Starting as a Manga Editor-Chapter 62: Borrowing a Chicken to Lay Eggs

"Calm down."
Tang Yao watched as Kang Ming suddenly jumped to his feet and nearly screamed. The hand that was brushing back her long hair instead moved to cover her ear… a bit helplessly.
This was exactly what she was worried about.
Seriously, can't people talk things out like normal human beings? Why all the yelling? It's not like she committed murder or arson—she just drew a manga, that’s all.
"How could I possibly calm down... Tang Yao, that was really drawn by you? I mean, you held the pen and actually drew it yourself?"
Kang Ming was completely losing it.
Tang Yao replied helplessly, "What, you think I drew it with my teeth?"
"Huh!?"
Kang Ming's voice shot up again at her clear confirmation.
Because this was just too unbelievable!
It was like when Tang Yao handed Human Head Balloon to Li Xue back then… When an editor claims she can draw manga—and even better than most professional mangaka out there—that contrast is just too much to process.
Especially considering—
Kang Ming had already witnessed Tang Yao’s talent as an editor. And just moments ago, he'd also seen her gift in game development...
So now, when Tang Yao said she was the creator of Fate/Zero, the impact hit Kang Ming way harder than when Li Xue saw Human Head Balloon!
"No way! That was your work!? You're the Third-Rate Artist!? You didn’t just supervise it—you actually drew it yourself? Then does that mean Human Head Balloon was also… you… I… what…?"
Kang Ming flailed his arms around in disbelief, completely at a loss for words.
It was official—he was trash…
Tang Yao: "..."
Kang Ming’s voice was loud. Really loud.
People from Mingyu Tech outside probably heard everything.
Tang Yao didn’t want rumors of drama or infighting spreading on their very first day here, so she took a deep breath, looked at Kang Ming, slowly wiped the expression off her face, and pointed her fair finger down at the chair.
The meaning was obvious.
Sit.
"…"
Kang Ming saw Tang Yao's gesture and instantly shut up.
He gave a little shiver, calmed down a bit… and sheepishly sat back down.
There was nothing else he could do.
Tang Yao usually seemed so harmless and mild, so when she put on that cold face and transformed into an ice queen, it really hit hard for people who knew her... Kind of like when the quiet kid finally snaps.
And it wasn’t just Kang Ming.
Even Tang Xun would get nervous when her sister got serious.
"You calm now?"
Tang Yao finally exhaled, relaxing her face as she saw Kang Ming sitting quietly.
"Absolutely not."
Kang Ming’s face was bright red. "I mean, you can draw something as amazing as Fate/Zero... so why the h*ll are you still working in the editorial department?"
Even though he was still pretty worked up...
Maybe because of Tang Yao’s warning earlier, he at least remembered there were people from Mingyu Tech just outside. So his voice was lower now—still shaky, but not booming.
"I already explained the reason earlier… Anyway, it’s not really relevant to you. I know you like manga, but this isn’t the time to talk about that."
Tang Yao gave him a brief explanation and continued, "What we’re discussing now isn’t manga, but the game. The only thing you need to know is that Fate/Zero is the base concept for the game—the setting, storyline, and some characters will all appear in it, forming the core of the entire project.
"Also… the manga is a major tool for user acquisition. Our first batch of players may very well be readers of Fate/Zero.
"As for who drew Fate/Zero… that doesn’t matter at all. I’m just letting you know I’m capable of handling the Lead Artist role."
"..."
Kang Ming looked at the calm and composed Tang Yao, face turning an even deeper red.
Easy for you to say… but how is anyone not supposed to be shocked!?
And most importantly—judging by what you're saying, that super popular manga… was just promotional material for the game?
Just for traffic?
Holy sh*t!
If people from Wenxin Press or the mangaka you worked with heard this… they’d probably explode on the spot!
The more Kang Ming thought about it, the more conflicted he looked.
But he really didn’t want to see that cold look on Tang Yao’s face again.
And he knew well enough that freaking out wasn’t helping, so he forced himself to change the topic. “So, about Fate/Zero’s ongoing serialization…”
Tang Yao answered, “I already told you—it’s being released for free. Second chapter will be out soon…”
“I see…”
Kang Ming glanced at the pile of documents on the table and gave a bitter smile, finally getting a general sense of Tang Yao’s plan.
So the manga really was drawn just to promote the game…
“Let’s set Fate/Zero aside for now. Back to the earlier issue,” Tang Yao said, redirecting the topic as Kang Ming turned his attention to the documents again. “We need to set up the internal dev and testing servers, along with the SVN server.”
This part was really important.
When it came to work, Tang Yao didn’t care for flashy workflows. She preferred simple, efficient methods. But having developed a game in her previous life, she understood how critical solid IT infrastructure was from the get-go.
Take SVN for example—it’s just a version control tool, but it’s essential for collaborative development. It helps share resources and centralize management.
It might sound optional, especially with just the two of them right now.
But in real development, version control is a must… if you can’t roll back versions at will, any dev would totally lose it!
“The setup isn’t too hard—the real issue is with the internal server,” Kang Ming replied. He was still trying hard to bottle up his excitement, but managed to bring his focus back to the game. “It’ll take a bit of time… actually, I have a suggestion.”
“What is it?” Tang Yao blinked.
Kang Ming hesitated, then pointed toward the door. “Mingyu Tech out there—they used to make games too, right? I think their internal servers are set up at the company. And since they’re basically going under, and we’re just next door… if possible, we could just buy or lease their servers. That’d save us a ton of trouble.”
“…”
Tang Yao’s eyes lit up.
Right!
Those guys were game devs too!
And at their peak, they were a decent-sized operation. She could totally buy up their servers… wouldn’t even need to touch the hardware!
Borrow a chicken to lay eggs!
“…I’ll go talk to them in a bit,” Tang Yao said decisively.
She hadn’t expected this at all.
She picked this place randomly, and now there was a bonus prize waiting.
Kang Ming nodded, then asked, “Okay, and just to confirm—once the game’s live, you’re planning to run the servers…”
“You remember what you said last time? About cloud servers?” Tang Yao asked.
“Got it. That really is the best solution—and it’ll save on physical server maintenance costs.”
Kang Ming looked enlightened. “Alright, leave it to me. I’ll talk to my… my relative.”
“We’ll deal with that later…”
What followed—
The two of them really hit their stride—well, mostly Tang Yao did. Kang Ming was just dragged along for the ride, talking about the game.
In any case, they started discussing all sorts of things about the early development phase. It was a bit chaotic, but with only two people, the advantage was clear: things were messy, sure, but decisions got made fast.
And Kang Ming realized—Tang Yao was really nothing like an ordinary girl…
She actually seemed to know game development.
Technical solutions.
Client-side and server-side engines.
Testing and CI systems.
Tech specs for art and design resources.
Development environment setups.
She knew a bit of everything.
And when she made decisions, there was no hesitation. Like with game engines—after Kang Ming briefly explained the pros and cons of different engines, along with his experience using them and their pricing, Tang Yao immediately chose one for the prototype stage.
No wavering. No pushing the decision back to him.
Very decisive.
By contrast—
Kang Ming actually felt more like the girl. He was scared… even though he wasn’t the one making the final call, he was afraid that giving the wrong information might mislead her.
So as time went on, the look in his eyes got more and more complicated.
How to put it?
It was just… kinda crushing.