Role Playing the Dark Horse Character-Chapter 134 : Chapter 134

Chapter 134 : Real World Follow-Up 1
I ate salty douhua, and I ate youtiao too.
Li Li’s plain and ordinary real-world life started to get back on track after the summer vacation ended.
After saying goodbye to my mom, I returned to school to begin the new semester.
The time between the manga world and the real world flowed in sync; a few days in the real world meant a few days in the manga world too.
During breaks between classes, I’d occasionally let my thoughts drift to the manga world to check on how my friends were doing.
It wasn’t like I dragged them around to play.
It was mainly because I’d made a two-level leap, from SS-rank to SSS-rank, and then to Deity.
The gap between ranks was already huge, and my insane jump meant I couldn’t fully control my powers yet.
When I was at SSS-rank, I’d fought Libra, who’d been SSS-rank for a long time, and because I wasn’t yet skilled with my powers, I barely held my own.
After advancing another level, I needed even more time to process these powers.
Probably because I was the Deity of the manga world, I could still live normally in the real world.
But the moment my soul entered the manga world, it resonated with that world.
The illusory-turned-real condensed body could only hold together for about three seconds before collapsing.
I said I didn’t want to be a ghost, but when I looked in the mirror in the manga world, I scared even myself.
Still, seeing Mother Hen’s worried expression was pretty amusing.
During the ten-minute break between classes, I made a point to show up early.
What made me a bit unhappy was that as a ghost, I could only watch them drink milk tea while I couldn’t have any.
That was careless of me, I thought at the time.
I also knew Yiming really wanted to see me, but if I went to meet him as a ghostly shadow…
I could almost imagine Yiming’s reaction.
He’d definitely conjure up some tragic story that’d make me want to applaud, projecting it onto me, believing every word, nervously staring at me with tears welling up in his eyes, feeling guilty for eating the “knife” of my existence and calling out “Li” in distress.
So, I’d make Little Corgi wait a bit.
I’d go see him once I could manifest a physical body.
A shadow would just stress him out.
As time passed, the merchandise for
Extreme Black and White
that was promised earlier went on sale.
In the chatroom, Jiang Lan and Luo Han, the two besties, turned against each other, frantically grabbing merchandise and fighting like the sky was falling.
The others, after much deliberation, decided to only go for the merch of their favorite characters.
When asked why, they basically said: They wanted Heige and Li’s merch too, but it was obvious they wouldn’t get any.
The merch sale time was as cursed as the update schedule for
Extreme Black and White
—midnight.
I didn’t plan to grab any; I already had the real people, so why care about merch?
But the Manga Artist cared and promised to save me a set.
At 11:55 p.m., the dorm lights were still on.
I was grinding out a PPT, while my roommate, with dry eyes, did warm-up exercises, staring at the computer screen, ready to snag Li’s merch.
Back during the voting, Heige and Li took two spots, so both had merch.
But the first sale was limited, and no one held out hope.
The moment it hit midnight, my roommate went wild behind me.
Ten seconds later, her voice rang out.
“Gone? It’s gone?!?!” She kept refreshing the page, but all she saw was “Sold Out.” “Not even a second, and it’s all gone?!?!”
She backed out to check Heige’s page, and sure enough, it was gone too.
My roommate couldn’t hold it together: “Wahhh, how could this happen? I didn’t get any of my male god’s merch—”
She cried her heart out: “My lonely male god, all alone until the end, and I couldn’t even get his merch to put in my nest to warm his heart. How could this happen, wahhhhh!”
I couldn’t help but laugh.
I put down my PPT, turned around, and said, “Yao Yao, stop howling. I got some. It’s yours.”
Hearing this, my roommate cried even harder, touched.
She got up and gave me a bear hug, sobbing on my shoulder: “Wahhh, Lili, you’re the best!”
“Wanna squeeze into one nest tonight?” I asked, patting her head.
“Okay!” she said, crying and laughing at the same time.
In the chatroom, the cosers were also howling.
[Lazy]: Aaaah, I only got a badge!
[Han Zhi]: I only got a standee, damn it!
[Meowla]: I got all of Tang’s full set, hehe.
[Lulu]: I bought three sets of Yiming’s!
[Lazy] and [Han Zhi]: Stop flexing!!!!
[Feather Don’t Cry]: Is there any chance… my fave didn’t even get merch?
Not long after the merch went on sale, the secondhand market on a certain platform turned into a seaside mansion.
My roommate, full of gratitude, brought me breakfast for a month.
To that, I said: Egg-filled pancake with sausage and tenderloin, extra chili, thanks.
The Manga Artist had been throwing himself into the animation production for a while.
He had money, time, and ambition.
After shaking off Libra, he was cheerful every day.
If you asked about
Extreme Black and White
side stories, there were none.
If you asked when his next work would come, he said he had a bit of PTSD from drawing manga for now.
“Bigshot, you don’t even know. A while back, my sister came to my place with her rabbit—white fur, pink eyes. Scared me so bad I locked myself in my room and churned out three side stories!” the Manga Artist cried to me.
“Where are those side stories?” I asked, curious.
“Where are they?” I asked again, curious.
“I stayed up that night until I passed out from exhaustion,” the Manga Artist said with a gleeful procrastinator’s grin. “Then I didn’t touch them again.”
The animation was still in production, but the voice actors had already been announced.
As promised, I would voice both the final boss and Li Li—myself.
The
Extreme Black and White
forum went wild over the voice actor issue, tearing into it for several rounds.
[Let’s Discuss: Are the Animation Voice Actors Serious?]
1L OP
I flipped through the list several times and barely recognized anyone.
Only two veteran voice actors, the rest are all newbies.
They say the Manga Artist personally vetted them? This is it?
2L
What can I say? As long as the Manga Artist is happy.
3L
I also think the Manga Artist is joking.
But he picked these people, he likes them, what can we do?
…
45L
When’s the Manga Artist showing his face? I want to send him a knife.
46L
Aaaah, 2L, you say it so lightly! I can’t accept this!
What’s the Manga Artist’s deal?
The other newbies at least have one or two small works, or at worst, they’ve done radio dramas.
Their voices fit decently.
But what’s the deal with my male god? No record of this person!
47L
Instantly decoded who the above’s male god is.
48L
Still decoding?
It’s definitely Heige.
49L
But “no record” is a bit much.
Are they all industry people? Getting an outsider to voice a popular character?
The Manga Artist must think the
Extreme Black and White
IP isn’t crashing fast enough.
…
72L
I’m praying the Manga Artist changes his mind.
Did he pick based on names?
My male god is named Li, but that’s no reason to pick Li Li (Pear)!
73L
Heh,
Extreme Black and White
is done for.
I don’t know if newbies will flop, but original fans will get hit first when the animation drops.
Forget animation quality—random voice actors will definitely drag it down.
Who wants to watch an anime with the sound off?
74L
I’m not holding out hope.
In my free time, I might as well re-read
Extreme Black and White
.
The more I read, the more I want to cry. Let’s find the Manga Artist and send him a knife.
Damn you, Manga Artist, give me back my male god!
…
The forum tore into it for several rounds, but it had nothing to do with me.
I was indeed an outsider.
The first time I went to the recording studio, I arrived early to scope things out.
When I got there, it hadn’t started yet.
I pushed open the door and saw no one at the mic, while a few newbies in the back seats were frantically studying their scripts, some circling and jotting notes.
They were super serious, clearly working hard.
I followed suit, sitting next to a voice actor, pulling out my script and placing it on my lap, then letting my thoughts drift to the manga world.
Maybe because I sat still for too long, the voice actor next to me asked, “Not memorizing?”
Snapping back, I replied, “I memorized it at home.”
In truth, I’d only skimmed it.
But even without memorizing, those events—things I’d personally experienced—were etched in my memory like a brand.
No need to memorize; I knew them by heart.
The voice actor next to me paused, finally taking a good look at my face, then muttered, “I’m still not working hard enough.”
I tilted my head. “Hm?”
The voice actor further down looked over, shocked. “Are voice actors this intense now? Even cosplaying to get closer to the role?”
Even the voice actor who just walked in looked at me and said, “Holy crap, Mom, I’m seeing my male god in the flesh!” Then they quickly pulled out their phone. “My god, can I get a photo with you?”