I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 26

Three minutes later, I walked to the bench under the big banyan tree in front of me and sat down peacefully. Next to me, Jituto waved at me, smiled friendly, and voluntarily shifted to the side of the chair, making room in the middle.

Pipi leaned against the back of the chair, quietly took out a tissue from his pocket, and wiped the sweat from his forehead without a word. Marisa sat directly under the sun in the distance, looking as if he couldn’t accept reality.

“Cough, well then…”

After a long silence, Pipi finally broke the peace and waved to “Marisa’s Iron Butt.” “Alright, stop doubting life over there. Since ‘Uncle’ answered all our questions, it means she isn’t joking. What’s wrong with a 12-year-old author, anyway?”

“No, I’m not concerned about the 12-year-old author or whether the ‘Uncle’ is actually old. It’s…”

The chubby man sitting on the ground, facing the sunlight, looked at me and then glanced at the large group of internet celebrities and streamers broadcasting not far away.

“Pipi, if you’re not into the 2D, you might not understand. In reality, finding a girl who understands the 2D, looks cute, has a good figure, good skin, and a particularly pleasant voice… oh, a little loli. Finding such a little loli in reality is incredibly difficult, it’s like finding a needle in a haystack.”

If this weren’t the real world, I feel like the face of this chubby uncle might have been covered in black lines by now, and his expression is exactly like the protagonist in “Sayonara, Zetsubou-Sensei.”

“Pipi, I won’t hide it from you, but in reality, I’m also quite socially awkward. Don’t be fooled by me laughing and joking with you all in the game every day. In real life, unless it’s someone I know, I’m… exceptionally polite to strangers, and I’ll keep quiet if I can.”

Marisa lifted her head, wearing an expression that seemed to say, “You get it, right?” She continued, “The reason I greeted this little sister just now is because she’s incredibly cute, cute enough to cure my social anxiety. Plus, she was wearing that 6th Destroyer cap. When she put on the sailor suit and cosplayed as Hibiki, it felt completely natural. She’s prettier than all the Cosplayers I’ve seen so far, effortlessly outshining them even without makeup or beauty filters. And if we’re not just talking about looks, her voice… it’s better than most of the intentionally imitated loli voices in the mobile games I’ve played.”

“Oh my goodness! How can there be such a perfect girl, and the most important thing is that this girl has been by my side all this time. I’ve been playing games with her for two or three years, cracking so many dirty jokes with her. My image… I don’t want to live anymore…”

“Alright, alright.”

Seeing that man in a state of despair, Pipi walked over and said, “Look on the bright side. This girl is still a good friend we’ve had for three years. No matter how many dirty jokes you’ve cracked, it should be fine. If she wanted to avoid us, she would have done it long ago.”

He pulled the chubby boy up and cleared his throat. “Nuo’er, she’s even revealed her real name. What about you? Aren’t you going to introduce yourself? Do you want everyone to keep calling you ‘Marisa’? And remember, Marisa is a girl.”

“Oh, right, right.”

Seemingly awakened, “Marisa’s Iron Butt” quickly stood up. “Nuo’er, well, my name is pretty ordinary. My surname is Jiang, and my given name is Wei. Just call me Uncle Jiang.”

“My name is Li Jianfu. In real life, some people call me ‘Little Li,’ and others call me ‘Li Ge.’ It’s a very common name. If you’re not comfortable with that, you can call me Pipi.”

Divine Pet Pipi scratched his head. “My author ID is a reference from game ‘Seer’, and Pipi is one of the essential pets there.”

“I’m from the same city as Liu Uncle.”

“Jituto” also turned around. “Your name is Yin Nuo’er, right? It’s a very cute name. My author’s name is a reference from Kamen Rider, and my real name is Su Yunjin, though I don’t really have a nickname… People don’t usually give me one. You can call me whatever you like, hehe.”

This young man seems to have the aura of an ancient hero.

After hearing Su Yunjin’s self-introduction, I contemplated for a moment. Not only was he handsome, looking clean-cut, and having a great physique with just the right hint of muscle, but his name seemed rather Mary Sue-ish, didn’t it? It felt like he belonged to the type most girls would be attracted to.

“Alright, now that we’ve all gotten to know each other, let’s get back on track.”

Pipi took a deep breath, waved to us, and signaled everyone to gather around.

I quickly put away my phone and followed him to the empty space behind the chairs.

“Nuo’er, do you want me to go get something for you to sit on?”

Seeing me sitting directly on the lawn, Marisa…or now Jiang Wei seemed a bit sympathetic. “Want me to bring a newspaper?”

I quickly waved my hand. “Is this how you remember the ‘Uncle’? All dainty and delicate?”

“Haha… I had no idea back then. Who would’ve thought a little loli like you would use a voice changer to play games? You have to take responsibility for that.”

Jiang Wei scratched his head. “Alright, let’s get down to business, Pipi, go on.”

“Sure, I won’t beat around the bush… cough cough. So, the information I’ve got on my end is that the Yae-Do Light Novel Network company has been deregistered, filed for bankruptcy. The reason is a broken funding chain. The full name of the company is Yae-Do Reading Network Co., Ltd., and you should all be familiar with this since it’s displayed when they pay the fees.”

Pipi took out his phone and read the information from the screen. “The upstream company of this Yae-Do Reading Network Co., Ltd. is called Shenzhen Network Technology Co., Ltd. Its location is right here in Shenzhen City, a company that… how should I put it, mainly deals with the packaging, sales, and marketing of computer accessories. In simple terms, after the nearby factories assemble the computer components, they are packaged, coated with protective paint, and packed by this company. Then, the products are sent to downstream retailers, making a profit in the process. I’ll keep it brief, you don’t need to remember it all. Just know that this company is the parent company of the registered company for the Yae-Do Light Novel Network.”

“At the moment, we don’t know how many people will join this rights protection action. The location will have to be here for now. We’ll see how many people show up at 12 o’clock. It’s difficult because everyone’s busy, and many people don’t want to leave their house…”

While saying this, Pipi’s phone suddenly rang.

“It’s from the Cockroach Bullies.”

Pipi pointed to the incoming call notification on his phone. “The Cockroach Bullies and Poison Fang, two authors from the fantasy section.”

Then, he answered the call and set it to speakerphone.

“Hello? Is this Divine Pet Pipi? I’ve arrived at Mingzhu Square. I found a local guide, 20 yuan an hour.”

A somewhat impatient voice came from the other end of the phone. “Where are you guys?”

Pipi looked a bit puzzled. “Why did you get a guide? We have the Uncle here.”

“You mean the Uncle who gets a couple thousand yuan in royalties every month? Oh no, spare me. I’ve actually been wanting to say, this is a rights protection action, right? The group is full of best-selling authors making tens of thousands in royalties every month. What’s the point of dragging an ordinary author in? When we get there, and people see, they’ll come asking for royalties even in the low thousands? I’d feel embarrassed.”

The young man on the phone had a rather arrogant tone. “Forget about that Uncle. Share your location, I’ll be there right away.”