Chapter 27-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation

Yin Kong was having an animated conversation with Percy. During the second phase of the competition, he found this guy from the lower district very interesting, someone who hid many secrets and had a strange fate.

He had to pay attention.

Yin Kong stole a glance at his partner, surprised to find Bai Muqing cooperating so meekly with the new face from the Cloud-Soaring Squad for treatment.

His gaze shifted to the black-haired, green-eyed youth, who had just finished the treatment and was walking towards them with Bai Muqing.

"Your new teammate? Does the lower district academy have someone like this?"

Yin Kong inquired.

Percy, understandingly, helped his teammate cover up, "Of course, Zhao Mei is an integral part of our Cloud-Soaring Academy."

Zhao Mei? For a moment, Yin Kong found the name a bit strange to pronounce. He continued to scrutinize the youth, his eyebrows raising in surprise.

Elegant posture, gentle and reserved demeanor, slender and tall figure.

This person's demeanor and figure were very similar to a certain Saintess. That's probably what she would look like if she disguised herself as a man.

Yin Kong suddenly curled his lips, laughing at his own whimsical thought. How could that be? She was clearly with the Crown Prince's team and had a mission from the Pope. Anyone with a sound mind wouldn't defy these two most powerful people in the empire to help a desolate lower district squad.

Unless Ye Zheng, like him, had the 'Fate' talent, she wouldn't actively approach this destined team that only he knew about. However, Fate was his talent, Yin Kong thought self-assuredly.

Yin Kong's gaze moved back to his partner. Bai Muqing stood next to Zhao Mei expressionlessly, but based on his understanding of her, she wasn't in a bad mood at the moment. In fact, she seemed more at ease than she was with him.

Good, Bai Muqing's reaction completely ruled out the absurd possibility that it was Ye Zheng.

So Yin Kong extended his hand to the black-haired, green-eyed youth, giving a dashing smile, "Hello, my healer friend, I get injured easily, so remember to take good care of me."

The youth, as elegant and quiet as a black cat, returned a smile, quickly shook Yin Kong's outstretched hand, and then politely and swiftly pulled it back. "Certainly, it's a pleasure to cooperate."

The silver-haired youth's cheeky smile faltered. He wondered why he felt particularly unwelcome today.

After a pleasant exchange, the two from the Divine Academy and the Cloud-Soaring Squad continued together.

Bai Muqing walked at the very front, looking like she didn't want to talk to anyone. Lucy quietly sidled up to her teammate and whispered, "Babe-Mei, are all the people who deal with gods so strange?"

"Well, I heard the Saintess Ye Zheng is easy to get along with."

Lucy pouted. "Anyone teamed up with Sykes is definitely not a good person."

Ye Zheng couldn't help but let out a soft laugh.

"Lucy has a point."

The youths traveled together lively, and for a moment, the treacherous Demonic Domain seemed to have become a place for an outing.

With the alliance from the Divine Academy, everyone felt much more at ease, and their steps became more relaxed. Powerful companions could greatly increase survival rates in the Demonic Domain.

"Aaaaaah!"

An unfamiliar scream suddenly broke the calm atmosphere. The youths, who had just been laughing and talking, stopped with heightened vigilance.

Ye Zheng looked up in the direction of the sound. The streets were lined with crowded buildings, and she didn't see anyone. What she saw was a sword... that went straight into the clouds?

A gigantic sword was plunged into the ground, like a divine weapon left behind by a god, exuding an untouchable and dangerous aura.

Ye Zheng's eyes flickered, and she frowned slightly in confusion.

She remembered that place should have been a clock tower. Now the clock tower was gone, leaving only a giant sword of similar height standing there.

Suddenly, she looked at Percy as if sensing something. Percy's expression was unprecedentedly solemn, and he spoke with difficulty, "That is my ability."

Percy's ability, [Metal Transmutation], not only allowed him to turn his body parts into metal but also to transmute objects he touched into the weapons he desired.

But how could anyone control such a massive sword? Not even Percy himself could do it, let alone an un-matured shadow.

The next moment, she keenly noticed that the sword was loosening, and the ground seemed to tremble slightly. Ye Zheng's eyes widened abruptly, her usually gentle and reserved expression unable to suppress her surprise and anger.

"Quickly, get everyone to evacuate, get away from the buildings!"

The youth shouted to evacuate, but amid the chaos, he ran forward more urgently than anyone else. The giant sword, which had fallen from the sky, seemed to be grasped by an invisible hand, pulled out of the ground, and swept everything in mid-air!

The surrounding houses were cut in half by the sharp, gigantic blade and instantly collapsed, raising a cloud of dust that blotted out the sky. The people who had been taking shelter inside fled in a state of helplessness and terror, like ants whose nest had suddenly been stepped on.

"How is this possible! Percy's shadow can't be this strong."

Roy yelled in disbelief.

"Summoning objects out of thin air is the ability of the captain of the upper district's First Academy team. We're not the only two teams here."

Yin Kong's smile also faded.

"I can feel the aura of the Divine Domain. That's my shadow, greatly enhancing them."

Bai Muqing's eerie white pupils narrowed, and an even more terrifying aura spread from her.

Suddenly, the aura stopped. Bai Muqing opened her eyes, staring blankly into the void.

Someone was missing from the team. Where was Ye Zheng?

[Hey, wait! Although the plot here is about strong people uniting and you don't have much of a role, isn't it bad to just run off?]

The system said urgently. It couldn't understand why Ye Zheng had suddenly run towards the enemy area, which had already become a pile of ruins.

[The manga's focus is on the main characters. Even if you want to add a high-light moment for yourself, you shouldn't rashly come here!]

The smoke from the collapsing buildings had not yet dissipated. Ye Zheng's eyes teared up from the dust, the corners of her eyes a little red.

In contrast to her disheveled appearance were her methodical movements. Ye Zheng squatted down on one knee, her fair and delicate right hand resting on the dirty ground without a care. Clear streams of water flowed and spread from under her hand, consciously dividing into countless small rivulets.

The aftershock was not over. The surrounding buildings were still shaky, and dangerous stones and beams fell from time to time, making the system tremble with fear.

[It's too dangerous here. Your defensive ability isn't that good!]

Ye Zheng gave a perfunctory "Mhmm."

"But ordinary people are more fragile than I am."

Ye Zheng closed her eyes. The tiny rivulets, carrying her consciousness, drilled into the crevices of the ruins and then touched a still warm human body.

She heard a little girl's intermittent, pained moans. She controlled the water to slowly climb onto the girl's blood-and-flesh-covered legs, bringing a cool and comfortable temperature amidst the stuffy, bloody air.

The distance was too far for Ye Zheng to precisely control the water to move the fallen objects, but she could alleviate the injuries and race against death.

And there were more people who had been affected, and the water continued to delve deeper...

[Outside, Percy and the others are already fighting the shadows. It's easy for this place to be affected again.]

[Ye Zheng, the manga's lens won't record everything you're doing here. The passionate, intense battlefield outside is where a character in a hot-blooded shonen manga should be!]

[Go outside and show off the powerful strength you're currently displaying. Your popularity will definitely double!]

Outside the ruins, the sound of fierce fighting was incessant. One could imagine, with their eyes closed, how these young people, who could be called "Heaven's Favorites," were using their unparalleled talents in a way that would make people's blood boil.

Ye Zheng still had her eyes closed, her face calm, with fine beads of sweat on her dust-covered forehead.

"To you, this is a manga."

"To me, it's a very real world."

She didn't live as a manga character from King of the Demonic Domain. She was a resident of this nation, the Saintess of the Sei Curia, the daughter of a certain middle-aged woman, the granddaughter of a certain elderly lady... These countless social connections supported her existence as Ye Zheng.

"Don't worry, I'm far more powerful than you can imagine."

Powerful enough to support all of this.

The youth looked fragile and soft-hearted, but what the system didn't know was that Ye Zheng was already very skilled at this sort of thing long before it arrived.

As the Saintess, her activities in the lower district weren't just about healing people injured in the Demonic Domain. She would also lead the knight order to actively enter the Demonic Domain. Although Ye Zheng deliberately hid her strength, she often secretly and silently destroyed the core in the shadows.

The Demonic Domains she set foot in always had the smallest number of casualties, even though people in the upper district always thought she was just a little princess sheltered by the knight order, and whenever the Saintess was mentioned, only her outstanding beauty and impeccable etiquette were brought up.

There weren't many people buried in the ruins, but it wasn't easy to take care of more than a dozen people at the same time. Ye Zheng's brow remained tightly furrowed.

Suddenly, she let her eyebrows relax, a hint of a relieved smile on her lips.

A holy point of light landed on her shoulder, and a strange power surged from the depths of her soul. She didn't resist it.

With the Divine Domain's blessing, Ye Zheng continued to expand the range of her ability, surging forward like a boundless ocean.

The system had one thing wrong. Her coming here to take care of ordinary people didn't mean she couldn't join the main characters' battlefield.

The flowing water was gentle and formless, yet it was endless. Ye Zheng could already sense the positions of the shadows outside. The subtle streams of water, which no one had paid attention to, had already wrapped around the shadows' footsteps.

On that note, destroying a Demonic Domain required eliminating the core, which was usually the most powerful monster in the Demonic Domain.

So, should she kill Percy's shadow or Bai Muqing's shadow?

"System, if I want to kill the core, will the manga's rules stop me? I don't seem to have enough 'action points' to steal the male lead's spotlight."

The system was strangely silent for a moment.

[Slaying the core isn't Percy's highlight. It won't take many action points... Maybe you can try, provided you're sure you're strong enough.]

[The core of this Demonic Domain is even something the main characters can't handle. If you can take it down, you might gain enough popularity to steal the main character's spotlight.]

[I must remind you again, outside of the original plot, your safety is not protected! The consequences are on you alone.]

"Mhmm."

The girl hummed noncommittally at the system's words. At that moment, a chorus of exclamations erupted from outside the ruins.

"Wait! Where did this great flood come from!"

"The shadows are being washed away! Damn it, I'm going to be washed away too!"

A roaring flood swept through the entire street. What was strange was that the houses on both sides of the street seemed to be isolated and were not affected at all.

It was as if the vast, surging water was only here to cleanse the chaotic main road.

"System, was this mentioned in my character profile?"

"Actually, what I'm least skilled at is healing."

Author's note:

So many of you have discovered this story, and I'm so happy! I wanted to update more, but my eyes are inflamed today. I'll try to update more in the future!

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