Chapter 90

The day Chapter 263 of Throne of the Aberrant Realm updated became known among readers as “Zhao Mei Incident Day.”

After the “Zhao Mei Incident,” whether it was the beloved high-popularity white moonlight male second lead or the protagonist team’s trusted mysterious friend, the character Zhao Mei completely vanished. Only Ye Zheng remained, the Saintess Ye Zheng who had deceived everyone.

Readers discussed this shocking move across every platform, keeping the topic’s heat sky-high. Among them, the most viral name was still Ye Zheng.

【Non-manga readers passing by, can someone use an entertainment industry example to explain what you are all shocked about?】

【Probably like rival male and female celebrities fighting over resources for ages, fans tearing each other apart, only to discover the male star was actually the female star’s cross-dressing fake identity all along…】

【So explosive! If I were the male star’s fan I would collapse and die. This sister can act too well!】

【No need to say more, Ye Zheng is a true shadow queen. Fooled everyone. If the Hundred Herbs Award for Best Actress does not go to her today, I refuse to accept it.】

【Are you searching for “Throne of the Aberrant Realm topic Empress Ye Zheng” (flame emoji)? Officially certified Most Popular Female Character, the ever-changing queen with charm in both true form and disguise, the truly deserving inheritor of the divine sword. Wisdom and strength both ACE-level. Welcome to the pit (heart emoji)】

【Upstairs really cracked me up. Even as a Ye Zheng hater, I have to admit something to you Ye Zheng moms. Both the fans and the character herself are hardcore career-driven types. Isn’t that a kind of mutual pursuit in its own way?】

【As a genuine passerby, I got completely hooked by this mind-blowing plot. Is there a beginner’s guide to getting into it? Now that I know Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng, will a lot of the fun be lost?】

【Not at all! For pure Throne of the Aberrant Realm readers, Ye Zheng is genuinely a fascinating character with tons of secrets still waiting to be uncovered. Right now, she is my biggest motivation for following this manga.】

Besides drawing in real-life passersby, within the 2D community it became the biggest piece of gossip of the recent period, especially since the Xi-Zhao CP had gone massively viral in the past two weeks. Many artists produced fanworks, and quite a few casual fans jumped in to enjoy the content, only for this earth-shattering bomb to drop so soon.

【Took a look. On Xiaofute*, the Xi-Zhao tag is full of deleted works. A lot of artists self-deleted, and some even blackened their avatars.】

[T/N- Xiaofute (小福特) is a common affectionate nickname / slang term used by Chinese netizens for LOFTER (网易LOFTER), a popular Chinese social and creative platform owned by NetEase.]

【So heartbreaking. When will doujin girls ever escape the fate of being backstabbed by the original work?】

【More thorough than one side of the CP dying or the two turning against each other. A new level of BE has appeared. One side turns out to be a completely fake character, with everything from gender to personality changed. It's like even the past has been killed off…】

【Irresponsible speculation. Could it be that the straight male author could not stand seeing the male lead and male second lead CP get so popular, so he forcibly merged the hugely popular male second into the female lead’s character design?】

【Upstairs, please show some respect to us female-character stans. I can tolerate calling our Zheng a villain, but without Ye Zheng, where would Zhao Mei come from? Can we at least follow one Ye Zheng principle?】

【All I can say is run! Sisters who like male-male content, stay away from this IP! I have never seen a work where female-character ky* stans ride everyone’s faces this hard.】

[T/N- ky means can't read the air.]

【Is upstairs telling the truth? In this manga, can female-character stans really lord over everyone? Then I am definitely jumping in haha.】

【Reverse-anti success +1. I am also going to check out which female treasure is so powerful she broke a whole crowd haha!】

On video platforms, takedown videos about the new chapter of Throne of the Aberrant Realm went viral, with even million-follower male 2D UP lords posting rants about the plot.

【Sharp review: Throne of the Aberrant Realm manga’s insane move. UP lord watches and straight-up calls himself a clown!】

【A shocking trash move destined to go down in shonen manga history! The most pathetic male lead ever!】

【Made me laugh from anger! Female side character pulls off a mask switch to snatch the divine artifact, while the male lead becomes background noise!】

Li Yixin followed the online debates and spent three straight days in low spirits.

She was in a very strange state of mind right now. On one hand, she felt incredibly down about Zhao Mei’s disappearance, almost faintly blaming Ye Zheng. But when she saw the vicious attacks directed at Ye Zheng, she actually got even angrier.

The character she loved seemed to have truly vanished, the gentle, quiet boy who occasionally showed a sly side. But on second thought, aside from gender, was Ye Zheng not actually quite similar?

Yet Ye Zheng had deceived the members of the Cloud Soarers team. That stake scene that had kept her tossing and turning was probably just another layer of deception aimed at her as a reader. What kind of person was Ye Zheng really?

She felt like she could not understand her at all. Was Zhao Mei completely just an act? The concern for teammates, the care for ordinary people, the occasional indulgent happy smiles, were they all fake…

Li Yixin felt like one of those abused female leads in novels, wishing she could dive into the screen, grab Ye Zheng by the collar, and shake her for answers.

So she opened the forum again. As expected, the hot threads were still dominated by the two characters “Ye Zheng.”

She immediately spotted a Ye Zheng hate thread and clicked in with complicated feelings.

【1L: Report! On Mou Pu, Ye Zheng’s rating has dropped below 3 points, now at 2.6. Does everyone think this score is well-deserved?】

[T/N- Author probably used deliberately using "Mou Pu" (某扑) as the veiled, euphemistic name for Hupu (虎扑) , it's a forum type platform so not imdb but like 4chan.]

Li Yixin knew Mou Pu was a platform with mostly male users. She frowned as she read. Evaluations coming from male groups always felt uncomfortable.

【2L: The purest hatred episode for otaku bros. I remember Ye Zheng used to have a decent score on Mou Pu before.】

【3L: @Lao Shu, are you happy now? Not a single person is satisfied with this plot.】

【4L: Sneaky as hell. Only Ye Zheng stans can brainlessly spoil this kind of insane plot.】

【5L: Heavenly Granny, if my girl were liked by this group of otaku bros, that is when I would break down. You picked the wrong angle to hate.】

【6L: Before you said female-character stans and otaku bros sit at the same table. Now who is the one sharing brain cells with the guys?】

【7L: Zero people care about male opinions. OP suspected of fake human invasion.】

【8L: Thought otaku bros would spoil female characters at least for the looks? Did not expect them to break down so hard over Ye Zheng.】

【9L: Lol, this isn't breaking down, just fair evaluation.】

【10L: Upstairs popped up so fast, proving you really are broken haha. Ye Zheng just shattered the fantasy that the whole world revolves around your big male lead, right?】

【11L: Stop moving such boring stuff. The author just posted a response!】

The author responded? Li Yixin quickly switched platforms.

【An extraordinary Ordinary Manga Worker v: These past few days I have been reading everyone’s comments. Honestly, when I first started creating, I never imagined a character could act outside the author’s design. She just did it, and I was shocked too. It took me a long time to digest. Is this the power of observation? While you watch her, she is also watching you, and acting because of it.】

In just a few minutes, there were already hundreds of comments.

【Old Uncle suspected of eating poisoned group-buy food. Can you just speak human words?】

【Has the author gone mad from the scolding? The pen is in your hand. Did Ye Zheng hold a knife to your throat and force you to give her more screen time?】

【Seeking tutorial on how not to shift blame to my girl. Every time there is backlash, use Ye Zheng as a shield…】

【This is giving me chills. What do you mean “she is also watching us”? Is she Ye Zheng?】

【Creepy af. Observation, watching us. Is Ye Zheng some unspeakable Cthulhu?】

【I am a creator too. I get your mindset. Sometimes characters just start moving on their own and drag my pen along.】

Among the hundreds of comments, the author only replied to that one “I am a creator too.”

【An extraordinary Ordinary Manga Worker v: No. No one can understand me.】

After reading the author’s response, Li Yixin felt even more confused. Old Uncle seemed to be in a pretty unstable mental state.

She returned to the forum and hesitated for a while. She didn't want to look at Ye Zheng stan threads because they would keep reminding her of Zhao Mei’s disappearance. She also did not want hate threads. In the end, she clicked into a popular analysis thread that included “Zhao Mei” in the title.

【1L: Li Tao here. Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng’s disguise. Actually, everything had foreshadowing. It really was not the author suddenly going crazy.】

【2L: Let us start with Zhao Mei’s very first appearance. In the desert Aberrant Realm, Zhao Mei got into danger trying to save a cat. Pei Xi stepped in to help, and because the Cloud Soarers team lacked a healing type, he smoothly joined the competition. Looking back, none of this was coincidence!

This “first meeting” was not the budding of friendship at all. Too many coincidences equal design.

That means Ye Zheng very likely actively planned to join the protagonist team, but she could not use her original identity. As for why, I guess she probably knew some secret about the team and disguised herself to follow and observe.

In later plots, Zhao Mei did not participate much, but every appearance left a deep impression. Ye Zheng definitely deliberately built favor with the protagonist team, increasing their reliance on her to make her actions easier.

Interestingly, we never noticed that Ye Zheng and Zhao Mei truly never appeared in the same scene. And comparing the two, their temperament and way of doing things are really similar. Readers were completely led astray by the “siblings” theory.

Also, I feel like Ye Zheng did not even try hard to disguise herself. The personality difference between Zhao Mei and her true self is not big. Zhao Mei stans can adjust. Ye Zheng is basically the main course.】

【3L: Following upstairs, saying Ye Zheng did not try hard is not quite right. In the Blood Flower Aberrant Realm, Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng appeared one after another. Normal people would not connect them as the same person. There is even a subconscious illusion that they should have been on screen together. More worth noting, everyone remember after Blood Flower ended, Zhao Mei and Bai Muqing appeared and told everyone Ye Zheng had been captured by Sela?】

【4L: Caught the live broadcast! Teacher, I remember. Now that we know Zhao Mei is Ye Zheng, that means Ye Zheng was never actually captured. So it was all self-directed and self-acted?】

【5L: Aaaah why would she do that? To protect her disguise? After all, she could not play both Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng at the same time.】

The OP quickly replied again.

【6L: That is part of it, but I am afraid Ye Zheng’s goal was far bigger. Let us look at who suffered the most from the Saintess execution event? The Pope!】

【7L: Oh my god, so Ye Zheng already had such strong ambition back then? She wanted to take down the Pope. Could her goal be to become the Pope herself?】

【8L: No way, is Ye Zheng this badass? I am going to re-read and dig for details.】

【9L: Putting it that way, her snatching the sword makes sense too. To acquire an even more valuable identity and keep climbing, not just stay a Saintess.】

【10L: Ye Zheng’s character reversal is huge. In earlier plots she felt like a justice-obsessed kind Saintess. Could even “Ye Zheng” be a disguise?】

【11L: Multiple layers of disguises would be terrifying, but on Ye Zheng it somehow does not feel impossible. She really gives me big-villain vibes.】

Many readers camped in this thread. After the shock of Zhao Mei becoming Ye Zheng, whether they hated Ye Zheng, liked her, or were passersby, no one was not curious: Why did Ye Zheng do all this? How deep did she hide?

【109L: I am back! After reading everyone’s discussion, I don't quite agree that Ye Zheng’s earlier behavior was all a disguise. Kindness, justice, obsession, ambition, these words are not opposites. They can even connect together.】

【110L: Next I am going to analyze the most famous scene, the Glorious Oath!】

【111L: Aaaah, please teacher, do not mention that phrase! The me who was once moved by the Glorious Oath now feels like a complete clown!】

【112L: It is already at the level of a funeral scene... I will need a lifetime to heal from the shadow left by the Xi-Zhao Glorious Oath.】

【113L: I can accept Zhao Mei being Ye Zheng. It does not stop me from shipping the CP. But the betrayal of the Glorious Oath is what truly makes this pair completely BE...】

The OP continued replying.

【127L: First of all, I do not ship CPs. Before the new chapter, I was always a pure passerby reader who did not get involved in fandom matters.

But Ye Zheng absolutely did not betray the Glorious Oath. I dare say every word she spoke to Pei Xi while disguised as Zhao Mei was sincere. That is what makes this woman the most terrifying!

"People who want to change this world, and it is not just you." "Even if it means letting me bear all the glorious yet unbearably heavy duties for you, that is perfectly fine." Please savor these two lines carefully. The first one is still debatable, but the second line, Ye Zheng has already fulfilled her oath.

She bore the heavy, glorious identity of the chosen savior for Pei Xi!】

【128L: !!! Wait, this line can be interpreted like that too?】

【129L: Ye Zheng, you... oh my god, my CP brain just got shattered by this career maniac!】

【130L: I have gone quiet. From now on, I will not ship CPs so easily. The fulfillment of this oath is too hellish and underworld for both Pei Xi and us readers...】

……

【289L: Alright, actually there is still too little plot about Ye Zheng. The manga has always been from Pei Xi’s perspective, so more detailed analysis of Ye Zheng can only wait for future updates. I believe after this chapter, Ye Zheng’s screen time will definitely increase a lot. With the divine sword in hand, she is now an unavoidable character. Her importance is no less than Sykes’s.】

This thread ignited many readers’ enthusiasm for exploring Ye Zheng’s plot. People went back to the manga to dig for details. Some said the OP’s post gave them a sudden realization, while others argued fiercely against it. But without question, Ye Zheng had become one of the biggest highlights of this manga.

【389L: OP pretending to be a passerby? You say you are not in the fandom and just a pure reader, yet you are desperately gilding Ye Zheng. Kindness, ambition, justice, obsession, all piled onto one person. Is your Zheng Zheng a color palette or what?】

【390L: Ye Zheng just gained everything by deceiving the protagonist team’s trust. Fans and the character are equally thick-skinned and love pretending to be innocent.】

The OP replied soon after.

【391L: I said I did not mix in fandom and was a pure manga-only reader before. I never said I still am now. Li Tao wasn't wrong. Precisely because I analyzed her rationally from a passerby perspective did I realize this woman is damn charismatic!】

Li Yixin browsed the analysis thread in a daze. Zhao Mei and Ye Zheng’s images blended together again. Everything felt different from what she had understood before, but she didn't feel disappointed. Instead, a more complicated emotion arose.

What kind of charm did Ye Zheng really have? Even she, a super solo stan of Zhao Mei, could not truly hate her. Instead, a dangerous curiosity emerged. This feeling was like betraying her former love for the white moonlight Zhao Mei.

Li Yixin clutched her phone and shook her head hard. She decided she was going to quit this manga.

From now on, she would no longer follow this manga or Ye Zheng.

She would let her affection forever stay before Chapter 263. Her heart was like a fish that had been killed for ten years. It could no longer love.

Li Yixin silently swore to herself.

✧✧✧✧✧

"System, any changes in popularity value?"

Ye Zheng had already returned to the upper district. She knew a series of things would come looking for her soon. For now, while everyone was still reacting, it was better to rest properly.

She noticed the system had not replied for a while and kindly comforted it: "It's fine. Even if popularity drops to rock bottom, I have ways to keep acting."

『No no no, I still cannot give you an accurate number right now.』

The system’s tone carried confusion mixed with a hint of excitement.

『Popularity is going completely crazy right now! Up and down nonstop!』

Even more terrifying, the overall trend was still rising. This completely exceeded the system’s analysis of what would happen after the disguise drop.

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Authors Note

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Thank you everyone for the love! When I started the story, I never imagined it would one day top the female-lead free list. The chapter where Zhengzheng and the reader babies cooperated the best!