The Desolate Era (Web Novel) - Book 38, Chapter 37 - Fifty Chaos Cycles in the Icewind Sea

Lao Chen was just an old, underpaid security guard in a rundown apartment complex, living a miserable life under a stingy, ungrateful boss.His wife left him, his daughter wanted nothing to do with him, and poverty was his only constant companion.In the end, death came in the form of a drunk driver, leaving him broken and forgotten on the cold pavement.But fate wasn’t done with him. In his final moments, he prayed—desperate, pleading to any deity who would listen.And someone did.The God of Wealth and Love took pity on his wasted life and granted him a second chance.Wake up again as Zhao Yiming, a 25-year-old gambler and alcoholic drowning in debt with nothing but a good face and a strong body to his name, he was given the Affinity Money Maker System—a mysterious power that let him gain wealth and influence by forming relationships, whether as lovers, friends, or even enemies.Before he knew it, he had stumbled his way into unimaginable riches.But things never go as planned. One moment of recklessness—one affair with the wrong woman—led to an unexpected murder.Now, the system has thrown him onto a new path: The Villain Route. With a negative perk that keeps the police off his trail but tightens the noose around his future, Zhao Yiming is faced with an impossible choice.Will he claw his way to the top and become the billionaire he was meant to be? Or will his second life end behind bars, just as tragic as his first?

I exist in the darkness, disappear under the bright light, and will eventually devour the sun and turn into the shadow of all things… Known by people as the indescribable terror of darkness; the king of shadows; the dark day; the existence of the shadow of the world , is still just a somewhat special high school student, facing a weird death game…

- Description from novelbuddy

The world is like a chessboard and all living beings are the pieces on it!

“I do not want to be treated as a chess piece by the players!”

Defeat in this chess is tantamount to the destruction of my body and I’ll thoroughly disappear! Victory in this chess and I’ll have a very long life!

With the help of an ancient Weiqi piece, Gu Hai arrived at the Divine Province Mainland!

Heavenly Dao is eternal, however life is limited, making heaven and earth pieces of a chessboard, then in the end transformed into a loess, vanishing like faded smoke and scattered clouds. Nevertheless people still jump out of the chessboard, and these people are already prepared for their death while playing chess against the heavens, and perhaps win eternal life for themselves?

“I’ve come, and I want to live through 10,000 lives without any boundaries!”

- Description from Novelupdates

I had thought that my life couldn’t get worse when I walked in on my fiancé cheating on me with my best friend. But after a series of unfortunate events, I opened my eyes in a world that I had only read about in a webnovel, the Erudian Empire, ruled under the domineering, bloody reign of Emperor Helio.

The worst part?

I’m not even the main character! Reborn as Winter Royberg de la Erudian, I am the pitiful side character who is discovered to be a royal bastard princess due to a certain physical trait only the imperial bloodline possesses. But I know the end of Winter’s story and the unwanted royal punching bag is framed as a witch and killed at age 16 on the guillotine due to the scheming of the cruel empress.

An aloof, murder happy father? Check.

Psycho half-sister? Check.

Meddlesome author who wants me to follow the script? Double check!

I don’t want to die an early death again, so I’m determined not to ever be discovered as a royal again. But before I know it, I’m trapped in a palace of blood and opulence playing tricky games of power, games I have no clue how to win. How will I survive to adulthood in the imperial palace and get my happily ever after? And am I really the only person who fell into this world?