12 Miles Below - Chapter 48Book 6. : Interlude: Kres (III)

“Block him.”“He's technically still my boss.”“Then block him with dignity.”The call ended again.And then started again.I let out a sound somewhere between a growl and a sob, then finally answered with the enthusiasm of a snail crawling through salt.“Yes, Mr. Walton?”“Have you changed your mind yet?”I collapsed onto the towel and gazed at the sky as though it might consume me entirely if I pleaded sweetly enough.“Do you ever take a break?” I asked, shielding my eyes with one hand.“You're avoiding the question.”“Because it's a dumb question.”He exhaled, the sound sharp and irritated even over phone. “It's not a dumb question. It's a business offer.”“It's a weird offer-one that I already said no to.”There was a brief pause, and I could practically hear him clenching his jaw through the speaker.“You are acting unreasonably.”“ Unreasonable?” I sat up. “I'm not the one drafting fake girlfriend contracts like it's a normal Tuesday.”“Isabella-”“Certainly not, Mr. Walton.” I mimicked his tone perfectly. “I told you I'm not doing it. You need to find someone else to play pretend with.”SYNOPSISIsabella Miller thought saying no to her boss’s fake dating offer was the end of the story.But Adrien Walton doesn’t take no—especially not when he’s convinced she’s a gold digger.Suddenly, her student loans are piling up, her father’s vet clinic is on the brink of eviction and her brother is about to be kicked out of college. Coincidence? She thinks not.Adrien Walton is calm, calculating—and he's just pulled every string to corner Isabella into the perfect position.Now she’s stuck choosing between pride and survival.So she agrees to his offer: be his fake girlfriend.No feelings attached. No drama. Just business.Or so she thought.“Conference Room B. Fifteen minutes,” he said, passing by without a glance.The folder he pushed across the table landed with a thud.I opened it. The contract. All of it.---Enemies to lovers? Check.Slow burn? Hmmnyea.Banter so sharp it might file your nails? Yes.Delicious workplace tension? Of course.Tension that could melt steel?Absolutely.Smut?? Wanna find out?Welcome to corporate romance warfare. There’s no escaping this contract.

The Wilds relentlessly reclaim all things. Humanity shelters within their ever-dying cities. Mages create the only path forward.Tala had to fight tooth and nail in the Magic Academy to forge a path to power that was her own. She knows it’s her duty to use that power to serve humanity, defending them against the creatures of the untamable wilds. However, she skipped a few steps in her education, like apprenticing to someone who actually knows what they’re doing.Now, Tala has to balance learning as fast as she can with paying off the veritable mountain of debt the Magic Academy dropped on her shoulders for the opportunity; not to mention staying alive.Even though she should only be a Mageling, the world considers her a Mage. Bless the stars she directed most of her magic toward survival.

“You will suffice.”Raizen heard those words the night something chose him to survive.He doesn't know what whispered inside his head. He doesn't know why. But ever since that night, his life hasn't been entirely his own. Something marked him.Now he walks a beautiful world built on even prettier lies, where Eon turns desperation into miracles, Luminite weapons twist the laws of what's possible and what's not, and where humanity has been fighting creatures of shadow - Nyxes - for as long as anyone can remember. Though sometimes, the cruelest of enemies aren't made of darkness at all...But Raizen is starting to realize: the monsters aren't the only things hunting him.Something primordial is watching. Waiting. Pulling strings he can't see.If he wants to survive, he needs to get stronger.If he wants answers, he must become someone even the nightmares fear....But to win?He may have to end anything in his path - and pray he doesn't give the whisper exactly what it wanted all along.

Ye Han was reborn into a parallel world and participated in the challenge program [365 Days of Wilderness Survival] jointly organized by the world. At the beginning, he got a BUFF bonus with a lucky value of 9999. With his little cook, Ye Han started a shocking journey of survival in the wilderness.

When the other players were hungry, Ye Han had already eaten seafood. When the other players had no fixed place to live, Ye Han had already built a wooden house. When the other players were precarious, Ye Han was drinking tea in his manor. Ye Han: No way, my luck is 100 million points.

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