Devil’s Advent

On the bench, a man in an old leather jacket closed the manga in his hand and placed it beside him.

The cover of the manga shows two women on the phone, one is wearing formal clothes, the other is slightly dusty, with bloody snowflakes falling on the corners of the cover, showing a kind of depression similar to a funeral.

The man in the jacket took out a cigarette, bit it in his mouth, lit it, and after exhaling a puff of smoke ring, he pursed his lips again, with a little reminiscence in his eyes.

A Lamborghini was coming this way, and when it was about to pass the bench, it stepped on the brakes and stopped steadily.

A man in a wine-red suit got out of the car. After the man got out of the car, he and the man in the jacket looked at each other. They should know each other, but no one was in a hurry to say hello.

The man in the suit took out the e-cigarette from his pocket, stuffed the cartridge into the heating rod, and looked around casually. Finally, he landed on the manga on the bench.

"Is it the boss' new work?" the man in the suit asked.

"Yeah." The man in the jacket nodded, his hair was oily, and even the cold winter wind couldn't shake his bangs at all.

"How is the taste?"

"Faded."

Hearing this, the man in the suit narrowed his eyes, reached out and took the initiative to pick up the manga and began to read it.

The artistry, composition, and design are all impeccable, at the level of the boss.

In particular, the last painting is a large picture with the left and right sides combined. It can be said that both in the plot and in the change of painting style, it has formed a huge contrast.

The narrative style of scar literature at the beginning and the style of urban neon painting formed a double reversal in the end. A good story is also a good comic.

But the man in the suit nodded and agreed:

"It's really too light."

They all know the works of the boss. He likes to pursue the ultimate sense of tearing. Whether it is in the plot or in the rendering of the screen, it can give people great oppression. When people watch it, they can even breathe. Be careful.

And this comic, compared with the boss's previous works, is like a chef who is used to cooking hard dishes and suddenly stirs up a plate of broccoli, with only a little salt sprinkled on top of the condiment.

"You guys are really early."

Across the road, a man and a woman were walking together.

They are a pair of siblings. The younger brother is wearing a black down jacket, hat and scarf. When walking, he shrinks his neck and feet, shivering a little. Obviously, he is not used to the cold outside.

My elder sister wears a white down jacket and sky blue jeans. She doesn't have an oval face, it's a bit round, but her face is also very delicate, giving people a very pure feeling.

"Siyao, Siyu, you are here."

The man in the suit greeted happily, especially when facing the girl, he was even more enthusiastic.

"Deng Ge, wipe your drool quickly."

Every younger brother will have a natural hostility towards any man who tries to be his brother-in-law, and Qin Siyu is no exception.

But every reserve brother-in-law often has a great tolerance for his brother-in-law;

Of course, once he passed the reserve service, he began to be wary of his brother-in-law to prevent his wife from becoming a helper demon.

"Siyu, why did you come out? It's cold today, be careful not to catch a cold."

Hush and ask warmly, with a sincere attitude.

Qin Siyu walked to the bench, ignored Deng Ge, and looked at the man in the jacket with a smile on his face:

"Brother Qiang, are you still single?"

The man in the jacket is called Xu Qiang, and he was the oldest in the circle at the time. At that time, everyone was still a college student or just graduated, but Xu Qiang was already an uncle, but he was single all the time. The target of a joke.

Xu Qiang shook his head, stretched out his hand to scratch the hair that was so greasy that it could reflect light, and responded, "It's still early."

Qin Siyao took over the manga from Deng Singer,

Deng Ge introduced kindly from the side:

"This is the new work of the boss. It looks like it was painted a few months ago."

Qin Siyao began to flip through this manga. The manga is very thin and the story is not long. If you don't pay attention to the artistry, you can read it quickly.

After turning to the last page, Qin Siyao put down the manga and pursed his lips.

"What's the matter, what happened to the boss's comics?"

Qin Siyu took the manga from his sister, flipped through it for a while, and said in surprise:

"How could the boss draw such a work?"

Xu Qiang, who was sitting on the bench, guessed:

"Maybe, the boss is short of money."

If there is no shortage of money, according to the character of the boss, he would not draw such light cartoons.

"The boss is the same, he is short of money, why didn't he come to me." Deng Ge said beside him.

Qin Siyu glared at Deng Ge angrily, and said:

"I know that you have produced several popular anime movies in the past two years and made a lot of money, but what do you mean by showing off here?"

"Show what show? If the boss is short of money, will I not give it? If I didn't have the boss to help me, I would have gone back to my hometown and squatted."

"Even if the boss is short of money, he won't ask us for it." Xu Qiang said with emotion.

Immediately, Deng Ge and Qin Siyu also quieted down. Yes, the boss is the boss after all, no matter how difficult life is, he will never open his hand to himself and others.

At this time, a locomotive drove over and stopped beside the crowd. The driver of the locomotive was a woman, and her tight motorcycle suit highlighted her perfect figure to the fullest.

The woman lifted her helmet goggles, glanced at everyone present, and said plainly:

"It's pretty early."

"Aqiu..."

"Miss Qiu..."

Deng Ge and the others were very surprised, because they never thought that the person in front of them would come here today.

"Well, the boss sent me a message."

Ah Qiu took off his helmet, hung it on the handle, got out of the car, took out his cell phone, and read:

Following the prompts on the phone, he quickly found the house.

"Is the boss planning to hold a party?"

Deng Ge said while preparing to enter the door lock code.

It has been three years since the studio was disbanded. After the disbandment, everyone has basically never got together again.

Deng Ge entered an animation company, relying on his own strength and creativity, and soon became the management of the company. The two animation films he personally supervised and produced have become well-known hits in the past two years, no matter in terms of income or status. The status is not the same.

Qin Siyu's health was not good. After the studio was disbanded, he basically stayed at home and did not go out to work. As for Qin Siyao, he worked as a designer in a clothing company.

Xu Qiang works in a game company, 996, enjoying the blessings.

As for Ah Qiu, after leaving the studio, he went to the mountains as a volunteer for two years, and only came back at the beginning of the year.

"Maybe... maybe." Qin Siyu said with some uncertainty, "I haven't seen the boss for a long time, I really miss him."

The leader's name is Zheng Fan, and he is younger than Xu Qiang, but because he led the establishment of the studio, he is the well-deserved boss in the studio.

During the five years of the studio's operation, he put in the most painstaking efforts. Even if the studio was disbanded in the end, and everyone left for various reasons, he still guarded the studio alone.

Every once in a while, the boss will send electronic comics to their mailboxes, even if these comics are basically impossible to publish and distribute.

Deng Ge entered the password, the door lock was unlocked, and the door was pushed open.

Behind the door is the living room, but the walls of the living room are covered with dark-colored wallpaper, giving people a strong sense of depression.

Coupled with the closed curtains, even in the daytime, the room is still dark.

"This is the boss's house, right?"

Deng Ge reached out and touched the switch on the wall at the door, and turned on the light.

The lamp is not very bright, it is divided into three lamps above, all of which can only emit a faint smoky yellow light, but it is enough to fill the room.

"The one hanging on the wall is..."

Qin Siyu squeezed past Deng Ge and walked to the wall, where there was a painting hanging on it.

The painting is nearly two meters long and one meter wide, like a photo, covered by a photo frame.

In the painting, it is a dwarf.

The dwarf's face is somewhat deformed, and his legs and feet are disproportionately thick. On the dwarf's back, there is an iron sword that does not match his short stature. Naturally, the iron sword cannot be vertical Note, because the height of the dwarf is not as long as the iron sword, so the iron sword is hung horizontally on the back, which looks very funny.

"This is Xue San."

When seeing this painting, Qin Siyu's hands began to tremble, because the characters in this painting came from his creativity, and this is the protagonist in one of his long comics.

Qin Siyu is not tall, which has always been his low self-esteem point, so his protagonist is a dwarf, an evil dwarf. This dwarf has a habit of taking people who mock his height as his prey. The prey is "rearranged", sawing off a section if it is too tall, and elongating it if it is too short.

This hobby was born out of Western myths, but it also interprets a commonality of human nature.

"Xue Sanjiao?"

Deng Ge walked behind Qin Siyu and made a joke.

The dwarf's name is Xue San, but he has a nickname, Xue Sanjiao, which was a nickname given to him by comic readers at the time.

"This is drawn by the boss." Xu Qiang walked over and said.

"It should be. It's a pity that the sales of Siyu's work at that time were too bad. After all, it is difficult for readers to feel the role of the protagonist." Deng Ge was feeling.

When the studio was still there, the boss asked everyone to create a character according to their own ideas, and then everyone helped to make the cartoon.

"Dwarf Xue San" is Qin Siyu's cartoon, but the market response is the worst. After all, few people can substitute themselves into an ugly dwarf character.

"It's been several years, is it interesting to mention this again?" Qin Siyu was a little dissatisfied with Deng Ge's tone of voice.

In fact, people's temper and character will indeed change due to the level of society they live in, especially now Deng Ge is undoubtedly a successful person, even if he didn't mean it, but when he sees his old "down and down" friends , some things will still come out naturally.

"No, no, no, this is called market control. At the beginning, our studio spread too much energy and failed to focus on the trump card works, which led to..."

"Enough." Qin Siyao said.

Deng Ge immediately shut up.

Qin Siyu turned a deaf ear to Deng Ge's words, just silently staring at the dwarf portrait on the wall in front of him.

Deng Ge pouted, turned around, looked to the other side, and immediately said in surprise:

"Siyao, come and see, this is your Feng Siniang."

This is also a portrait of a person.

In the portrait, a graceful woman is leaning against the door panel, her pink face is full of spring, and she is dressed in a kimono-like attire, revealing a part of her skin just right, enough to make most men feel distracted.

Qin Siyao walked to the portrait and looked at Feng Siniang in the painting, a little lost in thought.

Feng Siniang is her comic work. This is a character that is neither human nor ghost. Because she did not explain the background of Feng Siniang in the comics, so the original readers only guessed that Feng Siniang might have encountered feelings. Betrayal or something happened to the family.

Because Feng Siniang in the comic story is a very unruly woman who runs a brothel. In different series, she runs her own brothel in different cities or in different years.

Feng Siniang likes luxury, but also likes to torture people. She pursues a different way of life.

At the beginning, the sales of this manga were not bad, because in the manga, there are many beautiful pictures, which are delicate, round, full of imagination and visual impact, not inferior to those foreign masters of this way, many readers are aiming at this class picture.

But you must know that Qin Siyao joined the studio when she was just in college. At that time, she had never been in a relationship. Even Deng Ge can be sure that she was still a virgin at that time, but the pictures she drew were so beautiful. old driver.

Deng Ge once thought that the reason why he failed to catch up with Qin Siyao at the beginning was not because he was too bad, but because any living man could not PK the second dimension written by Qin Siyao.

"This is, my Fan Li."

Xu Qiang stopped in front of a painting. He reached out and scratched his greasy hair excitedly, which brought a lot of dandruff.

In the painting in front of him is a woodcutter carrying firewood. The woodcutter is very strong and looks very simple and honest.

He is a woodcutter, a woodcutter who kills without batting an eyelid. He kills as often as he chops firewood. He doesn't just kill for pleasure, but kills mechanically and habitually.

The sales volume of this comic is the same as that of Qin Siyu's Xue San back then.

The reason is simple. Contemporary comics are an industrial chain with a very detailed division of labor. There are still too few such all-rounders who are proficient in painters, scripts, plot design and character creation.

For example, Qin Siyu and Xu Qiang, their advantages lie more in practical operations.

The plot of Xu Qiang's comic featuring a woodcutter butcher, like him, is a bit too simple, so simple that readers can't read it at all.

"There's no reason why the boss didn't draw for you but not for me. Hey, I found it, Ah Ming!"

Deng Ge pointed to the picture scroll, which showed a slightly thin man with fangs looming at the corner of his mouth, and his whole body showed a sickly paleness.

His name is A Ming, and he is a vampire, a character designed by Deng Ge.

It can be said that Deng Ge's current success showed signs as early as when he was still in the studio. His vampire-themed comics ranked second in the studio's sales at that time, second only to the boss's "Magic Pill".

The vampire with an oriental face, coupled with a cold and wanton character, coupled with a high-paced bloody and exciting story, received a very good response from the market.

A character that can make the audience like it, coupled with a story that can detonate the audience's enthusiasm, is the key to grasping the market, and it is precisely because of this principle that Deng Ge has been able to achieve great success in his career in the past few years.

In the comics, Ah Ming's character is also that kind of absolute madness. No matter what opponent he faces, he just flips the table and goes up to it.

At the same time, Ah Ming is lonely. He doesn't think he is a vampire, and he is indeed not a human being anymore. He has no friends. After every madness, what is left is a coldness that can make people feel distressed.

Therefore, this role has many female fans.

Ah Qiu silently walked behind the crowd,

She seemed a little afraid, but also somewhat looking forward to it.

But what should come, still came.

She saw a painting, in which was a man with a slightly blue complexion. The man was squatting on the ground, and beside him was a mess of corpses.

His name is Liang Cheng, and he is a zombie.

He is bloodthirsty, he is cruel and unfeeling.

He has lived from ancient times to modern times, and time has brought him an increasingly severe sense of alienation from the world.

And his name is the same as his author.

Liang Cheng...

Qin Siyao had already turned her attention away from Feng Siniang at this time, and after seeing Ah Qiu and the painting in front of him, she couldn't help but also fell silent.

At the beginning, there were seven people in the studio.

They are, the boss, myself and my younger brother Siyu, Deng Ge, Xu Qiang, Aqiu, and Liang Cheng.

Liang Cheng and Ah Qiu used to be a couple. They had been together since they entered the studio, but Liang Cheng died in a car accident more than three years ago.

The disbandment of the studio can be said to have originated from Liang Cheng's death, but it was not the main reason.

Liang Cheng's death made Ah Qiu feel disheartened about many things, but it is not impossible for a studio with seven people to continue to operate without two people.

The main reason is that the studio has always focused on the horror and bloody comic style, which is relatively small, and coupled with policy restrictions and crackdowns, the survival of the studio has become more and more difficult.

After the studio's most popular and best-selling "Magic Pill" series and "Vampire Ming" series were all banned, the studio suddenly fell into a predicament of uncertain future.

At that time, Deng Ge strongly suggested that the studio should cater to the market and draw some more positive energy, at least not so bloody and scary subjects, so that the living environment will be better and a larger audience can also bring higher income. .

But the boss at the time directly vetoed this suggestion.

The boss said that everyone gathered together because they liked horror and bloody themes, and he didn't want to tarnish everyone's original intention.

As a result, the operation of the studio was completely paralyzed.

First, Deng Ge quit, joined an animation company, and started his own career.

Next came the siblings of the Qin family. The family conditions of the Qin family were mediocre. Both parents were workers. Qin Siyu's health was not good, and the annual medical expenses were a problem, so Qin Siyao had to quit and choose a new career.

The last one to leave was Xu Qiang. After everyone else left, he silently packed his things, ordered a bowl of noodles for the boss, and went to a game company.

At that time, they gathered together because of similar interests and hobbies, and went through five years of ups and downs side by side, but in the end they were no match for the law of reality that there is no banquet that never ends.

Next to the zombie Liang Cheng, there is another painting very close. This is the protagonist of Ah Qiu's comics, but it is not a female character, but a male with hollow eyes.

His name is Bei. He is a blind man who is good at playing the piano. When killing people, he likes to put his hands in front of his body, playing the piano melody in the air while letting his prey be tortured to death.

The main writer of this comic is Ah Qiu himself. The style of painting is very realistic, but the plot is very weak. In many series, Bei is often killing people at the beginning. It seems that the whole comic is killing people for the sake of killing people.

This made readers who liked horror themes a little bit unbearable, after all, everyone still needs some plot adjustments.

However, it seems that because of the uniqueness of the female perspective, the role of Bei has also attracted many die-hard fans. Therefore, its sales volume is still a little higher than that of dwarves Xue San and Ali.

The character of the protagonist in "Blind North" is probably related to Ah Qiu's family background. Her father died in the line of duty at the hands of a criminal.

Three paintings are hung on the walls on both sides of the living room.

On the wall opposite the door, there is a separate picture.

After reading the protagonist of their comics, everyone gathered in front of this picture in a tacit understanding. In the picture is a baby, full of hostility and fierce flames.

This is the boss's cartoon called "Magic Pill", with a baby as the character.

Whether it is in the plot or the screen, they are almost impeccable. It can be said that with the essence of pure horror and distortion, it attracted a large number of audiences at the beginning. Even Deng Ge's "Vampire Ming" was popular "Magic Pill" was pressed below.

"Magic Wan, you are as stubborn as the boss." Deng Ge sighed.

He thinks he is excellent, but at the same time, he also thinks that the boss is a better person than himself.

It's a pity that the boss is very stubborn, just like the characters in his novels, obviously a little change, obviously a little adaptation, can have a better development, but the boss just continues to be stubborn.

There is really no complaining, after all, everyone can be said to have deviated from the original intention, but only the boss has always stuck to his original intention.

What's more in everyone's heart is the admiration for the boss.

"Where's the boss?" Qin Siyu asked.

There is no doubt that the seven paintings in the living room were painted by the boss, but what about the boss who invited everyone to meet again after three years?

Xu Qiang pushed open the door of the bedroom on one side and found that there was a light on inside.

There are no sheets on the bed in the bedroom, and there are neatly stacked series of works by everyone, some of which are published, and some of which cannot be published but printed by themselves, which can be regarded as illegal publications.

Above this is the accumulation of memories during the five years of the studio's existence, such as "A Ming the Vampire", "The Woodcutter", "Xue San the Dwarf" and so on. Li received the electronic manuscript from the boss, but the boss is still silently continuing to draw the following stories for everyone.

Under the bed, there is also a thick stack of comics.

Everyone walked over and picked up the comics below, and found that they were basically works similar in style to the comic about two women calling on the phone.

The boss has always insisted on the original intention of the studio, but the boss must be short of money, so he painted a lot of works that can be realized to make money.

After seeing these works, Deng Ge frowned even more. He was a little dissatisfied. Originally, he thought that the boss had always adhered to the principle and never forgot his original intention, even if he couldn't make any money or be famous.

But since the boss is already making money by painting these works, it proves that the boss has thought about it. In this case, why didn't the boss come to him?

Could it be because of embarrassment?

Deng Ge felt that if the boss thought so, it would really tarnish everyone's friendship over the past five years.

At this moment, Deng Ge's cell phone rang, and a video was sent from the WeChat account labeled "Boss".

"Is it news from the boss?" Qin Siyu asked.

Deng Ge nodded and raised the phone at the same time.

The rest of the people stood behind Deng Ge. Everyone was really concerned about how the boss was doing now, and they were also curious about what the boss was doing to gather everyone here.

In the video, there is only one chair at the beginning, and the camera shakes a little. It should be that the boss is adjusting the angle of the phone camera.

soon,

A figure appears from the camera, walking towards the chair.

This person was wearing a dark red sweater and walked very slowly, as if walking with great difficulty.

When the person in the video walks up to the chair, turns around, and faces the camera,

Deng Ge and everyone behind Deng Ge showed shock on their faces.

"Long time no see...everyone."

The person in the video is indeed the boss, this cannot be faked.

But what everyone couldn't believe was that the face of the leader sitting on the chair was so thin that it was sunken, and the arm exposed from the cuff was only skin and bone, and it was still twitching very clearly. .

"Why did the boss become like this!" Deng Ge exclaimed.

Three years ago, when we broke up, the boss seemed a little sub-healthy just because of the long hours of writing at his desk, which is nothing to modern people.

But the appearance of the boss at this time is already a skeleton with a sense of sight.

This is, sick?

The purest relationship is the most memorable. No matter how well everyone is doing, no matter how good or bad they are, no one can erase the friendship that everyone shared the same interests during those five years.

"Deng Ge, do you still blame me?"

The voice of Zheng Fan (the leader) was already very hoarse, and when he spoke, it was as difficult as pushing two rusty gears to rub against each other.

"sorry…………"

Zheng Fan's voice was very weak.

Deng Ge gritted his teeth.

"Deng Ge, forgive me for not listening to your suggestion, otherwise, we might not have broken up, and the studio should still be there."

"We are doing well now." Deng Ge said to himself.

"I don't want to change. Some things, some tastes, since I like them, I just want to keep liking them wholeheartedly. I don't want to change, and I'm too lazy to change them.

Because, I didn't have a long life to live.

So, Deng Ge, so, everyone, please forgive me, please forgive my selfishness. "

Zheng Fan seemed to be planning to stand up and bow to everyone in apology, but just as he stood up, he seemed powerless, so he sat back down again. In the end, he could only sit on the chair and lower his head.

"Five years ago, I was diagnosed with a rare terminal illness. There may only be more than a hundred people in the world suffering from this disease. There is no medical solution. So, at that time, I knew... I know I don't have much longer to live."

Having said that, Zheng Fan laughed self-deprecatingly, and then caused himself to cough. It seemed that every time he coughed, he felt as if he was about to take his breath away.

"Sorry, in order to make money, I drew some comics that are not my style, but actually, it feels pretty good.

I also like those comics, but they are indeed not my favorite style and genre.

But when I found that my physical condition was deteriorating and I had a premonition that I would eventually be paralyzed and linger on the hospital bed, I decided to go to the Netherlands to accept euthanasia.

These cartoons were drawn by me to raise funds for euthanasia in the Netherlands.

When you see this video, I should already be in the Netherlands, haha.

Siyu, you have to pay attention to protecting your body, your physical fitness is really too weak, heh...Of course, I am not qualified to say that your health is poor.

Siyao, don't look so high, it's time to find a partner, well, Deng Ge should not choose him. "

"..." Deng Ge.

"Brother Qiang, on the day you left, I never forgot the taste of the last bowl of noodles you made for me."

"Deng Ge, I have watched all of your movies. They are very well done. The pictures are very good. They are really good. It's a pity that our original works probably won't have the chance to be revised, and it's impossible for them to appear on the screen. gone."

"Aqiu, you should learn to let go of Liang Cheng's matter. By the way, Aqiu, in the drawer of the desk, there is my suicide note. The inheritance certificate has also been notarized. I don't have much money left. This house is left, I know that after Liang Cheng left, you have been doing charity. Help me sell this house, and the money from the sale should also be used for charity.

After drawing demons for so many years, at the end of the day, I have to leave something behind. Therefore, I have never chosen to sell my only house to raise money and go to the Netherlands. "

"My body is really failing. To be honest, I don't want to spend the last part of my life lying in a hospital bed, so today is the day I choose to say goodbye.

It was really nice and nice to see you all again.

I am very happy to have everyone by my company during those five years, and I am very happy to create so many wonderful stories and characters with you. I will miss you.

I wish you success in your career and good health. "

……………

In a ward, Zheng Fan was sitting by the bed, his gaze slowly scanning the seven comic books placed around the bed.

"Magic Pill", "The Woodcutter", "Vampire Ming", "Blind North", "Feng Si Niang", "Dwarf Xue San", "Zombie Blood"

When a person's life is about to come to an end, often the most favorite thing to do is to look back.

It's like an old man in the twilight, lying on a chair, squinting while basking in the sun.

"let's start."

Zheng Fan said to a doctor and two nurses standing in front of him.

Immediately afterwards,

He himself lay down on the bed, that hospital bed surrounded by cartoons.

"Mr. Zheng, are you sure you don't need the presence of the priest?" Out of professionalism, the doctor David asked again, and added: "He can rest your soul in heaven."

Zheng Fan shook his head calmly, and said, "David, I believe in the devil, and I won't go to heaven."

David shrugged, nodded, and signaled his assistant to step forward and start.

Zheng Fan slowly closed his eyes,

Feeling that a cold needle pierced into his arm.

call,

Is it over...