Chapter 25-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

 Ye Zheng's eyes widened slightly when she opened the forum and saw a whole screen filled with "Zhao Mei."

She randomly clicked into a post, and the entire thread of "Babe-Mei," "My wife," and "Cuddle cuddle" shocked her, so she quickly exited. She then chose a post that looked more serious and clicked into it.

"System, Zhao Mei seems to have a lot of... momo?"

Ye Zheng uttered the word "momo" with a stiff tone.

[Your appearance is a paradise for momo. Considering your real gender, the momo fans have gotten their wish. I hope they'll be happy when the truth is revealed later...]

Ye Zheng felt the system was being a bit passive-aggressive, but not towards her.

"If they truly love the qualities of this character, then gender shouldn't matter, right?"

[The King of the Demonic Domain IP has always been good at 'cutting the leeks' (a term for ruthlessly profiting from devoted fans). They release a lot of merchandise, but this Zhao Mei character won't have any for now.]

The system changed the subject.

"Why not?"

[The gender reversal is no less shocking than a major hero-villain reversal. At that time, many readers will definitely call it an epic scam!]

[So the officials don't dare to release any Zhao Mei merchandise for now.]

"Hmm, that's very thoughtful. It seems everyone really cares about the character's gender after all."

[You've gotten this far, you can only work hard to create more high-light moments for yourself. That way, when Babe-Mei turns into real Babe-Maiden, you can still retain some popularity.]

The system sighed.

Originally, its expectation for this female protagonist was just for her not to be so annoying. Unexpectedly, with her own actions, she successfully rose to become a popular character. It's just a shame that the higher the popularity built on a lie, the harder the fall will be.

It couldn't help but worry about what Ye Zheng planned to do about this.

Ye Zheng looked completely unconcerned. She clicked into another post that seemed to be a serious plot analysis: [Let's discuss, what's Zhao Mei's origin?]

She found that the readers' discussions gave her more information than the manga had spoiled. For example, she learned from the readers' discussions that Percy, Lucy, and Caleb were the original trio from the academy, while Roy transferred to Cloud-Soaring Academy midway and was suspected of having some unspoken relationship with the upper district.

Also, Percy's ability had a hidden secret, and he was hiding his true strength, just like her.

Ye Zheng was curious: could the readers guess her secret from Zhao Mei's brief appearances?

[#1: Let's discuss, what's Zhao Mei's origin?]

[The OP has extracted some unsolved mysteries about Zhao Mei from the sparse plot so far. Everyone is welcome to supplement and speculate.

First, what is Zhao Mei's purpose for joining the protagonist group? It's clear he's from an upper district school, but he came to join a lower district academy team. This is too strange. Is it just because he's a kindred spirit with the protagonist group?

Second, what exactly is his ability? He has never explicitly stated it, only saying he's a healer, and he hasn't even told the protagonist group his talent rank.

Third, which upper district family is Zhao Mei from? Old Uncle is always good at laying down plot threads. Zhao Mei can't be just an ordinary young master from the upper district; he must be related to a major force in the main plot. The question is, is he from the Royal family or the Sei Curia? Of course, it could be another important force.

Finally, maybe I'm being a conspiracy theorist, but is Zhao Mei really a protagonist? His appearance was too abrupt, even more abrupt than the female lead everyone is criticizing lately. Saintess Ye Zheng was at least mentioned in the earlier text, but Zhao Mei seemed to have actively appeared after spotting a gap in the protagonist group. But no one has ever cared about this point.]

As she read this analysis, the smile in Ye Zheng's eyes grew fainter and fainter. Looking at it from a God's perspective, Zhao Mei's appearance was full of loopholes, but what was interesting was that people's focus was never on these issues. So far, only this post was seriously analyzing Zhao Mei.

She had to prepare for the worst. If the readers were trending towards guessing her secret, she had to make timely adjustments.

[#2: Wow, with the OP's analysis, it feels like Zhao Mei definitely has a lot of major scenes coming up.]

[#3: I have a crazy guess about Zhao Mei's background. Earlier, when Saintess Ye Zheng was mentioned, it was said that her family had a younger brother who was a rare S-rank healer plus attacker. He originally had a high chance of becoming a substitute member of the Royal team, but now the Royal team's substitute member is Ye Zheng... so where did this brother go?]

[#4: Holy moly, is the person above the real deal?]

[#5: OMG, did #3 secretly peek at Old Uncle's draft?]

The following comments all followed the #3's viewpoint and ran wild with their imagination. The more Ye Zheng read, the more bizarre it got.

[#45: It was mentioned in the background intro that the head of the Ye family is an upper district Grand Judge. Children from this kind of family should be very righteous, so it's perfectly reasonable for Zhao Mei, as the Grand Judge's son, to come and help the lower district protagonist group!]

[#46: The guess about him being the Ye family's son perfectly solves all of the OP's  questions. Could #3 really be a genius?]

...

[#107: Old Uncle must be sweating profusely right now! We've seen right through it all!]

[#108: If that's the case, Zhao Mei's character design is absolutely amazing! He gave up his privileged life as a young master for fairness and justice, hiding his identity to fight for the people's benefit with the protagonist group... Oh my god, the true white moonlight male lead has appeared!]

[#109: Zhao Mei must be the name he gave himself. 'Zhao' means 'morning,' and 'Mei' has the meaning of 'darkness' or 'uncertainty.' Together, it means the faint morning light at dawn, the first appearance of hope. This name is an allusion to his character. He walks in the darkest dawn to bring hope to the protagonist group!]

Ye Zheng held her phone, browsing the readers' comments, and slowly tilted her head. Her lips parted slightly before she closed them, a subtle expression on her face.

"System, it seems we don't have to worry about being exposed for now."

How did these readers manage that? This guess isn't exactly far from the truth, at least in terms of blood relation, it's pretty close...

Ye Zheng felt she had worried too much. Everyone would rather guess it was Ye Di, and no one had mentioned her. It seemed that unless she exposed herself, the readers would never connect Ye Zheng and Zhao Mei as the same person.

[This guess won't last long. Ye Di has scenes later on, but it looks like for now, they won't guess it's you...]

The system clicked its tongue in amazement. From a God's perspective, it felt it was easy to guess. Ye Zheng, as Zhao Mei, was essentially being herself. The two characters, besides gender, were actually very similar, and they had never appeared together, which was all the more chilling and irrefutable proof!

Ye Zheng turned off her phone and peeked out from under the eaves where she was relaxing to observe the situation of her teammates. Just then, she heard Percy shout, "I get it, what these shadows are!"

"They are our duplicates; they will get stronger and become more like us over time."

"Also, our original power is weakening. If we don't eliminate them soon, we will be completely replaced."

Percy's face was grim. Amid a flurry of chaotic black butterflies, he seized the opportunity to slash at Lucy's shadow with his greatsword. The shadow split into two again, but this time it didn't heal. It turned into ash and vanished in the sunlight.

Percy was stunned, then quickly understood, "The more human-like the shadow becomes, the more it has human weaknesses."

"It seems the difficulty of this Demonic Domain should be around B-rank, not too hard."

A slightly hoarse voice analyzed. Percy turned to face the direction of the voice, and Zhao Mei, who had been resting nearby, slowly walked over.

The young man's face was exceptionally fair, almost translucent in the sunlight, but to Percy and the others, Zhao Mei looked deathly pale from weakness, yet was still trying to maintain a comforting smile.

"What's wrong?"

The young man tilted his head, seemingly puzzled by their collective gaze.

"You've finished your fight; it's my turn to appear."

The black-haired, green-eyed youth naturally grabbed Percy's arm, and a warm stream of water flowed over Percy's wound.

"You know more about Lucy's Butterfly Waltz than I do. If you don't get treated soon, you'll all be paralyzed."

The four teammates obediently lined up to wait for Zhao Mei's healing. Lucy's ability was more supportive; her shadows were easy to deal with, but the lingering side effects were tough. They were all grateful for this substitute competition format, which allowed them to bring Zhao Mei along.

Perhaps the competition officials had taken the difficulty into account and specifically allowed them to bring one extra member.

Even with his injuries completely healed, Percy's expression remained serious. He looked at Zhao Mei with embarrassment, "I'm sorry, you need to rest, but you still have to use your energy to heal us..."

Lucy jumped up and bumped Percy's shoulder, her tone displeased, "What are you apologizing for? Zhao Mei is our teammate and friend; you're being too distant!"

Then, she lifted her face, her eyes sparkling, "After the Ability Competition, I'll drag Zhao Mei to my house to recuperate. My family's ranch raises everything, and everything tastes good!"

The black-haired, green-eyed youth chuckled, and couldn't help but pat the girl's head, "Alright. It's rare for me to visit the west district anyway."

Everyone also started joking. Caleb asked softly if Lucy's family would charge them, and Roy stressed that Lucy wasn't allowed to team up with her 'laoxiang' (person from the same hometown) to scam them (a phrase meaning to take advantage of someone you know well). It seemed everyone had a lot of experience being tricked by Lucy.

In the cheerful and relaxed atmosphere of the young people, Ye Zheng lowered her eyes, concealing the faint emotions within. In her heart, she knew very clearly that after the competition, she would no longer be Zhao Mei and go to Lucy's house with them as a guest.

At this moment, as Zhao Mei, she wore a light smile, her eyes gentle with a hint of longing, as if she was truly looking forward to their post-championship vision with her companions.

---

On the other side of the street.

A pair of young people walked side by side. The silver-haired boy had a carefree posture and a grinning expression, while the white-haired girl had a serious face and strange white pupils, looking utterly bizarre.

"They all ran into their shadows, but how come our shadows haven't even appeared?"

After speaking, Yin Kong seemed amused by his own words and laughed a few more times.

"Bai Muqing, tell me, which team did our shadows go to harm?"

Bai Muqing frowned with her white eyebrows, her tone a little irritable, "The only ones who have arrived besides us are that Cloud-Soaring Squad from the lower district and the guys from the first upper district academy."

"They're all boring opponents."

The girl added indifferently.

Yin Kong asked, "What kind of opponent would be interesting? The Crown Prince's team? Or maybe something more specific... Ye Zheng."

Bai Muqing turned her head expressionlessly, her blind-like white eyes staring intently at the boy, "Don't try to guess what I'm thinking."

Yin Kong's interest was piqued, and he pressed on, "Are you still hung up on her? Do you really hate her that much? It's just losing the competition for Saintess to her. That Saintess position isn't anything great anyway."

He truly couldn't understand why Ye Zheng and Bai Muqing were both so eager to pursue the position of Saintess, which was just a glamorous-sounding puppet role.

Bai Muqing gave a cold laugh, "Besides the position of Saintess, what other positions can we female ability users strive for? Bishop? Cleric?"

Yin Kong thought seriously for a moment, "If it weren't for your... unusual appearance, with your family background and talent, you might already be the Crown Princess."

"As for Ye Zheng, if her talent weren't a bit lacking, with her methods, she probably would have already secured the position of Crown Princess."

Bai Muqing's smile grew colder, and her empty white eyes looked at her teammate with mockery.

"That's why we all fight so hard for the position of Saintess."

Yin Kong, who was usually smart and loved to manipulate people's minds, took a while to realize that the Crown Prince seemed to be thoroughly despised by these two women.

Bai Muqing didn't pay any more attention to Yin Kong. If she hadn't heard that Ye Zheng was also participating in this competition, she wouldn't have come to be a substitute.

She slowly blinked. Blinking was not necessary for her, but she had developed the habit because not blinking for a long time made her seem too alien.

Having awakened her Divine Domain talent at birth, she had never used her eyes to see the world.

Her talent, [Divine Domain], allowed her to see the spiritual and essential nature of all things.

Therefore, the moment Bai Muqing "saw" Ye Zheng, she hated her.

Why would an apostate compete for the position of Saintess? This was a blasphemy against the God of Hope!

However, the charge of being an apostate was too serious for Saintess Ye Zheng, and Bai Muqing had never told anyone about it.

She hated Ye Zheng and also resented her own incompetence, allowing an apostate to take that position. The fact that Ye Zheng was the Saintess was unchangeable, but it didn't matter; she still had a chance to "enlighten" her.

"Let's finish this quickly. There's no reason to stay in this Demonic Domain."

The girl spoke coldly. She closed her bizarre white eyes, and her lips moved as if she was chanting something.

"Divine Domain, unfold."

A dazzling white light suddenly burst across the sky. The light scattered throughout the entire Demonic Domain, and everywhere it landed seemed to be touched with a holy aura.

The boys of the Cloud-Soaring Squad stopped their joking, and without a word, looked up at the sudden divine miracle, their eyes filled with awe.

Ye Zheng also looked up with her teammates, but there was no hint of a smile in her eyes as she gazed at the sky.

Author's Note:

Because I'm poor and couldn't find a suitable cover, I referenced other creators' templates and drew one myself. I feel this creative idea is super suitable for Zheng-zheng! I hope you won't mind it...

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