Chapter 133: The Price of Power

Chapter 133: The Price of Power

At Trigger Animation... naturally, the production of the animation was still underway.

After all, it had only been about three months since the project started, and while the typical production cycle for an anime can range from three months to half a year, the production cycle for *Edgerunners* was clearly not something that could be completed in just three months.

However, since *Edgerunners* was already a highly polished manga, the script and text design could directly use Lin Qingshan's original work.

As for the music, Lin Qingshan had taken it upon himself to handle it entirely.

So, the production of *Edgerunners* was gradually approaching its final stages.

Later, Liang Zhiyuan learned about this through Manga World. Although the animation was not yet fully completed, the promotional work could still begin.

In fact, this was something Trigger Animation had also been considering. At that time, they could all pool their resources together for promotional purposes, resulting in a synergy where the combined effect would be greater than the sum of its parts.

Moreover, the game had also included some small easter eggs related to *Edgerunners*, which could help promote both the original manga and the anime.

The leaders of Manga World, Light Speed Development Company, and Trigger Animation had some brief discussions, and they decided to begin the promotional campaign.

...

"If my voice is still remembered..."

"Today, I bring you the Chinese promotional song for the anime *Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners*—'If the Voice is Forgotten,' currently ranked third on the New Songs Chart of the official music rankings..."

"This summer, the *Cyberpunk 2077: Edgerunners* anime will be returning! Let's fight together at Arasaka Tower! Battle! The moment is imminent!"

"Lucy, I'm sorry I couldn't make it to the moon with you... (voiced by David's VA)"

"*Cyberpunk 2077* will take you through a different kind of futuristic world!"

"More gameplay videos of *Cyberpunk 2077* have been released, showcasing absolutely faithful recreations of battles—the first AAA-level 3D action game from the Republic!"

"Get stronger in the game, then go on a rampage and become the new legend of Night City! With my broken body, I will turn into fire!"

"We're recruiting game testers! Do you want to be one of the first to experience *Cyberpunk 2077*?"

"Starting today, participate in *Chainsaw Man* interactive events, and you might win *Edgerunners* merchandise and get a chance to experience the game early!"

...

Promotional material related to *Edgerunners* started to flood the internet. Not only online but also on the streets of Magic City, there were advertisements for *Edgerunners*.

This showed just how popular *Edgerunners* had become.

At the same time, *Edgerunners*'s promotional activities also included Lin Qingshan's ongoing serialization, *Chainsaw Man*.

This was a standard promotional strategy for Manga World. After all, both *Chainsaw Man* and *Edgerunners* were Lin Qingshan's works.

It was quite normal to promote them together.

But because of this, *Chainsaw Man*'s popularity rose to second place this week.

This made Yang Shuzhun, who had been hoping to surpass *Chainsaw Man*, feel a bit frustrated.

But there was nothing he could do; the decision to bundle the promotion of *Chainsaw Man* and *Edgerunners* was made internally by Manga World.

It had nothing to do with Lin Qingshan.

At this point, he was eagerly anticipating when *Fire Punch* would be used to deliver a big "surprise" to manga fans...

Facing the overwhelming promotional campaign for *Edgerunners* from the three-party collaboration, Zhou Wenwei watched these advertisements with great excitement. He had just gotten off work, but he was already filled with enthusiasm.

[Translator: sauron]

Now, he couldn't wait to see the *Edgerunners* anime or game. As a hardcore fan, he was really getting impatient.

"Participate in the *Chainsaw Man* interactive event to win *Edgerunners* anime merchandise and get a chance to experience the game early?"

Zhou Wenwei's eyes immediately lit up, and then, as he passed by a newsstand downstairs, he bought several recent issues of Manga World.

Recently, he hadn't been reading much manga because...

He had just finished a period of closed development, and although *Chainsaw Man* was pretty good in his opinion, it didn't captivate him like *Edgerunners* did, making him eagerly anticipate each weekly release.

But *Chainsaw Man* was still pretty decent.

Besides *Chainsaw Man*, Manga World had other excellent manga as well.

For example... *The Gods*.

He returned to his home, sat down in his computer chair, and opened the latest serialized chapter of *Chainsaw Man* where he had left off.

After that eerie head appeared, both Touyama Koharu and Arai Hiroshi were startled.

But it didn't end there—the head saw them and immediately lunged at Touyama Koharu with a smile.

Touyama Koharu was clearly frightened, but at that moment, Himeno took action. "Got it!"

She reached out and grabbed forward, and the head was instantly suspended in front of Touyama Koharu.

Seeing this, Power also formed a blood blade from her wrist and charged at the head, slicing it in half with one blow!

Power was immediately delighted, thinking she had defeated the demon.

However, Himeno said, "No, no, it was my ability, my ghost that caught it!"

"A ghost?"

Everyone was curious.

Himeno smiled and pointed to her right eye, which was covered by a mask. "I made a contract with the 'Ghost Devil,' trading my right eye for its right hand."

"Invisible, strong, and very convenient."

"Trading your right eye... to gain the Ghost Devil's right hand?"

Zhou Wenwei was taken aback.

He had thought that Himeno's eyepatch was due to an injury from a previous battle or that it hid some special power in her right eye.

He didn't expect... that she had traded her own eye to make a deal with a devil and gain power.

The power system in this world really wasn't simple—you had to trade parts of your body to gain power.

The skin demanded by the Fox Devil was still manageable—skin could regenerate, and skin grafts were possible.

But eyes couldn't regenerate, and eye transplants were still beyond current technological capabilities.

So Himeno's eye was essentially lost forever.

"That's not it."

However, after Himeno and Power worked together to deal with the eerie head, Aki Hayakawa took out a piece of the Gun Devil's flesh, but it didn't react to the head in front of them.

So they had no choice but to continue exploring the hotel, only to discover that they were trapped on the same floor.

After a long time of trying, nothing worked.

They were still stuck on that floor, and with no food, it meant that they would eventually starve to death without any supplies.

This made Touyama Koharu and Arai Hiroshi extremely anxious.

Especially Touyama Koharu—she had become a public devil hunter because of her family's pressure. She actually wanted to go to college, but now she was going to die here.

But Denji was different—while everyone else was tense, he lay down on a bed and just...

Fell asleep!

(End of the chapter)