Chapter 2: Manga Update
[Opening passage for you... Welcome back to reality.]
The system's emotionless notification sounded, seeming to announce the end of the ‘trial’.
In the night, the city named Jiao Huang disappeared before her eyes, the salty, humid scent of the sea breeze vanished from her nose.
When Li Li opened her eyes again, she was back in her dormitory.
The balcony curtains were drawn tightly, and the mosquito net on the bed was also a light-blocking type.
At this moment, this square space on the bed was like a dark, heavy coffin.
Her roommates had gone to bed early, so the dormitory was pitch black and extremely quiet.
Li Li tried, but she still couldn't move, and could only continue to lie in bed like a cold corpse.
[Due to your survival value being 0, if you do not accumulate one point of survival value before six in the morning, the transaction will end.] The system's voice sounded at the right time.
Hearing this, Li Li chuckled, not particularly surprised.
It was now midnight. Li Li had died suddenly before midnight, and at midnight, she transmigrated to the manga world and returned.
And the manga update time was also midnight, meaning the manga had just updated.
Even if many people were following it, they would still need time to read it.
The item just now was purchased with initial funds, which was the three survival points distributed by the system.
Obviously, she had spent all those three survival points.
If she didn't accumulate popularity within six hours, she would still die.
But Li Li was not worried.
Her nervousness seemed to have been completely used up during the conversation with the boss.
At this moment, she even felt a bit leisurely and wanted to chat with the system.
“System, you can converse, right?” Li Li said, and without waiting for the system to reply, she continued, “To be honest, I’m very surprised. Three survival points can let one live for three days. You giving away three survival points for free means that no matter how I performed the first time, I would have a chance to live for three days, until the second manga update.”
The manga 《Extreme Black and White》 updated every three days, and the initial funds happened to coincide with this node.
“But obviously, you are not philanthropists,” she said.
The system did not answer, as if in tacit agreement.
It seemed to have never concealed its indifference; as it said, it only served the manga.
“So I think, that wasn’t a way out for me, but performance funds. You are using the first transmigration as my first appearance, to assess my potential.”
Three survival points could be exchanged for quite a few things, but if one wanted to exchange for something related to abilities, it was somewhat insufficient.
After searching through the entire shop, Li Li chose 【Ability Immunity (3min)】 because she knew that the ability of that rather popular information broker was domain-type.
The boss was her most suitable target; he was popular, she understood him, and most importantly, he knew how to adapt to circumstances.
As long as she could intimidate the boss from the start and make him mistakenly believe she was a strong individual, she could put a wolf’s skin on a sheep.
So, Li Li gambled with those three survival points.
She disguised herself as an arrogant, powerful ability user and staged an encounter with the boss.
She succeeded. She perfectly concluded her performance and obtained an excuse to get close to the protagonist.
“The popularity of a manga is related to character design, but more importantly, it’s about the number of appearances in the manga,” she said. “There are only so many panels in a manga update; you wouldn’t give opportunities to a waste.”
“The first transmigration happening right before an update means it’s the only time I’m guaranteed an appearance in the manga, right?”
The black-haired girl lay in bed, her eyes closed, but those eyes seemed to be bright, shining with light.
She seemed to be in a terrible situation, but she showed no fear.
“Coincidentally, I think so too,” Li Li said. “I don’t want to be a waste either.”
It was only at the moment of death that she realized she was unwilling to be ordinary, unwilling to be common.
She didn’t want to become a number; she wanted everyone to remember her name.
She wanted to use this hard-won opportunity to become the king of popularity in the manga!
And no one likes a weakling, so she must be strong!
Even if it was a disguise, she would keep it up, until—
The falsehood became reality.
...
At midnight, the manga 《Extreme Black and White》 updated.
Jiang Lan was a loyal reader of this manga and had specifically stayed up late waiting for the update.
At this moment, she was lying on her side in bed, swiped her fingers on her phone a few times, and tapped into the updated chapter of the manga.
The preceding content continued from the previous chapter, where the protagonist, according to his plan, infiltrated an ability user organization, but encountered trouble when trying to find ‘Tang’.
Although 《Extreme Black and White》 was serialized online, it was a traditional page-based manga, and its content was similar to traditional hot-blooded manga.
The protagonist's main goal was to find his long-missing adoptive father.
At the beginning of the Jiao Huang arc, the protagonist received a distress letter from Tang's father, and thus came to Jiao Huang alone to rescue him.
It could be said that he simply wanted to save people, and thus fell into trouble.
“The protagonist is so miserable,” Jiang Lan muttered, then turned a page and found that the perspective had switched.
In the manga, three small panels separately depicted gambling chips, smoke, and money, while the familiar boss in a Tang suit lay on his recliner, his narrow eyelids slightly raised.
“The boss actually appeared again?” Jiang Lan was a bit excited.
She opened the bullet comments and, sure enough, saw many readers cheering for the boss's appearance just like her.
The boss was a gray area character whose alignment was unclear.
To say he was righteous, he was indeed a beneficiary of the ability user class.
To say he was evil, he had helped the protagonist a lot after the protagonist sought him out.
But readers didn't care about these things.
Jiang Lan was a face-con, and the boss's appearance was right up her alley.
Because of this, she was even more interested in the subsequent development.
“The last time the boss appeared was to give the protagonist news about ‘Tang’, right?” she murmured as she scrolled backward.
The image on the screen suddenly changed.
In a small panel, the casino door trembled slightly.
Then the entire door slammed onto the ground.
Dust and smoke billowed, the sudden change not only startled the characters in the drawing.
“What the hell!” Jiang Lan exclaimed, “This is the boss’s territory!”
She didn't bother looking at the comments and directly scrolled back, then saw the appearance of the troublemaker.
In the manga, the figure in the dust and smoke slowly emerged.
Under the black trench coat, work pants were tucked into Martin boots, and the slender ankles visually seemed to contain immense power.
He did not reveal his entire face; sunglasses hid half of his countenance in darkness, and only the upward curve of his lips could indicate his leisurely contentment.
His shadow spread out behind him like a robe.
The black floor of the casino was dyed with human blood, and his color was even richer and deeper.
Like a black god of death.
Jiang Lan was stunned for a moment, and only after a while did she remember to scroll back.
“This new character is so pretentious...” she said, having to admit she was indeed intimidated just now.
As she turned the pages, she guessed: “But to be able to cause such a ruckus in the boss’s territory, he must be at least a mid-rank ability user.”
Sure enough, in the next page, the boss showed a surprised expression.
A dotted speech bubble appeared beside him, indicating his inner thoughts.
‘My ability is being suppressed!’ The boss’s heart was in turmoil, ‘Even a B-rank ability user couldn’t suppress my ability. This person is at least A-rank!’
In the manga, high-rank ability users were SSS-rank, the next tier SS, and then S. Mid-rank ability users were numbered from A to C, and D down to F were low-rank.
High-rank ability users also had a simple and easy-to-understand designation: world-level, state-level, country-level.
This indicated that their ability limits were capable of destroying a world, a state, or a country, respectively.
And the three stages of mid-rank ability users also had a large gap.
C-rank had just barely escaped low-rank, and the boss was speculated to be mostly
C-rank: possessing a range of over a hundred meters, and unable to extend it.
Whereas A-rank had already reached the point of being able to destroy cities.
The gap between the two was enormous; if an A-rank wanted to kill a C-rank, it would be effortless, unless the ability was special.
The boss, who had already stepped into the mid-rank, of course knew the difference in between. As an ability user, he adhered to one principle, which was to be cowardly when it was time to be cowardly.
‘Life is one’s own, and there’s only one.’ The boss thought to himself, then obediently got up, observed the situation, and honestly led this strong individual into the secret room.
This short walk felt like sitting on pins and needles. The boss clearly felt the terrifying gaze from behind him that he couldn't ignore.
‘I hope this esteemed guest can be kind and not resort to robbery and murder.’
He didn't dare mention the kicked-in door, absolutely not.
Meanwhile, Jiang Lan, outside the manga, put down her phone and first rubbed her arms, discovering she had goosebumps.
“This is the strongest ability user to appear in the manga so far, right? What is he going to do?” Jiang Lan started to worry, “Will the boss be okay?”
She had completely immersed herself in the boss’s perspective, feeling the fear of having her establishment challenged by a strong individual.
The scene shifted.
In the dark secret room, the youth’s body was half hidden in darkness.
He sat with his legs crossed lazily, like a demon in the shadows.
The boss was extremely obsequious.
He put on his gentlest smile, wanting to pour tea for the youth, when the youth suddenly raised his hand.
That movement greatly resembled an opening move, sharp as a blade.
Under the kerosene lamp, the boss saw that the youth’s black pupils were filled with indifference.
Like a mist, impossible to fathom.
The boss, who was serving tea, felt his heart tremble.
It seemed all the hairs on his body stood on end.
‘Is he going to make a move?’ the boss thought.
Jiang Lan, who was reading the manga, also trembled: “Help! Don’t tell me he’s going to kill someone!”
Then the youth’s hand waved again, as if it was just a casual gesture.
“I want the location of ‘Tang’.” he said.
It seemed he just didn’t want to drink tea.
Barely steadying his hand, the boss withdrew the tea, forcing a smile.
A drop of cold sweat slid down his temple, fortunately concealed by his hair and not obvious.
Jiang Lan also breathed a sigh of relief, but soon, that breath caught again.
“He’s also looking for ‘Tang’?” Jiang Lan became more worried, “Then isn’t the protagonist in danger?”
And the boss also thought of this point.
On the screen, his psychological activities were very active.
‘Right now, only ‘Tang’ is worthy of alarming such a strong individual to come from afar, but where did the news leak from?’
‘I promised that little fellow, selling him out like this makes my conscience uneasy.’
‘I need to think, think. In short, I should flatter him first...’
So he said: “‘Tang’? It seems the esteemed guest knows a lot.” This wasn't some commonplace news...
But he hadn't finished speaking.
“You don’t know?” the youth said.
He said it very casually, as if it was just a passing remark, but everyone knew he wouldn't be willing to get a negative answer.
This wasn't a joke, this was a warning.
The chilling aura emanating from those black eyes almost leaped off the page, making Jiang Lan, outside the screen, hold her breath.
“So scary,” she murmured.
‘This isn’t someone who likes to beat around the bush!’
It wasn't just Jiang Lan who was affected, but also the boss in the manga.
He was a little flustered, but still managed to respond.
“In my line of work, integrity is paramount. I have already sold this piece of information to someone.” But if it’s you, I can...
There was only one thought in his mind; he no longer had time to care about the protagonist. He also wanted to live!
And he still couldn't finish speaking.
The demon in the dark coldly interrupted him: “Where is that person.”
Half of the black-haired youth’s face was hidden in the shadows, but that aggressive feeling never faded.
He didn't give the boss time to regain his rhythm, but firmly grasped the pace of the conversation in his own palm.
It seemed to say, there was no escape, only answering him was the way.
What a cruel person.
The flame in the kerosene lamp flickered, like the unsettled air.
The pressure increased exponentially, like a boulder pressing on his shoulders.
The boss wanted to adjust his breathing, but under the heavy pressure, he couldn't breathe.
He was anxious to get out of this predicament and blurted out in panic: “You seem to be in a hurry.”
As soon as the words fell, the smile on that beautiful face froze.
The boss couldn't feel the muscles on his face; he could barely move the corners of his mouth again.
He froze there.
Almost mechanically, he thought, no one likes to be speculated about, especially the strong.
He had made a big mistake.
Against the dark background, a huge blank dialogue box from the boss's perspective obscured the youth's figure.
On the dialogue box was written—
‘It’s killing intent.’
‘Now, he wants to kill me!’
Black words on white paper, occupying all of Jiang Lan's vision.