The Stepmother's Counterattack: Raising a Child in a Bygone Era - Chapter 843 - 842: Branching

Ten years ago, Joseph Cassian was thrown into a maximum-security prison for crimes he didn’t commit framed by the very family whose blood runs through his veins.Now, at twenty-eight, he walks free into a world where the city’s mafia empires have mysteriously crumbled. Their leaders, slaughtered. Their empires, burned.All while Joseph sat in silence behind bars... no one can prove he did anything and yet it all happened as if he planned it.Was he just a wrongfully imprisoned scapegoat, a man who survived injustice?Or is he a mastermind a Don who orchestrated revenge so flawlessly that not even he had to lift a finger?Now that he’s free, Joseph stands at a crossroads.He can leave the blood behind, walk away from the ashes of an empire that once owned the city.Or he can claim what’s left of his legacy and become the very Don the world has feared all along.

What does it feel like to be hunted down by the whole just for being overpowered?___For centuries, the realms feared one thing, the birth of a child under the Blood Moon. A cursed child with the power to destroy everything.Every two hundred years, it happens. And every time, the realms unite to erase that child before their powers awaken.But this time, the Blood Moon didn’t rise. And yet, the child was born.Kaizen, 18 years old, was believed to be powerless, an ordinary hunter with no magic or magic core. What no one knew was that his abilities had been sealed since birth. Not just one, but all five elemental powers, water, fire, earth, ice, and shadow.The same power that once shattered the balance of the world.After a near-death encounter, the seal breaks. His powers begin to surface—unstable, dangerous, and impossible to ignore. Along with them comes a system that forces him to evolve and grow stronger.Now, Kaizen must hide the truth, survive among hunters, and face enemies far beyond anything he imagined. Because if the realms find out what he really is...They won’t hesitate to kill him.They promised this curse would never return.They were wrong.

# handsome # shortcomingdefense # strong

After dying on a battlefield, she was reborn as orphan Lu Xiaocha. She was in a peaceful world with delicious food she had never seen before. There were no endless missions or killings, and everything was lovely in her eyes.

When a luxury car rolled up to the orphanage, she realized that the original owner of this body was not an orphan, but a daughter from a wealthy family.

Also, she had a superb father, a mother who was a peerless beauty, five older brothers, and an uncle. But… Why did their family name sound so familiar?

Then, she recalled reading a novel before she died. It seems that her family… were all villains!

Great! She had fallen into a villains’ nest! But… this nest was so nice. Lu Xiaocha would defend them even if they were bad! Heh! Someone wanted everything the Lu family had? They’d have to ask her fist first!

A random man came over and said, “Chacha, come with me.”

“Do you think I need to?” Lu Xiaocha shot back.

After years of exhausting work as an editor, constantly meeting impossible deadlines and dealing with frustrating clients, he finally reached the finish line—his long-awaited vacation. No more emails, no more last-minute revisions, just pure, uninterrupted laziness.His perfect plan? Lock himself inside his house, watch his favorite shows, playing video games, sleep to his heart’s content, and embrace a life of pure relaxation.But just as he was about to enjoy the bliss of doing absolutely nothing… he woke up somewhere else.Not just anywhere—but in another world, inside the body of a young noble boy. And not just any noble boy—the second son of a Marquis, notorious for his laziness and bad reputation.Great. Just great.Yet, instead of questioning the absurdity of his situation, he did what he did best—ignored everything and went back to sleep.Unfortunately, the world refused to let him be.---[System installed...][Congratulations, Host! You have been chosen as the new candidate of this world.][Please complete the following task to finish the quest and receive a reward.][Warning: Failure to complete the quest within the time limit will result in consequences.][...][...][...Host?][Didn’t you hear what I said?][WAKE UP!]Zzzzz…And so, his peaceful days were over before they even began.Now, with an annoying system breathing down his neck, a family that already expects nothing from him, and a world filled with power struggles and danger, all he wants is to laze around.But will the world really let him?