Soul Guardian - Chapter 5: Minor Torments

One night of spring breeze, stirring the white window screen fluttering in the air.Only a nightstand lamp is on in the room.The light is a soft, dim yellow.......

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.

Existence was divided into three realms. The Heavenly Realm. The Earthen Realm. The Infernal Realm. Below them, countless minor realms of all types existed, none able to match the might of any of the Three Fundamental realms. The Celestials led the Heavenly Realm, The Immortals led the Earthen Realm and Demons led the Infernal Realm while the Rulers controlled all the minor realms. Together, they formed The Myriad Unity and allowed peace to reign supreme. The mortals were allowed to cultivate and reach for the Heavens as a balance was installed between the Heaven and Earth, all according to the Heaven’s Will. And yet, among the billions of trillions of living beings within the Myriad Unity, one seemed unsatisfied. “They are lying to us.” This man went against all known truths and contradicted the very gods. “We are in a false world! Mere pawns used to study an outcome!” And so in search of freedom and truth, this man committed the ultimate taboo. He rebelled.

“Ding! Congratulations! You have received 7 billion red pockets!”

“Ding! Congratulations! You have received 50 million yuan!”

“Ding! Congratulations! You have received a Lamborghini Aventador!”

“Ding! Congratulations! You have received 51% stock of a listed company!”

“Ding! Congratulations! You have received a whole tower worth 5 billion!”

“Ding! Congratulations! You have received the skill, Combat King!”

“Ding! Congratulations! You have received the skill, God’s Singing Voice!”

“7 billion red packets? How long will it even take me to open all of them?” Lin Fan complained.

“Excuse me, how long do you think it will take you to earn a million?” a certain random reporter asked.

Lin Fan was silent.

“Sorry, but, why do you keep blinking?” the reporter asked.

“Didn’t you ask how long it would take?”