June arrived, and temperatures in the Hudu region were already soaring.
With 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' holding the No.1 ratings spot for two consecutive weeks, both Sakura TV and Hudu TV were completely unable to sit still.
For an S-tier production, failing to take the seasonal crown was already a serious problem.
And to make matters worse, 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' was Su Yan's work.
Although it aired on Zhongxia TV, at its core, it was still a production made by a private film and television company.
In a season with such an absurdly intense competitive atmosphere, letting 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' reach the top carried a very different meaning.
Sakura TV, in particular, was under enormous pressure.
From the board of directors down to the production department, then to the screenwriters' division—pressure was being applied layer by layer.
If 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' were allowed to take not only the seasonal crown but possibly even the yearly crown, the consequences would be almost unimaginable.
At that point, public opinion around the station would completely explode.
As a result, over the past few days, various negative news pieces about Su Yan began appearing online again.
The paid trolls hired by Sakura TV started spreading unfavorable rumors about Su Yan across the internet. Since they were losing in direct competition on the drama front, they turned to attacking him personally, looking for scandals. And if none existed, they simply made them up.
Back when 'Your Lie in April' aired on Aozora TV, similar smear campaigns had been everywhere.
But this time, those tactics worked far less effectively.
Zhongxia TV was no fool. With 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' performing this well, how could they possibly allow Sakura TV to mess around unchecked?
As unsubstantiated rumors about Su Yan, Shen Liqian, and Gu Qingyuan flooded the internet, dirt about the leads and directors of 'The Black Gate' and 'South Dreams' also began surfacing.
Zhongxia TV didn't bother hiring trolls to refute anything.
Instead, they responded with the same tactic: If you don't play by the rules, then let's all expose each other and see whose hands are cleaner.
But the problem was—
Su Yan truly had no scandals.
In the two years since arriving in this world, he had filmed five dramas. Every day, he was either on set or on the way to writing scripts. There was simply nothing in his private life to dig up.
The leads of the other dramas, however, were a different story.
After just a few days, the creative teams behind 'The Black Gate' and 'South Dreams' sensed something was wrong and quickly backed off.
If they kept trading blows with Zhongxia TV, Su Yan would be fine—but they would end up completely ruined.
At the end of the day, when your hard power isn't enough, dirty tricks don't help.
It was at this moment that Akasaka Yoshitoki truly understood what "the tides have turned" meant.
Just over a year after Su Yan left Sakura TV, there was now absolutely nothing he could do to stop him.
When your works aren't strong enough, you're helpless—and even underhanded tactics stop working.
The weekend arrived once again.
On Friday, 'The Black Gate' Episode 9 aired first.
As it approached its ending phase, the show no longer delivered the constant climaxes of its early episodes. The story had flattened out.
This episode's ratings failed to continue their upward trend.
With 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' firmly holding first place and dominating public awareness, 'The Black Gate' could no longer attract new viewers.
All the new viewers were going to 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'.
Episode 9 of 'The Black Gate' closed at 5.42%.
Compared to Episode 8, the ratings actually dropped.
Sakura TV offered no official response.
The media, however, showed no mercy.
All day Saturday, mocking articles flooded the internet.
Fans of Su Yan even organized themselves to post sarcastic comments on Sakura TV's official website.
Akasaka Yoshitoki could only retreat into silence and endure the wave of online backlash.
On Saturday, 'South Dreams' Episode 9 aired as well.
Just like 'The Black Gate', public attention was overwhelmingly focused on 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'.
Its Episode 9 ratings came in at 5.23%.
Clearly, it was no longer in the same tier as the other two.
Once the Episode 9 ratings of both shows were released, industry insiders could see the problem clearly.
Both dramas were starting to show fatigue.
It wasn't that their stories were bad.
It was simply that 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' was too good.
Had Su Yan's early "half-time champagne pop" actually succeeded?
'South Dreams' had effectively lost any chance of taking the top spot.
'The Black Gate' was confirmed to end at eleven episodes. If it failed to deliver a miraculous turnaround in the remaining episodes, then 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners''s 5.52% from last week was essentially locked in as the seasonal No.1.
At this point, even the media's tone shifted.
📰'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' is just one step away from the top!
📰Will Episode 9 of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' push even higher this week and finally surpass the five-year-old record set by 'Blazing Dawn'?
📰The only true god of the season! Among three S-tier dramas, each reached the top at different stages—but 'South Dreams' faded early, 'The Black Gate' ran out of steam, and only 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' still has room to rise. Its miracle continues!
📰Genius screenwriter Su Yan elevates cyberpunk to a height it was never meant to reach. After 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners', the genre may finally take off in Xia Nation!]
📰'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' skyrockets the status of Su Yan, Shen Liqian, and Gu Qingyuan. On Xia Nation's TV popularity charts, Su Yan ranks first, while Gu Qingyuan and Shen Liqian take the top two actress spots!
📰Su Yan's god-tier masterpiece! If 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' secures the seasonal crown, it will completely cement his legacy as one of Xia Nation's top screenwriters!
📰Letting Su Yan go was Sakura TV's biggest mistake of the past decade!
📰Two years since debut, five dramas—Su Yan has turned Xia Nation's TV industry upside down!
Media hype and fan excitement reached a peak on Sunday.
In schools, offices, on the streets, and in cafés, people gathered to discuss the show, purchasing episodes on ZhongxiaNet to catch up.
At 6 p.m., the average paid view count for 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' officially surpassed 15 million.
Compared to 'South Dreams' at 11 million and 'The Black Gate' at 12.8 million, 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' was far ahead in the streaming market.
As 8 p.m. approached, ratings on Zhongxia TV surged.
Jiang Jiayi closed her laptop, stopping her chatter in Su Yan's fan group.
Her gaze shifted to the television in the living room.
Advertisements played endlessly, but her eyes were fixed on the time in the top-right corner.
8:00 p.m.
'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners' Episode 9 began.
The story picked up directly from the previous episode.
David, Rebecca, Kiwi, and the rest of the team were tempted by the fixer's massive payout and accepted the job.
They chose to leave the city and ambush an Arasaka convoy mid-route to seize a cyberware weapon.
Meanwhile, Lucy had been captured.
In the cyberpunk world, privacy didn't exist.
Hackers could dive straight into memories and tear out your deepest secrets.
Lucy's past as an Arasaka hacker, David's extraordinary cyberware resistance, and the true details behind Tanaka's death were all exposed to the fixer Faraday.
The conspiracy targeting Lucy and David was now fully formed.
Watching this, Jiang Jiayi's heart sank.
The show was thrilling to watch—David's high-difficulty combat scenes were exhilarating.
But from a narrative standpoint, David's small cyberpunk crew was nothing compared to Arasaka Corporation.
It was like mercenaries facing a professional army.
Once Arasaka had its eyes on them, how could David and Lucy possibly fight back?
As the plot advanced, Kiwi, the team's hacker, began acting strangely.
When the truth was revealed, Jiang Jiayi's eyes widened.
["So there is a traitor? Kiwi's the mole! This whole mission is bait—bait to lure David out!"]
The fixer Faraday's true goal was to capture David and Lucy, present them to Arasaka, and use the achievement to climb the corporate ladder.
Even knowing Night City was full of scum, Jiang Jiayi was furious.
After everything David and Maine's crews had done for him, no loyalty at all?
What kind of person was this?
But Episodes 9 and 10 were also the most expensive and visually spectacular episodes of 'Cyberpunk: Edgerunners'.
Before Jiang Jiayi could even process it, the action exploded.
David and his crew sped out in vehicles, clashing head-on with heavily guarded cyberware transports.
In the wastelands outside Night City, dozens of vehicles collided in chaotic combat.
"I'm not letting you use the Sandevistan—did you hear me?" Rebecca shouted as she drove, her tone sharp and stubborn.
"I know," David replied calmly.
Rebecca liked David.
Even knowing he loved Lucy, she still did.
After David began showing signs of cyberpsychosis, only Rebecca and Lucy tried to persuade him to remove his implants and return to a normal life.
But cyberware was power.
This was the path David had chosen.
He wanted Lucy to go to the moon. He wanted her to live a safe life.
He couldn't give up that power.
So, even sensing something was wrong, he accepted the high-paying job.
Ten straight minutes of highway gunfights and rocket exchanges—Jiang Jiayi was exhilarated.
So were viewers across Xia Nation.
Out of the 70 million investment, very little went to actor salaries.
Su Yan took no pay. Shen Liqian took half. Gu Qingyuan worked purely on profit sharing.
Almost all the money went into visual effects, and a huge portion of that was poured into Episodes 9 and 10.
The quality of this episode was on an entirely different level from the first eight.
David's team seized the cyberware—only to find themselves surrounded by a massive corporate ambush.
Armored vehicles, shells, and overwhelming firepower rained down.
After more than ten minutes of combat, they were driven into a corner.
Taking shelter beneath a cliff, they hid from the armored vehicles.
From here, the episode's core plot began.
With no other choice, they retreated into the transport vehicle carrying the experimental cyberware weapon—the Cyber Skeleton.
Like a compact mech suit, it granted its user terrifying power.
Watching this, Jiang Jiayi suddenly realized what was coming.
In a hopeless situation like this, with a weapon like that—
What would David do?
There was no doubt.
He would put it on and carve a path out for his friends.
And that—
It was exactly what Arasaka wanted.
The cyberware was unusable by normal people. Anyone who wore it immediately descended into cyberpsychosis, leaving its data incomplete.
Arasaka had been searching for someone like David—someone who could wear it, fight, and provide real combat data.
When the conspiracy involving Arasaka and Faraday was fully revealed, Jiang Jiayi felt her heart go cold.
A deep sense of despair spread through her chest.
How could this possibly be won?
From the very first mission to stealing the weapon—
Hundreds of armored vehicles. Hundreds of armed soldiers are waiting.
They ceased fire the moment David entered the transport vehicle, forcing him to don the cyberware and fight them head-on.
Then die—fulfilling the role Arasaka had written for him.
["That's all David is worth to them?"] Jiang Jiayi whispered. ["Night City… Arasaka… what do they even see human life as?"]
This was cyberpunk.
At first, the protagonists seemed unstoppable.
But once the world's rules were fully revealed, they were nothing more than bigger grasshoppers.
In a tech-dominated world ruled by capital, individual heroism was insignificant.
But—
David was the protagonist.
And he was not one to accept fate.
When he realized something was wrong, his first thought wasn't surrender—
It was a rebellion.