Chapter 89-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
After school, Li Yixin and Tang Mingxi went to the library to study together. Although Tang Mingxi had already planned to study abroad, she still had a language exam to prepare for, so she accompanied Li Yixin to the library.
At eight o'clock in the evening, Li Yixin, who had been studying intently for two hours, couldn't resist pulling out her phone. It was time for a new update of King of the Demonic Domain.
Beside her, Tang Mingxi had been slacking off and playing on her phone, but she had little interest in opening the new chapter. Based on the previous chapter's plot, it didn't seem like her favorite character, Ye Zheng, would be appearing. What was the point of a chapter without Ye Zheng?
On the other hand, Li Yixin was eagerly awaiting the new plot. In the last chapter, Zhao Mei had endured a trial by fire for his companions and his whereabouts were unknown. The scene of his sacrifice was filled with a shocking beauty, causing the character's popularity to soar. Many readers were speculating about how Zhao Mei would return to the main group.
He would definitely come back safe and sound in this new chapter, right? If anything happened to him, she would join Tang Mingxi in sending blades (a fan threat to express dissatisfaction with the plot) to Old Uncle for not cherishing his characters!
With excitement and anticipation, she opened the latest update, Chapter 263. This chapter was surprisingly long, looking like it had a lot of content.
As a Zhao Mei stan, Li Yixin had a hunch that Zhao Mei would definitely return in this chapter, perhaps making a stunning comeback at the very end.
Picking up from the last chapter, the main group's morale was low after losing an important teammate, but they pulled themselves together and continued exploring the labyrinth, carrying Zhao Mei's hopes with them.
Without Zhao Mei, the Cloud-Soaring Squad was helpless against the labyrinth's puzzles and had to force their way through, surviving wave after wave of attacks. This continued until Caleb stayed behind to cover his teammates' escape and got trapped in a palace. The Cloud-Soaring Squad had lost another member.
Li Yixin sighed heavily. What would this family do without Zhao Mei!
On the next page of the manga, the remaining three members of the squad fell into separate arena-like rooms, each facing a different opponent. It seemed only the winner could leave the room.
Roy and Lucy happened to be in the same room, staring at each other. Percy, however, faced the most troublesome opponent—Sykes.
Watching Sykes go all out from the very beginning, Li Yixin felt that either of them could win. Percy was the protagonist, but Sykes was also a character the creator clearly favored. The Divine Sword would surely choose between the two of them.
On her phone screen, the two were fighting fiercely, their handsome, refined faces locked in a confrontation, the panel filled with tension.
Yet, Li Yixin secretly wondered, was there a one percent chance? That the Divine Sword might actually fall into Zhao Mei's hands... After all, the inscription on the gate read "the benevolent strong," and Zhao Mei fit that description perfectly, didn't he?
Just imagining her favorite character having such a highlight moment was thrilling, but she knew it was impossible. According to standard tropes, the protagonist had to be the one to get the Divine Sword. If it were to be unconventional, then Sykes was the most likely candidate.
She sighed. Such was the fate of not being a protagonist stan.
As expected, Percy once again relied on [Death Rewind] to narrowly defeat Sykes, and the great gate finally opened.
"You've won this round, but I'll catch up soon."
"The savior, the incarnation of the God of Hope... Heh."
In the manga, Sykes clutched his wound, watching Percy with a cold smile.
Sykes's two meaningful lines made Li Yixin's heart skip a beat. It seemed things wouldn't be smooth for Percy from here on out. Sykes looked like he would be back, and he seemed to know some inside information.
She felt that Sykes had really changed. In the past, he would have been more irascible in the face of such a defeat, not acting like someone who speaks cryptically.
The role of the cryptic speaker in King of the Demonic Domain belonged to Yin Kong, who had also appeared in the previous chapter, entering the Demonic Domain with Bai Muqing.
Given Yin Kong's character, he would probably also reach the gate through a duel. He always hovered on the periphery of key battles; he had few appearances but was quite popular.
As Percy pushed the door open, Li Yixin swiped her screen and was immediately met with a monster's face up close.
Following that, a black dragon with an overwhelming presence appeared. Others who had passed the trial also entered the ruined temple. To her surprise, Bai Muqing appeared with a mysterious aura, but Yin Kong, the cryptic one, was nowhere to be seen.
How strange. In his previous work, the manga creator had depicted an all-male team, with only one cheerful female character who occasionally showed up to cheer everyone on and provide some fan service for the male readers.
Perhaps because this series had more female readers, he and his team had to make a commercial decision to reduce scenes that might make female readers uncomfortable.
Li Yixin continued to read intently. Even without Zhao Mei, the battle was still tense and exciting. Just as Percy was about to reclaim the Divine Sword from the black dragon, Yu Tianming backstabbed Lucy. Percy's attempt to get the sword failed, and Sykes reappeared.
She was completely immersed in the story. The two fought over the sword, and the bullet comments were filled with heated bets on the final winner.
[Ahhh, my heart aches for Percy. He's shouldered so much, the creator should at least give him some reward.]
[Even though I'm a Sykes stan, Percy is the protagonist. He'll definitely get it in the end.]
[Sykes is seen by the Empire as the hope against the Demonic Domain, so it'd be normal if he got it.]
[Sykes's strength is right there for all to see. It's weird that Percy defeated him. It must be a forced power-up, right?]
[Can the side character stans please recognize their place? I'm waiting for the great male protagonist, Emperor Percy, to slap all of you in the face.]
[Stop arguing! It'll be hilarious if neither of them gets it in the end.]
Li Yixin also bet on Percy. King of the Demonic Domain followed the typical hot-blooded shonen manga formula; such a divine weapon was bound to fall into the protagonist's hands.
While Li Yixin was completely engrossed in the manga, she didn't notice Tang Mingxi beside her, scrolling through other social media sites with an increasingly incredulous expression.
On the screen, the battle for the sword between Percy and Sykes had reached a fever pitch. The black dragon that had swallowed the Divine Sword collapsed, and both of them charged towards it.
Just as Li Yixin was nervously anticipating the final winner, an unexpected figure appeared at the critical moment.
A young man with black hair and green eyes, dressed in unfamiliar black and silver armor, was sitting on the massive body of the black dragon. His gaze met Percy's from a distance, a smile crossing his face, tinged with a hint of craftiness, as if saying to Percy and the readers beyond the screen, "I'm back."
Seeing the familiar, beautiful face of her favorite character, Li Yixin almost cried out in excitement, but she managed to restrain herself, remembering she was in a library.
A light flickered in Percy's weary eyes. Like the readers, the sight of Zhao Mei brought an inexplicable sense of reassurance. All the tense, anxious feelings seemed to find a gentle, comforting anchor.
[Ahhh, Zhao Mei is finally back! My dear, I missed you!]
[Oh my god, the moment Zhao Mei appears, everything feels so stable and reassuring.]
[Alright, Sykes has lost. Among the male supporting characters, Zhao Mei completely outshines Yu Tianming.]
[The greatest supportive wife of this manga has returned. Percy, you're so lucky!]
[Can the shippers stop pushing their ship in our faces? Our Zhao Mei is an independent young man. This scene is so cool! I'm licking the screen for Knight Babe-Mei!]
The young man appeared once more in the flames, as if reborn from fire. He stood up, and with his movement, a curtain of water descended, suppressing the raging flames. The black dragon suddenly rose, howling in agony, and the Divine Sword burst forth from its body, right in front of a Zhao Mei!
On the palm-sized phone screen, the calm and composed young man still wore a smile. He grasped the sword with one hand, his restrained yet powerful aura radiating through the screen, stunning every reader.
Li Yixin's heart began to pound wildly. She had a strong premonition about what was going to happen next.
No way, no way, how could Zhao Mei... But then again, why not? Why couldn't the Divine Sword belong to Zhao Mei!
Her heart surging with emotion, she stared at her phone and continued to scroll down. When she saw Sykes about to close in on Zhao Mei, to kill him, her heart leaped into her throat. Was the creator going to pull another twist?
The girl, her eyes glued to her phone, didn't notice her companion putting down her own phone, wearing a strange, complex expression, as if wanting to say something.
Then, a scene she had never imagined filled her entire screen—
The young man holding the sword hilt looked down at the charging Sykes. His hand tugged at his short black hair, and a cascade of long, glossy black hair spilled down.
Then, he completely pulled the shimmering golden Divine Sword from the black dragon's body, and it shone like a burning sun in the gloomy Demonic Domain!
Even Sykes's perpetually arrogant golden eyes were captured by this utterly shocking scene. A stunned expression, as if he had seen something he would never forget for the rest of his life, crossed his face. Just like that, he fell from beneath the young man's feet into the flames below the black dragon.
Seeing this, Li Yixin hadn't even processed what had just happened. Her brain struggled to rationalize the scene before her.
She mechanically swiped down on her phone. The exquisite art on the screen seemed to morph into incomprehensible blocks of color, until the text appeared, and her brain completely shut down.
"Saintess!"
The shout came from all directions, shattering the readers' last illusions.
In the manga, Percy wore the same look of disbelief as the readers.
Li Yixin's phone fell to the floor, making a jarring noise in the library. Tang Mingxi picked it up for her and patted her shoulder comfortingly, even though she herself hadn't fully digested the astonishing development.
Tang Mingxi had been browsing other social media sites. Besides following the manga, she paid more attention to news about her idol. The music video for her idol's latest comeback had just been released, and the trending topic with the MV's name had already reached second place. She was about to jump in to control the comments on the third-place topic, "sounds bad," when she suddenly saw... Ye Zheng?
How did her real-life stan and her 2D favorite end up on the trending list at the same time?
Words like [Ye Zheng], [Zhao Mei], [King of the Demonic Domain], [Going Crazy], and [Forum Crashed] were ranked around the teens and twenties on the trending list. Although they were low-ranking topics, it was still shocking enough. King of the Demonic Domain was quite popular among domestic manga, but there was a wall between it and real life; it was usually just a niche fandom's celebration. How did it suddenly appear on the trending list?
Could it be that the damned manga creator had pulled some crazy stunt in the new chapter? And it had even implicated her girl?
Tang Mingxi immediately lost interest in controlling the comments for her idol. Filled with fighting spirit, she clicked on the #YeZheng topic. After a while, she emerged with a look of confusion and shock.
She switched apps, wanting to check the situation on the forums, only to find that the forum had crashed and wouldn't open.
Tang Mingxi waited for a full half-hour before she finally got into the forum.
[...]
The hottest post on the forum had only a string of ellipses for a title, and the number of replies was growing at an astonishing rate.
[#1: ...]
[#2: ...Same mood as above.]
[#3: I'm having a breakdown... Is anyone here to discuss the explosive development in the latest chapter? I waited excitedly for a week just to get stabbed in the back?]
[#4: I declare that from now on, Zhao Mei is my OC, and has nothing to do with King of the DemonicDomain or Ye Zheng.]
[#5: Stop deceiving yourself, person above. Ye Zheng is Zhao Mei, Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng. The manga made it very clear.]
[#6: Heh, with one chapter update, both my ship and my favorite character got a BE. Creator, I'll hate you for the rest of my life!]
[#7: I'm crying so hard my hands are trembling as I type. The real Zhao Mei is dead. He died in the trial by fire, willingly sacrificing himself for Percy and the Cloud-Soaring Squad. I refuse to acknowledge the person who appeared later is him!]
[#8: Oh my god, are you all taking this so seriously? Am I the only one who finds this development quite interesting? It breaks away from the usual shonen manga formula. And Zhao Mei never denied he was Ye Zheng, did he?]
[#9: The Zhao Mei I'm a fan of is the most gentle and handsome young man. He is powerful and kind-hearted, willing to sacrifice everything for his friends. That is Zhao Mei! He could never be that hypocritical Saintess who appeared later, manipulating everyone!]
[#10: Just last week, you Zhao Mei stans were saying he had the most 'saintess' portrayal. Now that he's a real Saintess, why aren't you happy?]
[#11: I never thought PerMei would end so tragically and abruptly. I can only say, Ye Zheng, you truly ruined the radiant oath between Percy and Zhao Mei, you ruined my ship for life...]
[#12: What does this have to do with Ye Zheng?]
[#13: Uh, sorry, retracting my last comment. As a Ye Zheng stan, I'm used to saying that, but this time it really does have to do with my girl...]
[#14: I hate the creator I hate the creator I hate the creator... I will never admit Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng. Zhao Mei is Zhao Mei, Percy's most trusted friend, the core member of the Cloud-Soaring Squad, the most mysterious and gentle young man in the entire manga. Why did you have to make Zhao Mei someone's discarded identity? Creator, just how much do you hate him?]
...
Besides the complete breakdown of Zhao Mei stans and PerMei shippers, the male readers, who were relatively silent on the forums, also erupted in protest over this chapter, even coming to the forums specifically to curse it out.
[#537: Is the creator insane? I tolerated the fujoshi bait. I tolerated giving more screen time to a sissy character. And after all that, you're telling me the divine weapon was taken by a side character cross-dressing as a man? Was there any point to me tolerating all of that?]
[#538: Brothers, let's go flood his Weibo account and flame him! I've never seen a plot where the protagonist is so humiliated!]
[#539: Thank god I've always been reading pirated versions. I feel sorry for the brothers who read the official release. You are all victims of the official version.]
[#540: I actually kind of liked this Ye Zheng before. What man doesn't like a gentle saintess type? This time, she's really left me speechless.]
[#541: No women in my heart, my drawing blade is naturally god-like; this is the eternal truth for men. Trust a woman and you'll be unlucky for life.]
[#542: Hehe, I never liked this Ye Zheng character. So pretentious. Her fans are the most annoying too, always jumping around and posting things like "lao tian nai (Oh my godness)" and "wo shan (a slang like fuck but using castrate instead)". I can tell what they're like at a glance.]
[#543: The creator pulled a big one, but he wiped out his entire family in the process. Was it really worth it?]
[#544: The manga creator has single-handedly killed this manga. This piece of crap is definitely going to bomb.]
Tang Mingxi sneered at these male readers' comments. Her girl just got a sword with her own abilities. It's not like anything terrible happened to the protagonist Percy. What were they getting so triggered about?
[#544: The episode that triggered the zng (zhai nan ge, a derogatory term for otaku bros) the most. I love to see it~]
They were just too deeply invested in the protagonist, thinking the entire manga world should revolve around the character they identify with. The moment someone touches the resources they believe rightfully belong to them, they jump higher than anyone else.
Tang Mingxi had already composed herself. So Zhao Mei was her girl. No wonder she found him strangely familiar even when she was badmouthing him!
Oh my god, to be able to play everyone for a fool—not just the protagonists and villains in the manga, but all the readers outside of it, including herself, a Ye Zheng stan—that was just too powerful!
This was an episode that made her attraction to power explode!
She clicked on another post, [Any Ye Zheng stans here to share their thoughts...]
[#1: Any Ye Zheng stans here to share their thoughts...]
[#2: My thoughts are, this is awesome, hehe.]
[#3: Someone was dragging down the real Saintess last week, and this week their favorite character really became our Lady Saintess. Your wish came true, why aren't you smiling? Don't you like to smile?]
[#4: Ahhh, is anyone forming a group with me to dig up old posts? I'm having so much fun. The boomerang came right back so gently.]
[#5: To answer seriously, I feel shocked but also like it was expected. I just went back and re-read the manga, and I found that there were clues all along.]
[#6: I'm a Ye Zheng stan, and I can't accept that she's also Zhao Mei. They are clearly two different people! Anyway, I'm quitting the fandom. I regret ever stanning her...]
[#7: The person above had better be a real Ye Zheng stan. Ye Zheng's "white on the outside, black on the inside" attribute has been hinted at in the details all along. Anyway, I'm super surprised and delighted. I have a feeling my favorite is finally going to shine!]
[#8: Repenting for badmouthing Zhao Mei last week. Oh my god, it turns out Zhao Mei really is a little sister, my dear, a goddess, a saintess. I wronged you, Zhao Mei stans! Gomenasai Sorry!]
[#9: Repenting plus one. Zhao Mei is great, Ye Zheng is great. Anyway, my favorite is the best in the world!]
Tang Mingxi also joined the queue of repentance.
[Tapping a digital wooden fish (a meme for accumulating virtual merit). Turns out Zhao Mei didn't go get a sex change, it was just my girl quietly cross-dressing.]
...
[#278: What are you Ye Zheng stans so happy about? Isn't my girl's plot this time OOC?]
[#279: Where is my girl OOC? Is it because she stole your male favorite's spotlight?]
[#280: The Ye Zheng anti seems to have lost all their strength and tactics. They were just praising how much character arc Zhao Mei's plot had and calling Ye Zheng a flat cardboard cutout. Now my girl says: Your favorite's arc is fine, next second it's mine~]
[#281: You villain stans, please tuck your tails between your legs and behave. Disguising identity, betraying teammates, fooling everyone, and you like her even more for it? I hope you meet someone like Ye Zheng who backstabs you in real life.]
[#282: You think that comment has any bite, person above? Not as much as this picture. I guarantee it will get you all triggered. (Image attached)]
Clicking on the image, it was the manga panel of Ye Zheng raising the Divine Sword, standing atop the black dragon, looking down on everyone!
Soon, devout Ye Zheng stans flocked to the post.
[#283: Your goddess Zheng has arrived!]
[#284: Oh my god, I just realized 'Zheng Shen' (Goddess Zheng) sounds like 'Zhen Shen' (True God). I'm trembling after discovering this terrifying secret!]
[#285: While your sons are still fighting to be Emperor Percy or Emperor Sykes, my girl has already become a god and defeated them all...]
[#286: Everyone, go check the manga app! Zhao Mei has topped the poll for the most popular female character!]
[#287: An episode of being a true legend!]
[#288: The Church of Zheng is eternal!]
[#289: So excited for Goddess Zheng's splash screen promotion!]
The voting event, which had been fiercely contested last week, finally announced its results today.
However, the waves it created were far from over. Countless people flooded the comment section below. The shocking reversal even attracted many curious onlookers and passersby who were just there for the drama.
Also soaring in popularity was the manga King of the Demonic Domain itself. The twist of a popular male character turning out to be a female character's alias not only shocked people within the fandom but also greatly astonished those outside of it, prompting them to check out the manga to see what was going on.
The criticisms, the work's popularity, and Ye Zheng's own popularity were all skyrocketing.
Even Tang Mingxi didn't know if this was a good or bad thing for Ye Zheng.
As she was about to leave the forum, she came across a post from a fellow fan.
[#576: I don't think this reversal proves Ye Zheng is a villain. She just doesn't revolve around the protagonist. I dare say, most of the time when female characters are criticized for being hollow, stereotyped, and charmless, it's because the creator didn't put effort into designing their character, or even suppressed them, forcing them to sacrifice their subjectivity to serve the male character's shining moments. And now, when the hollow female character you despise most no longer acts to enrich the male character's glory and substance, she becomes the story's villain? No, she just took back the substance and life that belonged to her.]
Tang Mingxi strongly agreed with this fellow fan's words, but she couldn't come up with a well-written reply. She saw many people refuting this fan, even firmly labeling Ye Zheng as a villain.
[#580: What's there to defend? Is your 2D character above criticism?]
[#581: Talking about substance for a 2D character is hilarious. Pull your favorite out of the screen first.]
Tang Mingxi no longer cared about these triggered comments. These people who were breaking down and cursing Ye Zheng were, ironically, treating her more like a real person than her fans were. Otherwise, why not curse the creator?
She timed her post for an auspicious reply number and shared her biggest thought on this chapter.
[#666: Now standing before you is the most prestigious Saintess of the Empire, the undefeated healing powerhouse, the agent of the God of Hope, the savior born from fire and the body of a dragon!]
[#667: The Church of Zheng is eternal!]
Author's Note: This girl's titles will only grow more numerous in the future...
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