Starting as a Manga Editor-Chapter 41: What Kind of Maniac

Su Deqiang was furious, really furious.
Even though deep down he knew he was just taking it out on someone for no reason—what Ou Congquan had drawn had nothing to do with the manga award at all.
But that feeling of "I want to see him suffer" was completely uncontrollable!
Because it was just too outrageous. Ou Congquan was actually using his half-baked work to promote the manga award, without even caring about the readers' feelings.
Completely treating people like trash!
Since Ou Congquan's next serialized chapter hadn’t been released yet, Su Deqiang could only rant on social media and couldn't really organize a boycott.
So he set his sights on the manga award, which Ou Congquan seemed to be treating as a big deal.
This was pure revenge, impulsive behavior.
Totally unreasonable, but it brought him a certain twisted satisfaction.
Just like now.
Su Deqiang sat in front of his computer, watching the time tick toward nine o'clock. He opened the online manga website practically tied to the Wenxin Manga Award, already imagining how the early-released works would get trashed in the comments and downvoted like crazy… and just thinking about it made him feel amazing.
Big picture first, huh!
Still have the nerve to run ads for your garbage work, huh!
Eat sht!*
Watch me roast your crppy website and this lame manga award to death!*
Outstanding?
Yeah right! I refuse to believe any of these so-called award-winning works could be good enough to shut me up!
With this slightly deranged mindset, Su Deqiang sat there fuming and refreshing the site, ready to start flaming the moment the time hit nine.
And soon enough, it did.
As the clock struck nine, the website refreshed, and about twenty new works popped up. Because they were released early, they weren’t categorized yet; instead, they were placed right on the homepage display, like goods laid out in a showcase for readers to see and click on immediately.
[Outstanding Works from the Manga Award]
Su Deqiang glanced at the title above the twenty-something manga works, then slowly scrolled down to check out the supposedly outstanding entries… wait.
He realized he was wrong about one thing: they were categorized after all.
Scrolling down a bit more, he noticed two works set apart with a special label:
Special Recommendation! Works overseen by manga artist Full Effort and Editor Tang Yao!
"!!!"
Su Deqiang froze in his chair, his face flushing a furious red.
Are you kidding me?
Full Effort — Ou Congquan — had just finished hyping up the manga award yesterday, and now you're taking the opportunity to stuff two works he and his editor pushed into the competition?!
Trying to set them up as punching bags so the readers vent all their anger on them and spare the others?!
Do you think readers are idiots?!
Why not just set up a bucket with a stick and a copy of The Girl, the Boy, and the Sword underneath, and wait for readers to crawl in and rage?!
Special recommendation, huh?! Afraid people might miss it or what!?
In reality, Shang Tao didn’t intend it that way.
Although in Tang Yao’s eyes… Shang Tao's move was basically a chaotic power-play, practically begging for drama.
But he did have some reasoning behind it.
Not a lot, but still some.
Like that odd-looking special category label.
It was something he came up with after reading the two works Tang Yao recommended and discussing it with Ou Congquan.
The goal wasn’t just to set up bait for readers to flame.
He wanted to achieve two things with Tang Yao’s recommended works:
First, to ensure that when readers opened the site, these two pieces would be the first ones they saw, delivering a small shock with their quality.
Second, to give readers a little more trust — trust in the editor that Ou Congquan had publicly vouched for.
That’s also why Shang Tao had asked Ou Congquan to help promote it.
If they hadn’t prepared anything worthwhile and still let Ou Congquan shamelessly push the award, it really would have been a disaster and backfired hard!
He would've blown up himself!
Yes.
Shang Tao had already read the two manga Tang Yao recommended.
And clearly, he was very confident in them — almost too confident!
So confident that he was willing to bet that even though Ou Congquan was sailing against the wind by promoting the award, and even if readers were furious, once they saw these two works, they’d still end up praising them, grudges forgotten!
And that would prevent the other early-release works from getting caught up in the backlash — maybe even build hype for The Girl, the Boy, and the Sword's next chapter!
You could call it a gutsy move.
But from the readers’ perspective — at least from Su Deqiang’s perspective right now — it just felt like the organizers thought readers were complete morons and were sticking targets right in their faces!
"Alright, alright, alright."
Su Deqiang stared at the absurd label and laughed in rage:
"Playing it like this, huh? Fine! Let’s see what this ‘special recommendation’ crap actually is!"
He moved his mouse and clicked on one of the so-called "special recommendations" from Ou Congquan’s editor.
"Human Head Balloon?"
Although it was an early release, it was obvious Shang Tao had put some effort in — the title, cover, and synopsis were all nicely polished and presented.
Readers could tell the basics of the manga at a glance.
The moment Su Deqiang saw the title, he cursed out loud:
"What a shtty name! And look at the author's name — Third-Rate Artist? You know you're third-rate and still had the guts to submit something?! Definitely just found a couple of trashy works to throw out there and get flamed!*"
Honestly.
At that moment.
Su Deqiang seriously felt like the people running the award and website were brain-dead.
Even pulling a stupid stunt like this...
He almost lost all interest in reading and just wanted to start roasting immediately.
But sticking to the ancient wisdom — "Well, since I'm already here, might as well check it out,"
He clicked the "Read" button, adopting a harshly critical mindset as he started flipping through it casually.
"Pff, realistic art style? Truly a third-rate hack — doesn’t even understand mainstream tastes."
On the very first page, Su Deqiang sneered through his nose, muttering,
"And what's with this fake mystery crap? Knocking sounds? Big deal, probably just someone outside."
"Locked in the house for a week and out of food? Then go buy some! Acting like it's the apocalypse or something, yet everything inside looks fine. Obviously just a metaphor for psychological struggle."
"Flashback sequence? Boring!"
"Dead actress? Hah, another cliched 'overcome inner demons' story."
"Oh, group suicide now? And some fake deep commentary on celebrity worship?
Human heads floating like balloons? What kind of brain-dead trope is that?"
"This is freaking hilarious."
"Inventing some stupid urban legend about human-head balloons, but too scared to show it directly — must be saving it for a last-minute twist."
"Tch, I already know where this is going."
"I… what the hll is this maniac crap!?"*
When someone reads something with an agenda in mind, they'll find flaws everywhere.
From the start, Su Deqiang had been reading with that mentality.
Every page he flipped, he spat criticism — though he grudgingly admitted, the artist’s technical skills were decent.
But so what? With such a tired and lame storyline, it was boring from the get-go.
Then—
He reached a scene where two human-head balloons were kissing.
The moment he saw that panel, he forgot to complain.
His eyes bulged wide, and he blurted out:
"What the hll is this maniac crap!?"*
Didn’t he just say they wouldn't dare show anything directly!?
And now this?
What kind of demented imagination is this?!
How were they going to end it?
Staring blankly at the screen, Su Deqiang clicked on the next page.
With the realistic art style —
A massive horror spectacle unfolded, starting from a simple rumor and snowballing into a grotesque, terrifying carnival of madness!
The story sprinted headlong into pure insanity!
"…"
The room went dead silent except for the sound of mouse clicks.
Su Deqiang’s face twisted up in confusion, his eyebrows knotting so tightly it looked like he could crush a fly between them.
His reading pace slowed dramatically.
But no matter how slow, the end came.
And soon—
He reached the finale.
When the entity knocking on the window was finally revealed…
When the heroine's own human-head balloon grinned viciously and looped a noose around her real body’s neck—
Su Deqiang sat there frozen, ears ringing, feeling like he had fallen right into that terrifying manga world.
After a long while,
He shuddered violently, snapped back to reality, and sucked in a sharp breath.
"What the hll kind of maniac came up with this!!!"*