MTL - I Have a Store In the World of American Comics - v2 Chapter 4 Upgrade Mission: "Battle 1"

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.

[MATURE CONTENT]Abigail Snow accidentally caught her fiancé being intimate with her sister. She learned that her fiancé had only used her to advance his business and had never truly loved her.Heartbroken, Abigail called off the engagement and left everything behind to start a new life with nothing. At her lowest point, she met Sawyer, a hidden tycoon who helped her rebuild her life and seek justice against those who made her suffer.As Abigail begins to fall in love with Sawyer, his childhood sweetheart reappears, causing doubt and confusion for her.***Excerpt:Whoever this man was, he was her savior. If he hadn’t held her hand and pulled her, she might have become dead meat and gone straight to the afterlife.“Thank you so much, good sir,” Abigail said softly as she finally looked up to see him.Abigail was stunned.“But I'm not planning to commit suicide. I tripped over my own feet,” she continued, avoiding eye contact. She stared at his chest—her line of sight only reaching his sturdy chest.“It sounds better to hear that, Miss. Because I don’t want to go to the police station to become a witness, or they might wrongly accuse me as a suspect,” he said with a sarcastic tone that caused Abigail to stifle a laugh.“Sir, I’m so grateful you helped me. You are my savior. I owe you my life—” Abigail paused, taken aback by her own words.How could she make such a deep vow to this man!? This man might take advantage of her if he was a bad person. Right?“Alright, young lady, you’re supposed to release your tight embrace on me. You’re safe now.”Abigail was utterly shocked to hear his words. She only realized she was still in his arms, her hands tightly wrapped around his waist, and her entire body pressed against him. They were so close—close enough to hear his loud heartbeat. She quickly took a few steps back.

Within the dream of the dreamer, the one who was dreamed of awoke.

… Borges

“I exist in the sunlight, the wind, between the heavens and the earth, and also in dreams.”

One night, Yu Hao, a college student who was at his wits’ end had an unexpected encounter with a mysterious visitor – “General” – who had dream travelled. He led Yu Hao in solving the countless riddles that abounded in the realm of the conscious, and lit up the fire beacons on the meandering Great Wall.

Thereafter, the darkness retreated, the sun rose, and when the long night was thoroughly lit up, the him who existed in reality was reborn.

The black dragon that roared, the lighthouse and demonic eye on the coastline, the rain forest before Chichén Itzá, the fierce beasts that wreaked havoc in the Colosseum…the bizarre projection of reality in one’s consciousness reflected the hidden place that the sunlight in reality couldn’t touch – the innumerable sins of the human heart.

The journey of seizing dreams continues, and one can only hope that the sun will continue illuminating the human heart.

…

Fire beacons on the Great Wall were lit up to signal a border invasion.

- Description from Novelupdates

I thought that when I was reborn, I would work hard to be strong—however, I only started to struggle when fate came.

Once, I was weak and powerless, but the ninja world imprisoned me bit by bit like a cage.

Hinata, Konoha, Ninja World, one day I will break the cage/break free from the shackles and act recklessly. And those who were about to die – will also be reborn.

Until leaving a sentence – tell them, this is the last time I will fight for this decaying village.

“What if you never come back?”

“Then they will never return.”

“It’s like the color of your eyes determines that we can never be together. Even at the last moment of my life, all I see is blood and night—and the only thing, the white of your eyes.”

“White—it’s so good!”

Is it really good – the world of white eyes is just pale without a trace of color.

- Description from novelbuddy