Chapter 70-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
[#1: Is Sykes really a villain? A rational discussion about Sykes, crazies stay out! First of all, I'm not a Sykes stan, just a reader who likes this manga. I can't understand the recent trend of attacking villain stans. Also, in my opinion, Sykes is not a stereotypical villain, but a complex character, a mixture of light and shadow. As the Crown Prince of the empire, he is also the strongest individual most likely to deal with the world-ending Demonic Domain from the prophecy. He is the empire's most brutal sun. You accuse him of being cruel, but you cannot deny his brilliance. Sykes was born bearing the sin of matricide and the duty of saving the world. This extreme contradiction of sin and salvation might be the root of his brutality. The tug-of-war of his humanity tears him apart, and his extreme personality is his way of reconciling with himself. ... So far, has Sykes ever truly harmed any character? Even when facing Percy, he held back. In the latest plot, Sykes being easily controlled and beaten further illustrates the hesitation in his humanity. I don't hate this plot development. Perhaps this will be the most important crossroads in Sykes's life, choosing between his brutal original sin and his divine duty of salvation. I look forward to the creator's portrayal.]
Ye Zheng held her phone, scrolling through this masterpiece on the forum, her brow furrowing tighter and tighter. She suddenly felt the urge to find a pair of glasses, wondering if she had misread something.
Under this hot thread were a bunch of other character analyses of Sykes, with titles like "The Biggest Meiqiangcan (a popular character trope for beautiful, strong, and tragic characters) in the Manga," "The Undisputed Protagonist of the Hidden Plotline," and "Your Emperor Sykes Has Arrived"...
Thankfully, a few passersby commented, "Sis, that can't be our Crown Prince, right? He's clearly the 'smooth-brained' royal type," which made Ye Zheng feel that the higher-dimensional world was still normal.
Ye Zheng pressed her temples, deciding to give herself a break and quickly exited the thread.
She returned to her base in the Lower City and sat on the sofa to rest. She had opened the forum's hot threads out of curiosity, and now she had been forced to read over a thousand words of Sykes analysis, to the point where she could barely recognize the name "Sykes."
God help her! She thought it was a serious analysis when she clicked on it, even naively hoping to find more clues about Sykes and the dragon bone.
For the first time, Ye Zheng cursed her reading speed for being too fast, stuffing all that strange content into her brain before she even realized how bizarre it was.
[It's okay. you can click on the neighboring threads like "The Beautiful, Strong, and Tragic Black Moonlight—An In-depth Analysis of Zhao Mei," or "Ye Zheng—The Saintess's Salvation and Predicament." After reading them, your brain will be purified amidst the convoluted text.] the System offered comfortingly.
What's a little OOC character analysis? At least Ye Zheng hadn't stumbled upon any fan fiction. Not to mention Zhao Mei and Percy, there were even super-weird crack ships like Zhao Mei and Sykes, who had never even met!
Ye Zheng's gaze was serious. She carefully considered the forum's homepage again and selected the current hottest thread—[Serious Discussion, feel free to post your thoughts on the recent plot!]
Since it was labeled "Serious," the content should be relatively serious, right?
Readers viewed the manga from an omniscient perspective and could surely spot some blind spots she couldn't. Ye Zheng needed more perspectives to help her solve the recent puzzles she had encountered.
For example, why were dragon bones suddenly appearing in the Lower City like they were being sold wholesale? What was going on with Sykes's body? What were Percy's true origins? Ye Zheng thought the readers might know more about these main plot points than she did.
[#1: Serious Discussion, feel free to post your thoughts on the recent plot!]
[#2: Zhao Mei is so damn handsome! Does anyone get the value of a gentle beauty with dom vibes?]
[#3: OMG, in the latest chapter, Percy turned blood flowers into a sword and easily handled a high-risk Demonic Domain. Our Emperor Percy crushes!]
[#4: Percy stans, stop stealing Sykes's title. Our Crown Prince is the rightful emperor, okay? Don't forget your fave was literally crushed by Sykes last week.]
[#5: Stop fighting! To be fair, in the last three chapters, Percy was crushed by Sykes once and was only saved by his second ability, but then Sykes was held down in the water by Ye Zheng. So by that logic, Ye Zheng crushed both of them. All hail Empress Ye!]
[#6: Ye Zheng stans are still so eager to hype up their fave's status. I used to find Zhao Mei stans the most annoying, but now even they look better by comparison.]
[#7: This was supposed to be a serious discussion, right? Why is it full of "crushes" the moment I enter? When did the King of the Demonic Domain fandom enter the era of instant takedowns? (A pun on the word 'miao', which means 'to crush' and also 'second' as in a stopwatch)]
...
Ye Zheng scrolled down quickly, trying to find useful information amidst the flood of "crushes," and finally saw someone discussing the plot seriously.
[#107: Is no one going to analyze it? What are Zhao Mei's origins? It feels like he's hiding an incredible secret.]
[#108: There's a long-term analysis thread for Zhao Mei next door. What I find subtle about these last few chapters is that Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng appeared in the same Demonic Domain, and their abilities are very similar, both being healing/water types.]
Reading this, Ye Zheng raised an eyebrow slightly. As expected, some readers had noticed something fishy.
[#109: Therefore, I think it's basically solid proof—Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng are closely related, with a ninety percent probability of being siblings.]
"Ah, so that's the conclusion?"
Ye Zheng tilted her head and continued reading curiously.
[#110: I also agree with the sibling theory! There were hints before. Rumor has it that Ye Zheng's younger brother is a dual S-rank in healing and attack, which perfectly matches Zhao Mei! It's obvious that the flood in the Shadow Demonic Domain and the downpour and flood in this one were Zhao Mei's hidden work. Healing is just his disguise; in reality, his attack power is insane!]
[#111: To be fair, I think the downpour might have been Ye Zheng. That rain had a calming and healing effect. In terms of healing ability, Ye Zheng should be stronger than Zhao Mei. She could even sober up Sykes, so I think she might have caused the rain.]
[#112: If she can create such a heavy downpour, then it's possible she controlled the flood too. Controlling the weather is harder than just controlling water, right?]
[#113: Wow, that means it's possible Ye Zheng is also hiding some deep strength. After all, her previous plot points already showed she's a "white on the outside, black on the inside" type, very similar to Zhao Mei.]
[#114: Is anyone else a fan of both Ye Zheng and Zhao Mei like me? I really think they are super similar and they're totally my type. I'm secretly shipping them with each other (a 'selfcest' ship)...]
[#115: I have a bold guess. They have similar temperaments, similar abilities, and have never appeared in the same frame. Is it possible they are actually gender-bent versions of each other...]
Reading this, Ye Zheng's heart skipped a beat, but she quickly relaxed.
[#116: I'm done. Can Ye Zheng fans please learn not to push it! We're clearly discussing Zhao Mei, why do Ye Zheng fans keep being so KY (a slang for someone who can't read the room)?]
[#117: Ye Zheng fans want to steal Percy's protagonist status, grab Sykes's 'strongest' label, and now they want to steal Zhao Mei's plot too. Can the 'Zhengzheng-moms' (mom fans of Ye Zheng) please learn to stay in their lane!]
[#118: My god, can you 'Zhaomei' stans please look at the thread title? Where does it say your 'Zhaomei's' name? The manga left it as a mystery, so it's normal for everyone to have a few guesses, isn't it?]
[#119: Now you're even using derogatory nicknames. Are the Ye Zheng stans trying to offend the fans of every single male character? Don't you think using a nickname like 'Zhaomei' (a traditionally female name meaning 'to beckon a younger brother', implying a preference for sons) makes light of the difficulties women face in reality?]
[#120: What's wrong with a guy being called Zhaomei? Isn't bringing more baby girls into the world a good thing?]
[#121: A lot of people are afraid to say it, but so what if I just hate female characters? I'm sick of seeing female character stans policing everyone under the banner of 'pro-female'. Our Zhao Mei crushes your Zhengzheng.]
[#122: Your Zhao Mei probably can't even beat Ye Zheng's defeated opponent, Sykes, right? And you still dream of crushing our Saintess? (I'll-pretend-to-heal-you-while-beating-you-to-death.jpg)]
Seeing the rhythm shift back to the word "crush," Ye Zheng had learned to face it with a calm heart. Although she found this flame war utterly bizarre, it had inadvertently prevented her identity from being revealed to the readers. Looking at the outcome, it wasn't so bad.
But seeing them fight over her, even reaching over three hundred floors without stopping, a strange feeling welled up in Ye Zheng's heart, even a hint of guilt.
She seemed to understand why the System was always worried that the truth would damage her popularity, especially in this complicated situation.
"Everyone probably won't take such a small matter to heart, right?"
In the girl's eyes, such insignificant little frictions would quickly pass.
[Big data shows that the friction between Zhao Mei stans and Ye Zheng stans isn't limited to this thread. Because their character elements overlap, it's something that very easily starts arguments in the 2D world.] the System said, surprisingly optimistic.
[Look on the bright side. These two factions fighting each other helps to strengthen fan loyalty through hardship. It's a form of keeping it all in the family. Bickering makes them more diehard. Look, after you tormented Sykes, his stans even churned out those ridiculously over-the-top essays.]
[Now the Zhao Mei mom fans and Ye Zheng mom fans are fighting. Either way, it's helping you solidify your popularity. It's a case of Qin Shi Huang touching an electric fence—totally winning big! (A pun where 'Qin' sounds like 'win' in Chinese, and the whole phrase means winning big time).]
Looking at the rapidly rising popularity value, the System temporarily indulged in short-term happiness. Who cares about the identity reveal for now! Ye Zheng's combined popularity for both identities was already in the top three of King of the Demonic Domain!
Who would have thought? According to the original development, she was a character who would forever linger in the lower tiers of popularity!
Li Yixin and Tang Mingxi sat down together after getting their lunch at the school cafeteria. The two ate face-to-face, silent for the first time in a long time.
Especially Li Yixin, who couldn't hide the awkwardness on her face. She was the one who had crazily recommended the manga to Tang Mingxi. Who would have thought her friend would suddenly become a rival fan!
Speaking of which, she found the sudden hostility between the two fanbases bizarre. Too many fans from other factions were mixed in, fanning the flames, making the fight between the two sides blow out of proportion.
Both characters were gentle little angels. Why couldn't their fans be like their faves and be a little more gentle and peaceful?
"Hey, the results for that merchandise poll are out. The Ye Zheng-Zhao Mei group surpassed the Sykes group!"
Tang Mingxi secretly scrolled through her phone under the cafeteria table and said with pleasant surprise, breaking the silence between them.
Li Yixin breathed a sigh of relief and smiled. "That's great! The Ye Zheng merchandise I promised to get you is secured!"
"The Zhao Mei video edit I promised to make for you is almost done, too. Should I post it on your account when it's finished?"
The two good friends quickly started chatting again, temporarily setting aside the online disputes.
Even if your real-life best friend is a rival fan, you have to keep spoiling them!
With that thought, Li Yixin also secretly opened her phone after lunch to glance at the forum.
She found that the fighting had somehow gotten even more intense!
Li Yixin suspected that in the current situation, even if Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng themselves came to the forum, they would still get kicked around in the chaotic battle.
In the manga world.
[#457: We are all fellow fans of this manga. The characters you support would surely hope that everyone can get along harmoniously. Please stop arguing.]
Ye Zheng watched as her peace-making comment was quickly flooded with harsh replies from many readers. A trace of faint embarrassment crossed her gentle face.
[#458: What are you, a rational and neutral observer, doing with a Ye Zheng ID? Who's a fellow fan with Zhao Mei mom fans?]
[#459: A Ye Zheng roleplayer? What's the meaning of jumping in front of us Zhao Mei stans to make a direct attack?]
"System, for the time being, I don't want to speak again."
Ye Zheng propped her chin on one hand, her innocent dark eyes looking somewhat dejected.
Author's Note: Laoshi (a respectful term for creators), I'm not a teacher yet, just a fourth-year student in a teacher's program forced to do an internship by the school...
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