Shadow Slave | Sleepless Dreamer - Chapter 53: Calm Before the Storm (3)

Tang Qiu was a substitute bride–forced to take her half-sister’s place and marry the young master of the Jiang family, a deformed cripple with less than 6 months left to live.

“Who would have thought that even a sickly whelp like Jiang Shaocheng would find himself a bride?”

“I hear that he’s practically on his deathbed and he’s only marrying the Fengs’ daughter to improve his lifespan.”

Tang Qiu ignored the whispers around her and focused on her husband-to-be, who coughed violently in his wheelchair. At the altar, after they had said their vows, she lifted her veil and knelt in front of Jiang Shaocheng, pressing a hesitant kiss to his lips.

The marriage contract was signed. No matter his physical deformities, he was now her husband.

She wasn’t afraid of the scars that marked his face, nor was she repulsed by him being confined to a wheelchair. Every morning, she made him breakfast, attended to his needs, and thought of little else beyond her duties as a wife.

“Young Master Jiang is a cripple who can’t get it up,” her best friend argued. “When he dies, you’ll still be untouched. You should set your sights higher.”

“A sickly invalid like Jiang Shaocheng can’t give you happiness,” her ex-boyfriend insisted. “I’ll wait for you.”

But Young Master Jiang only scoffed. “I have plenty of time left to be with her.”

Later in their marriage, Jiang Shaocheng wanted to enjoy his little wife in all ways–the press of her lips against his, the brush of skin on skin; the way a husband and wife were supposed to. But Tang Qiu refused him, blushing. “No, we can’t. The doctor says you can’t exert yourself.”

Jiang Shaocheng’s desire was surging through him, a heat in his core that demanded to be satiated. He cursed, I should have gotten rid of that doctor and the wheelchair long ago.

But he yearned to make love to his little wife, and so he revealed his true identity. In the blink of an eye, the deformed cripple transformed into a powerful businessman–tall, dark, and handsome. He quieted Tang Qiu’s protests, his body positioned over hers, his arms caging her as she lay on the bed. His voice was low when he asked, “What about now?”

As a sandbox game player who loves peace and farming, Chen Xiyi said that he is not the kind of fourth natural disaster that will bring chaos to the world, and he is good at influencing the enemy with truth and justice.

“If you have something to say, put away the weapons of mass destruction in your hands first, and you can discuss anything.”–The last words of a famous NPC.

- Description from novelbuddy

After losing his life in... an unfortunate incident, Ezra is rejected from the summoning by the First Light. He is instead banished from existence. There he meets a being, that claims to have been dreaming since before existence.He agrees to serve this Eldritch entity if he can let him live again. Ezra's soul is then stuck into the body of a young priest, Priest Izikel Vau-Leotard.In this new world, where gods exist and they bless their believers with Divine energy to perform miracles, Izikel is forced to navigate his new life, while serving a Chaos god.In his new life, Izikel vow to live the life of a hero, but what can he do when it seems like Fate itself scoffed at his words.This is Izikel's reality, one he barely has a grasp of, but one he is definitely going to conquer at all cost.CONTENT WARNING:This novel contains themes of suicide, cannibalism, and extreme brutality, along with other dark and potentially distressing topics. Reader discretion is advised..

In a world where dungeons are worshipped as divine trials and the System is hailed as a blessing, Beno Mark knows only one truth—everything is a lie.Haunted by the sin of killing his own parents, burdened by guilt, and shattered by the disappearance of his younger brother Renzo Mark in a mysterious Violet Gate, Beno spirals into madness, questioning reality itself. The System, which promises power and salvation, is nothing but a trap, binding the souls of countless hunters. The world itself is not as it seems—vast beyond imagination, hiding secrets that even the gods fear.Yet, Beno refuses to crumble. Driven by obsession and guilt, he awakens the cursed King System, the most forbidden and dominating force ever sealed. As fragments of truth and ancient conspiracies emerge, Beno, alongside Luna, Charles, Raul, and Isabella, begins to unravel the world's true history—a truth that has been hidden for centuries.What is the Violet Gate? Who controls the System? And why was Beno chosen as the vessel of the King of All Beings?The path is clear.Kneel... or Bleed.