Chapter 46

 If Ye Zheng did not know that she was living inside a manga, she might have dismissed everything as coincidence.

But this was a work deliberately crafted by human hands. An author would never waste carefully planted foreshadowing. Especially when the protagonist, Pei Xi, was also a survivor of that incident. He had even been arranged to meet the female lead at the cemetery memorializing the Blood Flower.

This abnormal aberrant realm in the lower district was certainly connected to that year.

『What do you think?』

The system suddenly spoke.

“Think about what?”

『You hate those people from back then too, don’t you? I thought you would feel satisfied seeing this.』

“Kill all the nobles who trampled over my family’s lives? It does sound satisfying. Unfortunately, mere killing is not enough to truly finish them.”

Wen Jian had been right.

He had taught her the most important lesson in life. With blood-soaked cruelty, he shattered little Ye Zheng’s ivory tower, forcing her to start thinking.

Her two teacher grandparents had taught her kindness and responsibility befitting noble status. Her father had told her that pursuing fairness and excellence was the Ye family’s noble pride. Her mother had encouraged her to strive upward, believing effort would always be rewarded.

Yet at the age of eight, Ye Zheng saw clearly that beneath noble status lay morals more base than insects. Fairness and excellence were privileges arrogantly reserved for the upper class. As for striving and reward, her mother had struggled her entire life without ever obtaining real power. Wen Jian, meanwhile, stepped lightly upon the tragedy of hundreds to pave his own brilliant future.

“You know, the moment that shocked me the most back then was not the realm disappearing, nor the river of mangled flesh and blood pouring out.”

“It was the trial’s conclusion. The victims, my family, were declared ‘voluntary’ righteous citizens. Those insects were praised as embodiments of justice, as if dying for them was something noble.”

“Then I began to wonder. Who allowed this? Why did they dare to do it? And why did no one expose the truth?”

Ye Zheng’s voice was barely audible.

“Eight-year-old Ye Zheng did not dare either, just like how she did not dare step into that realm.”

The system fell silent for a long time before finally speaking again.

『Those people will face judgment sooner or later. Pei Xi cannot forget this either, just like you.』

At the mention of Pei Xi, Ye Zheng blinked, and her smile deepened.

“Then, as the protagonist, how will he deliver that judgment?”

Without waiting for an answer, she continued.

“He will win the ability tournament championship, perhaps defeat the prophesied super S-class aberrant realm, and become the empire’s hero. Then he will gain status and power, finally qualified to judge those aging, impotent insects.”

『…』

This time, the system remained silent even longer, as if a hidden truth had been pierced through.

“There’s no need to be surprised. This is drama. Dramatic tropes are always like this.”

Ye Zheng even smiled, as though gently comforting the exposed system. Yet her pitch-black eyes continued to gaze out the window, as if already seeing far into the future.

“Then the manga’s story will probably end happily right there. But the world itself will keep turning.”

“Do you think Pei Xi, holding everything after the story ends, will realize that the very power he uses to enact justice once forced his family, my family, and hundreds of other families to their deaths?”

This rotten society would not change its rotten essence. Pei Xi’s happy ending would merely decorate a pretty flower atop decaying soil.

『You are thinking too deeply. This is just a hot-blooded shonen manga.』

『As the protagonist, he will strive to improve the world. You have met Pei Xi. He is kind, brave, strong, and idealistic. He is trustworthy.』

Ye Zheng said nothing more. She occasionally needed to vent, but she was accustomed to restraint and silence. This world did not need improvement. It needed destruction, followed by rebirth.

Besides, whatever Pei Xi chose to do had nothing to do with her. Ye Zheng would forge the world she desired with her own hands.

“Speaking of which, I’m actually quite lucky to have you managing me.”

『Y-You suddenly going straight for a compliment? That’s foul play!』

The system’s voice sounded flustered.

The girl curved her eyes in the morning light, her smile overflowing.

If it were a smarter or more vigilant system, she would not have been able to extract words so easily. Nor would she have spoken so freely. She knew very well that what she intended to do would profoundly change the empire, and the entire manga itself.

“By the way, what’s my current popularity?”

Seizing the moment before the system could recover its composure, Ye Zheng smoothly changed the topic.

『Current popularity: Zhao Mei 24,125. Ye Zheng 6,200. Remaining action points: 150.』

Ye Zheng vaguely remembered that her popularity had only been slightly above 2,000 last time. It had tripled already?

『Your shelter rescue arc slapped a lot of doubters in the face, gaining you fans. On top of that, a Ye Zheng fan-made video went viral and greatly increased your visibility.』

“Fan-made video?”

Ye Zheng sounded puzzled.

『A short video syncing scenes to music transitions. In short, a form of entertainment your world does not really have.』

“That sounds fun. Is there no way for me to see it? Something like reader forums.”

『This…』

The company had not opened that permission.

“Really can’t, System?”

Ye Zheng deliberately slowed her tone, her voice softening. The system hesitated. There was no permission, but there was also no explicit prohibition.

✧✧✧✧✧

“Tang Mingxi, you’re incredible! That video already hit 300,000 likes!”

“Ah, it’s nothing. My female idol outfit-change edits get millions.”

Li Yixin heard the uncontainable pride in her friend’s voice and could not help laughing. She held her phone up, staring at the screen.

The account homepage read “Heart Racing Accelerator,” with fifty thousand followers and over a hundred uploaded videos.

“I really didn’t expect numbers like this. Most of my followers were K-pop fans. After switching lanes, some even said it was double fandom happiness.”

“All I can say is my girl really is that charming.”

As Tang Mingxi rambled on, Li Yixin replayed her friend’s latest video.

The video was only ten seconds long. It opened with soft, gentle music. Tang Mingxi had selected three close-up manga panels of Ye Zheng’s face. Black hair, black eyes, smiling faintly or lowering her lashes in quiet melancholy. Frame interpolation made the static images move subtly. Even individual strands of hair seemed to sway, as though one were peeking into another dimension where Ye Zheng breathed and lived.

The soft music gradually quickened. The final close-up darkened, imbuing the gentle smile with an obscure sense of danger.

Then the beat exploded.

A black gun muzzle filled the screen. The blood-stained saintess stared directly at the viewer, expressionless.

With added filters, the visual impact far surpassed that of the original manga. The extreme contrast between black and red made Ye Zheng’s aggression feel as though she might step out of the screen and kill someone in the very next second.

“Honestly, this is kind of misleading. You edited Ye Zheng into some white-cut-black final boss villain.”

“Who cares? Ye Zheng and her fans already get treated like villains on the forums.”

“If my girl really were a major villain gunning down their favorites, I’d die happy.”

Li Yixin ignored her friend’s trash talk. Undeniably, Ye Zheng had recently been treated like a villain in forum discussions. Although the gun counterkill scene was undeniably cool, it did not erase how her overly kind actions irritated many readers.

Even under this video, there were plenty of rude comments. It made Li Yixin feel sympathy for Ye Zheng, and for her fans.

【Aaaah tell me which manga this character is from!】

【It’s Ye Zheng, the female lead in Throne of the Aberrant Realm. Super gentle, kind, and cool baby!】

【Ye Zheng fans hyping her again? The official never said she’s the female lead, okay?】

【Passing by. This character has insane tension. Feels like a powerful, deep-thinking big sister.】

【Readers say this video is pure fraud! This character is just a useless saintly healer. Ye Zheng fans stop misleading people.】

【They hate her so much they chased her here to curse under a fan video. Looks like Ye Zheng is really popular now.】

“I deleted so many comments. You 2D people complain about fandom culture, but your circles fight just the same.”

“But the fighting power of other Throne of the Aberrant Realm character fans is nothing compared to this. Just wait until my girl gets more plot. Becoming the most popular character will be easy.”

Li Yixin knew all too well about Tang Mingxi’s stan tendencies. She fought daily over idol center positions, dance breaks, ACE titles, and generation rankings. One day it was team fandom wars, the next day rival group conflicts. She was frighteningly combative.

She had not expected the same intensity in a 2D fandom.

“Ye Zheng is fine, but Old Uncle has never been good at writing female characters. Only at drawing them.”

Li Yixin tactfully lowered her friend’s expectations.

“Based on manga tropes, the shelter is definitely going to erupt into an insect disaster. Ye Zheng, as a healer, won’t be able to stop it. In the end, it will definitely be Pei Xi who saves everyone.”

Without realizing it, Li Yixin had guessed the original plot with startling accuracy.

This was also the most common speculation on the forums. Many readers were already mocking Ye Zheng fans. They were jumping high now, but once the next arc came where Ye Zheng dragged others down and needed rescuing, her fans would go silent.

On the other end of the call, Tang Mingxi pouted.

“If that happens, Zhengzheng will get flamed again. No way. I’m preparing counter-curse templates and comment control scripts!”

Li Yixin was thoroughly shocked by her friend’s fighting spirit.

“Maybe not. What if Ye Zheng one-shots the monster and saves everyone? The chances are low, but not zero…”

Tang Mingxi optimistically accepted this.

“We’ve chatted until eight. It’s update time. Bye. I’m going to see Zhengzheng’s new material.”

After hanging up, Li Yixin opened the manga app as well.

Although Zhao Mei had been absent from these chapters, perhaps influenced by her friend, or by Ye Zheng’s indescribable charm, she found herself feeling a faint curiosity toward Ye Zheng.

She only hoped Old Uncle's update would not shatter Tang Mingxi’s heart too badly. Otherwise, her friend might truly send knives, or even hire protest banners outside the company building.