Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Zhao Youyue had fallen into a slump as of late. That was when her best friend Su Li, had asked her to visit the manga exhibition in Shanghai.

It was now May. Lady Zhao’s temper worsened as Jiang nan became hot and humid.

The reason for Zhao Youyue’s bad mood was simple: she was heartbroken, or at least, she was close to getting there. Of course, it had nothing to do with the events of the real world. Nothing would touch her heart there. It was the source world.

Cirilla had the “Elder Blood” which allowed her to traverse dimensions, yet she could not come into reality.

This was irrefutable proof that reality was far superior, compared to the source worlds. Other supporting factors were such as how Zhao Youyue’s character card only had limited power in reality, despite how powerful they were in their respective worlds.

If she could be as powerful as she was in the source world, she would be an actual superhuman.

After losing her “wife,” Lady Zhao had tried to distract herself with other activities. Su Li appeared just at the right time as a passionate mangaka. In their chit-chat, she mentioned to Lady Zhao about Shanghai’s grand exhibition in May. Why not join her for a short getaway?

Of course, Zhao Youyue did not turn down Su Li’s invitation. Of so many manga exhibitions she went, all of them featured cosplayers of the best quality, especially when it came to an event such as this…

This time, Su Li had invited her. With her influence in the exhibition, Lady Zhao could easily get whatever she wanted. How could the owner of the stall dare to reject Lady Zhao, who had been personally vouched for by Su Li?

Su Li was a trend chaser. When “Road to a Female Emperor” was a hot topic, she had wanted to draw a portrait of one of its characters. This time, she had not yet chosen any specific characters to be her subject.

Every time she drew something, a chatty group would talk about her “mysterious power of the east.” If she chose Olivia this time, they would inevitably say something like Su; the Great Deity is winding up for her next curse!

Su Li was well aware of the situation, and she would not risk her reputation of “Su, the Great Deity” that she had grown to love so much. Currently, Olivia was at the top of the world. What if she drew her, and Olivia only continued soaring? That would ruin her reputation as Su, the Great Deity.

Su Li was up to date on the entire “Road to a Female Emperor.” From an author’s point of view, Empress Olivia was destined to win in everything. Why would she challenge such a character?

Hence, it would be better for her not to draw Olivia. Of course, if Lady Zhao requested for it, she could always make an exception.

As Lady Zhao’s best friend, who else should draw for her but Su Li?

However, Lady Zhao had started learning how to draw on her own. She was not planning to pursue the manga or fantastical illustration stream, but rather, she was interested in oil paintings, particularly, classical western. Leonardo Da Vinci was who she hoped to someday be.

Most would only know of “Monalisa” and “The Last Supper” when Da Vinci is mentioned, but few would know him as the rare genius he actually was!

His thoughts were always out of the box. He was a remarkable painter, astronomist, inventor and civil engineer. He excelled in sculpturing, music, invention and architecture, arithmetics, biology, physics, astronomy, geography and so on. Talented and hardworking, his handwritten notebook comprised of 6000 pages. All of his hard work and research were in that notebook. Einstein believed that if Da Vinci ever published his research while he was alive, global technology would have been pushed forward by 30 to 50 years.

Su Li knew that Da Vinci was more than just a painter, and Lady Zhao was the only person worthy to be called his successor!

Zhao Youyue was now famous across the country, most probably because of her talent and mastery in music. Ordinary people knew her music as modern aged and forever refreshing. Experts who knew more saw her as a true master of classical music!

If Zhao Youyue ever randomly organized a live concert in any musical hall, the tickets would be sold out within a day!

Her classical music fans could never enjoy the music if other experts played her tracks. Nobody played like Zhao Youyue, where they would be brought into another beautiful world where there was only happiness. Such music seeped right into their hearts!

Zhao Youyue’s classical music fans thought this girl was so gifted that she did not need to work for a living but focus only on classical music. She might even be the next Mozart or Beethoven…

Those who had pursued a similar path with zealous passion would always be saddened when Zhao Youyue was mentioned. Even a lifetime of hard work would never get them to where she so effortlessly was. The gap between them and Zhao Youyue was so wide; only a miracle could narrow down the gap, but never actually surpass her.

Music aside, the public was well aware of Zhao Youyue’s lethal gaming skills. If she put her heart into it, no game would be too difficult for her.

Recently, she had produced live broadcasts of a game called “Frostpunk.” In the world of ice, people used steam technology to fight against the weather. It was a farming survival game that put humanity to the challenge. There were times where sacrifices must be made for the larger portion of humanity to survive.

In the end, Zhao Youyue made it through without sacrificing anyone. She was so skilled in management that nobody had to die. The coal supply never once waned, and food was well-supplied. Children did not need to work, and nobody died in the extreme weather. The whole city was like a warm cottage in the apocalypse.

Weaker players would need to make their choices between survival and guilt. You had to sometimes sacrifice half of the population to keep another half alive. You had to fight against the other tribes in London and deny the refugees entry. Everything inhumane and immoral beneath the sun must be done in order to be the last one standing.

After winning the game, players would appreciate life as it was and appreciate the warmth in life that we could give and take. Then, players would appreciate the hard decisions our leaders had to make.

When the audience watched Zhao Youyue play this game, she completely defeated the purpose of that life lesson!

One could almost start to hear the song “We’re Different” beginning to play in the background. [2]

So we’ve covered her music and her gaming abilities. But Zhao Youyue still had more talent to show, such as voice acting and A-class acting. She seemed to have maxed out life itself!

Su Li intended to delve into the depths of Lady Zhao’s talents. What would she surprise the world with next? Would it be literature, or some crazy new invention…

Translation Note:

[1] Frostpunk “冰汽时代”is a city-building survival game developed and published by 11-bit studios for Microsoft Windows.[1] Within three days of release, it had sold over 250,000 copies.

[2] We’re Different (我们不一样) composed by Da Zhuang 大壯