HOTD! Busujima's Step Brother - Chapter 72 – They Multiply Like a Cockroach!

A mysterious virus emerged, and countless people around the world turned into zombies. Luo Yang, a young man who was about to risk everything, receives the blessing of activating the system.Initially, he gains a massive spaceship with hundreds of subordinates and a divine-level talent.Just when Luo Yang thinks he can live peacefully aboard the ship, he discovers the system's function: to obtain rewards by allowing other survivors to live on board.But Luo Yang doesn’t want to be a savior; the spots on the spaceship are limited, and only those who pay will be allowed to live in his refuge.

Ethan Cross was just an ordinary college student in his past life—until he died trying to save a banker playing hero. Now, he finds himself reincarnated in “New World”, a realm plagued by Dread Beasts, where only those who awaken Aethermarks can become Heroes.But there’s a problem.Ethan has awakened as an E-rank Hero, the weakest tier, cursed with only one ability slot—a death sentence for any aspiring warrior. With no powerful clans willing to recruit him and the world already looking down on him, his future seems bleak.Until he discovers his Innate Talent: Sanctum of Beasts.This mysterious power grants him access to a personal dimension, where he can hunt endless waves of Dread Beasts. Unlike the real world, slaying them in this space drops Ability Fragments, which he can combine to gain abilities without slot restrictions. Even better? Time flows differently—he can train for days, yet only an instant passes in reality.Determined to rise from nothing, Ethan embarks on a secret journey to accumulate power. But as he completes missions and unravels the truth about the Black Pits, he realizes there’s something far more sinister lurking beneath the surface.The Hero Association hides dark secrets. Villains roam freely in the shadows. And Dread Beasts may not be the mindless creatures everyone believes them to be.With powerful enemies watching his every move, Ethan must play a dangerous game—remain unnoticed or become the hunter of both beasts and men.But one thing is certain:In this world, strength is everything. And Ethan Cross will carve his own path to the top—no matter the cost.

He wasn’t some chosen hero.Not the golden boy in prophecy.He was just Kieran Marcoth—a boy born on the wrong side of fate,A mistake, a misfit.Not blessed by heaven.Too stubborn for hell.And now…Thrown onto a battlefield meant for gods.The world had already been broken long before he came into it.People sinned, as they always do—And one day, the sky finally answered.The day God turned away,Everything fell.Cities burned.Families vanished.The silence afterward was louder than any explosion.But even in wrath, the Divine left something behind.A final olive branch—if you could call it that.A way to survive what came crawling out of the darkness.Talents.Powers.Strange, unique abilities passed down like gifts from a god who no longer cared.And on the day Kieran stood in line—quiet, hopeful, a little scared—Waiting to receive his talent,He dared to believe his life might finally start to make sense.Instead…He awakened something different.A hidden SSS-ranked talent.The kind with a condition attached.A catch.And just like that, everything went wrong.Laughter.Whispers.Stares like knives.He became a joke.A disappointment.Even the instructors didn’t bother to hide their sneers.Then the bullying started.The beating.The betrayal.And one day, it nearly killed him.He lay there, bleeding.Angry.Humiliated.A part of him still hoping this was some twisted mistake.But it wasn’t.And then—A sound.> [Ding! Conditions have been met][Host has been successfully selected as a God Candidate][Defeat the other candidates! Become the next God of this ruined world]Kieran stared at the message blinking in front of him.He didn’t smile.Didn’t cry.Didn’t feel triumphant.He just felt tired.And then, something in him shifted.One thought, sharp and cold, rose to the surface:“I’m going to fucking kill those bastards.”Not for power.Not for glory.But because he was done being the punchline.That’s how his journey began.Not as a hero.Not yet a monster.Just a boy who had lost too much—And found something worth fighting for in the wreckage.The question now is:Will the world break him again?Or will he become the god who remakes it?

Gazing at the Starbucks café at the airports had become a ritual for her. A desperate attempt as she hoped against hope to see him again, probably get one more chance to kiss him again.

Looking at the store all lost, she walked ahead, but stumbled and bumped against someone.

The cup of coffee that he had in his hand spilled all over just like the first time when she had met him.

“Jesus Christ”, he muttered.

The moment she heard the voice she looked up and saw his face. It was the same face that had promised to stay next to her, till death did them apart.

Tears flooded her eyes and she could barely speak, “I knew you would come back for me Raymond”. She raised herself on her toes in an attempt to kiss him, but he blocked her lips with his palm.

“Whoa, whoa, Miss !!! I guess you have mistaken me for someone else.”

“What are you saying, Raymond? It's me, your Akira. The love of your life, your fiancée,” she said and stretched her hand showing the ring on her finger.

He stared at the ring for quite some time and then looked at her face apologetically and said,

“Miss please, I am already a married man.”

And then he silently walked away.