Is this cartoonist mentally ill?.

Chapter 540: Preparing to Complete Word-of-mouth Deification and False Deification
Four years later.

The neon lights of the bustling city of Shanghai are reflected on the floor-to-ceiling windows. As the light and shadow flow, a spacious and bright office is revealed.

This is the office of the CEO of Manjie Culture Co., Ltd. The layout is luxurious yet tasteful.

A huge oak desk occupied the center of the room. Benya Rothschild was sitting on a leather chair behind the desk, his hand on his forehead, his brows furrowed, revealing a look of headache.

He gazed through the window at the prosperous capital of the Republic, as if looking for inspiration to solve the problem before him.

There was a hint of fatigue in his eyes as he looked at the two contracts on the table.

One of them was...Dao Guiyixian's original contract. Even though the contract in the comic industry changed again and again, it took away the copyright from the beginning and only left copyright dividends to the cartoonists.

Later on, cartoonists were signed directly, and the copyright of all their works belonged to the comic industry.

But the contract between Lin Qingshan and "The Legend of the Immortal" has never changed. Even if the comic industry intends to shelve "The Legend of the Immortal" and not promote it, Lin Qingshan has not changed his mind.

Moreover, because of its reputation and Lin Qingshan's reputation, "The Tao of Immortals" has become a popular topic among comic fans.

Even if the comics industry doesn't promote it, it still ranks first in sales and popularity, and is almost unshakable.

"Daoguiyixian", this super popular masterpiece that has completely become the face of the comics in the past eight years, is about to come to its finale.

Over the years, not only has the sales of the comics of "Daoguiyixian" been far ahead, but even the animations, TV series, movies, and folk games adapted from them have all been great successes.

This work is already a masterpiece of the same level as the original "Purple Air Coming from the East", and it is like Lin Qingshan's previous life's "Dragon Ball".

It’s just that because the subject matter is thrilling and relatively not exciting enough, the audience is not that wide and the influence is slightly smaller.

It is probably similar to the popularity of "Attack on Titan" in its later years, which is somewhat lacking in follow-up.

But the word of mouth is still extremely explosive, just like Lin Qingshan’s own reputation.

Later, Lin Qingshan created other good works on C Station, such as the "JOJO" trilogy, "Death Note", "Cowboy Bebop", "Ajin", and "Kaguya-sama: Love is War", which are at least excellent.

Now, what his fans say, "Anything produced by Qingshan must be high-quality," is no longer just a casual remark, but a recognized fact by everyone.

No matter how bad it is, it won’t be that bad. At least it has an above-average reputation.

For example, the two prequels of "JOJO", "Phantom Blood" and "Battle Tide", have a slightly worse reputation.

Because the first "Stardust Crusaders" had such a good response and reputation, and the setting of the Stand User was eye-catching, but why are the two prequels so retro?

Those stone masks, ripple qigong, and other plots are too old.

However...some of the famous scenes that are so useless, such as "JOJO, I'm not a human being anymore!", "Thomson's Ripple Sprint", "The perfect JO-level creature", "I'll run first (the Chinese version of a joke)", "JOJO, this is my last ripple" and other masterpieces that have been passed down through the ages.

This provides a lot of interesting memes for the ACG circle.

However, the reviews and viewing experience of these two "JOJO's Bizarre Adventure" movies are really not good, and can only be considered above average.

After all, times have changed. Lin Qingshan also thought about the reputation of "Phantom Blood" and "Battle Tide" after they were broadcast, so he directly released "Stardust Crusaders" first, making the original first and second parts of these two series prequels.

Finally, after the two unclear front parts were broadcast, the original fourth part "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure", this world became the second "JoJo's Bizarre Adventure" - "Diamond is Unbreakable" and returned to the setting of the Stand User.

Then it returned to the popularity and reputation of the first part, and the third part, "Golden Wind", even reached a higher level.

Lin Qingshan's reputation has completely returned, and the two prequels themselves also provide some foreshadowing for the original, so fans suddenly realized that this is why the prequels had a bad reputation.

The broadcast of "Death Note" also made fans and audiences shout "Old thief is awesome". The battle of wits and famous paintings in the series opened the audience's eyes.

It turns out that reasoning and battle of wits can also be combined with fantasy elements. When Light Yagami got the Death Note and transformed into "Killer", everyone thought that this kind of murder case involving super powers was invincible.

However, unexpectedly, the mysterious genius boy "L" used a special method to calculate the area where Light Yagami was located, and also happened to deduce the city where he was located.

The following plot of the battle of wits and courage between Light Yagami and "L" is so addictive that one can't stop watching. Later, "L" failed and was killed by Light Yagami, and it was Near who finally succeeded in catching Light Yagami, which was also a perfect ending.

"Cowboy Bebop" is a typical happy cosmic road movie, although it also has sad stories, Spike's past, Jet's ex-wife, Faye's hometown... Everyone has a hidden secret in their heart.

But they can eat shredded pork with green peppers without pork together, squeeze together in this shabby spaceship, and even risk their lives for each other.

However, they will not share these secrets with each other, and they tacitly keep silent about these secrets.

A touch of sadness yet happiness is the charm of "Cowboy Bebop". Even though the plot and setting are a bit old, the audience still finds it very good and gives it an excellent rating.

Later, Lin Qingshan continued with the horror genre such as "Ghoul", "Parasyte" and "Taoism", and created "Ajin".

There is also the romance anime "Kaguya-sama: Love is War", which he tried for the first time for the C station's girls' love event.

After it was broadcast, the audience felt it was extremely sweet.

Many people joked that Lin Qingshan had finally come to his senses after marrying the webmaster.

But it is a pity that "Kaguya-sama: Love is War" stayed directly at the moment when the president and Kaguya confessed their love, and the subsequent plot can only make the audience regret and wanton reverie...

What they don’t know is that it’s best for “Kaguya-sama: Love is War” to stop there, and the subsequent plot can only be described as…

It’s better not to watch it.

As a result, Lin Qingshan's reputation has completely surpassed the previous uncrowned kings, and he is called the true god of comics by comic fans.

The point is that there are a lot of other cartoonists whose fans would have a hard time refutating that either.

Because there are so many famous and masterpieces, and no black history, it is simply invincible.

Even the super long comic masterpiece, "Daoguiyixian", was serialized for a full eight years, which is enough to become a masterpiece.

After all, not every comic work has to be serialized for twenty years like "Purple Air Coming from the East" in this world or "One Piece" in Lin Qingshan's previous life.

However, judging by the popularity of "The Taoist Immortal", it will probably take at least another five or six years to be completed.

However, unexpectedly, the story suddenly came to an end, all the mysteries were solved, and Li Huowang began the final battle with Fu Shengtian.

It looks like "Daoguiyixian" is about to end, and many comic fans are a little confused.

It’s only been... a few years, and it’s already over?
Someone went to Lin Qingshan's account to ask, and the result was... Lin Qingshan directly issued a notice, saying that he was grateful for the support of the fans over the past eight years and that the last two chapters of "Daoguiyixian" would be completed soon.

This immediately caused an uproar.

The popularity of "The Taoist Immortal" is still at its peak, but it just... ended like this?

Some comic fans expressed their reluctance, while other fans expressed their understanding. With Lin Qingshan now at the age of 40 and at the peak of his creative ability, he would definitely not want to continue to rely on his old fame with "The Tao of Immortal".

He must want to create a new work, but Lin Qingshan said, no, I am going back to draw the second part of "Chainsaw Man". The fans were all numb instantly, and they remembered that "Chainsaw Man" was on hiatus but not finished, but Lin Qingshan drew "Dao Wei Yi Xian" during the hiatus.

Some comic fans who really like "Chainsaw Man" are still somewhat happy, but they also feel that it is unnecessary.

The main reason is that the plot of the first part of "Chainsaw Man" was already well concluded, and in the eyes of most comic fans, it has been perfectly concluded.

There is no need to draw a second part like this. Instead of drawing a second part, I might as well draw more of "The Tao of Immortals". I haven't had enough of it yet.

They love the thrill of Lin Qingshan's madness combined with the traditional culture of the Republic.

It’s not that the second part of “Chainsaw Man” is bad, it’s just that I prefer the traditional folk horror of the Republic to the so-called Western demon setting.

Therefore, comic fans would rather Lin Qingshan continue to draw "Tao Wei Yi Xian".

However, Lin Qingshan was very determined and said that the finale must be drawn here, so that it would be the most exciting.

So he also greeted the comic world. Although the comic world has always been worried about the discord between the CEO Ben Ya and Lin Qingshan, they have no intention of blocking Lin Qingshan.

Moreover, it is clearly written in black and white in the old contract that cartoonists have the right to complete their work at any time.

Therefore, the comics industry could only agree with tears to end this series that has been its flagship and cash cow for all these years.

This is actually not bad, but when the comics community asked Lin Qingshan about the resumption of the second part of "Chainsaw Man"...

"I'm sorry, teacher doesn't plan to continue serializing the second part of "Chainsaw Man" in the comic world."

Ayumi Ito, who had already submitted her resignation and was preparing to switch to become the editor-in-chief of the emerging Senri Comics website, informed him directly and said this with a smile.

Because the original cooperation period of the "Chainsaw Man" series was time-limited, only about five years, and now the time has come.

In this way, the cartoonist can buy the copyright back at the current copyright price.

The sale of "Chainsaw Man" has now expired, and the cartoonist can force the purchase back.

This was an equal cooperation agreement proposed to cartoonists when the comics industry was first established. Benya got angry when he thought about it. Those old and stupid people in the comics industry had come up with such a charitable contract.

These guys really don't know how to do business. How can they be good people? Now they are left with such a mess.

Now that Lin Qingshan has made up his mind to leave, everyone knows that he does not intend to maintain a hypocritical cooperative relationship with the comics industry, but will jump back to C Station Comics which he and Gu Qianli founded.

"Damn it... This is clearly an attempt to deliberately target me and us, so he finished "The Strange Dao of Immortals" early!"

Benya was extremely angry, and he thought of something else, "There were also those who finished Absolute Strongest, Akutami Gege, Goto Koyoharu, Itchy Mouse, etc. during that period... They finished so quickly and didn't start new works. It must be because of this!"

"never mind……"

He took a deep breath and said, "Even if you go there, you may not be able to make it. The comic industry has been operating for decades and its traffic is its biggest reliance. What do you, a few lousy comic artists, count for..."

"The comic world has one uncrowned king, so of course they can have a second one..."

Benya suddenly thought of a perfect candidate for a cartoonist. "Mr. Tang San... This guy's Douluo series is pretty good, and he has recently taken the initiative to sign a new contract... Not bad, then it's you."

He made up his mind to let those ungrateful guys go and create a new god.

He just didn't believe it. When the time comes, he will give all the traffic and publicity that originally belonged to cartoonists such as Lin Qingshan, Akutami Yuta, Yang Shuzhun, etc. to Tang San Shao. He just didn't believe that he couldn't create a new god.

Comics and the like, like celebrity idols, can all be packaged with traffic.

Ben Ya was very confident and immediately approved the publicity for the finale of "The Tao of Immortal", and also said that he knew that Lin Qingshan would not renew his contract.

……

The other side of the magic city.

The sunlight shines on the carved iron gate of the manor, sparkling with golden light.

A magnificent courtyard comes into view. The layout of the garden is exquisite, with neatly trimmed roses and jasmine planted on both sides of the trail, and the fragrance of flowers lingering in the air.

In the central fountain pool, water droplets sparkle under the sunlight, and several sets of gold-plated outdoor furniture are placed by the pool, which is gorgeous yet leisurely.

Passing through the path covered with fine sand, you will reach the main building.

The exterior walls of the villa are mainly light yellow, with white decorative lines, making it look particularly elegant.

On the spacious balcony, there is a row of rattan chairs and a long table covered with an embroidered tablecloth, and several exquisite ceramic vases are filled with flowers.

The curtains fluttered gently in the wind, revealing the dark wooden floors and soft carpets in the room.

"Dad..."

A very cute little girl wearing a gorgeous Hanfu skirt rushed into the arms of the handsome man.

"Hey... Ningning, be good..."

Lin Qingshan smiled and hugged his daughter Lin Yuning. Because Lin Qingshan usually took care of her, his daughter was very close to him.

Even Gu Qianli was a little jealous, asking why he was so close to his daughter, but his daughter didn't kiss her, and why Lin Qingshan paid less attention to her.

Of course, it's just a joke.

The family relationship is still quite harmonious. Lin Qingshan cannot be a full-time father, but he has a little more free time than Gu Qianli, so he can take care of the children a little more.

Gu Qianli has embarked on the same old path as his father Gu Hongxiao, traveling everywhere to discuss business, or being busy at Station C.

Lin Qingshan is actually very busy. After all, he is also producing a lot of animated series and serializing comics, so he doesn't have much time.

So they hired a professional team of nannies and security guards to protect and take care of Lin Yuning.

Just as Lin Qingshan and Lin Yuning were playing and enjoying the father-son relationship, the doorbell suddenly rang.

"Teacher, it's me."

Ito Ayumi's voice came in.

"Xiao Chen, help me open the door."

Lin Qingshan gestured to the security guard nearby.

(End of this chapter)