Chapter 81

 “Even if you let me bear all the glory and responsibilities that have become too heavy for you, that would be fine too.”

The latest chapter of the manga froze on Zhao Mei’s words. Pei Xi stared dazedly at Zhao Mei’s green eyes, so gentle they could almost drown a person.

【Oh my god, Uncle, you are so good at selling BL.】

The moment she entered the forums, the top hot post immediately struck Li Yixin hard. As someone with a bit of dream-girl* tendencies and single-stanning, just seeing the title gave her heartburn. Yet people always inevitably monitor their rivals. Li Yixin still clicked in.

[T/N - oh forgot to explain dream girl, it's means imagining herself as the partner. BL in title means Boy love G in LGBTQ+, if someone already don't know]

【1L: Oh my god, Uncle, you are so good at selling BL.

Summary of Xi-Zhao sugar in this chapter: the two had a telepathic moment and guessed Sela’s name together. Pei Xi silently worried about Zhao Mei’s expression. I, as a CP sister, was already satisfied here. But the plot that followed was even heavier. Uncle seems to be saying to you doujin girls: do not underestimate my original work.

The moonlit heart-to-heart scene has taken Xi-Zhao to the next level. What heart-to-heart is too light, this is straight-up soulmate level. Zhao Mei’s head-pat is god-tier. Who could refuse comfort from such a great beauty? Hallucinating some sentinel-guide literature, any wives building?

In short, Uncle raised the tone of your aberrant realm’s BL CP way too high. If I were the rival CP sister, I would collapse. This chapter is completely Xi-Zhao’s canonization return.】

Li Yixin did not know if the rival CP sisters had broken down yet, but she, as a dream girl, had already been shocked numb by this post. Was Zhao Mei not just giving Pei Xi some free psychological guidance? How did that turn into soulmates?

【2L: By the way, attaching a comparison image. Zhao Mei in the desert aberrant realm during his first meeting with Pei Xi vs. today’s moonlit gaze. The change in his eyes is really obvious (attached image)】

【3L: Thanks for the comparison chart, teacher. Looking at it this way, Zhao Mei was clearly polite and distant at their first meeting. By the moonlit heart-to-heart, his gaze is unbelievably gentle aaaaah. I refuse to believe there is no love.】

【4L: I have been savoring the head-pat scene over and over. Anyone get it? Zhao Mei has this maternal and divine quality.】

【5L: Upstairs I get you. I love Zhao Mei precisely because of this, forever cannot resist male characters with feminine traits.】

【6L: A lot of people do not dare say it, but in your aberrant realm, the one who truly fits the Saintess mold is actually Zhao Mei.】

【7L: Mom, upstairs is so bold. Not afraid of the Zheng mama faction coming to fight later?】

【8L: Protect.】

【9L: Protect +1】

【10L: Protect +2】

...

【67L: Who read this chapter and does not say: false female lead Ye Zheng, true female lead Zhao Mei】

Seeing this far, Li Yixin knew Tang Mingxi would probably arrive on the battlefield soon. Shipping CP was one thing, why did it suddenly turn into dragging down female characters?

Before this, Ye Zheng stans and Zhao Mei stans had already fought over plot and positioning, and the arguments had never stopped.

Li Yixin’s heart felt even heavier. She closed the forum and stared blankly at her phone screen for a long time.

【378L: There are wives who made some really delicious food, female-dressed Zhao Mei and suited Pei Xi! (attached image)】

【379L: Oh my god, who would not envy Pei Xi this kid’s good fortune!】

【380L: Leopard kittyyyyyy I just got reborn!!】

[T/N- oh god , explaination time leopard kitty is Bao Bao mao mao , cute internet slang there, I just got reborn part = exaggerated reaction phrase in Chinese fandom when a character looks beautiful.]

【381L: Uh, does no one think female-dressed Zhao Mei looks a bit like Ye Zheng?】

【382L: Feels like Zhao Mei–Ye Zheng moment...】

【383L: Is your Ye Zheng the origin of all things? Seeing black long hair and a white dress means it is your Ye Zheng?】

【384L: Female baby mamas are like this, when no one makes food for them, they come to steal a few bites from someone else’s meal.】

【385L: Detected Xi-Zhao, automatically input 99*】

[T/N- This is a support comment for 384L ,99 means eternally together in slang term.]

【386L: Recruiting sister stans starting to turn the tables again? Clearly you stole my female’s image to gild your recruit sister. The white dress style is completely copied from Ye Zheng’s.】

【387L: This thread still has Zheng mama sneaking in? Do not be too obsessed.】

Li Yixin pinched her brow. Eating the rival’s food really does poison you.

That female-dressed Zhao Mei image made her vision go dark, it was practically Ye Zheng with a different eye color.

Although everyone guessed the two were siblings and looking alike was normal, turning her completely into another female character was just too strange.

To be honest, she did like some male characters with traditional feminine traits. After all, those beautiful qualities that usually appeared on women really moved her heart. In reality, such men simply did not exist, she could only find them in the second dimension.

Li Yixin knew that if Zhao Mei were truly a female character, she might only appreciate him and not like him with such real feelings, if not for that handsome and beautiful male appearance.

So sometimes she could not quite understand why Tang Mingxi was so staunchly into female idols and female characters. She seemed to be heterosexual too.

✧✧✧✧✧

【624L: You BL shippers are even dragging my female into female rivalry? Anyone with eyes can see Ye Zheng instantly beats your two mango-faced explosions that you love so much! (attached image)】

Tang Mingxi found some Pei Xi and Zhao Mei art with relatively broken art style, cropped them together with a beautifully rendered Ye Zheng image, and provocatively posted it in the thread.

This was the other side that started the provocation first. Who was the undisputed (face god) of 《Throne of the Aberrant Realm》 was completely uncontested.

It was just that Ye Zheng had too many advantages. Her stans usually could not be bothered to mention appearance, this most trivial shining point. Only brain-empty male stans marketed mere fan-visible beauty.

Soon many people replied to her, their words fierce, after all, this thread was Xi-Zhao’s main camp.

【629L: Water-ghost-like skin suit, who exactly is loving here? (attached image)】

The attached image was a deliberately darkened, sharpened screenshot of Ye Zheng. Her originally rather subdued black hair and black eyes, after such processing, lost all gentle temperament and truly gave off a gloomy, ghostly aura, with a cold smile directed at the person outside the screen.

Tang Mingxi saw this image and was overjoyed. She immediately saved the rival-special “food” made just for her.

【635L: Thanks 629L, our Zheng is exactly this watery little female ghost, the kind who stands at my bedside watching me at night...】

【636L: Passerby laughing hard at this layer. Stealing the rival’s food!】

After Tang Mingxi aggressively posted face-first, she withdrew from the Xi-Zhao CP thread in satisfaction and clicked into the second hottest thread.

This thread shipped an even heavier CP.

【Oh my god, am I the only one who thinks the violent Crown Prince and gentle white-cut-black Saintess are super delicious?】

Delicious where? It is downright cursed!

Tang Mingxi did a lot of mental preparation before clicking in. As a career stan and mama stan, she could not tolerate even a little.

Back when she saw in the manga Ye Zheng suppressing Sykes and then “rewarding” him, personally putting the water chain around his neck, she already felt something was wrong.

“As you wished, I have repeated what I did to you last time.”

“Now please be quiet. Only one final step remains.”

At that time, Tang Mingxi saw the manga suddenly switch from Pei Xi’s perspective to the palace scene. She was about to skip the super-macho Crown Prince plot when her female lead suddenly shone onto the stage.

And the moment she appeared, it was the Saintess high-handedly pinning the Crown Prince to the ground, holding the water chain around the Crown Prince’s neck.

This scene burst into view so suddenly, the impact was too strong. Tang Mingxi was stunned speechless, starting to wonder what exactly her female lead’s role was in this manga.

Master role?

Although it was only a fragment, readers could still piece together the before and after. It seemed Sykes had lost control again and demanded Ye Zheng treat him like last time, but this treatment process was far too explosive.

【1L: Oh my god, am I the only one who thinks the violent Crown Prince and gentle white-cut-black Saintess are super delicious?

Before I thought Sykes had the strongest alpha aura in this manga, the heaviest master vibes, until a few chapters ago Ye Zheng pressed his head into water, and today she put a chain on him. Oh my god, delicious female A male love admiration】

Tang Mingxi skimmed it. This thread was so highly ranked and front-page not because many people shipped this pair, but Sykes stans, Ye Zheng stans, Pei Xi × Sykes CP fans, Sykes × Yu Tianming CP fans, and so on were all fighting.

【2L: Reported. My Sykes is not your tool for satisfying weird XP!】

【3L: Sykes dream girls please do not use my female as a skin suit. My female is just normally saving people. I do the same to my big brother.】

【4L: Delicious love it, our BG sisters are eating too!】

【5L: Speechless. Ye Zheng stans love clinging to male characters for hype. First Pei Xi, now Sykes. Please give Ye Zheng independent walking tutorial!】

【6L: Clearly your male begged my female for treatment. Sykes is the one clinging, this fact hard for you to accept?】

【7L: Our Saintess is still too kind, saved Sykes and still gets scolded for not being gentle enough. Never seen such an ungrateful white-eyed wolf.】

【8L: Hardest ship of the chapter. Sykes fundamentally does not look at this soft and weak type of woman, okay? His eyes only see evenly matched opponents.】

【9L: Soft and weak, you mean Sykes? (attached image)】

The image was a collage of Sykes being suppressed by Ye Zheng twice, once head pressed into sewage, once chained, truly a public execution.

【10L: Done. Originally neutral on Sykes, but lately he feels especially delicious (horror)】

【11L: Anyone notice Sykes’s exposed waist and collarbone after being pinned? Good-looking love it. Ye-jie, next time can you make him take off his top for treatment?】

【12L: Upstairs do not make my female get pink eye (covering Saintess’s eyes)】

...

【324L: Cannot stand it anymore. @Uncle, is this what you wanted to see? A perfectly high-comp cool villain king, just being humiliated like this by you all?】

【325L: Beg Uncle to return Sykes’s ruthless invincible Crown Prince persona. Sykes is the only king in your aberrant realm!】

【326L: I can accept Sykes being defeated by Pei Xi, but being done like this by Ye Zheng, what is going on? Forcing down Sykes’s IQ just to lift Ye Zheng?】

Tang Mingxi endured the nausea and read the comments below. When she saw Sykes stans starting large-scale meltdowns again, she could not hold back and posted two comments in a row.

【330L: King? What king?】

【331L: Ye Zheng saves people exposing fatal flaw, Sykes acting like a dog fully displaying kingly demeanor?】

Immediately a swarm of Sykes stans surged up. Many recognized this ID “What harm in offending the whole world", infamous among rivals, legendary among fellow stans.

【332L: Your Ye Zheng stans’ quality is low enough. Paper people have no human rights so you can curse freely?】

【333L: Whatever haha. Anyway your female still has to bow when seeing Sykes. Waiting for our Emperor Sykes to ascend and your female to kneel in welcome.】

【334L: Sykes stans do not rush haha. Saying your son looks like a dog is not cursing, just an accurate description.】

【335L: Who rushed! You are the dog! Do not say I curse haha, this is just a description.】

To the Sykes stans’ surprise, such words dealt zero damage to Ye Zheng stans.

【336L: I am Ye Zheng’s dog, so what?】

【337L: Your Sykes stole the water chain my female gave me. I have not even blamed you yet.】

【338L: Laughing to death, sister you...】

【339L: Cannot stand it anymore. Can Sykes please step aside and let me act a few scenes with Saintess?】

【340L: Please have Sykes unconditionally return the water chain Saintess gave me!】

【341L: Please have Sykes unconditionally return the water chain Saintess gave me!】

✧✧✧✧✧

After coming down from the rooftop, Ye Zheng rested well for the night. The next morning she woke up astonished to learn the manga had updated again.

What she did not expect was that the manga featured her and Sykes, though only for two short pages.

Ye Zheng guessed this was the author planting foreshadowing on Sykes. His secrets would gradually be revealed later in the manga. She was just making a cameo appearance.

The update only included the Cloud Soarers team’s daily training and warm interactions, plus her brief two pages with Sykes, and her rooftop chat with Pei Xi.

Pei Xi’s wavering psychology was not shown in the manga. Ye Zheng felt this chapter was rather uninteresting. Probably the forums would argue that she had “bullied” Sykes again.

However, when she browsed the forums once, she was shocked by the content of the hot posts.

Ye Zheng knew people would pair her with others and imagine romance between them, but it had never been this lively before.

Looking at those words, Ye Zheng even suspected she no longer recognized the characters.

“Soulmates... mm, as long as they are happy.”

“Ace and admiration, what kind of terms are these? System?”

The system, unwilling to explain such things to the pure Saintess, chose to play dead.

“Ah, why do they want my water chain so badly... it makes me feel a little embarrassed, though I do not even know why.”

Ye Zheng looked at the forums with some headache. These CP statements felt a bit scalding to her.

“I should probably respond with something. Their expectations for the CP are things I simply cannot fulfill.”

For the first time, the Saintess received a wish from others that felt truly troublesome. And the Saintess, who had always granted whatever was asked of her, had absolutely no desire to fulfill this particular request.

The system pondered for a moment. As the person directly involved, she should not personally step in to address CP rumors. But Ye Zheng was stubborn. She seemed to genuinely enjoy interacting with readers and would not listen to its advice. If she posted something reckless and turned it into a joke, the consequences would be bad.

It urgently searched for templates on how to refute emotional rumors and quickly found one for Ye Zheng.

【478L: Unintentionally occupying public resources. As the church’s Saintess, Ye Zheng has no intention of developing romantic feelings with anyone of the opposite sex in her private life. Please look forward to the subsequent competition plot instead of damaging your peace of mind over illusory matters. (Additionally, the water chain is for special needs. Please do not imitate. Thank you for your cooperation.)】

【479L: Check-in group photo! Ye Zheng’s ID appeared again!】

【480L: This sister with the ID “Ye Zheng” is so good at stirring things up hahaha!】

【481L: 《Ye Zheng Issues Important Statement Regarding Shipping CPs》】

【482L: No intention of developing feelings with the opposite sex? Then what about the same sex…】

Ye Zheng stared at the playful and laughing replies to her post. A rare trace of embarrassment and annoyance crossed her face. “System, you lied to me. This template looks like a complete joke.”

The system fell silent for a moment. There were simply no successful cases of fictional characters personally doing public relations. It had no choice but to borrow a celebrity PR template.

┳⁠━━━━⁠━⁠⁠━⁠━⁠━━━⁠┳

Authors Note

┻━⁠━━━━⁠━━⁠━━━⁠┻

Sorry, everyone. Because I went out to have fun during National Day, the update is late, late. Slowly kneels down.