Road to be the Best Chess Player in the World! - Chapter 576: A Secret Meeting to Deal with Sheva?!

Introvert!? Me!? The hell am I an introvert? I stay indoors all day because I am afraid of getting my butt kicked.Until I contract my beast, I won’t be walking freely. This is a promise I made to myself.My name is Ryder, and I am black-marked. The planet where I live is dominated by summoners. If you guessed it, then you are right—we contract beasts from the Astral Shadow Plain and summon them at will after successfully forming a contract.A mark appears on the left shoulder of every human after a period of maturity, a mark given by the beast that chooses you. There are five different types of marks—the brown, the orange, the red, the black, and lastly, the white.Of all the markings, I was marked black. I was chosen by a supreme demon monarch of the Astral Shadow Plain—the Dracogon.There was only a 0.5 percent chance for me to survive the contraction process. However, with a slight twist in the original outcome, contracting a creature from the black-marked plain was nothing compared to the catastrophe I caused shortly after—I opened a link between the beasts of the Astral Shadow Plain and the planet of humans, Terra.Everyone on my planet has been endangered because of me. The fact that no one knows when the link will trigger and cause a breach that pours mindless creatures into my world makes it all the more unsettling.Now, with no other choice, I have to find a way to resolve the mistake I made—alone, just like I caused it.

Ripped from a dead-end life and plunged into a world where danger lurks behind every smile, Xiulan must learn to thrive in a realm ruled by ruthless ambition and deadly secrets. When Li Mei dies in a traffic accident after another soul-crushing retail shift, she awakens in a familiar yet dangerous world—inside her favorite game, . Now inhabiting the body of Lin Xiulan, the scorned second daughter of a noble family, she finds herself thrust into a nest of vipers where her very existence is an offense to those around her. Armed only with her knowledge of the game and the wounds from a lifetime of dealing with entitled customers, Xiulan refuses to play the role of the family’s punching bag. Determined to rise above, she’ll need to master immortal alchemy, tame arcane spirit beasts, perfect her martial arts, and face off against her scheming sisters and stepmother. But in Arinthia, a land where power reigns supreme and the weak are swept aside, Xiulan must do more than just survive and fade into the background. With the knowledge of a devastating future that awaits the realm’s beloved Crown Princess, she’ll need every ounce of her modern wit and growing abilities to prevent a catastrophe that would ruin the entire realm—assuming she can survive her own family long enough to do anything about it. Only by transforming herself into a force of reckoning can Xiulan hope to protect those she comes to care about—and survive the darkness that awaits.

Nova scrambled backwards, panting hard, her short locks clinging to her damp forehead as she watched this predator stalk towards her. The vibrant and lively forest hushed, almost holding its breath to watch the scene unfold. Great, she had an audience for what would surely be a gruesome death.Death looked... a little... rugged and in nothing but a loin cloth, defined by slabs of muscle, a trail of hair leading down to such a small piece of cloth to hide a large-A spine-chilling growl snapped her gaze back up to meet his golden-red eyes, fiery, and intense, glaring at Nova as he slammed his hands either side of her head. Pieces of bark crumbled down from the impact.“I told you not to run...” He threatened, his eyes piercing hers, his voice more guttural than she'd heard from any male. His eyes clenched shut as his body trembled. “My instinct is to always stalk, always chase... until I get what I want..”Their faces were inches apart. She could feel his hot breath fanning her face. The forest was humid and hot, and his body was so close to hers that it was almost unbearable. The gruff voice, those words and the intensity of those eyes that reminded her of sunsets caused goosebumps to flourish across her arms.“What do you want?” Nova swallowed, not recognising her voice. She was so out of her depth. His chest rumbled, and more bark crumbled down from behind her head.“You...”Her breath hitched.“To. Do. As. You're. Told.”Paradise was what Nova Winslow was promised when her boyfriend whisked her away to Isla De Tayun, the perfect getaway for their busy lives. It was untouched, pristine, a hidden gem.But it had remained that way for a reason. The island doesn’t want visitors. And neither do the natives.What should have been a romantic retreat, drinking from coconuts and lounging on white-sandy beaches together, turns into a holiday from hell.Mid-argument with her soon-to-be ex, Nova stumbles into a lake. When she resurfaces, her boyfriend, the path she came from, and the resort have vanished.Alone, stranded, and with little survival skills, Nova has only a wet phone with no signal, a pair of heels, and an irrational fear of bats—which are everywhere. She is out of her depth when she falls into a mystical world of beasts.Hunted by tribesmen, stalked by beasts that shouldn't exist, and hearing animals speak, she has no choice but to trust the wild beast the forest itself fears—Yoa, a wanted man. Together, they flee the tribes pursuing them all while battling her growing attraction to Yoa.Can she survive the wild and make it back to her civilised life? Or will she lose herself to the untamed world—and to the man who belongs to it?

Du Jiuyuan lay in a grave of love for three years. Finally, her heart was as dead as ashes, she gave up on finding love and decided to go down a career path of a strong woman. But what was going on with her ex-husband? He used to be someone whom she would only see once every four to five months. Why was he appearing in front of her now and then? When she talked to others about collaboration, he would coax her from behind. “Yuan Yuan, this person is unreliable. Let me invest in her for you, okay?”

When she got into conflict with others, he would support her from behind. “Yuan Yuan, don’t be afraid. Your husband is Ji Jinchen. Don’t worry about her.” Du Jiuyuan was speechless. “…” Please take note that it was her ex-husband who divorced her. One day, when a male colleague sent her home after a meal, she was seen by Ji Jinchen. The man blocked her at the foot of the wall and questioned her in a low voice. “Don’t be with others, otherwise… I will lose my mind.

Later, Du Jiuyuan rose to the top of her career and attracted countless suitors. One such suitor gave her a bouquet of roses and the next day, her office became a sea of flowers. Some suitors gave her desserts that could only be bought after queuing up. The day after that, her office would be flooded with desserts. Some suitors gave her a pet… Du Jiuyuan went crazy. “Ji Jinchen, if you dare to give me a house full of pets, I will fight it out with you!”

Ji Jinchen said, “Jiuyuan, forgive me for being stupid and not seeing your grievances, but you have to believe that from the moment I married you, I never thought of getting a divorce. Du Jiuyuan: I thought that the man I loved for seven years was a stone that couldn’t be covered up, but then I realized what kind of fiery heart was hidden in this stone.”