Chapter 56: The Overt Plot of Capital [2]
Saturday, Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 26 released.
The impact of this chapter exceeded everyone's expectations.
The reveal of the Northern Secret Experiment Base, the truth of Philosopher's Stone research, those test subjects transformed into neither human nor ghost... every page challenged the reader's endurance limit. But most shocking was Edward and Alphonse's decision.
They didn't destroy everything in anger but calmly collected evidence, recorded data, and then—reported it to Colonel Mustang and Lieutenant Hawkeye.
{"Why report?" Alphonse asked.
"Because destroying this place is easy," Edward said. "But after destroying it? Move to another place, continue experiments. What we need to do is dig out the roots, not cut off the leaves."}
Calm, mature. That rationality maintained in the face of anger moved countless adult readers.
Forum discussion didn't explode this time but was heavy:
"Edward grew up... if it was before, he would definitely smash this place."
"But he chose the harder path—using rules to defeat rules."
"The depth of this chapter... I don't know what to say."
"I only know this is the best manga I've read this year, bar none."
Data came out at noon: 82.7%, another new high.
On this day, Shonen World's "New Generation Alliance" was officially announced. Six magazines simultaneously published ads for the joint Newcomer Award. But public opinion response was flat—in front of FMA's 82.7%, any marketing seemed pale and powerless.
Kane smashed a cup in his office. He didn't understand why, after spending so many resources and creating such momentum, it was as fragile as paper in front of one chapter of the opponent's manga.
What he didn't know was that the real gap was not in marketing or channels, but in the work itself. When a work is good to a certain degree, it forms its own force field that no external force can shake.
---------------
Ranch, evening.
Alex received the data report, finished reading, and continued drawing Chapter 27.
White Night's message came too: "Teacher! 82.7%! You broke the record again! My Chapter 11 is 79.5%, although far from you, I will continue to work hard!"
He replied: "Yeah. I read Chapter 11, the supermarket scene was revised well. The detail of the sister's notebook was added just right."
"Thank you Teacher! It's because you taught well!"
Putting down the phone, Alex walked to the window. The ranch evening was tranquil. The herd returned to the shed slowly under the sunset, father packing farm tools, mother preparing dinner in the kitchen.
An ordinary scene, but on this ordinary evening, the structure of the entire manga industry was changing drastically, and a war without smoke had already begun.
------------
Monday morning, 10:00 AM. The atmosphere in the Shonen World HQ conference room dropped to freezing point.
Kane slammed the latest distribution data on the table, papers scattering. "Seat of God" Chapter 7 First Week Sales: 83,000 copies. In comparison, Fullmetal Alchemist Chapter 26 sales were 487,000 copies.
"This is the result of spending 80 million on marketing?" Kane's voice was ice-cold. "Hiro, do you have any explanation?"
Hiro, sitting at the other end of the long table, was pale. His lips moved, but he said nothing. He knew explaining was useless—data didn't lie. Readers voted with money, and his work clearly wasn't accepted.
"Chief," the Distribution Head spoke carefully, "channels report Seat of God's return rate has reached 25%. Many bookstores say readers flip two pages and put it back; it's not moving."
"Advertisers?"
"Three brands that agreed to renew called this morning to re-evaluate." The Marketing Head lowered his head. "They said FMA's heat is too high; same budget invested there yields better results."
The room was dead silent. Everyone knew what this meant—capital is realistic. When a work cannot bring expected returns, feelings and ideals are empty talk.
Kane closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and when he opened them, his gaze was calm again. "How is the New Generation Alliance doing?"
"Not optimistic." On the video screen, Damen Lousi of New Comic Weekly looked grim. "The six new works we launched jointly have an average debut approval of only 52.3%, highest is 58.1%. Reader feedback is consistent—'Without FMA's depth or Thorn Bird's reality, better read old works'."
"And..." Yamaotto Akira of Manga Friend hesitated, "there are rumors among our editors that Manga Weekly is contacting NextGen, possibly reaching some cooperation. If Gavin Zhao defects, our alliance..."
He didn't finish, but everyone understood. Six families united to counter NextGen's monopoly, but if one defected, this fragile alliance could collapse anytime.
"Continue pushing the Newcomer Award." Kane decided. "Raise prize money to 15 million. Winning works not only get serialization but also an anime adaptation promise. I will use real money to smash out a few capable newcomers!"
The editors on screen exchanged glances, finally nodding. But Kane could tell how much was sincere and how much perfunctory.
Capital alliance is ultimately a profit union. When profits cannot be realized, cracks appear.
Same afternoon, Manga Weekly Editorial Department.
Gavin Zhao looked at the detailed reader analysis report for The Thorn Bird Chapter 11 on his screen, a smile appearing. 79.5% approval, though not FMA's 82.7%, reached an astounding 84.2% among female readers.
"Chief," Klein knocked and entered. "White Night returned from the ranch. She says she has a new concept for Chapter 12 and wants to report."
"Let her in."
White Night entered, face flushed with excitement. She laid out a stack of drafts on Zhao's desk. "Chief, for Chapter 12, I want to draw the sister trying to sing for the first time three months after the younger sister's death. Not the healing song in The Thorn Bird, but an off-key, ugly, yet life-filled song."
(To be Continued)
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