The hammering in the docks continued day and night, as the Oro Jackson's wounds slowly healed under the craftsmen's skilled hands. The crew had settled back into their familiar rhythm—drinking, card games, shooting the breeze—as if that earth-shattering naval battle was just a fuzzy memory from a bad hangover.
Only one man was different.
Douglas Bullet, that guy who radiated "st...
2025-09-27 09:27:25 +0000 UTC View PostMossdeep City, Steven's home.
As soon as Steven entered the door, he received a communication from Rustboro City.
While walking into his treasure vault and looking at the wall full of rare stones, he pressed his communication device.
A kind middle-aged male voice came through.
"Steven, what have you been busy with lately? How are your Gym challenges going? I heard you've...
2025-09-27 09:23:03 +0000 UTC View PostWhoosh!
Running, wind, fire, explosions.
"Huff!"
"Huff! Huff!"
The man's mouth gaped wide, his windpipe feeling the scorching air he sucked in.
That was running with everything he had, breathing through both mouth and nose in rhythm, running until his chest seemed to ache faintly.
A suffocating atmosphere permeated the air, as if endless darkness stretched be...
2025-09-27 04:22:59 +0000 UTC View PostRestless.
Irritated.
Her vision and perception seemed to transcend the boundaries of time and space. Vera could clearly sense another 'her,' or rather, these were her own current emotions.
The rage rising from her heart, the violent fury born from her guts.
Brought on by her "God's gift."
An influence that wasn't quite an influence.
And while feeling restless...
2025-09-27 04:16:15 +0000 UTC View PostBang! Gunshot.
A sultry silhouette collapsed onto the filthy ground.
The large-caliber heavy bullet tore through her artificially sculpted beautiful features, exiting through the back of her skull. Metal bone fragments mixed with a spray of red and white brain matter scattered in a fan pattern, leaving only half a head with the jaw intact as her body fell backward from the momentum,...
2025-09-27 04:13:13 +0000 UTC View PostBeep beep—
The encrypted direct line connected immediately.
"Hello." A steady, commanding male voice answered.
"Good afternoon, Mr. Simmons. This is Vera Adelaide Russell from Umbrella Corporation. Sorry to intrude." Holding the receiver to her ear, Vera spoke with the practiced enthusiasm of an American politician.
A wise person knows when to bend. Umbrella wasn’t A...
2025-09-27 04:07:34 +0000 UTC View Post"Commitment, integrity, and honesty—these three principles form the foundation of Umbrella Corporation."
"Just like our three main divisions—Red Umbrella, Blue Umbrella, and White Umbrella—each carries distinct responsibilities while maintaining interconnection. All three are indispensa...
2025-09-27 03:00:24 +0000 UTC View PostNight fell. Neon lights blazed brilliantly.
At 12:07 AM, Miss Vera finished her day's work.
Hum... hum...
A Rayfield Excalibur aerodyne slowly emerged from the landing pad inside the dark tower.
Its surface gleamed with a special paint reserved for the latest supercar model...
2025-09-27 02:39:43 +0000 UTC View PostCyberspace.
Simply put, you can think of it as what used to be the open-source internet.
Why "used to be"? Because someone blew it up.
That's why cyberspace is also called the Old Net.
Countless fluorescent green, blue-white, and deep red gradients of 1s and 0s formed data ...
2025-09-27 00:35:19 +0000 UTC View PostAt this moment, before Kairos's eyes, the main quest reward he had just completed was quietly floating there - it was a uniquely designed card.
It wasn't a physical object, but was composed of flowing blue data streams, with edges flickering with starlike glimmers, appearing quite ethereal.
In the center of the card, a simple vortex pattern slowly rotated, as if it could absorb ever...
2025-09-26 22:52:46 +0000 UTC View PostTime quietly passed by, and as evening approached, in a villa in Cerulean City in the Kanto region.
Kairos pushed open the kitchen door, and a delicious aroma immediately wafted out along with thick smoke. He had finished preparing today's dinner.
As soon as he opened the door, he saw the figure that appeared before him, burning with gentle flames - it was Chandelure.
Ever sin...
2025-09-26 22:51:33 +0000 UTC View PostIt wasn't until dusk completely enveloped the city and dazzling neon lights replaced the warm sunlight that Vera, quite exhausted in her personal laboratory codenamed 'Umbrella,' finally looked up, rubbed her temples, and stopped writing the workstation preparation programs.
In the cyberpunk world of 2074, virtually any electronic device had hacker interfaces.
Programmable, connec...
Character development is what I desire; gratitude is also what I desire.
This time, Vera straightened her spine, stood upright, and bowed her head in a standard bow toward the Arasaka memorial before her, or more precisely, toward the names of her biological parents engraved upon it, expressing her gratitude.
...
In Night City, there are still people who believe in this stu...
"Arasaka Academy's 2074 freshman orientation ceremony, to give a speech."
With the invitation spread on her desk, Vera lit up a premium ladies' cigarette with some satisfaction, her fingers tapping the chair's armrest intermittently.
She never used to smoke, but the self-imposed grinding study experience at Arasaka Academy, combined with the genuinely high work pressure within Arasa...
2025-09-26 03:07:59 +0000 UTC View PostArasaka Tower underground parking garage, Corporate Plaza.
With a soft brake squeal smoothed by noise reduction systems, the vehicle broadcasting an internal Arasaka Security ID signal came to a clean stop.
After passing the security scanners and receiving standard inspection salutes from Arasaka guards and hacker agents at the entrance, Vera stepped out. Once the vehicle handover...
The vehicle glided smoothly along as Vera reclined on the plush back seat, gazing quietly out the window with half-closed eyes, appearing to contemplate the contents of the work meeting.
In a dimension unnoticed by either Arasaka bodyguard, Vera's eyes suddenly blazed like brilliant stars.
This wasn't the luminescence of cybernetic implants.
From Vera's perspective, time aroun...
2025-09-26 01:19:51 +0000 UTC View PostNight City, Westbrook.
Night City map.
Corpo Plaza, apartment 414, Russell family residence.
Dawn was breaking as Vera woke from her sleep, sitting up gently on the bed.
"Ugh... not even giving me a single day off, what a bunch of bloodsuckers."
Silent muttering, rubbing her drowsy head that had become sluggish after voluntarily shutting off her health monitor, Ver...
2025-09-25 15:12:48 +0000 UTC View PostNorthern California, Night City.
Civic Center, Corporate Plaza.
Gray-white clouds clustered and scattered across the sky. Under the clear heavens, a massive 140-story building stood like a pitch-black tower, quietly rising in the heart of Night City.
Compared to the neighboring Militech Tower and Kang Tao Tower, its design appeared conservative and impersonal—constructed ent...
2025-09-25 11:52:25 +0000 UTC View PostNoise, chaos.
This was a city full of charm and vitality. At least it used to be...
Woooo... woooo...
Under the blazing sun in broad daylight, rising flames and smoke accompanied by martial law sirens erupted from the bizarre corners of this metropolitan area.
The air was swelteringly hot, filled with an indescribable stench—the foul smell of unbled, ungutted ...
2025-09-25 11:20:40 +0000 UTC View PostActually, today was Red's first day arriving at this villa. Before this, he had been secretly carrying out a mission assigned to him by the League while also training in the wilderness for an extended period.
After completing those tedious tasks, Red's first priority was to bring his Pokémon to this mountain villa for relaxation.
So when Charizard had just indicated it wanted to le...
2025-09-25 10:05:01 +0000 UTC View PostCynthia nodded, then turned around and opened a drawer in a nearby cabinet, taking out several golden candy wrappers and placing them in front of Caitlin.
The effect of the Rare Candy had been so astounding at the time that she couldn't bear to throw away even these wrappers.
Actually, ...
2025-09-25 10:00:13 +0000 UTC View PostIn his plan, to reach Spirit City and seize the three Spirit Bones, Ignaz needed not only his own strength but also the dual protection of Dugu Bo and Yang Wudi—both were indispensable.
Beyond that, he required a crucial opportunity: Shrek Academy reaching the finals. The advancement slots from the preliminaries in the Skywater division essentially represented the Empire’s spot in the...
2025-09-25 04:34:44 +0000 UTC View PostWhy did Xiao Wu feel that something was off about Ignaz’s third Spirit Ring? Sure, its power was a bit stronger than usual, but compared to Dai Mubai’s third Spirit Technique, it wasn’t that impressive—one was a wide-area attack, while the other amplified three attributes by 100%.
Faced with Yu Xiaogang’s question, Xiao Wu hesitated and replied vaguely,
“I… I don’t k...
2025-09-25 04:33:52 +0000 UTC View PostSoon, the month-long rest period came to an end.
The six qualifying teams from the Heaven Dou Division, along with four teams from the affiliated kingdoms and one from the affiliated principality, entered the competition arena one by one.
To avoid unnecessary complications, the matches were not open to civilians or most Spirit Master academies. As a result, the spectator stands were...
2025-09-25 04:32:36 +0000 UTC View Post“Ma Hongjun may have the Fire Phoenix spirit, but I’ve heard that every time he tries to deal with his evil fire, at least one girl his age ends up harmed—and he only targets pretty girls. Ugly ones are never considered.”
At this, Shui Wuqing’s face darkened. Any trace of earlier politeness or appeasement vanished.
“If that’s true, then there’s nothing the Shui famil...
2025-09-25 04:31:09 +0000 UTC View Post“Bullshit! You’re still clinging to the same ideas you had back when Bing’er was Rank 20. At your age, that’s pathetic.”
The voice thundered in from outside before the man himself appeared. Everyone turned as Shui Wuliang strode into the hall with Shui Bing’er at his side, his expression stormy.
“Cousin!”
The clan leader, Shui Wuqing, immediately rose to his fe...
2025-09-25 04:30:45 +0000 UTC View PostBefore long, the four of them arrived at Skywater City.
Ma Hongjun stared blankly at the women walking past on the streets. He swallowed hard, the evil fire in his body surging uncontrollably.
“This place really lives up to its name. It’s not just Skywater Academy that’s full of beauties—even the women in this city are far above average.”
“Hongjun, keep it together...
2025-09-25 04:30:17 +0000 UTC View Post“Don’t worry, my body is no longer in danger.”
If it hadn’t been for the six healers working tirelessly to suppress the poison raging through him, Tang Hao could never have recovered enough spirit power in such a short time to unleash his ninth spirit ability—the healing skill.
Looking at Tang Yuehua, Tang Hao said gravely, “Yuehua, the one who dealt me such heavy injuri...
2025-09-25 04:18:16 +0000 UTC View Post“The way that battle ended, both of them must’ve taken heavy damage. Old Poison, I’ll finish you another day. As for Tang Hao, he’s as good as dead.”
Chrysanthemum Douluo’s eyes burned with killing intent. He no longer cared about pursuing Dugu Bo. All he wanted now was to finish off the injured Tang Hao, to settle the old score from the time he and Ghost Douluo had been beate...
2025-09-25 04:17:55 +0000 UTC View PostThe two figures darted away from Vast Sea City, one chasing, one fleeing. Tang Hao was in agony, clutching his right hand.
“When did that old venomous bastard get this strong? His poison even stirred up the hidden injuries I got fighting the Spirit Hall back then…”
As he fled and cursed inwardly, Dugu Bo was already closing in from behind, barely fifty meters away.
“Fo...
2025-09-25 04:17:32 +0000 UTC View Post