《Useless Strength In The Modern World》A Perfect Day
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Author notes: ◢*text*◢ represents MC thinking, since Inkstone won't let me use italics.
"The wind blows cool across my face
I can smell the taste,
A trace of lace…."
Zhuge Lian woke up to the sounds of last night's music ringing in his ears. How are my arms so heavy? Last night's drinking was too much for even his stable head. How are my thoughts so light? He turned down the volume on his headphones and, like every other day, realized that he was late for morning classes. His feet rammed through the mess on the floor like they were bowling balls, knocking down cans of Red Bull from weeks ago. ◢How did things get like this?◢
Ever since he had received the fateful letter of rejection from Harvard, Princeton, and Yale, he had become an aimless zombie in his senior year. After practicing all his life for Gaokao and college, reality crushed his dreams. Now, he drowned his sorrows in cheap spirits and sleep. He understood very well that intelligence and education were the main methods of social mobility in this era, and he no longer had the qualifications to rise to the top.
Life didn't give Zhuge Lian a chance to lament his fate. Could life be called so if it didn't screw you over once in a while? Test after test and essay after essay hit his plate, and the stress became too much, even for an optimist like Zhuge Lian. What had he done to deserve this? He had worked all his life, sending in countless emails, letters, and qualifications to join his top three schools.
Perhaps that was his downfall.
Perhaps he was his downfall.
Zhuge Lian had never wanted to hide in a hole so much in his life. Countless messages from people who used to support him now turned on him, calling him worthless. The phone rang, and Zhuge Lian picked it up with a resigned sigh.
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His melancholy was quickly interrupted by screaming from the phone. "Zhuge Lian! Get over here this second!" It was his mother. Ever-present in his life, she had been overbearing and over-scheduling from the start. Whenever he made a mistake, he was immediately yelled at and scolded that his mother didn't have the time to deal with him. He shrunk in his seat, just thinking about the memories.
"Zhuge, I am very disappointed in you. I thought you would make this family proud, but instead, you have cast it into the garbage bin. How many thousands have we spent on your education? How many thousands have we spent on your development, housing, food, and emotional support? Only for you to fail at the last minute?"
He shrunk in his seat. The only words he could muster up were an "I understand," which only made the mother angrier.
"Why do you show no remorse? I didn't ask for you, you know, but I spent 18 years of my life caring for you and spending for you all the same. I did everything in my power to help you, wasting my dreams for it… how could you be so careless? How could you be so wasteful of my time?"
For the second time, Zhuge Lian wanted to scream out in pain and pressure, yelling out into the receiver that he had tried his best and that he was just afraid of failure and afraid of embarrassment and afraid of his mother… but he knew it would only make it worse.
◢One day I'll prove it to you.◢
Zhuge Lian opened the window for a fresh breath of air, and the pure sharpness of the wind hit him like a bullet, knocking him back afoot. "I haven't been outside in weeks," he realized. He grabbed a bottle of erguotou and a pack of cigarettes like he did every day since the rejection and went to sit out on the balcony. He looked down at the emptiness below him. 26 floors of air. Was he worthy of life? He had wasted so much time, so much life, so much of other's resources...
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He took in a drag of smoke from his cigarette.
◢Soon I'll be twenty years old.◢
He took a large sip of his erguotou.
◢Soon my friends will be in college.◢
Another sip.
◢Soon my peers will be starting families.◢
Another drag of his cigarette.
◢Soon my siblings will make their parents proud.
Soon I'll look back and notice that I've done none of those things.◢
He looked over the edge and realized he was void of purpose. Everything that once made him happy now didn't. He was freer than ever. How was he sad? It was then that he realized that he was worthless. He had no purpose, no dreams, no goals. A man without dreams and goals is nothing more than a salted fish, and a salted fish without purpose might as well not exist. He looked over the edge for what he thought would be the last time and jumped off his balcony.
The sharp gust of wind on his way down from the twenty-sixth floor caught him by surprise. Time seemed to slow down, and moments from his life began to replay in his mind. His first crush, the first time she told him that she loved him, and he turned her away crying to focus on schoolwork. He never got to apologize. His parents looked down at him in the second grade, disappointed at his failure to score first in a math test—a thousand regrets and disappointments. But now, unlike ever before, he felt a desire to change.
Suddenly, Zhuge Lian realized all of his problems had solutions, but the one issue that he had no possibility of finding a solution to was that he was now falling to his death!
On the fourteenth floor now. He could see the bustling city beneath him, the pedestrians already turning to look up at him. One took their phone out to record. Zhuge Lian raised a hand towards them, and they put it away hastily.
On the seventh floor now.
◢How could I be so stupid?◢
Zhuge Lian saw more memories. Happy ones this time. His sister was playing with him on a Saturday morning. His friends were clamoring in a soccer game organized outside of the classroom, right in the middle of the schoolyard. Sneaking out with his friends on a junk boat and feeling entirely free for the first time. On the second floor now.
Time slowed down to a tenth of the normal speed. He saw the frightened children right below him in a kindergarten classroom. The littlest details were now available to him, and it felt like anything was possible. For the first time in years, Zhuge Lian cried. All the missed memories, all the missed memories that would have belonged to him had he not jumped…
One meter away now.
One foot away now.
His nose touched the ground, and everything turned white.
"The wind blows cool across my face
I can smell the taste,
A trace of lace…."
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The dungeon. Traps and monsters. Those who can successfully clear a few floors can make enough riches to live their whole lives lavishly. But, just as many attempt to climb higher, losing their lives in the process. No one has reached the top. Veteran explorers say that success in the dungeon is basically up to luck. But no one has been truly lucky-yet. This is the story of James Lu, a regular person –no, a worse than average person– that still became a dungeon explorer – through nothing but luck.
8 248The Hero's Supplier
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8 175Blood & Noodles
[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] As they always have, humanity hunts the gods roaming the world, craving the supernatural power that flows within their veins. Even a drop is zealously guarded, passed from master to student through the ages. It is with this stolen power that the Blooded - those with divine blood coursing through them - grasp beyond mortality and achieve prestige, power, and greatness. Yet, for every fraction of power gained, thousands perish, slain by the gods' supernatural prowess. But everything is beginning to change. Eight years ago, for the first time in human memory, a god was felled. Part-time chef and full-time nuisance Orvi wants nothing to do with gods. Living in a derelict city, his only concerns are ensuring his adopted family's restaurant is prosperous and how to best beat the neighbourhood boys in a fight. If he's lucky, he might even snag a date with the farmer's daughter at the market. But even though he cares nothing for the gods or their blood, the world won't leave him alone forever. Because to reach godhood, one must first leave their humanity behind. *** The first arc of Blood & Noodles follows the adolescent Orvi as he attempts to navigate his rapidly changing home and - by his own definition - protect his family. The story is told almost entirely in the first-person, from the perspective of a teenager who isn't always the sharpest tool in the shed. There are tragic elements, especially in the current arc. It's character-focused and driven, though the protagonist's shenanigans are backdropped by a world operating independently from him. Orvi's a generally light-hearted character, and though the story veers into darker territory, I also want it to be able to make readers smile. Action sequences, despite the fantastical elements, are meant to be grounded and clearly-conveyed; Orvi is a brawler, not a warrior. I'm trying to write a story that's enjoyable to read and flows nicely, mainly because it's more fun to write. I'm also trying to improve my writing, so any feedback, whether positive or negative, is welcome!
8 274System Hunter
Reincarnated as Ernesh Ungar of Gram Clan born with the weakest core must find a way to become stronger in this strange new world.
8 119Rebirth Back To Another Parallel World (Zombies)
Felicia Marcus was betrayed by her teammates and best friend, She was pushed to the hoarded of zombie and was eaten alive. On the last moment, all her life memory keep flashing inside her head. Unwilling, and pain fill her eyes as she looks how her closest people leave her to die and regret started to fill her mind as she thought about her dead family. Maybe this was Karma to her, for all her sins. 'If I could have just another chance, just one more chance I am willing to do anything' that kind of thought filled her mind as she breathes for the last time when the zombie gouges her heart and break her head. People say there was no second chance in life in this world but what if it was another world but with the same situation and people? Felicia Marcus was been giving the chance to fix all her mistake but with a certain price that she thought would not be that much of a deal or is she was mistaken and the deal was really a very expensive one?But what could be more important than one owns life right? Please read the story to know more ^-^
8 133Quick Transmigration with Female Lead Aura(MTL)
Machine translated novelAN: First of all, this novel is machine translated novel so it's really have a poor translation that can make your eye hurt and make you puke blood especially if you're good in English. The reason why I'm posting it is because I also want to read this novel but the translation in novel updates are too slow to update so I have no choice but to MTL it. If you don't like poor translated novel, I suggest that you search other books or you read this novel in novelupdates. I posted it for the sake of sharing good novel to read, I'm not being paid for this so I hope I wont read comments complaining to me about the translation being so bad or poor when I always put MTL on the title. Thank you.Jiang Nian used to be an actress. One day, she died and became a quester for the Lord God. Her task is to collect aura of a female lead and prevent each world from collapsing.It's just that every time there is a lot of twists and turns, however, the most troublesome thing for Jiang Nian is that once the female aura rises to 60, it won't rise anymore! What will Jiang Nian have to do to get a breakthrough?
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