Role Playing the Dark Horse Character-Chapter 138 : Chapter 138

Chapter 138 : Follow up (3)
The unique ghost version of the divine Li Li in the manga world recently found a new amusement.
"Hey, Heige." An Heyu tilted his head back, saying with difficulty, "Can’t you materialize yet?"
"Hmm, probably need to wait a few more days." Li Li was upside down, propping her chin.
"But like this, ..." An Heyu took a deep breath, realizing life required learning to let go, "Forget it, never mind."
It was just the ceiling, the cabinet, the mirror, or whatever—when he looked over, a grinning face would suddenly appear.
He could handle it.
Even at night, even if that grinning face had a pair of bright red eyes, even if those bright red eyes glowed faintly in the dark.
An Heyu covered his mouth, slowly retreating to his room, starting to plan tomorrow’s journey.
He originally wanted to find Li Li, and now he had found her, but the journey could continue.
They hadn’t had time to leisurely enjoy the Empire’s scenery before, and now that they had time, it was perfect to see enough of it.
But their journey was completely different from Sang Feiling’s style of wandering, playing, and making friends.
Sang Feiling’s was tourism; An Heyu felt theirs was like surviving tribulations.
The kind of feeling like the Journey to the West with its eighty-one trials.
Li Li never made their journey easy; she only made it grand, eventful, and dramatic, then floated to the side, grinning and watching the fun.
When there was nothing going on, she was the trouble.
An Heyu had asked Li Li if she wanted to visit Tide, and a few months ago, her response was to wait until she could materialize.
Today, An Heyu remembered this and asked, “Heige, a few days ago Huyu asked about Ranmu City. They probably noticed something. Should we go back?”
The ghost passed through the door from outside, her gaze flickering briefly, and said, “I’ve already been there.”
An Heyu: “We’ll pass by their place the day after tomorrow... You’ve already been there?!”
He stood up, turning to look at the ghost behind him: “Didn’t you say you’d go after materializing?”
Li Li let him stare, grinning, “Let’s go pick clothes for Dan tomorrow!”
And so, the topic shifted to which city’s commercial street was bustling and where was suitable for playing Miracle Dan Dan.
As for whether she could materialize?
Li Li: Being a ghost is fun!
She declared she had overcome her fear—as long as she didn’t look in the mirror.
In the real world, on the night the anime began airing, the manga artist updated an extra chapter of Extreme Black and White.
The first few arcs of 《Extreme Black and White》 had little to do with Li Li.
The next day, while putting a sunflower hairpin on Dan, she called the manga artist in the real world.
“Didn’t you say you wouldn’t draw anymore?” She vividly remembered the manga artist’s drunken ramblings at the pre-anime launch gathering, as it had only been three days.
At that time, the voice actors and production team members were gathered, all very excited, with the manga artist the most excited, blowing into a bottle.
But his alcohol tolerance was terrible; after a few sips, he collapsed, hugging the bottle and crying, “I can’t draw anymore, I can’t draw anymore, my hand’s going to break, waaah—”
That was bad enough, but then a dessert arrived, a strawberry cream cube.
The manga artist stared at the strawberry for a moment, then shouted, “Aaaah, Heige bigshot, save me! Libra! It’s Libra!”
Li Li spun the tray, moving the strawberry cream cube away from him and taking a piece for her own plate.
Not every pink color scheme was Libra.
She sighed and shook her head.
The manga artist’s PTSD was hopeless; might as well bury him on the spot.
The rookie voice actor sitting next to Li Li, now a seasoned pro, leaned over and whispered, “Bigshot, why’s he so scared of Libra? Isn’t that just a manga character who’s already dead?”
Because the manga artist liked calling her bigshot, the entire production team followed suit.
Li Li made a thoughtful expression, then said, “Maybe Libra once paid him a visit.”
A rare moment of truth, but no one believed her.
Those who heard it burst into laughter, and someone teased with the manga artist’s own words: “Like that time, bigshot, when you pushed open his hospital room door?”
The producer vividly mimicked the manga artist’s expression when he said that, clutching his chest like a damsel and exclaiming, “Holy—Heige! Listen, I swear! I didn’t draw Extreme Black and White! The pen moved on its own!”
“I don’t want Libra coming to my door.” The sound director, a bit drunk with flushed cheeks, started rambling, “But I want Heige bigshot to come to my door. Come be my guest, bigshot, divine Li Li, kick my door down—! Woof!”
Then she collapsed, sleeping soundly, completely unaware she’d revealed her hidden side.
Meanwhile, the manga artist was still crying, “No more, I’m done drawing, let me rest, let me slack off...”
And three days later, today, the anime aired, and the manga artist released an extra chapter.
But the sound director didn’t actually invite Li Li over.
On the phone, the manga artist sobbed, “After that gathering, I went home, and in the middle of the night, I dreamed a Libra crawled out of my computer, so scary I got up in the dark to turn it on.”
“Bigshot, it was really terrifying, waaah—”
“Book spirit,” Li Li said slowly.
Too pitiful, too tragic to watch.
But even more pitiful were the readers of Extreme Black and White.
The anime aired, and they were excited.
The extra chapter came out, and they were excited too.
It was supposedly a hidden reward for the top three in the popularity poll, centered on those three characters.
It should’ve been one plus one equals two—two exciting things combined.
But somehow, it ended up as one plus one equals zero.
[Is your hand too weak to hold a knife anymore?! Manga artist, how could you treat us like this!!!!!]
1L OP
Kill the manga artist kill the manga artist kill the manga artist (1,000 words of spamming omitted here)
2L
One’s gone mad, drag them away.
3L
The manga artist’s gone mad himself, dragging the readers down with him.
4L
Hahaha, not mad. How is the extra chapter not a kind of HE?
5L
Beginning: Little Corgi, Cat Tang, Ahoge Li’s happy daily life.
Middle: Tide meeting, Yishi casually mentions the possibility of soul remnants being revived.
At this point, we thought this was the manga artist giving us an HE extra, crying with joy, yay, One Big Happy Family stood up! Heige bigshot can be saved!
Ending: It’s a flashback. The beginning was Little Corgi dreaming. He woke up, and his brother was gone.
As for the soul? Search for it, but you won’t find it.
6L
For a moment, I doubted the manga artist’s mental state, but I think it’s my own battered self that needs checking.
7L
The anime aired, I thought I’d see newbies get wrecked, but in the end, it’s still us getting wrecked.
I was careless.
I shouldn’t have clicked the extra chapter just because it was promoted as ‘celebrating the anime launch,’ nor should I have assumed it was a fan-service HE because it was ‘a mysterious reward for the top three in the popularity poll.’
8L
Waaah, my divine Li, my Heige wife, why is the extra chapter stabbing Little Corgi while I’m the one crying!!!
...
The manga fans wailed on the forum, and all sorts of redemption fanfiction and short comics sprouted like mushrooms after rain.
But no matter what kind of fan-made content, the goal was the same.
[Give us HE! Our male god deserves the best!!!!]
On the video site airing the anime, the comments were equally lively.
Since Heige’s storyline hadn’t appeared yet, the anime only showed a few seconds of a black-haired, black-eyed figure turning away during the opening theme, with lyrics about ‘the belief to protect someone.’
Manga fans who knew the story cried their eyes out, while anime-only viewers, listening to the passionate theme, were utterly confused.
[Who’s this? Just half a face, and you’re all going crazy?]
Someone asked in the comments.
[No spoilers, but woof woof woof!]
A troll replied.
In the manga world, with no enemies or life-or-death crises pushing her, Li Li fully embraced happy slacker mode.
As a ghost, she teased Mother Hen, played Miracle Dan Dan, occasionally visited Li City to see Little Corgi, and remembered to bring Tang a handful of fruit candies.
She was a god now; could she not bring some fruit candies?
In short, Tang was delighted when he got the gift, even childishly showing off to An Huyu and Yiming once or twice.
School courses continued, and when Li Li finally finished her final exams, ready to spend her second winter break as a god, the anime reached the Jiao Huang Arc.
In the manga forum, original fans had started threads early, and some anime-only fans stumbled in, joining the discussion.
[6 PM tonight, let’s see who forgot the time!]
1L OP
The long-awaited Jiao Huang Arc is finally here!
2L
Heige bigshot! I’ve been looking forward to Heige bigshot for so long!
...
74L
Aaaah, my Heige bigshot is so cool!
Divine Li Li forever! Forever!
75L
Who would’ve thought divine Li Li was an outsider with no voice acting experience?
76L
After all, she’s the one who made the manga artist shout ‘Holy—Heige’ XD
77L
Help, where did you all see the voice actor interviews!
What’s divine Li Li’s social media ID?
78L
There are still people who don’t know about the interview where the manga artist showed up in a corgi mask? Didn’t the forum go wild over it a while ago?
‘The manga artist’s cunning persona collapsed,’ ‘Heige broke through the dimensional wall and kicked butt without losing her persona,’ ‘Holy—Heige, save me, Heige,’ ‘The pen moved on its own!’
79L
You forgot the most important thing—the divine Li Li’s cosplay was perfect!
That figure, that aura, it’s totally Heige bigshot breaking through dimensions, swoon!
80L
Woo, Heige husband, divine Li Li wife, monogamy is awesome!
81L
How many drinks did the one above have to get that drunk? If you can’t drink, go to the kids’ table!
82L
No way, the kids’ table has Dan Dog!
83L
That’s the dog table hahahaha!
84L
Fine, I’m Heige bigshot’s dog, I’ll go to the dog table myself.
But I don’t think there’s anything to worry about. Dan Dog’s there, so what’s there to fear?
85L
What’s there? Pity?
86L
Why wouldn’t Dan Dog be pitiful? (I think we can start the feast)
87L
You guys are ruthless hahahahaha!
...
130L
My husband in action is too perfect, waaah!
Heige bigshot, step on me! Why aren’t you that door! Little Flower wants to apply to be your door!
131L
Pure newbie, haven’t read the manga.
I admit the character called Heige in the PV is pretty cool, but that’s it.
Isn’t he just a standard villain template for the protagonist to slap? He’ll be gone after the Jiao Huang Arc, right? Why’s he so popular?
132L
Fellow anime-only, isn’t this just an arrogant villain?
Why are you all so crazy?
133L
No spoilers, hehehe~
134L
So happy watching newbies get wrecked!
They don’t know this villain is actually a knife incarnate hahahahaha!
135L
Knife incarnate? Is his ability knives? Doesn’t seem like it.
Newbie confused.
135L
Right, right, his ability is turning into a knife and making everyone else a cutting board.
Newbie, trust your own judgment!
136L
What nonsense are you spouting? Don’t mislead the newbies!
Heige’s ability isn’t knives.
Actually, he’s a knife that absorbed the essence of the sun and moon to become a spirit.
He’s not human, he’s a god! Male god!
137L
Newbie baffled.
Are all original fans this crazy...
138L
Newbies, ignore those crazy cutting boards above; they’re exceptions.
Just keep watching to see what Heige bigshot is like. I can’t say much, after all, I’m just one of Heige bigshot’s dogs.
139L
[Heige smile.jpg]
Tremble in fear! Be afraid! Cry your eyes out! Become Heige bigshot’s dogs with us, newbies! Wahahaha!
140L
Tone it down up there! Your laughter woke my neighbor!
In the middle of the night, my neighbor opened the door and yelled if I was keeping a house full of dogs!