Chapter 65: Reading Manga (First Update)
For three days after returning from the manga world, Li Li was extremely busy.
Most school courses were wrapping up, significantly harder than at the start of the term. Combined with coursework, Li Li and her roommate were swamped.
In rare free moments, she browsed forums or checked group chats for doujin artists’ works to unwind.
Recently, Li fans were celebrating.
Forum analyses concluded that Li Baige was indeed Ahoge Li, with some even shipping Li Baige and Li, with lines like, “You are my past, I am your future.”
Heige’s popularity was also rising.
The character already appealed to villain enthusiasts.
The only criticism from real-world readers was that he killed White Moonlight Li.
But recent reader confirmations that Heige didn’t kill Li softened this flaw.
Heige fans gradually emerged from the anti-villain backlash. Mentioning Heige on forums sparked heated debates.
For the past two days, forums were mostly arguing over whether Heige was dead.
Of course, the very alive Li Li submitted her coursework, took a relaxing shower, and lay on her bed waiting for updates.
Summer was approaching, temperatures rising, and their dorm had turned on the air conditioning early.
In the cool airflow, her roommate was still scribbling furiously below.
Tomorrow, it was her turn for an exam.
“Argh, I want to read Extreme Black updates!” her roommate wailed. “I need to know if my male god is okay! He’s S-rank, how could he fight alone!”
In Li fans’ eyes, their male god was fragile.
In Li Li’s words, that was second-setting overload.
When Li and Yiming parted, he had already shown his ability and strength.
Given they treated Li Baige as Li, and Yan Changxiao had praised Li Baige’s strength a few chapters ago, he was far from fragile.
But yeah, her ploy of playing the victim might’ve been too convincing back then, and with her naturally slender frame, she probably did look genuinely frail at first glance.
Still, Li Li absolutely refused to admit that Ahoge Li was the fragile glass person from those second-hand doujin settings!
She was strong! Really!
Her roommate, while talking and glancing at the words in her notebook, mumbled, “My delicate male god, my battle-damaged beauty. He’s about to face that S-rank, maybe the next chapter will have some battle damage...”
Li Li, sitting above, couldn’t help but interject, “You just want to see battle damage, don’t you?”
“Hehehe.” Her roommate grinned wide.
Sadly, her roommate’s wish was destined to be nothing but empty talk.
When midnight hit, the manga updated.
Li Li memorized some vocabulary words, waiting for the barrage of comments to pile up before opening the app to check the update.
This time, the cover color page was incredibly intriguing, split between light and dark, with a blue pendant earring in the center.
The dark side showed Li Baige, facing sideways with his back to the white, while the light side had Yiming pulling Tang’s hand, turning away from the darkness.
[AAAAH so excited! Ahoge Li and the others are finally meeting!]
[One Big Happy Family’s home turf!]
[Hey, upstairs, don’t you feel this layout where they’re not looking at each other screams a flag?]
[I don’t care, I don’t care! Today they’re gonna gather and be happy!]
Li Li, reading along, flashed a mischievous smile, as if she were a bystander gearing up for some drama.
This chapter was gonna be super interesting.
...
A girl with the username Han Zhi, real name Luo Han, sat on her bed, picking up a call from her best friend Jiang Lan: “Hello, hello, I hear you.”
Today was the update day for 《Extreme Black and White》.
In the last chapter, Heige had seemingly died, and Li Baige had appeared at a critical moment to save someone.
Both Luo Han, pushed by Heige and Li, and Jiang Lan, pushed by Li Baige, were itching with anticipation, counting down the days for this update.
The moment it dropped, they dove into the manga.
“Looks like no Heige today either,” Jiang Lan said over the phone, having seen the color page, then added cheekily, “But there’s my male god, hehe, the icy cool guy is forever the best!”
“Alright, alright, your male god’s the greatest,” Luo Han replied absently while reading.
She read faster than her friend and had already flipped to the part where Yiming leveled up and started fighting Yue Fu.
She was used to reading with the barrage on, since she could process text quickly.
[Waaah, Little Corgi’s gone berserk!]
[Go, Little Corgi! Don’t let Ahoge Li face danger alone!]
[Make up for that regret from back then.]
[Ahoge Blade Li, the ultimate White Moonlight that fits anywhere.]
[He’s the direction Little Corgi’s striving for now!]
Luo Han thought this comment hit the nail on the head: “Heige’s urging Little Corgi forward from behind, while Li’s leading Little Corgi to keep running ahead.”
Before, Yiming hadn’t been in such a rush to advance, but after Li and Heige showed up, he’d jumped two ranks in just two volumes.
Of course, he’d also taken much harder beatings.
Jiang Lan, who hadn’t caught up yet, responded, “My male god is Little Corgi’s White Moonlight!”
Luo Han ignored her friend, who was obsessed with her male god, and kept reading.
In the manga, Yiming teamed up with An Huyu, successfully dealing a fatal blow to Yue Fu.
Just then, Yue Fu called out to Rao Yue, who’d been watching from the sidelines, for help.
[One down, another to go—kids, this is what hot-blooded action’s all about!]
The barrage said as much.
Then Luo Han turned the page, and Rao Yue shot Yue Fu dead with a single bullet.
Luo Han: “This sister’s kinda cool.”
The manga plot continued.
The wall vanished, and an S-rank’s corpse appeared on the steps ahead.
The light and shadow composition here was stunningly beautiful.
Light poured down from above, forming a circle on the ground, with Yue Qing in the center, a silver-white longsword pinning him dead in the middle of the circle.
[Holy crap! Actually dead?! An S-rank?!]
[What happened behind that wall?!]
[Did Ahoge Li do this???]
A dead noble was a symbol of power, an S-rank, a mountain at the top of this world’s hierarchy.
Now he was dead, so easily.
Rao Yue, whom Luo Han had just called cool, was excitedly saying this was her leader, lending the entire scene an inexplicable solemnity.
Luo Han, staring at this completely unexpected scene, held her breath for three seconds.
During that time, the barrage didn’t pause with her but scrolled rapidly, comments popping up and vanishing.
[Leader? What leader?]
[Ahoge Li, what did you do while I wasn’t looking?!]
[Holy crap, killed an S-rank? Is this really the fragile battle-damaged beauty I know?]
[AAAAH male god!]
Luo Han exhaled and kept flipping.
“Your male god, not bad,” Luo Han remarked.
Killing an S-rank with such insane combat power—Luo Han, a fan of strong antagonists, couldn’t help comparing him to her own favorite.
Oh, her favorite was currently in an unclear situation, so never mind.
Not waiting for Jiang Lan to respond, she continued reading.
Yiming chased after Li Baige, trying to hold him back.
But Li Baige, as before, remained unyielding, even bluntly saying they didn’t know each other.
The barrage was filled with character fans crying their hearts out.
[Familiar vibe, familiar lies. The first time they met, Ahoge Li tricked Little Corgi like this, pretending he wasn’t hurt.]
[Actions don’t match words, Ahoge Li, is that really what you think? You clearly don’t mean it!]
[If you don’t know him, why show up at every crisis? Keep making excuses—Little Corgi doesn’t believe you, and neither do we!]
Luo Han flipped to the next page, and it was even more brutal: Li Baige straight-up said Yiming was too weak, stabbing a knife into the readers’ hearts.
Even Luo Han, who wasn’t a Li fan, felt the sting, let alone the character fans.
[Waaah, Ahoge Li, why so cold and cutting? Stop talking, Yiming’s gonna cry! Waaah, okay, I’m crying first!]
[“Too weak” is just too cold, isn’t it?]
【Those close to vermilion are stained red, those close to ink are stained black—sure enough, it’s all Heige’s fault!】
【I’m crying my eyes out. Is this what it means to be separated because of weakness?】
Luo Han, feeling heartbroken, replied to the barrage: 【What does this have to do with Heige!】
The manga plot continued, and in the end, Li Baige vanished from Yiming’s line of sight.
He never looked back.
This made the readers, who still clung to hopes of a reversal, cry even harder.
【Wuwuwuwu, what did I do wrong to be stabbed like this? Manga artist, you have no heart!】
【Another missed chance, but this time, it’s still because of his own weakness. A weak you can do nothing.】
【Think positively—at least he’s alive.】
【Little Corgi was once again shut outside the wall, watching that thin, frail back disappear before his eyes.】
【Why! I thought Yiming had a chance to make up for his regrets, but it still ended like this? Are my tears worthless or what!】
Luo Han felt sad for a few seconds, then turned the page.
She saw Li Baige take off his earring.
The black-and-white manga froze on a few moments, breaking the transformation into three stages.
From an unsmiling iceberg to a gleeful, unrestrained mischief-maker.
His face changed, his clothes changed, but the only thing that remained constant was his unhurried, steady pace.
Finally, it settled on a face manga readers were all too familiar with.
That masked figure, seemingly indifferent to everything, overwhelmingly powerful and free-spirited—Heige.
Outside the manga, Luo Han’s eyes slowly widened, her red lips parting slightly as she said, “Holy crap?!”
Who was this? Who?!!
【???????】
【Huh?????????】
【Someone wake me up, what’s going on?】
【Hahahahaha, I knew it! Didn’t you all notice how Li Baige’s speech was so Heige-like? Too weak, hahahahaha!】
【My husband is so cool!!! God, this transition is insane!】
【Teach me how to switch faces in a second, that’s too awesome!】
【So Li Baige was Heige all along? The one who saved Little Corgi was also Heige? He completely toyed with Little Corgi and the others?! Holy crap?】
【So his death before was fake too?! The opponent was S-rank! Oh, it’s Heige, never mind then.】
【Heige power fans are stunned. Every time, we feel empty because our fave is just too strong, unstoppable.】
【Badass, my Heige bigshot!】
【Heige is the strongest! Don’t like it? Hold it in!!】
【It’s all fake, all fake! Damn manga artist, give me back my tears!!!!】
【Aaaaa, my tears! Wasted!】
On the other end of the phone, Jiang Lan had just reached the part where Yue Qing died and was cheering excitedly, “Holy crap, my male god is so strong!!! He’s so strong!!! S-rank, and he actually killed him!”
A seasoned coser must master their fave’s signature smile.
So Luo Han slowly mimicked the person in the black-and-white manga, flashing a Heige-like grin: “Yeah, he’s really strong.”
How could he not be strong?! That was her fave! Her universe’s unbeatable, coolest Heige bigshot!
She knew her fave was absolutely fine!
Thought he was dead? He reappears and takes out an S-rank! Damn, that’s too cool!
Luo Han hugged her phone to her chest, rolling around on her bed in excitement.
“He’s super strong!”
After the excitement, Luo Han kept flipping through the manga.
She saw Heige in the manga, seemingly talking to himself, and suddenly felt that this ever-smiling bigshot might have unintentionally revealed a glimpse of his true self.
Lowering his hand, the pendant vanished.
The youth in the manga still wore a smile, saying to the air, “Right.”
【I don’t know if I’m still reeling from the sadness earlier or what, but I suddenly feel a bit melancholic.】
【I was too busy being shocked. So the one who saved Little Corgi multiple times was Heige?】
【Why do I feel like Heige is talking to someone? Like, that conversational tone.】
【A faint sorrow is enveloping me. If he’s really talking to someone, it must be someone he’s really close to, right?】
【Is this the start of introducing Heige bigshot’s past?】
“Who’s he talking to?” Luo Han wondered aloud, equally puzzled.
But the scene ended quickly, and Luo Han flipped further.
Tang and An Huyu appeared, taking Yiming back to the basement.
After that, the perspective suddenly shifted to the main hall of the banquet.