Chapter 149

With exam week drawing near, Li Yixin decided to temporarily set aside her 2D-related matters. Last week, she’d received encouragement from “Ye Zheng” on the forum. While it made her happy, it also left her with a faint sense of guilt for slacking off, so she resolved to follow her oshi’s determination and perseverance and push herself to improve her grades.

This week, she received the Throne of the Aberrant Realm merchandise, a Zhao Mei badge along with an acrylic standee. She felt incredibly emotional upon seeing them. A few months ago, when she had placed the order, she’d never have imagined things turning out the way they had now.

Thinking about it carefully, she’d simply gone from being a fan of Ye Zheng’s alternate account to becoming a fan of Ye Zheng’s main account. The difference really wasn’t all that significant.

Li Yixin didn’t dare to imagine how complicated the feelings of those Zhao Mei fans who refused to accept that Zhao Mei was actually Ye Zheng would be when they finally received their pre-ordered Zhao Mei merchandise.

She felt a slight sense of regret. Back then, she’d only bought Zhao Mei merchandise and hadn’t picked up any Ye Zheng items. She had no idea when this batch of merchandise would ever be restocked.

Right now on Xianyu*, that batch of Ye Zheng merch was being resold at absurdly inflated prices. The moment someone listed an item, Ye Zheng’s die-hard fans would snap it up instantly. Even the merchandise for the side account Zhao Mei had surged in popularity because of this trend.

[T/N- Xianyu is China's largest C2C marketplace for second-hand goods, owned by Alibaba. Think of them as Ebay.]

After all, Ye Zheng’s popularity had only been average during the pre-sale phase, but now she’d risen to become the top character in Throne of the Aberrant Realm. A massive wave of late-coming Ye Zheng fans were scrambling desperately to get their hands on her merch. The resale prices had climbed so high that it even spread slightly beyond the fandom, with some people jokingly dubbing it the “Scalding Zheng Sect.”

If not for her limited budget, Li Yixin would’ve wanted to grab something off Xianyu as well. Luckily, Throne of the Aberrant Realm had just announced a brand-new batch of merchandise. This time, the selected images for Ye Zheng’s merch looked especially striking, both handsome and beautiful. Li Yixin swore she’d definitely secure them.

This new release was an all-character set, yet strangely, a completely new character had also appeared in the promotional visuals.

Wen Xiaoxing, ability unknown, alignment unknown, personality unknown. His official art was exquisitely stunning. If she weren’t such a devoted Ye Zheng fan, she might’ve actually taken an interest in Wen Xiaoxing.

But the sense of déjà vu he gave off was far too strong. No matter how Li Yixin looked at him, his aura and mannerisms resembled Yinkong, while his appearance looked like Zhao Mei with a different hairstyle and color. This level of blatant “pandering” left Ye Zheng fans feeling awkward and uncomfortable, like they were stuck in an unpleasant middle ground.

The reactions across forums and reader groups, however, were overwhelmingly positive. Wen Xiaoxing hadn’t even made an appearance in the manga yet, but his stunning merch and official art had already been released, successfully stirring curiosity and raising expectations among many readers.

Because of how overly familiar his design felt, Li Yixin couldn’t bring herself to like this character at all. Not to mention Tang Mingxi, who had already complained about him multiple times.

【Where did this cheap knockoff come from, trying to leech off our Saintess?】

【Afraid of offending the Zheng fans’ eyes, I’ll take this knockoff and leave first.】

【What does the official team even mean by hyping up this Frankenstein-like creation? Do they really think Ye Zheng’s popularity is something that can be so easily replicated…?】

【Emperor Pei already flopped so badly he turned into compensating little brother, and now the official team still wants to forcibly push out another so-called shining ancestor?】

[T/N- This one is Pei Xi fan , it's basically saying Pei Xi popularity already took a hit cause of Ye Zheng, why the hell author thinking bringing another Ye Zheng, AKA Wei Xingxing]

The Ye Zheng fans, keeping up their usual sense of decorum, didn’t openly attack the new character on public forums. At most, they’d quietly vent a few complaints in private spaces.

However, when the Friday update finally dropped, almost every Ye Zheng fan exploded.

Tang Mingxi had already finished her language exams. Since she was planning to study abroad, her academic pressure wasn’t nearly as heavy as Li Yixin’s. That left her with plenty of time to devote to her hobbies.

Four days ago, she had attended her oshi’s autograph session. Two days ago, she had edited yet another video for Ye Zheng, which had already surpassed 150,000 likes. And today, before opening the update, she had even subtly roasted the new character in Ye Zheng’s birthday celebration group. In a thoroughly satisfied mood, she tapped into the manga update right at 8 PM.

Holding her phone as she scrolled through the latest chapter, Tang Mingxi’s originally cheerful expression collapsed the instant Wen Xiaoxing appeared. The further she read, the harder it became to even describe her expression.

It was only when Ye Zheng coldly killed him that Tang Mingxi finally felt a bit better. Even so, something still felt off to her. A character like this wouldn’t just go offline so easily.

When she flipped to the next page, the supposedly dead Wen Xiaoxing was standing completely fine at the bow of the boat, while Ye Zheng had vanished without a trace. It was as if everything that had just happened had never existed. Pei Xi walked over, and during his conversation with Wen Xiaoxing, he actually forgot about Ye Zheng entirely.

【Stop overthinking it. Just from the name alone, she sounds like some annoying background character. There’s no need to care about her at all.】

Tang Mingxi stared at the grinning boy on the screen. If this hadn’t been her own phone, she would’ve already punched straight through it!

At the same time, the forums erupted once again because of the new character’s appearance and Ye Zheng’s sudden disappearance.

【1L: The new character shows up and immediately deals with Ye Zheng, the top trending character in your bizarre manga. What kind of level is that supposed to be?】 【hot】

【2L: The level of someone trying to imitate Zheng.】

【3L: The person above is seriously too talented, hahaha. Calling him a Zheng imitation is already giving him way too much credit.】

【4L: The old uncle clearly wants to step on the old characters to boost the new one to the top. I can only say that forcefully pushing someone like this will only end in ashes.】

【5L: Ye Zheng fans are really overbearing. Your own character also stepped on others to rise up, so why can’t you tolerate a stronger new character appearing?】

【6L: According to statistics, zero people who’ve provoked Ye Zheng have ever had a good ending. Let’s just look forward to this new character’s death~】

【7L: He’s nothing but a pure bloodsucking shining ancestor. I think the old uncle wants to push a male version of Ye Zheng. Let’s go ahead and wish him failure.】

【8L: Which one of your eyes saw Ye Zheng being taken care of? I only saw your plague little brother getting killed by Ye Zheng in an extremely ugly way (attached screenshot of Wen Xiaoxing’s death)】

【9L: Oh my god, you Zheng moms are way too fast. The black nickname is already so fresh and ready to be served?】

【10L: The new character is honestly so pitiful. He just appeared and he’s already getting bullied by Zheng fans. I’m actually starting to feel a bit sorry for him…】

【11L: Ye Zheng is the one who’s truly pitiful. The little girl was just properly participating in the competition when suddenly a papal lackey jumped out to assassinate her. Can this damn author please be at least a little kinder to this girl?】

……

【289L: Is no one actually discussing the plot seriously? What exactly is this Wen Xiaoxing’s ability? Ye Zheng’s existence was erased in an instant.】

【290L: Fate-type abilities are always these kind of mechanism monsters. Based on Wen Xiaoxing’s earlier lines, he might’ve sent Ye Zheng to another world line or some different timeline or something like that.】

【291L: Not to mention, this character’s ability is ridiculously overpowered to an absurd degree. It feels even more exaggerated than Pei Xi’s and Sykes’ abilities. Don’t the fans of those two have any objections at all?】

【292L: Those two factions are probably just dying for someone to come out and teach Ye Zheng a lesson. Next door, people are already shipping Pei Xi with Wen Xiaoxing.】

【293L: Shipping Pei Xi and Wen Xiaoxing is honestly hilarious… Could it be that the former Xi-zhao sisters have been resurrected through impure soil? They still can’t forget that pair of melancholic green eyes when it comes to Pei Xi?】

【294L: Ahhh, stop talking already. This former Zhao Mei fan is seriously thinking about jumping into the Wen Xiaoxing pit.】

【295L: Newly converted Wen fan reporting in. The moment I entered the forum, it felt like the sky had collapsed. Why is everyone scolding this cute little boy?】

【296L: This is what happens when you provoke a religious-type character. They’re saying Wen’s appearance blatantly copies Zhao Mei or Ye Zheng. With the same artist’s style, how could it not look similar? It’s honestly just an undeserved disaster.】

【297L: It’s just a flame-bait post. Zheng moms, don’t get pulled into the rhythm. Believe that Zhengzheng will be back soon!】

【298L: Why have all the recent plot highlights been focused on Ye Zheng? If Ye Zheng ends up dealing with this overpowered new character too, then Pei Xi will really be reduced to nothing more than a camera filming Ye Zheng.】

【299L: That’s assuming Ye Zheng can actually deal with him…】

【300L: LOL. Anyone who doesn’t believe Ye Zheng can handle him is hereby sentenced to rewatch the classic scenes: Ye Zheng seizing the sword, Ye Zheng killing Kieran, Ye Zheng beating up Sykes, and so on. The one and only Zheng God of our weird manga isn’t just hype, alright?】

【301L: Zheng moms are being way too optimistic this time. Look, the official merch already includes Wen Xiaoxing. Does he really look like a character who’ll go offline after only a few chapters?】

【302L: I agree with the person above. Even if Ye Zheng manages to break free, Wen Xiaoxing definitely won’t go offline. This character clearly looks like the next major push.】

【303L: First time seeing a male character being pushed by sucking the blood of a female character. I’m just saying, could this deliberately provocative post also be part of the hype for this new male treasure?】

When Tang Mingxi saw 303L, she suddenly calmed down from her earlier anger. Thinking it over carefully, although arguments were common on the forum, the moderators usually deleted deliberately inflammatory posts very quickly. This post had been provocative right from the beginning, yet it had been allowed to stay up until now.

She checked the displayed IP address. It was from the same location as the manga author and the platform company. Tang Mingxi even began to suspect that this might be official hype.

No way, right? she thought. This was just a fairly popular manga on the platform introducing a new character, not some major entertainment company debuting a heavyweight newcomer. There was no need for the official team to go to such lengths.

Tang Mingxi reassured herself not to panic and decided to simply wait for the next chapter’s update.

Ye Zheng had always managed to bring them unexpected miracles. All they needed to do was take care of their own matters and wait for her return.

Considering that Li Yixin had exams coming up soon, Tang Mingxi decided not to disturb her. Together with the girls in the group, she worked on fan content and birthday posters, all while keeping an optimistic mindset as they looked forward to the upcoming plot developments.

According to the official setting, Ye Zheng’s birthday fell in winter. The pure, biting cold of winter matched Ye Zheng’s own temperament perfectly.

Tang Mingxi silently prayed that the plot would treat her oshi a little more kindly. She was just a young girl about to celebrate her coming-of-age birthday.

However, what Tang Mingxi hadn’t expected was that she would end up waiting for a full three weeks.

Three weeks had gone bye, and across three newly released chapters, there was still no sign of Ye Zheng.

During this period, the official team released a promotional trailer for the Throne of the Aberrant Realm anime adaptation. The fight scenes were smooth and dynamic, and the animation quality was exceptionally impressive. The breathtaking trailer quickly went viral and drew in a wave of new passersby, but none of it had anything to do with Ye Zheng or her fans. There wasn’t even a single shot of Ye Zheng in the entire trailer.

Even though Ye Zheng appears midway through the story, it’s normal that the first season of the anime wouldn’t reach her yet. Even so, Ye Zheng fans could still sense that something felt off. Their unease only grew stronger.

 ✧✧✧✧✧

【Sis, I might really not be able to draw the extra chapter. It’s the end of the year, and I’m honestly just too busy lately.】

Fang Jue typed out the message with some hesitation. Over the past three weeks, Throne of the Aberrant Realm had been updating at an intense pace, and as the assistant, she’d been completely swamped as well. Now, faced with the editor’s request for her to draw an extra chapter for Ye Zheng, she genuinely felt like it was too much to handle.

Even though she really liked the character Ye Zheng, who would willingly work overtime for no clear reason? On top of that, this wasn’t some cute Q-version bonus content, it was a serious side story tied directly to the main plot.

Fang Jue waited uneasily for a response. Editor Sister Lin was usually kind to her and very responsible in her work, but the two of them weren’t particularly close. Fang Jue wasn’t an outgoing person, and from what she could tell about Sister Lin’s lifestyle, they clearly came from entirely different worlds. She was just a working-class girl, while the other seemed like a rich second-generation kid who was only here for the experience. Thinking about it made her feel even more awkward about trying to act familiar.

After waiting for quite a while, the other party finally sent a reply, just a number.

【Overtime pay.】 The message was short and straight to the point.

【Okay okay okay!】

Fang Jue practically sprang to her feet. The five-figure overtime pay made her head spin with excitement. She agreed immediately, thrilled at the chance to earn such high pay while also getting to draw a character she genuinely liked. Did a deal this good even exist? Without wasting another second, she quickly started discussing the details of the extra chapter with Editor Sister Lin.

After ending the conversation, though, Fang Jue began to feel that something was off. This extra chapter felt more like Sister Lin’s personal request rather than something officially required by the studio.

Whatever, Fang Jue decided. As long as there was money to be made, that was enough. Besides, Sister Lin was far more reliable than that old uncle anyway.

Inside a certain technology park.

A stylishly dressed young woman paused in the hallway, lowering her head to type a message on her phone. After a moment, she put it away and briskly walked into the main control room.

She glanced at the wall covered in densely packed display screens, then stepped over to a large holographic projection platform. Resting both hands on its edge, she smiled lightly and said, “Hi, Hope.”

Right in front of her, one of the screens flickered to black, then displayed a smiling emoji along with the words “Hi, Lin Zhixing.”

Lin Zhixing’s smile deepened slightly, but her good mood was quickly disrupted.

“Hi, cousin. Why didn’t you let me know in advance that you’d be coming today?”

A young man dressed in a sharp suit, his hair slicked neatly back, strolled over with both hands tucked casually into his pockets, wearing a faintly greasy and overly familiar smile.

He first swept his gaze across the main control room as if he were inspecting his own domain, then slowly turned his attention toward the young woman.

“Don’t worry, everything with the task is progressing very smoothly. Cousin, you can go ahead and give yourself a long vacation and take your time finding a future partner. The main family is very pleased with your performance. You’ve successfully drawn their attention. Whatever they decide to reward you with won’t be anything insignificant.”

Lin Zhixing held back her irritation and did her best to keep her voice steady. “You can’t just write Ye Zheng off like this. The readers are going to notice that something’s wrong. Just because we’ve packaged that world as a manga to influence it doesn’t mean it’s actually a manga that we can manipulate however we like. On top of that, Wen Xiaoxing’s ability doesn’t align with the internal logic of that world at all.”

“…Did you break the rules and use ‘Hope’s core technology to enhance Wen Xiaoxing’s ability?”

Faced with the question, the man could only spread his hands in helplessness. “‘Hope’ was created so we can connect to more worlds, worlds that exist across different dimensions. At present, this world holds the greatest potential for connection, but we need stronger observation to truly bring it to life. This will become the most groundbreaking technology of this century.”

“Ye Zheng’s current level of popularity is still far from sufficient. We need to craft a character that’s even more eye-catching and compelling!”

“I even went out of my way to invite renowned manga artists and extremely popular web novel authors to collaborate on creating the character Wen Xiaoxing. Don’t let his name fool you just because it sounds casual right now. He’ll rise from nothing, embody both righteousness and evil, act as a deranged villain while also serving as the protagonist’s life mentor…”

“And once the anime and movie adaptations are released later…”

Lin Zhixing could no longer hold back the mocking look spreading across her face.

Talking about needing a more appealing character, wasn’t it just an excuse to use Wen Xiaoxing to sideline her and Ye Zheng, all so he could claim the credit for himself?

Her voice turned cold as she cut through the man’s delusional fantasy. “You’re mistaken. The real key to bringing this world to life isn’t the influence of a wildly popular character.”

The company managed countless projects, and many of them were far more popular than this manga. Yet this particular project, which had started off ordinary and largely overlooked, had now grown into the one with the greatest potential.

“It’s Ye Zheng. Ye Zheng is the true key to success.”

The man’s lips curled with disdain. “Oh, come on, Lin Zhixing. I know you’re bitter about me parachuting in and taking your position, but the most capable person deserves to stand at the top. That’s how this family operates.”

“Just watch. My name will shine throughout this entire era!”

Lin Zhixing simply shook her head. Looking at this ridiculous man, she let out a cold sneer before turning and walking away.

He’d underestimated her, and he’d underestimated Ye Zheng even more.

She’d always had the capability to push Ye Zheng’s popularity to even greater heights, yet most of the time she’d quietly allowed the manga author to cut down Ye Zheng’s screen time. It was exactly because Ye Zheng possessed too much potential, and was far too dangerous, that she’d consistently maintained a cautious stance toward her.

And now, they were recklessly provoking Ye Zheng, treating her as nothing more than a low-dimensional paper figure they could manipulate however they pleased?

Even more suicidal was the fact that he’d exiled Ye Zheng into other world lines. That was practically the same as exposing their core secret. The technology itself wasn’t stable to begin with. What if something went wrong?

Yet at this moment, Lin Zhixing almost found herself hoping for an accident, for instance, for Ye Zheng to break free and slap them across the face a few times.

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Authors Note  

┻━⁠━━━━⁠━━⁠━━━⁠┻  

I’d wanted to write more and reach Zhengzheng’s ap

pearance, but I’m just a weak girl who gets easily knocked down by the flu…