If Su Li were still the newcomer she had been when Pure Love was neither popular nor unpopular, then openly confronting her responsible editor and threatening the magazine like this would have been professional suicide. She would have been joking with her own future in the mainstream manga industry, essentially throwing away her career before it had even truly begun.
But times had changed.
Pure Love was now incredibly popular, a commercial juggernaut that dominated the sales charts. Ever since her personal identity had been revealed, her fanbase had grown larger and larger, fueled by the intrigue of a beautiful, talented young woman behind such a gritty story. Any reader with even a little familiarity with the manga industry knew that a beautiful female manga artist had suddenly appeared on the scene.
Her online fan community was also extremely united, a digital army ready to defend her every creative whim. On Qidian's manga platform, the page for Pure Love had even received a Silver League Leader donation. This massive contribution triggered a site-wide announcement that flooded every user's screen with gold text. Unfortunately, she could only receive a quarter of the total amount after the platform took its share, which made her seriously consider moving the serialization directly to Qidian's manga site for a better profit margin.
Even in Zhao Youyue's class, that student Jiang Chao had gritted his teeth and saved up one hundred yuan of his pocket money to donate to Su Li. For an ordinary student living on a tight budget, one hundred yuan was a considerable sum. Yet he gave it willingly, his face glowing with the pride of a loyal supporter.
He truly loved Su Li and her work. If she started a new series, he would definitely continue supporting her with the same blind devotion.
In short, Su Li now possessed the confidence that came from being a sought-after creator. Even if she fell out with Wind Manga, she had no shortage of other publishers willing to take her in. Every rival magazine was practically salivating at the thought of poaching her.
That was the privilege of talent.
Even taking a step back, if she returned to drawing doujinshi, she could still make quite a bit of money. If she simply announced that Su Li and Wang Li were actually the same person, the sales of those books would probably explode, crashing servers and selling out within minutes.
Wei Suo truly had no way to deal with her anymore. His usual tactics of persuasion and professional pressure fell flat against her newfound status.
He had always believed that Su Li was a very pragmatic manga artist. Everything she did revolved around money and popularity. She catered to readers and tried her best to make sure everyone enjoyed her work, like a merchant selling exactly what the market demanded.
After all, commercial manga was supposed to make readers feel happy and satisfied. It was a product meant for consumption.
More than once, he had even heard Su Li criticize those pretentious literary artists who poisoned readers with depressing stories for the sake of high art.
So how had she suddenly become one of them?
She kept talking about creating a classic through manga, but none of the top mainstream action series had ever achieved classic status through a total annihilation ending like this.
He hadn't even read the ending carefully yet. After skimming through the first few shocking panels, he simply felt that it was a conclusion designed to trap readers into a state of permanent misery.
Once Wei Suo left the room, the assistant Zhang Ziqiang looked at Su Li with a look of deep admiration.
"Teacher Su Li, you are really incredible. But doing this… isn't it a little too much? Of course, I personally agree with your divine ending. It will definitely make Pure Love unforgettable for every reader. Those characters will become classics as well."
She sighed, the sound soft in the cluttered studio.
In truth, she also felt that something about her mental state was still unusual. It was as if she hadn't completely returned from that moment of overwhelming inspiration. It was a strange feeling where she had seemed to enter the manga world and witness everything happening with her own eyes. The smell of the sea and the metallic scent of blood still felt fresh in her mind.
But there's no helping it.
No matter what, she wanted readers to see the true ending of the story instead of some perfunctory happy ending that felt like a lie.
Zhang Ziqiang hesitated before speaking again, his voice cautious.
"But you promised on Weibo that readers would get a satisfying ending…"
She raised an eyebrow, her gaze sharp.
"Isn't this satisfying? When someone turns dark, it ruins their entire life. And a scumbag man getting killed is justice. Isn't that pure positive energy?"
"Heh… you are right."
"Alright. Our collaboration ends here. Let's settle the payment for your assistant work."
"Understood, Teacher Su Li."
Zhang Ziqiang could already see that Su Li had completely made up her mind to deliver this so-called "positive energy" to the unsuspecting readers.
He even thought that if he ever had the chance to become a serialized manga artist himself, he should learn from someone as inspirational as Su Li.
…
Inside the editorial department of Wind Manga, Editor-in-Chief Yin Lang carefully flipped through the final chapter of Pure Love. Wei Suo sat beside him, restless and uneasy. He kept shifting in his chair, his eyes darting to Yin Lang's face to catch any flicker of emotion.
He was afraid that once Yin Lang reached those shocking plot twists, he would slam the table in anger and tear up the manuscript. If that happened, it might lead to a complete break with Su Li, costing the magazine their most valuable asset.
Although Wei Suo hadn't read the ending in detail, he had noticed something important.
The conclusion wasn't drawn carelessly.
On the contrary, Su Li had displayed the very peak of her artistic ability in the final chapter. Every line was precise, and the visual storytelling was incredibly powerful. The pacing of the panels felt like a slow-motion car crash that you couldn't look away from.
Unfortunately, that wasn't necessarily a good thing for the business.
The psychological impact on the readers would be even greater.
"Excellent! This is really interesting!"
Suddenly, Yin Lang slammed his hand on the mahogany desk and exclaimed with genuine admiration.
"Watching that scumbag male lead get killed is incredibly satisfying!"
Wei Suo stared at his editor-in-chief in total confusion.
"But the protagonist just dies like that. Doesn't that feel like the readers are being toyed with? It's far too tragic." It's completely different from the ending readers were expecting. Not to mention Teacher Su Li promised on Weibo that Pure Love would have a happy ending where every character finds happiness.
Yin Lang frowned slightly, apparently remembering that public promise.
However, he didn't respond immediately. Instead, he continued reading, his eyes scanning the final pages with intense focus.
When he finally reached the last scene, where Xu Jing in a pure white dress walked slowly toward the sea while carrying her books, beautiful beyond words, Yin Lang slammed the desk again. This time it was in anger.
"Su Li is asking for trouble! Such a wonderful girl like Xu Jing, and she doesn't even get to live happily with Yang Qianqian. This is infuriating!"
Watching Yin Lang jump up in frustration, Wei Suo couldn't help rolling his eyes.
He hadn't expected that his thick-browed, upright editor-in-chief had secretly betrayed the revolution and fallen into the heretical path of the yuri supporters.
He had practically been laughing like a child.
After a while, Yin Lang finally calmed down and sat back down, regaining the dignity of an editor-in-chief. He smoothed his tie and let out a long, weary breath.
He adjusted his glasses, clasped his hands on the desk, and rested his chin against them. The lenses reflected a cold glint from the overhead fluorescent lights.
"Just now, I was reading the ending purely as a reader. Honestly speaking, the male lead's death does feel satisfying. But Xu Jing's tragic fate is somewhat excessive."
He paused before continuing calmly, his voice regaining its professional edge.
"However, considering everything Xu Jing did, letting her survive would send the wrong message to the youth. It would almost look like the story encourages readers to do anything for love, even hurting others to obtain someone. That kind of behavior is extremely twisted and dangerous."
He continued his slow and thoughtful analysis.
"After turning dark, Xu Jing may still be pitiful, but she is also far more hateful."
After delivering this lengthy evaluation, Wei Suo couldn't sit still anymore.
He asked anxiously, "Editor Yin… so what is our final decision? Are we publishing this in Wind Manga or not?"