Horrific Shorts: Zombie Edition - Chapter 851 Story The Thought That Hungers

...[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.

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.

Xia Wan entered an ancient Mary Sue campus novel and became a cannon fodder female supporting role who had a marriage contract with the male protagonist F1.
F1 thinks she gets in the way because he likes the heroine.
Because F2 has a crush on the heroine, he thinks she is superfluous.
F3 finds her troublesome because she needs a female lead.
F4…I’m still working as an exchange student abroad, so I won’t be able to play for a while.
In order to avoid becoming a suspect in the future.
On the first day of transferring to this school, Xia Wan stood on the podium and introduced herself, “Hello everyone, I’m Xia Wan’s younger brother!”
*
The system told Xia Wan that there are two ways to live, to gain love or friendship from F4.
Xia Wan chose the latter without hesitation.
On the first day of disguising as a man, Xia Wan gave water to the grumpy F1, and a rainbow fart output touted his skills as a dog.
On the tenth day of disguising as a man, Xia Wan helped the gentle school god F2 avoid his crazy suitors.
Fifteen days when she disguised herself as a man, Xia Wan gave the dandy F3 sincere care and help.
…
When F4 returned to China, he found that the position that should have belonged to him had been replaced by someone.
And his three close brothers fought over who was Xia Wan’s best friend.
F4: ? ? ?
#Our F4 seems to be over#
Xia Wan:OAO
#What do you see me doing? I don’t know anything! #
Thanks for the cover @salt lemon.

【Reading Guide】
No CP in the text, single arrow for all staff, friendship to a happy ending
Fanwai 1v1 has a male protagonist.
For details, see the words in Chapter 1, which can be accepted and read again.

Content tags: Wearing books Women disguised as men
Search keywords: Protagonist: Xia Wan ┃ Supporting role: Who do you love ┃ Others:

- Description from novelbuddy

I was just your average burnout. Now I’m a kobold in a dungeon where everything wants to eat me—and frankly, I get it. I look delicious.Reincarnated as the weakest possible monster in the worst possible place, I start with nothing but panic, backward knees, and a skill called Civilization Mimicry—which is sealed. Because of course it is.But survival isn't the story.This is the story of what comes after.Of finding meaning in the scraps. Of building law from ashes. Of kindling memory in a place designed to erase.Because even if the world sees kobolds as nothing, I’ve seen what we used to be.And I’m going to bring it back.Firelight by firelight. Burial by burial. One fragile tradition at a time.Because if the world wants kobolds to be nothing?Then I’ll teach it what nothing becomes when it learns to dream.