Steel and Mana - Chapter 211 – An Avarage Morning

After his divorce, Lu Qin acquired a street food stall and quickly rose to fame, becoming a culinary sensation known for his unmatched cooking talent. With his young daughter by his side, he roamed the city streets, setting up his stall and making a living. His irresistible dishes attracted crowds from all over, earning him widespread recognition.Passerby: “Most places sell fried noodles, but Lu’s are worth every penny.”Food Enthusiast: “We’ve organized a group of over a thousand people just to track down where Lu sets up his stall each day.”Chef: “I’ve tried countless times to recreate his dishes, but I just can’t match Master Lu’s perfection.”One day, an old man called the police, claiming the street food stall downstairs was suspiciously good, hinting there might be something addictive in the food. The police launched an investigation, only to find…Meanwhile, Shen Muyan’s upscale hotel restaurant was flooded with complaints, forcing her to reluctantly seek help from her ex-husband.Girlfriend: “Your ex-husband is impossible to reach! When can I book him for an exclusive interview on my gourmet show?”Shen Muyan: “He still hasn’t agreed to remarry…”A celebrity chef from South Korea traveled to China to film a culinary show but ended up spending the entire season documenting Lu Qin’s street food stall instead.

When the Soul Plague arrived, it struck fast, transforming its victims into soulless monsters. The horde swept across the land unchecked—until the Awakened appeared. These survivors, immune to the plague, turned the tide of war into a bloody stalemate. But while the front lines held, the plague continued to spread and the horde only grew in number.Desperate for reinforcements, the World Government began conducting controlled infections of its able-bodied citizens to produce more Awakened. Hill was one of the conscripts. After going through a harrowing trial induced by the plague, his life was torn apart and remade: he emerged Awakened, endowed with strange new powers—but also bound by a dark curse that resides deep within his own soul.As Hill learns to wield his abilities alongside fellow survivors, he uncovers unsettling truths about the plague’s true nature and the hidden price of becoming one of humanity’s last line of defense.

Thea fell in love with Ryder who is her childhood best friend.She kept her feelings hidden.A deceitful third party involvement manipulated Ryder into believing that she had broken his trust.~Exceprt~Thea's voice trembled as she grasped Ryder's hand. “Ry...Ryder, please listen.” she begged, her eyes pleading for his attention.Ryder jerked his hand free from Thea's grasp, his expression hardening into ice. “I don't want to hear anything from you.You're no one to me from now on.”“You are going to believe her?”her eyes welled up with tears.“I don't want to believe you..” Ryder spat, his eyes flashing with anger. “From now on, don't dare show your face to me.” With those cutting words, he turned and walked away,leaving Thea shattered, her body racked with sobs as she collapsed to the ground.Years passed Thea returned to the city working as a waitress to support her life.But fate delivered a cruel blow when Ryder and his fiancee walked into the restaurant.“Didn't I say you better stay away from us?How dare you appear in front of us?”Thea's voice trembled as she spoke, her heart heavy with emotion.“Ry...Mr. Thompson,” she corrected herself, her eyes locking onto his, “I never thought our paths would cross again, especially not here.”“I made it clear previously that I never wanted to see you again..” he said, each word cutting through Thea like a knife, reopening old wounds and slicing through her fragile heart.Thea's eyes welled up with tears as she gazed into Ryder's, “I didn't mean to hurt you, Ryder...” she implored, her gaze clinging to his, desperate for him to see the sincerity in her eyes and believe her words.He scoffed,“Hurt?I hate you for what you did to her.How can you hurt my woman?”Thea looked at his eyes to find the glimmer of the boy she once knew.But that boy was gone replaced by a man consumed by rage and hatred for her.She knew she lost him forever.Tears pricked at the corner of her eyes.Will Thea and Ryder ever find their way back to each other, or is their love lost forever, a casualty of misunderstandings and hurtful words? Will they be able to overcome the lies and betrayal that tore them apart, or will their hearts remain forever fractured?

Life isn’t dramatic.

Takasugi Shinsaku once mentioned, “The mind to bring interest to an otherwise uninteresting world”, but if you’ll let me have my say, “An otherwise uninteresting world is also interesting”.

The world is just right with this level of boredom.

That is the conclusion to the results of my, Kagoshima Akira’s seventeen years of lived experience.

It’s not like anything’s ever going to happen.

I mean.

Witches from other worlds,

and cyber soldiers paying a visit from the future,

and psychics fighting under the instruction of research institutions

don’t exist, after all.