Shift! The Side-Character Heroine

In an era where the feedback of readers was blindingly fast, creators did not need to communicate with the readers by letter. They could directly create a group chat or interact with their fans through Weibo.

Naturally, Chen Daxiu had a Weibo account, but he seldom posted there. If anything, he sporadically uploaded pictures of various sports cars that were taken by him. Of course, he would also reply to private messages.

When he decided to draw the character ‘Zhao Xiaomei’ as a cameo, his readers had reacted like so –

“Woah, this forever alone car guy has finally found himself a girlfriend?”

“This Zhao Xiaomei quite virtuous. She is clearly a rich lady, but she does not have the aura of one. Too bad she’s so ugly, hahaha!”

“Beauty is relative. To be honest, once you’ve gotten used to Master Chen Daxiu’s drawing style, Zhao Xiaomei is probably the most beautiful character he’s ever done. Nonetheless, we’re all here for the cars. He could draw up blueprints for them! Who cares about the characters, just improvise.”

“No matter what, it is fascinating to see a female character appear in this manga for once. Even a single dog would raise a commotion once he gets a look at Master Chen Daxiu’s female character style!”

“She’s still better than that prostitute. I don’t know how you guys felt, but when I first saw the scene, I was disgusted to my core. Sure, you could gloss it over and say, “Meh, she’s ugly anyway, who cares if he was cheated on…”Anyway, I am hoping that Master Chen Daxiu would not change his drawing style again and blast us in the face with Zhao Xiaomei’s supposed dark history. Don’t give us shit like her being a rich whore who would bed any man she finds.”

At first, Chen Daxiu replied to his fans, saying that ‘Zhao Xiaomei’ would not play any significant role. She would just be a bystander, cheering the main character on.

As he drew, his inspiration just kept coming. He could not help but add more scenes for ‘Zhao Xiaomei.’ Then, Zhao Xiaomei’s car appeared, and she became a full-time racer. The readers went wild! As one would expect, she quickly became one of the most popular characters in the series.

An already popular work could gain a popular character fairly easily. As long as the character was not a complete passerby or a cameo, anyone could be popular.

Undoubtedly, Zhao Youyue had made Zhao Xiaomei as prominent and outstanding as she could possibly be. The series had started off with little to no humor, but she had brought a fresh lease of laughter to the readers. There was a realistic chance that this character would become highly popular. On the other hand, attaining iconic status would be rather unlikely.

Zhao Youyue was not a fan of how she had been depicted in the manga. At least, her car was badass. It moved just as recklessly as she had imagined. This reckless, wild female racer would soon pierce through the fabric of fiction…

The manga’s Tieba and manga forums had new threads dedicated solely to this character. Fans felt that this was the most refreshing turn of events the manga had ever seen.

“Zhao Xiaomei is most definitely not a cameo character! I actually think she’s super cute. I have never imagined that Master Chen Daxiu could ever produce any intriguing female character!”

“That car is as crazy as its owner. Only she would take it down the mountain. It’s so f*cking fierce!”

“Zhao Xiaomei is a f*cking lunatic! She could hardly tell the pedals apart, but she has heart. Bloody impressive. She is simply one of a kind! It was so hilarious watching the experienced main character scream for life in Zhao Xiaomei’s car!”

“This female character had totally exemplified Chen Daxiu’s malice against female racers. How much disdain does he feel for female racers?”

“How did you even get there? I think that Master Chen Daxiu is very fond of this character. Anyone else who drove like Zhao Xiaomei would have crashed and died. She could not even tell her brake apart from her accelerator, and nothing happened to her. She’s the Balder[1] of racing…”

“Zhao Xiaomei doesn’t give sh*t. She’s basically doing parkour on wheels. Anyone who watches her races would be scared shitless. If such a female racer existed in the real world, God help us!”

“I like how she befuddles the main character in like every single one of her appearances! I am looking forward to the next development. Who knows, her blind intuition might just outpace the main guy’s technique and skills!”

…

Needless to say, readers loved her. Comic relief characters were always a welcome sight, especially in otherwise serious or repetitive series.

Chen Daxiu grew more passionate as he drew. How tragic things would get when he picks the pen up one day, only to find that this inspiration had deserted him!

All creators had their bad days. Sometimes, they would be utterly convinced that they would be unstoppable – this fuel would last them a lifetime. They often forget to take into account the fact that humans were vulnerable to fatigue. As they get closer to the end, they would run out of juice. It’s a tragedy.

The creators could not be blamed. This was due to Lady Zhao’s meddling. She rarely finished up after obtaining what she came for.

That’s right. The ‘Zhao Xiaomei’ highly-popular character card had been produced. In terms of personality, she did not have much to offer. People remembered her for her racing!

It was still unclear as to what extent the card would affect Zhao Youyue in real life. We could be certain that she would never experience a car accident, ever. She could race to her heart’s content, and her body would automatically adjust the speed of the car to a borderline safe limit. Her body would also know what to do, by intuition. Others might think that she was being plain suicidal. Zhao Youyue would be in her comfort zone.

However, Zhao Youyue would not see much use of this card. After all, she did not like street racing. She had a chauffeur of her own. If anything, this could be another sacrificial offering. She could use it to earn an iconic character from another world…

Zhao Youyue never expected to actually have a reason to use this character card. Apparently, her cousin Zhao Wei was up to another one of his lousy ideas and needed a talented racer!

Editor’s Note:

[1] (This was not in the original RAW, Tonicquill just felt that it was an apt comparison. The RAW simply said that she had the power of not crashing.) Balder, Old Norse Baldr, in Norse mythology, the son of the chief god Odin and his wife Frigg. Beautiful and just, he was the favorite of the gods. Most legends about him concern his death. Icelandic stories tell how the gods amused themselves by throwing objects at him, knowing that he was immune from harm. The blind god Höd, deceived by the evil Loki, killed Balder by hurling mistletoe, the only thing that could hurt him. After Balder’s funeral, the giantess Thökk, probably Loki in disguise, refused to weep the tears that would release Balder from death.