Picking Up Fragments - Chapter 250: The Fan Festival Concludes

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

Cheap, high-quality s*aves -not.
Our diligent friend, the Goblin!

A princess's duty is to be beautiful, quiet, not loud, to be seen and not to be heard, which was how Dahlia lived most of her life. Bound by the expectations of her title, she spent years trying to prove to her father that she was more than just a princess and capable of being more than an ornament in his court but each time she never got the chance. Instead, she was forced into a marriage of convenience with the bravest knight in all the kingdom, Reagan Hawthorne.Dahlia thought she would use this marriage to escape the brutal crutches of her father and glide out of her cage but Reagan’s cold disdain was an unexpected prison of its own. While he waged wars on distant lands, she stayed behind, holding his household together and protecting the people he seemed to ignore. But Dahlia carried a dangerous secret. By day, she was the perfect wife. By night, she became the “Black Knight,” a masked vigilante fighting for justice in the shadows.Reagan returned, ready to focus on his personal mission: avenging his father’s death. To him, Dahlia was just another pawn in his plans—a spoiled princess he needed to tolerate. But as cracks began to form in her perfect façade, Reagan couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to his wife than met the eye.Now, with enemies circling closer and their secrets threatening to collide, Dahlia and Reagan must confront the lies they’ve told themselves and each other. But when masks fall and truths are revealed, will their fragile bond withstand the storm—or will it shatter beyond repair?One wound. One secret. One night that changes everything.

Ysavel, an aspiring writer, wakes up one day inside the world of her own novel. She thought it's those typical transmigration story she have read. However, she was shock when she discovers that she's been cast as the villainess in her own story.

“DON'T TELL ME I BECOME THE VILLAINESS OF MY OWN STORY?!”

Shocked and dismayed, she realizes that the only way to return to the real world is to live out her role in the story. Initially, she accepts this fate, but things take an unexpected turn when the characters start deviating from the script.

“I don't want another Queen. Youare the only one I want as my Queen, Csille.” Prince Fraser whispered.

The male lead, who was expected to be annoyed by her constant pestering, instead becomes affectionate and attached to her.

“It's inevitable, Lady Lauretré. You will still be the Queen, so I don't see any harm in what I said. Besides, I doubt the King or even the Crown Prince would be willing to change their minds about your engagement.”

The female lead, who was supposed to separate the male lead from her, begins to play matchmaker between the male lead and the villainess.

What should she do? She couldn't get back to the real world if she didn't finished the story as the villainess. But how can she finished it if the two leads are not following the script? Help!!!