Merchant Crab - Chapter 3: Easy as Pie

At nineteen, Dexter was already one of the world’s most celebrated authors. His books topped charts. Critics praised his genius. Fans devoured every word. But behind the acclaim was a lonely boy—raised without parents, love, or real friends—just stories.He published his first novel at fourteen. By seventeen, he was a literary star. But the higher he rose, the hollower it felt.Then came the writer’s block. The headaches. The blackout. And the transmigration.Dexter awoke in the body of Daylan, a disgraced young man in a crumbling, medieval world laced with steampunk tech, divine law, and political unrest. Daylan had already failed two of the three sacred Trials—rites that determine one’s magical potential. He was drowning in debt, entangled in plots to overthrow a corrupt Divine Church, and branded a lost cause.With no way back, Dexter took the final Trial—the most brutal of them all—and began a path that would earn him the whispered title: Soldier, Poet, King.But as his powers grew, one question haunted him: Did he truly die? And if so, who—or what—chose to bring him back?

Waking up from a deep sleep, Lin Yue found herself having transmigrated into a peasant's new wife, and to make matters more complicated, she was a replacement for a deceased wife. The husband, over a decade older than her, had already lost two former wives. It wasn't so much a marriage; she had been sold to the family by her unscrupulous parents. Her fate was out of her hands. Before her stood one, two, three, four children, like a line of burdens, all gazing at her with blurry and hopeful eyes. Lin Yue felt an enormous pressure, “Thanks to Yuewen Book Review Group for providing review support!”

As a successful villainous BOSS, in addition to having ideas and aspirations, one must also keep in mind three points:First, grow sneakily, don't act rashly (once a villain acts rashly, they basically won't survive past three chapters).Second, you're not a good person, so be ruthless (becoming more evil will make you three times stronger, while redemption weakens you by seven times).Third, remember the two points above. The moment you forget them, your end is probably on its way.

To exist in a certain place, at a certain time—it's always either by chance, or by choice.But sometimes,There is a third force.One that doesn't ask.One that doesn't explain.It simply places you—wherever it wants.Arséne had always been dragged into places he never chose.Situations he never asked for.Realities he never belonged to.And when, at last, he decided to act on his own terms—To take the initiative,To move first,To choose…He simply died.