Chapter 24-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
In the opening of the manga, the main characters begin their daily training to level up.
Although everyone's ability talent is C-rank or below, their teamwork is so well-coordinated that they often achieve an effect far greater than the sum of their parts. Many readers suspect that Percy's true rank is not E and that the test might have been a mistake due to his talent being too high.
Next, the teams for the promotion tournament gather, and the rules are announced. The Crown Prince's team hasn't arrived, and Li Yixin sighs in disappointment.
She scrolls down, and a gentle boy with black hair and green eyes pushes open the door, bringing new equipment for the main characters' team. Upon seeing Zhao Mei, Li Yixin immediately forgets about the Crown Prince.
There's no time to mourn the prince's absence, as the new storyline she's been pushing for is about to begin!
Various high-end equipment piles up on the table, and even Li Yixin, watching from her screen, gets excited by Zhao Mei's generosity.
The comments section also starts buzzing with excitement.
[Ahhh, Zhao Mei is a rich young master after all]
[Haha, the Cloud-Soaring Squad is also latching onto the leg of a rich and beautiful person]
[Babe-Mei, please be my sugar daddy!]
[Perc's Kitchen says thank you, our poor boy can finally wear new gear!]
[I'm getting another dose of PerMei, the setting of a gentle rich kid and a commoner protagonist is so perfect...]
Each member receives suitable equipment, showing that Zhao Mei must have put a lot of thought into it. Even the shoes given to Lucy are the exact right size.
However, when Li Yixin sees Lucy reject the shoes from Zhao Mei, her brow gradually furrows.
It's because Zhao Mei gave Lucy a pair of flat boots that, by comparison, she suddenly finds Lucy wearing kitten heels a bit strange, a detail she had never noticed before.
Once, for the sake of looking good in photos, she wore shoes with a lift during a sports meet at school and almost ruined her legs. After that incident, she stayed far away from high heels.
Yet Lucy wears such shoes while fighting—it must be so hard.
But it's a two-dimensional world, and the creator has always had a "straight male aesthetic" (meaning, an aesthetic perceived to be held by straight men), so it's understandable, she thinks.
She opens the comments and, sure enough, some people are discussing this issue.
[Sigh, I've always found it weird for female characters to fight in high heels. I hope the creator can change it?]
[Zhao Mei is so thoughtful, but the flat boots are a bit ugly, haha]
[High heels are indeed pretty, and female characters in anime should fight beautifully. Don't tell the creator how to create]
[Bitches, please don't comment. If she doesn't wear high heels, will you wear them for me?]
[Do women even understand passionate shonen manga? You just focus on the characters' clothes and shoes all the time]
Li Yixin frowns. She didn't expect such a small issue to cause an argument, mixed with some disgusting comments from male readers.
As a passionate shonen manga, King of the Demonic Domain has always had many male readers. It was just that female readers were more active in fan creations, which made her overlook the other group—the intended audience for this manga.
Originally, she also thought wearing high heels was a minor issue, but after seeing the comments from this group, she suddenly hoped that Lucy would put on the boots Zhao Mei gave her.
Then, a Demonic Domain descends, and Li Yixin's spirits lift. The main event is finally starting!
A rule-based Demonic Domain, shadows that can copy abilities, and teams from other academies that haven't officially appeared yet make her focus intently on every panel of the manga.
Zhao Mei has an unexpectedly large amount of screen time in the new chapter, especially in his interactions with Lucy, which even surpass his exchanges with Percy.
In particular, Zhao Mei specifically heals Lucy, and in the tense atmosphere of the battle, the two of them share a heartwarming moment that feels isolated from the rest of the world.
Li Yixin's face twitches. No way, is Old Uncle trying to push a straight couple recently? Don't do that!
[Zhao Mei really seems to care about Lucy. He was also gentle when he put on her waist protector before. Let's ship them a little]
[They just have a bestie vibe. What's there to ship? Don't have a "sex-oriented brain" (性缘脑, a term used to mock people who see romantic or sexual relationships in every interaction)]
[Agree with you babe. Why ship in a passionate shonen manga?]
[CB (friend/no-romance pairing) is the best!]
Seeing that the comments are mostly against the pairing, Li Yixin secretly breathes a sigh of relief. She can accept a PerMei couple, but being paired with a female character... it feels like it would lower Zhao Mei's character, as if he's being tied to trivial romance.
Next, Zhao Mei voluntarily offers to stay behind and handle the shadow by himself. The stunning close-up shot makes Li Yixin almost hold her breath, forgetting her recent displeasure.
The gentle boy stands at the intersection of light and shadow. Half of his elegant and graceful face is hidden in the shadows, while his other green eye gleams in the sunlight like the most brilliant gem. His mysterious and gentle aura intertwine, making people want to get closer and be deeply drawn to him.
"Don't worry, I'll catch up with you."
The boy smiles gently. Though a delicate healer, he gives everyone an infinite sense of security at this moment.
Percy and Zhao Mei share a knowing glance, their mutual trust conveyed in the unspoken eye contact.
Then Percy turns and leads the rest of the squad to pursue the other three shadows, and Zhao Mei's figure disappears from the manga panel.
The four members of the Cloud-Soaring Squad begin to fight the black shadows, but Li Yixin can no longer concentrate on the main characters' subsequent storyline.
Li Yixin shakes her phone, yelling, "Please, let me see Zhao Mei again!"
Can Zhao Mei really handle the monster alone? How could everyone be so willing to leave a gentle beauty who looks easy to bully behind?
The comments section also gets lively because of Zhao Mei, even though he's no longer in the manga panels.
[Ahhh, don't go! Old Uncle, give the camera back to Zhao Mei!]
[Wuwu, I want to know what happened when Zhao Mei was left alone. He should return safely, right?]
[PerMei is booming! The trust and implicit understanding between them seconds all other pairings]
[Old Uncle, please keep this standard. This kind of bond between young men is what we want to see, not some weird female lead]
[Even those who don't ship PerMei are winning. Isn't this so much better to ship than their forced meeting in the Honorary Cemetery?]
Although Li Yixin ships PerSy, she isn't against the PerMei shippers in the comments. After all, Zhao Mei is so great, it's only human nature to want to be with him!
As long as Old Uncle doesn't force an official female couple, she's fine. It's not that she dislikes female characters, but female characters often lack the tension. It's easier for male characters to have a strong partnership and couple-like chemistry. Similarly, as a gentle beauty and a healer, Zhao Mei is clearly more vibrant than the newly introduced Ye Zheng.
To see Zhao Mei again, Li Yixin skims through the main characters' storyline for the first time so quickly, barely paying attention to Percy, whom she used to like so much.
Finally, on the last few pages of the manga, she sees Zhao Mei again.
The black shadows hide themselves again, and the Cloud-Soaring Squad is on high alert.
The boy appears in this tense atmosphere. Dressed in black to match his black hair and eyes, he looks like a nimble, mysterious black cat. He waves to his teammates, as gentle and composed as ever.
"You've got several scratches here. Why didn't you heal yourself?"
"It's nothing. I'll just heal it once my ability recovers."
Several bloody marks hang on the boy's fair arm. Li Yixin thinks that as a healer, Zhao Mei is unable to heal even himself. What a fierce battle he must have gone through!
Perhaps he hides more wounds under his black clothes, and maybe it's because he's used to hiding his injuries that he always wears black...
She almost wants to tie the creator down and demand to know how Zhao Mei, as a healer, dealt with the monsters when the main team was away. What kind of past did he have to develop such a gentle yet heart-wrenching personality?
The new chapter of the manga is finished, but Li Yixin is still craving more. She can't wait to click into the forum and discuss Zhao Mei with everyone.
The forum is already taken over by Zhao Mei. She casually clicks into a hot post.
[[#1: Mysterious, powerful, and kind, can Zhao Mei become one of the three popular gods of King of the Demonic Domain?]
Debating popularity often leads to fan wars. Currently, the most popular characters in the manga are Percy and Crown Prince Sykes, whose popularity is far ahead of everyone else. Other characters, such as the tsundere Roy and the fun-seeker(乐子人, people who enjoys watching chaos and drama) Yin Kong, are also highly popular.
Having been in the two-dimensional fandom for so many years, Li Yixin is good at judging a character's popularity. Percy, as the protagonist, shows powerful strength and leadership from the start, which is more appealing than a traditional weak protagonist. Sykes is handsome and strong, and his malicious and domineering personality is also very popular in the two-dimensional world, making him a necessary popular handsome villain in shonen manga.
As for Zhao Mei, he is the "beautiful, strong, and tragic" male supporting character that King of the Demonic Domain is currently lacking!
This type of character is usually a bosom buddy who cherishes the protagonist, a powerful teammate who makes huge contributions to the team in silence, and maybe even sacrifices his life to defeat the final boss, becoming everyone's "white moonlight" (an unattainable ideal or beautiful memory)...
The more she reads, the more she feels that Zhao Mei's role is exactly this!
[#2: I'm a Zhao Mei fan, I don't want to compare popularity, but he's really gained a lot of fans recently.]
[#3: Just his looks alone are enough to make him a popular character. Babe-Mei seconds all others!]
[#4: At first, I also liked to call him "waifu" and "Babe-Mei," but after reading the new chapter, Zhao Mei is not just a pretty face. He clearly has a complex character setting. I hope everyone stops using feminine terms to call him. Zhao Mei is a man.]
[#5: I agree with the above. Zhao Mei is just pretty, not effeminate. Based on the new chapter, besides healing, he also clearly possesses a mysterious attack ability. He is definitely a male among males!]
[#6: Calling him "waifu" is just a way of expressing affection. What's wrong with feminine terms? It's the highest compliment for a man.]
[#7: Oh, my goodness. Can you guys stop stepping on feminine terms and then stealing them...]
[#8: I'm putting this out there: once the mysteries surrounding Zhao Mei are gradually revealed, his popularity will definitely not lose to Percy and Sykes. He's a guaranteed member of the popularity trio.]
Li Yixin feels conflicted. The fact that the Zhao Mei fan base is fighting among themselves means that Zhao Mei is genuinely popular now.
She continues to browse other hot posts about Zhao Mei, thinking, "This is bad, I accidentally got into a hot fandom again."
Once Zhao Mei's storyline is further developed, his popularity will surely soar even more. She wonders when King of the Demonic Domain will release official merchandise for Zhao Mei. She is already prepared to buy a lot of merch!
Sigh, there's still too little information about Zhao Mei, not even his birthday. She hopes Old Uncle will quickly advance Zhao Mei's plot. Then, she can create a merch display for his birthday.
[Real-time popularity is at 20,000! This is a completely valid appearance!]
"This is great, I don't have to make those weird expressions."
In the midst of the chaotic battle, the gentle and delicate-looking boy doesn't focus on fighting. Instead, he quietly curls his lips into an inappropriate smile.
[Action Points deducted by 15.]
Ye Zheng objectively evaluates herself. She is a very good actress. Even in front of a worm she wants to kill, she can still put on a gentle and tolerant expression when she's temporarily powerless. As for surprise, admiration, and adoration, she can easily and vividly show them on her face.
But after acting for so long, she gets tired.
[Although you are also a popular character and have a lot of Action Points, you're using them too casually... Making an expression can still provide 'fujoshi bait' for the PerMei couple. You're one of the mainstream couples now.]
"My current role is just to make expressions. This kind of plot can be deleted without issue."
"I'd rather spend 15 points to relax."
Percy and the others are currently fighting the shadows. Since she doesn't need to react to them to highlight the protagonist and doesn't have any other effective fighting scenes, she might as well leave the battlefield and rest on the side.
Anyway, everyone thinks she's injured, so it's reasonable for her to stay on the side and not be a burden.
"Is my popularity rising that fast? Let me check the forum's reaction."
Ye Zheng nimbly withdraws from the fierce fight. She stands on the periphery, no longer paying attention to her teammates fighting hard nearby. She even takes out her phone and starts slacking off on the spot.
Author's note:
Zheng Zheng: My teammates fight, I slack off, but that doesn't stop me from being a beautiful, strong, and tragic "white moonlight."
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