I Have Returned, but I Cannot Lay down My Gun - Chapter 752: Florida (4)

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.

{Author Of Old-World Extra}There was nothing special about my life... except for how I died.I went out in the dumbest, most ridiculous way possible; even a dog’s death would’ve made for a better sight.But hey, that wasn’t even the weird part. Not by a long shot.For whatever reason, my soul had gotten ripped out and shoved into the body of some “Villain” in a faraway land.Yep, you heard that right. A clichéd “Villain.” And I’ve got ten days before he’s publicly executed.This guy—well, I—used to be a Beggar.One that grew into a Seeker, then a Magi, then a Professor, and then...A Sultan.The one ruler of the entire world.Now? I’m stuck facing the people I used to love, ready to pay for all the “evil” I’ve done.Fate seemed hellbent on ending me, no matter where I went, but just as I was about to give up...A Script appeared before my mind’s eye.{Would you like to witness your real history, your Path?}{Would you like to make it past your Promised Day?}{Would you like to become a True King?}{If so, repeat after me…}It gave me one word—ancient, powerful, and clear.“BASSORĀH!”Many paths came together.—This is a story about suffering. Anger. And Forgiveness.Extra Tags: Drama, Reaction, Misunderstanding, Transmigration. Time Travel.

The fat cat Black Tubby said, “Supreme Commander is a good person, meow!”

The bird Grandfather Sparrow said, “Supreme Commander is a good person, chirp!”

The little mouse Oil Jar also said, “Supreme Commander is a good person, squeak!”

Furthermore, the weasel Great Immortal said, “You and Supreme Commander are a match made in Heaven~”

All of the little animals told Ning Xiaoyao about Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander, Supreme Commander! So, Ning Xiaoyao believed that this Supreme Commander named Lou Zigui had to be a good guy. As to whether or not they were a match made in Heaven…

The fat cat Black Tubby clawed at Ning Xiaoyao. “You wrote the decree sentencing Supreme Commander to death in the execution grounds, ah! You fatuous, self-indulgent ruler!!!”

Ning Xiayao replied, “…”

—

Ning Xiaoyao is a genetically evolved army doctor from a zombie-infested apocalyptic world. One day, she transmigrates to the past as the next emperor of an ancient country. But wait, isn’t she a girl?!

As it turns out, she’s a disguised stand-in for her baby brother under the “loving” care of the empress dowager, her mother and future murderer. Faced with her impending death, Ning Xiaoyao must thwart the schemes of her family to survive in a palace allied against her. But how does a zombie-killing expert with supernormal strength, healing powers, and the ability to understand animals deal with the intricacies of court politics?

“If nothing else works, I’ll just beat them all up!”

Book I: Lost ThingsTristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.Where every year many go, and few return.Book II: Good TreasonsThe trials of the Dominion are over.The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?