Chapter 191 : Chapter 191
Chapter 191
After finishing the latest chapter of the manga, Bai Xuechao habitually went to the Pink Forum to see the readers' discussions.
Perhaps because this update had a lot of content and information, there were many posts about this manga on the forum.
First were the poll posts that had been appearing frequently recently.
【There are still 6 days left in the first popularity poll for "Special Ability × Food Chain"! Axue baby has rushed to 6th place, ahhh! Waiting for a miracle to get into the top 3! #Bai Xuechao#】
【You vote, I vote, Xuexue will debut tomorrow! (bushi) The top three get official character merchandise, Xue fans, let's go! Let everyone see our strength! (fist) 】
Following that were posts related to the plot of this update and other derivative posts. Bai Xuechao felt his scalp tingle just looking at some of the post titles.
【Wow, Yuan Lan is really so strong. I admire the strong, I love him, I love him!】
【#Bai Xuechao# Bai old scoundrel, you have no conscience, do you want me to be a cyber widow that badly? In your dreams! Sunglasses crying.jpg】
【The trio must not be broken up! Not in the past, not now, and not in the future! Do you hear me! (Yelling while grabbing Bai old scoundrel's ear)】
【#"Special Ability × Food Chain"# #Chenfeng CP# Ling Feng, you are so in love! "I'll take responsibility" on a loop 100 times! [HOT]】
【Pity my gray-haired tsundere little puppy, his kneecaps were shattered by the big boss, but his battle-damaged look is so handsome, so I got hyped and drew a quick sketch of his battle-damaged head... [HOT]】
【A relaxing daily life with the trio + Bai Xuechao, will anyone watch this 10-second short animation made with AI assistance? (crying)】
【He, who saved the male lead favored by the big boss, is now trapped in the demon's claws! It is also he, who at only 17 years old, sacrificed himself to save the other trapped victims, only to be taken away by the big boss! Why did this delicate and weak him almost die on the first night? Was it the boss's lack of restraint, or was there another reason? Welcome to watch "Special Ability × Food Chain"! [HOT]】
【Shouting out to the post next door: Damn you, how dare you lie to me? At first, I thought it was some new entertainment industry R18 BL manga, but after reading to the end, emmmm, special abilities? And a food chain?】
【Wifey, you smell so good~ I finally created the #Bai Xuechao# concept perfume! Everyone come and see! [HOT]】
【#Lanxue CP# Got a burst of inspiration from the latest chapter and wrote a forced love story about Yuan Lan. Anyone want to read it? If not, I'll come back and ask again later qwq [HOT]】
【Who understands this? The man holding up half the CP world is not the male lead, but a supporting character! Attached is a list of Bai Xuechao's existing CP threads (doge emoji)】
【I really like Bai Xuechao so much, he is such a beautiful baby, I want to kiss him, smooch smooch smooch hehehehehe hahaha...】-
【I have something to say but I don't know if I should. I'll just come clean, I ship All Xue!】
Finally, there was the prophet post that he read every time.
【It's me, the prophet! I feel like #"Special Ability × Food Chain"# is about to start a new chapter, so I've started a new thread! [HOT]】
A post with a low number of replies caught Bai Xuechao's attention.
【Rational Discussion: I suspect that Bai old scoundrel launched "Special Ability × Food Chain" this time to participate in the second Simulated World Manga Competition next year.】
The information was about Bai Guzi and the high-dimensional world, so Bai Xuechao clicked on it directly.
【Title: Rational Discussion: I suspect that Bai old scoundrel...】
OP: Before I start, let me give a little popular science to the darlings who don't know about this manga competition.
The first Simulated World Manga Competition was held last year and is expected to be held every two years. The organizer is the development company of the simulated world, and the participating manga must be generated using the simulated world.
I feel like it's a soft promotion for the simulated world, hhh, but the prize for first place is as high as 10 million, second place is 5 million, and third place is 1 million, so it became a huge hit.
The sponsor mommy didn't know how to run it but hired professionals, so the competition was very fair, with no underhanded dealings at all, and it was all based on real votes from online users.
In this competition, Bai Guzi's entry was "The Great Ming Spirit Master," the one that everyone furiously scolded. To be honest, the beginning was pretty good, but the ending had a shocking twist and was an epic bad ending. The male and female leads had a BE with one dead and one alive, and in the end, it won second prize.
1L: I have the same feeling, shaking hands with the OP!
2L: Even so, a major reason why Bai old scoundrel's book was scolded was that halfway through the serialization, to boost the manga's popularity, she revealed that it would have a happy ending (。)
3L: Hah, everyone knows that the simulated world is difficult. It's possible that a setting wasn't written well and a huge bug appeared. People would just complain that the author's settings were bad and move on.
But this is the first time I've seen you guys where love lasts longer than hate. (Not derogatory) (crying laughing emoji)
4L: If it were just an ordinary bad ending, people wouldn't scold her so much. To be honest, I scolded her too. I was angry that she tricked me into reading it with the promise of a HE, and the manga even had a "sweet" tag! In the end, a shocking BE stabbed me. Is that what you call sweet?? After it was finished, she deleted the "sweet" tag, and when people went to read it later, they said we might have remembered it wrong. I'm so angry!
In the past, there have been authors who, because of a bad manga ending, directly spent money to jump the timeline five years into the future to find a better point.
She saved money by not jumping the timeline and even dared to release that ending. She should have been prepared to be scolded, right (。)
Reading this, Bai Xuechao noticed something—
The author could spend money to jump the timeline.
He knew that the flow of time in the simulated world and the high-dimensional world was the same, but this was the first time he knew that the author could spend money to jump time.
If Bai Guzi chose to jump the timeline by five years, what would he feel on his end? Would he actually live through the skipped time, or would he jump directly and then acquire the memories of those five years?
There was another problem. If it was the latter, it would very likely jump to the future where the main system was pre-running, and that future did not include him because he should have been dead long ago.
Thinking of this, Bai Xuechao asked, "Xiao 6, what would happen to me if Bai Guzi jumped the timeline?"
"It would just jump directly to the time Bai Guzi wants, nothing would happen." Xiao 6 said in a matter-of-fact tone. Just a second after it finished speaking, it seemed to realize something and quickly said, "Ah, that's not right! Host! The timeline jump is a function provided by the simulated world, so if Bai Guzi chooses to jump the timeline, it will jump directly to the result of the main system's pre-run, which is the future without you!"
As expected, his hypothesis came true.
Xiao 6 wiped away its cyber tears and muttered, "Wuwu, the hosts I was bound to before were all living characters. This is the first time I've been bound to one who is supposed to die. I never thought about this timeline jumping thing."
It was okay. It wasn't the first or second time Xiao 6 had been silly and inconsiderate. Bai Xuechao was used to it. On the contrary, he felt it was normal for Xiao 6 to do such a thing.
"Stop crying for now." Bai Xuechao continued to ask, "Can I reappear?"
Xiao 6's code tears fell patteringly, and a thin layer landed at the bottom of Bai Xuechao's vision. He only heard it say in a terrified tone, "Wuwu, you can't. The simulated world doesn't have save files, and you can only jump forward, not backward. It's equivalent to your data being directly erased!"
Bai Xuechao asked, "If the data is gone, it can't be retrieved?"
"I don't know." Xiao 6 said fearfully, "Our Green River system was developed behind the back of the simulated world company. You can think of it as a third-party crack patch. But the simulated world's program is too complex, and we don't actually have that much authority. To retrieve the data, we might have to contact the official side of the simulated world..."
Contacting the officials was definitely not an option. Contacting them was equivalent to turning himself in.
When the time came and they asked, what? You want to retrieve the data of a dead character? And have him appear after the timeline jump?
The "image collapse" he had commented on before would be a light matter in comparison.
Bai Xuechao thought for a moment and then asked, "Does Bai Guzi have any plans to jump the timeline?"
He remembered that Bai Guzi had chosen to go on a one-week hiatus for the Dream Game City plot and did not jump the timeline. Did that mean she didn't want to jump the timeline for this work?
"Maybe...?" Xiao 6 replied to Bai Xuechao while reporting this potential problem to Green River's main system, "The timeline jump function starts at 3 days and has no upper limit. Ahem, according to the outline I know, um... there is one before you go offline, you know."
Xiao 6 was working quite hard to avoid being punished for spoilers.
Bai Xuechao understood. Before he went offline, there was an outline plot that met the conditions for a time jump. If Bai Guzi needed it—
He could not let Bai Guzi jump the timeline.
This also meant that if Bai Guzi no longer wanted his character, she could directly jump the timeline to erase him.
But there were still some restrictions. For example, the plots he had developed, the Dream Game City and the upcoming Apocalypse Society arc, were already outside the outline. Once his character was gone, although they could use a montage to edit in the pre-run plot of his death to explain it away, the plots he had developed would be in chaos unless there was a very good plot point to get rid of him.
It seemed he still needed to find a time to have a good "talk" with Bai Guzi.
Bai Xuechao said to Xiao 6, "I understand. Don't worry for now."
Xiao 6 trusted Bai Xuechao very much and said with teary eyes, "Mhm, I believe you will find a way. I've also reported the problem to the Green River main system. I'll tell you when I get a reply!"
A way? Of course there was one.
The more popular a character was, the louder the readers' "voices" would be after they died.
Moreover, Bai Guzi cared so much about her manga. Wasn't he looking for other reasons right now? The more bargaining chips he had, the more satisfactory the negotiation result would be.
Bai Xuechao continued to read the post.
5L: That first-prize manga is so awesome! Bai Guzi didn't lose unfairly!
6L: Ahem, Bai Guzi probably didn't save money, but actually spent more, do you believe me?
Her ending in the modern era 600 years later, with the spiritual qi revival and the return of demons and monsters, isn't that something you can only know by jumping 600 years into the future? (:з」∠)
Let me tell you a tragic yet funny possibility. I suspect she wanted to do a past life and present life thing. The past life was a BE, and they would reunite in the present life. But when she jumped to the modern era, she found that the settings weren't written well, and the demons and monsters returned.
The money had already been spent and couldn't be wasted, so she just added this part. (crying laughing emoji)
7L: Speaking of which, the first-prize manga is also a shonen manga.