Chapter 21

Ye Zheng opened the real-time comments. The scrolling text was far richer than the manga content itself.

【Aaaah, author, don’t let my treasure get hurt again!】

【Though no one dies in this manga, I’m still worried watching it.】

【Pei Xi pulled the flustered Roy—shipped!】

【That whoever hiding behind Pei Xi really gives me no good feelings… Is my son your shield?】

【Speechless. Really love a clingy girl.】

Ye Zheng read through the comments on the original plot once and discovered that, following the original development, “Ye Zheng’s” reputation was even worse than now—the readers’ insults far more direct.

By comparison, the current forum posts excluding Ye Zheng almost seemed endearing.

“So in this original segment, my role is simply to highlight Pei Xi’s bravery and wisdom, constantly reacting in ways that set him off favorably.”

『Your positioning is healing—you can’t fight. In this situation, you can only be protected.』

『That’s why in the original plot it’s normal for people to dislike you. In a hot-blooded manga, weakness is the original sin. These days even growth-type protagonists aren’t popular anymore—everyone starts as full-level bosses returning to the newbie village.』

Ye Zheng thought to herself: it wasn’t that she couldn’t fight; it was that the author simply refused to give her any spotlight, even ignoring battle scenes she should have had.

『Don’t worry. You have nearly 80 action points now. You can completely add some effective plot for yourself—like helping Pei Xi deal with a few small monsters.』

“This author never disappoints when it comes to letting me down. I already have a good idea of what to expect.”

The girl quickly regained her calm and began turning her mind. It didn’t matter. Even without effective plot related to her, she could still seize useful information from the faint clues in the main storyline.

Ye Zheng’s fingers lightly tapped the phone screen. This future segment should take place inside an Aberrant Realm—half-human-height black shadows summoning black butterflies to attack… Those black butterflies reminded her of Lu Qi’s talent 【Butterfly Dance】.

Abilities could be similar, but never identical. Could the enemy be copying their skills?

With this clue, she could act with greater composure inside the Aberrant Realm.

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The next day, the one-month long third stage competition officially began.

In the hotel’s meeting room, four youths sat around staring at the rectangular sensor. The screen displayed a simplified map of the lower district’s eastern sector. Once an Aberrant Realm descended, a red dot would flash at the precise location on the map.

Lu Qi lay bored on the table. “Are we just going to keep staring at it? So boring.”

“On average, two Aberrant Realms descend in the eastern district per day. We’ll definitely get one today.”

Roy replied, though impatience also showed on his face.

“While no realm has descended yet, everyone try out the new equipment.”

The meeting room door suddenly opened. The slightly hoarse voice drew everyone’s attention. The black-haired, green-eyed youth walked in carrying a bag, placed it on the table they were gathered around, and the youths curiously peered inside.

“This texture… at least soft armor from aberrant beast hide produced in an A-class realm!”

Kyle’s eyes widened as he cautiously stroked one piece of soft armor in the bag. Pei Xi picked up a pair of half-gloves, his eyes shining. “What marvelous elasticity. It feels like it can withstand my hands’ metallization.”

“When we first met, your hands were injured by an aberrant beast while saving me. Consider these gloves my thank-you gift.”

“Everything inside is for you all—not only as thanks, but so our Cloud Soarers can go further.”

Everyone looked at the smiling Zhao Mei with touched gazes. What the Cloud Soarers lacked most was exactly these hard resources!

“Tch, this equipment completely outclasses what Cloud Soarers Academy prepared for us. Pei Xi, you’ve recruited a real sugar daddy this time.”

Even the usually sharp-tongued and arrogant Roy clicked his tongue in admiration.

Kyle couldn’t help defending his father’s Cloud Soarers Academy, his voice low. “Our academy’s credentials are too low. The Ability Association doesn’t open purchase channels for high-grade equipment to us. We can’t buy them even with money.”

“My dad already tried his hardest to scrape together what he could.”

Roy’s face stiffened slightly. He seemed to realize he had misspoken but was too embarrassed to admit it.

Pei Xi sighed and, with practiced ease, mediated. “The principal has already done his best. From now on, it’s up to us to bring glory to the academy.”

His gaze turned again to the gentle-tempered youth.

“Truly, thank you so much, Zhao Mei. Equipment of this grade—we with E- and D-Class talents wouldn’t be allowed to buy it officially even if we wanted to.”

This was the cruel, realistic talent grading system of the Sacred Citadel Empire. Limited high-grade equipment was prioritized for the strong. People like them—low-talent, powerless, and poor—could only turn to the black market, yet even the black market deemed small paupers like them unworthy.

Lu Qi, wearing small high heels, jumped up and slung an arm around the new sugar daddy’s shoulders. “Zhao Mei, you must have quite the background, huh!”

The quiet, beautiful youth smiled. “I don’t have much personal wealth. I just happened to have some channels to obtain these.”

『You spent 20 action points adding this plot for yourself—and even gave yourself the team sugar daddy persona!』

Ye Zheng thought indifferently. Otherwise, relying on the plot the author gave her, even walking the world as a male character, it would be hard to salvage popularity and reputation.

Besides, she had a small personal motive of her own.

She took a pair of flat-soled boots from the bag and handed them to Lu Qi. “These are yours. Try them on.”

Lu Qi glanced at the boots and showed surprise. “How did you guess my shoe size? I know—”

“You must have had a lot of girlfriends!”

“…I have no dating experience. That’s not the point. These shoes are specially made and extremely defensive. Switch to them from now on.”

Lu Qi lowered her head to look at her pretty little high heels, her face conflicted. “But high heels are prettier—they make my legs look longer. Plus, I’m used to fighting in them.”

The gentle youth chuckled lightly. Lu Qi looked at him blankly, not understanding what was funny.

It wasn’t mockery it was a helpless, indulgent smile.

“Fine. Keep the shoes for now. Maybe one day you’ll want to wear them.”

For some reason, Lu Qi felt a stuffy sensation in her chest. Though the flat boots looked a bit ugly, they seemed very comfortable. Yet she couldn’t resist a girl’s innate love of beauty…

Suddenly, Lu Qi felt warmth around her waist. She looked down , a slender, fair hands were gently fastening a waist guard around her, covering the bare skin above her shorts.

She instinctively wanted to refuse, but the youth spoke first. “This waist guard was processed by a famous upper-district designer. Both its defensiveness and design are impeccable.”

“Now you shouldn’t refuse, right?”

After fastening the guard, lingering warmth remained on her skin. For some reason, Lu Qi felt an inexplicable urge to cry—even she found it strange. She gazed blankly at the flat boots. Perhaps she should try them one day.

“Hey! The sensor lit up!”

Everyone’s attention was instantly drawn to the flashing red dot on the sensor screen.

Pei Xi judged, “Not far from us. Let’s go!”

The youths, newly equipped, strode forward with high spirits. Their resolute gazes encouraged one another as they rubbed their fists, eager for their first battle.

“Are you sure?”

The black-haired, green-eyed youth asked calmly.

“This realm shows it has already been locked.”

“The team closest to this realm… is the Divine Academy team.”

The youths showed stunned expressions. Their excited steps faltered as they stood in place, looking at one another.

Going to this realm meant directly confronting the first-place team from the previous stage—the strongest academy representing the church!

Ye Zheng lowered her head to look at the location displayed on the sensor. Strands of black hair falling forward cast a shadow over her fair face.

For her, the trickiest part was how to properly conceal Zhao Mei’s identity in front of that group of eccentrics from the Divine Academy who all knew her…

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Authors Note

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Barring accidents, tomorrow we enter VIP (paid chapters). I’ll present everyone with a 10k-word update!

Zheng Zheng won’t just change her own fate—she’ll bring the other female characters along too. Thank you all for your support!