Starting as a Manga Editor-Chapter 101: Spinning Around in Circles

When Tang Yao heard Sun Gong’s shout, her lips parted slightly.
She only looked mildly surprised on the surface.
But in reality, her mind was completely blank, ringing with static… Of course she knew how profitable anime-style mobile games could be.
She’d heard of games pulling in hundreds of millions per month.
If they weren’t profitable, she wouldn’t have ended up as a lead artist on some garbage mobile game in her last life…
Early on, anime mobile games were practically leverage legends.
Most of the well-known titles that anime fans could name had already made a killing in their first month post-launch.
Take Arknights, for example—five hundred million yuan in its first month. Punishing: Gray Raven hit three hundred million. Even Azur Lane, made on a budget in the millions, pulled in a hundred million during its first month.
That’s why back then, so many game developers were stampeding into the mobile game market.
And FGO? That was on another level. By 2020, the game’s global revenue had already reached four billion—US dollars, with an average revenue per download of $291.
In China alone, Bilibili’s 2017 gaming revenue was two billion yuan…
And just FGO alone accounted for 72% of it.
Seventy-two percent!
Everyone used to joke that FGO helped Uncle Bili go public—it really wasn’t a joke.
And here, with a bigger market and even richer anime culture, not to mention the rock-solid test data…
Tang Yao had known the game would make money.
But she didn’t expect it to make this much.
This was only Day One.
If it were a monthly revenue figure, she could’ve stayed calm.
But one day...
All she could say was—
As their first anime-style game, this just proved once again: this genre was pure leverage magic.
It also proved that sharp-eyed pioneers really could rake in money by the bucketload.
The entire studio was staring at Tang Yao.
And she was staring right back at them.
Everyone looked utterly shaken by the announcement.
After several seconds of stunned silence,
Tang Yao finally came to and gently raised her hand, giving a few soft claps—
The sound of applause echoed through the studio.
Everyone waited for her to speak.
“Great job, everyone.”
Tang Yao took a deep breath and, like a declaration, said softly:
“We… did it.”
At her words,
There was another beat of silence—
Then—
A massive cheer exploded!
“Holy sht! HOLY SHT!!”
Not far away,
Sun Gong was momentarily stunned by the deafening roar, then shoved the still-dazed Kang Ming hard, shouting with excitement:
“One hundred million on Day One! Did you ever imagine this when you called me over? Did you?! This is insane! Absolutely insane! We actually made a game that broke 100 million yuan in revenue—on launch day, Kang Ming!!!”
Meanwhile, Shi Wanglin stood there dazed, like a man completely drunk.
So we really pulled it off?
Back when he was dragged in to help, he’d thought it was just some half-baked scam of a company.
It wasn’t until he met Tang Yao that he had a bit more confidence.
Still, throughout the development process, he’d had doubts…
In fact, Kang Ming wasn’t the only one who’d been nervous about the monetization model.
All three of them—“the three brothers”—had worried too.
But now?
Worried what exactly?
The game had smashed 100 million ON DAY ONE!!!
The studio was electric—everyone thrilled by the numbers!
But Tang Yao knew that this kind of high wouldn’t last forever.
In the short term, team morale and unity wouldn’t be a problem. But if people didn’t start seeing long-term hope soon, the cohesion wouldn’t hold.
For a startup company, you couldn’t just share the struggle.
You had to share the rewards too.
Or the whole thing would fall apart eventually.
And Tang Yao had worked with these people long enough to know their capabilities.
So, watching the joyful crowd, she clapped again.
The room quieted immediately, all eyes on her once more.
“Also—”
Tang Yao’s fair face lit up with a warm, healing kind of smile:
“Congratulations to all of you… I know it’s a bit early to be saying this on the first day, but honestly, at this point—who cares. Whether it’s bonuses or stock incentives, they’re coming very soon.”
“…………”
At those words,
The studio fell into dead silence again.
Kang Ming had also finally come to his senses.
He turned, dumbfounded, to look at Tang Yao.
The staff from Mingyu Tech all turned to look at Chu Yuxin.
After all, it was her who had brought them on board.
Honestly? When they signed on, none of them had expected this.
But Chu Yuxin wasn’t paying any attention to their looks.
Her lips parted slightly, staring in a daze at Tang Yao…
“So, thank you all for your hard work.”
Tang Yao slowly stood up, gave a slight bow, and then looked up again:
“Next… let’s keep up the good work—and start developing the Christmas event storyline and gacha pool!”
“……”
The moment her words landed,
The studio erupted in an even louder cheer—
The roar felt like it could blow the roof off the office.
Kang Ming stared wide-eyed at the girl standing proudly in front of her desk.
He was even more shocked than he’d been at the revenue numbers—
Because he knew exactly how much weight her words carried right now…
He hadn’t expected Tang Yao to say something like this at such a moment.
As his mind flashed back over everything Tang Yao had done since the early days of their startup,
He suddenly realized—
He still didn’t fully understand her.
This seemingly delicate girl…
Had a strength and foresight far beyond most people.
Tang Yao’s gaze swept over the joyful faces around her.
She was just about to say more—
When her phone buzzed on her desk.
She glanced down—it was a message from Li Xue.
She broke into a smile and quickly typed out a reply…
Then quietly began packing up to leave.
Not that she could sneak away, of course.
Truth was, after the initial wave of excitement, everyone had been stealing glances at Tang Yao.
Their eyes were burning with anticipation and gratitude—complicated emotions.
Tang Yao didn’t notice.
Or rather, she noticed—but didn’t mind.
She packed up her things without a word, turned, and headed toward the door.
Every gaze followed her until she disappeared through it.
The cheering?
Didn’t stop.
Outside.
The staff from Mingyu Tech had long since gone home.
Tang Yao gently closed the door behind her and leaned against it, taking a deep breath.
Her fitted sweater hugged her curvy figure,
And her generous chest rose and fell with every breath, clearly visible.
She closed her eyes, trying to calm down before seeing Li Xue…
But the cheers echoing behind her made it impossible to settle.
Her mind kept circling back to that insane number—94 million.
So in the end—
She gave up.
She softly pressed her rosy lips together,
And strode off toward the street.
Screw it. I’m excited. So be it.
She wanted to share this with Li Xue right now.
Outside the company.
It was late.
Under the night sky,
Even this bustling district was especially quiet.
Only the occasional office worker hurried by,
The sound of their footsteps echoing crisply through the still air.
Tang Yao walked briskly toward the café where they often met.
Her long, silky hair fluttered gently in the night breeze.
Her fair, delicate cheeks were tinged with pink from the cold.
Soon—
She arrived at their usual meeting spot.
The café had already closed for the night.
The inside was dark, but the sign outside still glowed faintly.
Li Xue was standing there by the door, graceful as ever.
Though the weather had warmed a bit recently, it was still chilly.
She wasn’t daring enough to wear thin black stockings anymore.
Instead, she wore a dark sweater that showed off her figure perfectly,
Paired with a classic plaid skirt that revealed a bit of smooth, even calf,
And a pair of elegant heels.
Under the night sky,
She looked both relaxed and elegant—yet undeniably alluring.
Soon—
Her gaze locked onto Tang Yao rushing from a distance.
Her eyes lit up. She stepped forward.
The soft light framed her gentle profile, making her look even more stunning.
“Tang Yao, I saw so many people talking about the game—”
But before she could finish,
She noticed Tang Yao suddenly speeding up—breaking into a jog.
Li Xue blinked, confused.
“Miss Li!”
Tang Yao was already in front of her.
She wrapped her arms around Li Xue’s slim waist and lifted her right off the ground.
“We did it!!”
“Wait… hey… what are you doing?!”
Li Xue was caught completely off guard as her feet left the ground.
Her pretty face flushed red, her heartbeat spiked.
“Put me down, put me down!”
But Tang Yao didn’t hear a thing—
Still holding her tight, she spun around in a full circle, beaming:
“We really did it!!”
It was the first time she’d ever let her emotions burst out like this—
No reservations, no filter.
Because the past few weeks…
Had been exhausting.
“Yao… my heel’s slipping…”
“At least tell me what’s going on before hugging me like that…”
“Mmph…”
“……”
Li Xue—this graceful, mature woman—
Had never been through something like this.
Her dainty toes tried to hook her heel back on.
Instinctively, she clung to Tang Yao’s shoulders.
Her voice flustered, but—she didn’t resist at all.
She just stared at Tang Yao,
At her soft, glowing face—flushed bright red, whether from shyness or something else, she didn’t know.