Chapter 03

Hundreds of years ago, when Aberrant Realms descended upon the empire during its industrial revolution, technological advancement stagnated. All efforts shifted toward researching abilities. 

With death looming overhead, entertainment became meaningless. Thus, Ye Zheng could not imagine that the real world possessed such abundant forms of leisure.

“A manga app?”

Phones could read manga now, in addition to calling, texting, and playing simple games?

She tapped the app. A vibrant interface sprang to life. Her eyes widened, like a young colt wandering into a forest of steel.

She clumsily swiped and tapped at random.

『Digital manga is popular in the real world. “Throne of the Aberrant Realms” is serialized here.』

The system’s explanation only deepened her curiosity.

Holding the phone like a scholar studying scripture, Ye Zheng read the push notifications in a solemn recitation tone.

“I was reborn. On the night my husband embraced his mistress and humiliated me…”

“The cold Buddhist heir of the capital fingers his prayer beads. The aloof school idol wants to give his life for me. After running away while pregnant, I am addicted to raising the child…”

The advanced technology contrasted sharply with the bizarre yet familiar story themes.

Although entertainment was strictly regulated by the church and imperial family, stories like the domineering crown prince falls in love with me, the cold saint dotes on me, and after entering the ability academy I am pampered by all were wildly popular among girls everywhere.

Ye Zheng’s curiosity faded.

Her desire to explore the real world diminished by more than half.

Creation could not escape reality.

No matter how rich a manga’s setting, it was merely a reflection of real life.

Class conflict, gender hierarchy, domination and submission.

They all existed just as clearly in that higher-dimensional world. And precisely because the real world was like this, the world she now inhabited had been created.

Just as Ye Zheng was about to close the manga app, several oversized characters drifted across the homepage.

《Throne of the Aberrant Realm》 is currently serializing hotly!

Ye Zheng tapped into it, only for the phone screen to turn completely blank. She kept scrolling. At last, vibrant panels slowly appeared.

A group of youths with brightly colored hair walked together along a wide street. From their hair colors and the familiar background scenery, Ye Zheng immediately recognized them as the protagonist’s team.

“The people from the church are still just as arrogant. When they drove us out, they looked down on us like dirt.”

“Just wait until we crush their precious Divine Academy in the league!”

It had to be said that the author’s art was excellent. The vivid expressions of the young characters were rendered with exquisite realism, every emotion captured in lifelike detail.

Ye Zheng understood. This was depicting what happened to the protagonist’s team after she had refused to meet them. There was not much information conveyed, only their dissatisfaction with the church.

『As a low-dimensional existence, observing too much of the plot risks being erased by the rules. Therefore, you can only view events that have already occurred, as well as a small portion of future plots that are directly related to you.』

Ye Zheng continued scrolling.

A panel bursting with overwhelming impact suddenly filled the screen. A black-haired boy had transformed his arm into a massive greatsword, using it to block the gaping jaws of an aberrant beast. At the same time, another, smaller aberrant creature seized the opening and sank its teeth into his thigh, tearing away a bloody chunk of flesh.

“Pei Xi!”

His teammates cried out in alarm and rushed forward to help.

What followed was a dazzling barrage of ability attacks. The aberrant beasts were swiftly eliminated. Pei Xi gasped for breath as he turned back to look at the girl behind him.

“Thank you for saving me.”

The panel zoomed in and froze.

The black-haired girl sat on the ground, a cat cradled tightly in her arms. She lifted her pure, beautiful face toward Pei Xi to express her gratitude.

The author had clearly poured considerable effort into drawing this black-haired girl. Even her eyelashes were depicted with meticulous care. The slightly elevated perspective accentuated her graceful curves, making her appear slender and delicate, like a gift meant to stir the heart.

The scene shifted.

Reflected in Pei Xi’s pupils was the girl’s exquisite face. His normally composed and handsome expression turned dazed, and the enlarged close-up made it unmistakably clear that his heart had skipped a beat.

Ye Zheng looked at the pitiful, fragile-looking black-haired girl and felt only a sense of absurdity.

Her finger moved to scroll further, but she accidentally tapped the corner of the screen. Lines of floating text suddenly appeared, overlaying the manga panels.

“What are these words?”

『These are bullet comments. Readers can post real-time comments about the scenes they are currently watching.』

Bullet Comments. Another unfamiliar concept. Ye Zheng quietly committed the word to memory. She carefully began reading the danmaku comments.

【Aaaah, little Xi, no! Mommy doesn’t allow you to fall in love!】

【This isn’t the female lead, right? Please don’t let it be her.】

【Perfect camera angle, but the girl’s clothes are way too conservative. Deducting the author’s chicken legs tonight.】

【Such a brain-dead female lead. The save-the-cat cliché is laughable.】

【My heart hurts for the injured male lead. Author, please be kinder to him.】

【Idiot girl. In a world like this, why save a cat?】

“Everyone seems to have quite a lot of opinions about ‘me.’”

Ye Zheng idly twirled a strand of her hair, blinking with innocent curiosity.

『This is the future direction of the plot. You endangered yourself to save a cat, which caused the male lead who protected you to be injured. It is normal for readers to dislike you.』

『You currently have 3 action points. You can modify this foolish cat-saving segment and reverse the negative reviews caused by dragging the team down.』

The system issued its prompt.

“Foolish, is it?”

Ye Zheng murmured softly and continued scrolling.

On the next page, an arrogant red-haired character appeared. He wore an extravagant crimson uniform, his posture provocative, with similarly haughty teammates dressed in matching attire standing behind him.

“Hah. You people really are lucky to still be alive.”

The red-haired boy tilted his chin upward, looking down contemptuously at the battered protagonist team.

Ye Zheng studied the familiar redhead for a moment. Judging from his personality and appearance, he was Ryan, the younger son of the mayor of the mid-city district.

Speaking of which, this arrogant little antagonist was quite close to her younger brother, Ye Di. Would Ye Di eventually end up joining the antagonist’s faction as well?

The plot continued.

“Your ability is controlling aberrant beasts. That means what happened just now wasn’t an accident.”

Pei Xi stared coldly at the red-haired boy, his body tensed and ready to strike.

Ryan shrugged casually. “Just fooling around. Don’t take it so seriously.”

The handsome red-haired boy smiled ambiguously, his eyes brimming with confidence, as though victory were already assured.

The two sides confronted each other. A clash between ability users seemed imminent. The author conveyed the tension between them with sharp, aggressive strokes.

Ye Zheng scrolled further.

Another stretch of blank space appeared. No matter how much she scrolled, the screen remained empty. It seemed this was all the plot she could access for now.

Curious about the audience’s reaction, Ye Zheng opened the danmaku again.

【Young Miss Ryan makes her grand entrance!】

【Young Miss, just admit you’re secretly in love. You keep following our little Xi.】

【So it was Young Miss stirring up trouble again. No wonder the aberrant beasts showed up out of nowhere.】

【Hahaha, domestic violence scene incoming. Little Xi, go easy on your wife.】

【Can the CP fans calm down a bit? Not everyone ships Xi-Ryan.】

Ye Zheng stared at the comments, utterly bewildered.

She pointed at the arrogant red-haired boy on the screen and asked in surprise, “System, has Ryan been cross-dressing as a man this entire time? Is the mayor’s family hiding such a huge secret?”

『?』

『The character data states that Ryan’s gender is male.』

“If he’s male, then why does everyone call him ‘Young Miss’?”

『It’s… a bit complicated to explain. He is malicious, tsundere, and not very intelligent, yet extremely beautiful. He feels more like a young miss than a young master, so it’s normal for there to be many ‘mommies.’』

[T/N- "Mommies" (嬷嬷, mā mā) in this context is Chinese otaku slang from ACG (anime/comic/game) communities, especially on platforms like Bilibili, Lofter, and Weibo.

It refers to maternal fans , usually female fans who "mother" or "baby" as in verb a male character in a protective, doting, indulgent way. These fans treat the character like their "son" or "baby," spoiling him even when he's being bratty, arrogant, or flawed.]

Ye Zheng’s mind went blank for a moment. After the explanation, she felt even more confused.

“I am the young miss of the Ye family. I know many young misses, and none of them resemble Ryan.”

“Malicious, foolish, and overbearing. That’s a personality commonly seen in boys spoiled by their families. Like my younger brother.”

Her expression remained gentle, but her evaluation of her own brother was merciless.

“Clearly an irritating personality, yet once the label ‘young miss’ is added, everyone becomes extraordinarily indulgent.”

Ye Zheng fell into deep thought.

“If, in the next plot, I introduce myself as the young miss of the Ye family, will everyone be more tolerant of me as well?”

『No. Because you are female. What they like isn’t a young miss. It’s a male young miss. Male.』

Like a curious child, Ye Zheng continued questioning.

“By the way, what exactly is a ‘mommy’? It seems to be an ancient Eastern term referring to an elderly woman, but the way it’s used here doesn’t make sense to me at all.”

[T/N: She said “mommy” is an ancient word, probably because their industrial revolution happened 500 years ago (ours was ~260–270 years ago). The rise of the Realms set society back, so modern-era terms may have appeared and disappeared when industrialization collapsed. Not opening a history class here so I won't explain IR impact was on society.]

『…Other characters’ evaluations are not particularly relevant to you. There is no need to dwell on them.』

『In short, focus on preparing for upcoming plot developments and work hard to raise your popularity. That is what you should be concerned about.』

Ye Zheng shook her head in disagreement.

“Understanding their evaluations is extremely important. I need to study the preferences of real-world readers in order to find the correct method of increasing my popularity.”

『…Fine. Do you have any other questions?』

Ye Zheng smiled faintly. The system instinctively sensed danger.

“Ryan orchestrated the aberrant beast attack. Pei Xi’s injury was the result of his own choice to protect me. I never asked him to do that.”

“Yet no one blames Ryan for his cruelty, and no one calls Pei Xi foolish. In this segment, the person everyone hates the most is me.”

“And all I did was follow my heart and save a cat.”

The system realized that Ye Zheng was harmless when silent, but exceedingly troublesome when she spoke.

『Objectively speaking, your actions caused Pei Xi’s injury. Without you, he could have avoided Ryan’s attack entirely.』

“You also admit that Ryan was the one who harmed him. If people truly cared about Pei Xi’s injury, then the one they should hate most is Ryan, who deliberately inflicted it.”

“Clearly, they do not hate Ryan.”

『Because he’s an antagonist. People always have lower moral expectations for antagonists.』

“Is that so… an antagonist?”

Ye Zheng fell silent.

“An antagonist is someone who opposes the protagonist…”

Her thoughts churned slowly, like rusted gears struggling to turn. Then, beneath her fluttering eyelashes, her eyes gradually lit up. Seeing that Ye Zheng had finally stopped arguing, the system quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

She did not need to think so deeply. In a male-oriented series, the female lead was destined to be an accessory to the male protagonist, a periodic reward offered to readers.

She was merely a gift bestowed upon the hero by fate. All she needed to consider was how to package herself better, how to become a more pleasing present.