Within a Hollow Heart - Chapter 13: Volume 1, : "Echoes of a Dying World"

In the world of Kyushu, players full of resentment gathered together, dripped blood as an alliance, and vowed to make the big devil go away.

For a time, all directions responded, the wind was surging, and everyone saw a better tomorrow.

Except for Lubei.

He is the so-called devil.

“Say I’m the devil, blame me for pitting you, I’m an NPC, how could I pit you, that’s how immortals are!”

- Description from novelbuddy

The Shao and Cheng families have been sworn enemies for generations, though few outsiders know the exact details of their feud.

What is known to all is the Shao family’s three cardinal rules:

The Shao family must not cooperate with the Chengs, must not intermarry with the Chengs, and must never appear with the Chengs at any public event.

One day, an adorable little girl looking like a doll, wearing a puffy pink dress, pink hair clip, and pink backpack, walked into the lobby on the first floor of the Shao Group building.

The receptionist thought she was some child who had wandered away from home. But the little girl solemnly said, “I want to see your Shao Group CEO, Shao Chengze.”

Seeing the girl’s pink outfit, the receptionist knew she must be from a wealthy and noble family to dare to address their CEO by his full name. She couldn’t be the daughter of some high-ranking Shao Group executive?

Smiling warmly, she asked, “Little one, could you tell me your parents’ names?”

The girl tilted her head. “My mommy is Cheng Jinlan.”

Cheng…Jinlan?!

Second Miss Cheng Jinlan of the Cheng family?! She never thought she’d see the day a Cheng would set foot in the Shao Group building. What a miracle!

“As for my dad, I’ve come today to get some of Shao Chengze’s hair for a DNA test. Once I have his hair, I’ll know if he’s my dad or not.”

The girl’s crisp words rippled outwards from the front desk through the bustling first floor lobby. Everyone who heard froze in shock, jaws dropping.

Everyone except Shao Chengze, who had just stepped out of the elevator surrounded by a group.

He looked at the girl in pink through narrowed, fox-like eyes.

Cheng Liqi recognized Shao Chengze and covered her mouth in an “ah-oh”.

She decided that even if Shao Chengze wasn’t her dad, she’d have to help Cheng Jinlan get this man. She liked his eyes.

They were just like hers.

So pretty.

Haruto Hayase was a normal high school boy in his third year, living a quiet life until his younger sister, Haruka Hayase, joined the same school. Haruka’s beauty and charm made her the center of attention, quickly becoming the school’s prima donna. But when a notorious gang leader set his sights on her, he did everything in his power to protect her—only to fail tragically. Haruka was brutally assaulted and tortured, and Haruto himself suffered an agonizing death. However, in a twist of fate, Haruto is given a second chance, waking up a year before the events that shattered his life. Armed with the mysterious ‘Debauchery System Slave’, he vows to exact revenge on those responsible. This time, he will use his newfound powers of the system and charm to seduce the loved ones of his enemies. From their mothers, sisters, and lovers to their closest friends, Haruto will make them his. His enemies will suffer as he steals what they hold dearest, ensuring their downfall in the most devastating way possible.

We were a peaceful people living in harmony with nature in the vast lands of Lyréanor, but this peace was short-lived when our people were defeated by the dark elves, an ancient people even older than this world. It is said that they arrived in Lyréanor by boat and since their arrival, chaos has been unleashed. Proud of their obscure power, derived from dark rituals, they have raised gigantic armies of monsters whose name is synonymous with terror: ‘Obscurus’.They went on the rampage, and everywhere they went the grass didn't grow back, life died and disintegrated. Seven, there were seven. The seven dark elves known as the Lords of the Apocalypse. A single gesture from them was enough to strike us all down, a single gesture from one of them was enough to decimate us in blood and terror.And as I, Foster, contemplate the macabre scene before me, the bloodied and deformed bodies of my fellow elfes beings, and as death grips my soul, a strange sign appeared before me.[Ding... Activation of the world tree system]