Chapter 170

During this time Li Yixin was in the final semester of her third year of high school. 

Even her weekends were spent in one tutoring class after another.

Other than eating and sleeping she hardly had any free time.

She hadn’t always been this diligent.

Perhaps because time was growing increasingly tight, ever since she received encouragement from the person with the ID “Ye Zheng” on the forum, she had felt an inexplicable sense of shame whenever she slacked off, as if she had been caught.

Coupled with the fact that Throne of the Aberrant Realm had gone nearly a month without any Ye Zheng plot, she hadn’t followed the updates for quite some time and had thrown herself fully into her studies.

The desk lamp cast a bright white light.

After completing another practice exam paper, Li Yixin felt dizzy and light-headed.

She put down her pen and pulled out the spare phone she had secretly saved up to purchase from the drawer.

Just one look!

Li Yixin opened the manga app.

Then, in a single sweep, she read from the chapter where Ye Zheng had disappeared, through her return, all the way to the latest chapter where Ye Zheng cut her hair and destroyed the Aberrant Realm, including the newly updated Ye Zheng side story!

Holding her phone, she felt a bittersweet yet warm happiness welling up in her chest. At this moment, she was the happiest girl in the world.

Especially in the latest chapter, Pei Xi, who had lost the competition, unexpectedly saved innocent civilians. The unfavorable public opinion surrounding Ye Zheng had continued to ferment, and in the end, Ye Zheng brought about a complete rebirth with a breathtaking sermon. Li Yixin’s eyes turned red as she read.

While reading the manga, Li Yixin hadn’t dared to open the comment section. In truth, the plot arrangement of the new chapter had been quite unfriendly toward Ye Zheng.

Ye Zheng’s father’s actions had nothing to do with her, yet under the contrast of Pei Xi saving people and enthusiastically helping the victims’ families, Ye Zheng seemed burdened with an original sin.

On top of that, the suspicion that Ye Zheng and Wu Shu had threatened Wen Xiaoxing to cooperate from both inside and outside to win the championship, along with Pei Xi’s speech denouncing exploiters at the tomb, created the impression that Pei Xi had lost the competition but won the moral high ground. Meanwhile, Ye Zheng was portrayed as a ruthless, cold, and arrogant noble villain.

That was until Li Yixin reached the end of the latest chapter, the short-haired Saintess raising her divine sword and cleaving apart the Aberrant Realm.

At that moment, none of the plot arrangements mattered anymore. Li Yixin opened the comment section with a heart full of shock. The screen was flooded with dense waves of praise. The readers’ emotions had perfectly synchronized with those of the people inside the manga.

【The Zheng God has descended!】

【Saintess, I’ll follow you forever!】

【This is the true king!】

✧✧✧✧✧

【Thank you, kind souls. I’ve finally found my long-lost mother!】【hot】

【1L: Thank you, kind souls. I’ve finally found my long-lost mother! (Attached image: Ye Zheng pointing her sword toward the sky)】

【2L: This level of handsomeness is honestly insane, right? So young and already radiating full-on mom-level dominance. It’s practically legendary. Even ants passing by would be left stunned. Please keep living with kingly magnificence from now on, Ye Zheng!】

【3L: Don’t mind me, today I’m going completely feral over Ye Zheng!】

【4L: This woman is terrifying. She’s already reached full mommy-overlord status even though she’s still underage. What’s going to happen when she actually grows up?】

【5L: A top-tier orator, a warrior, and church Saintess… our Zheng is just way too perfect.】

【6L: My heart literally skipped a beat when the Aberrant Realm suddenly showed up. I thought it was going to put my girl through hell again, but she just turned around and destroyed it.】

【7L: The moment where Zheng’er lifts her gaze expressionlessly and glares at the Aberrant Realm is especially amazing. It’s such a shame there’s no inner monologue. I’m guessing her internal OS was something like, “Where did this blind idiot come from to ruin my moment?” When’s the author uncle going to give us back this little female ghost’s inner thoughts?】

【8L: The Aberrant Realm said it was just passing through and happened to run into Ye Zheng. Even after fighting with everything it had, it still couldn’t win.】

【9L: When our Emperor Zheng raises her hand toward the sky, the entire world has no choice but to slowly kneel…】

【10L: I choose to sit this one out.】

【11L: How is little Stream this ridiculously overpowered?】

……

【93L: It’s honestly a bit of a shame she cut her long hair though. Zheng’s long hair had such a uniquely distinct aura.】

【94L: As long as Zheng herself likes it, that’s all that matters. I cosplay female characters pretty often, and I almost passed out when I saw just how long Zheng’s hair was. I can’t even imagine how much strain that must’ve put on her scalp. It’s a good thing she cut it. I’m even thinking about cosplaying Ye Zheng at the winter comic con.】

【95L: +1. Cutting her hair is honestly great for both Zheng and us Zheng fans. Short-haired Zheng gives off even more of a domme-level vibe.】

【96L: The Throne of the Aberrant Realm anime is airing tomorrow at noon, right? Once the hype really kicks in, maybe we’ll start seeing a lot more Zheng Army at the comic con, just dreaming.】

【97L: The first season’s expected to have zero Zheng content. Those few male characters might end up gaining popularity instead. I just hope the entire comic con doesn’t end up filled with everyone else’s male favorites, bitter smile.】

【98L: Throne of the Aberrant Realm anime, please just flop!】

【99L: They still dare to step on Zheng’er even now. I can’t even imagine how arrogant they’ll become once their popularity skyrockets…】

【100L: Where exactly is the stepping happening? Zheng Army, mobilize immediately!】

Li Yixin didn’t like getting involved in online arguments. Whenever flame wars broke out, she’d only like posts from fellow fans. Today, she glanced through the forum and didn’t see any obvious anti–Ye Zheng threads at first. It was only after a fellow fan sent her a link that she realized some posts had perfectly normal titles unrelated to Ye Zheng, yet their actual content always slipped in subtle jabs at her.

【1L: After reading today’s chapter, Pei Xi really is a precious, textbook hot-blooded shonen manga protagonist.】

【2L: Uncle’s finally come to his senses! Pei Xi fears no authority and stands firm in justice and bravery, that’s the real reason we followed this manga!】

【3L: Does anyone else get it? These days all kinds of strange and twisted protagonists are trending, but I still love a proper, orthodox protagonist.】

【4L: I seriously don’t get people who like those ruthless, cold-blooded heavenly dragon types. Do you actually think that’s cool? Once they get beaten down by society, they’ll straighten out real quick.】

【5L: Agreed. Especially when it comes to those privileged young ladies, my blood pressure just shoots through the roof. Supporting that kind of character practically screams “I’ve got a maid’s fate.”】

【6L: Pei Xi really is great. He used to get called hypocritical because of Uncle’s earlier writing phase, but in the latest chapter, the most sincere one is still our little Pei Xi baby.】

【7L: Compared to those scheming, privileged, and overly favored popular characters, I’d much rather see a protagonist like Pei Xi—someone who rose from the very bottom, who works tirelessly, and who’s filled with genuine compassion—be the one to save the world. As a commoner myself, I’d honestly rather meet someone like Pei Xi.】

【8L: Meeting someone like that in real life… would actually be kind of terrifying. They're just too good at putting on an act. One wrong move, and you’d probably fall straight into their trap. It seriously makes me start hallucinating about three-dimensional capitalists and politicians…】

……

【128L: So there really are this many people who hate Sykes just as much as I do? This kind of so-called heavenly dragon who takes pleasure in tormenting ordinary people really deserves to die.】

【129L: What does any of this even have to do with Sykes? Did Sykes even show up in the new chapter at all? Why are you dragging him into this discussion?】

【130L: Oh, so you guys weren’t actually denouncing the privileged heavenly dragon class? You were just using it as an excuse to denounce Ye Zheng instead.】

Tang Mingxi had already made it to the battlefield right on time. After posting her bait comment, she let out two cold sneers. These people had been beaten down so badly by Zheng fans that they no longer dared to openly slander her, yet they still stubbornly tried to sneak in veiled attacks and step into completely unrelated threads. Why were they so obsessively, almost masochistically, fixated on Ye Zheng?

The funniest part was how they waved around the banner of “anti-privileged class,” yet the moment it involved their precious male favorites, they carefully avoided them altogether, steering the battle flag away and aiming it with precision straight at the female character.

【138L: Sykes never went around shouting slogans about serving the country and the people while secretly enjoying the benefits of exploitation. This guy has always been cursed by both the people within the manga itself and the readers outside of it for his sheer brutality.】

【139L: I curse Sykes too. Just because I curse Sykes doesn’t mean I’ll stop cursing the other heavenly dragon characters. I’ll give every single one of them a full set of Eighteen Dragon-Subduing Palms, haha.】

【140L: Zheng fans really take the bait so quickly. A female heavenly dragon is still a heavenly dragon. Even if Ye Zheng cuts ties with the Ye family, does that somehow erase the eighteen years of luxury and privilege she’s already enjoyed?】

【141L: Are you guys actually serious? She’s just a paper character who hasn’t eaten your family’s rice. Even as a random passerby, I find this completely ridiculous.】

【142L: Pei Xi’s fans didn’t intend to imply anything about the other characters, but judging from the current storyline, Pei Xi really is the most suitable person to lead the common people in resistance. There’s no disagreement about that, right?】

Seeing these blatantly double-standard comments, Tang Mingxi was just about to roll up her sleeves and argue back point by point. But she accidentally tapped on the image in the latest post, and her eyes were almost blinded by the overwhelming masculine energy radiating from it.

【192L: I reposted an analysis written by a male reader from another forum. I think it makes a lot of sense. It explains why Pei Xi is the protagonist while Ye Zheng can only be the villain. (Attached image)】

This male reader’s post was thorough and densely supported with references. He quoted revolutionary theory and class analysis from both ancient and modern times, drawing from sources in China and abroad. He listed multiple examples to strongly demonstrate that Ye Zheng was constrained by class limitations, whereas Pei Xi, a commoner revealing his sharp potential, embodied the true beginning of a revolution.

He also pointed to Ye Zheng’s deeply scheming nature and ruthless methods as proof that her character was inherently evil. Someone who could even abandon her own father could never take on the role of representing hope.

This male reader even perceptively noticed that the manga had briefly mentioned, in a small detail, that Ye Zheng had established an all-female knight order. He used this as further evidence of Ye Zheng’s limitations, arguing that a woman whose perspective was confined by gender issues couldn’t possibly handle revolution and politics effectively.

In conclusion, Ye Zheng could never become a leader of the people. Pei Xi was far more suitable. There was only one problem: Pei Xi was still too kind. He hadn’t even reported Ye Zheng for faking divine blood. This male reader hoped that Pei Xi would become more decisive and ruthless, because only a fierce and ambitious hero could truly stand firm in chaotic times.

“…What an fucking dickhead.”

Tang Mingxi, who usually carried herself with good manners, couldn’t stop herself from swearing after carefully reading through this so-called masterpiece.

Quite a number of people under this post sided with the male reader’s analysis. In this era, women’s awareness had already become a widely discussed topic. There were also plenty of Pei Xi fans who felt dissatisfied with how the male reader framed feminism as a negative factor. However, since he was speaking in support of Pei Xi, their dissatisfaction ended up coming across as relatively restrained.

【235L: Paying attention to gender isn’t a bad thing, right? Pei Xi even told Lu Qi that “girls can do anything.”】

【236L: That’s definitely a plus point, but Ye Zheng forming an all-female knight order still feels too idealistic. Excluding capable men won’t benefit her. No wonder she doesn’t have any real power in the church.】

Comments like these quickly drew ridicule from the Zheng fans.

【237L: Sykes’s all-male knight order is just as idealistic. Excluding capable women, no wonder he got pinned down and crushed by Ye Zheng.】

【238L: Pei Xi’s all-male team is still too naive. There isn’t a single woman in it, so no wonder he keeps getting suppressed by Ye Zheng.】

【239L: The male readers from that forum are still too narrow-minded. They can’t stand seeing strong, untamed female characters, so no wonder they come off as brainless.】

……

Tang Mingxi watched everyone’s clean, well-coordinated sarcastic comebacks and genuinely burst out laughing this time.

Some Pei Xi fans also noticed the underlying contempt toward women in that post. However, they’d already chosen to stand on Pei Xi’s side and the side of the male characters. Since their positions aligned, they became more tolerant of it. Although that male reader was prejudiced against women, most of what he said in support of Pei Xi was still correct.

But Zheng fans were different. Female fans were often far more sensitive about issues like this. Their stance on gender aligned with the character they supported, so they immediately launched a counterattack.

Not only did they fight back in the comments under that post, but before long, other trending threads began popping up all across the forum.

【Bold guess: Roy is very likely a member of the royal family!】

【Still no clues about Pei Xi’s biological father? The emperor’s attitude is definitely worth thinking about.】

【Sykes: The destined lonely path of a savior】

Zheng fans pushed several rather awkward threads to the top. For a long time now, many people had been analyzing Pei Xi’s bloodline and Roy’s true identity from the upper district. Within those threads, quite a few readers were eagerly hoping that the character they supported would turn out to have a noble and distinguished true background.

【We actually got a real royal! When will Emperor Pei return to the palace?】

【Mom, I knew some things felt way too coincidental. It’s very likely that the emperor has been secretly helping the Cloud Soarers team all along.】

【Pei Xi might not have royal blood, but Roy was obviously sent by the emperor. Why is the emperor secretly watching and lusting after my son.】

As for Sykes, the representative of the heavenly dragons in this work, his fans had often mocked other characters by leaning on his noble birth. Even Sykes’s acts of violence were justified because of his status as crown prince. After all, which emperor in history hasn’t had blood on his hands?

These threads formed a sharp and striking contrast with the way Ye Zheng had been treated today.

【You guys aren’t against the privileged class at all. You’re just afraid that Ye Zheng is taking away “their” privileges.】【hot】