Chapter 81-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
"Even if it means taking on all the glorious, unbearable responsibilities for you, that would be no problem at all."
The new manga chapter froze on this line from Zhao Mei, as Percy stared blankly into Zhao Mei's gentle, almost drowning green eyes.
[Oh my god, Old Uncle, you're so good at fujoshi bait...]
The moment she entered the forum, the top hot post hit Li Yixin like a critical blow. As a solo stan with a bit of a yumejo tendency, the title alone was enough to give her a heart attack. Yet, one can't help but monitor the rival ship, so Li Yixin still clicked on it.
[#1: Oh my god, Old Uncle, you're so good at fujoshi bait...
To summarize the PerMei sweetness in this chapter, the two of them were on the same wavelength and came up with Sierra's name. Percy quietly showed concern for Zhao Mei's expression. As a shipper, I was already satisfied at this point, but I didn't expect the following plot to be even more heavyweight. It's like the creator is saying, "Don't underestimate the source material, you fanfiction writers!"
With the moonlit heart-to-heart, our PerMei is on the next level. "On the same wavelength" is too light of a description; it's reached the height of soulmates... Zhao Mei's head pat was the divine touch. Who could resist being comforted by such a great beauty? I'm getting flashes of Sentinel/Guide fic (any Taitai willing to build on this?).
Anyway, Old Uncle has raised the bar for BL CPs in this manga so high that if I were a rival shipper, I'd get triggered. This chapter was PerMei's crowning moment!]
Li Yixin didn't know if the rival shippers had gotten triggered, but she, a yumejo, was already reeling from this passage. Zhao Mei just gave Percy some free psychological counseling, so how did that make them soulmates?
[#2: P.S. here's a picture. A comparison between Zhao Mei and Percy's first meeting in the desert Demonic Domain and their moonlit gaze in today's update. The change in his eyes is really obvious (image attached)]
[#3: Thanks, OP, for the comparison pic. Looking at it this way, Zhao Mei was clearly polite but distant during their first meeting. By the time of the moonlit talk, his gaze is so incredibly gentle! I refuse to believe there's no love there!]
[#4: I've re-examined the head-patting scene over and over. Does anyone get it? Zhao Mei has a kind of maternal and divine quality to him...]
[#5: I get you, #4! That's why I like Zhao Mei. I can never resist male characters who possess feminine traits!]
[#6: A lot of people are afraid to say it, but the one in this manga who best fits the Saintess mold is actually Zhao Mei...]
[#7: OMG, you're so bold, #6. Aren't you afraid Ye Zheng's mom fans will come for you?]
[#8: Protect!]
[#9: Protect +1]
[#10: Protect +2]
...
[#67: Who wouldn't say it after this chapter? Fake female protagonist: Ye Zheng. Real female protagonist: Zhao Mei.]
Seeing this, Li Yixin knew that Tang Mingxi would probably be arriving on the battlefield any minute. It's fine to ship CPs, but why did they suddenly start to drag others down to praise their fave?
Ye Zheng stans and Zhao Mei stans had fought before over plot points and character roles, and it still hadn't stopped.
[#378: A Taitai made some delicious food. It's Zhao Mei in a dress and Percy in a suit! (image attached)]
[#379: Omg who wouldn't envy Percy's good fortune!]
[#380: Mama! Papa! I'm born! (A slang phrase expressing extreme excitement for a ship)]
[#381: Uh, does anyone else think the drawing of Zhao Mei looks a bit like Ye Zheng?]
[#382: Feels like a Zhao Mei/Ye Zheng moment...]
[#383: Is your Ye Zheng the origin of all things? You see long black hair and a white dress and it's suddenly your Ye Zheng?]
[#384: That's how fans of the 'female baby' are. No one's making content for them, so they have to come and leech off other people's food.]
[#385: PerMei detected, automatically inputting 99 (means 久久 jiu jiu，means lasting forever, used as a wish for couples)]
[#386: Are the Zhao Mei stans trying to flip the blame again? It's clearly you guys who stole our girl's image to boost Zhao Mei. The design of the white dress is a complete copy of Ye Zheng's.]
[#387: Are there still Zhengzheng-mom fans lurking in this thread? Don't be such a secret admirer.]
Li Yixin pinched the bridge of her nose. Eating food from the rival ship really is toxic!
That picture of Zhao Mei in a dress made her see stars. It looked exactly like Ye Zheng with a different eye color...
Although everyone guessed they were siblings, so a little resemblance was normal, drawing her favorite character to look exactly like another female character was just too strange!
To be fair, she did like male characters with traditionally feminine traits. After all, those wonderful qualities usually found in women were very appealing to her, and since men like that don't exist in reality, she could only find them in 2D.
Li Yixin knew that if Zhao Mei were a female character, she might only appreciate him, not like him with such genuine feelings as she did now—if not for that handsome male appearance.
So sometimes she couldn't quite understand why Tang Mingxi was such a die-hard fan of female idols and characters. She seemed to be heterosexual, too.
[#624: Why are you BL shippers dragging my girl into your female competition? Anyone with eyes can see that Ye Zheng is miles better than the two mango faces you guys love so much, okay? (image attached)]
Tang Mingxi found a frame where Percy and Zhao Mei's art style was less refined, edited it into a picture with a beautifully drawn Ye Zheng, and provocatively posted it in the thread.
They started it first. There was absolutely no dispute over who was the number one visual forever in King of the Demonic Domain!
It's just that Ye Zheng had too many merits, so her Zhengzheng-mom fans usually didn't bother to mention something as trivial as her looks. Only stans of the brain-dead 'male babies' would hype up their idol's fans-only-visible beauty.
Soon, many people replied to her with harsh words. After all, this thread was the PerMei headquarters.
[#629: A skin like a water ghost, who's actually a fan of that? (image attached)]
The attached image was a screenshot of Ye Zheng that had been deliberately darkened and sharpened. Her hair and eyes were already a rather somber black, and with this edit, her gentle aura dissipated, leaving a somewhat eerie, ghostly presence, as if she were looking at the person outside the screen with a cold smile.
When Tang Mingxi saw this picture, she was delighted, adored it, and immediately saved the custom-made meal her rivals had prepared for her.
[#635: Thanks, #629. Our Zhengzheng is just that kind of watery little ghost, the type who would stand by my bed at night and watch me...]
[#636: As a bystander, I'm dying of laughter at this comment. I love it when the rival camp makes food for me!]
After her direct, all-out attack, Tang Mingxi satisfyingly exited the PerMei CP thread and clicked on the second hottest post.
The CP in this thread was even more heavyweight!
[OMG, am I the only one who thinks the tyrannical Crown Prince and the gentle, 'white on the outside, black on the inside' Saintess is hot?]
Hot where? It's ridiculously heretical!
Tang Mingxi had to do a lot of mental preparation before clicking on this post. As a career fan and mom fan, she couldn't stand it one bit!
Back when she saw in the manga that Ye Zheng had subdued Sykes and rewarded him—by personally putting a water chain around his neck—she knew something was wrong.
"As you wish, I have repeated what I did to you last time."
"Now, please be quiet. There is only one last step."
At that time, Tang Mingxi saw the manga suddenly switch from Percy's perspective to the imperial palace. She was about to skip the 'supermale' Crown Prince's plot, but unexpectedly, her girl made a brilliant appearance.
And from the moment she appeared, it was the Saintess, high and mighty, pressing the Crown Prince to the ground, holding a water chain attached to his neck!
This scene suddenly leaped into view with such a strong impact that Tang Mingxi's jaw dropped. She began to ponder what role her favorite character played in this manga.
The master role?
Although it was just a fragment, readers could still piece together the cause and effect. It seemed Sykes had lost control again and demanded that Ye Zheng treat him as she did last time, but this treatment process was just too explosive.
[#1: OMG, am I the only one who thinks the tyrannical Crown Prince and the gentle, 'white on the outside, black on the inside' Saintess is hot? I used to think Sykes had the strongest alpha aura in this manga, the heaviest master vibe, until a few chapters ago when Ye Zheng pushed his head into the water, and today he got a chain... Omg, what delicious Femdom.]
Tang Mingxi glanced over the thread. The reason it was so popular and hanging at the top of the forum wasn't because many people shipped this pair, but because Sykes stans, Ye Zheng stans, Percy/Sykes CP fans, and Sykes/Yu Tianming CP fans, were all fighting!
[#2: Reported. My Sykes is not a tool to satisfy your bizarre kinks!]
[#3: Sykes' yumejo, please don't use my girl as your avatar. My girl was just saving someone normally. This is how I put a leash on my beagle too.]
[#4: Love it, must ship. We BG shippers are finally eating!]
[#5: Speechless. Ye Zheng stans love to hype her up by clinging to male characters. First Percy, now Sykes. Can Ye Zheng please walk on her own?]
[#6: It's clearly your male baby who begged my girl for treatment. Is the fact that Sykes is the clingy one so hard for you to accept?]
[#7: Our Saintess is too kind. She saves Sykes and still gets blamed for not being gentle enough. I've never seen such ungrateful people.]
[#8: The most un-shippable pairing ever. Sykes would never look at a weak and fragile woman like her, okay? His eyes are only for opponents who are his equals.]
[#9: Weak and fragile, are you referring to Sykes? (image attached)]
The image was a collage of the two times Sykes was subdued by Ye Zheng. Once with his head pushed into dirty water, once with a chain put on him. It was a public execution.
[#10: It's over. I used to be indifferent to Sykes, but lately, I find him especially delectable (horrified)]
[#11: Did anyone notice the waist and collarbones Sykes revealed when he was being held down? I love to see it. Sister Ye, can you make him take off his shirt for treatment next time?]
[#12: Stop, don't make my girl see such filth (covers the Saintess's eyes)]
...
[#324: I can't take it anymore, @OldUncle, is this what you wanted to see? A perfectly high-class villain king, being degraded like this?]
[#325: I'm begging Old Uncle to return Sykes's ruthless and invincible Crown Prince persona. Sykes is the only king in this manga!]
[#326: I can accept Sykes being defeated by Percy, but what's with him being messed with by Ye Zheng like this? Are you nerfing Sykes's intelligence just to prop up Ye Zheng?]
Tang Mingxi read through the comments below, holding back her disgust. It wasn't until she saw Sykes stans starting to make large-scale cringey comments again that she couldn't help but jump in, posting two comments in a row.
[#330: King? What king?]
[#331: Ye Zheng saving someone reveals a fatal flaw, while Sykes acting like a dog shows the style of a king?]
Immediately, a swarm of Sykes stans flooded her replies. Many recognized the ID "SoWhatIfIHateTheWorld," which was infamous among rival camps and famous among fellow stans.
[#332: You Ye Zheng stans have such poor manners. Do you think you can just curse at a fictional character because they don't have rights?]
[#333: Whatever, your girl still has to bow to Sykes. Just wait until our Emperor Sykes ascends the throne and your girl kneels to welcome him.]
[#334: Sykes stans, don't get so worked up. Calling your boy a dog isn't an insult, just an accurate description.]
[#335: Who's worked up! You're the dog! And don't say I'm cursing, this is just a description.]
What the Sykes stans didn't expect was that such words had approximately zero impact on Ye Zheng's supporters.
[#336: I am Ye Zheng's dog, so what?]
[#337: Your Sykes stole the chain Ye Zheng gave me, and I haven't even blamed you guys yet.]
[#338: LMAO, sis you...]
[#339: I can't take it anymore. Can Sykes please step aside and let me and the Saintess act for a couple of episodes?]
[#340: I demand Sykes return the water chain the Saintess gave me, free of charge!]
[#341: I demand Sykes return the water chain the Saintess gave me, free of charge!]
...
After coming down from the roof, Ye Zheng had a good night's rest. The next morning, she woke up to the surprising news that the manga had been updated again.
What she didn't expect was that she and Sykes had actually appeared in the manga, although only for a brief two pages.
Ye Zheng guessed that this was the creator planting foreshadowing for Sykes. The secrets surrounding Sykes would be gradually revealed in the later stages of the manga, and she was just a minor part of his appearance.
The manga update only contained the Cloud-Soaring Squad's daily training and warm interactions, plus the brief two pages with her and Sykes, and her chat with Percy on the roof.
Percy's wavering state of mind wasn't reflected in the manga. Ye Zheng felt this chapter was rather uninteresting and figured the forums would probably be arguing about how she had "bullied" Sykes again.
However, when she browsed the forums, she was stunned by the content of the hot posts!
Ye Zheng knew that some people would pair her with others and imagine a romance between them, but it had never been this lively.
Looking at the words, Ye Zheng suspected she was forgetting how to read.
"Soulmates... hmm, as long as they're happy."
"S and M, what kind of words are these? System?"
The System decided it was not appropriate to explain this to the pure Saintess and chose to play dead.
"Ah, why do they want my water chain so much... It makes me feel a little embarrassed, although I don't know why."
Ye Zheng looked at the forums, a bit troubled. These CP comments felt like a hot potato.
"I should probably respond with something. Their expectations for these CPs are something I cannot fulfill."
It was the first time the Saintess had received such a tricky wish from others, and the usually obliging Saintess had absolutely no desire to grant it.
The System thought for a moment. As the character herself, she shouldn't get involved in CP discussions. But Ye Zheng was an obstinate person and seemed to enjoy interacting with the readers. She wouldn't listen to it, and if she posted something foolish, it would be a joke.
It urgently searched for how to debunk relationship rumors and immediately found a template for Ye Zheng.
[#478: I do not wish to occupy public resources. As the Saintess of the Sei Curia, Ye Zheng has no plans to develop a relationship with any person of the opposite sex in her private life. Please look forward to the subsequent plot of the competition and do not trouble your hearts over baseless matters (Additionally, the water chain is for special needs. Please do not imitate. Thank you for your cooperation).]
[#479: Checking in for a photo op, the Ye Zheng ID appeared again!]
[#480: This sister with the ID "Ye Zheng" is hilarious hahaha!]
[#481: "Ye Zheng Issues an Important Statement Regarding the Matter of CPs"]
[#482: No plans to develop a relationship with the opposite sex, what does that mean? Then the same sex is... ]
Ye Zheng stared at the laughing and joking replies, a rare flush of annoyance crossing her face. "System, you tricked me. This template looks like a joke."
The System was silent for a moment. There were simply no successful cases of a fictional character doing their own public relations! It had to resort to using a celebrity's PR template.
Author's Note: My apologies, everyone... Because I went out to have fun during the National Day holiday, the update is late (kneels slowly).
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