Duality of Shadows - Chapter 993: Golden Fruit

He was supposed to be just a guardian.But love doesn’t follow rules.After losing his mother, 18-year-old Kai finds himself under the roof of his cold, powerful stepfather, Sebastian Vaughn. What begins as silence turns into lingering glances, late-night tension, and a love Kai can’t run from—even if he tries.But Bast isn’t just any man. He’s possessive, broken, and hiding dangerous secrets… including an ex-lover who wants to destroy everything. As feelings grow, so do the risks.How do you escape a man who says he’s your everything—your father, protector, friend… and lover?

Having traveled to the year 1983, Lu Jiaxin found herself at the start facing the failure of the original host in a high school exam, a stepmother who was sweet on the outside but dark-hearted, and a purely self-interested father.Designer Lu, facing a hellish start, decided: if her stepmother made a move, she'd countermove tenfold! If her father failed to act like a human, she'd teach him how to!She still intended to continue college; she heard that the degrees from Hong Kong University in the '80s were quite valuable, so she flung her sleeves and bravely explored the financial and business circles of Hong Kong.Bulky mobile phones, beepers, “007” on the dance floor!Victoria Mountain, Shallow Bay, female tycoons of Victoria!

...[Inside an underground basement]“You are going to die for nothing, hahahaha,” the old man's voice thundered through the room, sending chills down my spine.Step.With a swift and ruthless motion, he lunged forward, his sword slicing through the air and slashing my throat, crimson droplets staining the darkness.“We'll see,” I whispered defiantly, my final words escaping as a mere breath against the impending darkness.Slowly, inexorably, my consciousness slipped away, and I descended into a deep, unfathomable slumber.“Huh!?” My eyes fluttered open, and I found myself seated in a bustling tavern, the air thick with laughter and the clinking of glasses.In front of me stood a captivating lady, her beauty juxtaposed with an angry furrow upon her brow, threatening to shatter the harmony of the jovial scene.“Don't follow me around!” Her words pierced the air like shards of ice, the intensity of her emotions palpable as she cast a resentful glare in my direction, before swiftly departing from the tavern....Am I trapped within the confines of a game? The fragments of my shattered common sense scattered before me, leaving me to question the very fabric of my reality.

In a future, alternate timeline, the Gods have been reawakened with a fury, and with that fury, they take control of the world and reshape it to their collective liking, and reignite the power of magic, changing the way the world functioned as we knew it.With the concept of magic now introduced to humanity, they went wild with it in this new world, creating new things and people that eventually restructured the system of the Gods themselves, changing everything once again.Time has passed since then, and in a remote city in the largest desert two beings encounter one another and create an unlikely spawn, the mother dies shortly after giving birth due to a curse inflicted upon her by mysterious forces. The was then father left to take care of his child on his own and does his best, but is forced to return to his home realm in hell, due to the same reasons he was allowed in the mortal plane in the first place.Left alone with only her friend, the two young serpentines venture off on many adventures together, developing a strong bond for one another that quickly grows into something more.Then on one of these adventures, they find themselves trapped inside a hidden and desolate place. They searched for a way out, but in the end, only one escapedNow alone the little serpent girl has to survive this world without anyone by her side, struggling to cope with all of the losses she's suffered over her life.Will she be able to survive? Or will she fall into an endless spiral of despair and loneliness?