After the news of the trailer's release went live, a massive wave of Su Yan fans flooded into RaccoonNet.
At the same time, the advertising content on Zhongxia TV, one of the three major television networks, suddenly changed.
The TV screen style shifted abruptly into a riot of colors.
Towering skyscrapers filled the frame.
Bizarre-looking people wandered the streets.
Criminals clashed violently with police and armed forces in the open.
Cybernetically enhanced humans appeared—bodies made of more steel than flesh.
With just a single shot, the visuals instantly grabbed viewers' attention.
Then, a tall, refined girl with silver hair appeared.
She lay on a bed, gazing at something unseen.
The moment this character appeared, countless Su Yan fans froze—then exploded with joy.
[Is that Gu Qingyuan?]
[That's Gu Qingyuan!]
Everyone already knew Gu Qingyuan had an excellent figure. From the time of 'Rurouni Kenshin' to 'Your Lie in April', the scripts had rarely focused on showing it off—but audiences understood.
If Gu Qingyuan ever played a mature, cool female lead, she would be perfect.
And her Lucy look in 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' hit fans like a mental shockwave.
Of course, a live-action adaptation couldn't copy the original animation exactly. In the anime, Lucy's outfits were somewhat revealing—unsuitable for direct adaptation to television.
The same went for Su Yan's later appearance. In the original anime, David started as a normal teenage boy with lean muscles, then later became a hulking powerhouse.
In the TV drama, at most, Su Yan would take off his upper clothing and rely on metallic prosthetic visual effects.
Audiences in the Xia Nation didn't favor the exaggerated Western "muscle mountain" aesthetic. A full copy simply wouldn't work.
Aside from these necessary tweaks, however, the overall style of the TV version of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' barely differed from the animation.
Especially Lucy's look.
A silver-haired, mature beauty—one glance over her shoulder was enough to steal hearts.
As the camera pulled back, viewers noticed that lying beside her on the bed was another boy, dressed in yellow.
The scene shifted again.
On the moon, the boy and girl sat side by side.
Before them stretched the boundless black universe—and a blue planet that looked close enough to touch, yet impossibly distant.
"Why did you bring me here?" the boy asked.
"I don't know. I just felt like I could bring you. I feel like… we'd make a great team."
The silver-haired girl smiled at him.
Sunlight bathed her face. Her bright expression, paired with the boy's slightly flushed cheeks—
In that instant, Su Yan's fans knew this show had nailed their taste.
Gu Qingyuan is the female lead.
Su Yan is the male lead.
And that scene—
The boy's blushing face said more than any love confession.
This was the pure romance everyone had been waiting for.
What followed were heart-pounding gunfight scenes.
In the footage, Su Yan's David wielded firearms, leaping and weaving through abandoned buildings. The movements were so outrageous that viewers were momentarily stunned.
You could say it was all special effects—but somehow, nothing felt unnatural.
Yet if it were live-action stunt work, the moves would have been absurdly difficult.
Gunfire.
Violence.
Bloodshed.
Madness.
The sheer density of elements and the level of visual effects in the trailer silenced all pre-air doubts about the series.
At the very end, David's gentle voice rang out.
The screen went black, but his tone was unwavering.
"Lucy, I'll take you to the moon. I promise."
The title 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' appeared.
Like the trailers for 'The Black Gate' and 'South Dreams', it revealed very little concrete plot.
From the visuals alone, viewers could only tell that this was a large-scale science-fiction drama.
The effects and production quality were clearly the strongest of any TV series Su Yan had created so far.
For television, one rule always holds:
Money spent is never wasted.
Every dollar buys image quality.
Still—
I'll take you to the moon.
Why did that line, placed at the end of the trailer, feel so unsettling?
[To the moon? Did I hear that right? Again?]
[Why is there another going 'to the moon' story?]
[Something feels off… this won't be another tragedy, will it?]
["False within truth, truth within false." If the writer dared put this line in, he must've thought it through. If we're all scared, maybe it actually isn't a tragedy?]
[That… makes sense!]
[But what if Su Yan predicted that we'd predict his prediction? What then?]
[Why think so much? Overthinking won't change anything—we'll still watch. I'm used to it anyway. After so many of his dramas, my tragedy tolerance is way higher now.]
[We finally get a drama with Gu Qingyuan as the female lead and Su Yan as the male lead. Shen Liqian was great too—her Miyazono Kaori was touching—but her story already got a good ending in the second conclusion. Only Gu Qingyuan and Su Yan's pairings never get a happy ending.]
[Wasn't that the case in 'Your Lie in April'?]
[They were just side characters there! Purely plot devices—not even a couple.]
[This trailer matches every fantasy I've ever had about Su Yan and Gu Qingyuan. Just watch it without thinking!]
[I'm not really into gunfights, but from the trailer, action is just the backdrop—the main plot is clearly romance.]
[Honestly, the reason I liked 'Your Lie in April' more than 'Life Is Strange' is that 'Life Is Strange' didn't have romance. Great story, sure—but a drama without romance is like instant noodles without seasoning.]
[Wasn't the final farewell kiss between Max and Chloe love? I cried when Chloe had to choose between the town and herself.]
[But I'm a guy! I respect it, I just can't fully connect with that kind of relationship.]
[Anyway, as long as Su Yan and Gu Qingyuan end up together in 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' with a good ending, I'll be satisfied!]
On the day the 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' trailer dropped, it shot to the top of trending searches across all four major streaming platforms.
Promotion went all-out.
Zhongxia TV fired on all cylinders, promising to give the series top-tier promotional treatment.
Even if, since it wasn't an in-house production, they only put in nine-tenths of full effort, the scale and status still far surpassed Aozora TV's support for 'Your Lie in April'.
Su Yan, Shinozaki Ikumi, Gu Qingyuan, Shen Liqian, Shi Peihua, plus Tong Jun—who played Maine, the protagonist's big brother—and Kuang Zonglin, who portrayed the main antagonist Adam Smasher, were all scheduled across Zhongxia TV's variety shows to build hype for the premiere of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'.
Among the three major networks this season, Zhongxia TV had it the easiest.
The series cost only 23 million to acquire—a B-tier production budget—yet attracted massive advertising investment across Xia Nation. Brands scrambled to secure naming rights during the broadcast.
While Zhongxia TV wouldn't reap every profit, many risks were also kept far away.
An S-tier drama that failed to win the seasonal ratings crown would be considered a disaster.
But an S-tier drama acquired for just over twenty million? Even if profits were modest, losses were impossible.
Meanwhile, the other two S-tier spring dramas from Sakura TV and Hudu TV were both self-produced, meaning immense pressure on their results.
March 25.
Promotion for all three S-tier dramas officially entered a white-hot phase.
As a rising genius screenwriter, Su Yan had never released a poorly performing work—only varying degrees of success.
Still, compared to the veteran gold-standard writers and top production teams behind the other two S-tier dramas, his résumé was thinner.
Fans across Xia Nation argued endlessly online, each backing their favorite.
At this stage, pre-air momentum ranked as follows:
First: 'South Dreams' from Hudu TV
Second: 'The Black Gate' from Sakura TV
Third: 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'
After all, Su Yan had debuted less than two years ago.
Surpassing teams with over a decade—and more than ten dramas—was no easy task.
The other two productions boasted creators who had won Best Screenwriter, Best Producer, and Best Director awards.
But—
Pre-air popularity never told the full story.
Which drama would truly take first place in the spring season?
Only time would tell.
The winter season ended.
The spring season arrived.
In April, A-tier and B-tier dramas across Xia Nation crowded weekday slots.
On Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays—around the premieres of the three S-tier dramas—there were almost no other major productions daring to compete.
Before the spring season even began, everyone in the industry already knew:
The top three ratings spots would belong to 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners', 'The Black Gate', and 'South Dreams'.
Any other drama that managed fourth place would count it as a victory.
"This season has three S-tier dramas, two A-tier dramas, fifteen B-tier dramas, and several C-tier dramas. So far, the highest rating belongs to Zhongxia TV's historical drama 'Northern Kingdom', which aired last night—its first episode pulled 4.32%."
During a lunch break on the 'The Garden of Words' set, Shinozaki Ikumi and Su Yan discussed the season.
"Now we're just waiting for Sakura TV's 'The Black Gate' to premiere tonight," Su Yan said, taking a deep breath.
"The entire television industry is watching. A two-year S-tier production—what kind of premiere ratings will it get?"
"Probably over 5%," Shinozaki Ikumi replied after thinking.
"In the past, S-tier dramas usually hovered around that number at launch. Multiple A-list stars, top production quality, veteran directors and writers—these people come with built-in loyal fanbases."
"To be honest," she added with a light laugh, "our 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' team is actually the weakest of the three. If you, Gu Qingyuan, and Shen Liqian hadn't gained massive popularity from 'Your Lie in April', this show wouldn't even qualify as an S-tier lineup."
"But," she continued, "both 'The Black Gate' and 'South Dreams' are led by older teams. Their main cast members are all over thirty. Among the three productions, you, Gu Qingyuan, and Shen Liqian clearly have the highest visual appeal. When it comes to attracting new audiences, we definitely have the edge."
"Maybe 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' will stand out just by looks alone," she joked.
"No," Su Yan said after a pause. "'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' will win."
"And it'll win with real strength."
"Reputation, ratings—both will become the best of the spring season. Maybe even the entire year."
"You said the same thing before 'Life Is Strange' aired," Shinozaki Ikumi said thoughtfully.
"But this time," she smiled, "I support you without question."