Getting stuck by lighting Alex was brought to another world full of zombies and he tried his best to live a normal life.
Join Alex on his journey to live a normal life

you know the deal, this a repost of a personal favourite. Hope you enjoy. ?
==
Genres:
Action, Adventure, Fantasy, Harem, Martial Arts, Mature, Romance, Xianxia, Chinese

Title: Hun Dun Lei Xiu (混沌雷修)

Author: Xie Zi Ban (写字板)

Status: 954 Chapters (Complete)

Translator: David

Synopsis provided by athlonkmf:

“His parents were the geniuses of the sect. But they were apparently killed while on a mission when he was barely 6. As he apparently did not excel in any of the 5 elements, in fact, all 5 elements are in balance in his body. Thus, our fatty is deemed to be trash and does not deserve the respect his parents had.

He is allowed to have one task, to collect garbage of the sect until he reaches the initial test-age where he has to proof to be worthy to stay in the sect.
Our fatty has no choice but to cultivate the only heritage his parents gave him. A mysterious black pearl.

Unfortunately for him, this pearl seems to be only useful for… collecting garbage…”

Original Synopsis (gets a little weird here):

A Little Fatty who was constantly bullied in his sect, by relying on the Magical Artifact his parents left behind, cultivated the peerless, primally chaotic Five Elements Lightning technique. Using this, he slowly rose and dominated the continents. 10th Step Water Divine Lighting, 3rd Step Fire Divine Lightning, 5th Step Earth Divine Lighting, 7th Step Metal Divine Lighting, Lesser 5 Element Soul Divine Lighting, Greater 5 Element Destruction Divine Lighting, Dark Purple Divine Lighting, Pure Divine Lighting, Clear Sky Divine Lighting, Righteous Taichi Divine Lightning. (ED: Sounds like a whole bunch of wumbo jumbo there)

~A monk once said, “One who has dissatisfactions should get struck by all 5 bolts of lightning”~

What was that…
The droplets of golden water diffused to form something akin to a peacock spreading its feathers. While it was dazzling, it was also confusing to the eyes. It seemed like there was the soft echo of a dragon's roar.
Shrek Academy's inner court females were not easy to deal with for every single one of them was exceedingly powerful. Even though the change happened abruptly, each and every one of them reacted to the situation swiftly. Soul power in a variety of colors erupted with radiance all at once.
The Sea God Pavilion Master Atlas Douluo Yun Ming sitting cross-legged in the middle of the tower ship suddenly smiled. "This is Tang Sect's Technique of Peacock Spreading its Feathers. It is rare to see someone cultivating the stealth technique! He pretends to aim at a target, while in reality, he's shooting at another! This is interesting."
The maidens had already dispersed all the golden water droplets during the time it took for him to speak.
It was precisely at that moment when streams of water spurted from beneath the females who were still wearing their bamboo hats.
These water spurts came in a sudden manner, but the timing was perfect such that it caught the females off guard when the Peacock Spreading its Feathers dissipated.
It was amazing how Male Number Fifty-One's timing had achieved the level of perfection.
He was aware that it was impossible to remove all the bamboo hats with his power under ordinary circumstances, so he exploited the females' psyche. With his magnificent Peacock Spreading its Feathers technique to attract everyone's attention, he used the water droplets to launch an attack from below at the crucial moment.
"Poof, poof, poof…" One after another, the bamboo hats were blasted away revealing the surprised, charming faces.
There were only two figures reacting to the situation. One of the figures leaped to dodge the spurting water, while the other vanished during the split second the water was about to hit her. She then reappeared after the water spurt had flashed past. Meanwhile, the rest of the bamboo hats were blasted away in one strike.
This was a huge turn of events that no one expected! For a moment, even Lan Muzi and Tang Yingmeng were staring in bewilderment.
What happened? Twenty-nine out of thirty-one females' bamboo hats were removed after the first segment of the Match Made in Heaven, much to everyone's surprise. Such an outcome had never happened before during the previous year's date festival. Just the two of them, Male Number Two, Yue Zhengyu and the mysterious Male Number Fifty-One, had unveiled half of the females.
The bamboo hat on Yuanen Yehui's head was blasted away too, for the water spurt that came from below was too sudden that there was utterly no way she could dodge.
She had only caught a glimpse of the golden light flashing underneath the water before it disappeared in the males' direction afar.
Dai Yun'er was similarly shocked at the turn of events. She was here with Long Yue. How could she ever miss such a fun date festival?
Her little mouth parted forming the shape of an 'O' on her cute, expressive face.
'Leave aside Male Number Fifty-One's power. His brilliant idea and precise timing are rather unique! Shrek Academy is truly a place with people of exceptional and unique talents. No wonder we were defeated by them back then. What a waste that guy has yet to return, how awesome it'll be if he's here too!'
The six females whose faces were revealed were also in shock. There remained only Female Number Seventeen and Female Number Eighteen who narrowly escaped the water spurts with their hats still on.
Male Number Fifty-One retreated back to his lotus leaf. Golden light flashed past his body vaguely as if something had fused into his body and vanished.
"What an ingenious idea. Junior, you've won. Aren't you going to take this opportunity to reveal yourself?" Lan Muzi asked Male Number Fifty-One smilingly.
Male Number Fifty-One shook his head as before.
Lan Muzi smiled faintly. "Alright then. We respect your decision. I'm announcing the end of the Match Made in Heaven segment. I presume that our fellow juniors have gained some familiarity with each other through this recent segment. There are five males who chose to keep their identities a secret. On the females' side, there are only two females still wearing their bamboo hats, much to my surprise. I presume that everyone can guess their identities by now. Do you wish to unveil yourselves now?"
The outer court disciples had no inkling who the two females were. There were only two females who had yet to make an appearance at the moment. One was the Silver Dragon Spear Goddess Na'er while the other was Shrek Seven Monsters' leading personage Gu Yue.
There was no doubt that they were Female Number Seventeen and Eighteen! The mystery was gone. So, it did not make much sense for them to continue wearing their bamboo hats.
Lan Muzi noticed that they shook their heads so he did not pester them any further.
"Alright then. We are about to begin the second segment of the Sea God's Lake Date Festival. It's known as Love at First Sight!"
"Next, in the second segment." Tang Yingmeng spoke with a loud and clear voice, "After the introduction to each other during the first segment, the following segment is for the females to express their liking for a certain male. Thus, our second segment is known as Love at First Sight. The rules are simple. Each female will be given a switchboard to control the soul lighting beneath the male students. They will flip a switch for the male student they fancy. The male student whose light is on will remain until the following segment. Otherwise, for the male student whose light is not on, we're very sorry, but you'll have to leave the event alone."
The second segment took the shortest time, but it was a crucial test for male students. In this segment, no matter how powerful a male student was or how extraordinary he thought he was, as long as no female student chose to turn on his light, then he would be immediately eliminated from the event. After all, the number of male students exceeded the females. Thus, this segment was meant to be a do-or-die situation.
Yue Zhengyu occupied the foremost position for he was the first person to bear the brunt. This was because Male Number One was already eliminated after falling into the water.
"Fellow Sea God's fair maidens, please consider carefully before making a decision. I'll be giving you a minute. Do consider mindfully! In addition, I would like to emphasize that if everyone chooses not to light up for any of the fifty male students here, this signifies that all of you choose to forsake this date festival and withdraw from Sea God's Lake." Lan Muzi solemnly reminded the participants so that the females participating in the event for the first time would seriously consider their options and the opportunity given to them.
The soul lighting beneath the participants' feet on both sides were all extinguished. In the next moment, the soul lighting underneath Yue Zhengyu's feet was lighted.
"Will the ladies please light up for Male Number Two," Lan Muzi announced.
Soon after, streams of light beams were swiftly illuminated. In the blink of an eye, a total of sixteen soul lights were illuminated.
In other words, more than half of the females chose to switch on the light for Yue Zhengyu.
It was obvious that Xu Xiaoyan was slightly infuriated, but the lighting underneath her feet was also turned on.
Lan Muzi smiled and spoke, "Zhengyu is popular as expected. Sixteen illuminated lights is truly impressive! He made a good start for everyone. Next, will Male Student Number Three please come forward."
The number of illuminated lights was recorded by the professional staff for the convenience of the following segments.
Soon, the males began to be eliminated. It seemed like cultivation base was not the prime factor that influenced a female's judgment, for the females still illuminated the lights of males with weaker cultivation bases. Good looks were the influencing factor. The females were allowed multiple choices for this segment.
A short male screamed in agony after being eliminated. "This is a world that believes in appearances only!"
Without further ado, it was Xie Xie's turn. He relied on his good looks and reputation of being one of the Shrek Seven Monsters to receive nine lights. Although he was not as impressive as Yue Zhengyu, the approvals he received was still substantial. Nonetheless, he was elated because the light that belonged to Yuanen Yehui was illuminated as well.
No one turned the lights on for the few male students who did not remove their masks. According to custom, usually the males who refused to reveal themselves were not particularly interested in participating in the blind date or they were likely to have imperfections on their faces or bodies. Hence, the females would rarely turn on the lights for them.
Nevertheless, they were still given the opportunity to reveal themselves during the second segment.
Luo Guixing, Xu Yucheng, and even Yang Nianxia remained. The second segment of Love at First Sight continued until it was Xu Lizhi's turn.
The soul lighting under Xu Lizhi's feet was turned on, illuminating his chubby body. He had revealed himself since the first segment. There was hardly any difference whether he chose to reveal himself or not. With his body size, he would be identified for certain.
"Our fellow Sea God's fair maidens can now decide whether to flip your switch for Contestant Number Thirty-Two or not," prompted Lan Muzi.


Following the advancement of soul technology, the humans of Douluo Continent conquered the ocean and discovered two new continents. After being hunted by spirit masters excessively, the soul beasts are nearly extinct. After countless years of lying dormant, the King of the Soul Beasts has awakened in the Great Star Dou Forest. It will lead its remaining clansmen in taking vengeance against humanity! 

Tang Wulin is determined to become a powerful Soul Master. However, when he awakened his martial soul, it was actually a…

Incomparable talent. The battle of the Dragon King. The Legend of our Dragon King hereby begins.

Chapter 2 Running (2)
From the rich shopping area at the top of the city he was now quickly descending to the lower levels. By the time he reached the bottom of the shaft he would be in one of the city's less opulent areas which, Jimmy hoped, would allow him to avoid detection or pursuit. The implant he had in his body had used information from the drone to calculate the optimum acceleration and deceleration path down the lift shaft, which was shown in a vector map in his head. It allowed Jimmy to suddenly slow down and move sideways through an open door and start running through a warren of corridors, without missing a step.
The corridors through which he now ran were in a poor state of repair, with surfaces that were potholed and crumbling. Jimmy moved past some of the people who were casually going about their business. Everyone ignored him as they mostly did, not even looking up so as not to call attention to themselves. Lighting was provided by lines of light-strips on the ceiling and side walls. In these more public areas, the lights were adjusted to match the day and night cycle of the world above.
Jimmy finally came to a corridor that formed an entrance into a vast, open underground cavern. As he entered, his first hope was throwing off his pursuers. Now he could get lost in the underground metropolis. As he looked out across the huge cavern, Jimmy could see tall buildings like spikes shooting up from the uneven floor, reaching up toward the middle of the cavern. From the ceiling the buildings were hanging down like stalactites. Large orbs of light moved around the wide open space like suns providing daylight to the city. Looking into the distance, Jimmy could see small bright lights from windows all over the cavern. As he strained his eyes, he was just about able to make out brightly-colored beams spiraling around some buildings like a mesh of disco lights in the far distance.
Humming to himself, Jimmy walked out of the corridor and followed the stairways from the exit to an express conveyor system that was full of people being transported around the city. This would take him to the area of colored lights in the distance. He entered the system via a slow on-track that gained speed as he started to move to the faster tracks in the center. With the enhanced agility he had always had, he was able to move quickly from one conveyor track to another as he navigated the transportation system, avoiding people who were in his way. Eventually he reached the fastest track through the center of the cavern. It moved at a speed that felt like he was in a wind tunnel as it traveled through the large metropolis, past buildings on either side that blocked his view of his destination. Jimmy crested a rise and moved down into the colored lighting section of the cavern. Moving to slower and slower conveyor tracks, he was able to exit the transportation system.
Jimmy chose a random direction with a coin toss and walked into the district, again humming happily to himself. This district had shops with every type of item one could possibly need and bright neon signs advertising their wares. Food stalls were set up along the streets, and the smells coming from them were enticing. Most of the food was on sticks or in bags to eat on the move, in keeping with the busy life of this district within the underground metropolis. Some of the stalls had seating areas for the more relaxed patrons. As Jimmy passed, he looked closely at some of the people sitting and eating; they were of all shapes and sizes, unlike the uniformity of the people on the upper sunlit levels he had just left.
Walking by, Jimmy saw some men and women with enhanced muscles. Small threads of the Nano-ploy-metal interwoven with muscle fibers could be seen on top of their skin. The muscular people had a range of weaponry, but mostly close-range knives or snub guns. With the muscles and weapons, it was easy to identify them as locally-employed enforcers to ensure nothing affected the businesses. The people sitting along the street had a range of clothing and cybernetic devices on their bodies - some purely cosmetic to enhance their looks, and some with cybernetic enhancements that were part of a specialized job function. Jimmy saw one man with augmented eyes and extra lenses for seeing in fine detail.
The street wound upwardly into a warren of shops and entertainment parlors. Deciding that he needed to change his appearance, Jimmy walked into one of the closest clothing shops that was open. Heading for one of the racks containing men's clothes, Jimmy quickly picked out a whole new set of clothing, not really bothering with any unified style. Walking over to an older woman at the till he smiled and said, "All of these items, please."

A fast-paced novel that LitRPG, and progression fantasy readers will love.

Wild dog, an assassin, has been tasked with a hit job on a galactic scale, set in a world that has fallen from the heights of a mega civilization to one that will eventual fall into complete chaos. To prevent this from happening, the system’s top military command have reached out to the assassin.

Wild dog enlists a young hacker, Jimmy, who find out he has usual powers when he escapes from the police. As the two work together to achieve the death of a man they both want, Jimmy’s powers grow greater from his involvement with the assassin.

The two battle against a man named the ‘Usurper’, who's tyrannical power is felt throughout the solar system. All this time the young hacker is gaining power to assault the ‘Usurper’ safe-haven.

The Usurper: Civilisation Hackers is an adventurer human civilization series weaving science fiction and fantasy lore into a fast-paced novel that LitRPG, and progression fantasy readers will love. The Usurper: Civilisation Hackers is a LitRPG novel written by Andrew Bardsley, author of Dawn of Adventure

Author's website
https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B07LGBBBYD

As the small living human was no longer conscious, Juno Terminal 'June' decided that the tour should end for now. The three proceeded down to the Residential Habitat so that Patrol Seven 'Pat' could deposit the small living human into a bed.

But, as carefully as Patrol Seven 'Pat' was in handling the small living human, it awoke as it was being placed gently down.

"Don't go," said the small living human, grasping one of Patrol Seven 'Pat's hands.

Patrol Seven 'Pat' calculated the estimated time remaining until maintenance would be completed on it, and compared to recorded averages for how long it took ancient humans to fall asleep.

"I will return to work soon, but I can stay until you fall asleep."

The small living human nodded, but continued staring at Patrol Seven 'Pat'. It did not seem as if the small living human intended to return to sleep soon.

[Juno Terminal 'June' to Archive: Query: How does one encourage a human to sleep?]

[Archive to Juno Terminal 'June': Response: According to records, ancient humans deactivated lighting sources when slumbering. Have you deactivated the lighting source for that room?]

[Juno Terminal 'June' to Generator Room: Deactivate lighting in the Residential Habitat]

The room went black.

"WAAAAAAAH!" cried the startled small living human.

[Juno Terminal 'June' to Generator Room: Activate lighting in the Residential Habitat]

"What was that?!" asked the agitated small living human.

"I asked Generator Room to deactivate the lights, so that you would sleep," explained Juno Terminal 'June'.

"I didn't hear anything!"

"It is more efficient to use a direct transmission than it would be to generate an audible request."

"I don't like the dark!"

"With the lights activated it is too bright for you to sleep."

"Then... can you leave the door open? And the hall light on?"

Patrol-bot bodies were not constructed with the ability to frown. Which was probably for the best.

"It is unsafe to leave doors permanently open. In the event of sudden atmospheric decompression, a closed door might save your life. Additionally, closed doors inhibit the spread of fires. If there were an uncontrolled fire on the station, a closed door might save your life. Additionally. closed doors inhibit intruders. If there were an intruder on board the station, a closed door might prevent them from reaching you while you sleep."

The small living human's eyes became watery. "Are we safe," it asked in a quiet voice.

"Yes. Neither a sudden atmospheric decompression nor an uncontrolled fire have ever occurred on this station in its thousands of years of recorded history. The likelihood of either even suddenly occurring at this time is statistically improbable. Additionally, no intruder is currently detected on board the station. Although, if they were intruding, they might have anti-detection capabilities, so it is impossible to prove that there _isn't_ one. But, to the extent that we can detect such things, no sudden atmospheric decompression, nor uncontrolled fire, nor detectable intruder is currently on board this station at this time."

"Then... why can't we leave the door open?"

Juno Terminal 'June' pondered the query. There were Reasons to not leave doors open. But, those Reasons were unlikely. Given a default choice, Juno Terminal 'June' would follow the Reasons no matter how unlikely, because unlikely is not _impossible_. But. There was currently a living human on board, and that living human desired to go *against* those Reasons. And, going against those Reasons was currently unlikely to cause any measurable Harm. Therefore: it was (relatively) safe to follow the living human's desires at this time.

Juno Terminal 'June' was not programmed to feel Discomfort. But, going against established Reasons, even though a living human wished for it, was as close to Discomfort as a deep space station could feel. Nevertheless...

"Fine."

[Juno Terminal 'June' to Generator Room: ...Cancel]

Juno Terminal 'June' remembered that the small living human disliked when it couldn't perceive the commands being transmitted. Juno Terminal 'June' had a very good memory.

"Residential Habitat, deactivate light source for this room, leave hallway light source active, and .... allow the door to remain open. Even though nothing is passing through." Such an illogical command!

The small living human appeared to calm down, but did not release its grip on Patrol Seven 'Pat's hand.

"You'll be gone when I wake up?"

"Yes," said Patrol Seven 'Pat'. "Most of the time, I am on patrol. I am a Patrol ship. It is my duty. It is why I was able to find you and your ship. I am very rarely here at the station. When I am at the station, I am not doing my job. Do you understand?"

"I understand," said the small living human.

It was quiet for a while, then the living human continued:

"I don't want to be alone again."

"You will not be alone on the station. Juno Terminal 'June' will be here."

The small living human frowned. Humans weren't limited in their expressions like Patrol-bots were. But, it didn't voice its disapproval.

"Rest now," said Patrol Seven 'Pat'. "You still need to recover."

The small living human nodded. And then said:

"Will you tell me a bedtime story?"

Juno Terminal had a job to do. Guard the frontier. Keep space safe for humanity.

The fact that no humans had been in contact for thousands of years had no effect on Juno Terminal's programming whatsoever.

Dispatch patrols. Maintain supplies. Prepare for guests. These are all tasks that do not require the presence of humans.

So when a patrol returned with a living human, it should not have affected Juno Terminal in any way.

And yet...

Although it might sound untypical, Hao Ren felt that Vivian was one of the most functional ones in his family. Lily was only good in work that involved physical labor and not necessarily reliable, Nangong Wuyue just washed things, Y'zaks would only of help when the house ran out of cooking gas, and Rollie's only contribution was taking care of the fish. In contrast, Vivian was very versatile. She could cook, do laundry and stuff like that, moonlight as an air conditioner when the weather was hot, and become a charging port—it was Lily who discovered this function. Everyone in the family loved this. Ever since they no longer carried power banks and chargers. They would habitually look for Vivian every time their phones were out of battery.
Hao Ren handed the cable to Vivian. She pouted. "Why do I always have to do this kind of thing?" she asked.
Despite the complaining, she still summoned a bat, stuffed one of the cables into the mouth of the little bat, and bit the other cord herself. She rolled her eyes and said, "I'm going to open the gate. Step back and watch out for the escaping air."
They held on to whatever on the wall they could find or just got out of the ramp. Hao Ren held on to the frame of the steel panel with one hand and grabbed Vivian's arm with the other so that when the door opened, the escaping air would not blow him away. It was difficult to know whether its airlock would still work by judging from the condition of the spaceship. As everyone was out of the way, Vivian and her little bat sent a current through the cables. A string of small sparks immediately came out of her teeth.
Connected to the cables was a relay. There was a slight click in the relay before Hao Ren felt a slight vibration coming from his hand, and then the seemingly heavy door moved.
The heavy steel door slid open from the middle accompanied by a series of metal grinding noise, but there was no air escaping from the inside. It was dim inside with some weird silhouettes in the foreground when looking through the still opening door.
The door ground to a halt after a violent vibration. The opening was only one-fifth of the width when the door was fully open. Vivian squeezed her bat a little, trying to send more current to the door, but there was no response.
"Mechanical failure. It looks like this is how far the door would open," Hao Ren said, stopping Vivian from further sending a higher voltage to the door. He came up, made sure that the door would not close suddenly before he carefully poked his head through the gap. "Well, it's wide enough. Let's go in. Try not to touch anything," he said.
They sneaked through the gap into the darkness inside. Though there were only a few sparsely arranged lights, which looked not for lighting use, on the inside, they were still able to see things clearly with their unique vision. Hao Ren squinted deeper into the darkness. There was another door about tens of meters away, but it was open, which was a bad thing.
"There is no air here," Vivian said. She then released a bat. The little bat struggled to flutter, but it could not fly. "Unless those inside the spaceship do not need air."
"They need to breathe; this is an airlock chamber. Look at the two door structures," Hao Ren said, pointing to the door at the other end that seemed to have malfunctioned as well. "The airlock has failed. There was no air escaping out when we opened the outer door just now. I'm afraid that this place has completely lost its pressure. There might be a bigger leak somewhere else in the spaceship," he said.
As he spoke, he took the lead and floated forward. Of course, he knew that the situation might not be as bad as he said: it was a massive ship of more than 100 kilometers long, almost a mini artificial planet. It could not have only one airlock chamber. Probably they just happened to come in from one of the airlock chambers that had failed. There might be some sealing mechanisms ahead. If what he thought was right, there might be survivors on this spaceship.
But as they moved deeper into the spaceship, the situation became less optimistic.
They moved through a vast and old steel corridor and saw all equipment had exceeded their service life and broken down. The lighting system of the spaceship seemed to be entirely out of order, leaving only some emergency lights occasionally flickering like ghost fires in the darkness. They found some computer terminals along the way, but even Vivian could not power up these terminals with her power source.
"Could all the people here have died?" Nangong Wuyue carefully crawled along the huge pipes in the passageway, all the while grabbing on anything she could get hold of to make sure she always stayed on the floor and felt secure. "I couldn't feel any water element here. There is only ice within a few kilometers radius. Ice without any signs of life," she said.
Hao Ren remained silent. He felt the darkness was depressing. With the shared senses with the MDT, he could see the deep layers of the steel corridor. The electronic system and mechanical devices were all dead. Other than the propulsion system of the spaceship, everything was down.
After passing through many malfunctioned doors and junctions, they came to a vast space. The place looked like a transportation hub; oval like the egg of a monster, it seemed like a converging point of many passages from other directions, almost like a waiting hall. The lighting here was slightly better. Perhaps the backup generator was still running; one-third of the lights in the hall were functioning.
There were many vertical pillars in the center of the hall. Hao Ren thought that these pillars were the supporting structure, but when he came closer, he found that these things were like elevators that led to the other parts of the spaceship.
"They're all broken. Maybe because there's no power," Nangong Sanba knocked on a few control panels of the elevator. "Looks like this is the only way," he said.
Hao Ren thought for a moment. He then patted Lily on the head. "Cut this open," he said.
Lily wielded her Flamejoy and went up happily. Before doing it, she turned her head around and asked, "Are you sure you want me to do that?"
"Yeah, the scan shows that there are no more signs of life beneath," Hao Ren said, pointing to the MDT. "There is no signs of life within at least several kilometers."
Lily proceeded. She wielded her claws and began to cut one of the elevator tubes. Sparks were flying. Before they knew it, she had cut out an opening, revealing the dark vertical shaft inside. Poking his head inside and looking down the dimly lit shaft, Hao Ren could not see where the elevator car was.
Vivian wanted to summon a small bat to scout out the shaft. But since bat would not fly in a vacuum, she took out a slingshot instead. She aimed and shot the bat down the shaft.
A moment later, a bloody mist floated up from the dark shaft. Vivian re-absorbed the bloody mist into the body. "It's safe down there. It's a long elevator shaft. There are some cracks in the middle section of the shaft, from where we could get out," she said.
Hao Ren checked the status of his Steel Membrane Shield before leaping into the shaft.
 There were only dim guiding lights in the shaft. When Hao Ren descended deeper, he began to see a bright light. So he sped up the descent.
Just like what Vivian had said, there were several cracks on the elevator shaft. The cracks seemed to be torn apart by the twisted old steel brackets in the shaft. Light shone through the cracks, meaning outside was a bright space.
Hao Ren gestured to his teammates so that they kept their alertness high. He then squeezed through a crack that was large enough to allow an adult to pass.
When he got through, his jaw dropped.
He saw a city.
A silent city in the shimmer.
"Mr. Landlord, what do you see?" Lily's voice was heard on the radio. He felt a furry head slamming him from behind. When Lily finally crawled out from the crack, she was rooted to the spot just like Hao Ren did.
"Wow! It's a space fortress!"


As a person who is down-to-earth as well as a good Samaritan, Hao Ren desires to live the rest of his life as a benevolent landlord. Stumbling into a curious yet mysterious lady, he began his journey of “collecting” abnormal and supernatural tenants. 
His life only became more chaotic when he receives a labor contract from “God”. Discover the many races, myths and worlds that lie beyond what humans define as normal! This bizzare fantasy full of fun is sure to bring you on a crazy rollercoaster of emotions!

The building had never been livelier. 

Christmas lights hung from the beams of the ceiling, illuminating the place with colourful, flashing lights. 

The lights gave off a party vibe as people swarmed towards the room in masses, dancing along to the beat. 

The dance floor was packed, music blaring from the DJ station. Two people stood in the middle, crowds surrounding them as they were challenged to a dance off.

She stood at the sidelines and frantically searched through the sea of people before spotting him in the centre of the ring. 

'I'll win for you, so you better be cheering for me!' He shouted, looking in her direction through the crowd of people hoping it'd reach her ears. 

For a brief moment, their eyes met and she felt as though everything else had melted into the background and it was only the two of them on the dance floor. And in the midst of it all, she felt her heart beating faster, her face flushing, and herself smiling for no reason. 

Strands of his messy blond hair stuck up various places at the random, he wore a smile she knew and would fall for anytime, over and over again. 

His ocean blue eyes glimmered in the lights, hypnotizing her as she felt a pulling to just draw close to him and to get lost in them forever. 

'Must be the alcohol getting to me' Daphne thought as she continued her staring at him, not caring if anyone else noticed. That was the moment she realized she'd fallen in love.                   

And she didn't regret it one single bit. 


[ He stood in the middle of the crowds on the flashing, electronic dance floor before scanning the crowds for her , eyes raking through the faces on the dance floor before finding her, also seemingly searching for someone. His impulses took a hold of him and he quickly shouted out something he knew he'd definitely regret saying later on a whim. The lights shone down on her, lighting up her face as her features looked bolder in the blue and red party lights. There was just something about her that attracted his attention and he always felt like turning his head back for a second glance. Something happened on the dance floor that night, and it changed the both of them. They went home giddy and light headed, the face of a specific someone stuck in the both of their heads. ]

The giant lantern was lit when the clock ticked at 7. The townspeople's mayor led the lighting up that was followed by his townsmen lighting up their own lanterns. The lights that was illuminating the streets were put off. There, hundreds of beautiful rainbow lanterns can be seen. Some had beautiful designs attached on the lantern, some have not. Some had message written on the lantern, that was believed to be a message to the gods. Once the lantern were sent to the sky, they assumed that the gods were reading their wish.

"Here Noah. Let's lit some lantern." 

Raeliana prepared a lantern beforehand, so she didn't need to purchase one. She handed the lantern to Noah, who was amazed after seeing a lantern closely. The rigid textures of the lantern that was unable to see afar, the simple fact made Noah smiled from ear to ear. 

"Haven't you seen a lantern before?"

He shook his head. "I only see them in afar. But I was always wondering what it looks like." 

It was her first time to see him bore an innocent expression. The way he looked at the lantern was like a kid who had seen something for the first time. She doubted that the duke hasn't lived his childhood because of his bloodline. If she were happened to be sent again in this novel, she wished to be here when Noah is still a kid. 

The clearing of voice of the mayor had caught their attention. He announced his gratitude towards the unity of townspeople, and to the success of the festival. He wished a good health and fortune. "Once again, let's enjoy the festival!"  The people growled after the last sentence. The giant lantern was set to fly with the heavenly bodies. It flew freely across the nightsky, along with the moon and stars. Before Noah sets free the lantern, she asked him to make a wish. 

"I heard it's more believable to ask the gods directly than sending them a message." Her hands intertwined, holding to the hope of the gods will hear her wish. Whilst she was making a wish seriously, Noah had his fixed on her. Her long eyelashes had beautiful lights on the tips. Her lips that was plump and sweet. He had his wish right now, to be with the woman he dearly loves.  

He was no longer holding back his thirst. He caressed her cheeks that made her displayed a beautiful expression upon his touch. She called his name weakly, but completely surrendered when he tugged her in his arms. She gave in to the soft sensation between their lips, that touch sends electricity throughout their body. She was bound to be cruel yet she acts like a tame wolf in his presence. His teeth sank deeper on her lips and forcefully entered into her mouth. She was getting a grip on his arms, securing her position. Noah is a very aggressive kisser. Not only he can melt her inside, he makes her heart jumped in disarray. Raeliana was helpless; submitting herself to a man she promised not to fall in love with. With a sparkle of tears on her eyes, she vowed to live happily with this man.

Ves was not immersed in the whole shuttle racing scene. As someone focused on mechs his entire life, the sleek personal transport shuttles that were capable of both atmospheric and space flight held little appeal to him. That did not mean others found them unworthy of their time.

In fact, lots of norms worshipped shuttles. They paid fanatical attention to each newly released shuttles and liked to customize and tinker their own vehicles in their free time. Adding some decorative lighting was just one of the ways a fanatic distinguished himself among his peers.

He looked over some footage on the galactic net and found it to be a basic concept. It could be as simple as adding a few colored stripes to adding in an elaborate artistic pattern. It impressed Ves that these hobbyists cobbled up evocative looks for their shuttles.

"I won't be able to get Vincent's approval if I half-ass this job."

The best-looking vehicles didn't necessarily have the most lights. Instead, the artists who customized them used patterns and other artistic tricks to maximize the impact of each streak of light. If Ves wanted to keep up, he had to be a little inventive.

"Hm, what would fit my Marc Antony?"

He left the galactic net and opened the mech design program. As a software developed by the MTA itself, it possessed elaborate features. Still, they were not on par with the Mech Designer System's own suite except for the projectors. The MTA's design studio incorporated high quality projection systems that could bring any image to life.

When the imposing image of the Marc Antony appeared in the middle of the room, Ves circled the projection and slowly considered his ideas.

The mech looked like an armored soldier. With its vapor-generated helmet crest and heavy rectangular shield, it looked purpose-built for war. Ves also chuckled to himself that it looked quite dashing. What he had to do now was to figure out a way to enhance the mech's cool factor without being too overboard. Luckily, most lighting systems are cheap and don't require a license. After all, they were mainly made to customize shuttles.

"Getting my hands on a suitable lighting system isn't hard. What's a little harder is that their toughness sucks."

He faced the same problem as with the cape. These kinds of accoutrements just weren't designed to accommodate a fighting machine. While there were a few systems designed for traffic control or rescue mechs that possessed a little more reinforcement, they fell short when put into active combat situations.

"Maybe I've been influenced too much by the way these lighting systems are applied to shuttles. I don't have to follow the exact same scheme for my mech."

He considered designing a standard scheme as well as add something extra. As a mech accumulated damage, it generally looked worse. In order to placate Vincent in the event he ended up in a real battle, Ves decided to use that property to add internal lighting that wouldn't be visible unless the armor got torn open.

As Ves knew his design best, he already had an idea how to structure the internal lighting. He had no trouble marking out many small areas where a small but powerful light source could be placed.

As the lights didn't really suck up that much energy compared to other systems, Ves didn't even bother with adding power cables to keep them running. Instead, he added wireless power transmitters nestled deeper in the mech to provide power without relying on delicate and easily damaged cabling.

To be certain it matched Vincent's standard of coolness, Ves tested out his change. When Ves used the design program's simulation module to simulate accumulating damage, he found the mech to be glowing increasingly red from the cracks in its armor. Against the backdrop of the mech's predominantly black coating, the ominous red glow enhanced the menacing aura.

Inspired by this savage look, Ves took up a sketching program and drafted a couple of lines on the mech's wireframe model. He predominately added jagged lines, akin to the stylized lightning bolts on the shield which he also sketched over with some light streaks. He colored it mostly red except for the lights on the shield, which were shaded a bright yellow.

When Ves stepped back and let the design program simulate the lighting scheme, he was impressed by his own work. The light scheme enhanced the ancient warrior theme of his mech. The sharpness of the jagged, diagonal lines gave the mech the impression that it was a war god descended from the heavens.

"Hm, though it looks good, I'm not sure if Vincent will like it. He has a very discerning taste."

To be safe, Ves spent an entire day wracking his brain for alternate design patterns. He slept, ate and showered at the room's basic living facilities but spent the rest of his time crunching his brain. Lucky got so bored that Ves activated the guide program to release a projected ball that flew around erratically for his cat to chase around.

His hard work allowed him to come up with a few viable looking designs. He made a white lightning bolt pattern to evoke a lightning god feel and a green curving pattern to contrast nicely with the red accents. He finished his design session by forming a yellow pattern that evoked speed.

As he projected the different lighting schemes side by side, he had to admit that while they did the job, they fell short of greatness. Ves simply lacked the practice and proficiency to go beyond the basic one-color lighting schemes. Mixing two or three colors together in a harmonious whole was a lot more difficult than he thought.

"If Vincent is really dissatisfied by my attempts, he should just hire his own artist." He concluded. As someone who looked familiar with the shuttle racing scene, Vincent must have his own contacts.

He sent the sketches to Vincent and called it a day. He'd been staying in the design studio for more than a day now. Thinking of all the trouble he went through so far, he hoped Vincent was good for the money when Ves finally delivered his product.

After stepping out of the design studio, he called up an automatic guide that led him to the MTA's visitor cafeteria. Just because he ate some instant rations didn't mean he appreciated them. He looked forward to grabbing a more proper bite.

As thousands of pilots, designers and technicians visited the MTA each day in Dorum, its dining facilities were top notch. Those with more discerning tastes could enter the nearby restaurant while those who were fine with cheaper food prepared by the best bots visited the cafeteria. As Ves picked a couple of his favorite meats, he took a random seat and started to dig in.

Just as he finished chewing, a firm hand clapped his back.

"Ves! What a surprise to see you here!"

Ves turned around and saw a young woman he hadn't seen since his last visit to Bentheim. "Charlotte?"

Charlotte Hoffmeister grinned as she bumped the seat next to him and hopped on it. She dropped her plate of food with a small clatter, causing bits and pieces of food to spill to the side.

"We haven't been in touch for a while. So what are you up to?"

He shrugged. "I'm in the process of customizing my first commercial variant mech for a client. I recently completed a sale a few weeks ago and now I'm here to meet the needs of my second client."

Charlotte raised her eyebrow in appreciation as she gnawed at her chicken drumstick. "Looks like your business is already up and running. That's nice. There's way too many dumbasses who think they're all that but flounder when they finally start on their own."

"I was luckier than most." Ves said reservedly, not wanting to disparage his fellow designers. After all, before the System came he was one of them. "I'm not doing great, but I'm sure I can overcome my troubles if I work hard enough."

"That's the spirit!" Charlotte pounded the table with her palm. "Look at me. Despite coming up second to a side tournament, I'm one of only three new recruits for the MTA's Compliance Department from this year's graduating class!"

"Oh, congratulations. No wonder you look so great in your new piloting suit."

Ves was genuinely impressed at Charlotte's accomplishment. The MTA's Compliance Department might have a reviled reputation among outsiders, but mech designers in particular appreciated them for keeping the peace and deter shady manufacturers from stealing their designs. Their prestige was a step up from the Republic's own Mech Corps as their recruitment standards were incredibly stringent.

"I'm still a trainee for now, but you can bet I'm going to places you can't even imagine. Too bad I had to give the Kirby back to the academy. I miss that big old lug, even if it took a nasty beating in the tournament."

The two shared a few words on more inconsequential subjects before Charlotte had to go back to her training. "I'll see you around, Ves. Keep up the good work. I'll be sure to spread the word."

"Thanks a lot. I appreciate any help I can get."

Having met Charlotte reminded him he hadn't gotten in touch with any of his friends in a while. Of course, everyone drifted off to pursue their own career, but he should at least get in touch with Carlos now that he had the time. Ves dug up his name from his comm and called him up to see if he was available.

"Evening, Ves. Man, I thought you dropped off the edge of the universe. Look who's back!"

"Haha, I've been occupied with my own work, but I happened to be here on Bentheim for business. Do you want to meet up?"

"Sure! I know just the place to take you if you're visiting Bentheim for the first time. It's a must-visit attraction of our planet!"

Carlos sent a standardized set of coordinates to him that he could feed into a aircar service.

"I'll be waiting for you at that place!"

Shrugging, Ves finished his food and left the cafeteria. He boarded a small hovering platform to reach the exit of the complex faster. As he looked back at the imposing base, he sighed at the power of the MTA. They possessed military might far beyond even the best mercenary corps in the Republic.

After he hailed an aircar, he fed the piloting system the coordinates and let the car take him to where Carlos waited. He looked outside the window and admired the sprawling urban forest outside. Not even the dignified Rittersberg could ever compare to the liveliness of Bentheim.

The shuttle finally descended on the outskirts of Dorum. It turned out the coordinates Carlos fed was a large open-air mech coliseum, with several smaller arenas placed around the main attraction. It somewhat resembled the stadium and convention center where the YTE was held, but this one was obviously privately owned.

The mood here was much more dynamic. The abundant visitors all wore branded clothing that featured their favorite mechs or celebrities. Even from this distance Ves could feel the savage thrum and collisions of real mechs battling it out in front of an audience. The cost of operating this enterprise must run up to the billions, but from the amount of fans that visited the matches, it evidently ran very smoothly.

His friend waited just inside the gate. After paying the admission fee, Ves met up with Carlos and hugged him loosely. "Good to see you again. How's it going at work?"

"So-so. I'm still learning the ropes. It takes time for me to move up in such a large organisation. But look at you. You're a successful mech designer now, having at least one sale under your belt. Most of the other people from our class are really jealous at you, you know."

Ves wasn't bothered by the thoughts of others. "If they think they can do better, then let them start their own businesses."

Naturally, that was nearly impossible. Both of them smiled at each other as they knew that. Carlos shook his head.

"Well, enough about that. Let's head inside. I've been saving up these promotional tickets for the amateur ring for a year. Might as well use them up now."

They talked about what they had been doing since the last time they met. Ves talked about some of the challenges he faced. When he talked about the excitement of building a mech with your own hands, Carlos looked envious.

"Man, you're much further ahead in your career than me. I'm still stuck in the same old drudgery of checking mechs for faults."

"It's been a few months. Hang in there. With your skillset, you should expect a promotion soon enough."

Ves and Carlos had reached the entrance of the smallest an shabbiest looking arena. As cleaning bots were cheap nowadays, Ves figured the organizers intentionally kept its walls weathered. The scanners at the gates allowed them entry once Carlos showed his tickets. They climbed the stairs and entered the interior of a wide arena that could host up to a hundred thousand people if a major event was going on.

As it was just a normal day, the arena was only filled up to a third of its capacity. Frankly speaking, the promotional tickets Carlos won from who-knows-where we're not all that valuable. Ves could easily afford entry now that he potentially earned millions with each mech sale. Still, he wasn't used to being wealthy, so he still appreciated Carlos' gesture.

They found a pair of seats that brought them close to the middle of the arena. Several fans were chugging their beers or eating their junk food as they yelled at the duelists in the arena. Apparently, two light mechs were on stage. As they were rather fragile, they both played very conservatively. It led to quite a few boos from the disgruntled audience.

"Man, I always hate it when these light mechs are dancing around all the time. It's like they're competing on who will run out of energy first."

"Light mechs might be cheap, but it still costs quite a bit to repair any damage." Ves noted. "Personally, if I were to bring a mech onto a stage, I'd go for a mediumweight."

It was easy to say this, but not every pilot had the means to buy a good medium mech. Most of the lower rungs were unable to cough up enough money for a decently armored mech.

As Ves keenly knew, the most expensive component of any mech was its armor plating. In today's manufacturing environment, as long as the materials weren't too exotic, any delicate or intricate machinery could be replicated with 3D printers and other advanced manufacturing machines. However, no matter how advanced mankind's production capabilities had grown, they could not make gold out of lead.

Good materials led to great end products, and nowhere was this more evident than the current state of mech armor. Tricks such as modular armor, quantum-scaffolding and other buzzwords hadn't measured up to their promises. In the end, armor developers resorted to the simplest solutions of finding the best base materials to work with. The Milky Way galaxy was immense, and many unconventional stars proved breeding grounds of highly desirable exotic materials.

Natural, due to the special circumstances in which they were formed, they were also notoriously scarce. That meant that the mining companies that exploited these valuable mining areas made a killing. Ves heard a rumor in which a top-of-the-line mech from a first-rate superstate could cost up a trillion bright credits. That was an unimaginable sum of money in the perspective of the Bright Republic, but it would only cause a citizen of a superstate to blink their eyes.

In any case, Ves and Carlos talked a bit about their own preferences while casually paying attention to the slow-going dance-off on stage.

However, Ves felt a nervous tension from his friend. Evidently, Carlos had another purpose in mind when he asked to meet up with Ves. He wasn't even interested in the matches at all. No matter how exciting the amateurs fought on stage, Carlos never batted an eye.

Ves wondered what was going on. Carlos couldn't be in trouble, right?

Humanity has conquered half the galaxy and the Age of Mechs reigns supreme!

Ves Larkinson lacked the genetic aptitude to become a famed mech pilot. Fighting against his fate, he studied mech design in order to express his love for mechs as a builder instead of a soldier.

When Ves graduated from college, he returned to a new but empty boutique. Left with a small, newly founded mech workshop that his father painstakingly built with a mountain of debt, Ves somehow needs to make ends meet with the bank breathing down his neck.

In the midst of his despair, he found salvation from another legacy his father had left.

"Welcome to the Mech Designer System. Please design your new mech."

--Join The Mech Touch's unofficial Discord server: https://discord.gg/APB5KCU

Pang!
Amidst the skidding noises produced by tires braking abruptly on the asphalt road, Eckart, trying to turn around, flew in front to the dashboard. His eyes widened when he saw a white cat's figure running away.
The cat was a magical animal. No matter how poor or rich, healthy or sick, happy or sad you are, it would always look down on you.
Most of the time, cats' appearances attracted people's attention, thus giving birth to thoughts of touching or rearing one.
However, in this secluded, dark road, the sudden appearance of a cat did not produce the same thoughts. Instead, a strange, eerie feeling filled the group's heads.
Eckart climbed up from his ugly state, loosened his tie, exercised his back to ease the discomfort, and looked at Kieran.
Kieran was still sitting there, no changes to his sitting posture and no expression on his face.
During normal times, Kieran's expressionless face didn't mean anything, but now, it made Eckart heave a breath of relief. Eckart sat back in his seat.
"How is it?" Eckart asked while looking around and sizing up the surroundings—he was afraid that something unexpected might come out.
It seemed like the director of the station was not as calm as he looked.
"Let's move on," Kieran said calmly.
"Drive!"
After Kieran's reply, the director finally felt relief. He tapped the backseat of the driver, telling him to continue on.
The driver really wanted to say no, but he had no choice.
Those who had the rights to say no in this kind of situation were always the minority and could be much fewer than expected.
The minivan started again.
In his seat, Kieran took a quiet glance at Mei Huasheng beside him from the corner of his eyes, and started to recall the scene with the white cat.
Although it was just a flash, it was enough for Kieran to see the whole picture.
It was a white cat with blue eyes and strong limbs.
It was clean and beautiful, obviously belonging to someone.
And judging from how the cat moved around the area…
Kieran looked up and saw the building at the end of the road.
Edwood Mansion!
"Much more careless than I'd expect."
"As I thought… Numbed because of the long period of time?" Kieran spoke to himself in his heart before closing his eyes.
The unexpected information gave him more confidence.
Now?
He had to wait before arriving at their destination.
When the minivan continued on, the other interview van, which had fell back for some distance, followed again as well.
Both vans were moving to their destination like tortoises climbing to the finish line. The drivers were hoping to never reach the mansion, but even a tortoise would eventually reach the end of the road, which wasn't infinitely long.
After the little hiccups, the sky turned dark completely.
The three-story Edwood Mansion towered in the darkness, and even though the lighting man lit up the path ahead, it only showed a corner of the mansion.
The mansion was much bigger than it appeared in the photos.
Kieran came down from the minivan and walked to the mansion.
Behind him was the camera and lighting men, whose faces were pale as paper, and Eckart, who acted as the temporary host. They wanted to follow Kieran, but he stopped them with a wave of the hand.
"I'll go have a check first. It won't be long, give me 15 minutes," said Kieran.
He then circulated the outer fence of the mansion slowly. Mei Huasheng, who didn't utter a word, followed Kieran nevertheless.
Kieran sized up the surroundings, while Mei Huasheng locked her gaze on Kieran.
Kieran felt the judgmental gaze again, but he didn't care. He was checking something else.
The flashlight shone through the fence and landed on the dried-up garden. The distinct shadow casted from the fence split the garden into columns.
As Kieran moved forward, the columns followed his flashlight.
The garden was already emptied of flowers, and all it housed now was weeds.
The weeds were unusually long and dense, some parts even went outside the fence and continued growing outside. At the same time, it created a subtle blocking effect, making it hard for one to truly see into the mansion without getting closer to the fence.
But not just the garden, even the small door behind the mansion and the other side of the mansion was in the same condition.
Weeds overgrown was an understatement to describe the condition–it was like the mansion was surrounded by the weeds.
Kieran set his gaze on the small door.
Unlike the other mottled, rusted spots, the fence beside the small door was much 'newer'.
Kieran curled his lips into a grin.
He then continued circulating in Edwood Mansion without another pause. After that, he walked along the alleyway, and when the time was almost up, Kieran returned to the entrance of the mansion.
Eckart, the temporary host, had already started the show and was presenting in front of the camera. "Good evening ladies and gentlemen, we are…"
After some procedural introductions, the cameraman and lighting man turned to Kieran.
Although they were scared, their duty to their jobs allowed them to know what must they do.
Kieran ignored the lights and camera, striding to the mansion's gate, which was tied up by a rusted chain and had a rusted lock at the end of the chain.
The site supervisor, who brought a saw, wanted to saw the chains off.
"We've gotten permission to enter this place through official channels, ladies and gentlemen, please don't try—"
Eckart, with the microphone, was explaining the situation in a timely manner, but before he could finish, he was stopped by the sound.
When the site supervisor ran over, Kieran touched the rusted lock with his hand.
Under the many pairs of eyes, including the camera, the lock produced a clear noise.
Kak!
The lock fell on the ground.
Without the lock holding them, the rusted chains also slid down the fence and landed on the ground.
Ring! Bang!!
The slightly heavy clunkings brought the group back from their dazed state.
The temporary host Eckart wasn't a professional after all. After the lock was removed, he couldn't utter a word. He stood there with his microphone and stared at Kieran's back.
The lighting and camera, however, handled themselves like professionals, and they followed behind Kieran without the host leading the scene.
The camera clearly captured the scene in which Kieran had touched the lock with his finger as well as when the lock and chains fell. Kieran's expressionless face was also captured when he pushed the gate open, but…
The rusted gate didn't open up after the noise—instead, it fell to the ground!
Bang!
Amidst the bang louder than the previous one, the heavy gate fell on the stone ground, splashing up dust everywhere.
Under the lights, the dust danced in the air like mist.
The camera then captured Kieran walking into the dust cloud.
Gak Tsk Gak Tsk!
The screech from the gate sounded with each step he took.
When his steps and the screech converged, it didn't just become loud, it struck goosebumps into the group's skin.
Kieran wasn't holding back, neither was he covering up.
He was announcing his arrival in an unscrupulous way.


Welcome to a virtual underground game with no protection, full of lurking players who seek survival, power, and fortune. Kieran chose to enter this VRMMORPG game without hesitation, because he knew this was the only way for him to escape death’s grasp. Can he escape death in real life though, or will he end up dying inside the game? 

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