Undying Life - Chapter 9 - 8: The Attack of the Cold Crows

Born into a lower middle class family, Ace Lander grew up being told there was a simple formula for success: get an education, graduate, and work hard to build a prosperous future. But that formula failed him during the final stretch of his senior year when a local gang targeted him, putting everything he had and was building towards at risk.Trapped and desperate, Ace felt his life spiraling out of control—until Ria Hart, a fellow classmate, discovering Ace's innate aptitude to become a Curse Master, a being capable of wielding curse energy and abilities but haunted by Curselings, took pity and introduced him to the secret world hidden beneath the mundane surface of their world, the World of Curses.Awakening as a Curse Master, Ace discovers he possesses an extraordinary innate curse tool: the Cursed Toybox. This tool comes with a unique class, Toymancer, granting Ace powers unlike any curse master the world has seen before. The Cursed Toybox allows him to animate and actualize toys, transforming them into powerful, living beings bound to his will.From overpowered heroes to legendary gods, any toy that falls into Ace's Cursed Toybox springs to life with powers beyond one's imagination but bound to him in eternal servitude. Armed with his Toy Summons, Ace must navigate the perilous world of curses, protect his loved ones, and reclaim control of his destiny before the gang—and the darkness of the hidden world—consume him entirely.[ — Status Screen —> Your Cursed Toybox is animating the doll 'Silicone Sailor Stella' as a toy summons…> Your Cursed Toybox has animated the doll 'Silicone Sailor Stella.'> Toy summon 'Silicone Sailor Stella' added to your toy space.> Toymancer can now summon Sailor Stella.Summoning Toy Summons...Name: StellaRace: Curse ToolClass: Toy summonTitle: Silicone SailorDurability: (100/100)Enchantment: 1-StarIndividuality: (100/100)Curse Energy Consumption: 5 units per hourSkills: Toy Actualization, Seamanship, Armed Security, Adult Gratification.Toy Actualization: Bring Toy Summons' original character design and skills to existence when they are animated based on their individuality stats.Addition Effect: Toy Physiology.Seamanship: Expertise in navigation, sailing, and ship handling alongside wilderness survival, first aid, and emergency procedures.Armed Security: Proficiency in the use of small arms and other naval weaponry with training in close quarters combat, surveillance, and counterintelligence.Adult Gratification: Creatively addressing emotional, mental, and physical needs of Toymancer till gratification.]“Cursed armies, Curselings, and Curse slaves are nothing—I've got a Toy legion of overpowered action figures and unrealistically beautiful silicone goddess.”~ToymancerJoin the saga of the Toymancer's rise to become the Strongest Curse Master.

Ye Xiao was a superior cultivator in his previous life. The three factions of the realm kill millions of people every time they attempt to seize cultivation resources. Wealthy towns turn to wastelands in just a single night. They cover up their crime with an assertion that the towns were suffering from pestilence and disasters.

Jacob Steve, an Old Man, died at 116 after living a whole life.

But Jacob always had a dark side, which he always suppressed and hid from others.
However, in the later years of his life, when death was inevitable, he understood there wasn't any point in having wealth, knowledge, or desires if you couldn't have a life to enjoy them.

He became obsessed with fabled immortality and devoted his reaming life to extending his fleeting lifespan, but just like any other failed.

However, he mysteriously got another chance at life and found a way that led to fabled immortality.
But he was also forewarned that the way led to it was filled with blood and darkness!

In the end, Jacob chose it anyway with no way of going back, and it was also the start of his suffering and his icky, brutal journey toward the 'Immortality' he wanted so badly!

Title: Trillionaire Student: The Art of Corporate WarfareGenre: Cyberpunk Corporate Drama / Tech RomanceSetting: Near-future Shanghai (2045) where blockchain dynasties and AI oligarchs dominate global finance.Protagonist:· Ye Chen: A 22-year-old financial prodigy with military-grade neural implants. Orphaned and self-made, he accidentally inherits trillion-yuan assets tied to a cryogenically preserved heiress.· Su Ning: A “frozen elite” heiress resurrected from cryostasis. Her trauma-encrypted mind holds the keys to her family's blockchain empire.Core Plot:When Ye decrypts suicidal patterns in Su's neural data, their forced partnership to upgrade her emotional firewall exposes:1. Corporate Espionage: Rival tech giants weaponize celebrity scandals as NFT commodities.2. Family Conspiracy: Su's mother audits her memories like hostile mergers.3. Hidden Protocol: A blockchain ledger tracking physical intimacy as corporate liability.Key Westernized Elements:· Boardroom duels in holographic Hunger Games-style shareholder arenas· Romance through shared neural hacking of trauma encryption· Memetic warfare where viral tweets manipulate stock marketsThemes:· Capitalism 2.0 (emotions as crypto assets, SEC-regulated marriage contracts)· Cybernetic identity (childhood trauma rebuilt as AI firewalls)· East-West fusion (Tang poetry as quantum encryption keys)Cultural Bridges:· “Black Swan Fund” → “Quantum Contingency Fund”· Neural interface battles styled as The Matrix meets Game of Thrones· Food metaphors: Xiaolongbao dumplings as encrypted data carriers