Chapter 21 : Chapter 21
Chapter 21
[Current Popularity Value 1: 2877]
[Current Popularity Value 2: 2742]
In the pure white space, Ji Qing tilted his head up to gaze at the popularity values in the top-left corner of the computer screen. "It seems using an alias really does earn more..." he mused.
Should he create a few more aliases later on?
Just as Ji Qing was pondering this, the System's voice came through, hesitant. "Host, have you ever thought about what would happen if your identity was exposed?"
"Is there some kind of punishment mechanism?"
"Um... no, there isn't." The ball of light floating in mid-air immediately twisted itself into a knot.
"It's mainly that the manga side would need a reasonable explanation in the plot."
Ji Qing replied calmly, "I've already thought about this issue."
"After being infected, the Infected gain a talent comparable to an Ability. Many of them will disguise this as an Ability during the early stages when their mutations are not obvious. However, using the talent deepens the degree of mutation," Ji Qing recalled.
"Is that how it works?"
"Yes." The System nodded. "I'm just worried about how we'll explain the plot if it's exposed that both identities belong to the same person."
"What's there to worry about?" A smile curved Ji Qing's lips. "The probability of it being discovered in the early stages of the manga is very low. As long as we're careful, we can keep this hidden for a long time."
"That may be true..." the System said, conflicted, "but it's still better to have a contingency plan..."
"I've already considered that." Ji Qing revealed a confident smile. "To avoid aggravating their mutations, the Infected deliberately refrain from using their talents. This can be used to explain why Li Yuan doesn't actively use his talent."
"That's true." The System had a sudden realization. "Then all that's left is the issue with the eyes..."
Ji Qing continued in a slow, deliberate tone, "Since ability items exist in this wasteland world, why can't the mask I wear be a type of ability item?"
"An ability item with an illusionary effect that allows someone to disguise themselves?"
"Wow~" the System said, full of praise. "I overlooked that. Having the item be a disguised ability item is indeed the best way. That would provide a reasonable explanation for them being the same person."
"No, that's still not enough..." Ji Qing interrupted.
The System was momentarily stunned. "Huh..."
After a long silence, the ball of light once again twisted into a tangible question mark. "So... Host, what do you plan to do?"
"Why must we explain it now?" Ji Qing's fingertips tapped lightly on the desk, his tone steady.
"Since Xie Chang'an is a special case, why can't I be another one?"
The System was completely bewildered. "Huh?"
Realizing his words were too cryptic, Ji Qing chuckled helplessly. He explained in a gentle voice, "There are currently two possible scenarios—"
"1. I am an ability user who has been infected, possessing both an Ability and a talent. But this makes it difficult to explain why my eyes haven't mutated.
2. I am an ability user disguised as one of the Infected, possessing only an Ability. But this would require an explanation for why my eyes have mutated."
The System nodded quickly. "Yes."
It thought for a moment and finally grasped the meaning behind Ji Qing's words. "So... Host, are you still leaning towards the first option?"
Ji Qing shook his head with a serious expression.
"I was never one of the Infected to begin with. The risk of defining my identity as an Infected is too high for me," he said. "It's as I said before: Since Xie Chang'an is a special case, why can't I be another one?"
"I won't steal Xie Chang'an's spotlight. The identity of the Devourer will still belong to him."
"It's one of his golden fingers as the manga's protagonist."
"But the identity of the Dawn Society's leader is definitely special as well," Ji Qing said with an air of confidence. "I don't think I'd have the leisurely mood to become the leader of an organization of the Infected for no reason."
"Something must have happened to me."
The System nodded in agreement. "Yes, I think so too. Considering the timing of your amnesia, I have reason to suspect you did it deliberately for the sake of enrollment."
"I was actually wondering if it was to make you bind with me..." Ji Qing said hesitantly upon hearing this.
The System was shocked. "Ah... that's impossible..."
The ball of light spun several times in mid-air before stating seriously, "I don't think that would be necessary. Regardless of whether you are a transmigrator or not, I would still have asked if you wanted to cooperate."
"That would not have changed."
"Then the problem must lie with the enrollment," Ji Qing murmured under his breath. "It seems this enrollment investigation might have involved a survey of one's ability level. But let's not talk about that for now..."
Ji Qing replied, "There's no need to come up with an explanation at all. The most pressing matter before us is finding my original identity."
The floating ball of light froze. It had indeed overlooked that point.
The System probed, "So the Host's plan is to add a fake Infected identity on top of your existing unknown identity?"
"Correct. We'll deal with the other matters in the future."
The System was troubled again. "Then how does the Host plan to explain the completely different personalities of the two identities?"
"Dual personality."
Ji Qing gave a well-prepared answer with complete confidence. If it ever came to the point where he had no choice but to fully expose his Ability, this would be the most reasonable explanation.
And whether the dual personality was real or fake was just a matter of his own words.
Ji Qing could easily alter the truth of this matter based on the subsequent plot. All long-running shonen manga face the problem of later plot points contradicting the initial ones.
He believed the readers were surely familiar with this experience.
A meaningful smile touched Ji Qing's lips. In any case, the "Ji Qing" in the manga world only needed to deceive, not explain. The explanations were left for the manga artist and the readers to figure out for themselves.
"Alright, do you understand now?" Ji Qing turned to look at the ball of light.
This was the first time Ji Qing had seen the System's physical form. The ball of light looked soft and fluffy, like a glowing cloud. When the System's emotions fluctuated, the ball of light would even tie itself in knots.
It was actually a little cute.
Seeing it tied up in a multi-colored string of knots, Ji Qing's voice softened as he asked the question.
The System pondered, "I think I get it. Basically, we don't set things in stone, leaving room for changes later on."
"That's right," Ji Qing said slowly. "But since the Infected identity is definitely fake, let's put it right on the surface. Even if this alias is exposed later, it will be the one we've already prepared."
"Brilliant," the System realized.
So there was no need to finalize an answer now, because as long as the Infected identity wasn't exposed, it could still be modified later. The same went for the dual personality setup.
Truth and falsehood, it was all just a matter of words.
"System, I need the physical Masquerade Mask," Ji Qing then asked. "This can be exchanged for a real ability item that can be used for a long time, right?"
"Yes, it can," the System replied. "Because the Masquerade Mask isn't a powerful item, the approval is easy to get. Do you need me to apply for it now?"
"Not for now." Ji Qing chuckled.
But since it was possible, he didn't need to deliberately script a scene where the mask gets destroyed.
Although, it was far too early to be worrying about that.
After hashing out the details of his alias with the System, Ji Qing finally had the leisure to sit down and properly look at the forum threads. The System, like a deflated balloon, quickly flew off to go on standby.
It was clear it was eager to clock off, and also clear that it was genuinely worried about the explanation for the alias' setup.
The robotic system was finally not so robotic.
Ji Qing smiled helplessly.
He collected his thoughts and brought his attention back to the Manga Forum's interface:
[Ahhhh, congratulations to the old scoundrel Yuexia on retaking his throne!!!]
[It wasn't easy. Seeing it now, I finally feel like the plot of Ability Hunter is back to the old scoundrel's usual standard. Now it all depends on his performance in the third volume, sob sob sob.]
[hot] [A breakdown of Class S' social network. I honestly think the relationships between them are fascinating.]
[Li Yuan has black hair and red eyes, the old scoundrel's XP. If he's not an important character in the main story, I'll live stream myself washing my hair while doing a handstand!]
[hot] [Speculation on Volume 3 of Ability Hunter and future plot points~ Fellow fans are welcome to chime in~]
...
Ji Qing quietly stared at the title of the post mentioning Li Yuan's appearance, finding it oddly amusing. When he had first appeared using his alias, he had no idea that Yuexia Cao's XP was black hair and red eyes.
It could only be described as a happy accident.
But because of this, the debut of "Li Yuan" earned far more popularity value than "Ji Qing." Ji Qing didn't mind, though; it all went into his pocket anyway.
Ji Qing casually clicked on a hot thread:
[Topic: A breakdown of Class S' social network. I honestly think the relationships between them are fascinating.]
[1LOriginal Poster (OP):
Based on the current information in the manga, Class S has a total of 6 members:
Ji Qing, Shao Huayu, You Xingluo, Zhou Que, Song Xiaoran, and Ling You'er. Although Ling You'er hasn't appeared directly, her name suggests she's a girl.
Among the characters introduced in the second volume, Liu Mu and Feng Youyou are likely to enter Class S.
Add Xie Chang'an and Gu Lingxue to that, and if nothing unexpected happens, the final roster for Class S should be 10 people. 7 guys, 3 girls.]
[2L: So few.]
[3L: The number of people is so small.]
[4L: That's already a lot, isn't it? You have to remember that the initial number of members in Class S was only 6.]
[5L: Are you guys so sure the protagonist can get into Class S?]
[6L: The protagonist already decided to join Class S in the end, so how could he not? Speaking of which, I have a feeling the off-campus practical for Class S next semester will be really interesting.]
[7L: It's going to go straight from school life to wasteland exploration (not really).]
[8L: Is the 'Academy' in Ability Hunter Academy just for show?]
[9L: What does it matter?]
[10L (replying to 8L): Are there really so few urban ability manga that start in a school setting? If you're not happy with it, go read another manga. This one has its own audience.
This is the first hot-blooded manga I've read with a wasteland setting, and I'm itching with curiosity. The old scoundrel has done such a good job with the world-building; I want to leave the school right now.]
[11L: You're not wrong, I jumped when Li Yuan showed up.]
[12L: The world outside the school seems really exciting.]
[13L: The more you talk about it, the more I'm looking forward to it, even though we probably have to go through who knows how many chapters of school life first.]
[14LOriginal Poster (OP): The focus of Volume 3 should be on searching for the World Book and the school competition happening at the same time. I'm a little scared the protagonist's identity will be exposed. The old scoundrel has a habit of not following the tropes in some conventional places.]
[15L: True.]
[16L: It's something to worry about.]
[17LOriginal Poster (OP): Let's get back to the Class S social network.
First, we can be sure of this: Shao Huayu, Zhou Que, and You Xingluo are all from noble families. Ji Qing and Song Xiaoran are commoners. We won't talk about Ling You'er for now. She didn't even appear in this volume.
Adding the other current members, the situation is roughly:
Nobles: Shao Huayu, Zhou Que, You Xingluo
Commoners: Ji Qing, Song Xiaoran, Xie Chang'an, Gu Lingxue, Feng Youyou, Liu Mu (?)
Liu Mu's situation is a bit tricky. He's close to Shao Huayu, but from the looks of it, he seems to be from a branch family subservient to the Shao family or a commoner sponsored by the Shao family.]
[18L: Speaking of which, I haven't seen Xuexue in so long.]
[19L: Liu Mu is so familiar when he talks to Shao Huayu in private.]
[20L: Yeah, and Zhou Que didn't seem to think there was anything wrong with how he addressed him. It really makes me wonder about his relationship with those two...]
[21L: Ji Qing guessed he was a follower right away.
But from the way Liu Mu addresses Shao Huayu, he doesn't seem like a follower. However, he was completely silent in front of Shao Huayu, which might also be because Ji Qing was there.]
[22LOriginal Poster (OP): Yes, and that's the first interesting point.
The relationship between Shao Huayu, Zhou Que, and Liu Mu is unusual. From Liu Mu's tone, it sounds like he's cleaned up after Zhou Que many times. The school infirmary scene started with him pointing out what Zhou Que did wrong.]
[23L: Zhou Que: painful_mask.jpg]
[24L: Hahahaha]
[25L: I'm also quite curious about Zhou Que and Shao Huayu's relationship. It doesn't feel natural. If it's just based on Zhou Que's status as an S-rank ability user, why doesn't Shao try to get close to Song Xiaoran?
Wouldn't it be better to win over Song Xiaoran, who has no backing, for the Shao family, than to try and win over Zhou Que, who has the Zhou family behind him?]
[26L: Feels like they're childhood friends.]
[27L: In that case, could it be that these three noble disciples grew up together?]
[28LOriginal Poster (OP): And that's the second interesting point.
Shao Huayu, Zhou Que, and You Xingluo are the same age, all from Central City, all disciples of noble families, and all S-rank ability users. The probability of the three being childhood playmates is extremely high.]
[29L: Holy crap.]
[30L: That's very likely the case. Shao Huayu's attitude towards You Xingluo is unusual. When Chang'an went to ask them questions, if You Xingluo hadn't been there, Shao Huayu's face was so dark he almost stormed off.]
[31L: That scene really was...]
[32L: Among the three, I feel like Shao Huayu and You Xingluo are closer. Because Shao is more restrained and gentle when facing You Xingluo, a bit like he has a crush on him, lol.]
[33L: Huh?]
[34L: I don't think so? Mainly because I feel like Shao and Zhou don't have much to talk about. Zhou gives me the impression of being a blockhead, while You's aura is more compatible with Shao's. They probably have more in common.]
[35L: Then what about Ji Qing?]
[36LOriginal Poster (OP): And that's the third interesting point (lol).
You Xingluo, Shao Huayu, and Ji Qing currently form a perfect triangle.
I specifically went back to copy-paste the scrolling comments from that chapter: "Their relationship seems pretty good, but You Xingluo was confused by Ji Qing's behavior and asked Shao Huayu; Ji Qing was confused about You Xingluo's whereabouts and asked Shao Huayu...
Don't you all find this strange now?"
From current speculation, Ji Qing thinks Shao Huayu is closer to the other person. But from You Xingluo's tone, it seems he is the one actively approaching Ji Qing, and Shao is aware of it.]
[37L: Damn—]
[38L: The internal dynamics of Class S are so complicated.]
[39L: How can there only be a few people, yet it develops into such a melodramatic social network...]
[40L: Shao's name appears so frequently...]
[41L: Is Shao Huayu a player? He doesn't seem like one.]
[42LOriginal Poster (OP) (replying to 39L): It's not just that.
Song Xiaoran and Xie Chang'an, Xie Chang'an and Gu Lingxue, Ji Qing and Feng Youyou... the remaining few all know each other, and there's definitely more plot to come between Song Xiaoran and the protagonist.
The social relationships in Class S will definitely get even more complicated in the future.]
...
A trace of worry flashed across Ji Qing's face.
Complex interpersonal relationships often required more energy to maintain, but he didn't want to waste his time on that. Let me just remain on the periphery, Ji Qing thought.
Having made up his mind, Ji Qing quickly clicked on another hot thread:
[Topic: Speculation on Volume 3 of Ability Hunter and future plot points~ Fellow fans are welcome to chime in~]
[1LOriginal Poster (OP): I originally thought we wouldn't see other wasteland factions until the off-campus practical, but I didn't expect the old scoundrel to arrange it right in the school. Now the protagonist has to prepare for the school competition while searching for the World Book.]
[2L: What's the World Book?]
[3L: An ability item that can be used to interpret fate. It looks like a book.]
[4L: Interpret fate? So, like prophecy?]
[5L: What use does the Dawn Society have for this book? The Third Ability Academy is keeping this ability item. Can he not get into the school? Is that why he asked Chang'an to find it?]
[6L: It's an ability academy, after all. The teachers inside are all ability users, and there are definitely a lot of security measures. It's better to have a student look for it.]
[7L: It seems like Li Yuan is all alone.]
[8L: No wonder.]
[9L: One man army VS a whole group.]
[10L: My current worry is: since Xie Chang'an is a spy, will his identity be exposed later? And what will be the consequences of that exposure?
Chang'an's Ability is... just so-so. The school will definitely prioritize the safety of the majority of students.]
[11L: That's true...]
[12LOriginal Poster (OP) (replying to 10L): Don't be afraid. The manga's title is Ability Hunter Academy, not Wasteland Chronicles. Chang'an will definitely stay in the school. No need to worry about this so early.]
[13LOriginal Poster (OP): I'm more curious about what the main plot is. I previously thought the main plot was school life, but now it seems the old scoundrel Yuexia doesn't plan to stay at the school for long.]
[14L: Who knows?]
[15L: He only said he would meet his friends at school, nothing else.]
[16L: The secrecy is quite good.]
[17L: I don't think we need to guess this so early. Because volumes three and four might still be set in the school. However, Li Yuan's appearance makes me think the subsequent plot will probably depict the conflict between the Federation, the Aberrants, and the Infected.]
[18L: That's obvious.]
[19L: There will also be teamwork, exploring Danger Zones, etc. (said it for you).]
[20LOriginal Poster (OP): Hmm...]
[21LOriginal Poster (OP): From the looks of it, it's going to be a pretty exciting high school life. Damn it, I'm even more excited now.]
...
There probably wasn't any more useful information after this.
Ji Qing's fingertips paused for a moment before he clicked on the next forum thread:
[Topic: Li Yuan has black hair and red eyes, the old scoundrel's XP. If he's not an important character in the main story, I'll live stream myself washing my hair while doing a handstand!]
[1LOriginal Poster (OP): After three months, I finally see the same color scheme as the previous manga's male lead, sob sob sob.]
[2L: This is so exciting.]
[3L: The moment Li Yuan appeared, the school instantly became fraught with danger. In the next volume, we'll have to compete while searching for the book, and also worry about our identities being discovered. Exciting, this is just too exciting...]
[4L: Rereading it now, I feel anxious the moment I see the senior students and teachers. Protagonist, you have to be careful this time.]
[5L: The old scoundrel is a god.]
[6L: He instantly cranked up the difficulty of the boring school life. This is the Yuexia Cao I know TAT.]
[7L: I'm so moved I could cry.]
[8L: Persisting really paid off TAT. I'm waiting for Ability Hunter to become Kuman's new flagship title. When the ads are everywhere, please make sure they appear on my doorstep (kneels).]
[9L: That would be awesome.]
[10LOriginal Poster (OP): Li Yuan's appearance is a milestone turning point. It instantly pulled back the curtain on a new part of the main story. He shattered the peace of school life all by himself.]
[11L: Yeah.]
[12L: Just his actions and demeanor alone give a glimpse into the dark side of the wasteland world.]
[13L: I'm a little worried: will Li Yuan backstab the protagonist? Judging from his words, the situation for the Infected is dire, and only the protagonist has escaped their fate.
I have a feeling that later in the story, he might cause trouble for the protagonist.]
[14L: What?]
[15L: This twisted relationship is so good.]
[16L: Actually, there are already signs of it now. You have to remember, he threatened, not negotiated. If the protagonist doesn't listen, he'll expose his identity directly.]
[17L: That's true.]
[18LOriginal Poster (OP):
Damn, the more I think about it, the more I love his character design.
Old scoundrel Yuexia, hurry up and draw, I want to see Volume 3, ahhh!!!]