Starting as a Manga Editor

Chapter 182: No

"Oh?"

Tang Yao raised her eyebrows in surprise. "A mobile game?"

"Yeah."

Li Xue nodded, though her expression was a little odd. "It is a mobile game, but… you'll understand once you see it."

Seeing how weird her expression was, Tang Yao reached out and took the documents she handed over.

Then, after reading them—

Her expression turned odd too. She looked up slightly. "…An officially licensed mobile game for Into the Night? Based on Rumi’s work?"

"Yeah. Cai Quan’s not sure whether we should accept it."

Li Xue nodded again. "After all, our FGO had a crossover with that series… If we co-launch this game, it'll clash with our own."

"…" Tang Yao’s face grew a little complicated.

She hadn’t expected that the game developer who secured the adaptation rights to Rumi’s work would choose to co-launch it with ANF.

In simple terms, “co-launching” means the game developer partners with a distribution platform to jointly operate a game. This helps secure active user traffic and in-game purchases after release—a fairly common B2B promotional model in the gaming industry.

And ANF has been growing aggressively lately… mainly because the Avalon product behind the website is truly formidable. FGO has already proven that ANF’s user base is highly receptive to anime-style mobile games.

Major developers usually don’t like splitting revenue with other platforms.

But for mid-sized studios, co-launching is a solid route. It saves the trouble of finding users or building a user base from scratch—existing platforms can control promotional costs much better.

ANF is clearly a top-tier co-launch platform for anime-style games.

The game studio that got Rumi’s IP license obviously thought so too—that’s why they came knocking.

But now there’s a conflict.

"…"

Tang Yao hesitated a moment before asking, "What’s the name of the game?"

Li Xue answered, "It’s in the back. Revelation of the Dark Night."

"…"

Tang Yao silently flipped through the rest of the material and then paused to think. "Alright. Have them send over a game demo. Tell them we’ll only respond after we’ve tested it and made sure it meets our standards."

Li Xue asked curiously, "So we’re really considering this?"

"We’ll see how good the game actually is. If it’s up to par, I don’t mind. And to be transparent, I’ll tell them upfront that our FGO already did a crossover with Into the Night."

Tang Yao continued, "If it’s not the same genre and the gameplay’s strong enough, the overlapping theme isn’t a big issue. I mean, our FGO event was just a collab banner—not a full adaptation."

"Got it."

Li Xue thought it over and found the logic sound, then turned to go make the arrangements.

Three days later.

Tang Yao was at her desk, playing Revelation of the Dark Night.

Li Xue sat nearby, sipping her coffee while watching Tang Yao’s expression.

Then—

She saw Tang Yao’s pretty pale face visibly contort.

Li Xue set her cup down, already having a feeling.

Less than half an hour passed before Tang Yao put the phone down and said flatly, "Reject it."

"It’s a no?"

Li Xue had already guessed but still asked.

"Yeah. It’s just a reskinned FGO, and the quality’s terrible."

Tang Yao shook her head slightly.

She wouldn’t claim to fully understand every gamer’s taste in this world, but—

As someone who lived through the mobile game boom in her previous life and had played countless games, she could spot the red flags a mile away.

If ANF promoted a game like this… the players would tear it apart.

That’s also why Tang Yao had the confidence to acquire ANF and didn’t fear the high costs of competing with video sites. Sure, Avalon’s game revenue was one part of it—

But the other part was her past-life experience.

She could use that experience to handpick the right co-launch titles for ANF.

"Alright, I’ll reply to them then."

Li Xue trusted Tang Yao’s judgment and got up.

"Wait."

Tang Yao stopped her and rummaged around on her desk before handing over a stack of drafts. "Since you’re heading to ANF, take this too—it’s the latest Chainsaw Man drafts."

"…"

Li Xue froze for a second, took the manuscript, and asked curiously, "Already? How’s this issue going to unfold? Is the main cast resolving the crisis?"

Tang Yao smiled brightly. "Read it and find out."

Li Xue looked at her a little suspiciously, then took the draft.

Soon, she headed downstairs toward ANF, flipping through the next two chapters of Chainsaw Man as she walked.

But after a few pages—

She stopped in front of the elevator, completely absorbed in the manga, forgetting her original goal.

It wasn’t until she saw Makima appear—

That she snapped out of it, spun on her heel, and went back upstairs to find Tang Yao!

She had to ask about what was coming next in the story!

Soon after.

Chapters 25 and 26 of Chainsaw Man went live.

Su Deqiang, as always, was already sitting in front of his computer, eagerly waiting.

This time, he didn’t need to force any emotions—there hadn’t been a break, and last week’s anticipation was still fresh.

The moment it updated—

He opened the comic, excited.

And then—

He watched Himeno offer everything to the Ghost Devil, begging it to save Aki Hayakawa.

He saw that cool, seasoned devil hunter, that mature woman who’d been through hell and back—her arms vanish one by one, followed by her whole body.

She was completely erased.

Only her clothes remained.

Just like that—clean, fast, brutal—as if someone had knocked over a glass of water.

And the Ghost Devil she sacrificed herself to summon? Got eaten by the Snake Devil in seconds.

The plot, paired with powerful paneling and intense emotional delivery—

Left Su Deqiang speechless.

This manga wasn’t just unhinged—it had raw brutality.

Especially the next chapter, where the Ghost Devil, even as it died, managed to pull Denji’s cord, transforming him into Chainsaw Man—

Only to be cut in half by the Katana Devil.

On screen—

The Katana Devil declared: “Devil hunters are human too! And humans can’t beat guns!”

Next—

All those devil hunters who were ambushed and shot—each body appeared.

They were all lying in pools of blood.

Su Deqiang was stunned.

Himeno was dead.

Makima was dead.

Even the whole so-called main squad of devil hunters was dead.

What the h*ll is going on with this manga?

…Are they just done drawing?

Just as that thought crossed his mind—

The scene shifted back to the train where it all began.

Makima, who had been shot, lay lifeless.

The killers finished confirming the situation and were discussing how to retreat.

Then—

Makima suddenly stood up, covered in blood, the head wound gone, and stared silently at the assassins.

The assassins instinctively raised their guns.

The screen cut out.

Now we’re at the station platform.

Two new devil hunters were waiting for Makima.

Soon, she walked out of the train, soaked in blood. Facing the two bewildered newcomers, she calmly told them there’d been a shooting on the train and to go handle the bodies.

When they asked if she’d been shot—

Makima, still expressionless, simply said, "I wasn’t hit."

And then—the final panel of the chapter:

Those four assassins, lying in blood, holes in their chests. All dead.

The chapter’s AORI caption: “Lies that melt in a pool of blood.”

"…"

Su Deqiang blinked, then muttered, "Holy sh*t…"

At the same time.

Guan Fang stared at the screen, at the final image of Makima’s return, and slowly typed a question mark.

As Rumi’s editor, she certainly had an eye for stories.

Resurrections weren’t anything new to her.

But this manga… what the heck?

Wait, how is the heroine alive again?

The male lead gets chopped in half, and the female lead revives?

What is this—some kind of turn-based survival?!

And seriously, was this all foreshadowed? Or was the author just winging it during New Year and now scrambling to fix the plot?

Why does this manga drop a cliffhanger every single chapter?!

Even she was getting drawn in!

Could it really be like her daughter said—this story wouldn’t fall apart, and it’d never truly hit a slow arc?

…No way!

Absolutely not!

Guan Fang shook her head firmly. She couldn’t believe it. The main character’s been sliced in half—who’s left to save the team?

Next chapter’s gotta be where it all collapses, right?

Yeah.

She thought that as she prepared to check reader feedback.

But just then—

Her phone rang.

Guan Fang glanced at it and frowned.

The game developer who bought the Into the Night license?

Why were they calling her now?

She was a little puzzled.