Chapter 216-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
For Ye Zheng's birthday celebration, Tang Mingxi had been busy for quite some time—coordinating with members of the birthday event team to contact artists and writers within the fandom, communicating with the mall about the celebratory screen display, and preparing for the offline café celebration.
Tang Mingxi had applied to a university abroad and was currently in the waiting period for her acceptance letter, which left her free time to do what she loved. Her friend Li Yixin had to take the domestic college entrance exam and wasn't as free as she was.
[No way, I absolutely have to take leave to go to the offline birthday café. I told my mom this is a once-in-a-lifetime request!]
[I've saved you a spot anyway. If you don't come, I'll really beat you up. You should be grateful the organizer is giving you backdoor access.]
Tang Mingxi replied to her friend with a grin. Seeing a new notification from the event staff group, she immediately opened it—it was about venue setup arrangements.
The number of people who signed up for the offline birthday event exceeded Tang Mingxi's expectations. Just verifying attendee credentials kept her incredibly busy. After tickets went on sale, many people complained on the homepage that they couldn't get any. On the second-hand platform, people were reselling tickets at inflated prices. Quite a few mentioned in the group that they were from other cities and had already bought train tickets for that day.
The café was limited to one hundred participants—not a lot on paper, but this was Tang Mingxi's first time organizing such an event. As Ye Zheng's birthday drew near, she was so nervous and excited at night that she couldn't sleep.
She was so busy that by Friday night, she suddenly remembered the manga was supposed to update.
Last week's plot and the surrounding discourse had infuriated her. The story revealed that Sykes's actual birthday was the same day as Ye Zheng's, and Sykes stans were also busily preparing birthday activities. Though the preparation time was rushed, the momentum was quite impressive—the anime had brought Sykes a lot of new fans.
Recently, the King of the Demonic Domain anime's popularity had been rising fast. Even the stationery shop at the school gate had bootleg merch, but only for characters who appeared in the anime. Tang Mingxi had secretly gone in to investigate—no Zheng to be found.
...Who cares about ugly anime merch, especially bootlegs? Tang Mingxi casually grabbed a pack of spicy strips, paid, and left.
It was actually fine that Ye Zheng wasn't in the anime yet. At least she wouldn't become elementary schoolers' fashion accessories, and there wouldn't be too many people flooding in to speculate on merch prices. The manga merch for several characters who had appeared in the anime had recently skyrocketed in price.
Especially Sykes—protagonist's rival + cold and powerful + handsome art style was practically buff-stacked to the max. Li Yixin told her that this type of character often ends up more popular than the protagonist.
Add in the manga's new sob-story plot, and anime fans who heard about it had already labeled Sykes "beautiful, strong, and tragic." After skimming the manga plot through marketing accounts, they started putting down Ye Zheng. Quite a few Sykes stans who hadn't even read the manga put "NOTP: Ye Zheng" on their profiles.
Tang Mingxi blocked them one by one. Goodbye forever, tasteless elementary schoolers!
Based on manga popularity alone, Ye Zheng had already been crowned "Scalding Zheng Sect" by the merch community—merch prices simply wouldn't come down. Tang Mingxi didn't even dare imagine what would happen to this woman's popularity once the anime reached Ye Zheng's storyline.
Tang Mingxi clutched her phone, waiting for the manga to update. Last week, Sykes received Ye Zheng's invitation—Ye Zheng said that on her coming-of-age ceremony day, she would help him recover his memories.
Just thinking about this guy appearing at Ye Zheng's coming-of-age ceremony was annoying. But Sykes receiving the invitation meant the ceremony storyline would definitely be drawn. Old Uncle would suppress Ye Zheng—he was still quite attentive to his biological son.
That's just how miserable it was for 2D female character moms like them. Their Zheng only got screen time when she had scenes with male supporting characters. And no one told her before she got into this fandom that stanning a female character in 2D was the same treatment as chasing a green-card idol in the entertainment industry!
Tang Mingxi noticed it was already 8 PM—time for the manga to update. But she refreshed several times and there was no sign of a new chapter.
She entered the forum, ignoring hot posts like [Li Tao, has Emperor Sykes reclaimed the peak of Your Gui popularity] and [Sykes storyline future direction predictions (slight Sykes×Percy content, haters beware)], and discovered many readers also couldn't see the update.
So it wasn't her home network—the official site just hadn't released the new chapter yet.
Strange. King of the Demonic Domain updates had always been punctual. The Creator never took leave, the art style was consistent, and the update volume was large—one of the Creator's few redeeming qualities.
Readers flooded the official account with feedback. An hour later, the official response finally came.
[King of the Demonic Domain Manga Official V: We sincerely apologize to all readers. Due to the Creator's illness this week, the update is postponed to next week. We bow in apology to all readers once again.]
Tang Mingxi frowned. She had been looking forward to Friday's update of the coming-of-age ceremony storyline—to contribute some new Ye Zheng art for Zheng fans and print more birthday freebies to share at the offline event. She hadn't expected the Creator to fall ill this week, delaying the update.
What's this supposed to mean? Old Uncle sure picked a great time to get sick. Does he have a problem with Ye Zheng's coming-of-age ceremony?
Tang Mingxi puffed out her cheeks, thinking quite unreasonably.
She exited the forum and returned to the group chat with 99+ messages, continuing to discuss the day's details with fellow Zheng fans who were co-organizing the birthday celebration.
*
"Li Yixin, over here!"
The elegantly decorated café was packed with people. At the entrance stood standees of long-haired Saintess Zheng, Pope Zheng, and modern suit Zheng. Many people were taking photos with Ye Zheng merch and the standees—it was difficult even to get through the door.
Li Yixin, wearing a dark blue school uniform, followed the familiar voice and found Tang Mingxi handing out freebies.
Tang Mingxi wore an organizer staff badge with a Ye Zheng ID photo on it. Someone was already asking if she'd sell the badge.
"Your mom actually let you out?"
Tang Mingxi looked at Li Yixin in her conspicuous school uniform with surprise.
Today was Wednesday. Only college students would typically be free, but today's attendees included not just college students but quite a few working adults too. After chatting around, she discovered Zheng moms had unexpectedly diverse backgrounds.
Though Tang Mingxi had told Li Yixin "you're dead if you don't come," she knew Li Yixin was under a lot of pressure lately and had an obedient, rule-following personality. So Tang Mingxi was just talking—she hadn't really expected Li Yixin to actually show up.
"I asked the teacher for leave directly, said I had menstrual cramps and needed to go home to rest. She let me go."
Li Yixin scratched her head sheepishly. She really did have some cramps today, but not severe enough that she couldn't stay. She just had a sudden flash of inspiration and used it as an excuse to skip evening self-study.
The moment she stepped out of school, her stomach didn't hurt anymore and she felt refreshed all over. The school's feng shui really was harmful.
"Old Tan is pretty easy-going—anyway, I'm glad you came." Tang Mingxi leaned close to Li Yixin's ear and whispered, "Order whatever you want. Today's on me."
Hearing Tang Mingxi's clearly pleased and uplifted tone, Li Yixin smiled quietly too.
Usually watched closely by her family, today was Li Yixin's first time attending such an offline event. Ye Zheng was a character who had given her a lot of encouragement during this period—she didn't want to miss her birthday event.
More importantly, this was Tang Mingxi's first time hosting such an event, and every time they talked about it she couldn't stop from excitement.
In August, she'd be going abroad. The time they could spend together like this would only grow less and less... So, let's create more beautiful memories.
To accommodate everyone's schedules, the offline event ran from 4 PM to 7:30 PM. Upon entering the café, attendees received freebies included with their tickets—postcards, bracelets, paper bags, small standees, small badges, and more. Fellow fans were also exchanging freebies on site.
As the organizer, Tang Mingxi was constantly busy, continuously distributing small merch to newly arrived fellow fans. Li Yixin helped her for a while before being shooed away to have fun.
On site, artist masters were doing quick sketches of Ye Zheng Q-version figures. Every table had a Ye Zheng standee. People were taking photos with Ye Zheng merch and decorations in every corner of the café, and you could also take photos with the cool sisters cosplaying Ye Zheng. Empty-handed Li Yixin received racer Zheng stickers from a fellow fan, and when they exchanged contacts, she discovered the other person was actually a famous writer in the fandom—Milk Tea No Sugar.
At the end of the event, everyone placed their various Zheng plushies beside the custom cake. The cake was topped with a Q-version Zheng 3D figure, and the cake surface had edible rice paper printed with Ye Zheng's coronation scene. At a glance, it was completely a sea of Ye Zheng.
They sang the birthday song, cut the cake, and the whole venue cheered. The camera silently recorded the lively and beautiful process.
Even after the event ended, the two felt like they were still in a dream. Though Tang Mingxi had been busy the whole time, seeing so many people gather together because of their shared love under her organization made her heart feel full to bursting.
Tang Mingxi glanced at the time—it was almost 8 PM. She grabbed Li Yixin's hand and the two ran through a street in the evening breeze, arriving at a nearby mall.
The mall's large screen was cycling through various advertisements. Quite a few people on site held up their phones aimed at the screen, waiting for that one figure.
"Ye Zheng! Ye Zheng's up!"
A romantic drama ad ended, and the sweet color palette suddenly shifted. The vertical outdoor screen dimmed, and a pure white figure occupied almost the entire vertical display—incredibly eye-catching.
Tang Mingxi and the team members had discussed for a long time and finally chose the fan art now displayed on the screen—Ye Zheng in white robes holding a lantern in the endless black night, a faint smile contained in her half-lowered eyes, seeming to smile yet not smile, seeming compassionate yet emotionless.
The screen's black background almost merged with the night sky, as if Ye Zheng was truly walking toward them carrying a bright lamp.
"What anime character is this?"
Even passersby stopped to marvel.
"So cool. Whatever, I'll take a photo first."
Li Yixin looked up. The white light reflected from the screen made her eyes shine like water. She blinked, and the watery gleam became even more obvious.
Suddenly, an arm wrapped around her shoulders. Tang Mingxi hugged her while raising her other hand high with her phone, the front camera aimed at them both.
Neon lights flickered among the steel forest. A faint click was swallowed by the roaring traffic.
The two girls and Ye Zheng behind them—who seemed to be looking down at them with a slight smile—froze on the screen. This moment was saved in Tang Mingxi and Li Yixin's phone albums and forever imprinted in their hearts.
Tang Mingxi took out Ye Zheng nui nui plushies, Ye Zheng lying-down plushies, and other merch to take turns photographing with the screen. Only when her album was nearly full did she stop with satisfaction.
Tang Mingxi scrolled through her album, her heart warming. Years from now, she might no longer love Ye Zheng, but the beautiful moments Ye Zheng and her friends had brought her would definitely be experiences impossible to forget once lived through.
She smiled and pulled Li Yixin along, about to walk her to the subway station, when her phone suddenly received a notification.
[The manga you follow, King of the Demonic Domain, has updated!]
The manga updated? Today?
Author's Note
Sorry, I overestimated myself again. The big forum scene will have to wait until tomorrow...
No-prize quiz: This chapter contains the biggest self-indulgent insertion since serialization began. Please find which part it is.
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