Chapter 46-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
If Ye Zheng did not know she was in a manga, she might have considered the possibility of a coincidence.
This was a man-made work; the creator would not waste the foreshadowing they had laid out. Especially since the protagonist, Percy, was also a witness to that incident. The creator had even arranged for the male and female leads, who shared the same experience, to meet in the cemetery that commemorated the Blood Flower' Incident.
The abnormal Demonic Domain that appeared in the lower district this time must be related to what happened back then.
[What are you thinking?]
The system suddenly spoke.
"What do you mean, what am I thinking?"
[You must hate those people from back then too. I thought you'd feel gratified seeing this.]
"Kill all the powerful nobles who trampled on the lives of my family? That sounds gratifying, but unfortunately, killing alone isn't enough to finish them all."
Wen Jian was right. He had taught her the most important lesson of her life.
He used a bloody and cruel truth to shatter the ivory tower little Ye Zheng had lived in all her life, and so, she began to think.
The two old teachers taught her to have a kindness and sense of responsibility that matched her noble status. Her father told her that pursuing fairness and excellence was the pride of the Ye family as nobles. Her mother encouraged her to strive upward, that all efforts would be rewarded.
However, at the age of eight, she saw that beneath noble status lay character worse than that of insects. Fairness and excellence were fawningly open only to the upper class. As for striving and rewards... Her mother strove her entire life without gaining any substantive rights, while Wen Jian casually stepped on the tragedy of hundreds of people to secure his own bright future.
"Do you know? The moment that shocked me the most back then wasn't when the Demonic Domain disappeared and a river of blood like minced meat gushed out."
"It was when the verdict came out, and those who were brutalized, my family, became 'voluntary' righteous people, while those insects became the championed righteous cause, as if dying for them was such a noble thing."
"At that time, I was thinking, who allowed them to do this? Why did they dare to do this? Why did no one jump out to expose the truth?"
Ye Zheng's voice was almost inaudible.
"The eight-year-old Ye Zheng didn't dare to either, just like she didn't dare to enter that Demonic Domain."
The system was silent for a while before it slowly spoke.
[Those people will receive the judgment they deserve. Percy, like you, cannot forget this matter.]
Speaking of Percy, Ye Zheng blinked, the smile on her face deepening.
"Then as the protagonist, how will he pass judgment on this matter?"
Without waiting for the system to speak, Ye Zheng answered her own question.
"He will win the ability user tournament, perhaps even defeat the prophesied super S-rank Demonic Domain, becoming the hero of the Empire. Then he will gain status and power, qualifying him to judge those old and incompetent insects."
[...]
This time, the system's silence was even longer, as if a hidden secret had been exposed.
"Don't be surprised. This is a drama, and the tropes of a drama are nothing more than these."
Ye Zheng even smiled to comfort the exposed system. Her jet-black eyes were still fixed on the window, as if foreseeing a distant future.
"And then the manga's story will probably come to a perfect end here, but this world will keep on spinning."
"Tell me, will Percy, who has everything after the story ends, ever think about it? The very power he holds in his hands at this moment, the power that allows him to execute justice, was also the power that drove his family, my family, and the families of hundreds to their deaths back then."
This corrupt society will still not change its corrupt nature. Percy's happy ending is just a beautiful flower adorning the rotten soil.
[You're thinking too deeply. This is just a hot-blooded shonen manga.]
[As the protagonist, he will work hard to improve this world. You've met Percy. He is a kind, brave, capable, and idealistic person, worthy of trust.]
Ye Zheng said no more. She occasionally had the need to confide, but she was still accustomed to restraint and reservation.
What this world needs is not improvement, but destruction and rebirth.
Besides, what does what Percy wants to do have to do with her?
Ye Zheng would forge a world she desired with her own hands.
"Speaking of which, I'm very lucky to have you in charge of me."
[Wh-why are you suddenly being so direct, that's against the rules!]
The system sounded a bit flustered.
The girl's eyes curved in the morning light, her smile radiant.
If it were a smarter, more alert system, it wouldn't be so easy to get information from. Ye Zheng wouldn't have spoken so easily either; she was well aware of how much of a change her plans would bring to the entire Empire, to the entire manga.
"Right, what's my popularity value now?"
Before the system had time to think too deeply, Ye Zheng changed the subject.
[Current Popularity Value: Zhao Mei 24125, Ye Zheng 6200. Remaining action points: 150.]
Ye Zheng vaguely remembered that "Ye Zheng's" popularity was just over 2000 last time. It had tripled this time?
[The plot where you saved the shelter this time made a fool out of a group of readers who were bad-mouthing you, and you gained another wave of fans. Also, a fan-made video produced by a Ye Zheng stan went viral, which greatly increased your visibility!]
"A fan-made video?"
Ye Zheng's voice sounded a little puzzled.
[It's a short video with scenes edited to music. In short, it's a form of entertainment that doesn't exist in your world.]
"Sounds interesting. Is there no chance for me to see it? Just like how I can see the reader forum."
[This...] The company hasn't granted permission for that.
"Is it really not possible, System?"
Ye Zheng dragged out her words slightly, her voice softening.
The system struggled painfully. The company hadn't given permission, but it didn't seem to be explicitly forbidden either?
"Tang Mingxi, you're amazing! That video already has 300,000 likes!"
"Ah, it's alright. My video edits of female idols' outfit changes have gotten millions of likes."
Li Yixin could hear the irrepressible pride in her friend's tone and couldn't help but laugh. She was holding her phone, the screen showing the homepage of an account.
The account name was "Heartbeat Accelerator," and it currently had 50,000 followers, with over a hundred videos posted.
"I never expected the stats to be this good. Most of my followers are K-ent fans, so when I suddenly switched lanes, some of them said it was a case of 'a fan of both sides is overjoyed'."
"Hehe, what can I say? My girl is just that charming."
Li Yixin listened to her friend ramble on as she watched the latest video on Tang Mingxi's account again.
The video was only ten seconds long. It began with soft, calm music. Tang Mingxi had selected three close-up shots of Ye Zheng's face from the manga. The black-haired, black-eyed girl was either smiling or lowering her eyes with a hint of melancholy. Frame interpolation technology made the static images feel dynamic, with even her hair seeming to float, as if one were peeking through the screen at Ye Zheng's every smile and frown in another dimension.
The gentle music gradually quickened. The last close-up of her face darkened, giving the girl's gentle smile a touch of obscure danger.
Then, the drumbeat of the music suddenly exploded. A black gun barrel pressed against the screen, and the blood-stained Saintess stared expressionlessly at the person outside the screen.
Tang Mingxi had adjusted the filter to make the visual impact of this scene even stronger than in the manga. The extreme contrast of black and red made Ye Zheng's aggression so intense it felt like she would burst out of the screen and kill someone in the next second.
"Seriously, your edit is quite deceptive. You made Ye Zheng look like a 'white on the outside, black on the inside' main villain!"
"Whatever, Ye Zheng and the Ye Zheng stans are treated like main villains on the forum anyway."
"If my girl really were the main villain and mowed down all their faves, I'd be thrilled to death!"
Li Yixin didn't take her friend's empty boasts to heart. It was undeniable that Ye Zheng's treatment on the forums lately was like that of a villain. Although the scene where she killed in self-defense with a gun was cool, it didn't change her overly kind behavior, which annoyed many readers.
There were even a lot of people making anti comments under this video of Ye Zheng, which made her feel sorry for Ye Zheng and her stans.
[Aaaah, someone tell me which manga this character is from!]
[It's Ye Zheng, the female lead from King of the Demonic Domain. She's a very gentle, kind, and cool baby!]
[Why are the Ye Zheng stans secretly trying to raise her status again? The creator never officially said there was a female lead, okay?]
[Just a passerby, but this character has so much tension. She feels like a very powerful and thoughtful big sister!]
[As a reader, I'm telling you this video is pure fraud! This character is just a useless, goody-two-shoes healer. Ye Zheng's fans, stop tricking people.]
[To hate my girl so much that you chase her to a fan video's comment section to curse her out, looks like you've really made it, Ye Zheng.]
"I've already deleted a lot of comments. You 2D-world folks always say you hate fan-circle culture, but from what I see, the way your circles fight is no different from the fan circles."
"But the fighting power of the other character's fans in King of the Demonic Domain is just so-so. Once my girl gets more screen time, it'll be a piece of cake for her to become the most popular character in the manga."
Li Yixin knew a little about Tang Mingxi's fan activities. She was always fighting for her idol to be the "visual," "main dancer," or "ace" of the group, or the "most popular of the 9th generation girl groups." She'd be fighting her idol's teammates' fans one day and a rival group's fans the next, always full of fighting spirit.
She didn't expect her to be this combative in the 2D world as well.
"Ye Zheng is pretty great, but Old Uncle has never been good at writing female characters. He's only good at drawing them."
Li Yixin tactfully told her friend to lower her expectations for the plot.
"Based on my understanding of manga tropes, there's definitely going to be an insect outbreak in that shelter. As a healer, Ye Zheng won't be able to stop it, and it will definitely be Percy who brings people to solve the problem again."
Li Yixin didn't know that she had accurately predicted the original plot's direction.
This was also the guess of most people on the forum. Many readers were already mocking the Ye Zheng stans in advance—acting all triumphant now, but when the new chapter comes out and Ye Zheng has to be saved by others again, this bunch of Ye Zheng stans will quiet down.
On the other end of the phone, Tang Mingxi pouted.
"If it develops like that, Zheng-zheng is definitely going to get hated on again. Nope, I need to prepare my clapback scripts and comment-control scripts in advance!"
Li Yixin was completely stunned by her friend's fighting spirit. She could only comfort her, "It's, it's not a sure thing. What if Ye Zheng just blows the monster's brains out with one shot and saves everyone? The possibility is low, but it's not zero..."
Tang Mingxi optimistically accepted her friend's comfort.
"We've been talking so long it's already eight o'clock, time for the manga update! I'm hanging up, I have to go see my Zheng-zheng's new content."
After hanging up, Li Yixin also opened her manga app.
Although Zhao Mei wouldn't be appearing in these few chapters, maybe because of her friend, or maybe because the character of Ye Zheng did have a certain indescribable charm, she was a little curious about her.
Hopefully, the new plot from Old Uncle wouldn't make Tang Mingxi too sad. Otherwise, her friend might actually mail him a razor blade, or even hire a truck to hang banners outside the company building.
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