen Xin's Magic Realm, Dong Yun's Secret Girl, your Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, and Wang He's Tian Shu."

"So, regarding which work should participate in this award selection this year, the editorial department had an afternoon meeting to discuss this matter..."

"Let's not even talk about Tian Shu. It's been three years, and it hasn't surpassed Magic Realm even once. Its editor is also in a state of non-contention, just like in previous years..."

"The key point is that both Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal and Secret Girl have shown strong upward momentum. Therefore, with Magic Realm's performance this year, it's not convincing."

Chu Yu understood. What "not convincing" meant was probably that Su Ruo and Song Jiayu, two people who didn't get along, were not convinced.

"So, after a full day of discussion, Editor-in-Chief Pang has made the final decision and reached a conclusion."

"There is still one month until the New Year, and the deadline for submitting nomination slots is before the end of the year."

"So Editor-in-Chief Pang said that for our three works, Magic Realm, Secret Girl, and Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, this week's votes won't count. In the following four weeks, whichever work gets the most first-place votes in the popularity poll will be chosen to compete."

Three works, four weeks, four chances to vote. This means if any work can secure first place in the popularity poll three times within the next month, it will definitely earn the qualification to compete.

Su Ruo didn't ask Chu Yu if he was willing to compete. Such an opportunity, only a fool wouldn't take it.

An opportunity for one's work to reach beyond its province and be noticed by fans across Dragon Country. Anyone still striving in this industry would never let such a chance slip by.

The next four weeks?

Chu Yu nodded. It was perfect timing. The upcoming January would feature the serialization of the third section of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, the Yoshioka arc, which was also the plot's climax.

"Dragon Star Award..."

Chu Yu let out a long breath.

"By the way, Sister Su... are today's popularity poll results out yet?" Zhao Qinyin, who had been silent, suddenly asked from the side.

"They are," Su Ruo nodded. She opened the message on her phone and handed it to the two of them.

The rankings were the same as the results from last week's fifth chapter publication.

First place, Magic Realm, 38,944 votes.

Second place, Secret Girl, 38,113 votes.

Third place, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, 38,012 votes.

Chu Yu's expression was also peculiar.

For this issue, the top three works had maintained their rankings while also increasing their vote counts.

However, the difference between first and third place was less than a thousand votes.

The gap between these three works could now be considered negligible.

Of course, compared to Chu Yu's calm demeanor, Song Jiayu, at home, was unable to calm his mood as he looked at the analysis report in front of him.

It contained a series of data statistics and charts for the three works.

Among them, the almost meteoric rise of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal's trend graph made him feel a prickle of unease.

He didn't pay too much attention to Magic Realm.

But how to describe Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal? From over 4,000 votes in the first chapter, to over 14,000 in the second, and now over 38,000 in the sixth chapter...

With each new chapter serialized, the number of fans voting for this work increased by anywhere from five to six thousand, to as much as ten thousand.

Who can stand this?

If this work continues to grow like this next issue, it will set an unprecedented record for Mo Yu's popularity vote count, and it will also be Mo Yu's first work to break through forty thousand in popularity votes.

At that time, on Mo Yu, who else could contend with Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal?

Who else could compete with it for the Dragon Star Award qualification?

Thinking of this, Song Jiayu's frustration was hard to dispel.

He thought about how he came to Luo Province, used his connections, and spent a lot of effort to finally get Dong Yun to agree to cooperate with him. He never imagined that Su Ruo, a person he had never paid attention to before, could find a monstrous Manga Artist like Shui Xin.

After all these maneuvers, she has now become his biggest enemy on Mo Yu.

How can this woman be so lucky?

Recalling his failed pursuit of Su Ruo, being ignored by her, and how his attempts to suppress Su Ruo have become a joke with the rise of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, and now, even his work ability is being surpassed by her!

How did this plot turn out so differently from what he imagined?

Song Jiayu has always been unwilling to admit defeat, let alone lose to Su Ruo, a woman who dared to look down on him!

Shui Xin...

It's all that guy's fault.

He should have been more decisive when that guy was serializing The Garden of Words and crushed him, not even giving him a serialization opportunity. That way, there wouldn't be a work like Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.

Song Jiayu took a deep breath.

But it was too late to say anything now. He could only believe that Secret Girl could maintain its momentum, surpass his colleagues at Magic Realm, and still suppress Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal.