Chapter 442: Surging Sales Volume

Chapter 442: A Massive Surge in Sales

Meng Fan's signing session at the Neon Martial Arts Stadium, carried by the favorable winds of the Olympics, had drawn over eleven thousand attendees, effectively shattering almost every Guinness World Record related to such events. This time, however, he was fighting on his home turf in Hangcheng, and less than an hour after the doors opened, everyone knew that new records were destined to be written once more.

The Huanglong Gymnasium—the indoor arena, not the stadium itself—possessed eight thousand spectator seats, and it was entirely filled roughly an hour into the session. Outside, the lines remained long; as soon as Meng Fan finished signing one batch and they departed, another group would enter, and not a single seat sat vacant even as three o'clock in the afternoon arrived.

Owing to the massive crowds, Meng Fan accelerated his signing and drawing speed slightly, though he did not feel particularly rushed. Signing for about twelve hundred people per hour, using both hands simultaneously, meant that each individual was allocated roughly six seconds. It was slightly less time than he had given in Neon, but it proved sufficient, and there was still enough room for everyone to exchange a quick word with him.

Meng Fan took no breaks midway through, though he certainly managed to eat. Most amusingly, the event received some spontaneous "merchant sponsorship." At eleven-thirty in the morning, a local Hangcheng wrap chain delivered ten thousand warm wraps all at once, distributing them free of charge to the manga fans waiting in the lines and seating areas.

This maneuver was brilliantly executed.

No prior consultation had taken place with Meng Fan's team—and even if the merchants had wished to, they would have found no channel to do so. They had likely prepared the moment they learned two days ago that Meng Fan would be holding a signing in Hangcheng. When the hour arrived, they launched a surprise initiative, first delivering the food to those waiting at the entrance before naturally finding a way to bring the wraps inside.

When Meng Fan learned of this, he merely laughed. He was well aware of this particular wrap chain, and their food was genuinely delicious. He sent someone to oversee a brief food safety check before granting them passage without making things difficult. The representative from the chain expressed a willingness to pay Meng Fan a promotional fee, but Meng Fan declined; to accept money for such a gesture would have allowed them to take far too much advantage of the situation.

Consequently, this wrap chain managed to generate an advertising effect worth more than ten times their investment, spending less than one hundred thousand yuan. The fans on-site remembered the brand, and it also rode the wave of media traffic; the ingenuity of clever minds was truly formidable.

Of course, this success was largely due to encountering Meng Fan. Had it been any other celebrity, let alone wraps, even roast chicken brought to the venue would surely have been turned away. Celebrities were bound to guard against such overtly commercial maneuvers; it was only human nature.

Following the events in Hangcheng, the next three cities became even more chaotic. Merchants did not even wait for mealtime; the moment the venues opened, businesses were already distributing items at the entrances. The fans were left utterly dumbfounded, realizing that merely attending a signing session meant they could eat their fill and carry away leftovers—it was truly extraordinary.

Naturally, for the subsequent three cities, such promotions were strictly barred from entering the venues, and even outside, the vendors were driven quite a distance away to prevent any mess or disorder. Even if Meng Fan remained silent on the matter, the venue management would never permit such occurrences.

Returning to the matter at hand, Meng Fan’s initial domestic signing session proceeded exceptionally smoothly. The atmosphere was incredibly passionate yet harmonious, and the overall style remained, as always, vintage Meng Fan.

The cutoff time for the queue was set rather early, ending at six o'clock in the evening. After all, eight thousand people were still waiting inside the arena, and even so, Meng Fan did not finish signing until nearly midnight.

When the final statistics were compiled, Meng Fan had worked from nine in the morning until nearly midnight, spanning a total signing duration of almost fifteen hours. The cumulative number of attendees reached seventeen thousand, and sales at the signing venue itself soared to two hundred and ten thousand copies—of which the newly released ninth volume accounted for over one hundred and eighty thousand copies sold at this single location alone!

Many fans did not purchase merely one or two copies; a vast number bought ten at a time, even though they could only obtain a single signature unless they queued up for another round. There was no shortage of exceedingly wealthy individuals who generously purchased a hundred copies in a single breath.

Multiple metrics from this signing session vastly exceeded the relevant world records.

Furthermore, the first-day sales figures for the ninth volume of "The Mountain and Sea Wonders" were also calculated. Compared to the fifth volume, which had previously broken five hundred thousand copies on its first day, this release was even more terrifying. Within three hours of going on sale, it shattered the one-million mark; within five hours, it surpassed two million, and the final figure settled at over two point three million copies!

This time, Penguin Comic Network and the publisher had been bold, ordering an initial print run of one million copies. Yet within three hours, they realized how drastically they had underestimated Meng Fan’s popularity and the purchasing power of the public. They immediately replenished the first-day sales inventory, raising the upper limit to three million copies, meaning they could accommodate up to two million more online orders while guaranteeing shipment within three days.

First-day sales of two point three million copies—just how terrifying was that figure?

In any case, even One Piece could not achieve such numbers for a single volume within a single day.

It could not be helped; first, China possessed a massive population, and second, Meng Fan's popularity was towering. A large proportion of this purchasing power did not originate from traditional manga fans but rather from Meng Fan's broader influence. Far too many people were willing to spend eighteen yuan to support him, not to mention that everyone knew purchasing a tankobon of Meng Fan's manga offered absolute value for money. Even if one did not care to read it, keeping it simply to flip through the beautiful artwork posed no issue at all.

A senior practitioner in the domestic manga industry commented that Meng Fan’s first domestic signing session had, by his own strength alone, elevated Chinese manga sales to a height capable of rivaling the top masters of Neon, the great manga superpower!

Although any discerning observer knew that the reason Meng Fan's sales had exploded to such heights—the fifth volume having already confirmed his status as the undisputed number one in domestic manga—was largely due to the favorable winds of the Olympics, anyone who was not blind also knew that the quality of "The Mountain and Sea Wonders" would inevitably convert a large portion of those who came merely for the spectacle into genuine manga fans.

The conversion of fans required casting a wide net initially. How large the net could be woven and how wide an area it could cover depended on momentum and promotion, whereas the strength of the net and the size of its mesh determined how many fish could ultimately be hauled in—and that depended entirely on capability!

Meng Fan, leveraging the winds of the Olympics, had already woven the net large enough and cast it wide enough. His capability ensured that this net was sufficiently strong and the mesh small enough to catch an abundance of fish!

Of course, no matter how extraordinary he was, it was impossible for the mesh to be so small that even the water—those who possessed absolutely no interest in manga or Meng Fan—could be hauled in entirely. Bringing a portion of them along was already an excellent achievement.

This particular signing session was a carnival for netizens, and even more so for those within the manga industry.

The Olympic momentum surrounding Meng Fan could bring him a vast number of manga fans, which naturally brought considerable benefits to the entire industry. It would never happen that because Meng Fan’s manga was exceptional, fans would deem other people's work garbage and cease reading. Instead, it would guide more people to become a fresh, vital force of consumers for the manga market.

After concluding the signing session in Hangcheng, Meng Fan did not return home. Aside from a few team members who remained behind to handle the wrap-up work, the rest of the crew joined Meng Fan in rushing through the night to Shanghai. The second signing session was to be held at the Shanghai Gymnasium, also known as the Grand Stage, which could similarly accommodate eight thousand people.

Waking up the next morning, Meng Fan ran a few laps for his morning exercise before taking a car to the gymnasium. Along the way, he checked his phone. One of the messages was from Shi Shiwu, a singer from the Lion City who had previously mentioned wanting to write a song for Meng Fan. The WeChat message had been sent around three in the morning; such a late hour suggested he had likely stayed up all night playing video games.

"Going to your signing session tomorrow, can I cut the line? (Grinning face emoji)"

P1: Updates resume today, there will be a second update later, possibly after midnight. P2: Recommending a book, "My Backyard Connects to the Primordial Chaos"—Synopsis: Took a trip to the Primordial Chaos, oh, the Governing and Conception vessels were opened. Took another trip, and became an innate Dao body that made the immortal sects' eyes turn red with envy! What, you are the reincarnation of a three-lifetime loose immortal, a genius whose three thousand external merits are complete, and who can achieve immortality in a century? No matter, I have already become the primal teacher of the Primordial human race, the ancestor of the Earth Immortals, possessing boundless merit, and am currently charging toward the Golden Immortal Dao Lord realm!

(End of Chapter)