NOVEL WEB Ch. 85
Chapter 85: Red Crane Doesn’t Know
“Holy crap, Li!”
The corgi’s owner was even more shocked than Li Li.
She looked Li Li up and down as she petted the corgi, then asked, “Li—no, miss, can I take a picture of you with the corgi?”
“Even if Yiming can’t get close to Li in the manga, my Yiming can get close to Li!” she said excitedly. “Please, it’s my lifelong dream!”
Li Li could tell—the corgi’s owner was absolutely a Yiming stan.
Was this the manga reflecting reality? Li Li found it amusing but didn’t refuse.
She asked for a copy of the photo of her petting the dog, then followed the Yiming stan, whose circle name was Lulu, to their table.
Jiang Lan and Luo Han were already there.
Jiang Lan, a Li stan, stood up the moment she saw Li Li. “Goddess! The new arc lacks Li content, and I need to get close! Sit here, sit here!”
Li Li couldn’t help but smile. “Okay.”
Then a corgi plopped itself between her and Jiang Lan.
Jiang Lan looked at Li Li, then at the corgi hogging the seat, and said indignantly, “Damn corgi.”
The corgi sprawled out, enjoying Li Li’s petting and letting out a cheerful “Woof!”
Unable to compete with the dog, Jiang Lan turned to Lulu.
“Is it neutered? If not, I’ll take it to the vet later!”
The corgi sat up, glaring. “Woof woof!”
Luo Han laughed so hard she slapped the table. “Neutering Yiming? That’s savage.”
Li Li, unbothered, kept petting the corgi.
Honestly, petting a dog was so refreshing.
No neutering was needed, though—this corgi was a girl, already spayed.
Li Li: Hold back the laugh, hold it in.
The blue-eyed corgi, oblivious to Li Li’s amusement, panted happily and wagged its tail.
The chatroom had five cosplayers, aside from props and photography crew, each stanning different characters.
Besides Li Li, Luo Han, and Lulu, there was a Tang stan and a Yu Xiao stan.
It was basically the protagonist team lineup, which gave the scriptwriter, Jiang Lan, a headache with the script.
They discussed for a bit and settled on doing the Illusory Reality Arc for the stage play.
“That’ll cost a lot for props,” Luo Han said.
“Isn’t the bigger issue finding people?” the Yu Xiao stan said.
In the end, they posted a recruitment thread on the forum, planning to gather people while urging Jiang Lan to write the script, lest she keep procrastinating.
Regarding this, the screenwriter Jiang Lan had something to say: “I didn’t slack off! I just put my limited energy into unlimited driving!”
The photo album in the group was her labor’s fruit!
With serious matters discussed, a few girls sharing the same hobby started chatting about the Extreme Black manga.
“By the way,” Lulu casually shared some news she knew, “Extreme Black might be getting an anime.”
“Really? For real?”
“When?”
Li Li’s hand, which was petting the corgi, paused.
She hadn’t expected to see the manga animated in her lifetime.
After all, this manga was tied to isekai and systems, and Li Li still wasn’t sure if it was drawn by a human or some unnatural force.
Lulu probably had some family connections, so she knew unannounced insider info: “It’s true. The manga artist was contacting teams recently.”
“Lots of companies wanted to buy Extreme Black’s IP before, but the artist rejected them all. But now, it seems the artist plans to self-fund the anime,” Lulu said.
“The artist is pretty dedicated,” Luo Han praised.
Li Li followed up with a question: “If they’re involved in the anime, will the artist show their face?”
Lulu shook her head: “I’m not sure, but I think it’s likely.”
Hearing this, Li Li nodded, her hand resuming petting the corgi’s head.
She kinda hoped the artist would show up, so she could see if they were human or…
Well, not a ghost, hopefully.
After that, the girls started speculating about the anime, and soon it was evening.
They said goodbye, planning to meet again when everyone was free or the script was ready.
Li Li went home covered in corgi fur.
At midnight, the second chapter of the Ranmu Arc updated.
Since her mom was home, Li Li turned off the light to read the manga.
This chapter’s style was similar to the last, not much different from Li Li’s experiences.
The only change was that ‘Shura’ and the Lin Ran version of Liu Cheng met in the library at night instead of during the day.
Red Crane controlled Qin to meet Lin Ruye, hearing about Ranmu City from six years ago.
Before Lin Ran’s official debut, the artist used a lot of space to depict the brutal scenes of Ranmu City’s founding—endless corpses, people on the streets suddenly dropping dead, the city lord seated at the highest point, eyes closed, monitoring every corner.
The whole Ranmu City felt chaotic yet oddly orderly, a jarring contrast.
Then the perspective shifted.
Shura stood outside a large door, slowly stepping inside.
After that came Heige unifying District 3, creating the ‘Night Guards’ scene.
The manga ended there, but Li Li noticed the artist deliberately drew Red Crane making a cake, only for Heige to take one bite and stop.
As expected, she opened the forum and saw related posts.
[It’s anorexia! I feel so bad for the bigshot, but it’s so hot!]
Due to plot reasons, Shura and Red Crane acted together, and since Red Crane was clearly Heige’s subordinate, readers assumed Shura was too.
[Red Crane is the perfect wife, Shura is cool and heroic. I’m jealous—I wanna soul-transmigrate into Heige.]
[Shura said she cares about a few people—could it be Li? Are they siblings?]
[I get it, it’s yuri vibes!]
[Red Crane, marry me!!!!]
After browsing the forum, Li Li recalled the plot she just saw.
“Lin Ran wants to apologize to me? For what?” She couldn’t figure it out.
Back then, she assumed their talk had fallen apart, and Lin Ran not killing her was already lucky.
“What am I in her eyes? Just because I saved her that night?” Li Li couldn’t understand.
Unable to figure it out, her confusion grew.
Could it be that besides low EQ, Lin Ran’s thinking was off, making it impossible for a normal person like her to empathize?
Finally, Li Li checked the time.
Tomorrow, she’d return to the manga world.
As a manga protagonist, she felt a new pressure.
Before, she had to chase the spotlight for screen time; now, every move might end up in the manga.
Be more cautious, she told herself.
Every choice she made was crucial, shaping the arc’s final outcome.
…
[Preparing for transmigration.]
[Channel opened. Wishing you to become a popular character, bringing new life to the manga.]
Back in the manga world after nearly a week, Li Li looked at An Heyu beside her, and her mind flashed to the forum’s chaos.
[Red Crane, marry me!]
[I want Red Crane’s cake, I want her to cook for me!]
[Short skirt, black stockings, yet a perfect wife—my heart belongs to Red Crane.]
[Doujin: Transmigrating to Ranmu Arc, marrying Red Crane, winning at life.]
Especially the last one—straight-guy novels were deadly.
An Heyu, wearing a red hood, met Li Li’s gaze with confusion.
He didn’t know that in another world, many wanted to take him home as a wife.
Of course, he shared that honor with other ‘female’ characters, like Shura, a girl cross-dressing as a guy cross-dressing as a girl, or Dan, the ageless cross-dressing bigshot.
Lin Ran, a fully female character, escaped this fate since she just debuted.
Li Li thought the artist was gonna seriously offend the straight male readers this time.
But that had nothing to do with her—she was just Heige, here for the laughs.
Back in the manga world, as planned, Li Li and An Heyu went to the outskirts of District 13, within District 12’s range.
The two stayed on a distant high-rise, summer night breeze blowing, using abilities to observe the border between the districts.
Li Li sat on the edge of the rooftop, one leg raised, arm propped up, chin resting in her hand.
An illusion condensed into a black crow, spreading its wings and soaring.
She smiled, gazing at the pitch-black District 13 in the distance.
The undead ‘Qin Qian,’ controlled by An Heyu, walked toward the District 13 border.
An Heyu himself, standing in the night breeze, looked at Li Li beside him and said slowly: “You know your expression right now is just like when you set me up back then?”
Li Li casually replied: “Is it?”
An Heyu’s expression was complicated, perhaps recalling the moment he was completely outplayed.
Li Li, meanwhile, was thinking that she hadn’t seen Dan in days.
She wondered how he was doing, if the last incident had worsened his madness.
Based on her analysis, Dan definitely had a mental illness.
But he was a concept-type, so being a bit unhinged was normal.
Li Li wasn’t even sure she was entirely sane herself—she knew some of her actions weren’t exactly normal.
The crow flew through the night sky, its button-like red eyes watching as a man in a white uniform stepped to the edge of District 12.
Then, he lifted his foot, toes hovering over District 13’s territory.
At that moment.
“Don’t come any closer.”
A gust erupted from within District 13, blowing the undead’s white uniform up past ninety degrees.
In the dark streets, a flash of white slowly approached, stepping forward.
It was white-haired Dan, still wearing his bubble-sleeve black dress, clutching a rabbit plushie.
“Come closer, and I’ll kill you,” he said.
His gold-blue heterochromatic eyes lifted, staring at the man in the white uniform: “I don’t care if you’re with the Ability Guild.”
The crow circled back. Li Li noticed Dan was indeed lenient with Ability Guild members.
Back then, she’d been attacked first, then warned.
But the Guild’s ‘Qin Qian’ got the reverse—warned first, with Dan holding back his killing move initially.
The gust continued, bending the greenery at the District 12-13 border like a typhoon passing through.
At that moment, the controlled man in the white uniform, face unchanged, stepped onto the District 13 borderline.
“Do you dare?” the undead relayed its master’s words. “Kill me, and get blasted out of District 13 by the Lin clan?”
Dan’s face darkened, opening his mouth as if to say something.
Like before, to unleash his ability and kill the person before him.
But on the rooftop a hundred meters away, as the night breeze blew and An Heyu listened and waited, Li Li’s lips curved into a smirk.