Chapter 90-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
The day Chapter 263 of King of the Demonic Domain was updated came to be known as the "Zhao Mei Incident Day."
After the "Zhao Mei Incident," whether it was the popular, beloved white-moonlight male supporting character or the trusted, mysterious friend of the protagonist group, the character Zhao Mei completely vanished. There was only Ye Zheng, the Saintess Ye Zheng who had deceived everyone.
Readers discussed this shocking move on various platforms, causing the topic's popularity to remain high. Among all, the name that stood out the most was Ye Zheng.
[As a non-ACG follower, can someone use an entertainment industry example to explain what you all are so shocked about?]
[It's probably like two rival celebrities, a male and a female, whose fans have been in a huge fan war, only to find out that the male celebrity was actually the female celebrity's cross-dressing fake identity...]
[That's explosive! If I were a fan of the male celebrity, I'd have a complete breakdown. This woman is one hell of an actress.]
[Say what you will, Ye Zheng is a true Best Actress. She out-acted everyone. I won't be convinced if the Baicao Award for Best Actress isn't given to her today.]
[Are you searching for Ye Zheng, the topic queen of King of the Demonic Domain (fire emoji)? The officially certified most popular female character, a versatile queen whose main identity and alias are both incredibly charming, the well-deserved inheritor of the Divine Sword. Her wisdom and strength are both ACE-rank. Welcome to the fandom (heart emoji).]
[The person above really made me laugh. As a Ye Zheng anti, even I'm impressed by you Ye Zheng mom fans. Both the fans and their idol are die-hard careerists. Isn't this a kind of mutual devotion?]
[As a non-follower, I'm genuinely drawn in by this amazing plot. Is there a guide for new fans? Will knowing that Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng from the start make it less interesting?]
[Not at all! As a dedicated reader of King of the Demonic Domain, the character Ye Zheng is really interesting, with many secrets still to be uncovered. She's now my biggest motivation for following this manga.]
Besides attracting people from the real world, it became the biggest drama in the 2D community recently. This was especially true because the PerMei ship had been unusually popular in the past two weeks, with many fan creators producing content. Many non-followers had also casually enjoyed some of it, only for this massive, devastating plot twist to drop so quickly.
[I checked, a ton of fan works under the PerMei tag on Lofter are gone. The creators deleted them themselves, and many have even blacked out their profile pictures.]
[I feel so bad for them. When will fan-fiction writers escape the fate of being backstabbed by the original work when it goes against the source material like this?]
[A more thorough BE has appeared, worse than one side of the ship dying or the two becoming enemies. One of them was a completely fake character, everything from gender to personality changed. This kills even the past...]
[An irresponsible guess: did the straight male creator get jealous that the ship between the male lead and the male supporting character got so popular, so he forcibly merged the popular male character into the female lead's persona?]
[Person above, please have some respect for us female character stans. I can tolerate you calling our Zheng an evil person, but without Ye Zheng, there would be no Zhao Mei. Can you please adhere to the one-Ye-Zheng principle?]
[All I can say is, run! Sisters who are into BL, stay away from this IP! I've never seen a work where the female character's obnoxious stans could walk all over everyone so badly.]
[Is the person above telling the truth? In this manga, the female character's stans can walk all over everyone? Then I'm definitely getting into it.]
[Successfully convinced by the reverse-recommendation, plus one. I'm also going to check out which girl is so capable that she got a whole bunch of people triggered hahaha!]
On video platforms, several videos denouncing the new chapter of King of the Demonic Domain went viral. Even a male 2D vlogger with millions of subscribers posted a video cursing the new plot.
[Sharp Review of King of the Demonic Domain's Outrageous Move, Vlogger Watched and Cried, 'It Turns Out I Was the Clown All Along!']
[A Legendary Failure in Shonen Manga History! The Most Pathetic Male Lead Ever!]
[This Made Me Laugh Out of Anger! Female Side Character Uses an Alias to Snatch the Divine Weapon, Male Lead Becomes Part of the Scenery!]
Li Yixin followed the online debates, feeling down for three consecutive days.
She was now in a very strange state of mind. On one hand, she was incredibly dejected by Zhao Mei's disappearance, even faintly blaming Ye Zheng. But on the other hand, seeing the malicious comments targeting Ye Zheng made her even angrier.
The character she liked seemed to have truly disappeared—the gentle, quiet boy who was occasionally a bit mischievous. But on second thought, besides her gender, Ye Zheng fit that description quite well, didn't she?
But Ye Zheng had deceived the members of the Cloud-Soaring Squad. Even the trial by fire that had kept her up at night was probably part of the deception aimed at her, the reader. What kind of person was Ye Zheng?
She felt she couldn't understand her at all. Was Zhao Mei completely an act? Was the concern for her companions, the care for ordinary people, the occasional fond and happy smiles, all a lie...
Li Yixin felt like a heroine in a tragic novel, wanting to dive into the screen and shake Ye Zheng by the collar to ask her.
So she opened the forum again. Unsurprisingly, the hot posts were still dominated by the name Ye Zheng.
She spotted a Ye Zheng anti-post at a glance and clicked on it with mixed feelings.
[#1: Report! On a certain forum, Ye Zheng's rating has dropped below three points, to 2.6. Does everyone think this score is well-deserved?]
Li Yixin knew this particular forum was a platform with active male users. She frowned as she read; this kind of evaluation from a male community always made her uncomfortable.
[#2: The episode that the otaku bros purely hate the most. I remember Ye Zheng used to have a pretty good score on that forum.]
[#3: @OldUncle, a plot that satisfies no one. Are you happy now?]
[#4: Deserved. Only Ye Zheng stans could mindlessly dote on such an outrageous plot.]
[#5: Oh my god, I would get triggered if my girl was liked by this group of otaku bros. You're trying to hate on her from the wrong angle.]
[#6: Someone was saying before that we female character stans were sitting at the same table as the otaku bros. Looking at it now, who's really sharing a brain with men?]
[#7: Zero people care about men's opinions. The original poster seems to be a fake fan trying to stir things up.]
[#8: I thought the otaku bros would dote on female characters because of their looks. I didn't expect them to be so triggered by Ye Zheng.]
[#9: Hilarious, how is this getting triggered? It's just a fair evaluation.]
[#10: You popping up so quickly just proves how triggered you are hahaha. Didn't Ye Zheng just shatter your fantasy that the whole world revolves around your alpha male protagonist?]
[#11: Stop posting such boring stuff. The creator just responded on his Weibo!]
The creator responded? Li Yixin quickly switched platforms.
[An Ordinary Manga Worker v: I've been reading everyone's comments these past few days. To be honest, even when I was creating her, I never imagined that a character could act against the author's design. She just did it. I was shocked too and it took me a long time to process. Is this the power of observation? When you are watching her, she is also watching you, and acting accordingly.]
In just a few minutes, there were already hundreds of comments.
[Old Uncle seems to have been poisoned by bad takeout. Can you please speak human?]
[Has the creator gone mad from being criticized? The pen is in your hand. Did Ye Zheng hold a knife to your neck and force you to give her more scenes?]
[Tutorial on how not to blame my girl. Every time there's a public opinion storm, you use Ye Zheng as a shield...]
[What you said is giving me the creeps. What do you mean "she is also watching us"? Is she Ye Zheng?]
[So creepy. Observation, watching us... Is Ye Zheng some kind of indescribable Cthulhu-like being?]
[I'm a creator too, I understand how you feel. Sometimes characters just start running on their own, guiding my pen.]
Among the hundreds of comments, the author only replied to the one that said, "I'm a creator too."
[An Ordinary Manga Worker v: No, no one can understand me.]
After reading the creator's response, Li Yixin was even more confused. Old Uncle didn't seem to be in a good state of mind.
She returned to the forum. After hesitating for a while, she didn't want to read the Ye Zheng stan posts because they would repeatedly remind her of Zhao Mei's disappearance, but she didn't want to read the Ye Zheng anti-posts either. In the end, she clicked on a popular post that analyzed the plot with Zhao Mei's name in the title.
[#1: Let's discuss. The fact that Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng's alias actually had clues all along. It wasn't the creator suddenly going crazy.]
[#2: Let's first look at Zhao Mei's initial appearance. In the desert Demonic Domain, Zhao Mei got into danger while saving a cat, and Percy saved him. Because he happened to be the healer the Cloud-Soaring Squad was missing, he successfully joined the competition. Looking back now, this was definitely not a coincidence! This first meeting was not the budding of some friendship. Too many coincidences point to a setup. In other words, it's very likely that Ye Zheng deliberately planned to join the protagonist group, but she couldn't use her original identity. As for the reason, I guess it's highly possible she knew some of the protagonist group's secrets and was observing them under a disguised identity. In the subsequent plot, Zhao Mei's participation was not high, but every appearance was memorable. Ye Zheng was definitely deliberately trying to win favor with the protagonist group and increase their reliance on her to make her own actions more convenient. What's interesting is that none of us seemed to notice that Ye Zheng and Zhao Mei never actually appeared in the same scene. And I compared the two and found their temperament and style of doing things are very similar. The readers were completely misled by the 'siblings' theory. Also, I feel like Ye Zheng didn't even try hard to disguise herself. Zhao Mei's personality isn't that different from her main one (Zhao Mei stans can try to accept this; isn't Ye Zheng the main course anyway?).]
[#3: Following up on the above, saying Ye Zheng didn't try hard isn't quite right. In the Crimson Demonic Domain, Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng appeared one after another. Most people wouldn't think they were the same person, and even subconsciously had the false impression that they had been in the same scene. More importantly, does everyone remember that after the Blood Flower incident, Zhao Mei appeared with Bai Muqing and told everyone that Ye Zheng had been captured by Sierra?]
[#4: I'm catching this live! Teacher, I remember. Given that Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng, then Ye Zheng was never actually captured. So it was all staged by her?]
[#5: Ahh, why would she do that? To protect her alias? After all, she can't play both Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng at the same time.]
The original poster quickly replied again.
[#6: There's the reason mentioned above, but I'm afraid Ye Zheng's goal was far more than that. Let's look at who the biggest victim of the Saintess's execution incident was. It was the Pope!]
[#7: Oh my god, so Ye Zheng had such strong ambitions even back then? She wanted to take down the Pope. Is her goal to become the Pope herself?]
[#8: No way, is Ye Zheng that cool? I need to re-read it and dig for details too.]
[#9: Now that you mention it, her reason for seizing the sword makes sense. It was to obtain a more prestigious status and continue to climb higher, not just be a Saintess.]
[#10: This character reversal for Ye Zheng is too huge, isn't it? In the previous plot, she felt like a kind Saintess who was a bit obsessive about justice. Could it be that "Ye Zheng" is also her disguise?]
[#11: Several layers of disguise would be too terrifying, but when it comes to Ye Zheng, it somehow feels possible. She really gives me the vibe of a major villain.]
Many readers gathered in this thread. After the shock of Zhao Mei turning into Ye Zheng, whether they hated her, liked her, or were just passersby, no one wasn't curious—why did Ye Zheng do it? How deep was she hiding?
[#109: I'm back! After reading everyone's discussion, I don't agree that Ye Zheng's main personality in the previous plot was a disguise. Kindness, justice, obsession, ambition—these words are not antonyms and can even be linked together.]
[#110: Next, I'm going to analyze the most famous scene—the Radiant Oath!]
[#111: Ahhh, please, teacher, don't bring that up. I feel like a clown for ever being moved by the Radiant Oath!]
[#112: It's already at the level of a grim, iconic scene... I'll have to spend the rest of my life healing from the trauma of the PerMei Radiant Oath.]
[#113: I can accept that Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng, and it doesn't stop me from continuing to ship them. But the betrayal of the Radiant Oath is the reason this ship truly had a BE...]
The original poster continued to reply.
[#127: First of all, I don't ship anyone. I was a casual reader before this new chapter and didn't participate in fandom matters. But Ye Zheng absolutely did not betray the "Radiant Oath." I dare say, every word she said to Percy while disguised as Zhao Mei was true. And that is what's most terrifying about this woman! "You are not the only one who wants to change this world." and "Even if it means I have to bear all the radiant, overwhelming duties for you, it's not a problem." Please, everyone, savor these two sentences. The first one is still debatable, but the second one—Ye Zheng has already fulfilled her oath! She bore the radiant and heavy identity of the Godsent savior for Percy!]
[#128:!!! Wait, that sentence can be interpreted that way?]
[#129: Ye Zheng, you... oh my god, my shipper brain has just been shattered by this career-driven demon!]
[#130: I've learned my lesson. I'll never casually ship again. The fulfillment of this oath is too hellish and grim for both Percy and us readers...]
...
[#289: Alright, there's still too little plot about Ye Zheng. The manga has always been from Percy's perspective. For more detailed analysis of Ye Zheng, we can only wait for future updates. I believe that after this chapter, Ye Zheng's role in the plot will definitely increase. With the Divine Sword, she is now a character that cannot be ignored, with importance no less than Sykes.]
This post sparked many readers' enthusiasm for exploring Ye Zheng's plot, and they all went back to the manga to scrutinize the details. Some said they had a sudden realization after reading the original poster's analysis, while others desperately refuted it. But there was no doubt that Ye Zheng had become one of the biggest attractions of this manga.
[#389: Why is the OP pretending to be a casual reader? Claiming not to be in the fandom and just a casual reader, while actually trying so hard to glorify Ye Zheng. Kindness, ambition, justice, obsession, all in one person. Is your dear Zheng some kind of color palette?]
[#390: Didn't Ye Zheng get everything by deceiving the protagonist group's trust? The fans are as thick-skinned as their idol, and they love to pretend to be innocent.]
Soon, the original poster replied.
[#391: I said, I was a casual reader who only read the manga and didn't get involved in the fandom. I didn't say I still am. I wasn't wrong in my discussion. It was precisely because I analyzed her rationally from a non-follower's perspective that I discovered—this woman is damn charming!]
Li Yixin browsed through this analysis post in a daze. The images of Ye Zheng and Zhao Mei blurred together again. Everything was different from what she had understood before, but she didn't feel disappointed. Instead, she felt something more complex—
What kind of charm did Ye Zheng possess? Even she, a super stan of Zhao Mei, couldn't truly hate her. Instead, a dangerous curiosity arose, and this feeling felt like a betrayal of her past affection for her white-moonlight Zhao Mei...
Li Yixin held her phone and shook her head vigorously. She had made up her mind. She was going to quit this manga!
From now on, she would no longer pay attention to this manga or Ye Zheng!
Let her affection for him remain forever before Chapter 263. Her heart felt as cold as a fishmonger's after ten years on the job (a meme for being emotionally dead); she had no love left to give.
Li Yixin secretly vowed to herself.
"System, have there been any changes in the popularity value?"
Ye Zheng had already returned to the upper district. She knew a series of matters would be coming for her, so she might as well take a good rest before everyone reacted.
She noticed the system didn't reply for a while and comforted it considerately, "It's alright. Even if my popularity drops to rock bottom, I have ways to continue my plans."
[No, no, I can't give you the exact numbers right now.]
The system's tone was laced with a hint of excitement amid its confusion.
[The popularity value is going crazy right now! It's fluctuating up and down and won't stop!]
What was more terrifying was that the overall trend was still rising. This completely exceeded the system's analysis of the situation after her identity reveal.
Author's Note: Thank you all for your great love! When I started this story, I never imagined it would one day become number one on the no-CP female protagonist rankings. This is an episode of perfect cooperation between Zhengzheng and the dear readers!
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