“Have you read it? Vote now. If you think this comic should be published urgently, please raise your hand.”
As soon as the editor-in-chief finished speaking, most of the people in the office raised their hands, including all the female editors. The remaining editors hesitated for a moment: “If you want to say whether it is good or not, I think it is good. It’s just that the market for comics with female themes is not optimistic.”
“Regarding this point,” Editor Qian raised his hand, “I think this is actually an advantage.”
“What do you mean?”
Editor Qian recalled what the boss had analyzed with her before. She was originally a little shy but suddenly had a lot of courage. She stood up and said, “Because there is an empty field for female comics, the person who takes the first bite of meat may lead the market and gain the greatest benefits. So I think this attempt will have more advantages than disadvantages.”
“Even so, isn’t expedited publication a bit risky?” the man asked another question.
“Now that the serialization of “Legend of the Desert Heroes” has just ended, readers need a comic of the same type as a buffer. I am worried that if a comic with a female theme is suddenly released and made the main focus, it will cause dissatisfaction among the old readers.”
Faced with this question, Editor Qian nodded and said, “Most of our comics magazine’s readers are attracted by The Heroes of the Desert, and these readers have certain requirements for the quality of comics. But at present, none of our magazine’s other comics have reached such a high level.
“But you have seen the quality of this book, ‘The Imperial Spirit Girl’. Any page can be cut out to be used as a cover. And like ‘The Legend of the Desert Heroes’, it has an extremely outstanding technique for depicting large scenes.”
After a long discussion, the editor-in-chief finally made the decision: “We will include “The Imperial Spirit Girl” in this issue, and we will decide whether to continue publishing it in the second issue based on readers’ letters.”
Everyone responded in a positive way, and Editor Qian was even more confident: the young boss will create another industry legend! Therefore, the comic that followed “The Legend of the Desert Heroes” became “The Imperial Spirit Girl”.
The day before summer vacation.
“Ahhhh, the compiled volume of “Heroes of the Desert” is going to be published tomorrow. I wish it were tomorrow now so I could buy it right away. Besides, I also want to read the next part. What’s the matter with the King of the Western Regions who suddenly appeared? And what is the mysterious identity of the proprietress A Xiang? Damn Yinong, how many traps has he dug?” Zhang Wei howled while holding the latest issue of “Huayou” magazine.
“Don’t you have a complete set of “Huayou” magazines? If you can’t find anything else good for the time being, you can also take a look at other comic magazines, such as “Xia Dao”? ” others asked.
“‘Xia Dao’ is totally unwatchable now. I don’t want to read comics that don’t make sense and have no meaning other than fighting and killing.”
An Yinong was tidying up the tablecloth while watching them enthusiastically discussing the plot. In fact, he had always been curious about how people would react if the plot suddenly stopped at a critical moment. Now that this request has been met, it turned out that keeping readers on suspense was so good… right?
“We’ll have a holiday tomorrow!” A happy classmate threw a note, and then was chased by the classmate on duty with a broom.
Tomorrow was the weekend and the official start of summer vacation. Some classmates were discussing going out to work to earn some money, but An Yinong had not yet figured out how to spend this summer vacation. Come to think of it, it would probably be drawing, tutoring, more drawing, and even more tutoring?
“Speaking of which, there are a thousand signed copies of the book ‘Desert Heroes: Devil City’ in it. I must go grab them!”
“Me too.”
“Should I go check on the sales tomorrow?” An Yinong thought.
The next day, the middle school students had a holiday, and new copies of “Desert Heroes: Devil City” appeared on the recommendation shelves of various bookstores, and long-awaited readers poured in like a tide.
“Boss, a copy of ‘Heroes of the Desert’.”
“Boss, I want four.”
The young man who wanted four books was immediately besieged by others: “You buy so many at once, what will happen to the people behind you?”
“Several people in my family want to read it, what can I do?”
The bookstore owner was surprised and comforted: “Don’t worry, we have enough stock and everyone can buy it.” But the next moment, he called the publishing house, asking for more comic books.
Thinking that he was just a new cartoonist, so he didn’t need to stock too much, the boss only bought 50 books. He was really regretting it now, because in just one morning, the stock was gone, and the rest would have to wait until tomorrow. How could readers wait so long? They immediately went to other bookstores to have a look.
“Hey, Zhen Weilong’s Blood Knife is also very good. Do you want to buy it?”
The boss took the opportunity to sell something else, but the readers turned their mouths up and said, “Forget it, I don’t want to buy junk.”
Watching the readers leave, the boss turned around and looked at the pile of unsold comics: “Hey, you said you were an old cartoonist with guaranteed sales, but you don’t even have a fraction of their sales.”
An Yinong sat in the car, watching the shop owner put up a handwritten sign saying that Heroes of the Desert was available for reservations. He said to the driver in front of him, “Uncle Cai, let’s go to other bookstores.”
“Master, are you reading the new comic book published by the publisher? It’s very well drawn, and I see some people in my son’s class are reading it. Now that it’s selling so well, you must be very happy, right?”
“Yes.”
At the same time, the new issue of Huayou magazine also appeared in various newsstands. With the expectation of seeing new martial arts comics, readers bought the magazine and opened Huayou…
“Huh? It’s a modern background. Wow, I have an indescribable feeling. The sun in this background is so weird, as if it’s looking at me…hiss, keep reading.”
The comic opened with a scene of a girl running on the road with a sandwich in her mouth. Her originally cute face becomes very hideous because she is worried about being late.
“Is she a girl? Where is the protagonist in the opening?” Because of inertia of thinking, readers thought that this was a supporting character who leads to the incident. Were they wondering if the next thing will be a car accident or something like that?
As a result, when they turned the page, what appeared before their eyes was the daily life of an ordinary middle school student. The background was so familiar, with those red-painted signs and the stories of the people living on them.
Finally, the readers realized that this was actually a female protagonist. It seemed that the only difference about this protagonist was that she inherited the martial arts school left by her grandfather and dreamed of carrying forward the family martial arts.
Female readers found it very interesting, but male readers still felt unfamiliar and strange reading comics from a female perspective. They wanted to abandon the book, and some even wanted to write letters to protest – why not publish more martial arts comics?
At this time, something unexpected happened. The heroine fought with others to protect a nerd who was bullied by gangsters. The family jade pendant was broken and her blood stained the jade pendant. In an instant, the wind began to blow and the clouds moved. The space seemed to be distorted, and the leaves, controlled by the wind, transformed into the vague image of a huge nine-tailed fox.
The ‘demon spirit’ with graceful lines, noble beauty and amazing beauty appeared in front of the girl.
At this point, the narration appears, interspersed with close-ups of shocked faces:
“The world in which humans live is like the front side of a piece of paper. We never explore what is on the back side of the paper, and we will never be able to get there. However, due to some special reasons, a few people with superb inspiration can occasionally see the world behind the paper. We usually call these people sorcerers or inspired people… But they have a real name, psychics.
“And the most special kind of psychic is the ‘spirit master’, who can sign a contract with powerful ‘demon spirits’ and borrow their power.”
With a blink of an eye, the familiar and ordinary world suddenly revealed a surprising side. The heroine saw the sun and the moon appear in the sky at the same time. The invisible air seemed to have its own shape. A stone statue next to her opened its eyes and laughed at her strangely. Everything around her also responded to the laughter.
At this time, an elegant and noble nine-tailed fox came to her with its feet on the moon wheel: “Welcome to the new world, Master of Spirits.”
The comic ended here, without telling the readers what would happen next or what was going on in this strange world. The reader picked up the magazine and shook it in disbelief, and it was really gone. That was the end of it.
“Ah …
Readers were amazed by this subversive “other world” background and were also curious about what happened to the protagonist. Why did she see the “other world”? Was it because of that drop of blood? Also, what’s the matter with that nine-tailed fox? Why did it appear? Was the jade pendant a seal?
They really had too many questions and wanted to know what would happen next.
Male readers were just curious, but female readers were simply shocked, because the protagonist’s daily life was so ordinary, and it overlapped with the lives of most girls by more than 80%, so they felt particularly involved when reading.
“It felt like at that moment, I saw a different world just like Su Xue. All the things that we were used to had a different look in that ‘world’, including myself.”
“It’s so pretty! It’s so pretty!”
Countless letters were sent to the publisher of Huayou magazine. Several editors in the editorial department looked at the boxes of letters with a feeling of touching a landmine: “Open it. Whether it will work depends on this one time.”
The editor-in-chief opened the first letter: “It’s about the newly published “The Imperial Spirit Girl”. … He said he likes it very much and hopes to serialize it more next time?”
“Really?” Other editors also squeezed forward and took out the letters sent to the editorial department one by one. Seven out of ten letters were talking about this new female-themed comic, and six out of the seven expressed their expectations or liking for it, and only one expressed doubt or displeasure.
“So, we… won?” After a few seconds of silence, warm cheers were heard from the editorial office again.
“You can start proofreading the second chapter. Also, let’s go to the Blue Ocean bar tonight. It’s my treat.” The editor-in-chief said generously, and applause broke out in the office again.
“One more thing, Editor Qian, congratulations on officially becoming the editor of our magazine.”
Editor Qian was stunned by this huge surprise: “Really? …I am an official editor?”
“Thank you, little boss. I’m an official editor now. I’ll treat you to a drink in the future!”
When the drunk editor Qian called, the poor boss was still working on his homework. Thinking about how he was living a life of luxury outside, he was still struggling with ABC, it was really…
“Hey, can you please not get too drunk and go home early.”
“I get it, young boss… You will definitely be a good man who cares about girls in the future. But, it’s a pity that you are too young, and you will feel guilty…” Editor Qian spoke incoherently with a lisp and no logic in her words.
“Where are you now?”
An Yinong put down his pen. After all, he was his editor-in-charge and also an employee. If he was alone outside and drunk, he would be worried.
Editor Qian on the other side gave an address, and An Yinong also heard the sound of knocking on the phone booth, and a man’s teasing voice: “Sister, are you looking for a lover? Do you think I can do it?”
“Go away.” Editor Qian on the other end seemed to be calling his colleague’s name, and then hung up the phone.
An Yinong frowned. The public security in Hong Kong City was not good at that time, and this bar was not in the wealthy area where the police often patrolled.
He put on his clothes and went downstairs. After thinking about it, he took a bodyguard from home with him.
“Young Master, where are you going?” Granny Lian hurriedly chased out.
“I’m going to pick someone up and will be back soon.”
WhiteMoon x BlackSun 
Little hero to the rescue! Thank you for the chapter!
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