RPDH Chapter 22.2

She continued scrolling. In a sea of ‘Li’, ‘The Trio’, and ‘The Dark Principle’ tags, she found one mention of the boss.

[The boss isn’t dead? The Dark Principle didn’t kill him?]

The fact that the only mention of him was still attached to the Dark Principle was a perfect example of how pitiful characters past their prime were.

Li Li decided to keep a closer eye on the manhua and forums. If she ever noticed her popularity waning, she would try to find a way to refresh her presence around Yi Ming.

That’s what villains did, right? Relentlessly pursuing the protagonist.

As she scrolled and scrolled some more, she happened upon another post from the person theorizing last time that Li was an experimental subject.

[Analysis: Whether Li’s abilities originate from being an experiment or draining!]

1st Comment (OP)

Hahahahaha! In the latest update, Li obviously had multiple abilities!

Based on his characterization thus far, Li’s definitely a good person. He gave Tang candy after making her cry. Little Corgi’s also given him the good person seal of approval.

It’s obvious he said what he did near the end because he didn’t want Yi Ming and Tang to be sad! What a good person, ah!

There’s no way he would resort to draining abilities without a damn good reason!

It has to be due to some kind of ability research! Some kind of human experimentation!

2nd Comment

Tl;dr. OP’s high or something based on the title alone.

3rd Comment

What does it matter if he was an experiment or not? Dude’s already dead.

4th Comment

The fact that he’s dead is further proof he couldn’t have been an experiment. There’s no point in adding that to his character if his plotline ends here.

…

The OP fought valiantly, only to be beaten down by the masses once more.

Only Li Li looked thoughtfully at the post for a moment.

Actually, she hadn’t finalized the backgrounds of ‘Li’ or ‘The Dark Principle’ yet. A character couldn’t be considered fleshed out without a background, and all she had down at the moment was ‘once had a family’.

Her leaving Yi Ming this time served two purposes. Not only did it serve to get away from external pressures, it was an opportunity to flesh out her character.

Although Qing Yuchen and Yue Lan threw her under the bus, Li Li admitted she was most partial towards the former ability association among all the major factions.

She’s already made up her mind to head to Nexus City once she ditched Yu Xiao tonight in the manhua world. She would look into the relationship between the current and former ability associations, the part that the manhua hadn’t covered yet, in order to enrich her character.

Nexus City was bound to devolve into chaos for a bit with the sudden death of their Ability Association Branch President, which suited her just fine.

With this in mind, she went to bed early and slept until midnight.

…

[Updating data. Total popularity value: 11263.]

[Congratulations on reaching 10000 popularity value.]

[Preparing for transmigration.]

[Channel established. May you become a popular character who breathes new life into the manhua.]

…

Li Li saw her bedcurtains when she opened her eyes again.

The ones in the dormitory which she picked out herself. They were very good at blocking out light and even had glow in the dark speckles.

She heard the sound of her roommate’s alarm, as well as her sleepy mumbles, “It’s Saturday…going to sleep in…”

Li Li wondered after a beat of silence, “…I’m still here?”

Did something go wrong after the system update?!

Yet the system refuted her speculation: [You have arrived in the manhua world.]

Li Li: “Did I get amnesia or something then?”

Why else did she feel like she slept all night long?

…

“This is it?”

A red-haired young man wearing a white suit made of extremely expensive fabric cast his golden gaze over the ruins.

His features were exquisite yet sharp. Rather than Hua Yizhi’s devilish charm or Qing Yuchen’s pure, untouched beauty, he was somewhere in the middle; a proud, beautiful flower carefully cultivated in a greenhouse.

They were at the ruins of the collapsed Tarnished Bronze HQ.

Four men in white uniforms stood around him with their heads bowed. One said, “Yes, this is the place Branch President Yue was headed to that day.”

Their uniforms were similar to Yue Lan’s but lacking something. A more plain version.

“How can a Rank A, a person in their 40s, just get lost like that?” The red-haired young man snorted before arrogantly declaring, “This is a disgrace to the Yue Clan.”

Apparently he was an aristocrat.

“Mr. An, please help us locate the whereabout of the Branch President.” the person continued.

The redhead didn’t even spare them a glance, as if he was afraid low-ranks and commoners would defile his eyes. “Stand back.”

Once the uniformed people retreated until they were almost out of sight, the red-haired young man suddenly raised a hand to the ruins.

His golden eyes narrowed lightly as he seemed to embrace something.

“Ability: Overture of the Undead.” he softly chanted.

Golden light instantly spread out from his body in every direction, encompassing the ruins and beyond.

A golden shroud enveloped everything, from the flowers, the grass, the trees, the ruins, and the souls of the people who had perished a day earlier.

The golden particles coalesced into humanoid shapes. They had a staticky quality as they floated in the air, fading in and out of sight.

“Too much time has passed.” The redhead stated.

His gaze swept over the blurred dark-robed figures, expertly dismissing the uneeded extras with a wave of his hand untile he was left with only two.

Yue Lan and, around 100m away from them, Qing Yuchen.

“Who killed you two?” he asked.

Perhaps too much time had passed as he said. The souls of the two represented by the golden particles spoke like broken radioes, indistinct and choppy.

“…Eyes…blinded…killed me…was myself.” – Yue Lan.

“Concept…concept…” – Qing Yuchen.

The redhead grew dissatisfied. He stored Yue Lan’s soul in a small red bottle with another wave of his hand before his golden gaze turned to Qing Yuchen.

Souls would remain in place after death, dying a true death once their energy fully dissipated.

Qing Yuchen’s soul grimaced in pain the moment those golden eyes aligned on him. His body disintigrated as its remaining energy was lost.

The redhead seemed to perceive something as he looked in the direction the golden particles scattered to.

“The Dark Principle.” he drawled after a moment.

…

Li Li didn’t go to the manhua world the day after she slept in either.

It wasn’t until the night of the next update that she successfully entered the manhua world.

She woke up in a bed instead of where she was last, latching onto the corner of Yu Xiao’s clothes.

“You’re awake, ah.” The blond teen remarked as he dragged a stool over to the bed. “You must be trying to hide from someone, right? I brought you here and didn’t go out for two days.”

There was a fishy smell in the air. Li Li wrinkled her nose. She could see a beach and the sea in the distance through the cracks in the wooden walls.

Indeed, this was a place rarely visited by anyone in Desolate Dragon. She wondered how Yu Xiao stumbled upon it.

However, this character’s luck has always fluctuated between extremely good or bad. After he was able to get lost while trailing behind Yi Ming, Li Li wasn’t surprised by anything he did anymore.

Li Li once watched a video of a seal eating a sunfish in the ocean. The giant fish couldn’t care less, allowing itself to be eaten without so much as bothering to shy away.

Yu Xiao was a similarly bizarre dummy.

“Two days?” Something seemed to click for Li Li.

She didn’t know if she had come to the manhua world or not because she’s been unconscious for the past two days here.

“Yeah. You were pretty badly hurt.” Yu Xiao blinked his red eyes and continued, “I couldn’t do anything about internal injuries, so I just bandaged everything.”

Li Li touched her left eye, which was covered with gauze alongside her neck.

Her left arm including her palm was bandaged as well. For what purpose she wasn’t sure.

She felt like it was best to keep her expectations for Yu Xiao low. Besides, she did feel much better after resting for two days.

Li Li rolled to a sitting position. She pulled the blanket back and placed her feet on the floor.

“It’s best to not do anything too strenuous for now…” Yu Xiao leaned over, only to be pinned down by Li Li’s pitch black right eye before he could even finish his sentence.

“You’re dreaming.” Li Li said.

She looked into Yu Xiao’s eyes and activated her ability.

The power to turn lies into reality.

“In your dream, you rescued a passerby, but you don’t remember what he looks like.” Li Li said, “You just slept for two days.”

She watched as Yu Xiao’s expression grew dazed. His eyes gradually closed as he drifted off to sleep.

Li Li tidied up the bed before hauling Yu Xiao onto it. She cleaned up any remaining traces before leaving the small house.

Yeah, like she was going to stick around to meet Little Corgi again.

She would find an opportunity to return this favour at a later date.

The dark clouds had long dissipated by now. The sunlight was just right. Waves hit the shore periodically. The smell of fish lingered in the air.

Li Li looked up. She squinted at the raging sun before glacing out to sea.

The City Warden of Desolate Dragon lay beneath the surface, either asleep or swimming around.

Another wave of disorientation hit. Li Li closed her eyes and sighed, “My eye and neck hurt so much.”

Illusory Truth activated once more. She wanted to turn her more severe injuries into fake ones.

Yet nothing change about her a second later.

The ability was unsuccessful.

She only had a success rate of about 5% against herself. As long as she believed she was injured, the wound wouldn’t heal.

Li Li felt her waist area, recalling the crushing pressure the white-haired high-rank abiliy user had subjected her to.

She would try her best to forget.

In the end, she removed the bandages and put the half-mask over her left eye again.

Now, she would be heading to Nexus City according to plan.

However, she ran into another familiar face before she could leave the outskirts that Yu Xiao had taken her to.

The boss, Hua Yizhi, who had been very popular on the forums in his heyday, appeared in front of her.

Hua Yizi was in a very formal Tang dynasty outfit this time. He didn’t have his pipe with him either. There was a serious expression on his usually coy features.

There were some people behind him. Li Li realized after getting a good look that she’s seen these people before.

These were the people at the breakfast stand who told her the Desolate Dragon City Warden would kill any high-ranks that cause trouble here.

What were there here for? Li Li’s lips quirked up even as she considered whether to flee or do a bit of posturing before fleeing.

It wasn’t that she couldn’t beat them right now. It would just be troublesome.

Hua Yizhi also had a Rank C ability with unknown effects. All she knew was that he was a domain-type. If Hua Yizhi set down his domain here, she might not be able to use words to mislead him. She would be forced into a passive state within the domain.

At the moment, she had neither access to the system mall nor any items. All she could rely on was her own ability.

She stared at Hua Yizhi with a smile playing on her lips. In reality, she was on high alert.

If things really came down to a fight, she had to get out the range of Hua Yizhi’s domain at once!

Yet just moments into her contemplation, she saw Hua Yizhi shift.

He and his entire group got down on one knee before her.

In a very decisive, fluid motion, this Rank C ability user bowed his head respectfully and kept his eyes on the ground.

“As the acting head of the Desolate Dragon Tide branch, I would like to request that you become our leader.” Hua Yizhi said.

With that, two question marks belatedly appeared above Li Li’s head.

What were they doing?