Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

The source world had served Zhao Youyue well. She had harvested several lifetimes of talents and skills. This newfound, master-level drawing ability was just a bonus.

If a modern curator were to gaze upon her drawing, they would feel as if they had traveled back in time. The drawing style was similar to that of medieval artists.

This was not exactly surprising. After all, her teachers in the source world belonged to that period. Style and fashion changed over time.

Such change would be most apparent regarding manga. One could tell if a manga is aged at a single glance.

Sometimes, even the most interesting of stories would fail to make up for old drawing that some readers may find off-putting.

Now, Zhao Youyue could easily produce manga-level work. However, that was not exactly her intentions. If she could pain traditional oil pieces, why not? It was more pretentious than some fancy manga.

Drawing was now another one of Lady Zhao’s many past times. Of course, she had yet to demonstrate it — no one would know of it for now.

After a few days of drawing, Zhao Youyue placed her last stroke. “Cirilla” had been reproduced in Da Vinci’s drawing style. Zhao Youyue felt a wave of nostalgia wash over her.

“Cirilla” was so beautiful in the portrait. She was in her wedding dress. A crown adorned her head. She seemed nothing like the female witcher who loved to fight and kill. Instead, she looked like a blissful bride — Olivia’s dear bride.

Now, Zhao Youyue had taken her leave from the source world. Even Olivia’s fate remained unclear…

She did not know how Cirilla, who deeply loved “Olivia” would react if “Olivia” simply up and died. Cirilla also could learn of Olivia’s secret. Then, she would use her “Elder Blood” and force open The Gate of the Worlds, chasing after Zhao Youyue through endless source worlds.

Of course, Cirilla lacked the power to actually traverse dimensions and cross over into reality. Zhao Youyue was the only one who could do so.

Reality was harsh, as its rules were. It would never stand for any form of magic. If not, Zhao Youyue would have found a way to reproduce the magical dark technology that she had created within the source world.

Even if Zhao Youyue used the character card, she would only seem remotely mysterious. She could cause the suspension of disbelief with performances similar to her “soul music.” To the eyes of commoners, it was just a beautiful mix of emotion and skill. It was all scientific and logical.

This was the reality. Unless you did the impossible, humans would somehow work an explanation out for any situation, no matter how bizarre.

In fact, various unscientific, unexplainable, mysterious phenomena truly existed. Zhao Youyue’s “Two Dimensional Gate” was solid evidence…

Zhao Youyue did not appreciate such an orderly, rational world. Reality was unpleasant. She was vaguely aware that her character cards were only so powerful because readers had read of them, acknowledged them, and accepted them as the natural order of things.

Readers of the real world were granters of wishes. The only problem was that it took a massive amount of readers to cause any change. It was just that no one else had the “Two Dimensional Gate” to harness such power…

At least, this was Zhao Youyue’s assumption. Therefore, in this world, be it the writers or their loyal readers, they had to be treated with the utmost respect. They were her true source of power!

Of course, there were also terrible writers and readers. Their existence marred an otherwise perfect picture. Zhao Youyue hated these folks.

While Zhao Youyue was still addicted to her newfound revelation of the “Two Dimensional Gate,” Jiangnan University buzzed with life. It was time to pick a new “Student President.” Two promising candidates were already standing out. One was Qiao Fei, the Head of Discipline who had lost to Zhu Yongnian, the incumbent student president in the previous elections. She was well-known to be just and stern. She did all she could to gain the favor of those great clubs. On the other hand, she intended to eliminate those small clubs that purely sought to cheat the university of its fundings…

Many felt that Qiao Fei was a no-nonsense leader who would get the ball rolling. She should lead the existing student clubs into a fresh new era. In addition to that, when it came to joint campus festivals, carnivals, she promised to fight for more benefits on their end. It would further increase Jiangnan University’s reputation, keeping the university’s status as the boss among other southern universities.

After Zhu Yongnian became the student president for a half-semester, he was subject to harsh criticism. Many felt that he was quite possibly the worst president ever. He did nothing but spend his days fooling around. How did he actually get chosen? Has everyone been voting with their legs?

In contrast to that, the “one to bring order out of chaos” Qiao Fei seemed far more favorable than ever. Many students were prepared to vote seriously this time round.

Qiao Fei aside, Chen Ye, the head of the Public Relations Department had taken himself in the running as well. He had a formidable assistant —— Cao Chuanguang, the President of the News Club and Deputy Head of the Public Relations Department.

Although Cao Chuanguang was rather despicable as a person, he was an able promoter. He often boasted about how close he was to Chen Ye, going so far as to claim that Chen Ye would lead Jiangnan University ahead of the Capital University, Chung Hua University. He could very well call him the next messiah.

The students treated the campus like a country. They were the voters, the Student Presidents their rulers. Such propaganda came like rain on a drought-ridden desert. Those words got to them, and they started genuinely believing that voting for Chen Ye would be a great choice. This man would bring the tide along with him. He intended to slaughter the Capital University, and exterminate Chung Hua University. What were you waiting for? Hurry vote for Chen Ye!

“Lady Zhao, have you forgotten about participating as a candidate?” Yu Xuefei reminded her roommate.

“No, I haven’t. I just want to see the others struggle more,” replied Lady Zhao, a smile on her face.