The Retired Big Shot Came Home and Became a Legend Through Comic Art

Qin Banzhu worked tirelessly for hundreds of years, and at last retired from the Quick Transmigration Bureau.

When she returned to her own world, the identity she received was...

A fat girl with no friends, hated by everyone, unloved by her parents, and saddled with a scheming younger sister. Even the manga she had entered in a competition, her last hope, had been destroyed.

She soon discovered that the manga industry in this world seemed more concerned with how pretty the art was than with the stories themselves. The plots were all the same kind of melodramatic romance, while the few mystery and action-adventure series struggled to survive. Everything felt painfully derivative.

Every manga shared one flaw: technique without feeling.

Qin Banzhu rubbed her round, full chin. "Drawing manga seems pretty interesting."

Besides, she had visited so many worlds. She had personally lived through more stories than there were nights in the Arabian Nights.

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Some time later, manga fans began to notice several artists with very different styles appearing one after another. Each was hailed by countless fans as a top talent in their chosen genre.

Teacher Bamboo Stick's "Did the Cat See It?" was a mystery manga told from a cat's point of view. It was far from mainstream, yet it beat a host of hit mainstream titles, carving out its own path and winning the Newcomer Manga Cup's gold prize. It sparked a boom in mystery manga.

Teacher Kitty's debut short manga, "The Killer and the Little Chirper," featured a fierce-looking killer who found a tiny fluffy bird. The cold-blooded killer was saved by the little bird's incredible will to live. The story seemed simple and heartwarming, but it made countless fans cry and cry out, "What a blade! Such a sharp blade!"

Teacher Birdtail, meanwhile, showed the mainstream manga genre in a whole new light. In "Hide-and-Seek," there was the strange chemistry between the clown who caught people and the little girl who could never be caught. In "Journey Through the Four Directions," the four divine beasts traveled together, each with a different personality. Their journey was full of hilarious antics, but in the end, they had to risk their lives to save the world.

The only thing these artists had in common was that none of them showed their faces or revealed their real identities.

The haters seized on this point: "They don't show their faces because they're too ugly and people won't read their manga once they see them, or they're wanted criminals on the run! We're all manga artists, but my favorite artist does signings and TV appearances, working so hard just to promote their work, and you people still misunderstand them!"

The fans fired back: "Oh, really? You spent millions on promotion, so how did that go? Where are you on the rankings? Our teachers aren't like those fame-hungry manga artists. They can reach the top of the rankings without all that ridiculous marketing! And to any new fans, focus on the work! Don't pry into their personal lives!"

They might argue until they were red in the face over which artist they liked best, but the artists all got along so well that the fans had to stand united against outsiders. They absolutely couldn't cause the artists any trouble!

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Qin Banzhu put down her pen and picked up the thermos by her side. Another day's work was done. :)

Theme: Dreams change the future