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In the following few days.

Lin Yuan, along with Luo Wei and their assistants, worked on creating "The Kindaichi Case Files" in the studio.

One week later.

Jin Mu finalized a new contract with Tribe Comics which offered better terms.

After the contract negotiation was completed.

Jin Mu said to Lin Yuan, "Negotiations were not very smooth. The new manager of Tribe Comics is not as straightforward as Han Jimei, but thankfully they agreed to our terms in the end, so it all worked out for us..."

Lin Yuan nodded: "You’ve worked hard."

"I wouldn’t say it was hard."

Jin Mu laughed, "The difficulty in reaching this contract was not just because Tribe Comics changed their manager, but also because Tribe Comics’ influence has grown exponentially these few years. The top comic creators are all gathered on this site, they’ve almost monopolized the resources of comic authors.

Even if any author were to leave the site, they wouldn’t have anywhere else to go, as they’ve taken all the traffic from other comic sites. It’s precisely because of this that they dare to manipulate the authors."

This is quite normal.

Back when Tribe Comics was in its early stages, they were the ones seeking out comic creators.

Now, Tribe Comics leads the industry in traffic, and they dictate the market trends, which has caused the comic creators to seek them out instead.

Of course.

For comic creators like Shadow, the impact isn’t particularly large.

Tribe Comics still values its top comic authors and is still willing to make concessions in contracts, though the size of these concessions is certainly smaller than before, and negotiations concerning the distribution of profits have become more difficult.

"It’s normal."

Lin Yuan speaks up.

He feels this is because Shadow’s influence isn’t quite big enough yet.

If Shadow had the same industry influence as Chu Kuang and Xian Yu, then there would definitely not be any similar issues, as the terms Jin Mu proposes are practically never too harsh.

Chu Kuang and Xian Yu never had any problems concerning contract negotiations either.

Perhaps things will change once "Detective Conan" is released.

"The promotion will be launched tonight, we should confirm the exact release date for our comic."

"Let’s do it tonight then."

Over the past few days, Lin Yuan, Luo Wei and the other assistants have created enough drafts for the early issues of the comic.

"All right."

Jin Mu continued to liaise with Tribe Comics.

Finally, the message that Shadow was releasing a new comic was officially announced on Tribe Comics’ official platform:

[Teacher Shadow’s first mystery comic "The Kindaichi Case Files" will be officially released on the Tribe Comics platform at 8 o’clock tonight. Please look forward to it!]

This sudden surprise hit Shadow’s fans hard!

This lazy guy Shadow is finally releasing a new comic!

Since the end of "Death Note" last year, Shadow seemed to have disappeared, with no news of any new works—

Until today.

People have been asking online where Shadow had gone.

Why isn’t Shadow drawing new comics?

Some of Shadow’s fans even went to the comment section of Xian Yu and Chu Kuang, Shadow’s two good bros, to ask why there had been no news from Shadow.

Unfortunately, neither Chu Kuang nor Xian Yu responded.

About this, Shadow’s fans could only guess: Read latest stories on NovelBin.Côm

Shadow’s laziness must have kicked in again!

Don’t forget that Shadow has a history of this!

For instance, even though he has exceptional drawing skills, the two comics before "Death Note" were not drawn earnestly.

Without the criticisms from the Chu Continent comic creators that year, he probably wouldn’t have displayed his best drawing skills in classics like "Death Note", but instead, would have continued to halfheartedly create.

Never seen such a willful comic creator before!

Now seeing news of Shadow’s new work, the fans finally breathe a sigh of relief:

"Looks like he’s still alive."

"Among the three bros, Xian Yu is the most diligent one, but even Chu Kuang, whose reputation is so rotten, is very diligent in updating his novels. Shadow, however, always thinks about how to be lazy despite his immense talent."

"I almost thought he had switched his career to become an illustrator."

"Ever since "Death Note" was completed, only when Chu Kuang was writing his novels could we see Shadow’s name under the column of illustrators. And his drawing skills are still incredibly good."

"However, the theme of this new comic is really interesting!"

"It’s a mystery comic! Are there any popular mystery comics in Blue Star?"

"There has never been a popular mystery comic."

"Would Shadow end up drawing a detective comic after having watched ’The Great Detective Sherlock Holmes’?"

"Is this some kind of collab with that old rascal Chu Kuang?"

"Xian Yu’s ’The Seventh Chapter of Night’ is the definition of a collab. At most, Shadow is just riding the coattails of the detective fad."

"I have to admit, even though I have no interest in detective stories, when I heard that Shadow was going to draw a detective comic for his next work, I was intrigued. After all, the quality of his comics is undeniable."

"Who would’ve thought that Shadow would also dip into detective stories? He’s like the Chu Kuang of the comic world, mastering all themes!"

"In terms of their diverse range of themes, the Three Bros are all rather talented, looking forward to ’The Kindaichi Case Files’!"

"...."

Despite his nearly year-long hiatus, Shadow’s popularity hadn’t diminished in the slightest. The number of his followers was still high, given that his three prior comics were all successful.

In his fans’ anticipation.

The comic was finally launched and published on schedule at 8 o’clock that evening!

Swipe swipe swipe!

Shadow’s fans were the first to open up the comic!

On the ’Newly Popular’ chart.

This comic, named ’The Kindaichi Case Files’, quickly soared up to the top five!

This is the bonus that fame brings!

Regardless of the theme of the work, as long as the author is renowned, the minute it’s published it can instantly attract numerous readers.

Not just readers.

Some fellow comic artists on the Tribe website, out of curiosity, opened up this comic as well.

If this was an ordinary detective comic, or if it was by another author, everyone would undoubtedly underestimate it due to its niche theme.

But the themes of Shadow’s earlier comics weren’t exactly popular either, yet they all became more successful than the last!

Given this, no one dared to make an offhand guess on whether this comic will be a hit...

However.

When the insiders, the comic artists, finished reading the initial content, their expressions changed almost in synchrony, becoming hesitant.

How should they put it?

This comic is amazing!

The storyline is of superior quality!

The detective aspect is rather hardcore!

But...

It seems like Shadow hasn’t entirely broken away from the niche aura emitted by detective comics?

Or perhaps only partway?

Anyway, it feels different than what they had expected.

Maybe it’s just because the plot hasn’t fully unfolded yet?

The fellow comic artists were lost in thought.

The comment section of the comic.

It was bustling with activity.

But the two most popular posts with the highest reply rate revealed two drastically different reader attitudes.

The first view:

"Shadow is indeed badass as always. Just judging by the opening chapter, this is definitely the best detective comic I’ve ever read. The detective aspect gives a taste of orthodox mystery, the plot setting is extremely precise, the artwork style is impressively cool as always, and the first story arc is full of twists and turns. Looking forward to the future developments!"

The second view:

"The artwork style undoubtedly reigns supreme, as does the detective aspect. But somehow I just don’t enjoy detective stories—I tried to read it but I felt only mildly drawn to it. I’ll wait and see if there will be any interesting twists later."

The reviews weren’t bad at all!

However, the two divergent attitudes in the readers’ comments were rather thought-provoking.

At that time, Lin Yuan was sitting in front of his computer, not at all surprised by the commentary.

This comic is best suited for building up reputation and earning acclaim.

If he wants a hype explosion, he still needs ’Detective Conan.’

The story of ’Grim Reaper Elementary Student’ is perfect for family entertainment. Even those who do not like detective stories can enjoy it, because the character design and story threshold of Conan are very low, and the badass atmosphere and satisfactions are quite popularized.

"I’ll roll out Conan in a while."

As he switched off the computer, Lin Yuan had already come to a decision.

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ps: Thanks to the Alliance Hierarch "Meng Ji Sui" for the sponsorship, let me pay my respects to you▄█▀█●, I’ve been traveling all day and the updates became too late. I need a good sleep tonight; we’ll get three updates tomorrow. Four is not guaranteed but I’ll try my best. I need monthly votes for April!