Is this cartoonist mentally ill?.

Chapter 507 The road ahead
"Thank you, but I don't believe in the Holy Bishop."

Lin Qingshan shook his head and said, "Although I am a little superstitious, I don't think the Holy Lord exists... Besides, didn't your ancestors kill the Holy Son? Do you only believe in the Holy Lord, or do you also believe in the Trinity like everyone else?"

If we trace back to its source, the object of the Holy Bishop's faith - the omniscient and omnipotent Holy Lord, does indeed originate from the earliest squid sect.

The squid originally created an omniscient and omnipotent god who created everything - the Holy Lord. At the same time, they claimed that they were the most outstanding nation loved by God. Compared with them, other nations and races were inferior.

It can be said that the original prototype of the Holy Bishop, the Squid Cult, was a religion full of nationalism and racial chivalry.

The Son of God made a decision that went against his ancestors and focused the Holy Lord's love on everyone instead of one race or one region.

All those who believe in Him.

This decision, which went against the ancestors, was naturally not allowed by the Squid Cult.

This is actually understandable, just like someone spreading the Republic's Taoist beliefs to the whole world, while at the same time claiming that as long as you are sincere in following the teachings, the Lord of Heaven, the Three Pure Ones and the Four Imperial Gods will bless you.

Regardless of race or region, even white people and black people can receive its blessings...

If such words were spoken out, it would indeed be considered extremely absurd even in the Republic.

The key point is that the Son of God also did something even more subversive to the Squid's faith, which was to eliminate the bad habits and taboos of the Squid's traditional beliefs.

As a conservative and closed early sect, the Squid Cult had a series of very strict taboos and bad habits, such as circumcision and food taboos.

The food taboos are even more stringent than those of other religions. For example, there are strict regulations on food. Pork is not allowed, and horse meat is also prohibited. Blood, mollusks and crustaceans are also prohibited.

But the Son of God thought it was too troublesome, so he simply declared that all these religious taboos and customs were gone.

All you need to do is believe in the Lord, recite scriptures and attend mass.

The most crucial point is that the Squid Cult also requires its believers to pay tithes, which is a form of taxation in which believers must donate one-tenth of their income to the church.

The Son of God was also abolished, so to deprive someone of his wealth is like killing his parents.

This is why the Squid Cult wanted to kill the Son of God.

However, the Squid Cult is not the only one that is so greedy when it comes to paying taxes, because the Holy Bishops in the Middle Ages required their followers to pay taxes even more harshly...

In short, everyone knows that the one who killed the Son of God was the squid nobles, and the one who betrayed the Son of God was the Son’s thirteenth disciple, who was also a squid.

Therefore, squids should not believe in the Trinity of the Son, the Holy Spirit and the Father.

But as we all know, squid is a creature that is extremely good at camouflage, and they often have their own camouflage colors.

Over the past few hundred years, they not only pretended to be pitiful, but also claimed that like the vast majority of the Holy Bishops' followers, they also believed in the Son of God.

But they refuse to admit that it was their ancestors who killed the Holy Son.

They even argued that it was the Romans who killed the Son of God, so what did it have to do with them?

Unfortunately, Rome in the West has long since fallen, but those who claim to be Roman heirs dare not speak at all.

At this time, the squid is still pretending to be innocent.

But in Lin Qingshan's previous life, it was... I won't pretend anymore! I'm going to show my cards!
Not only is he obsessed with his precious robes, he is also blatantly pressuring Ami to introduce a consciousness-building bill.

What? You dare to say you don't like squid? Dare to do it!

You! Are guilty! Get in!
What? You're just thinking about it? Even thinking about it won't work!

You! Are guilty! Get in!
You think that Amei is Squid’s biological father, but in fact, Squid is Amei’s biological father.

Also known as conjugate father-child relationship.

But they have always disguised themselves very well, so it is difficult to know whether Squid privately believes in the Son.

"Of course I believe in it."

Benya Rothschild remained calm and smiled, saying, "The Son is with the Father, and we squids are His faithful believers."

However, Lin Qingshan still noticed the change in his eyes for a few microseconds.

From a psychological point of view, it is impossible for people to lie without any flaws.

Although Benya Rothschild disguised himself very well, with almost no obvious changes in expression, the changes in his eyes and the twitching of his muscles at that moment could not be concealed.

Ordinary people may not be able to grasp the changes in facial expressions at this moment, and they need the help of professional instruments to capture micro-expression changes.

However, Lin Qingshan had the ability of [Speed ​​Star (Diamond)] granted by the system, and his reaction ability was comparable to that of Superman, so he immediately noticed the change in Benya Rothschild's eyes.

He immediately understood, and then he smiled and said, "Actually, Mr. Benya, don't be so nervous. I said, I am not a believer of the Holy Bishop."

Benya Rothschild's face changed at this point. Isn't Lin Qingshan's implication that "I'm not a believer in the Holy Bishop, so you don't have to pretend in front of me"?

"How could that be? Mr. Aoyama, your works have so many religious meanings."

His eyes became a little gloomy, but he still had that hypocritical smile on his face as he spoke.

This vividly demonstrates what it means to smile on the outside but not on the inside.

"I just borrowed the setting. In fact, I also created Taoist works such as "Dao Wei Yi Xian"."

Lin Qingshan said with a smile.

"Haha, but since Mr. Aoyama can create "Chainsaw Man" and "EVA"..."

Benya Rothschild continued to maintain a hypocritical smile and said, "It means that more works with Holy Lord elements can be created. For example, I actually look forward to Mr. Aoyama's subsequent "Chainsaw Man" to have characters like Holy Lord or our squid-born Hayakawa Aki appear..."

"Or in the next comic, you can consider using a squid as the protagonist. We squids are the smartest and bravest people in the world, so they are very suitable to be the protagonist of your comic."

This is also one of the purposes of their investment in the comics industry over the years, which is to whitewash and promote their positive image like a Hollywood movie.

After all, mold, which does all kinds of evil and acts as a troublemaker all over the world, can be whitewashed and promoted as peace messengers fighting "for world peace, love and justice."

So why can't they promote themselves as the smartest and bravest nation in the world?

Moreover, they are the most beloved nation of the Holy Lord. Otherwise, why are there so many Nobel Prize winners among them, even Einstein is a squid.

The reason why they chose Lin Qingshan was that Lin Qingshan's title as the uncrowned king of the contemporary comics industry had already been established.

Another thing is that the protagonists of Lin Qingshan's comics, unlike those of other cartoonists in the Republic, all tend to be people from the Republic.

Even in the case of Lord of Secrets, the protagonist was originally the soul of a Republic man.

In Lin Qingshan's works, the protagonists are not only from the Republic, but also foreigners and Europeans and Americans.

For example, David Martinez, the protagonist of Edgewalker, Agni, the protagonist of Fist of Fire, and Tatsumi, the protagonist of Kill! Akame ga Kill... It is obvious that they are all protagonists of European and American origin.

So Benya Rothschild did not lie, he was indeed a fan of Lin Qingshan's comics. Because the protagonists of Lin Qingshan's works are not necessarily from the Republic, this makes it easier for him to empathize with the characters.

Unfortunately, there has never been a squid among the characters in Lin Qingshan’s works.

Even if he is not the protagonist, it would be fine if he is a supporting role like Hayakawa Aki. That's why he made such a request - he needs Lin Qingshan to serialize three comics in the future according to the requirements of the comic industry after signing the new contract.

In fact, he felt that his request was not excessive. He only needed to slightly change the names of the protagonists in Lin Qingshan's next three comics to names of people from squid origins, and indicate that these protagonists were clearly of squid origin.

However, at this moment, Gu Qianli took a deep breath and handed the contract in his hand to the legal team of Station C behind him.

She just put the contract back on the table, pushed it back, and nodded to Lin Qingshan.

"I'm afraid this is hard to accept."

Lin Qingshan nodded immediately, then turned to Benya Rothschild and said, "Because I don't plan to sign this contract."

"What? Why not sign it?"

Benya Rothschild frowned and said, "Mr. Aoyama, with all due respect, this is the best contract package we can offer you. It can be said that the contract package we offer you is unprecedented and is not offered to any other cartoonist."

Indeed, although squids are greedy, they are not simply greedy.

Their business methods are very sophisticated. In fact, apart from those restrictions, the other benefits in the contract will allow Lin Qingshan to increase his income by at least hundreds of millions every year.

Not only has the income from the drawings almost doubled, but the share of copyright has also increased.

Although you no longer have the right to decide on copyright, you get more money!
However, imagination is beautiful, but will the squid let itself suffer?

Lin Qingshan might earn more, but Squid definitely makes a lot as well.

For example, the right to decide on copyright. After Lin Qingshan lost this, he could no longer decide the copyright partner or the destination of the copyright.

In other words, Squid can do whatever he wants and sell to whoever he wants, but he doesn't care about the quality of the derivative works adapted from the copyright.

In the end, it is very likely that the IP of Lin Qingshan's work will become popular and its reputation will be ruined by numerous derivative works that make money.

So squids never want to suffer losses.

Whatever they put in, they will earn back hundreds or thousands of times, even at the cost of letting other people's money and their things rot and stink.

The half-million-mark loaf of bread is a typical example.

“Creation is freeing, and actually I don’t care about money as much as you do.”

Lin Qingshan said, "Also, there is a poem we translated. I wonder if you have heard of it..."

"what?"

"That is……"

Lin Qingshan said slowly, "Life is precious, but love is more precious. If it is for freedom, both can be abandoned."

"I hope Mr. Aoyama can think about it in detail."

Benya Rothschild finally couldn't help it, his face turned completely cold, and he even said with a slightly threatening tone, "After all, your comic book "Dao Wei Yi Xian" is still being serialized in the comic world."

In his opinion, "The Tao of Immortals" is still being serialized in the comic world. If Lin Qingshan does not give in... even if he cannot cut off "The Tao of Immortals", he will still be able to do so.

But it can also reduce its network push channels.

Now is the era where the Internet is king. Without online push channels, the subsequent performance of "Daoguiyixian" will definitely be greatly reduced.

By then...it can be cut in half.

However, Lin Qingshan didn't care. He wanted to use this to force him to submit...

I can only say that it is not a threat.

Moreover, neither Benya Rothschild nor Lin Qingshan had expected that two months after "The Tao of Immortal", the comic industry would completely withdraw its online channels for promotion.

However, the performance of "Daoguiyixian" did not decline, because apart from the comic world, other major forums and platforms in the Republic spontaneously promoted "Daoguiyixian", and this promotion even became a habit.

This is a tap water promotion without any capital involvement.

On the contrary, the actions of the comics industry soon attracted the attention of the higher-ups.

After strict orders, the comics industry was forced to continue promoting "The Tao of Immortals".

After all, the upper echelons are planning

"Well, I've thought about it carefully."

Lin Qingshan said, "Mr. Benya Rothschild can go back now."

Seeing this, Benya Rothschild snorted coldly, stood up, and left Lin Qingshan's villa.

Ayumi Ito, who was standing behind him, breathed a sigh of relief. She was even a little happy for Lin Qingshan.

To be honest, even if she didn't know the full details of the new contract, just hearing about the terms and restrictions was outrageous.

She was actually quite happy after seeing him break off negotiations with Benya Rothschild and refuse to sign a new contract.

And after thinking for a while, Ayumi Ito chose not to follow Benya Rothschild away, but came to Lin Qingshan.

She still chose to support Lin Qingshan. As Lin Qingshan's editor, she believed that Lin Qingshan would settle accounts with her after he rejected Benya Rothschild.

Benya Rothschild did not pay attention to Ayumi Ito. After all, even if Ayumi Ito was Lin Qingshan's editor, she was actually... just a small role.

But Ito Ayumi was right. Even if he didn't notice Ito Ayumi now, he would definitely suppress Ito Ayumi afterwards to make an example of her.

"It seems... we won't be able to continue cooperating with the comic industry in the future."

Lin Qingshan said with some regret at this time.

To be honest, as a comic serialization platform that he has cooperated with for such a long time, he still has some feelings for Manjie.

But it has come to this point, with Squid invading the comic world again, it is impossible for him to care about the old relationship anymore.

The comic world is dead, infected by a parasite and died.

"Then we should find another way out."

Lin Qingshan looked at Gu Qianli and Ito Ayumi beside him, and suddenly said with a smile, "How about... we set up a new comic culture department?"

(End of this chapter)