When Zhao Youyue saw Su Li—the self-proclaimed veteran driver who claimed the ride would always be steady—respond so decisively to the work's League Leader, she felt a cold cynicism prickle at her mind. Su Li had made a promise in front of the entire group of more than sixteen hundred fans that Pure Love would absolutely have a joyful and complete happy ending, and Zhao Youyue quietly chose to take a screenshot of those words, the digital click of her phone sounding final in the quiet of her room.
In fact, Su Li didn't just make the promise in the group chat. She also declared it publicly on her Weibo account, which already had more than five hundred thousand followers. There she proudly described herself as a manga artist who always put readers first, her posts adorned with cheerful emojis and a verified orange 'V' beside her name. After all, readers were the source of her livelihood. Her work, she said, would only ever bring them happiness, not any strange or depressing nonsense.
This was probably because many readers had seen how ruthlessly she had tormented Xu Jing and had begun to worry she might escalate things even further later on, perhaps even drawing Xu Jing's death. Naturally, Su Li wouldn't allow readers she valued so much to carry such worries, so she spoke with absolute certainty, her confidence radiating from the glowing screen.
"I am not Teacher Okamoto Lynn, the so-called tormenting sister maniac. And I am not Teacher Gen Urobuchi either, the one who loves handing out death flags and wiping out entire casts.
Pure Love is my debut manga, and its style is light, cheerful, warm, and healing. Right now I am only giving Xu Jing a bit of hardship. There is a line of poetry that says, 'Without experiencing wind and rain, how can one see a rainbow?' I like the character Xu Jing a lot. In fact, I am quite fond of her. So of course her ending will be perfect. And the ending of this work will also be a big happy reunion. Every character will find happiness. A tragedy? Impossible. Don't worry."
Once Su Li posted this message, more and more Pure Love readers began liking and reposting it. After all, most readers in the world weren't masochists who enjoyed depressing stories. A comedic or happy ending might feel less powerful or memorable, but the majority of readers still welcomed the comfort of a safe resolution.
Besides, Su Li had no ambition to create some timeless classic. What she wanted was a work with enormous popularity, a work that could bring her endless income. But realistically speaking, unless a manga reached the explosive level of a classic hot-blooded shonen series like Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball, what kind of harem story could truly be remembered forever? In truth, a formulaic harem manga like Pure Love was already at a disadvantage compared with mainstream action series.
The number of followers on Su Li's Weibo began to rise quickly. Readers left comments that scrolled endlessly down the interface.
"I support Teacher Su Li. Now I can jump into this series with confidence. I hope the manga keeps getting better."
"Teacher Su Li is truly one of the good ones in the industry. Not like those shameless authors who trick readers."
"Just because of Su-dà's promise, I have decided to tip a League Leader."
"To be honest, I used to read pirated versions, but because of Teacher Su Li's integrity and morals, I have decided to go legit. I'm going to subscribe to all of Pure Love on the website, then buy the entire volume set for my collection. Of course I will also buy a Xu Jing figure."
Su Li refreshed the page. She truly couldn't understand why some creators allowed their plots to spiral out of control and end in tragedy.
Take the writer she had mentioned earlier, Gen Urobuchi. In the industry he was nicknamed the Warrior of Love, Old Uro. People joked that he had already contracted the disease of being unable to write a Happy End. His representative works included Phantom of Inferno, Saya no Uta, and Puella Magi Madoka Magica. In this world, Fate/Zero hadn't yet been written, but his so-called "healing the heart" style was already famous. He even liked to insert visceral, gruesome scenes—often compared to tomato sauce or fruit jelly—into stories that looked like tragic love stories on the surface. In Saya no Uta, for example, horrific acts were described with a sickeningly pleasant sensory detachment.
More importantly, some people claimed that this illness was something every creator would eventually face as long as they sincerely confronted their own story. Some writers crossed past it and wrote hope. Others faced it directly and wrote their ideals, even if those ideals were grim. Both paths were considered valid, simply different types of persistence.
Su Li scoffed at this idea. Of course she respected that famous scriptwriter from Japan, but she felt that kind of illness was nothing more than pretentious artistic angst. People made it sound mysterious and profound, but she herself would never poison readers or feed them garbage. She had already said it. If she ever did something like that, she would destroy her own career.
. . .
While Su Li reaffirmed her creative philosophy, Zhao Youyue quietly saved screenshots of every firm promise Su Li had posted on Weibo, the phone vibrating slightly in her hand as she captured the receipts, patiently waiting for the moment when the ending of Pure Love would finally arrive.
Inside the world of Pure Love, Xu Jing, whom Zhao Youyue had possessed, finally woke up.
Only then did she realize she was lying in a hospital bed, the air thick with the sharp, sterile scent of disinfectant. The sheets beneath her were coarse and white, illuminated by the flickering hum of a fluorescent light overhead. Sitting beside her was her best friend, Yang Qianqian.
Yang Qianqian had known Xu Jing's background for a long time. Yet she had never looked down on her. On the contrary, she had always helped her. In Xu Jing's gray and lonely life, Yang Qianqian's presence was one of the few bright colors, almost like her mother's warmth.
In front of her older brother Yang Ming, Yang Qianqian became extremely dependent on him and loved acting cute and spoiled. But in front of Xu Jing, she was like a gentle older sister. Whenever she had the chance, she would drag Xu Jing out to eat together, hoping to improve her friend's meager meals a little. At the same time, she treated Xu Jing as someone she could confide in, sharing her emotional troubles in hushed tones.
Xu Jing was an excellent listener. She didn't talk much, but she listened seriously to Yang Qianqian's worries and tried to comfort her with clumsy, earnest words. Even if she couldn't offer practical advice, Yang Qianqian would still laugh when she saw Xu Jing's focused expression, and the frustrated knot in her heart would loosen.
At the same time, Yang Qianqian relied heavily on Xu Jing when it came to studying. Whenever she encountered a problem she couldn't solve, she would ask Xu Jing. This was Xu Jing's specialty. When explaining questions, she could become surprisingly talkative, her voice steady as she taught Yang Qianqian until she understood. The two of them had already promised that they would attend the same high school and continue being best friends.
Now that the possessed Xu Jing had finally woken up, Yang Qianqian threw her arms around her best friend and burst into tears of relief, the dampness of the girl's tears soaking into the thin hospital gown. It showed just how deeply she cared about her.
The girl felt Yang Qianqian's soft body against her own and caught the pleasant, floral fragrance drifting from her hair. Suddenly, an uncontrollable surge of jealousy and anger rose within her, hot and suffocating in her chest.
Why did Yang Qianqian like her unfaithful older brother so much?
Why couldn't it be her?
She could clearly do anything for Yang Qianqian.
The possessed girl hurriedly shook away those strange thoughts, the sterile air of the hospital cooling her skin.
Until the day when her mother left this world forever.