Chapter 141-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
Ye Zheng couldn't hold on until leaving the Curia; she suddenly fainted while walking on the road. The people around her hurriedly surrounded her in a flurry.
When Ye Zheng opened her eyes again, familiar ceiling tiles came into view. She propped up her body weakly, turned her head, and saw someone lying on the edge of her bed, sleeping quietly.
Ye Zheng's body paused. She gazed at the side of Shu Wan's face buried in her arms, not knowing whether she should wake her mother.
She also didn't know how Ye Fanjing explained this judgment to her. Seeing her daughter lose consciousness and be sent back, she must be very sad, right? But as a daughter, she knew even less about how to explain all this to her.
They were the closest blood allies in this world. Perhaps because the relationship was too close, their hearts uncomfortably drifted apart.
Ye Zheng stared silently for a while, then looked away. She got out of bed lightly, found her phone in a pile of clothes, sat on a chair, and turned on the phone.
From entering the West District to the end of the judgment, too many things had happened in between. Ye Zheng didn't even have time to open her phone to observe the readers' feedback, although she could see from the rising Action Points that many readers were supporting her.
In Ye Zheng's view, the higher-dimensional world where readers and the manga creator existed was like a special Demonic Domain. The difference was that monsters in ordinary Demonic Domains didn't have human-like appearances and wisdom, while people in the higher-dimensional world possessed similar appearances and thinking logic to them, probably because this manga world was born out of the higher-dimensional world.
People in the higher-dimensional world could influence Ye Zheng's world through thoughts and emotions. Ye Zheng sometimes felt she was being monitored by a giant eye, but she could also observe the other world through this eye.
Looking at it this way, she and the people of the higher-dimensional world were like each other's "monsters."
"System, according to your statement, our world was born from imagination. The manga creator is like a creator god, and your world is like a kingdom of gods to us."
"You can enter our world, just like a god dispatching a messenger into the mortal world. Since you have a channel for descending, then is it possible for me to—"
After the series of events in the West District, Ye Zheng had more doubts and thoughts about this world. She had a sudden whimsical idea, gesturing with her hands, but was quickly interrupted by the System.
[Because of excessive blood loss, your brain is still in a hypoxic state, and your IQ is lower than your usual level. It is not recommended for you to engage in complex thinking right now!]
[Aren't you curious about reader feedback? Everyone likes you very much. Reading their flattery is just right for massaging and relaxing your brain.]
"I feel my head is very clear right now."
Ye Zheng shook her head twice to prove herself, only to find she was indeed still a bit dizzy. She hurriedly blinked her eyes to stabilize her body.
[...I said so, your head isn't quite clear yet, right?]
Usually, Ye Zheng wouldn't attempt to prove her clarity by shaking her head!
Ye Zheng held her forehead and sighed. She had been in a tense state for the past month. Finally having a time to relax... forget it, she wouldn't think too much for now.
Although she occasionally regarded readers from the higher-dimensional world as "monsters," she had always been grateful to them. It was precisely because of their existence and gaze that she had walked to where she was today.
Ye Zheng's face softened. Harboring a soft mood, she tapped on her phone and entered the forum.
Seeing Ye Zheng no longer dwelling on it, the System secretly breathed a sigh of relief. It quietly modified the data, sinking the quarrelsome posts and bumping the posts full of love from Zheng stans to the top. It hoped Ye Zheng could rest well, not entirely to change the subject.
[Little Steam please enter! Any recommendations for Ye Zheng dream-oriented food!]
Little Steam? She knew what steam was, but the steam in this title definitely didn't mean what she understood. Ye Zheng clicked in with some curiosity.
Soon, the soft smile on Ye Zheng's face slowly disappeared after clicking into this hot post. She first frowned in confusion, then her face slightly lost color, and finally, her expression went blank, attempting to comprehend everything.
[#1: Little Steam please enter! Any recommendations for Ye Zheng dream-oriented food!]
[#2: Fanart, fanfic, video edits all work. Begging, the child is really starving to madness!]
[#3: Pointing the way to Steam Empire on Big Eye. I won't allow any Zheng stans not to know Steam Empire.]
[#4: The Ye Zheng tag on Little Ford. Mostly yumejo food, but there have been many vicious CP fans appearing recently, discern carefully.]
[#5: How did you know I ran here for help after being traumatized by fanart on Little Ford? Found a solo pic I liked, clicked into the Taitai's homepage, and was immediately traumatized by PerZheng pics...]
[#6: Is it that Mafia AU? There's a Taitai on Steam Empire bot who draws with more feeling. Forever love Gun Zheng (Image attached)]
[#7: What a god-tier picture... Watching it, I got distracted and accidentally slipped and sat on Ye Zheng's finger...]
[#8: Upstairs, you,,]
[#9: Does anyone draw Judge Zheng? Want to be interrogated by Judge Zheng pinch.]
[#10: Wait for me to finish my finals and I'll satisfy the floor above. Really want to steal Saintess-sama's smart brain to take the exam...]
[#11: Anyone want to read Phone Pickup Literature? Just finished writing "When Ye Zheng Discovers You Are Secretly in Love with Her"]
[#12: So tasty, so tasty! Ye Zheng's effortless Dom vibes are portrayed so well. There's also a gloomy, dank vibe that I've long been a prey targeted by her. Boss, please don't stop writing!]
[#13: Recommending Taitai "Milk Tea No Sugar"'s "Blue Hour" and "Please Reply 2067". One is encountering Photographer Zheng in a foreign country, the other is mutual secret crush with Transfer Student Zheng. The atmosphere is super strong.]
[#14: Warning about Milk Tea No Sugar. Used to write BG in other fandoms; don't trust straight female creators writing Yuri-oriented stuff.]
[#15: Ye Zheng GL crack ships are also quite numerous. YeLu, YeBai, YeSy. Just that there's too little plot. Old Uncle sells it lightly, leaving me in pain for a lifetime...]
[#16: This pufferfish [himejoshi] is used to it. Cold is very reassuring. We GL only have a sense of existence when BL and BG are fighting.]
...
[#57: Passerby stumbled in. You Ye Zheng yumejos eat this well?]
[#58: Feel like there are more Ye Zheng yumejos than male character yumejos in Demonic Domain. It's also a great miracle of the fandom circle.]
[#59: Falling in love with Ye Zheng is an easy thing. And besides romance-oriented, yumejos also have friendship CB-oriented. Ye Zheng is a female character who can really give people strength.]
[#60: For friendship-oriented, please read Taitai "Coffee Only Slightly Sweet"'s "When Ye Zheng Comes to Your World". Virtual character redeems reality, very god-tier!]
[#61: I can only say that people who aren't Ye Zheng yumejos, you are really sick. Scientists once did an experiment, forgot the middle part, anyway being a Ye Zheng yumejo is a great fortune in life.]
[#62: Ye Zheng really raised Zheng stans very well. A character with great tension in every aspect.]
[#63: Speaking of tension, I must bring out my bottom-of-the-box god-tier fic. Everyone turn your phone upside down to read (Long text image attached)]
[#64: Holy moly, is this S-Zheng I can see without going on aotree?]
...
"System, can these things really massage and relax my brain?" Ye Zheng turned off her phone with an indescribable expression. She needed to digest the brand-new knowledge system.
No, these things couldn't be digested at will. It was better to pretend such things didn't exist. If she didn't look or listen, everything would be safe and sound.
Sure enough, readers from the higher-dimensional world were indescribable monsters! She couldn't easily attempt to understand them.
The System was a bit awkward. It only wanted to bump up friendly posts related to Ye Zheng for her to see. It didn't expect Ye Zheng to precisely click into the most explosive Zheng stan group discussion post. Watching Ye Zheng's gradually changing expression, it felt an inexplicable guilty conscience.
[Alright, remember not to easily click into posts with "Little Steam" in the title in the future, as well as those with PerZheng, SyZheng...]
The most OOC degree for Ye Zheng yumejo-oriented content was just Super Crazy Top Scum Alpha Zheng. PerZheng and SyZheng, these two BG crack ships, were the truly vicious ones. A bunch of frail pampered wife Zheng; it seriously suspected many people were just using Ye Zheng's identity to dream about the two male characters.
As for GL CPs with other female characters, they were too cold! Completely no need to worry about the degree of traumatizing Ye Zheng herself!
The System quietly modified the weights again. In the future, any titles daring to carry PerZheng or SyZheng would all be down-weighted. Ye Zheng worked so hard usually; how could it let her see that kind of thing?
Ye Zheng sat with the black-screened phone for a while, lowered her head, and couldn't help but turn on the phone again.
Humans would feel fear towards the unknown, but would also be fascinated by the unknown. Ye Zheng already knew the meaning of "Steam." Now she just wouldn't open posts with Steam.
She was very curious. After so many things happened in the manga world, how exactly did the readers perceive them?
Ye Zheng saw a magnifying glass icon at the top of the forum. She tried clicking it, writing a few characters stroke by stroke on the screen, learning to search keywords without a teacher.
Following keywords like "West District," "Dragon Bone," "Fallen Breed," and "Judgment," she browsed through them one by one.
After reading quite a few posts, Ye Zheng clicked into a new post titled [What huge crisis lurks behind Ye Zheng's judgment? Ye Zheng's dual predicament inside and outside the manga!]
This post was very long. The author accurately analyzed the reason she chose the Divine Adjudication at that time.
Once she accepted the ending where Sykes cleaned up for her, her reputation as the Saintess would inevitably suffer a tragic blow. The judge's daughter, the Crown Prince's friend, the protected noble lady... these labels would diminish her identity as Saintess and Godsent amidst the doubts of ordinary people.
As a manga character, she hadn't thought about it from the perspective of the creator outside the manga for a moment. This handling method was also elevating Sykes' image by suppressing her.
Speaking of which, such an operation was truly identical to the logic the Emperor used to deal with her.
Ye Zheng didn't believe that Sykes exposing the plaintiff's fake identity was accidental. First, Sykes wasn't that kind-hearted. Second, Sykes might not necessarily have that ability. Or rather, would such a shrewd layout maker really leave such a simple flaw?
When seeing Sykes appear, Ye Zheng could almost be certain that the Emperor was setting up the board. The purpose of this setup was not to eliminate her, but to suppress her.
Ye Zheng slowly furrowed her brows. But why didn't the Emperor simply get rid of her? Because in his eyes, she wasn't enough to constitute a threat?
No, if she were that weak in his eyes, the Emperor wouldn't have specially set up a trap to frame her.
Ye Zheng held the phone and continued browsing the post.
[#36: This setup was definitely laid by the Emperor for Ye Zheng. Even if existing clues can't lock onto the mastermind, if we deduce from motivation, who least wants to see Ye Zheng sitting on the prestige of the Godsent? Ye Zheng is still nominally a person of the Curia. The Pope wouldn't go that far, but the Royal Family has been building momentum for Sykes early on. Yet suddenly a Ye Zheng pops out. The Royal Family was already opposed to the Curia; could they allow Ye Zheng, who represents the Curia, to become powerful?]
This author's analysis made sense, but Ye Zheng still felt something was wrong.
If he didn't want the Curia power she represented to grow larger, the Emperor could have used the judgment to get rid of her directly. It couldn't be that he was concerned about some private agreement with Ye Fanjing and really treated her as a future Crown Princess who needed to be beaten into shape?
Ye Zheng continued scrolling down.
[#107: Feel like the Emperor's attitude is quite good. OP is being a conspiracy theorist, right?]
[#108: The Emperor's eyes looking at PerSy were so benevolent, like a couple meeting the other's parents (not)]
[#109: I remember someone speculated based on Kiran saying Ye Zheng is a Holy Vessel that Sykes might have an engagement with Ye Zheng. At that time, PerSy sisters who are good at KYing will be humorous.]
[#110: Upstairs, do you think your SyZheng sisters aren't humorous,,]
[#111: Ah, everyone shouldn't mention CPs at this time. This is a very heavy matter for Ye Zheng. Whether being treated as a Holy Vessel or an inexplicable engagement, Ye Zheng herself must hate these things.]
Ye Zheng's gaze stopped at #111.
...Holy Vessel?
A moment of silence, and the corner of Ye Zheng's mouth hooked up into a cold smile.
The Emperor suppressed her because he didn't need Ye Zheng as the Saintess and Godsent. What he needed was—Ye Zheng as a Holy Vessel!
After successfully creating Percy and Sykes, the Hope Project didn't end. The base continued to operate; they were still pursuing a more perfect hope.
And the most crucial thing for a perfect hope was—a perfect mother body.
The Emperor wanted her to become the second former Empress.
Li Yixin flipped through her book, her mind wandering a bit. She knew her top priority was to study hard, but she just couldn't control her hand wanting to play with her phone.
She tapped on her phone and refreshed the forum. Just now, she had left a comment that was easily attacked by CP fans. She checked the reply status with some nervousness.
[#192: Thank you for being reborn as a high school senior big mutant variant. Those things are really annoying.]
[#193: Wish you can find happiness and motivation in learning. Go high school senior!]
Li Yixin's eyes widened, staring at the responder's ID "Ye Zheng."
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