Chapter 25

As soon as Ye Zheng opened the forum, she saw "Zhao Mei" all over the screen and slightly widened her eyes. 

She casually clicked into a post and was shaken by the whole thread of "Mei Bao," "wife," "sticker" comments. She quickly exited and chose a post that looked more serious.

"System, Zhao Mei seems to have a lot of... mommies?"

Ye Zheng awkwardly uttered the word "mommies."

『Your appearance is mommy paradise. Considering your real gender, the mommy fans can be considered to have gotten what they wished for. Hope they'll be happy when the truth is revealed...』

Ye Zheng felt the system was being a bit sarcastic, but not toward her.

"If they truly love the character's qualities, then gender shouldn't matter, right?"

『The "Throne of the Aberrant Realm" IP has always been very good at harvesting leeks. Merch comes out frequently, but for now, Zhao Mei won't get any merch.』

The system changed the topic.

"Why?"

『A gender big reveal is no less than a hero-villain big reveal. By then, many readers will definitely curse epic-level fraud!』

『So officially, they don't dare release Zhao Mei merch for now.』

"Hmm, very thorough consideration. Looks like everyone really cares a lot about the character's gender."

『We've come this far. You can only work hard to create more highlight plots for yourself. That way, when Mei Bao turns into real sister Bao, you can still retain some popularity.』

The system sighed.

Originally, its expectations for this female protagonist were just not to be too annoying. Unexpectedly, through her own operations, she successfully rose to popularity character. Unfortunately, popularity built on lies—the higher it is, the harder the fall.

It didn't know what plans Ye Zheng had for this. It couldn't help worrying for her.

Ye Zheng looked completely unconcerned. She clicked into another post that seemed like serious plot analysis: 【Discussion: What exactly is Zhao Mei's background?】

She discovered that these readers' discussions provided more information than the manga spoilers gave her. For example, from the readers, she learned that Pei Xi, Lu Qi, and Kyle were the original academy trio, while Roy transferred midway to Cloud Soarers Academy and was suspected of having unspeakable connections to the upper district.

Also, Pei Xi's ability hid secrets—he, like her, concealed his true strength.

Ye Zheng was curious: Could readers guess her secrets from Zhao Mei's brief appearances?

【1L: Discussion: What exactly is Zhao Mei's background?】

【OP extracted some unsolved mysteries about Zhao Mei from the limited plot so far. Welcome everyone to add and speculate.

First, what is Zhao Mei's purpose in joining the protagonist group? He's clearly from an upper district school, yet came to participate in a lower district academy team. This is too strange—just because he gets along with the protagonist group?

Second, what exactly is his ability? He's never explicitly said it, only claiming to be healing type, not even telling the protagonist group his talent level.

Third, which family in the upper district is Zhao Mei from? The old uncle is good at planting threads. Zhao Mei can't be an ordinary upper district young master. He must be related to forces involved in the main storyline. The question is, is he from royal family or Church? Of course, possibly other important forces.

Last point, maybe conspiracy theory, but is Zhao Mei really a good guy? His appearance is too abrupt—much more abrupt than the female lead everyone is criticizing lately. Saintess Ye Zheng was at least mentioned earlier, while Zhao Mei seems to have actively appeared targeting the protagonist group's gap, yet no one ever pays attention to this.】

Looking at this analysis, the smile in Ye Zheng's eyes grew fainter. From a god's perspective, Zhao Mei's appearance was full of holes, but interestingly, everyone's focus was never on these issues. So far, only this post was seriously analyzing Zhao Mei.

Preparing for the worst. If readers showed a trend of guessing correctly, she must adjust in time.

【2L: Wow, after OP's analysis, feels like Zhao Mei definitely has a lot more major scenes.】

【3L: I have a wild guess about Zhao Mei's background. Earlier when mentioning saintess Ye Zheng, it was said she has a younger brother—a rare S-level healing + attack type, originally very likely to become a substitute for the royal team. But now the royal team's substitute is Ye Zheng... So where did that younger brother go?】

【4L: Damn, is the guy above actually onto the truth?】

【5L: Holy crap, did 3L sneak a peek at the author's drafts?】

The following replies all spiraled off from the third poster's theory, and the more Ye Zheng read, the more outrageous it became.

【45L: In the earlier background introduction, it was mentioned that the Ye family patriarch is a chief justice in the upper district. Children from that kind of family should have an extremely strong sense of justice, so it makes perfect sense for Zhao Mei, as the judge's son, to help the protagonist team from the lower district!】

【46L: The guess that it's the Ye family's son perfectly answers all the original poster's questions. Could 3L actually be a genius?】

……

【107L: The author must be sweating bullets right now! We've seen through everything!】

【108L: If this is true, Zhao Mei's character design is absolutely perfect! Giving up his privileged young master life for fairness and justice, changing his name and fighting alongside the protagonist team for the people's benefit... Oh my god, a true white moonlight second male lead has appeared!】

【109L: Zhao Mei is probably the name he gave himself. "Zhao" means morning, "Mei" implies dim obscurity—together, it evokes the faint light of dawn at the darkest hour, hope just beginning to emerge. This name is a metaphor for who he is: walking through the blackest pre-dawn to bring hope to the protagonist team!】

Ye Zheng held her phone and scrolled through the readers' comments. Her head slowly tilted to the side, her lips parted as if to speak, then closed again in silence, her expression turning subtly strange.

"System, it looks like we don't have to worry about being exposed for now."

How did these readers come up with this? The guess wasn't exactly far from the truth—at least in terms of blood relations, it was pretty close...

Ye Zheng felt she had been overthinking it. Everyone was willing to speculate it was Ye Di, but no one mentioned her. It seemed that unless she exposed herself, readers would never connect Ye Zheng and Zhao Mei as the same person.

『This theory won't last long. Ye Di has his own role later on, but for now, it looks like they won't guess it's you...』

The system clicked its tongue in amazement. From its god's-eye view, it felt the answer was obvious. When Ye Zheng acted as Zhao Mei, she was basically being herself—the two roles were highly similar except for gender, and the two had never appeared together. That alone was chilling evidence!

Ye Zheng closed her phone, poked her head out from under the eaves where she had been slacking off to check on her teammates' battle, and just in time heard Pei Xi shout, "I got it! I finally know what these black shadows are!"

"They are copies of us. They grow stronger and more like us over time."

"And as the originals, our power is weakening. If we don't eliminate them soon, we'll be completely replaced."

Pei Xi's expression was grave. His greatsword seized an opening amid the swirling black butterflies and slashed at Lu Qi's shadow. The shadow split in two again, but this time it did not heal. Under the sunlight, it turned to ash and vanished.

Pei Xi was stunned, then quickly understood. "The more human-like the shadows become, the more they gain human weaknesses."

"This Aberrant Realm's difficulty should be around B-grade. Not too hard."

The slightly hoarse teenage voice analyzed calmly. Pei Xi turned toward the source of the sound. Zhao Mei, who had been resting off to the side, slowly walked over.

The boy's face was exceptionally pale, almost translucent in the sunlight. To Pei Xi and the others, however, Zhao Mei looked deathly white, still forcing a smile to comfort them despite his weakness.

"What's wrong?"

The boy tilted his head, seemingly puzzled by their collective stare.

"The fight's over. It's my turn now."

The black-haired, green-eyed boy naturally grasped Pei Xi's arm. A warm current flowed over the wound.

"You all know Lu Qi's butterfly dance better than I do. Without treatment soon, you'll be completely paralyzed."

The four teammates obediently lined up for Zhao Mei's healing. Lu Qi's ability leaned toward support; her shadow was easy to deal with, but the lingering side effects were brutal. Everyone felt lucky that this substitute match format allowed them to bring Zhao Mei along.

Perhaps the tournament officials had intentionally permitted an extra member because of the difficulty. With their injuries fully healed, Pei Xi's expression remained serious. He looked at Zhao Mei with embarrassment. "Sorry... you clearly need rest, yet you still had to exert yourself to heal us..."

Lu Qi jumped up and bumped Pei Xi's shoulder, her tone displeased. "Why apologize? Zhao Mei is our teammate and our friend. You're being too formal!"

She lifted her face, eyes sparkling. "After the Ability Tournament ends, we'll drag Zhao Mei to my house for a proper feast. My family's ranch raises everything—everything is delicious!"

The black-haired, green-eyed boy chuckled softly and couldn't resist patting the girl's head. "Sure. I rarely visit the West District anyway."

Everyone started joking around. Kyle weakly asked if Lu Qi's family would still charge them. Roy stressed that Lu Qi wasn't allowed to team up with the locals to rip them off again. It seemed the team had plenty of experience being fleeced by Lu Qi.

Amid the cheerful, relaxed atmosphere of the young group, Ye Zheng lowered her gaze, concealing the faint emotion in her eyes. She knew perfectly well that once the tournament ended, she would no longer visit Lu Qi's home as Zhao Mei.

For now, as Zhao Mei, she wore a gentle smile, her eyes soft with a trace of longing, as if she truly shared their vision of celebrating a championship victory together.

✧✧✧✧✧

On the other side of the street.

A pair of teenagers walked side by side. The silver-haired boy slouched casually, a playful grin on his face. The white-haired girl looked stern, her eyes an eerie pure white, giving her an utterly uncanny appearance.

"Our shadows haven't even shown up. How come everyone else has run into theirs?"

After speaking, Yinkong seemed amused by his own words and laughed a few more times.

"Bai Muqing, which team do you think our shadows are tormenting?"

Bai Muqing furrowed her white brows, her tone tinged with irritation. "So far, the only teams here are us, that Cloud Soarers squad from the lower district, and those guys from the First Academy in the upper district."

"All boring opponents."

The girl added coldly.

Yinkong asked, "What kind of opponent would be interesting? The Crown Prince's team? Or more specifically... Ye Zheng."

Bai Muqing turned her expressionless face toward him. Her blind-like white pupils fixed on the boy. "Stop trying to read me."

Yinkong suddenly grew more interested and pressed, "You're still hung up on her, huh? You hate her that much? She just beat you for the Saintess position. That role isn't even worth it."

He truly couldn't understand why either Ye Zheng or Bai Muqing chased the Saintess title so fiercely. It was nothing more than a glamorous puppet position.

Bai Muqing gave a cold laugh. "For female ability users like us, what other position is there to fight for besides Saintess? Bishop? Divine officiant?"

Yinkong thought seriously. "If your appearance weren't so... unusual, with your family background and talent, you might already be the Crown Princess."

"As for Ye Zheng, if her talent weren't a bit lacking, with her methods, she'd probably have locked down the Crown Princess spot already."

Bai Muqing's smile grew colder. Her vacant white pupils mocked her teammate.

"That's exactly why we both desperately compete for the Saintess position."

The usually clever, mischief-loving Yinkong took a moment to process this. It seemed the Crown Prince was thoroughly despised by both women.

Bai Muqing ignored Yinkong further. If she hadn't heard Ye Zheng was also participating, she wouldn't have bothered joining as a substitute.

She slowly blinked her eyes. Blinking wasn't necessary for her; she only did it to avoid appearing too inhuman. Born awakened to her talent, she had never used her eyes to see the world.

Her ability 【Divine Domain】 allowed her to perceive the souls and true essence of all things.

Thus, the moment Bai Muqing "saw" Ye Zheng, she despised her. A heretic—why compete for Saintess? It was blasphemy against the God of Hope!

Yet accusing the current Saintess Ye Zheng of heresy was far too grave. Bai Muqing had never told anyone.

She hated Ye Zheng and hated her own powerlessness for letting a heretic claim that position. The fact that Ye Zheng was Saintess could no longer be changed, but that was fine—she still had a chance to properly "enlighten" her.

"Let's end this quickly. There's no reason to linger in this Aberrant Realm."

The girl spoke coldly. She closed her eerie white pupils, her lips moving as if chanting.

"Divine Domain, unfold."

Dazzling white light suddenly exploded in the sky. Points of light drifted down like snowflakes across the entire Aberrant Realm, lending a holy aura wherever they landed. The teenagers of the Cloud Soarers stopped joking and looked up in unison at the sudden miracle, their eyes filled with awe.

Ye Zheng followed her teammates' gaze upward. There was no trace of a smile in her eyes.

┳⁠━━━━⁠━⁠⁠━⁠━⁠━━━⁠┳⁠

Authors Note

┻━⁠━━━━⁠━━⁠━━━⁠┻

Because I'm poor and couldn't find a suitable cover, I drew one myself using other authors' templates as reference. I feel this concept is perfect for Zhengzheng! I hope everyone doesn't mind...