Chapter 204

【I’m seriously starting to feel bad for him… can someone please remember this kid’s birthday?】

【Group assassination of the old bastard (1/100)】

【Wait, isn’t this my Crown Prince? You said he was royalty, so why’s he living like a commoner now?】

【I told you ages ago that your weird so-called royal family only has ( )】

【This episode really backs up Sykes’s descent into darkness. Turns out this guy’s the most overlooked person in the entire world…】

[T/N- this () , part is a jab at Ye Zheng, basically saying she is being treated like Royalty, but can't question her cause ye zheng fans would 'bully' the commenter if actually name her]

On the phone screen, Sykes’s gloomy expression filled the final page of the manga, while dense bullet comments drifted across it.

“Oh my god, this is so fucking frustrating!”

Tang Mingxi shoved her phone farther away and blurted out her strongest reaction after finishing the latest chapter.

The first half of the new chapter centered on Pei Xi and his two teammates heading to Sela’s base to rescue Lu Qi. In the second half, Sykes made his appearance. He went to the Lower District and visited his mother’s grave. Just when the already frustrated readers thought they wouldn’t get to see Ye Zheng in this chapter, she unexpectedly showed up right in front of Sykes, bathed in the morning light.

Seeing even the most arrogant male character in the entire series forced to address her as “Your Holiness the Papess,” Tang Mingxi felt a surge of dark, guilty satisfaction. She had a petty streak and hadn’t forgotten how overbearing Sykes had been the very first time he met Ye Zheng, to the point of grabbing her by the throat. Even if Sykes knelt down and kowtowed to Ye Zheng every single day from now on, she still wouldn’t forgive him!

In the manga, Ye Zheng’s sudden appearance had clearly caught Sykes off guard as well. The two traded a few sharp, sarcastic barbs. Sykes grew irritated and turned to leave, but at the instant they brushed past one another, he received a small note from her.

【Coming-of-age ceremony. Imperial Palace. I’ll help you recover all your memories.】

Tang Mingxi sat upright in excitement. She knew her female lead far too well. There was no way Ye Zheng was offering to restore his memories out of pure goodwill. She was obviously about to stir up trouble, most likely aimed straight at Sykes.

Perfect. Let Ye Zheng teach both Sykes and those stubborn anti–Ye Zheng readers what it really means to be “the number one antagonist of the Aberrant Realm”!

This burst of excitement carried her all the way to the final panel of the chapter. Tang Mingxi’s eyebrows shot up in disbelief. Sykes’s real birthday was actually the exact same day as Ye Zheng’s?

On one page of the manga, servants hurried back and forth inside a lavish palace, busying themselves with preparations for Ye Zheng’s grand ceremony. On the very next page, Sykes learned the date of Ye Zheng’s coming-of-age ceremony while staying in a rather plain, modest shelter.

That sharp contrast left many readers feeling heartbroken for Sykes. But fans like Tang Mingxi, who were fiercely loyal to Ye Zheng, only felt irritated. They’d never seen such a shameless freeloader!

Tang Mingxi and the birthday celebration group had already made extensive preparations for Ye Zheng’s birthday, including massive shopping mall billboards, offline meetups, and a 24-hour relay of birthday illustrations. She’d also put together plenty of free fan content. Just thinking about celebrating and chatting with other Ye Zheng fans next week kept her in a great mood the entire week.

Ye Zheng’s coming-of-age ceremony was clearly a major plot point. Based on the manga’s pacing, next week might even show the ceremony itself. The idea of celebrating both inside and outside the manga filled Tang Mingxi with a level of excitement she could hardly contain.

But the moment she realized that Sykes shared the same birthday, her mood instantly soured.

Originally, her most hated character in Throne of the Aberrant Realm had been the male protagonist, Pei Xi. Now, Sykes had firmly claimed the top spot. Recently, he had been getting more screen time in the animation and had even gained popularity thanks to his handsome face. His fans had grown louder and more persistent, and Tang Mingxi couldn’t block them all.

What made it even more infuriating was that the Sykes–Ye Zheng ship had actually become the most popular pairing involving Ye Zheng! Did that even make any sense?

Although the Pei Xi ship could still barely keep it suppressed for the time being, seeing her female lead’s name linked to that overpowered male character made her feel downright disgusted. On top of that, in her eyes, the two of them had absolutely zero chemistry. If this were the entertainment industry, she’d suspect it was nothing but forced marketing and artificial hype pushed by a struggling male idol.

She clicked into the forum. Just as expected, everyone was talking about Ye Zheng and Sykes sharing the exact same birthday.

【1L: They actually share the same birthday… Old Uncle, do you even have a heart?】

【2L: I’m seriously upset. Sykes’s real birthday isn’t even the one listed on the official site. Did Old Uncle deliberately make everyone miss his birthday?】

【3L: This guy carries the reputation of a tyrannical dragon, yet he can’t even have a proper celebration for his actual birthday. His own home is being used to celebrate someone else’s birthday, and he’s stuck in a shelter. Can anyone please care about this underage boy’s mental health?】

【4L: Just thinking about Ye Zheng celebrating her birthday grandly in the palace while the Crown Prince, who shares that same birthday, can only attend because Ye Zheng invited him… my heart hurts…】

【5L: I feel like there’s a plot hole here. Shouldn’t Sykes’s real birthday be the day the previous empress died? Why is it the same as Ye Zheng’s? Is Old Uncle deliberately pushing this ship?】

【6L: Oh my god, now that you put it that way, Sykes feels even more tragic. He’s basically just a tool to sell the ship.】

【7L: The Sykes–Ye Zheng shippers next door are already high on sugar. “Fated redemption,” my ass… Is sugar built on the male lead’s suffering even remotely good?】

【8L: Don’t Ye Zheng fans always brag about her being an independent, strong female lead? So why are you still forcing her together with our Crown Prince?】

【9L: Can’t be helped, he’s the biggest traffic magnet in the entire series…】

【10L: To be fair, it’s actually Ye Zheng fans who step on Sykes the hardest. They’re not the same group as the shippers.】

【11L: I said this a long time ago, most female lead fans are just wearing a “dream girl” skin. Don’t forget, the people who bash the Xi-Sy ship the most are also Ye Zheng fans. They pretend to hate male characters, but really they just hate it when male characters don’t revolve around them.】

【12L: At this point, might as well just say Xi-Sy forever.】

…

The more Tang Mingxi read, the more irritated she became. Only male lead fans would think their precious boy was so exceptional and universally adored, right?

Ye Zheng fans were honestly still too restrained. She was this close to opening a new topic called #DailyCastration# — anyone who dared to slander them would get their male lead cyber-castrated! Let’s see who could actually handle losing that.

Tang Mingxi had originally wanted to jump in and start arguing, but she quickly realized that the Sykes–Ye Zheng shippers were already locked in a massive fight with Sykes’s solo fans. Or more precisely, the Sykes–Ye Zheng shippers were clashing head-on with the double-male-lead shippers.

【173L: May the world embrace heterosexual romance.】

【174L: Double antagonists are peak. Support the Saintess training her dog!】

【175L: Broken engagement, redemption promises, same-day birth… Anyone who doesn’t ship this is straight-up trash.】

Tang Mingxi’s vision went dark. She genuinely felt like she couldn’t keep reading this thread any longer. How did these two completely opposing groups manage to jointly assault the eyes of Ye Zheng fans?

Even putting aside the fact that Sykes had tried to kill Ye Zheng multiple times, that so-called engagement theory was rooted in Ye Zheng being treated as a “Blessed Reliquary” for the Hope Project by the royal family. And yet some people still regretted that the engagement never happened. Wasn’t that basically feasting on Ye Zheng’s suffering?

And as for this whole “training the dog” nonsense, she had never once seen Sykes actually kneel and bark for Ye Zheng. Not in the original story, and not even in fanfics that claimed to be about “dog training.” Instead, those same people loved writing all sorts of “what if” scenarios where Ye Zheng lost her power and Sykes came in to save her.

This wasn’t shipping at all, it was practically cursing Ye Zheng!

After skimming a little further, Tang Mingxi wasn’t surprised in the slightest. Whenever BG and BL shippers clashed, the female character always ended up being the one dragged through the mud. Anyone with eyes could see that Ye Zheng was suffering for no good reason. She couldn’t even be bothered to argue with these people anymore and quickly exited the thread.

【We still don’t know just how cruelly fate has treated the male leads…】【Hot】

【1L: We still don’t know just how cruelly fate has treated the male leads…】

【2L: Those who get it, get it. Same feelings as above.】

【3L: I’ve developed a condition where I start laughing every time I see male leads acting pitiful.】

【4L: Even though I know which male lead the OP is referring to, there are way too many that fit. Can someone please take me away from this male-lead planet?】

【5L: I clicked in without even knowing what kind of torture we were talking about. Someone grew up surrounded by luxury and could do whatever he pleased. So what if his birthday wasn’t celebrated on the exact day? Give me five million and I’d gladly never celebrate my birthday again.】

【6L: Anyone who can ship Ye Zheng with that melodramatic, overpowered pretty boy gets this (thumbs up emoji). As for me? This (thumbs down emoji).】

【7L: If Ye Zheng merely sharing the same birthday as Sykes counts as hurting him, then what do you call the time Sykes choked her and slammed her into the wall?】

【8L: It just proves that Ye Zheng and her fans have good tempers and high standards.】

【9L: I’m seriously about to cry. Back then, when Ye Zheng fans brought this up, they’d get labeled as melodramatic. People would say “it’s normal in an ability-based world where people fight,” so what’s the big deal if Sykes doesn’t get his birthday celebrated? And now everyone suddenly feels sorry for him?】

【10L: Between the two of them sharing the same birthday, the one who’s actually suffering is Ye Zheng. Her highness the Emperor’s birthday has been tainted by this irritating freeloader.】

【11L: Our Zheng is already this kind. She even invited Sykes to help restore his memories on her own birthday. The people criticizing her really have no heart…】

【12L: Without Ye Zheng, Sykes wouldn’t stand a chance at recovering his memories. She’s already this kind, yet some people still insist on nitpicking. What an unbelievable white-eyed wolf mentality.】

……

【121L: Though honestly, Zheng definitely isn’t doing it out of kindness, hahaha.】

【122L: Someone in the neighboring thread said Ye Zheng used the excuse of restoring his memories to trick Sykes into attending her coming-of-age ceremony, just so she could show off in front of him and hurt him. I’m really… (holds forehead and smiles bitterly.jpg)】

【123L: They’re seriously underestimating our number one villain!】

【124L: Even though I don’t know what Ye Zheng’s goal is, I’ve got this vague premonition that our Zheng is about to completely lock down the title of top villainess in this story.】

【125L: I feel like Ye Zheng’s going to say to Sykes: Watch carefully, I’ll only teach you once—this is how a proper villain does things!】

【126L: Did no one remember Uncle’s spoiler from last week? An important character is about to die soon. This lucky winner wouldn’t actually be Sykes, right?】

【127L: Hard to say if it’s Sykes, but I’m betting something major is going to go down at Ye Zheng’s coming-of-age ceremony.】

【128L: Just thinking about how the neighboring thread is busy shipping the Sykes–Zheng redemption arc makes me laugh. When Zheng gave that redemption speech, the focus was clearly on “redemption through death.” If people had put even a little effort into actually analyzing Ye Zheng’s character, they wouldn’t have taken those words as something sweet.】

【129L: I hate redemption plots the most. They’re always about sacrificing the female character just to complete the male lead. Anyone who truly likes Ye Zheng can’t possibly ship Sykes–Zheng at all, okay?】

【130L: I’ll admit it, I used to ship them, but after all the abuse, I’ve completely turned into a Ye Zheng solo fan.】

【131L: It’s obvious my little Zheng has suffered far more than Sykes and needs redemption even more. If you people who ship them have the ability, why don’t you go write some redemption stories where Sykes sacrifices himself to pave the way for Ye Zheng?】

【132L: I only accept redemption fics where Ye Zheng loses Sykes and then stands alone ruling over a vast empire while enduring boundless loneliness. That’s the absolute limit of OOC that I can tolerate.】

【133L: Just passing by to promote next week’s Ye Zheng birthday celebration! No matter how the author and the other side try to stir things up, Zheng fans will always run toward Zheng with their feelings in sync!】

【134L: Nice! I’m really looking forward to our Zheng’s first birthday event!】