MTL - After Crossing, I Marked the Empress - Chapter 18 'Puppy'

I used to think obsessive male leads were kind of hot. You know—the intense stares, the undying devotion, the way they’d burn the world for the woman they love? Swoon, right?Wrong.That fantasy went up in smoke the moment I woke up in the body of Sonia Mitford—the heroine of The Crimson Devotion, the first obsessive romance fantasy novel I ever read. The one that ended on a mysterious hiatus. The one with Marius Wittelsbach—a charming, possessive psychopath who thinks an ankle shackle is a love language.Now I’m trapped in a velvet-draped prison, shackled to a bedpost like some porcelain doll in a gothic fairytale. And Marius? He’s worse than I remembered. Sweet, soft-spoken... and utterly unhinged.“You don’t need to be afraid. I’ll take care of you.”Translation: I’ll murder anyone who blinks in your direction and serve you tea over their corpse.“Anyone who bothers you... anyone who looks at you the wrong way... I’ll get rid of them for you.”I thought I was playing the role just fine—smiling, nodding, pretending not to be horrified.But then—plot twist! Alessio Slovene, the forgettable side character, walks in looking like a golden retriever knight and drops this bomb: he’s actually the crown prince in disguise. And he’s investigating Marius.Finally—a lifeline. Maybe.Because people are vanishing. The body count is rising. And every time Marius kisses my forehead and calls me “Nia,” I feel one step closer to becoming the tragic heroine in a blood-soaked love story.Obsessive male leads aren’t dreamy.They’re terrifying.And I might be in way over my head.

When he woke up, Chen Xiao, a tech elite business genius, was reborn in a parallel world in 1999, another self standing at the gate of the college entrance examination.

This year……

OICQ was just born, and Goose Factory employees pretended to be girls and chatted with male netizens. Ma Yun was regarded as a liar and was forced to leave Yanjing to start a business in Suzhou and Hangzhou. Li Hong rented two rooms at the Yanjing Hotel and discussed the prototype of whiteness…

This year, Chen Xiao took the black technology guide of the future world, from social software to domestic systems, from domestic chips to artificial intelligence, from new biological energy to DNA remodeling to fight cancer; from quantum technology to anti-gravity engines…

He won the title of “Forbes” and dominated the global media. He suddenly found that he had accidentally changed the world.

- Description from novelbuddy

Dear comrades, masters, priests, masters, fairies, demons, and leaders, welcome to my world and enjoy the supreme pleasure and supreme enjoyment brought by traveling through various worlds (funny laugh).

- Description from novelbuddy

The Night Has Come, and kermesinus moon ascends in the sky.Hoarse whispers flow at the street corners, and brass steam machines spew out bloody mist.Your brain is singing a hymn, eyes are chanting a melody.Skin cracks, and flesh buds swell.Amidst the Mist, the wall of flesh that has devoured thousands of corpses wails endlessly—“Weep not, our players don't bite, they just want to play with you.”Annan, the lone strategist, the top player, the savior of the mist-covered continent, the leader of the Thirteen Saints, the friend of the Twelve True Gods, the king of pioneers, “the Just”, the Gatekeeper of the Fourth Calamity, the uncrowned deity, advised kindly.