Chapter 18: Life Needs a Little Sweetness

On the evening of August 28, 2018, I encountered the urban legend 【Bug Grudge】, where three types of insect wraiths—mantis, centipede, and spider—appeared; as a Medium legend event, they are not bound by environment and appear freely.

The monsters appearing in legend events have many names: Ghost Spirit, Wicked Soul, Wraith, Earth-Bound Spirit, etc. —they are spirits carrying human malice, and possess both spiritual form and physical form, requiring different methods to confront.

The spider's power is extremely terrifying; according to my speculation, it can pull real humans into its constructed mental space via silk threads. 'Wakaba' is actually a fabricated persona it created, taking shape by interfering with human cognition, a splinter of its resentment.

The rustling sound gradually faded.

The pen tip stopped at the last line of the page; Niino Li checked it several more times before closing it.

The spider wraith's displayed abilities were far too dangerous; recalling the events from last night—from entering the scenario to completing the task—he still felt a lingering dread.

The fabricated symbiont 'Wakaba' silently drags people into the mental space and disguises itself as a human.

Each of these abilities far surpasses what the previous mantis and centipede could achieve.

"Could that thing have eaten all the remaining insects?" Niino Li stepped onto the one-meter-wide balcony, gazed up at the blinding sun until blackish-blue spots appeared in the center of his vision.

Then he gave up, returning to his desk.

The desk was neatly arranged; objects were stacked in orderly layers, creating an artistic, three-dimensional beauty.

In the central empty space lay a pencil sketch—

It depicted a boy wearing a tank top and shorts, a straw hat on his head, smiling with radiant cheerfulness.

Besides organizing the findings and unresolved points of the 【Bug Grudge】 legend, he spent all his remaining time thinking about reconstructing the manga.

As previously stated, disparities between worlds have caused each nation here to lack many outstanding works that existed in his previous life.

Not just in the island nation—

The manga industry was merely one example.

There was no Tezuka Osamu's masterpiece 【Bird of Fire】, no Akira Toriyama's 【Dragon Ball】, which he had repeatedly tried to "kill," nor the widely popular 【Naruto】, 【One Piece】, 【Bleach】, and other manga.

After his Painting skill reached Lv3, Niino Li sat at his desk for a long time, wavering between art and populism, before finally sketching Monkey D. Luffy, the Straw Hat.

Though unfamiliar with the plot, given the current lukewarm state of the island nation's manga industry, he could accelerate the pace to cut and fill scenes...

In short, this would surely earn him a fortune!

But his hopeful expectations shattered the moment the character's drawing took shape.

Niino Li sat upright at his desk, his expression strangely unnatural—

The image matched his memory perfectly, yet the Luffy before him had a sinister gaze, a dark complexion, a wide grin frozen like a mask, brimming with ironic mockery.

Niino Li had never seen such a bizarre Luffy; even as a static character sketch without background or story, an indescribable fear rose from his chest.

【Readers will feel the characters' joys, sorrows, anger, and happiness through your astonishing brushwork.】

He assumed it was because he was still thinking about 【Bug Grudge】; he stood up, went to the bathroom, washed his face with cold water, then drew Sanji's three-sword style.

A few minutes later, the image of a burly swordsman with three swords slung at his waist was complete—Niino Li's anticipation shattered.

Cold, bloodthirsty, eyes fierce as if every trait of every murderer in the world could be perfectly embodied in him.

Niino Li briefly doubted his own eyes, and tried uploading it to a discussion site for freelance illustrators, titled: "Guess the exact identity of the character in this image?"