Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

Zhao Jiayi was not surprised to learn that Zhao Youyue had opted out of her hostel, just because she was too lazy to do her bed. It was his daughter. He was the loving father who allowed his daughter to do as she pleased. Such behavior was why Zhao Youyue discovered her talents only in high school – not earlier.

To forge iron into a sword, it must first be heated and tempered. A lenient, lazy blacksmith had almost cost Zhao Youyue all her talents. Fortunately Chu Luoxun’s character card buffered that back up.

Wang Hua was to blame as well. She sound strict, but nobody pampered her sloth any more than she possibly could. Her fights with Zhao Youyue were usually caused by her spending too much time fooling around.

They were like two good friends in primary school. A joke would start, and they pushed each other gently to express disagreement. By the end of the day, they would refuse to talk to each other after a terrible fist fight. By the next few days, they would be happily playing together again.

This endless loop would never end when two parties were literally related by blood and soul.

Zhao Jiayi had grown addicted to a new game – “They Are Billions.” [1] They Are Billions was a post-apocalyptic real-time strategy survival video game where the player would be tossed in a randomly generated steampunk themed, zombie-infested world. Only a handful of humans survived, and their fates were in the player’s hands. The player had to protect the surviving humans by developing improved weaponry and defences. Zombies fearlessly swarmed any human in sight with one sole purpose: to eliminate humanity from the surface of the earth. Once a human gets infected, there was no turning back.

Zhao Jiayi was a fan of strategy games. Before this game, he had been obsessed with Stellaris and Sid Meiers Civilization. These game sucked the players into their worlds, robbing them of all track of time. After one game or two, players would often be left wondering – how had they been gone for so long?

On the contrary, Zhao Youyue did not find any excitement in strategy games. In fact, she would find gaming as a whole boring, if she did not possess Little Yu’s card. It was only after having obtained that character card did she start with highly demanding games such as League of Legends and PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. Her current game was Tales of Wuxia 3: Swords of the Future.

Her personal preference did not stop her from admiring her dad’s figure, bent towards the screen as he gamed. Since childhood, she often enjoyed watching her dad play his favorite games, such as Command & Conquer: Red Alert, Age of Empires and Warcraft: Orcs & Humans. [2][3][4]

One of her favorite past times was to watch her dad play Age of Empires. The scene of numerous calvary marching towards the north and leveling buildings was breathtaking.

“Once you have mastered my strategy of army assembly, you could just press “A” and click anywhere you want,” Zhao Jiayi had once told his innocent toddler Zhao Youyue, his eyes glittering with pride.

Being accompanied by own daughter while playing games had been a most cherished memory. Now that she was fully grown, she had her own preferred games, and they were on different routes now.

Zhao Youyue was done soaking herself in the bathtub. She put on her pajamas on and strolled to her dad’s gaming room. While watching her dad playing games, a sudden image flashed in her mind. It was her violin teacher, aunt Liu Yuxi, and her dad. Somehow, she thought that they would make a great couple. Though Liu Yuxi was old mama’s best friend, she seemed to hate Wang Hua’s husband, Zhao Jiayi.

She took a seat beside her father and quietly watched him game on They Are Billions. As he clicked away, Zhao Jiayi started to ask his daughter about her new university life.

As he shifted his attention to talk to her daughter, he lost track of one of his sniper squads, clicking them directly into the path of a zombie swarm. Poor snipers, they became zombie food. There was nothing much he could do about it, other than to load a saved file.

“Little You, now that you are a university student, it is time for you to start thinking about getting into a relationship. If you see any boy who is worthy of you, just do your best to win his heart. I trust your judgment. As long as you like him, all should be well,” Zhao Jiayi said, almost casually.

I am obsessed with learning now, a relationship can wait. I want to do greater things in life,” Zhao Youyue replied with a smile.

Zhao Jiayi remained silent. He did not want to constrain his daughter from a relationship while she was still a student. Parents who did that often stressed their children to get married right after their graduation.

Zhao Jiayi assumed that Zhao Youyue had yet to find a guy she liked. It never once crossed his mind that no boys were on par with his daughter. She was just too good at everything, nothing would impress her. Other than that, she was not lacking in friendship. She might only have a handful of friends, but she did have lots of adorable and playful pets.

Zhao Jiayi’s words served as a reminder for Zhao Youyue. To tighten her grip on family influence and wealth, she must continue to enhance her skill and better herself. One day, she would have to contribute to her family.

Although her father did not pressure her on her relationships, she might be forced into marriage when the time was right. If she was not interested in anyone, her family would decide on her spouse.

Zhao Youyue had to prepare herself for this possibility. Given her family’s standing in this society, was it possible to remain single at all times?

Such an idea struck Zhao Youyue like lightning, opening her eyes to a possible future.

She now had to fight fire with fire. She had high hopes in her “Two Dimensional Gate.” It had been able to open a path into a martial art and magical world of low energy level. She was certain that it would soon be able to bring her to worlds with a higher energy level.

Zhao Youyue had to acquire more skills. The “Two Dimensional Gate” could enhance her with different sets of skills with higher energy levels, preferably. At the same time, she would draft out a new development plan for her company. The company’s focus at the moment was limited to the entertainment sector. Perhaps she should plagiarize some Black Technology from another world for her company to monopolize the market.[5] That would be better than running a company like Umbrella Corps. [6] By then, who could stop her from staying single?

Her life goal had been set. Perhaps it is time for her to begin her own journey. She should get things started by gathering the authors of science fiction and produce an iconic science fiction novel…

Before that, she had to build a firm foundation for her Black Technology company. It had to be well-funded. Her current company lacked cash flow at the moment.

Entertainment businesses could only reap in limited profits. Each year, her publishing company only generated a few hundred thousands dollars worth of income. To her, that was mere pocket money. Even her livestreams paid more…

Translation Note:

[1] “They Are Billions” is a post-apocalyptic real-time strategy survival video game developed and published by Numantian Games. Available exclusively on Microsoft Windows, it was released onto Steam’s Early Access program in December 2017. They Are Billions pits the player in a randomly generated steampunk themed, zombie-infested world. The player’s goal is to build a base to protect themselves, by planning the layout and defenses, exploring the map, collecting resources and expanding while fighting the local zombie population at the same time. Infected villages, called Villages of Doom, can be pillaged for resources, although a backlash of zombie swarms can result.

[2] Command & Conquer: Red Alert is a real-time strategy video game of the Command & Conquer franchise, produced by Westwood Studios and released by Virgin Interactive Entertainment in 1996.

[3] Age of Empires is a series of historical real-time strategy video games, originally developed by Ensemble Studios and published by Microsoft Studios. The first title of the series was Age of Empires, released in 1997.

[4] Warcraft: Orcs & Humans is a real-time strategy game (RTS), developed by Blizzard Entertainment and published by Blizzard and Interplay Productions. The MS-DOS version was released on 23 November 1994 and the Macintosh version in early 1996.

[5] Black Technology is a term used in “Full Metal Panic!”. is technology that is far more advanced than those of the real world. They are created by a category of humans called the Whispered. With the origins of Black Technology being a tightly kept secret, the general populace is unaware that the Whispered exist, let alone that they are the sole source of Black Technology or that the term “Black Technology” exists and is used to distinguish from conventionally developed technology. Pieces of Black Technology, such as Arm Slaves, have become as ordinary and commonplace as the real world’s F-22’s. So the ordinary civilian is unaware of the vast difference in technological advancement.