Chapter 242
Chapter 242
Lin Junruo continued, “There’s also Lin Daiyu with Sun Wukong, Pikachu with characters from television dramas, Ultraman with all sorts of other characters… Basically, people create every imaginable crossover ship. Some writers add original characters and rewrite the old plot until everything except the protagonist becomes a completely new story.”
The subject made Lin Junruo positively animated.
Yellow Hair looked utterly lost.
He had encountered some of this before, but never explored it deeply. Such bizarre pairings were truly… a first for him.
Seeing his expression, Lin Junruo realized she had strayed too far. She cleared her throat and returned to the matter at hand. “We may have entered the plot of the fairy tales, but we could also have entered a derivative work. We know how the original fairy tales unfold, but we know absolutely nothing about the derivative story.”
Yellow Hair understood.
“If that’s true, the current situation puts us at a major disadvantage,” he said.
There were countless derivative works. Who could possibly have read them all? Even if someone had read one or two, who could guarantee this world came from either? Whatever plot awaited them remained completely uncertain.
Lin Junruo nodded. “Actually, I think it’s more likely that we’re in a derivative work.”
“Why?” Yellow Hair asked.
Lin Junruo smiled sheepishly. “Because Cinderella could never know a Dwarf. They come from stories by two entirely different authors. Unless there’s a third author, they shouldn’t be able to coexist in the same world, right?”
Yellow Hair considered this. She had a point.
Only an author other than the two originals could create a world containing every fairy-tale character.
And if this was a fairy-tale crossover–
“Based on your experience, how do you think someone might alter the fairy-tale world?” Yellow Hair asked.
Lin Junruo shook her head. “I don’t know. Everyone thinks differently. But there’s a fairly common realistic approach now. Fairy tales end with the Prince and princess living happily ever after, freezing the story at its most beautiful moment. But what happens afterward? It might not remain a comedy. Still, I doubt many people actually write that idea.”
“Then… the crossover ships you mentioned?” Yellow Hair still remembered her earlier words.
He did not understand why Lin Daiyu could be shipped with Voldemort or Sun Wukong, but did that not reveal how some creators thought?
If people could pair those characters at random, what about fairy-tale figures? Could some writer invent equally bizarre couples?
Following his reasoning, Lin Junruo said, “That’s genuinely possible. I’ve never seen a fairy-tale shipping crossover, but someone must have thought of it.”
“Then which characters do you think our roles might be paired with, other than their canonical matches?” Yellow Hair asked.
Lin Junruo had never considered it. In truth, she had little interest because few fairy-tale characters were especially distinctive. The Prince who awakened Snow White with a kiss and the Prince who fell in love with Cinderella at first sight could almost have been the same man as far as she was concerned.
But since Yellow Hair had asked, Lin Junruo gave it some thought.
Several faces flashed through her mind.
She suddenly began coughing. An unnatural flush rose in her cheeks, but her eyes shone brilliantly.
Yellow Hair grew worried. “What’s wrong?”
Lin Junruo looked at him with sparkling eyes. “What do you think of Snow White and the Evil Queen? Enemies-to-lovers–doesn’t that have such a compelling feel? The Queen is fiercely possessive. She can’t tolerate anyone else beside Snow White or allow others to witness Snow White’s beauty. So when the Magic Mirror declares Snow White the fairest, the Queen panics. She fears Snow White will leave her one day, so she kills Snow White. That way, Snow White can remain with her forever.”
Yellow Hair: “???”
If he remembered correctly, both Snow White and the Evil Queen were female characters. Yet both Players currently embodying them were male.
Even leaving gender aside, did these two characters look remotely suitable as a couple? And that plot Lin Junruo had just described…
Yellow Hair was shocked.
Yellow Hair was bewildered.
Yellow Hair…
“Any others?” he could not help asking.
Lin Junruo thought again.
She had never shipped these fairy-tale characters, but their current role-playing changed things. Once she substituted the Players themselves into the roles…
Lin Junruo revealed another mysterious, unsettling smile. “The Emperor’s New Clothes and the Sea Princess.”
Yellow Hair: “???”
Yellow Hair felt this world’s absurdity towered even higher than his present height.
“Don’t you think they could be interesting too? Imagine an Emperor obsessed with new clothes who one day sees a Sea Princess emerging from the ocean. A mermaid’s clothing must be beautiful. Not only what The Little Mermaid wears–the mermaid himself is a thing of extraordinary beauty. In The Emperor’s eyes, the mermaid becomes the loveliest garment in the world. He wants to collect that beautiful garment and place it in his grandest, most magnificent wardrobe.”
Yellow Hair: “???”
Somehow, the more he listened, the more it did sound interesting.
The more Lin Junruo spoke, the more excited she became.
Thinking about it, both pairings genuinely worked.
After considering, Yellow Hair asked, “Do you have anything slightly more normal?”
“Who ships normal couples?” Lin Junruo retorted as though it were self-evident.
Yellow Hair: “???”
“Why can’t people ship normal couples?” he asked.
“If you want normal, just follow the canonical couple. Besides, fairy-tale characters aren’t interesting enough to ship ordinarily. Once you’ve seen enough pairings, bland ones lose their appeal. Enemies-to-lovers and more unhinged combinations are much more popular.”
Lin Junruo enthusiastically promoted the idea. “Look, Snow White and the Queen are enemies-to-lovers: a possessive villain and a beautiful princess caught in an irresistible entanglement. The Emperor’s New Clothes gives you an obsessive collector Big Shot and a delicate, beautiful mermaid. Isn’t that far more compelling than a romance between some naive heroine and an arrogant, domineering male lead?”
Yellow Hair: “???”
It almost made sense.
The moment Yellow Hair felt persuaded, he quickly shook his head.
What kind of heretical ships were these?
Lin Junruo patted his shoulder. “Few joys in life can compare to shipping a couple.”