Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Of course, the story of “Pure Romance” was not over yet with the assassination of hero Yang Ming by his lifetime companion, Li Xiaotong. There were still a couple of unpredictable plot twists awaiting the readers.

First off, the missy Liusha was the first person to discover the hero’s death. She should have been the final winner of the deathmatch between all the harem girls. Wait, perhaps just the winner of the current stage, as the unfaithful hero might abandon her for the next target later. Just like what happened to Li Xiaotong, who was once his most beloved. He had assured Xiaotong that his world would be complete with her. But looking towards her ending… Sigh, she was treated as nothing more than a companion, and was never considered his girlfriend.

After murdering Yang Ming, Li Xiaotong hid herself at her house. Cuddling her legs on the bed, she almost reached the state of mental breakdown, until she received a Wechat message. It was from… “Yang Ming”, saying to meet her in the park.

Li Xiaotong came to realization at once. This message was sent by Liu Sha, Fearless, she followed the location shared by Liu Sha to rendezvous with her. One of her hands, was tucked beneath her coat.

It was late at night, and the moon was glimmering brightly. When she reached the destination, a traveling bag was seen on the park bench. She then walked towards it and a cold voice was heard coming from her back, it was Liu Sha, “Did you go to the hospital? They have the best doctors there.”

Liu Sha’s eyes were concealed under her fringe. Grinning with her head lowered, her whole person had emanated an inexplicable spooky aura.

“I didn’t.” Li Xiaodan answered calmly.

Why didn’t you?”

“I’ll never go to any hospital that you recommend!” Li Xiaodan raised her voice.

“You lied… In order to win back brother Ming’s heart, you made up all of this claiming that you’re carrying his baby.”

“No! It’s nothing like that!”

“Oh really?”

“I’m really having…”

“Well, then you should have visited the hospital for a check-up… Anyway, there’s no reason for you to deliver his baby. Because brother Ming’s girlfriend is me.”

“What?”

“Isn’t that right? I’m the only girl he acknowledged.”

“I also… I also wanted to be Ah Ming’s girlfriend! Just for this reason, I had endured everything and let him do whatever he pleased. But for what in the end? Why?” Li Xiaotong wept bitterly.

“If it’s for brother Ming, he’s actually here. Why don’t you say it to him?” the dark and sombre eyes of Liu Sha were looking at the traveling bag above the bench.

Li Xiaotong walked over and unzipped the traveling bag. She looked into the bag — it was the head of Yang Ming!

Perhaps none of the readers had imagined this. To think that a normal Harem manga would develop into such a horrifying ending. Not to mention, with her spectacular drawing skills, Su Li had meticulously depicted Yang Ming’s head. Not only had that terrified the unprepared readers to gnash their teeth, but Su Li had also satisfied her own distorted mind!

As for Li Xiaotong in the manga, she covered her mouth while shivering. After that, she could not help but started vomiting.

“For what you have said, let us examine if it’s true.” Liusha pulled out the cleaver with which she had chopped off Yang Ming’s head. It was still covered with blood. Never underestimate this missy for her “knifemanship” was quite impressive. After all, she was a multi-talented girl, yet gifted with an IQ of 250.

Liu Sha dashed forward. On the other hand, Li Xiaotong who had hidden one hand beneath her cloth, also pulled out the kitchen knife with which she killed Yang Ming. It seemed that both of the girls were well prepared!

However, Li Xiaotong was one step behind Liu Sha. Her hand that held the kitchen knife, was blocked by Liu Sha, and the knife fell on the ground…

Liu Sha’s face turned downright creepy now. Her former innocent character and adorable appearance could no longer be seen! As her eyes were becoming even darker and more solemn, she wielded the cleaver. The dazzling gleam of moonlight was reflected from its sharp blade. At this moment, the battle scene portrayed by Su Li could parallel those appeared in the top Shonen mangas!

Liu Sha slashed Li Xiaotong’s tummy with the cleaver. In a split second, blood spurted out madly. This was even more bloody and ferocious than the time Li Xiaotong stabbed Yang Ming. After all, missy Liusha was the more skillful heroine. Perhaps it was inconceivable to everyone that, such a plot could be a school Harem manga! Thinking back, the mangaka had even proclaimed this would be a happy, warm, and relaxing manga!

Under the moonlight, a petrified look took over Li Xiaotong’s face. Her eyeballs were rolling for a while, and then, she fell and perished. Liu Sha looked apathetically at Li Xiaotong who rested in a pool of blood. Bending down, she cut opened her abdomen with the cleaver. After all, she saw nothing in her stomach, thus she muttered, “Sure enough, it was a lie, there is nothing inside…”

At this very moment, Yang Xixi came into sight. She snatched the traveling bag and ran away frantically!

Liu Sha’s expression became even more ghastly and distorted at once. She bawled, “Don’t you take away my brother Ming!”

Raising the cleaver again, she charged towards this “thief”, Yang Xixi. She would make her rue the day by killing her. Tip Tap! Someone stood in her way. It was “Xu Jing”.

“Cut it out.” “Xu Jing” spoke in a cold tone.

“Stand aside!”

“The police are here.”

“How is that possible?”

“I’ve estimated the time you would finish all of this, and also taken into account the arrival time of policemen after making a report. I wouldn’t be wrong.”

Just as “Xu Jing’s” sentence was over, the police siren hooted.

While resisting her arrest and wanting to “chop” the policemen, she was shot dead on the spot.

…

On the boundless sea, sunset spreaded across right above the entire sea level. What a breathtaking scenery.

On a Nice Boat [1], Yang Xixi was hugging the head of her beloved brother in a side-lying position. The sunset’s ray shined upon the whole boat. That picture was so warm and beautiful. No more blood, no more horror.

Yang Xixi was finally at peace, with a contented smile on her face. That was completely different from the grudging smile when she was together with “Xu Jing”. She murmured, “Great. It’s only two of us, brother. Finally…”

She was truly happy, as no one could ever take away her brother again, and she would no longer need a substitute as well.

The Nice Boat sailed towards the sunset.

The scene changed. On the beach, “Xu Jing” was looking at the sunset on the horizon. She wore a lily white long dress, and her hair was still the ordinary single ponytail. With her chronically impassive expression, her hands were still holding a book.

At this moment, “Xu Jing’ was the most beautiful girl in the entire manga. The other girls could not hold a candle to her.

Step by step, she walked towards the sea. Tears of love were rolling down her cheeks, but her lips curved in a smile, “Xixi… she is but my second beloved, as what I love the most in this world is studies, of course it is!

She was crying, yet smiling. In the end, this all-time lonely figure gradually submerged into the endless sea. The sunset was still so beautiful, and heart-wrenching.

The final silhouette of “Xu Jing”, would forever be engraved in the minds of all readers.

Having foreshadowed the whole deal, still, “Xu Jing” did not obtain anything eventually.

The End, of “Pure Romance”. It was a perfect ending.

Hmm, wasn’t it?

Back to reality, the mangaka Su Li who had finished drawing all of this, was remaining in a delirious state. Beside her, the song “Kanashimi no Mukou e” was replaying again and again…

Translation Note:

[1] “Nice boat” (好船) originated from the censorship of the final episode of anime “School Days” during its broadcast in Japan, due to containing similar violent scenes to a national murder case that happened on the day before. Random scenery photos and classical music were played instead. When a boat was pictured, a netizen commented “Nice boat”, and this term immediately became a viral meme. Later, it was seen that the final episode actually ended with a boat sailing peacefully towards the sunset.

Since then, “Nice boat” was used in the sentences for a number of meanings:

– (noun) a delightful floating vessel “Let’s take this nice boat.”

– (noun) something unwelcome or unpleasant “What a nice boat!”

– (verb) carry out violent act on a philanderer, especially in Harem manga. “The promiscuous guy shall be nice boat-ed.”

– (verb) censor violent contents. “The show is nice boat-ed.”