Chapter 268-The Manga Pariah's Guide to Self-Salvation
In addition to having Heath search the Imperial Palace for the remains, Ye Zheng made time to personally visit the Grand Cathedral where members of the Royal Family were interred.
The solemn, austere Cathedral stood quietly atop a hill, its towering pointed arches piercing the sky. Ye Zheng stepped into the lonely structure on a gentle breeze.
The colorful stained-glass windows were the only bright spots inside. Dozens of sarcophagi were arranged in various positions—the more central a sarcophagus, the more exalted its occupant. Yet beneath the grand, lofty dome, all were equally insignificant.
Margaret had once been the Empire's Empress. Under normal circumstances, she should have been buried here.
Ye Zheng carried the remains throughout the Grand Cathedral, searching every corner—every underground level and above-ground level—without finding a single clue. The bone in her arms gave no reaction.
In the dim underground level, Ye Zheng even opened the Sarcophagus belonging to Aston XIV. Inside, she found only gold coins, jewels, and ornate vessels. Not a single bone.
Utterly unsurprising.
She glanced at a hanging clock. Two hours had passed without her noticing. There was no point searching further.
Dappled sunlight filtered through the stained-glass windows and fell upon the sarcophagi. Ye Zheng had brought a bouquet of flowers for the former Empress, Qin Tian, and placed it atop her Sarcophagus where the sunlight could reach.
Just as she was about to turn and leave, a voice broke the emptiness.
[Ye Zheng, is now a good time?]
It was Lin Zhixing's voice. She hadn't made direct contact in a while.
"Mm. Has the company made any new moves?"
Ye Zheng lowered her head slightly and slowed her pace.
[I've been trying to get access to the core department during this time, to see what the manga Creator's situation actually is... I didn't succeed.]
Lin Zhixing's voice carried a note of embarrassment.
But Ye Zheng's expression only grew more focused. Last time, Lin Zhixing had told her that the manga Creator's body had died—his brain was being preserved by the company for experiments, while his consciousness remained active in her world.
He might not count as a formidable enemy, but his existence was so ephemeral and elusive. Ye Zheng could only hope that once Percy died, the Creator would vanish as well, severing the consciousness link between their two worlds.
[I don't know his current condition, but I managed to dig up every piece of information about him—his name, résumé, family situation, accounts across various platforms... I even went to his apartment in person.]
[This is the first time I've ever done anything illegal... Even if it's not all that useful to you, I really felt the need to share!]
Ye Zheng smiled softly. "No—I'm very curious about this information too. But more than any of it, your own safety matters most."
From fragments of information, she had gathered that the readers' world was relatively stable and orderly, with more comprehensive laws. Invading someone's privacy was illegal, though the practice seemed rampant—terms like "doxxing" and "exposing personal info" popped up on forums regularly. She had had to ask the System to explain what they meant.
But the manga Creator was in no position to sue Lin Zhixing for invasion of privacy. The real threat to Lin Zhixing came from her own people—the company.
[They only care about having obtained a conscious brain and whether the experiment yields a major breakthrough. I'm nominally the project lead, but I don't really get much attention.]
[Setting aside his online following, this manga Creator is a completely obscure middle-aged man in real life. His social circle is extremely simple—his close relatives have all passed away, and he has no friends.]
"It sounds like his life hasn't gone very smoothly."
[Actually, the first half of his life was pretty smooth. An only son from a decent family. He worked at a major game studio, and his debut manga gained modest fame. Though it got flagged and pulled back for pushing boundaries, he still made money and a name for himself...]
[Then he stopped drawing. Spent three years chasing quick money on a project with friends, only to lose everything—including his parents' savings. Then he went crying online about how his friend had swindled him.]
[When I looked into it, I found out the project had been illegal from the start. His friend double-crossed him, so he couldn't even go to the police. Not only was all the money gone, he was saddled with debt and forced to go back to drawing to pay it off.]
[I don't know how the company noticed him, but they struck a deal for the experiment. He paid off all his debts and moved into a luxury apartment.]
As she talked, Lin Zhixing felt a twinge of envy—she didn't even have a luxury apartment yet.
Ye Zheng listened quietly to the manga Creator's life story. Her expression was somewhat entranced, as though hearing a tale from another world—which it was, and she found it fascinating.
[I took some photos in his apartment and uploaded them to the System. It says it can send them to you.]
"Thank you, Zhixing."
[...Well, I hope they're useful to you.]
[I don't want to put pressure on you, but I can only count on you to stop all of this...]
Ye Zheng's eyes curved warmly. "I don't feel any overwhelming pressure. I'm not walking this path alone."
At those words, Lin Zhixing's voice instantly perked up.
[You're right, Ye Zheng. Let's both do our best!]
*
Ye Zheng returned to her study. She took out her phone—only two icons on the screen—and tapped open the forum.
On the forum's front page sat an unremarkable thread. Inside were merely a few dozen images and not a single comment.
It was a thread only she could see.
Ye Zheng carefully browsed every photo: a spacious living room, a bedroom crammed with objects and equipment, a bathroom, a study, and several detail shots.
Her gaze lingered on each image. Her fingertip patiently zoomed in and out, over and over.
When she finally looked up, the sky outside the window had gone dark.
She gently rubbed her eyelids, pulled over a blank sheet of paper, and began jotting down useful information with a pen.
From one of the ID photos, she learned the manga Creator's name was Wang Tao. He was thirty-five years old today.
Judging by the photos, Wang Tao's daily activities were centered in his bedroom. The bedroom's white walls were almost entirely covered—his own artwork, photographs, King of the Demonic Domain posters. Notably, he also collected various models.
There were anime figure models, vehicle models, weapon models...
The weapon models were flamboyantly designed. Ye Zheng could tell at a glance they were merely collectible toys.
Compared to guns, he seemed to have a particular fondness for swords. In the corner of the room stood a weapon rack, its shelves lined with model swords.
Ye Zheng had looked closely. The rack could hold five swords vertically and four horizontally. The swords were generally slender—a perfect fit for the elegant rack.
But one slot on the rack was empty. Whether Wang Tao simply hadn't filled it yet, or whether a sword had been removed and never returned, she couldn't tell.
Ye Zheng jotted this down, then set down the pen and picked up her phone again. She scrolled up, and the photo focusing on the weapon rack was enlarged once more.
In the lower-left corner of the photo, on the floor, was a small dried bloodstain—no more than a month old.
Night deepened. The study's lamplight seemed dimmer now, and the white glow of the phone screen illuminated Ye Zheng's dark eyes.
She stared at the photo for a long time before finally setting her phone down. She didn't pick up the pen to continue writing. Instead, she walked out of the study.
The Papal Palace at night was quieter than during the day, the air cooler. Draped in white, Ye Zheng passed through deserted corridors and stopped at a certain corner.
There sat a decorative fish tank. Small fish drifted among the aquatic plants.
Ye Zheng bent down and peered at them through the glass. Her reflection shimmered faintly on its surface, as though passing through the glass to merge with the water.
"System."
[Good evening. I'm here.]
"I recall you once said that for beings of a higher dimension, this world's time and space can be browsed at will."
[Theoretically, yes. But due to technological limitations, it can't be freely controlled.]
[For example, the last time you went back five hundred years, you temporarily left my observation range. It took considerable effort to find you again.]
"Is your observation range the same as the manga Creator's?"
[No. I can observe your world through the manga Creator's consciousness link. Under normal circumstances, my observation range is broader than his.]
[Furthermore, as his consciousness link with this world deepens, the range I can observe expands along with it.]
"...I see."
"I hear his brain is currently kept in a special tank of fluid. Doesn't that make him rather like these little fish?"
As she spoke, Ye Zheng suddenly raised her hand and reached into the fish tank. Her five fingers drifted through the water like slender, supple fronds of aquatic grass, and she scooped up a goldfish.
In the moonlight, the goldfish lay in her palm, its body thrashing.
"A fish's memory is fragile and fleeting."
Ye Zheng sighed softly. "It can't even remember the person who gave it fear and pain."
She placed the fish back into the tank.
The System couldn't read her.
[Ye Zheng, are you sympathizing with the manga Creator who's being used by the company?]
Like a little fish in a tank, at the mercy of the company's control.
Ye Zheng turned to gaze at the moon outside the window. There was no soft sympathy on her face—instead, an ambiguous smile that looked almost eerie in the dim light.
"No. The one standing outside the fish tank—is me."
*
Comments
Post a Comment