The Desolate Era (Web Novel) - Book 41, Chapter 22 - The Storm

What does it feel like when you have a best-selling detective fiction author for a boyfriend?

Whenever you offend him, he would look at you disdainfully, “A character molded after you could only ever appear in my novel as a deceased victim.”

Whenever you seriously offend him, he would threaten you, “The very next victim who dies in my novel would be named after you.”

Whenever you seriously, seriously offend him, he would add on to the previous threats, “Furthermore, the victim would have died at the hands of an extremely perverse and twisted serial killer, and would have suffered an extremely painful and terrible death.”

But, by a stroke of coincidence, if you happen to be this best-selling author’s editor, he need not resort to the above mentioned tactics. In fact, all he has to do is one, single thing –
-Delay the submission of his draft.

- Description from Novelupdates

Kai is refused help from the president and thrown back into ground zero, where he meets a man whom he shows kindness to. As an act of repayment Kai is taken to the under tunnel of the city where he discovers a secret office belonging to his father. The stranger seemed to know what he was looking for after some time he handed over a box to Kai. A melodic robo voice came from the box -|DNA ACTIVATION VERIFIED|- -|ASTRAL NODE IS ONLINE|- -|SYSTEM HAS BEGUN ACTIVATING|- -|AWAITING MANUAL OVERRIDE TO TURN ON SYSTEM|- Kai is gifted a rare astral node and resolves to join the academy to save his dying sister from the F-X7 disease and also escape the life of poverty they were stuck in. -|PASSWORD CORRECT|- -|MANUAL OVERRIDE SUCCESSFUL|- -|SYSTEM IS UPDATING, PLEASE BE PATIENT|- -|SYSTEM UPDATE IS COMPLETE|- -|SYSTEM IS ONLINE|- Joining the academy does no guarantee his success since he has no powers. But he must survive since that has been his goal after being sold to slavery. -|USER: KAI HALSTEN|- -|RACE: HUMAN|- -|GENDER: MALE|- -|LEVEL: ONE|- -|EXP: 0/100|- -|HP: 10/10|- -|BEGINNING BONDING|-

Shu Yu transmigrated to become a mob character, exiled into oblivion after appearing twice after helping the female side character who kept trying to dig a deeper hole for herself.Realizing she couldn't change the outcome, Shu Yu decided to just goof off.But even before the exile came, she was suddenly told that she was not a daughter of the Shu family.She was born to a farmer's family, who were so poor they couldn't afford to repair their leaking house. Having decided to eliminate the tarnishing of their good name, Shu Yu's adopted family decided to murder her.Shu Yu: Come on, see who dies.Returning to her biological family, the sight of a plate of salted vegetables, a barely-full bowl of rice, and her real parents' nervous looks, she finally sighed.No more goofing off, or she's going to starve to death.

For as long as he could remember, life had always been cruel.A young man in his early twenties—his name now lost to the past—was dealt a life filled with misfortunes.A cold, empty apartment, a soul-crushing job, and, finally, a terminal diagnosis.With nothing left to live for, his only comfort had been escaping into the fictional world of Path of the Elemental Sage, a story of heroes, magic, and survival.But fate had other plans.When death finally came for him, he didn’t fade into nothingness.Instead, he awoke in the world he had only read about—a world of chaos and danger where death lurked around every corner.The air smelled of magic, the sky was filled with possibilities.{«[Status Window]»}[Name: Lyrium Blackwood][Age: 16][Rank: D-][Skills: None][Elements: None}At first, confusion filled his mind.Who was Lyrium Blackwood?Why was he here?And why did this body feel so different?But as his memories returned, so did the realization: this wasn’t some blessing or second chance.He wasn’t reincarnated as the protagonist.No destined savior.No cheat abilities.No grand fate.He was just another mob, a face in the crowd meant to exist and die without leaving a mark.But this young man—the one who had left his old name and life behind—wasn’t the kind of person to roll over and accept his fate.“This world is dangerous. The protagonist isn’t the only one fighting for survival here,”he muttered, his red eyes deep and sharp.Unlike the naïve characters in the story, he knew the stakes.He’d read the web novel.He’d seen the carnage, the betrayals, the disasters that wiped out entire cities.And if there was one thing he refused to be, it was a pawn in someone else’s game.“I don’t care about glory. I don’t care about saving the world. All I care about is surviving—no matter what it takes.”Lyrium Blackwood wasn’t planning to live quietly or avoid danger.The only way to survive in this brutal world was to rise to the top.To be strong enough to stand above both heroes and villains.Using his knowledge of the story’s events and his iron will, Lyrium sets out on a relentless path to surpass the protagonist.Whether through clever manipulation, brutal training, or sheer desperation, he’ll climb higher and higher, leaving nothing to chance.But the deeper he gets, the more he realizes that this isn’t just the story he once read.As fate pushes him closer to the heart of the narrative, Lyrium begins to suspect that his reincarnation wasn’t an accident—and the world itself might be watching him.“I don’t care who or what stands in my way. If the story wants to kill me, I’ll rewrite the ending myself.”----------------------------------I apologize for any mistakes in this story, as it’s my first attempt at writing a novel.