MTL - The Male Lead’s Substitute Wife - Chapter 35

A river song, triggered a legend of the rivers and lakes.
Tian Zun’s life motto: “My sword is the truth.”
Shen Lang’s life motto: “To serve people with morality, those who are dissatisfied are dead.”

- Description from uukanshu (translated)

Garou woke up in the world of Naruto, reborn as an ordinary civilian of the Hidden Leaf Village.To his shock, he discovered he suffered from the same limitation as Rock Lee: completely talentless in both ninjutsu and genjutsu. Worse yet, he belonged to the same generation as Naruto and the other members of the Konoha 12.But Garou wasn’t the type to quit. He knew that pure grind beats natural talent.Might Guy had already proven that much.However, unlike Guy, Garou had seen the end. He had watched the anime.He understood that taijutsu, as powerful as it was, always burned out like a firework, brilliant but brief.And this time, he had no intention of going out like that.Determined to break past the limits, Garou began creating his own techniques, pushing the boundaries of what a “mere” civilian could achieve.And the mysterious light orb in his mind granted him powers based on the influence his techniques had on others and the world itself.The world of Naruto would never be the same again.The grind doesn’t stop until the world bows before his fists.

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.

It’s the beginning of the Apocalypse, and zombies are running rampant over the Earth.