RPDH Chapter 8

The manhua switched to Yi Ming’s perspective instead of showing the rest of her confrontation with the boss.

Li Li’s debut was nothing like what she had thought up to this point.

She thought she would always appear under one identity, but the author deliberately modified her character. Her original outfit and the slightly altered version that came later ended up as two different people.

The similarity was still there, sure, but subtle distinctions had been sprinkled in everywhere. Take the cover page for example: one character was obviously a villain while the other seemed aloof and reserved.

She was also surprised by the selection of scenes for her debut. There was almost no mention of her infiltrating Tarnished Bronze aside from Yi Ming having the vague sense that someone was helping him out during his harrowing escape.

It wasn’t until he left the building proper that she officially appeared.

There were no sunglasses covering her face this time. Finally, Li Li saw her own expression in the manhua.

The author dedicated a close up shot to her expression as Yi Ming took her hand and said he was going to get her out of here.

The night breeze blew back her bangs to reveal dark eyes. She stared incredulously at Little Corgi’s back. The incandescent searchlights in the distance caused her dark irises to glitter.

In the remaining third of the page, the young man who was pulled along by the brunet looked down slightly, the faintest of smiles on his face.

It might just be her mind playing tricks on her, but Li Li felt like this smile wasn’t that sharp.

The real Li Li blinked.

“Was that really the look on my face back then?” Li Li mulled over it for a moment before nodding. “En, I’m really pretty.”

She dropped all those subtle hints back then because she intended to play the part of a powerhouse developing an interest in the protagonist, Yi Ming. The spin the manhua put on everything didn’t exactly align with that.

She noted the sentiments being spammed in the comments:

[There are stars in his eyes, ah!]

[Another victim of Little Corgi’s charms. With a full-page close-up like this, he’s definitely joining the main cast!]

[The new character didn’t even last a chapter?]

[You love to see a defrosting ice king!]

Comments could be left at specific points on the page in the app, just like timestamped comments for videos. However, due to the inanimate medium, the comments often ended up blocking out the original text and images. Li Li was switching between the two modes manually to gauge the reaction of the readers and adjust her plans accordingly.

That was the only time the author drew her smile. The rest of the chapter was basically from Yi Ming’s perspective, which struck Li Li as odd the further she read. It wasn’t until she read the comments that she realized the problem.

[A cold, aloof bishounen! Am I dreaming?!]

[There’s finally an aloof second male lead by Little Corgi’s side! The plot’s finally kicking off!]

[Wow, he’s got a poisonous tongue too. The Shedding Corgi lmao]

[I can already see all the memes that’ll come from this chapter! All your comments now belong to us!]

[The new character’s so cute, hahahaha… Not only is he sharp-tongued and stoic, he’s even got a cowlick!]

Li Li didn’t pay attention to if she had a cowlick or not. She had bigger fish to fry. “Wasn’t I grinning the whole time??

”

“It’s the editing’s fault!” She realized.

The manhua author split her two identities apart and made distinctions in their personality.

Like she did on the cover page!

Still, she accomplished her goal of conveying she was ‘interested in the protagonist’.

Moreover, her conversation with Qing Yuchen was completely omitted from the update. Instead, Qing Yuchen featured in a separate section where he took control of Yi Ming.

The manhua took the opportunity to explain Qing Yuchen’s ability, which helped Li Li understand his dramatic shift in attitude.

There was another panel that caught her attention.

Qing Yuchen was adjusting his glasses in his seat with two thought bubbles around him.

‘Why did a Rank A powerhouse come to Desolate Dragon? And that Rank D mimic-type teenager…where did they source their intel?’

‘Is there a traitor? I have to get to the bottom of who leaked this!’

So he also assumed she was a Rank A powerhouse? Li Li found it hilarious.

Sure enough, her nickname in the comment section had changed from ‘sunglasses’ to ‘Rank A powerhouse’. No one even came close to suspecting her true rank.

Less than half the update was left. Li Li continued reading.

Next was her conversation with Yi Ming. The author was as liberal with editing as ever.

The warehouse that had been so dark they couldn’t see each other was denoted with just dotted lines in the manhua.

The dark-haired young man sat cross-legged against the wall. Deep red, almost black blood dripped from his sleeve and palm. A crimson rivulet ran down the left side of his face to his chin. He seemed to be panting as his onyx orbs stared into the blue eyes of the brunet crouched down in front of him.

He had a tight grip on the brunet’s wrist, preventing his hand from probing any further.

There was nothing but darkness around them.

The reaction in the comments was more intense than ever before.

[What happened? What happened?? He was fine just a few pages ago how did he become like this?!]

[You can’t hurt him right after his debut!]

[He’s so pitiful…even his cowlick is droopy…]

[A sharp tongued cutie who’s also a kuudere? He’s checking off all the boxes for me!]

[Hurt/comfort time! Nice!]

Li Li felt the same way. She could already see the popularity value skyrocketing.

After finishing the update, she went to browse the forums. The readers were as motivated as ever. There were several trending posts on the front page along with some…stranger ones.

[Serious discussion: How powerful is the new character ‘Li’?]

[New reshuffle in the main cast of the Desolate Dragon arc! Beyond is finally kicking off its ordinary shounen era!]

[Spoiler: Little Corgi is shedding again. I counted 45 hairs this time!]

[Li is so cute…going to livestream myself fangirling over him tonight!]

[Shedding Corgi, Aloof Cowlick; Meet in prison, Bros forever]

[Copout Sunfish doesn’t need to come back anymore. The protagonist’s already found his replacement.]

Li Li’s gaze paused on that post.

The readers really like giving the characters in this manhua nicknames like ‘Little Corgi’. Copout Sunfish’s real name was Yu Xiao. He got his nickname for being completely unreliable 9 times out of 10.

He was the freeloafer of the protagonist’s group. If something went wrong, he was often at least partially responsible. This time was no exception. Yi Ming only obtained the letter from Tang’s father and learned of her predicament after Yu Xiao found it.

Yi Ming was actually intending to infiltrate Desolate Dragon with Yu Xiao, but that guy disappeared somewhere along the way. Yi Ming knew firsthand how unreliable he could be. He ended up coming alone, an opportunity Li Li gladly took full advantage of.

There was nothing else particularly notable in the forums. It was almost 2am now. Li Li closed her fatigued eyes and turned off her phone.

Although the author surprised her this update, the results were surprisingly in her favour.

She’ll think more on this tomorrow.

…

“Ah!” Jiang Lan squeezed her eyes shut and shrieked.

“Shut up! I’m using headphones! Are you trying to make me deaf?!” Her friend complained on the other end.

Jiang Lan was trembling with excitement. “Did you read Beyond yet?? OMG the new character shown this chapter is totally my thing!”

“Another aloof bishounen, right? You’ve liked that type since you were a kid.” Her friend muttered sourly.

“Just take a look for yourself. Come on, come on! You’re awake anyway~” Jiang Lan urged.

“Fine, fine, fine. Just stop nagging me.”

The other end went quiet after that. Jiang Lan shot up to a sitting position. She was too pumped to sleep at this point, so she opened her laptop and started typing furiously.

Her friend’s voice could be heard soon after.

“Damn, it turned into a shounen manhua? They’re really playing up the hurt/comfort angle.” Her friend exclaimed, “But Yi Ming’s never been like this even when he was hurt before. That means there’s something fishy about this character!”

“Huh? What do you mean?” Jiang Lan said as she kept tapping away.

“Although that Rank A powerhouse is more my type, this one isn’t bad either…” She suddenly changed the subject, “Please, dear author…may I have a bite to eat? I can hear you tapping away over there! You’re writing a fanfic, aren’t you!”

“Don’t fret, don’t fret. I’ll share it with you tomorrow.” Jiang Lan giggled.

…

[The current time is 6am.]

[Beginning popularity calculation.]

…

[Total popularity value: 821.]

[Redemption ratio from popularity value to survival points is 100:1. The system has automatically redeemed one survival point for you.]

[May you enjoy your resurrection.]

Li Li was awoken out of the blue by the system Saturday morning. She rubbed her eyes as she got up.

She prepared to go to that student-led event she had signed up for a while back.

Although she liked reading manhua, Li Li was quite active in her community, attending any activities she heard about. Today, the Magic Club was going to have a pop-up display in a corner on campus. Li Li packed up all her props and headed over. She demonstrated a few simple tricks before letting someone else take the stage.

Her roommate was back by the time she returned to the dorms. She had been out all night working on her thesis.

“Morning, Lily.” The roommate weakly waved to her from the bed before continuing to play dead.

“Morning, Yaoyao.” Li Li replied.

Seemed like her roommate would be recovering in bed for the day. In order to not disturb her, Li Li packed up her things and went to study at the library.

Just before she headed out, she suddenly heard her sleep-deprived roommate shriek at the top of her lungs, “WAIT!”

“STOP RIGHT THERE!” She sat up from the bed.

“What’s wrong?” Li Li turned around with her hand on the door handle.

She saw her roommate rip the curtains apart and poke her disheveled head out. She scrutinized Li Li from head to toe with shining eyes.

Li Li twirled around in place so she could get a better look.

After a while, her roommate stated in a serious tone, “I have something to tell you, Lily. Don’t freak out.”

“Ready for it? Ready? You might be transmigrating soon.” She stated with a straight face.

Li Li just smiled faintly. “Go to sleep, dear. You’re not lucid right now.”

After muddling past things with her roommate, Li Li spent the rest of her day at the library. Just before it closed, she checked Beyond Black and White’s discussion forums again.

There were many new posts now that a day had passed.