Xiu and Du Ze
I want to see you become god. - Du Ze to Xiu
— Chapter 7.2
The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love or 读者和主角绝逼是真爱 is a Chinese danmei Web Novel written by Tui (颓), complete at 96 chapters.
Summary: Du Ze is a huge fan of the web novelist Yi Ye Zhi Qiu. Or, rather, he is a huge Troll who likes to flame the author in order to get attention. Thus, even though he loves Yi Ye Zhi Qiu's latest ongoing stallion novel "Mixed Blood", Du Ze writes a critical review of it complaining about exactly the things that he loves about the novel - the Marty Stu main character, his All-Loving Hero actions, and his Battle Harem.
Sadly for Du Ze, it seems the author took his criticism to heart. The formerly lighthearted tale of a cute harem master suddenly became super dark and edgy. The reader could only helplessly look on as the protagonist was abused and betrayed, finally embarking on the road to becoming completely evil. Everything was a mess! One day, while reading a Hard Core yaoi Doujinshi, Du Ze was unexpectedly transported into a different world where he encounters Xiu, the main character of "Mixed Blood."
Xiu, an extremely intelligent and talented human warrior-mage, had just been revealed to be a descendant of an evil Lich. This resulted in him being hunted down by the whole of human society, including all of his former friends. Du Ze arrives just in time to see that Xiu, in Lich form, dying of his wounds. Du Ze saves him because he wants to see his favorite character from his favorite book become a god.
That is just the first few chapters of this epic fantasy novel that has been completely fan-translated into English by BC Novels
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The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love provides examples of:
- Action Girl: Ariel, an elf princess who's a very good archer, though not as good as Xiu. Also, Lilia, a warrior angel who manages to hurt Xiu badly with her final suicidal attack.
- Author Powers: Depending on how you look at it, Yi Ye Zhi Qiu, the author of "Mixed Blood" is the one who is actually controlling everything in the world of "Mixed Blood." In the end, Yi Ye Zhi Qiu speculates that he is in a novel (The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love) so he isn't really the one in control.
- Because Destiny Says So: At first, the Creator God tried to help the Powers That Be until he realizes that its goal is to replace him with Xiu.
- Berserk Button: Xiu really hates it when someone tries to hurt Du Ze.
- Bullying the Disabled: It's actually not revealed until later on that Du Ze is deaf and that his social anxiety was caused by his classmates bullying him because of his disability.
- Cast Full of Pretty Boys: Xiu alone is 8 different types of eye candy and then there is Du Ze, Eric, and many other pretty boys.
- Cold-Blooded Torture: The Wither curse. It first appears as a tattoo of a few, small black lines. The tattoo grows bigger every hour and once the black lines have covered a large area of the body, black tattoo roses start to slowly grow. The roses wither and the black flower petals fall. The "falling petals" are actually the curse target's flesh. The curse continues until the caster cancels it or until all the cursed person's flesh withers.
- Downer Ending: "Mixed Blood" looks like it's headed towards one, which causes a lot of anxiety for Du Ze.
- Hero Antagonist: Xiu's fated rival Eric is handsome, kind, and heroic. He opposes Xiu because the God of Light's oracle identified Xiu as an evil villain who must be killed.
- I Choose to Stay: Du Ze eventually decided that he wanted to stay in the world of the novel with Xiu.
- Interspecies Romance: There are eight races in the world and Xiu is the product of Interspecies Romance couples whose children and grandchildren mated with each other, thus giving him the blood and powers of all eight races.
- Lonely at the Top: Foreshadowing strongly hints that this is the eventual fate of Xiu at the end of "Mixed Blood."
- Master Swordsman:Xiu in his demon form wields the Burning Desire Demonic Sword and is quite skilled in using it.
- Morph Weapon: The artifact Qian Bian (千变 meaning "constantly changing") is Xiu's weapon that can change into a sword, scythe, bow, claws, spear, battle hammer, staff, and a Necromancer's Magic Codex.
- New Life in Another World Bonus: Once Du Ze realized he was in another world, he excitedly expected to receive a "cheat skill" of some sort but was very disappointed to find out that he only had immunity from hunger. But later he finds out that his real "cheat" is that his body always resets to its state when he first entered the world of the novel. Any wounds or other changes to his body are erased at midnight.
- Noticing the Fourth Wall: Once he finds out that the characters of his novel are real, the author of "Mixed Blood" realizes that he might be inside the world of a novel. Note: Making it a Novel within a Novel.
- The Omnipotent: In-universe, the Creator God is the god that all beings in the world worship as the Supreme God who knows everything and can do anything he wants with his own creation. In reality, the Creator God hasn't created anything and is powerless compared to the real Powers That Be.
- One-Man Army: Loius the Lich and Xiu in his undead form can raise the dead and summon creatures of the dark. In the past, Louis's undead armies were nigh unstoppable.
- Ontological Inertia: Because it's the world of a novel, Du Ze just can't seem to actually change much. If something different does happen, something will happen that puts the novel's plot right back on track.
- Orphaned Series: Only in-universe. The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love is already complete. Yi Ye Zhi Qiu eventually turns over creative control of "Mixed Blood" to Xiu, thus he can't finish the web novel.
- Our Gnomes Are Weirder: The gnomes in "Mixed Blood" are physically weak but are expert weapon smiths and device makers. Don't anger a gnome or you could end up facing an army of mechs armed with the most powerful weapons available.
- Powers That Be: Most of the gods can sense the presence of a powerful, invisible force. Whenever Du Ze tries to talk about the novel's plot, this unseen force stops him from speaking It's the novel's plot that makes everything conform to what the author has written.
- The Quiet One: Du Ze really doesn't talk much. His classmates used to make fun of the way he talked because he was deaf and couldn't hear his own voice.
- Reality Warper: Yi Ye Zhi Qiu changed the rules of the world of "Mixed Blood" just by casually typing out a joke while chatting with his editor.
- Rage Against the Author: Not content with becoming the Supreme God of the world of "Mixed Blood," Xiu entered the "real world" to threaten or kill Yi Ye Zhi Qiu. This happens offscreen so we don't know the exact details of what happened but the result is that Xiu took over creative control of the novel and the author stopped writing "Mixed Blood."
- Screw Destiny: Quite a few characters desperately want to avoid the fate that seems to be in store for them.
- Summon Everyman Hero: Du Ze thought that he had been transported into the world of "Mixed Blood" when he read a hardcore yaoi doujinshi but the truth is that he was summoned by the Top God of the novel who intended to summon a "superior being" who could kill Xiu. The fact that Du Ze is just an ordinary human with no powers isn't an issue since power can be granted to him by the gods.
- Trapped in Another World: Du Ze was transported into the world of his favorite novel, "Mixed Blood."
- Trapped in TV Land: Du Ze, an online troll and anti-fan of trashy Wish-Fulfillment Harem Genre web novel Mixed Blood ends up transmigrated into the said novel.
- Top God: There are a lot of gods in the novel but there is one who is their superior, the Creator God.
- Voluntary Shapeshifting: Xiu has to unlock a bloodline before he can shapeshift into that form.
- With Great Power Comes Great Insanity: The aptly named Burning Desire Demonic Sword confers great power but also amplifies its wielder's desires to the point that they could lose their minds unless they have extremely strong willpower.
- You Can't Fight Fate: Or can you? Du Ze wants a happy ending for Xiu but events always seem to end up the same way that they did in "Mixed Blood." The entire plot of The Reader and Protagonist Definitely Have to Be in True Love hinges on whether this can be subverted or not.
