Chapter 89

 After school, Li Yixin and Tang Mingxi went to the library together to study. Although Tang Mingxi had already planned to study abroad and still needed to prepare for a language exam, she accompanied Li Yixin to the library anyway.

By eight in the evening, after two hours of focused studying, Li Yixin could not resist pulling out her phone. This was the time when 《Throne of the Aberrant Realm》 updated again.

Tang Mingxi beside her had been scrolling on her phone the whole time, but she had no interest in opening the new chapter. Based on the previous chapter’s plot, the Ye Zheng she shipped would not appear. What was the point of a chapter without Ye Zheng?

Meanwhile, Li Yixin had been looking forward to the new developments. In the last chapter, Zhao Mei had voluntarily taken the stake in place of his companions, disappearing afterward. That sacrificial scene was filled with shocking beauty, and the character’s popularity had skyrocketed. Many readers were guessing in what way Zhao Mei would return to the protagonist group.

In the new chapter, he would surely come back safe and sound, right? If anything went wrong with him, she and Tang Mingxi would send razor blades to the author who did not know how to cherish his character.

With excited anticipation for the plot, she opened the latest update, Chapter 263. This chapter unexpectedly had far more pages than usual and looked as though it contained an enormous amount of content.

As a Zhao Mei fan, Li Yixin had a strong premonition that Zhao Mei would definitely make his return in this chapter, perhaps with a stunning comeback at the end or something similar.

Continuing from the previous chapter, the atmosphere within the protagonist team was heavy after losing an important teammate. Nevertheless, they rallied their spirits and pressed on to explore the labyrinth, carrying Zhao Mei’s expectations with them.

Without Zhao Mei, the Cloud Soarers team was completely helpless against the labyrinth’s puzzles. They had no choice but to force their way through, enduring wave after wave of attacks from the labyrinth until Kyle stayed behind to cover their escape and became trapped in one of the palaces. The Cloud Soarers team lost yet another teammate.

Li Yixin let out a long sigh. What were they supposed to do without Zhao Mei in this family?

On the next page of the manga, the remaining three team members each fell into arena-like rooms and encountered different opponents. It seemed these were rooms where only the winner could leave.

Roy and Lu Qi ended up in the same room. They stared at each other blankly, while Pei Xi faced the most troublesome opponent, Sykes.

Li Yixin watched as Sykes went all out from the very beginning. She felt that either one could win. Pei Xi was the protagonist, of course, but Sykes was clearly a character the author favored heavily. The divine sword would surely end up with one of the two.

On the phone screen, the two fought fiercely. Their exquisitely handsome faces confronted each other, and the panels were filled with tension.

Yet Li Yixin secretly wondered whether there was even a one percent chance that the divine sword might actually go to Zhao Mei. After all, the inscription on the door said “the merciful strong,” and Zhao Mei fit that description perfectly, did he not?

Just imagining her favorite character receiving such a highlight moment made her feel thrilled, but she knew it was impossible. According to all established tropes, the one who claimed the divine sword would be the protagonist. And if the tropes were broken, then Sykes was the most likely candidate.

She sighed. Who told her not to be a protagonist fan?

As expected, Pei Xi once again relied on Death Regression to narrowly defeat Sykes. The door finally opened.

“You have taken one step ahead, but I will catch up soon enough.”

“Savior, incarnation of the God of Hope, heh.”

In the manga, Sykes pressed a hand to his wound and looked at Pei Xi with a cold smile.

Sykes left behind two meaningful lines that made Li Yixin’s heart skip a beat. It seemed Pei Xi would not have an easy time ahead. Sykes looked as though he would pursue him again, and he appeared to know some inside information.

She felt that Sykes had truly changed somehow. In the past, when facing a defeat like this, he would have been far more furious instead of acting like a cryptic riddler.

The resident riddler of Throne of the Aberrant Realm was Yinkong. He had appeared in the previous chapter as well, entering the Aberrant Realm together with Bai Muqing.

Given Yinkong’s character archetype, he could probably reach the door through a confrontation as well. He always hovered around key battles, appearing rarely but maintaining solid popularity.

Until Pei Xi pushed open the door. Li Yixin swiped on her phone screen and was immediately greeted by a monster right in her face.

Next came the overwhelmingly oppressive entrance of the black dragon, along with other people who had passed the trials entering the ruined hall. To her surprise, Bai Muqing appeared with an air of mystery, but the riddler Yinkong was nowhere to be seen.

How strange. In the author’s previous work, it had been an all-male team with only one energetic female character who occasionally popped up to cheer everyone on and provide fanservice for male readers.

Probably because this series had gained more female readers, the author and team had to make commercial adjustments and reduce plots that might make female characters uncomfortable.

Li Yixin continued reading seriously. Even without Zhao Mei appearing, the battles remained tense and thrilling. Just as Pei Xi was about to seize the divine sword from the black dragon, Yu Tianming pulled a dirty move on Lu Qi. Pei Xi failed to claim the sword, and Sykes reappeared.

She was completely immersed in the plot now. The two fought fiercely over the sword, and the comments section was buzzing with heated bets on the final victor.

【Aaaah poor Pei Xi, carrying so much burden. At least let the author give him some reward!】

【Even though I am a Sykes fan, Pei Xi is the protagonist. It will definitely be him in the end.】

【Sykes is seen by the empire as hope against the Aberrant Realms. If he gets it, that's normal too.】

【Sykes’s strength is right there. It would be weird if Pei Xi beat him. Forced plot armor much?】

【Can side-character stans accept their place already? Looking forward to big male-lead Pei Emperor slapping all the side-character fans’ faces.】

【Stop arguing! It would be hilarious if neither of them gets it in the end.】

Li Yixin also bet on Pei Xi. Throne of the Aberrant Realm followed standard hot-blooded shonen manga tropes. A divine artifact like this would definitely end up in the protagonist’s hands.

While Li Yixin was fully absorbed in the manga plot, she did not notice that Tang Mingxi beside her, who had been scrolling other social sites, was showing an increasingly incredulous expression.

On the phone screen, the fierce battle between Pei Xi and Sykes over the sword had reached its climax. The black dragon that had swallowed the divine sword collapsed, and both rushed toward it at the same time.

Just as Li Yixin waited nervously for the winner, an unexpected figure appeared at the critical moment.

A black-haired, green-eyed youth in unfamiliar black light armor sat atop the demonic dragon’s massive body. His gaze met Pei Xi’s not far away, and a smile crossed his face, carrying a hint of slyness, as though saying to Pei Xi and the readers outside the screen, “I am back.”

Li Yixin saw her favorite character’s familiar beautiful face and nearly cried out in excitement. Remembering she was in the library, she desperately held it in.

Even Pei Xi’s tired eyes lit up. Like the readers outside the screen, seeing Zhao Mei made him feel inexplicably at ease. All the hanging anxiety and irritation seemed to find a gentle, embracing place to settle.

【Aaaah Zhao Mei is finally back! Wife, I missed you so much!】

【Oh my god, the moment Zhao Mei appears everything feels rock-solid and reassuring.】

【Alright, Sykes has lost. Same support-type male second lead, but Zhao Mei instantly outclasses Yu Tianming.】

【Your Aberrant Realm’s greatest inner helper has returned. Pei Xi, you lucky bastard.】

【Can CP fans stop shoving it in our faces? Our Zhao Mei is an independent little boy. This scene is insanely cool! Knight Mei treasure, I am licking the screen!】

The youth reappeared amid the flames, as though reborn from them. He stood up. With his movement, a curtain of water descended, suppressing the raging flames. The demonic dragon suddenly straightened its body and howled in pain. The divine sword burst out of its body right in front of Zhao Mei.

On the palm-sized phone screen, the calm and composed youth still wore a smile. He grasped the sword with one hand. His restrained yet domineering aura burst through the screen, shocking every reader watching.

Li Yixin’s heart began pounding wildly. She had a strong premonition about what was coming next.

No way, no way, how could Zhao Mei…? But then again, why could he not? Why could the divine sword not belong to Zhao Mei?

Her heart surged with emotion as she stared at the phone and continued scrolling. When she saw Sykes about to close in on Zhao Mei, to kill him, her heart leaped into her throat again. Was the author really going to pull another twist?

The girl, completely focused on her phone, did not notice her companion set her own phone down with a hesitant, strangely complicated expression.

But the next moment, a scene she could never have imagined filled the entire phone screen.

The youth gripping the hilt looked down at the charging Sykes. He reached up and tugged at his short black hair. A cascade of long, glossy black hair poured down.

Immediately after, the youth fully drew the radiant golden divine sword from the demonic dragon’s body. In the dim Aberrant Realm, it burned like a sun.

Even Sykes’s usually arrogant golden eyes were overtaken by the sheer impact of the scene. He showed a dazed expression that said he would never forget this in his lifetime, and fell from the youth’s feet straight into the flames beneath the demonic dragon.

By the time Li Yixin reached this point, she still had not fully processed what was happening. Her brain struggled to make sense of the scene, trying desperately to rationalize it.

Her thumb mechanically swiped downward. The exquisite panels on the screen blurred into incomprehensible color blocks until the text appeared, and her brain completely crashed.

“Saintess!”

Shouts rang out from all directions, shattering the readers’ last illusions.

In the manga, Pei Xi wore the exact same look of disbelief as the readers.

Li Yixin’s phone slipped from her hand and clattered loudly on the library floor. Tang Mingxi picked it up for her and patted her shoulder comfortingly, even though she herself had not fully digested the shocking development.

✧✧✧✧✧

Tang Mingxi had originally been scrolling other social sites. Besides following the manga, she paid more attention to her idol’s updates. Her favorite idol’s latest comeback MV had just dropped, and the hot search with the MV title had already climbed to second place. She was about to rush in and defend against the third-ranked “sounds awful” hot search when she suddenly spotted Ye Zheng on the hot search list.

How could her real-life bias and her 2D favorite appear on hot search at the same time?

Terms like Ye Zheng, Zhao Mei, Throne of the Aberrant Realm, going crazy, forum crashed ranked in the teens or twenties on the hot search list. Though they were lower-ranked, it was still shocking enough. Throne of the Aberrant Realm had decent popularity among domestic manga, but it was walled off from real-life trends, just a niche fandom frenzy. How had it suddenly appeared on hot search?

Had the damned manga author pulled some crazy plot in the new chapter that even dragged her real-life female bias into it?

Tang Mingxi instantly lost interest in controlling comments for her idol. Filled with battle spirit, she clicked into the Ye Zheng topic. After a while, she emerged looking dazed and utterly shocked.

She switched apps to check the forums, only to find the forum had crashed and would not load.

Tang Mingxi waited a full half hour before finally getting in.

【…】

The hottest thread on the forum had a title consisting of nothing but ellipses, and the floor count was growing at an astonishing speed.

【1L: …】

【2L: …same mood】

【3L: I am broken. Can someone come discuss the explosive development in the latest chapter? Waited a whole week excitedly and got backstabbed?】

【4L: I declare that from now on, Zhao Mei is my OC. He has absolutely nothing to do with Throne of the Aberrant Realm or Ye Zheng anymore.】

【5L: Stop deluding yourselves upstairs. Ye Zheng is Zhao Mei, and Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng. The manga made it crystal clear.】

【6L: Heh, one chapter update and both my CP and my favorite are completely BE*. Author, I hate you for life!】

[T/N- Bad Ending]

【7L: Crying so hard my typing hands are shaking. Zhao Mei is really dead. He died in the stake he voluntarily took for Pei Xi and the Cloud Soarers team. I refuse to accept that the person who appeared later is him!】

【8L: Oh my god, are you all this emotionally invested? Am I the only one who thinks this development is pretty interesting? It breaks out of typical shonen manga tropes. Zhao Mei never once denied being Ye Zheng, did he?】

【9L: The Zhao Mei I stan is the gentlest and most handsome youth. Powerful yet kind-hearted, willing to sacrifice everything for his friends. That is Zhao Mei! He could never be that hypocritical Saintess who toys with everyone in the palm of her hand!】

【10L: Last week you Zhao Mei stans were saying he fit the Saintess archetype the best. Now that he has actually become the true Saintess, why are you not happy?】

【11L: I never imagined Xi-Zhao would end so abruptly and tragically. All I can say is, Ye Zheng, you really destroyed Pei Xi and Zhao Mei’s glorious vow, destroyed my CP for life…】

【12L: What does this have to do with Ye Zheng?】

【13L: Uh sorry, retracting the above. As a Ye Zheng stan I am used to saying that… but yeah, this really does have everything to do with my girl…】

【14L: I hate the author, I hate the author, I hate the author… I absolutely refuse to accept that Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng. Zhao Mei is Zhao Mei. He is Pei Xi’s most trusted friend, the core member of the Cloud Soarers team, the most mysterious and gentle youth in the entire manga. Why on earth did the author have to make Zhao Mei become someone else’s discarded identity? How much does the author hate him exactly?】

……

Besides the complete meltdown among Zhao Mei stans and Xi-Zhao CP fans, even the relatively silent male readers on the forum exploded in protest and specially came to curse out loud.

【537L: Does the author have a problem? I tolerated the BL bait, I tolerated giving the effeminate character more screen time. After enduring all that, you tell me the divine artifact went to a cross-dressing side character? What was the point of me enduring all this time?】

【538L: Brothers, go raid his Weibo. Never seen a protagonist suffer such humiliation in the plot!】

【539L: Good thing I have always read pirated versions. My heart aches for the legit readers, brothers. All victims of official releases.】

【540L: I actually liked this Ye Zheng before. Gentle Saintess and all, what guy does not like that? This time she really left me speechless.】

【541L: "With no woman in the heart, the blade draws itself divinely." That is the eternal truth for men. Believe in women and you will be unlucky for life.】

【542L: Heh, never liked this Ye Zheng anyway. All fake and pretentious. Her fans are the jumpiest too, always posting “Good grief, Heaven!” or “I will castrate myself.” One glance and you can tell the composition.】

【543L: The author pulled off something huge, but he took out his entire family in the process. Was it really worth it?】

【544L: The manga author single-handedly killed this series. This crap is definitely going to bomb hard.】

Tang Mingxi sneered coldly at these male readers’ comments. Her girl simply claimed a sword with her own abilities, right? The protagonist Pei Xi did not suffer any major loss. What exactly were they breaking down over?

【544L: The most heartbreaking episode for zngs. Love to see it~】

[T/N- zngs is Chinese internet slang It stands for 直男癌 (zhí nán ái), which literally translates to "straight male cancer".]

They were just too deeply immersed in protagonist self-insertion, thinking the entire manga world should revolve around their inserted protagonist. The moment something they considered rightfully theirs was touched, they jumped higher than anyone.

Tang Mingxi had already calmed herself. So Zhao Mei was actually her girl all along. No wonder she felt he looked strangely familiar when she was cursing him out.

Oh my god, playing everyone like a fiddle, not just the protagonist and antagonists in the manga, but every reader outside it, including her as a Ye Zheng stan, being toyed with in the palm of her hand. This was simply too powerful.

Her “admire the strong” fetish was exploding in this chapter.

She clicked into another thread: 【Any Ye Zheng stans come in and share your thoughts…】

【1L: Any Ye Zheng stans come in and share your thoughts…】

【2L: Thoughts: absolutely euphoric lol.】

【3L: Some people were still dragging the “real” Saintess last week. This week their favorite actually becomes our Saintess-sama. The wish came true. Why are you not smiling? Is it because you don't like smiling?】

【4L: Aaaaah anyone want to group up and dig up old threads with me? I am dying of laughter. The boomerang came back so lightly.】

【5L: Serious answer: a feeling of shock but also “as expected.” I just flipped through the manga and everything really had foreshadowing.】

【6L: I am a Ye Zheng stan but I cannot accept that Zhao Mei is her too. They are clearly two different people! Anyway, I am quitting the fandom. Regret ever stanning…】

【7L: Upstairs better be a real Ye Zheng stan. Ye Zheng’s white-cut-black traits have always been pickable from the details. Anyway, I am super thrilled. I have this premonition that my favorite is finally about to shine brightly!】

【8L: Repenting for ever cursing Zhao Mei last week. Oh my god, Zhao Mei really is sister treasure wife goddess Saintess! I wronged you all, Zhao Mei stans! Gomen nasai!*】

[T/N- Japanese romaji for sorry.]

【9L: Repent +1. Zhao Mei good, Ye Zheng good. Anyway my favorite is the best in the world!】

Tang Mingxi also joined the repentance queue.

【Knocking electronic wooden fish here. So Zhao Mei did not go get gender reassignment; my girl just quietly went cross-dressing.】

……

【278L: What exactly are you Ye Zheng stans so happy about? Does not this chapter make your girl OOC?】

【279L: Where is my girl OOC? OOC in stealing your male treasure’s highlight?】

【280L: Suspected Ye Zheng hater has lost all strength and tricks. Previously praising how Zhao Mei had so much character arc, cursing Ye Zheng as flat skin-suit. Now my girl says: your favorite’s arc is fine, next second it is mine~】

【281L: You villain stans better tuck your tails and behave. Disguising identity, betraying teammates, fooling everyone, and you like her even more? Hope you meet someone like Ye Zheng who backstabs you in real life.】

【282L: Upstairs think your words are so attacking? How about this pic, guaranteed to break you (attached image)】

Clicking the image revealed exactly the manga panel of Ye Zheng raising the divine sword atop the demonic dragon, overlooking everyone.

Soon, the devout Ye Zheng stans flooded in.

【283L: Your Zheng God has arrived!】

【284L: Oh my god I just realized “Zheng” sounds like “true god.” After discovering this terrifying secret I am shaking all over!】

【285L: While your sons are still fighting over Pei Emperor and Sykes Emperor, my girl has already become a god and insta-killed everything…】

【286L: Everyone quick go to the manga app! Zhao Mei has topped the Most Popular Female Character poll!】

【287L: Legend. The most well-deserved episode!】

【288L: Zheng Gate forever!】

【289L: Blissfully awaiting Zheng God’s splash page promo!】

The voting event that had been fiercely contested last week finally announced its results on this day.

However, the waves it stirred were far from over. Countless people flooded the comment sections below. The shocking twist even drew in amused onlookers and curious passersby.

At the same time, the popularity of Throne of the Aberrant Realm skyrocketed. The operation of a high-popularity male character suddenly revealing a female identity not only shocked insiders but also stunned outsiders, who flocked to the manga to see what the fuss was about.

Whether curses, work popularity, or Ye Zheng herself, everything was surging rapidly.

Even Tang Mingxi did not know whether this was good or bad for Ye Zheng.

Just as she was about to log off the forum, she scrolled past a post from a fellow stan.

【576L: I don't think this chapter’s twist proves Ye Zheng is a villain. She just stopped revolving around the protagonist.

I dare say most female characters get called hollow, trope-y, and charmless because their character was not thoughtfully designed by the author, or was even suppressed, to serve male characters’ highlights, sacrificing their own agency.

And now, the hollow female character you hated most no longer acts to flesh out male characters’ glory. So she becomes the story’s villain?

No. She simply took back her own flesh, blood, and life.】

Tang Mingxi strongly agreed with this fellow stan’s words, but she could not come up with any eloquent reply. She saw plenty of people still rebutting this stan, stubbornly labeling Ye Zheng as a villainous schemer.

【580L: Washing what? Your paper doll cannot be criticized?】

【581L: Talking about “flesh and blood” for a paper character, lmao. First get your favorite out of the screen.】

Tang Mingxi no longer cared about these jumping accusations. The people breaking down and cursing Ye Zheng actually treated her more like a real person than they did. Otherwise why not curse the author instead?

She picked a lucky floor number and posted her biggest takeaway from the chapter.

【666L: The one standing before you now is the empire’s most renowned Saintess, the undefeated healing-type powerhouse, the agent of the God of Hope, the savior born from fire and dragon’s body!】

【667L: Zheng Gate forever!】

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Authors Note

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From now on, this girl’s titles will only keep increasing…