Starting as a Manga Editor-Chapter 100: This Game Probably Doesn’t Make Money, Right?

The biggest anime-related forum in the country didn’t really look like a place for discussing anime or manga at the moment.
…Because it was flooded with content about FGO.
There was nothing to be done.
This game was way too aligned with the tastes of hardcore anime fans!
That art style! That story! Those character illustrations! And the emotional payoff the game gave them!
Readers who were skeptical at first got completely hooked the moment they entered the game.
Then starting at noon, the forum turned into pure chaos.
As for why the admins weren’t doing anything about it—
Well, they were playing the game too...
The people who founded and ran this forum were all old-school anime fans.
The reason Su Deqiang saw that “perfect first post” was because it was posted by the forum founder—
And it was pinned to the top…
With the founder posting about the game first, other users naturally followed without hesitation.
In no time at all, the entire forum felt like FGO’s official community.
It seemed like everyone was talking about the game.
That alone showed just how insanely hot this game was within the anime crowd!
【…This is amazing!! The game! Whether it’s the sequel to the Observer Route or the main storyline!】
【A mobile game pulling off production like this! This is f***ing wild! Did you guys see the Observer Route? That animated sprite art! And the Noble Phantasm cutscenes!?】
【Can’t believe I dropped 3,000 yuan on a non-PvP game where all you do is fight monsters… and I’m actually happy about it.】
【The gacha is so addictive… got my favorite character in twenty pulls, look at [image], hehe.】
【You guys know what’s up with Dark Saber in the prologue? The Burning Fuyuki City arc seems tied to the Fifth Holy Grail War!?】
【Did you know character sprites evolve as they level up? This company is ruthless!!! Hiding such gorgeous art behind progression! [image]】
【Wait… mobile games can actually be this good? I’m shook.】
【The character development is seriously on point! And the story’s amazing too! I’m not talking about FSN, I mean the in-game story—going back in time, involving famous historical figures, incredible art direction paired with standout storytelling… I’m absolutely sold.】
【[image] This is my waifu! Look at her!】
【…】
Yeah, it was chaos for real—some people were talking about the art, some about the story, some about the Observer Route, some about the in-game plot, and of course, a lot about gacha…
What was even more insane was that even though the topics were all over the place, every single post had dozens—sometimes hundreds—of replies.
Any post got traction.
The players were insanely passionate.
And the “wife this, husband that” posts? Too many to count…
These anime fans loved this game made just for them more than Tang Yao had ever imagined!
And gradually… it even looked like the game was starting to spread beyond the core fanbase.
Of course, it was only the first day of open beta, so it wasn’t spreading super fast yet.
Still limited to the anime community—
What they called “fandom containment.”
But with this kind of freakish heat… it was hard to say what might happen next!
At a certain venture capital firm.
Manager’s Office.
Lin Shuang, Li Xue’s cousin, wrapped up her day’s work, stretched a bit, then picked up her phone to check the time.
When she saw the date, something suddenly came to mind. She swiped through her screen… and found a certain game icon.
She had heard about FGO’s open beta too—not that she’d been following it closely.
It was mostly because of Li Xue.
Lin Shuang was proud, but also a bit thin-skinned.
After that phone call with Li Xue… every time she remembered Li Xue’s “Do I need to ask your permission to spend my money?”
It rubbed her the wrong way.
She was trying to be helpful, she meant well—
And that’s what she got in return?
What do you do for a living? What do I do for a living?
You’re just a lowly manga editor, arguing with me, a venture capital manager? What the hell do you even know?
Bottom line—
Lin Shuang was pissed.
So she’d been keeping tabs on this, just waiting for the game to launch—so she could slap the cold, hard truth in her cousin’s face.
Soon enough—
The game launched.
Lin Shuang registered an account and jumped in.
But she didn’t last half an hour.
The game was all about FSN’s story, and she hadn’t read the manga—wasn’t into anime at all.
It just didn’t click for her…
Plus, she’d gone in with a chip on her shoulder.
She didn’t even make it to the actual main story.
With a frown, she just shut the game down and tossed the phone aside.
“Other than the art? Worthless.”
“Played thirty minutes… still had no idea what was going on. What kind of game is this? Just a visual novel?”
“And she dares say she doesn’t need my permission to spend her own money? So full of herself.”
“This game’s gonna make money? Yeah right. She’s gonna regret this!”
“Some players ed disconnects when trying to set up their teams.”
“I’m on it!”
“……”
10:30 PM.
Avalon Studio was still lit up—everyone working overtime.
But no one complained. On the contrary—they were pumped.
Because by noon… FGO’s concurrent online players had surpassed two million!
Two million!!
Even Kang Ming hadn’t seen that coming. Neither had the staff from Mingyu Tech!
This was way more terrifying than download numbers!!!
After all, this was concurrent users. Real players actually playing the game!!!
But with that many players flooding in, issues were bound to pop up.
As always, no game is ever bug-free.
Since noon, all sorts of small bugs had been surfacing. The tech team was scrambling everywhere, fixing issues like spinning tops.
It was exhausting and exhilarating all at once.
Tang Yao couldn’t really help with the tech stuff—she didn’t understand that side.
All she could do was stay by their side and monitor player feedback.
Thankfully, most of the issues were minor and fixable with hot patches.
And as the night wore on… the yelling from the tech side finally died down.
“Tang Yao…”
Tang Yao was at her desk, scanning player feedback on the forums.
Kang Ming’s voice suddenly called out.
She snapped back to reality, lifted her snowy chin, and looked at him—he looked worn out, but still buzzing with excitement.
“How’s it looking?”
“Most of the bugs are fixed. The rest are being worked on.”
“Good. Time to call it a night.”
“As long as there’s no game-breaking bugs affecting all users…”
Kang Ming shook his head, then rubbed his hands together.
“We can talk about going home later. Right now, what’s the situation? How’s player feedback? I haven’t had time to check.”
“...Very good.”
Tang Yao smiled, her fair face lighting up.
“Really, really good. Let’s look at the Day One data.”
“Alright!”
Kang Ming’s eyes lit up. He turned and rushed to his desk.
Tang Yao watched him go, taking a deep breath. Her expression looked calm—
But under the table, her little hand gripped her pants tight against her round thigh.
It’s finally time.
Of course she was nervous…
Since launch, she’d seen the concurrent numbers once around noon.
Then Kang Ming had been too swamped leading the tech team—he hadn’t had a second to spare.
And with the team that busy, no one else dared bother him—including Tang Yao.
So no one knew the peak concurrent number yet.
Same with all the other stats.
Elsewhere, the rest of the staff had been subtly eavesdropping.
After hearing Tang Yao and Kang Ming’s exchange, they all stopped what they were doing.
They still remembered the dazzling numbers from the last test.
So what about this time?
Excitement built.
Kang Ming, still buzzing, chatted quickly with Sun Gong, then sat down at his desk and opened the operations dashboard.
Truthfully, the concurrent player count didn’t worry him.
He’d already been stunned when they hit two million at noon.
What he was really nervous about—was revenue.
During the closed beta, the insanely high pay rate had convinced Tang Yao to keep the current monetization system.
Kang Ming hadn’t objected.
But that was with only 2,000 users—all pre-selected based on their willingness to pay.
Now that the hype had cooled off—
Kang Ming wasn’t so sure anymore.
There were close to three million players at launch. Two card pools were open.
On Day One… surely they could hit three million in revenue?
Maybe five million if they were lucky?
Kang Ming took a deep breath, opened the dashboard—
Peak concurrent users: 3.41 million.
The moment he saw it—
Kang Ming was overjoyed!!
That was way higher than expected!
Over 3 million!
Excited, he scrolled down to the revenue numbers—
And when he saw the stat—
Kang Ming froze.
“……”
He stared blankly at the screen, not moving.
The nearby staff noticed the change in his expression.
Was the data bad?
“Hey, what’s wrong? You look dazed. Are the numbers that bad?”
Sun Gong leaned over to peek at his screen.
And then—
When he saw the figure, his eyes popped. He gasped and froze in shock.
“???”
Say something, dammit!
From afar—
Tang Yao watched them, her hand clenching her pants even tighter, ready to march over and knock them out—
But just as she was about to get up—
Sun Gong snapped out of it.
He rubbed his eyes, then whispered, counting digits:
“Tens… hundreds… thousands… tens of thousands…”
After finishing, he still couldn’t believe it—
So he counted again.
And again. A third time.
Finally sure he hadn’t misread it—
He suddenly screamed:
“HOLY SH*T!!! Ninety-four million!!?”
“The day’s not even over and we’ve already hit… 94 million yuan in revenue!!?”
“Day One! Nearly a hundred million!!”
“The players have gone insane!!!”
“……”
Clunk.
Kang Ming still sat there, completely stunned.
Someone else fell off their chair in shock.
Holy sh*t?
What?
Huh?????
Everyone turned their heads in unison—
Staring at Tang Yao, sitting tall and poised, her posture perfect.
Their faces were stunned—
As if they were gazing at a goddess.
Even though everyone had kind of expected this game to be a cash cow based on the beta—
Nearly 100 million in revenue on the first day??
That was terrifying!!!
A hundred million!!
A game aimed at a niche anime crowd… and it brought in nearly nine figures on launch day????