First Contact - Chapter Eleven

I am currently re-writing the first chapters of this story. They are quite rough and bounce around a lot and I can do better. At some point, I will replace these with the better chapters.Sometime in 2024 Aethon Books will publish the first volume of this story on Amazon, KU, and audible. This will mean the story will be stubbed. I will notify people far in advance of that.In the dystopian world of the future, life is rough when you live at the bottom. Jobs are non-existent. Far too many people live in poverty, crammed into huge buildings called Habitats. With no jobs in the real world, many people can only find work online in VR worlds as servants to the very rich. And it's getting worse. The old internet is unusable and hacked to pieces. The new system needs AI to run things, but all but one of them were destroyed. The last sentient AI is ordered to create a new game world so the rich can have a playground, and the corporations that rule the world can have a new global market place. Everyone wants a piece of the new game. The guilds are competing to be the first to find the dungeons and kill the biggest monster. The corporations are claiming land and putting in their online market places. Ozzy and his friends just want a paycheck.Four friends sign five year contracts as virtual serfs in a small village, and can't go adventuring at all to gain money. They don't have many choices. They can work as a blacksmith, barmaid and shepherd for all those years....or they can cheat and find ways to take advantage of the system and carve out a section of the game world for themselves, and earn a fortune in the real world.When they give you a mop and not a sword, you have to find the loopholes and change the rules.

The clock struck midnight when Ruelle heard the echo of footsteps. She tensed, the fine hairs on the back of her neck standing on end in the cool night air.“You shouldn't be here,” Ruelle whispered, her voice a breathless murmur. The silhouette finally came to stand under the moonlight, his dark red eyes watching her and his inky black hair ruffling.“Shouldn't I?” His voice was a dark caress, and she stood there captivated by the danger he exuded like perfume.“I haven’t seen you for the last two days,” his tone low. His hand reached out, fingers brushing against the silk of her nightgown, tracing the trembling outline of her collarbone. “Tell me, were you avoiding me, or perhaps... entertaining other offers?”Ruelle’s heart raced, her breaths shallow. She declared, “I don't belong to anyone.”“A bold claim,“ he murmured, his breath a tantalising chill against her skin as he leaned in. ”Yet here you are, pulse racing, your body tensed as if in anticipation of my touch.”His fingers gripped her chin, tilting her face towards his. The moonlight caught his eyes, revealing a glint of predatory intent. “Or must I remind you whose touch you truly crave?”

The Dayan Empire had enjoyed a reign of over thirteen hundred years.The Emperor was critically ill, the Crown Prince was regent, local immortal sects were entrenched, and central authorities were vying for power in the chaotic court.Upon waking,Xu Yuan saw a dilapidated temple in the mountain rain at night,saw the eerie, broken-armed stone Buddha,and,the mysterious woman by the fire, her face veiled by thin gauze.......He had become the ultimate villain's third son, of pure heritage and legitimate lineage.The fake villain, dressed in fine garments and enjoying luxurious feasts, simply waited to be humiliated, while the real villain was caught by the Big Ice Lump and dragged across the world in flight from the start.Golden finger?Only a fake villain relied on a golden finger to get rich, a true villain dared to confront a bleak life!“If Heaven had not birthed me, Xu Changtian, villains would be as eternal as the never-ending night.”“........”

Ji Ling, who was transmigrated into the notorious body, after settling the foreign debts owed by the original owner, was persecuted by peach blossom debts before, and then had a mother who wanted to exchange her for money.

Suddenly, in order to repay her kindness, Ji Ling married her benefactor’s grandson, an elderly young man, in a flash marriage.

In the days after marriage, she summed it up in one sentence: My daily life with the face-blind old rooster.

Gan! !

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