Leveling through Lust - Chapter 30: Daring Gambit

“There is no greater sorrow than to recall happiness in times of misery.” — Dante AlighieriThis is a quote that dictates my life perfectly. Ever since I was a young boy, I enjoyed playing games, so much so that I carried that passion even into my sophomore years, all the way to my death.My story in life isn't all that tragic compared to the more unfortunate out there. I am your typical game creator. I made indie games and visual novels for a living.Naturally, being out of passion and an unknown solo developer, I tried my best to get my work out there, working additional jobs, doing side hustles, both online and locally, all just to survive, and all just to sponsor my work.However, in a world where competition is vast in the game industry, everything I make only ends up at the bottom rank. Because of this, I never gave up, but as I went into my thirties, this passion of mine separated me from my family.These days they don't even talk to me anymore. Depressed, alone, and on the verge of a mental breakdown, I lost all hope, and it didn't help that I had two months of rent due and bills that needed to be paid.But all that changed one night when I got a mysterious message that suddenly appeared on my laptop screen:“You who despair! Would you like a second chance at life? If yes click and offer up your life worth's negativity to me, if no forget this message completely!?”At that time, I clicked Yes by accident.But as the message said, I died due to a heart attack and reincarnated into the World of Purgatory. This was the greatest mistake of my life, as it changed it forever. However in this world I came with the power called the Administrator — a power I gained as a newborn Negative Spirit.With this power I exist as an Entity of Dreams, but even without a physical body, I was determined to make my wish come true: to be a game creator. But unlike other devs, my dreams are different. I can create scenarios in the dreams of men, forcing them to play my game. If they win, they walk out of here as an Awakened Spirit Warrior; however, if I win, the abilities they would have gained in my trials go to me. In this game of mine, anything could be wagered. In reality I have nothing to lose as the Administrator. But to the players, what they wager could be a matter of life or death.

Thea Lynch was seventeen when she injured her ear and temporarily lost her speech. Her parents passed away in a car accident, leaving her and her brother to rely on each other. Later, her brother was transferred for work and left, and she was taken to live at her grandmother's house in Westmere. During this period, her brother entrusted friends to check on her, and the one who visited most frequently was the “Third Brother”—Ian Preston, who was five years older than her.Coronet is over a hundred kilometers away from Westmere, yet he insisted on accompanying her to see doctors, patiently teaching her how to speak, and even appearing at her school gate every evening. He saved all of his gentle caring for her, but everything stopped abruptly before she could muster the courage to confess. Her secret crush was unsuccessful, and a sudden change at home caused her to leave, cutting off all contact with him.When they met again, it was seven years later when she returned home for a matchmaking date and was cornered by him in the restaurant corridor, “That guy downstairs, is he your date? How come after spending several years abroad, your taste has gotten so much worse? With better options around, how can you choose him?”“Who is the better option?” she instinctively asked.Ian Preston: “Me.”[Childhood sweethearts, getting back together, mutual unrequited love]

In less than an instant the world as we knew it was at its end. That’s right. The Apocalypse. In a single blink Zombies appeared and mutated monsters began to rampage all throughout the world. Now it was the human species turn to fight for survival and planetary dominance! On the same day that the world descends into chaos we meet Yue Zhong. Initially only hoping to get to his friends and escape to a refugee camp our protagonist sets out, inadvertently building a team along the way. After a series of fortuitous events and a few serious hunches our hero decides it’s time to do more than just survive! Yue Zhong begins to form the foundations of an enormous survival plan… before he suddenly discovers that he has only gotten over the first hurdle….

Unbeknownst to Yue Zhong and company, the world outside of China is mostly a wasteland! Country sized swathes of nuclear radiation and an extreme shortage of supplies in the world after the nuclear explosions was quickly becoming the “norm”. Mutants, Evolved animals and what’s worse, intelligent out of control dinosaurs had quickly appeared and claimed their own sections of the planet. There were several innately powerful Evolved races which appeared that were more than 10 times stronger than humans, nearly all of them possessing bodies impenetrable by normal bullets. The fabled orcs’ were another of these Evolved races, the leader of which had in fact enslaved many of the remaining human beings. Unceremoniously exposed to such a cold and heartless new world, Yue Zhong is faced with a choice: Find a deep dark hole and hope it goes back to “normal”? Or overcome all obstacles and struggle towards Evolution!!!

A firefighter in her previous life, Li Jing’er transmigrated back to ancient times and became the wife of the second son of a farmer. A month after Li Jing’er married into the family, her husband left to join the army.

Then news arrived that her husband was killed in battle but the compensation paid by the imperial court was snatched away by her greedy in-laws. Forced into a corner, she planned an escape, severed family ties, and left with her six-month-old baby daughter.

Joining the flow of refugees escaping from disaster and war, she picked up several lost and abandoned children along the way and tried to start a new life.

Then out of the blue, her deceased husband appeared…

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