We’re back with the second volume of The Scum Villain’s Self-Saving System! The boys are fightinnnnngggggggggggggg, hahahahaha.

After Luo Binghe’s fall into the abyss, Shen Qingqiu thinks he has five years to prepare for the worst. He sets his scholarly affairs in order, tends to his mushroom, and grieves at Luo Binghe’s grave. The other sect leaders worry about their colleague and friend, and eventually hit upon something he likes: weird ass monsters! A plague has hit Jin Lan City, and it’s a demon’s doing. Off they go on an adventure, not knowing that Luo Binghe eagerly awaits his reunion with his shizun. Miscommunication and disaster dog the footsteps of our heroes at every step. For reference, this volume also contains the water prison “first date,” the plant!zun rebirth, playing with Sha Hualing in the borderlands, being captured as a vessel for Binghe’s monthy qi release at Huan Hua Palace, witnessing Binghe’s Bedroom Battle with Liu-shidi (featuring SQQ’s corpse), dream kiss.

Like I noted in my Volume 1 review, re-reading Scum Villain provides an all-new experience. I really felt bad that everyone had to constantly adapt to such a willful SQQ-shaped ping pong. The remainder of the review will be full of spoilers while I gush.

I was breathless when Liu-shidi held out his hand:

Goddamn, he’s in LOVE love. Deeper into the angst meter, Luo Binghe brought tears to my eyes when he asked Shen Qingqiu if he was strong enough—a moment I totally missed the ramifications of previously. The deepest heartbreak was Shen Qinqiu’s suicide. My first reading experience was utterly absorbed in Shen Qingqiu: his disassociation with his body, his confidence that committing suicide was unavoidable and the best option, and his assurance that he would survive. On re-read, I much better understood the gravity of what was happening. Shen Qingqiu literally chose to kill himself instead of have a conversation. From an outsider’s perspective, Shen Qingqiu’s antics are contradictory, cruel, and devastating.

Towards the end of the volume, Shen Qingqiu finally, finally realizes that the people surrounding him are flesh and blood. On a thematic level, Shen Qingqiu’s growth here digs into a major criticism of the stallion and transmigration genres. Authors and fans don’t treat characters remotely like people, just as Shen Qingqiu refuses to treat Luo Binghe as his own person. Instead, characters are objects—often sex objects—for the overpowered protagonist to manipulate and consume as he wishes. Fandom even refers to love interests as “capture targets.” This tendency comes down hard on female characters, though we don’t see it in Scum Villain. Smarter people than me have written essays on how novels can reinforce real-life harmful cultural narratives and systems, so I won’t get into here. More relevant to Scum Villain and MXTX’s point, objectification makes boring storytelling. Proud Immortal Demon Way may have been popular in its moment, but not all of Shen Qingqiu’s fanboy critiques seem unjustified. From what tidbits we get, PIDW sounds like an erotic pulp that’s dime a dozen online, with stale plots and forgettable characters. It failed to add anything noteworthy to greater cultural conversation. It was created to put food on Shen Qinghua’s plate and that’s what it did. Because of all this genre baggage, Shen Qingqiu’s recognition of Luo Binghe’s personhood was incredibly cathartic. We love character growth in this house!

Speaking of serotonin, I got a huge dollop picking up Volume 3 immediately off my bookshelf. See you there!

Review of Scum Villain Vol 1: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/f797e4a5-9dc6-4810-bedd-0b2704a871b0

Review of Scum Villain Vol 3: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/a3156dc1-eaa9-45ef-8a33-96febcee9cf2

Review of Scum Villain Vol 4: https://app.thestorygraph.com/reviews/4426ae1a-2105-4c8e-b4ce-94e2793b5501