I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 152
Chapter 152: Let’s Protect Each Other
The “Honor District” in Shenzhen City is a very special area in my impression of this city. It is located to the west of Nanqi District, to the east of Xinxi District, and to the south of Shuiming District, sandwiched between three very distinctive districts, forming a relatively “independent” area.
A long time ago, it is said that when the city welfare institution was just established, the “Honor District” did not exist. That piece of land was in the suburbs, surrounded by mountains and water, with many protected gardens. The very famous “Medicinal Plant Garden” of Shenzhen City was built there.
At that time, the phenomenon of “abandoned infants” in Shenzhen City was particularly common, with three welfare institutions just in the city, and the medicinal plant garden where I worked was the fourth. In those days, people generally didn’t have much money, and the welfare institution in the medicinal plant garden was built with the “support” of the garden’s employees. In order to make life a little more convenient for the children in the welfare institution, the staff of the botanical garden directly contributed their canteen and dormitory area, and everyone ate and lived together.
As the name suggests, the Medicinal Plant Garden is a medicinal garden area established with funding from the Shenzhen City government, mainly for the cultivation of medicinal herbs, and then supplying medicines to the city’s pharmacies.
The welfare institution where I worked was born in the suburban medicinal plant garden of Shenzhen City under such circumstances, theoretically considered a semi-“state-owned” “enterprise.” It can be said that at that time, those who could work there, apart from the slightly harsh environment, had benefits similar to today’s “civil servants.”
Nowadays, with the continuous construction and expansion of Shenzhen City, the area around the medicinal plant garden has roads and subways, is no longer remote, and has acquired the name “Honor District,” with the establishment of the “Honor District Government.”
However, due to the special construction of the Honor District in those years, the roads and subways were funded by some local wealthy individuals. A large number of villas were built near the sea and rivers, and this area is also known as the “Glory District.”
Originally, the “Glory District” was a kind of sarcastic nickname used by the locals to refer to the area full of luxurious seaside villas. It was mainly derogatory, conveying a sense of irony like, “It’s so honorable to live in the same area as these tycoons, where a villa costs several billion, compared to our common folks earning a few thousand a month.” Somehow, this nickname spread widely and reached the ears of the authorities at the time. Upon hearing it, the authorities immediately adopted the modified proposal, and now both “Honor District” and “Glory District” refer to this “villa zone” and “wealthy area.” “Honor District” is the official term used by Shenzhen City, while “Glory District” is a colloquial name.
“Shenzhen Second Bridge, we have arrived. Please take care of your belongings and exit from the rear door.”
“The next stop is Honor District, Shanshui Meicheng. Passengers who need to disembark, please move towards the rear door and prepare to alight…”
When riding the bus to the Medicinal Plant Garden in Honor District with Yin Xiamo, we chose a rear window seat. My right hand held the small hand of the girl beside me, and my left hand managed various online information on my phone.
The viral café promotional video, along with our “Little Xia Nuo Does Not Hide in the Cardboard Box,” also gained popularity. In recent days, this account has received many direct messages, and everyone wants to see our daily life.
?Don’t mind the café manager, when are you two getting married??
?I have a question, are you and Xiamo really from Earth? My goodness, you both look so cute. Did you use an AI to create the face and body??
?Nuo’er, I have a suggestion, you’re already cute enough. Don’t wear makeup in the future. Your makeup makes you look like a doll, not real at all, a bit scary. You look perfect without makeup in the following days.?
?Sister Nuo’er, it’s time to update your status. It’s been almost three days since your last update. Even the donkeys in the production team don’t rest this much.?
Even as a former author, regularly interacting with various readers, this pile of private replies and mentions makes me a bit overwhelmed—three 99+ unread messages covering everything from business cooperation and advertising inquiries to harassment. The more serious ones are those who want to see more of our daily life.
As for the replies, there are even more of them. Most of these replies come from Ouyang Xue’s café promotional PV. Because Ouyang Xue pinned my comment, with millions of views on the video, whenever someone goes to the comment section, my comment is the first one they see. Plus, with my name “Little Xia Nuo Does Not Hide in the Cardboard Box,” which is cute, and my profile picture is a photo of me and Yin Xiamo, everyone immediately knows that this is our “official account.” So, there are a lot of comments like “front-row photo” and many playful and fanatical comments.
One of the most liked comments is: “Give me a thumbs up if you want to see them get married!” This is because both my appearance and figure were designed by Yin Xiamo, flawless and perfect. Yin Xiamo herself is from another world, belonging to the demon race, and while I can’t say her face is as beautiful as a celestial being, it is at least exceptionally attractive. So, when we are together, despite having the same gender, we still receive recognition from society.
The third popular comment under the promotional PV is: “Nuo’er can only be with Xiamo. They are too beautiful. I don’t think any guy can match either of them, so they can only be a couple.”
Apart from private messages and replies, probably because this account has become famous, I have received many mentions over the past few days. In other maid cafe promotional video comments, some people have mentioned me, saying things like, “The maids here don’t seem as attractive as @Little Xia Nuo Does Not Hide in the Cardboard Box.” In responses to some yuri videos, people say, “Here, too, there’s an incredibly sweet yuri couple @Little Xia Nuo Does Not Hide in the Cardboard Box.” Even in comments under cat-raising videos, many people reply, “Do the cats in your house have as many cat cafes as the newly opened one in Shenzhen? @Little Xia Nuo Does Not Hide in the Cardboard Box.”
I know that if I don’t manage such situations properly, the café and my reputation may be negatively affected.
Because when I was writing a book before, I heard from Pipi that he had encountered a similar situation. At that time, his book topped the sales charts at Yae-Do, possibly arousing jealousy from someone. A large number of “water army” emerged on the website. Instead of directly leaving negative reviews in Pipi’s novel’s comment section, they went to the comment sections of the other 19 books on the bestseller list, posting comments like “Your book is not as good as Pipi’s” or “What a trash book, read what Pipi wrote.” Then, they would create multiple accounts in various novel groups, crazily sending messages like “Everyone go read Pipi’s new book” or “Pipi’s army has arrived, the trash author should mute,” making Pipi extremely frustrated during that period.
What Ouyang Xue mentioned about having a “strong psychological resilience” in the morning is almost the same idea. Because these days, all kinds of people have been coming to the café, asking all sorts of questions. Ouyang Xue is worried that I might “panic and make mistakes.”
Especially for cute girls like “me.”
In today’s society, being handsome or cute comes with privileges. If someone has been accustomed to preferential treatment since childhood, when they enter a service industry similar to this, they might find it challenging to adapt, and it’s possible they could even go on strike. For example, I’ve been dealing with quite a few customers these days who are more carefree, entering and talking nonsense, or saying strange things. If it were a girl from a well-off family, she might not be able to “swallow the insult” and would either leave immediately or curse with words like “pervert,” “weirdo,” or “go away,” making the situation very tense.
Because I’ve seen many customers like this, I can usually predict what will happen when I see them at the entrance. I often play the role of a “carefree girl” on the spot: “Dear perverted sir, if you really have nothing better to do, I suggest you go to Siberia to dig potatoes.”
Anyway, my state of mind is… high-level nutmeg in a pumpkin — impenetrable, completely unaffected by any emotional fluctuations caused by the flirtation of a stranger.
As for Yin Xiamo and Ai Luodi, one is a Grim Reaper who has lived for thousands of years, killed people, and experienced battles in the underworld, while the other is an editor seasoned in numerous battles. These troublemakers causing disturbances at the café are simply not worth their attention.
So, under such an impenetrable defense, the opening ceremony of the café successfully concluded. Now, all we need to do is stabilize our online reputation.
?Please refrain from promoting Xiamo elsewhere!?
I changed my signature to this sentence. While on the bus, I took a moment to think and added a sentence at the end: ?Currently not accepting any business collaborations. The café has just started, and there are too many things to handle. Unable to respond to private messages—If necessary, please come to the café for discussion. Visit us and get free sweet potato soup, corn soup, red bean soup, seaweed with ice.?
After dealing with official matters for Tongmeng Net’s official account, I opened WeChat and looked at the empty friend list. I spent some time adding those people from my new phone’s contact list as friends.
In my understanding, QQ is a kind of virtual identity on the internet, while “WeChat” is a software that is closer to real-life interactions.
For instance, in the past, I rarely added real-life friends or classmates on QQ, and my profile information was often filled randomly. If anything involved “meeting in person,” I would directly exchange WeChat. This is also why, after becoming a girl, I didn’t apply for a new QQ number but simply changed the binding to a new phone number. The new phone number I am currently using was obtained with the identity card “Yin Nuo’er” at a service center near the Wujia Apartment.
As for the previous WeChat friends…
Sitting in the back seat of the car, I glanced at Yin Xiamo beside me and noticed that she was using the phone I bought for her to read a novel. The content of the novel was very familiar—it was something I had written just a few days ago.
Most people tend to experience motion sickness while riding in a vehicle, especially when using their phones. This is similar to how some individuals might feel dizzy when playing 3D games. It all falls under the category of sensitivity in the nervous system or genetics. Some people never experience motion sickness or discomfort with 3D, and some are naturally gifted with strong FPS (first-person shooter) abilities. Yin Xiamo and I probably share similar genes—at least I can concentrate on writing while on the bus without feeling motion sickness, and Yin Xiamo can read novels while sitting in a moving vehicle.
“Any suggestions?” I asked curiously as the girl saw the latest chapter of her novel.
“This is good, better than those scroll common stories in otherworldly settings,” Yin Xiamo said with a smile, then added, “I’m referring to the pacing.”
For a short book, the most important aspect is the word “pacing,” and I understand that. However, when Yin Xiamo says that the pacing of my novel, written by a lazy author like me, is better than otherworldly stories, I find it hard to comprehend.
“Are you serious?” I asked, feeling a bit embarrassed. “Are there similar novels in otherworldly settings?”
“No, over there, they have been at war for thousands of years—demons fighting humans, elves fighting orcs, sea creatures fighting tentacle monsters. Life is quite tense, and there is very little leisure and entertainment. Only in those inland countries, far away from war, would you find one or two artists willing to write, but because of the language barrier, even if they have some free time, people don’t have the mood to read. The books that can be translated into various languages are considered works of art.”
Yin Xiamo patiently explained, “The pacing of those novels is not as fast. Each story can often be completed in a single book, and there are almost no sequels. I guess I understand a bit now.”
“The times have changed. Nowadays, novels with slow pacing, poorly written summaries, and unappealing beginnings are doomed to fail,” she continued.
After a moment of thought, I asked, “Do you have any suggestions or feedback on the plot or character development after reading it?”
It seems like the accelerated pace of artistic culture has “rolled out.”
Nowadays, everyone has a smartphone, everyone can go online, and there are countless novels available everywhere. Everyone is writing, and if your book title and the beginning don’t captivate readers, they will move on to other books. In contrast to ancient otherworldly settings, there were very few authors, and simply having someone read your book was considered good. There was no competition at all, so those authors would take their time writing. Once finished, those interested in reading would come to find the book.
The two eras are completely incomparable.
“I’m not very familiar with novels, and books from otherworldly settings are different from those here. I can’t give you advice on the plot, but…”
At this point, Yin Xiamo intentionally paused and said, “I found a few small mistakes.”
“Hmm?” I leaned closer. “Where, where?”
As far as I remember, authors themselves cannot modify the content of novels after they are published, whether it’s for the Honeydew novels or Yae-Do novels.
It seems that a long time ago, someone took advantage of the convenient feature “authors can modify novel content” and uploaded some inappropriate content for review. After passing the review, they secretly changed the uploaded content to various illegal materials and then reported it themselves. The site administrator was called out on the same day, and the entire site underwent a month-long rectification. All authors had to self-inspect.
Since then, the ability for authors to modify chapter content has been disabled. If there is anything significant affecting readability or something that absolutely needs to be changed, authors can only contact their assigned editor, send the entire novel chapter, and wait for the editor to review it when they have time. Only after the review is completed will the editor contact the backend or relevant personnel to make the necessary modifications to the chapter.
If the process is fast, it takes about a day, but if it’s slow… for example, if the editor finishes work on Friday and you need content changes, even if you send it to the editor, they won’t receive the file until the next Monday at the latest. As for when they will have time to make the changes, that’s uncertain.
So, in most cases, unless it’s a severe error, we authors won’t bother the editor to make corrections.
“Here, and here. I suspect you’ve been a bit confused these nights,” Yin Xiamo pointed to several paragraphs on the phone screen. “You’re describing the male lead here, why is there mention of a ‘skirt’? Does your male lead wear a skirt?”
Ah… I took the phone and checked the context.
Oh no!
Then, I clicked on the comments section next to this paragraph —
?Did you make a mistake here??
?What was the author thinking describing the male lead in a skirt?
?Nuo’er, are you too tired from working at the café these days? This mistake is too obvious, it’s not even a typo?
?”XX’s skirt fluttered, shouting loudly…” Hahaha, I can’t hold back?
?Pure lolis fantasize everyone wearing skirts when they wear one themselves?
Sure enough, the comments section for this chapter was all about criticizing the “skirt description.”
This chapter… I should contact the editor to make corrections, right? This can’t be delayed!
Frantically, I took out my phone, opened the writing app, located the corresponding paragraphs, spent some time making corrections, then packaged it into a TXT file. I logged into QQ, clicked on the profile picture of the new editor, Catnip, and sent the file over.
?Editor-in-chief, help! I have a severe error here!?
?Please help me correct it when you see this. Thanks for your hard work.?
Shortly after, my phone displayed, “Honeydew’s editor Catnip has received your file.”
Soon after, a message arrived from Catnip: ?We just finished a meeting, and there’s a lot to handle. Please wait a bit on your end. I’ll help you before I finish work this afternoon.?
Before finishing work in the afternoon? Well, it looks like I’ll be mocked for the whole day.
I opened my fan group, and unsurprisingly, the group was currently discussing my “severe error” —
?Physics Duck: I told you all that Nuo’er is a silly loli. Didn’t I? She even wrote about the male lead wearing a skirt.?
?Ice Spirit: Maybe she should write a female lead story instead??
?Maple: A female lead story sounds great! I want to read yuri!?
“……”
In extreme embarrassment, I had to put away my phone, coughed as if nothing had happened, and said, “Uh… I’ve already had the editor make the changes.”
“Only one change?” Yin Xiamo, beside me, gave a “look at this fool” expression. “I saw at least three similar errors while reading. One was where you wrote the protagonist as ‘she,’ and there were a couple more where you got the protagonist’s name wrong and wrote it as the female lead’s.”
“Why didn’t you say anything just now…”
“I saw you rushing to make changes so hastily. I thought I’d wait for you to finish before mentioning it.”
Yin Xiamo, with innocent big eyes, said, “Isn’t it the same now?”
No, it’s not the same. When you mentioned it earlier, I could have made all the changes together and sent them to the editor at once. Now, you’re telling me I have to organize the file again and chat with the editor privately…
“……”
……
“The terminus, Medicinal Botanical Garden, has arrived. Welcome to take the bus from the Public Transit Company, Route 7.”
Twenty minutes later, having continuously sent several files to the editor, I received a message from Catnip, “Angry.jpg, can’t you send them all at once?!” I stumbled down from the bus with Yin Xiamo.
Woo woo woo… As an author, the most embarrassing and humiliating thing is making typos and descriptive errors.
What’s frustrating is that even if I check twice after finishing writing every day, and have two different proofreading tools help catch bugs before uploading, there are still typos.
Those proofreading tools and websites are like programs written by programmers, randomly pointing out grammar errors here and typos there. I spend half my time making corrections, and it still shows errors. Angrily, I give up, restore it to the original state, and suddenly, it’s error-free. It messes with your mindset.
Well, you can’t use proofreading tools if you have OCD. For example, it highlights sensitive words like ‘chicken’ in ‘fried chicken shop’ and marks ‘color demon’ in ‘summoned a blue magic circle’ as inappropriate content. For a nine-thousand-word content in three chapters, you get 99+ error prompts at a glance. Checking them one by one makes you feel crazy.
“This place is so beautiful…” After getting off the bus, looking at the towering trees around, Yin Xiamo showed a curious expression, “It feels completely different from the downtown area. Are these trees at least a hundred years old?”
“Yeah, these trees have been this tall since I can remember. There are many plants like these inside the botanical garden.”
I held Yin Xiamo’s hand. “Come on, I’ll take you to a place I loved going to when I was a child.”
Saying that, I led the girl along the path under our feet and jogged towards a small forest in the distance.
The Medicinal Botanical Garden is the terminus and starting point of Route 7 in Shenzhen City. It’s quite remote, and there’s only one bus route here. The surroundings are full of trees, and it’s said that there are only two drivers and one supervisor in the bus station, and they’ve been working for decades.
“Da da da da…”
As expected, the Lolita-style round-toed shoes with a chunky heel under my feet made a crisp sound on this hard cement road. The continuous vibrations coming from the heel made me clearly feel the distinct difference between these shoes and men’s shoes.
Running in these small shoes felt like having a pair of little trumpets on my feet, and with each step, it seemed to remind me: you are a girl, a cute little Lolita, because you are wearing shoes that only girls can wear.
“It’s the first time I’ve seen Nuo’er so excited.” After running together for a while, Yin Xiamo, who was behind me, spoke, “The place we’re going to must be very special to Nuo’er, right?”
“Yeah, just like how Nanqi Tower is meaningful to you.” Feeling that chunky heels were not very suitable for running, I slowed down, marveling at the surroundings while saying, “If we go forward for another two hundred meters, there’s a large lake. Our friends nearby used to call it ‘Crayfish Lake’ because there were many fish, shrimp, crabs by the lake, and several plum and jujube trees. During the holidays, hungry kids would come here, start a fire, barbecue by the shore, and catch fish and shrimp to share.”
Walking along the shaded path in the memory, I carefully observed the now unfamiliar surroundings, feeling a myriad of emotions. Why does it feel like not many people have walked this path recently? Where did the mango trees over there go? I remember there was a small path to the forest here, how did it disappear? And wasn’t there a small temple here before? Did they tear it down?
With such thoughts, I held Yin Xiamo’s hand and arrived at the “childhood paradise” from over twenty years ago—a grassy field hidden in the forest.
“Crunch, crunch…”
Lifting the tree branches that almost blocked the entrance, I stood in front of the lake.
It was entirely different from the familiar scene in my memory.
The lake, which used to be at least three or four meters deep in my childhood, now appeared to be only one or two meters deep, and the area seemed to have reduced by at least half. The jujube and plum trees along the lake were nowhere to be seen, whether dead or cut down by the authorities. Only a willow tree, which seemed to have grown in the past few years, swayed slightly by the lake.
Reflecting on the past, I realized that I hadn’t visited this place for so long.
“Xiao Mo.”
After surveying the surroundings, I turned my rabbit backpack to the front and took out an old phone. It had a SIM card under the name “Yin Shiren.”
With a click, I illuminated the screen, entered the password, opened the phone’s camera, and snapped a photo of this familiar place.
“Let me introduce you to some of my childhood friends.”
Holding the phone in front of Yin Xiamo, I opened WeChat and switched to the “Contacts” interface.
“He is Wang Xiaoliang, the most mischievous person in the orphanage. Once, he sneaked into the kitchen to steal dumplings, and the director made him wash everyone’s clothes for a week. He passed away due to a brain illness.”
“She is Wang Lili, born with a disability, missing her left hand. But she’s very optimistic and has been my good friend since childhood. However, at the age of 18, she suddenly fell ill and passed away. It happened just a few days before the college entrance examination.”
“This is Li Gang. He was also abandoned due to a congenital disease. In childhood, he was the fishing king around here. Every time he went to the lake, he could catch a lot of fish. Last year, I went to the hospital to see him for the last time.”
“And there are these…”
Closing WeChat, I switched to the “Album” interface.
“This is Ding Rongxiao, this is Li Zhenguo, this is Fang Yi…”
Giving Yin Xiamo a brief introduction to the contacts in my phone, I switched the “Album” to “Private Mode.”
“There are many photos I took in the past. This one is from middle school, this is my middle school, and this one is from high school… This is from university, these are my roommates. I don’t know how they are doing now.”
“This is the Wind and Rain Bridge at the university, and our library.”
“These few photos were taken after I graduated, facing the rental contracts, and the contracts I signed during work…”
After showcasing all the photos, I held the phone in my hands and took a deep breath on the slightly cool grass.
“Feels like everything is just a dream.”
“Nuo’er…”
The nearby girl approached slowly, saying, “These are your most precious memories, right? Should I store them in a different dimension space for you?”
“No need. I came here today mainly for…”
I closed my eyes, silently counted to three, then opened my eyes, pressed the lock screen button, and threw the phone towards the lake in front of me.
The old second-hand phone that had been with me for many years traced a graceful arc in the air, landing with a splash at the center of the lake. It quickly sank to the bottom of the lake.
“Nuo’er?”
“I only have you from now on!”
I turned around, embracing Yin Xiamo in my arms.
“Yin Shiren is already gone, right?”
The girl in my arms trembled slightly, then opened her arms and hugged me.
“Yeah, from now on, I’ll be the one protecting you.”
“I don’t need your protection…”
“Then let’s protect each other.”
“That sounds about right.”
“……”
……