Ascend to the Summit

The Ink Fish Manga Company Editor-in-Chief's selection method for the Dragon Star Award entry slots spread throughout the industry in an extremely short time.

Regarding the battle between the few works released in the last two months of Man Ying, not only were outsiders from other manga companies stunned, but even the insiders within Ink Fish were taken aback.

At first, everyone thought, "Dong Yun is Dong Yun after all. Her new work is surprisingly fierce. Teacher Shen Xin will probably have to give up the top spot soon."

But after a few weeks, everyone looked back and realized that the true dark horse was still behind.

The work Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, although highly praised by everyone during the serialization meeting, no one expected it to be so ferocious once it began serialization.

It only took five chapters for this work to climb from Man Ying's eleventh position to third.

And how long will it take to go from third to first in the serialization ranking?

Two weeks?

Three weeks?

Or perhaps, today?

Although Song Jiayu appeared calm at work these past few days, some Ink Fish employees who went to his office to report their work could sense his irritation from the cigarette butts in his trash can and the strong smell of smoke in the air.

He himself could feel the urgency of the situation.

If things continued like this, not only would they lose the Dragon Star Award entry slots, but Secret Girl's dream of reaching the top would also be dashed.

But he was helpless.

He had already used his greatest strength for the work Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, giving it cold treatment in terms of promotional resources and Man Ying's layout.

Across Ming City, on buses, subway stations, comic conventions, and bookstores, wherever Ink Fish invested money in promotional resources, Secret Girl definitely received the best.

This was also a crucial factor in Secret Girl being able to push Magic Realm to the brink of desperation in just a few serialization chapters.

Conversely, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal not only lacked the basic promotion that was customary for new serializations on Man Ying, but also, at Song Jiayu's instruction, the characters on the comic cover had not appeared in any of the issues so far.

But even so, this work managed to break through. What could Song Jiayu do?

Originally, according to Song Jiayu's plan, with Secret Girl's development momentum, it was a sure thing that it would surpass Magic Realm in the popularity poll in another week or two. At that time, the entry qualification for the Dragon Star Award would be easily obtained.

But the birth of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal seemed to be destined from the start to make things difficult for Secret Girl.

He had already lost to Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal at the serialization meeting. Now, at the critical juncture when Secret Girl was about to reach the top, this work had reappeared.

And it came at the crucial period for competing for the Dragon Star Award entry qualification.

Song Jiayu had been truly disgusted by this work during this period.

Song Jiayu checked the time; it was already past six in the evening.

Soon, the voting results for this issue would be released. After these results came out, a new manga might very well claim the top spot on Man Ying.

Would it be Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal that reached the summit, or would Secret Girl emerge victorious? Or would Magic Realm continue its reign for another week?

Many editors at Ink Fish Manga Company, though not directly involved, were still paying close attention to the matter.

After all, while Song Jiayu had many sycophants in the company, there were just as many who wished to see him embarrassed.

These people might not have suffered as terribly as Su Ruo, but Song Jiayu had certainly given them plenty of grief.

Soon, an automated text message from Ink Fish's voting system, detailing the Man Ying popularity rankings, was sent to the phones of all Ink Shadow editors.

Su Ruo, at Chu Yu's home, and Song Jiayu, smoking a cigarette in his office after work, along with Editor-in-Chief Pang Feng and editors of all ranks at Ink Fish Manga Company, all received this text message at the same time.

"How is it?" Chu Yu asked.

Su Ruo's beautiful face showed no hint of emotion, but... her eyes went blank the moment she saw the message.

Her breathing soon became rapid.

Seeing Su Ruo like this, Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin could almost guess the outcome.

Although both had a premonition about the result, seeing it unfold as they had imagined still made it impossible for them to remain calm.

"It's number one?" Chu Yu inquired.

Su Ruo took a deep breath and looked at Chu Yu.

"Mhm!"

It was a short word, seemingly understated, but the tremor in her voice told Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin of her inner turmoil.

Su Ruo handed the text message to Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin.

The first few lines immediately caught their eyes.

First Place, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal, 42,472 votes.

Second Place, Secret Girl, 38,966 votes.

Third Place, Magic Realm, 38,456 votes.

Forty thousand...

Just this number of votes left Zhao Qinyin staring in a daze.

Ink Fish's previous historical popularity vote record was just over 39,000 votes. Before today, no work had ever broken the 40,000-vote mark.

And this issue of Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal not only secured first place in the popularity poll, but it also broke Ink Fish Manga Company's past popularity vote record.

For Zhao Qinyin and Su Ruo, seeing a manga they participated in achieve such results felt like a dream.

Especially for Su Ruo, the significance of this work reaching the top was more than just letting her vent some anger.

The resentment she'd felt from being suppressed by Song Jiayu for months was thoroughly released. After all, Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal had earned its serialization opportunity on Man Ying by stepping on Secret Girl, which Song Jiayu was responsible for. Now, at the crucial moment of competing for the first voting slot against Secret Girl, it had surged ahead to the top, pushing Secret Girl to second place.

Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal reaching the top meant that in the four weeks of January, Chu Yu had already gained an absolute advantage in the competition for the Dragon Star Award qualification among the three manga.

At the same time Chu Yu learned of the results.

A mechanical voice sounded in his mind.

"Congratulations, Host, for unlocking the achievement of topping Man Ying under Ink Fish. Reward: One B-rank lucky draw opportunity."

This voice... the System?

A B-rank lucky draw opportunity?

What was that?

Chu Yu was a little confused.

But he didn't immediately investigate what it was, as it required his consciousness to immerse into the system space. Zhao Qinyin and Su Ruo were still there, and if he did that, it would be no different than him looking like he'd gone senile to them.

"Let's go!" Su Ruo suddenly stood up.

"What?" Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin looked at her, confused.

"Go where?"

"To celebrate Rurouni Kenshin: Trust and Betrayal topping Man Ying. Let's go out and celebrate."

"What about work?"

"What work! Aren't you guys going on winter break in a few days? With such a long holiday, are you afraid you won't finish your manga?"

"Ah, stop dawdling!" Su Ruo didn't give them time to think.

Pushing and pulling them, she got them out of Chu Yu's home and drove them to a KTV.

They ordered a bunch of drinks, grabbed the microphones, and she started singing at the top of her lungs.

Earlier, at Chu Yu's home, she had wanted to shout out loud, but restrained herself due to adult decorum.

Now, here, she could vent as loudly as she wanted without affecting anyone else.

It was just a pity for Chu Yu and Zhao Qinyin. They followed her here, listened to her soulful singing the entire time, and later, out of boredom, they played cards and drank...

The result was, as expected, Chu Yu had no memory of how he even got home.

(Got off work a bit late tonight and hit a writing block, so this is the only chapter.)