All the Dust that Falls - Chapter 208: Traders and Traitors

”Let me take a look.“ The handsome professor, with his broad shoulders and powerful muscles, lifted me effortlessly and placed me on the desk. His strong hands gently lowered the strap of my uniform to examine the bruise from training.”Helanie! Why do you always end up hurt?“ His voice grew husky, sending a shiver down my spine as I struggled to catch my breath.I had to remind myself that he’s my professor... and my stepbrother. I shouldn’t be seduced by his touch.”If anyone bullies you again, come to my office and I will deal with them,“ he murmured, his beautiful eyes locking onto mine.Despite knowing he’s forbidden, I couldn’t help but wonder—should I tell him about the mate bond I felt the night he was drunk?..When her parents rejected each other, Helanie went from being her daddy's angel to a neglected and forgotten child. But on her eighteenth birthday, things took a dark turn. When her body went into heat, she attracted a group of alphas. Instead of rescuing her, her secret alpha boyfriend ran away.That night changed Helanie’s life forever. Accused of consenting to the attack, she was sentenced to execution by her own pack. Desperate, she fled, determined to find her mother.What she didn’t expect was to find her mother preparing to marry a rogue king with four dangerously handsome and beastly sons.Things turn even darker when she felt a mate bond with her bully stepbrothers, will she be able to escape their claws or their seduction will ruin her life to next extremes?

Following the death of his popular online persona, seventeen-year-old Suzuki Mato decides it's time to retire from professional VR gaming. However, his plans are abruptly cut short when he's kidnapped from his high school and forced to be a guinea pig for Genaco Gaming, the world's largest esports and entertainment company. Armed with nothing but his wit and a new online persona, he's thrown headfirst into the virtual reality of “Live No Evil,” a VRMMORPG littered with overpowered bosses, secretive NPCs, and backstabbing gods. His mission? Find a way to conquer this new world and get back at the company that took over his life, all while avoiding 'Parallel' -- a condition that would make it impossible to separate his real and virtual personalities. Because in a world obsessed with VR gaming, Parallel means death, and Suzuki just doesn't have time for that...

Venshiro, a young ronin bound to the Black Vein Blade, is hunted by clans who would kill for the curse he carries. Every time he draws the sword, it takes something from him—his memories, his soul. But the blade remembers everything.And now, it wants more.

It is an era of artificial superintelligences, interstellar travel, gene medicine, and virtual reality worlds. Far into Earth’s future, 15-year-old Gu Ding is a student of Cerulean Military Academy by day, and tavern waiter by night. His ambition: Become the space pirate with the highest bounty offered by the Universal Federation Government. With the help of Neptune, a neonate super-intelligence, Gu Ding finds himself thrust into a galaxy of shadowy organizations, political underdealings, and otherworldly forces that lie beyond human comprehension…