The Reader And The Protagonist Definitely Have To Be In True Love

(Chapter 1) Reader: I am a black powder fan

Translator's Note: Kindly excuse the large number of footnotes. You don't have to read them, the notes are just there to explain the translation process. The first and second chapters are full of Chinese slang, internet memes, and idioms. However, the next chapters are not like that so please hang in there!)

Du Ze is an anti-fan (lit. "black powder fan").

The phenomenon of the so-called anti-fan can be explained thus: There is a type of fan who likes to attack their idol brutally, as if they were an enemy. Black powder fans are trolls who love to insult and find fault. This is how they express their love.

Du Ze chose to be a black powder fan for three reasons.

The first reason is that he likes to find flaws, insult the author, and fight the other fans, but this is simply another way to get publicity for their idol. Instead of letting the author bask in the loving feedback from readers, the black powder fan will drag them down and smear them with dirt so as to attract the attention and sympathy of others. Once their mission is accomplished, they retire.

The second reason is that Du Ze loves to write scathing reviews and then sit back and watch as the other fans jump out and condemn his review. Seeing the other fans counter his review and defend the author, Du Ze feels extremely satisfied.

Du Ze: Very good, that is what I wanted to say. Brothers, try harder to praise the author.

The final reason is that Du Ze has a playful nature. Of course, fans love and respect their idol but his approach is different. Afraid of being ignored, he likes to take the initiative to make a big commotion to capture the attention of his idol. He can be compared to a shy but black-hearted girl who is waiting for a boy to lift the red veil, saying "Come, come seduce me ~ I won't be any trouble."

At first, Du Ze had tried heaping praises on his idol. He wanted to take out all of the love he had in his heart and pile it up in front of the author but this did not work out. His comments just drowned in the crowd of enthusiastic fan feedback. His idol doesn't use Weibo or QQ. He only comments on the web novel's home page. Fans keep posting there and Du Ze's own efforts were always ignored. Du Ze then had a moment of epiphany when he recalled the saying "nice guys finish last." Realizing that the good fans never get the attention of the author, Du Ze decided to become an anti-fan. The world lost a sincere, nice fan but Du Ze gained success as an anti-fan.

Now let's talk about the unlucky man who Du Ze had his eye on - Yi Ye Zhi Qiu. As a resident of the internet, Du Ze found his true love there, the YY novel author, Yi Ye Zhi Qiu. It is said that his surname is Qiu and his pen name means "through every page of my writing, I seek to understand myself, haha." Those were the author's exact words.

Supposedly, behind each "haha" was a group of cheering fans. Speaking of Yi Ye Zhi Qiu's writing, if there was no harem stallion, golden finger, domination of the earth, or ruling the universe, then call Marty Sue in! (Author's note: P.S. Those who do not know what Marty Sue is, search on Baidu.)

Therefore one may imagine how Yi Ye Zhi Qiu writes... And what kind of person Yi Ye Zhi Qiu was...

Haha.

As a matter of fact, Yi Ye Zhi Qiu's novels do have a lot of golden fingers but his stories were not senseless. They all have a logical plot, foreshadowing, and originality. The cleverest thing he does is to pick up the mishmash of stuff that can already be found in other online novels, change it up a bit, then put his own spin on these tired ideas, making it refreshing to read. Du Ze had been reading novels for four years when he found Yi Ye Zhi Qiu's "Infinite Flow" work and immediately became awed. Since then the world has one less passer-by , you understand?