Jing Yu had gone full salted fish mode.
Was he really turning into a salted fish?
While Jing Yu and Yu Youqing were enjoying their very delayed honeymoon, these two ideas kept fermenting and spreading throughout his fan base.
Logically speaking, it didn't make sense for someone in their thirties like Jing Yu to retire. His talent hadn't faded, and the idea of "creative burnout" didn't apply to him at all.
Who in their right mind would give up the ability to earn massive passive income every year and just retire?
But when people thought about Jing Yu's current circumstances, they realized that in the past ten-plus years of his rise, 90% of the entertainment industry's golden years were Jing Yu eating meat while others drank soup. That was how he built such incredible wealth. If any of his fans were in his shoes, they'd probably have retired already. After all, isn't the goal of working just to make enough money to never have to work again?
And Jing Yu had clearly already achieved that. Even if he donated his entire fortune to poor mountain villages, it wouldn't take three months before he'd be a billionaire again. The royalties from his past works would continue flowing in for the rest of his life.
At this point, what motivation was left to keep working and creating? Jing Yu's fans didn't know. The media didn't know.
Especially after he delegated his company responsibilities to various department heads...
Suddenly, fans around the world were deeply panicked.
Meanwhile, Jing Yu—sunbathing on overseas beaches—was aware of the rumors, but he simply couldn't be bothered to respond.
In the Great Zhou version of Earth, even though its entertainment industry wasn't as developed as Jing Yu's past world, the geography and natural scenery surpassed his previous world, Earth, in many ways.
Originally, Jing Yu had planned to just travel casually with Yu Youqing for a short time, but the more they traveled, the more addicted they became.
Back at Bluestar's headquarters in Modo, employees could only learn about their boss's extravagant vacation life through media coverage.
Many international celebrities were fans of Jing Yu. One day, he'd be seen attending a national sports event in one country, the next day visiting local cultural festivals in another.
Of course, Jing Yu wasn't just playing. Since he was abroad, he took the chance to meet with industry partners and rivals, visiting other companies and discussing potential co-productions.
For instance, 'Pokémon', 'Yu-Gi-Oh!', and 'Gundam' were all massively popular internationally. But in some countries, local laws imposed heavy restrictions on foreign IPs, making it impossible to rake in profits without local partnerships.
It's the same logic as game companies in his past life—like the infamous Goose Factory(Tencent) or Pig Factory(NetEase)—licensing games for local publishing. Foreign titles entering a new market need local help. If not, the "local kings" can block your profits entirely.
So since he was already there, and companies had reached out to Bluestar about partnerships, Jing Yu didn't mind handling some business while traveling.
In summary: while Jing Yu wanted a quiet vacation, the truth was his travels couldn't be quiet at all—fans and reporters tracked his every move, flooding the domestic internet with updates.
And the happier he seemed, the more fans panicked.
"It's been two months. Is Old Thief ever coming back?"
"These days, most company operations are being handled by upper management. Old Thief really doesn't seem involved anymore."
"Huh? Doesn't he worry about the company falling apart under his team?"
"Don't be silly. You think those high-level executives earning millions a year are incompetent? Bluestar is already the biggest player in the industry. Even without Old Thief's works, they'll still profit. You'd have to work hard to lose money. The most valuable thing in the company isn't its cash reserves—it's the massive library of IPs owned by Old Thief. You can't just destroy that overnight."
"Yeah, don't lump Old Thief in with movie stars. He's way above them now. He's a true entertainment industry tycoon. This isn't some washed-up actor going bankrupt after three years off-screen."
"But it's already late March, and 'Hanzawa Naoki' is ending. And he's still out there chilling? This is worrying."
"Let it be. At least we know 'DeathNote' is airing next quarter, 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' in the fall, 'Pokémon' and 'Rurouni Kenshin' in the winter. Plus, the second-gen games for 'Pokémon' and 'Yu-Gi-Oh!' are launching by year-end. His schedule is still packed. Don't jump to conclusions."
"Sigh..."
"I've got full-on Old Thief withdrawal. If he really retires, I'll have nothing to watch."
"Same. These past five years, I've only watched his stuff. Nothing else holds my attention."
"Old Thief, please keep working. Don't let all that money distract you from what really matters!"
Late March flew by.
'Hanzawa Naoki' had aired for over two months, and the first season finally wrapped up.
The average viewership hit 9.8%. While it didn't break 10%, the impact it had on Great Zhou was enormous.
Kids weren't watching, which lowered ratings. But for actual working adults, the show's themes—power, betrayal, society, friendship, ambition—hit hard.
On Yindou Net, over 500,000 viewers rated it a 9.9, making it a high-score miracle and a critical darling.
But then came the disappointment...
After 'Hanzawa Naoki' Season 1 ended, there was no word about a Season 2. Rumors from Bluestar insiders said there were no production plans for this year because Jing Yu was still abroad, and without his scripts, no one could proceed.
This exploded online. 'Hanzawa Naoki' fans lost it.
They flamed Jing Yu across forums—but ultimately had no choice but to beg him to come back and give up on his "poetic" overseas dreams.
Naturally, after 'Hanzawa Naoki' ended, the TV world's attention shifted to Jing Yu's next show: 'DeathNote'.
But this project was shrouded in mystery.
Normally, Jing Yu's productions would release a teaser trailer 3–6 months in advance, followed by heavier promotions closer to release.
But now, with less than a week left before the April 3 premiere, there was barely any focused promotion at all.
Based on early trailers, it looked like the male lead named "Light Yagami" got his hands on a mysterious black notebook that could summon a Shinigami.
And maybe curse people?
But the teaser didn't confirm any of this. It was just a 20-second flash of visuals, full of ambiguous clues. Viewers were left guessing.
Finally, on April 1st, under Jing Yu's remote direction, Bluestar dropped the final trailer.
It was only 30 seconds long.
No characters. Just static images of the notebook's "user guide."
And it listed only three rules:
Anyone whose name is written in this notebook will die.
If you don't remember the person's face, it won't work. It also won't work on people with the same name.
If you write the cause of death within 40 seconds of writing the name, the person will die that way.
No extra context.
But when fans matched this with the previous teaser...
"Wait—is this a fantasy show?"
"'Death Note' lets you kill people by writing their names? This is insane!"
"This is straight-up overpowered. It's a literal death god hack!"
"With this thing, I could be king of the world."
"Not quite. Writing names one by one is too slow. It'd only really affect people at the top. The power lies in secrecy. If people find out you have it, you're finished. Even if you killed 100,000, that's still a drop in the bucket compared to billions."
"True. But it's still the ultimate assassination tool."
"Cool premise. But what kind of story will it build on that? Will the protagonist try to rule the world?"
"I wasn't interested in something called 'Death Note', but after seeing this—damn, Old Thief really is a genius."
"I'm hyped now. Six more days!"
"Sorry, 'Hanzawa Naoki', I might forget about you for a while. Let me binge Old Thief's new show first—then I'll go protest for Season 2."
Some shows need to be seen to know if they're good.
But 'Death Note' only needed to drop its core rules—and audience hype shot through the roof.
A notebook that can kill by writing names? It's every fantasy power fantasy packed into one concept.
But that's the thing—a great setup alone doesn't make a great show.
What made 'Death Note' a legendary work in Jing Yu's previous world (Japan) wasn't just its premise.
It was the psychological battle between the protagonist Light and the "villain" L.
Anyone who's watched enough shows knows: most "smart" characters are just the result of dumb writing.
If the writer isn't smarter than the audience, the only way to make the main character look smart is to make everyone else dumber.
But 'Death Note' was different.
None of the characters wore a "dumb-down" filter. Even the background characters made logical, sharp decisions when it counted.
But unfortunately... they were up against Light and L.
In nearly 20 years of anime history in his previous world, Jing Yu never saw any characters with intelligence portrayals that even came close to these two.
Sure, some argued that 'Code Geass''s Lelouch was just as clever.
But if you really analyze 'Code Geass', Lelouch's writing was solid—but his enemies were overly nerfed. That made Lelouch feel like a god, but not in a realistic way.
Compared to that, 'Death Note' was grounded and believable.
Even abroad, Jing Yu didn't pay that much attention to 'Hanzawa Naoki'. He liked it, but workplace dramas weren't really his favorite genre.
But 'Death Note'? That was different.
It was in his top 10 most beloved anime from his past life. Even if he didn't expect massive profits from it, its release still meant a lot to him.
So…
On April 1, he finally posted on social media:
"In my ten-year creative career, I have written many characters—but none as smart as Light and L.
They will meet you all in 'Death Note' on April 3.
Please look forward to it."
This one brief message was enough to make fans lose their minds.
After all, Jing Yu had been traveling overseas for months.
"Oh? Do you remember you've got a new show airing? We thought you had become a full-time retiree!"
But calling them his smartest characters? That was a bold claim.
Because if Light or L ended up doing anything dumb in the actual show... it'd become a massive joke.