48 Hours a Day - Chapter 9: Desert Island Survival III

After being torn from the only life she knew, 16-year-old Margo is forced into a new home with strangers who call themselves her parents. Haunted by memories of her past and consumed by feelings of isolation, she struggles to adapt to her unfamiliar surroundings. School offers little relief—until she meets Lucien, a mysterious boy who appears just when she needs a friend the most.Gabriel is everything Margo needs: kind, attentive, and always ready to whisk her away from her troubles. Each night, he invites her to secret places—an abandoned playground, a fog-choked garden, a crumbling train station at the edge of town—each more unsettling than the last. Yet with every chilling rendezvous, Margo feels more alive... more seen.But something isn’t right. Gabriel never comes to school during the day. Her adoptive parents never see him. And when they catch her talking to thin air, their concern deepens into fear. They say Gabriel isn't real—that he’s a figment of her imagination. Margo wants to believe them, but Gabriel feels real. More real than anything else in her life.As the nights grow colder and more twisted, Gabriel’s true nature begins to surface. Shadows move where they shouldn’t. Time warps in his presence. And the places they visit seem to echo with whispers from another world. Margo is forced to ask herself: Who—or what—is Gabriel? Why does he only want her? And what will happen on the final night he asks her to come with him?As the line between reality and delusion begins to crumble, Margo must make an impossible choice: stay in a world where she feels loved, or return to one that barely feels real.But one thing is certain—some friendships never let go.

I became a side-character who died in anguish because of her good-for-nothing husband.

If I can’t avoid getting married, why don’t I change who I marry instead?

“Excellent, marriage sounds good.”

“Wise choice. Then let’s have a wedding ceremony that isn’t too ceremonious. Following that, I’ll need you to go down to the Fief and behave like the lady of the house until I call for you. Naturally, there won’t be any time to spend in leisure whilst dousing yourself in luxuries.”

“I’m not marrying you, but your father instead.”

“……Pardon?”

“I’m not going to marry you. Do you have a problem with that?”

[Factory-Courtyard Life • Face-Slapping Matches • Hidden-Advantage Revenge • Rising Star at Work]Tian Xiang’s fiancé is stolen by her cousin—no big deal, plenty of fish in the sea.Then glowing words appear above the cousin’s head: “Reborn Heroine.”Tian Xiang blinks—she’s inside a 1970s harem-novel world where every character wears a flickering label:Big Villain • Tragic Second Male • White Lotus • Evil Mother-in-Law • Villain #1, #2, #3… and above her own head?“Silly-Sweet Cannon-Fodder.”Well, not anymore.Using her real-life job as a factory-union clerk, Tian Xiang rewrite her life script.She warns the other “harem extras,” sabotages the original male lead, and—oops—earns herself the new tag: “Ultimate Villainess.”The novel insists villains end in ruin.Tian Xiang’s reply: “If I’m going down, we’re all going down.”Meng Cheng’an—once a literal background prop, now upgrading in real time:Background NPC → Major Villain → Obsessed Lover → Yandere Husband → Shamelessly Devoted Spouse.The more chaos Tian Xiang stirs, the faster his labels evolve—until the final tag reads:“Her Partner-in-Crime—For Life.”

Having spent her childhood confined in chains, Alice was a child who knew neither love nor joy. Scorned by her family while being tortured in the name of the greater good for years, she grew numb to all feeling and thought. That is, until one day, a man in black offered her a chance to escape.There were once rumours widespread of an endless hell, a land of glorious death and dreadful opportunity. Fools went in search of it, and the clever never ventured into it. Only when its baleful mysteries spilled unto the earth did all hear its name — the Abyss.A single drop of its blood could give someone the power to control shadows, move faster than sound, or strength greater than the strongest man. Yet, it all came at a cost; the blood would always make sure those who consumed it became part of the Abyss, with one exception — Alice. Cast away by her own blood, it was her destiny to rot in a gilded cage.But, that fateful day changed everything. Gifted a second chance at life, a chance to turn her life around and claim vengeance against her family, a chance to dive deep into the Abyss and gain the power to govern her own fate, Alice took his hand, unaware of the destiny unfolding before her.