JACKAL AMONG SNAKES - Chapter 51: Hothouse Flower

In Victorian England, occult practitioners and the Nightmen Police, who hunted occult practitioners, were at odds and engaged in a fight to the death. Legend has it that one of the occult practitioners was a mysterious merchant who ran the world’s largest underground black market in the occult arts, offering a variety of rare treasures. Word says that the Nightmen have a newly appointed young detective whose decisive actions have solved many cases, and occult practitioners are terror-stricken hearing his name.

Duan FeiZhou: Good, both are me.

He transmigrated to this era because he accidentally clicked on an email titled “Congratulations on your million dollar inheritance” and confusingly agreed to join the Nightmen’s side to fight against the occult practitioners.

Who knew that the next day he would inherit a mysterious inheritance from his uncle – the owner of the world’s most prominent black market of secret arts underground trading… This was a bit awkward.

Duan FeiZhou decided to stay away from the strife to avoid falling off the horse and became a salted fish.

On the one hand, crazy black market customers hope that the black market will close down as soon as possible. On the other hand, the Nightmen are negatively idle, hoping that he is quickly fired. However, the more he rushed customers, the more the business of the black market became red hot. The more negativity, the more he was promoted in the Nightmen.

Seeing that the double-sided was becoming a bigger hassle, he was afraid his mask would fall off..

The Scotland Yard’s NIghtmen Leader, code name Z, has white hair, blind eyes, mechanical prosthetics, metal spine, all from war damage; his hobby is hand-rolling cigars, and if he can not save the hostages, he will shoot them together with the criminals. His highest ideal in life is to exterminate all the occult practitioners in the world.

He thought he had a heart of gold with a painful past, but step by step, he was impressed and conquered by the new young Nightman… He also reformed him.

Until one day, he learned that the young man who tugged at his heartstrings was his lifelong enemy – the owner of the world’s largest underground black market for secret arts.

Z: Oh well.

- Description from Novelupdates

Welcome! If you want to jump in without any spoilers, feel free. Otherwise, here's a story primer, with a list of more specifics on what to expect from my work further below.Our story follows a fallen knight haunted by his past, in a world afflicted by war and supernatural wounds. Alken is the Headsman of Seydis, an executioner tasked by the divine powers of his homeland to hunt dark sorcerers, warlords, and traitors of all varieties, lest they drag the world into calamity.Once a paladin, this role ill suits him. Forced to cross lines that shake his beliefs, tempted by dark forces, and seen as an ill omen wherever he wanders, his path is often a bloody one. The longer he spends in the shadows of his world, the more he comes to realize just how many have been disenfranchised by the existent order. During his lonely battles through a land haunted by the restless dead and ancient magics, his journey becomes increasingly strange and personal.Enter a realm where the dead stir in every shadow and brooding demigods wage a millennia long war for a ruined heaven, where blessed knights wield gilded flames and sorcerers battle with weapons forged of their own souls. Enter a world of faustian alchemists, of saintly demons, and of time-weary elves.From Oathbreaker you can expect— A setting heavily inspired by Forgotten Realms, Planescape, Fromsoft games, and authors such as Michael Moorcock and Kentauro Miura. — A first person POV from an older protagonist who already knows a lot about his world’s history and cultures, who shares this information with the reader as it becomes relevant.— A mix of action adventure and quieter moments where the focus is on character development. Lore is shared piecemeal, usually only as it relates to a particular arc or character beat.— A heavy focus on mystery, both with the setting and the protagonist. The main character’s backstory isn’t shared up front, and a lot of the narrative involves learning about him a bit at a time, either from his own narration or other characters interacting with him.— A semi-soft magic system where many mages manifest unique powers tied to their own soul, or gain unique powers through eldritch pacts.— Romantic elements. These don’t crop up much until later in the story.— A variety of supernatural beings, such as elves, vampires, gargoyles, chimera, and trolls. Many are familiar, some are not, and most of the familiar ones have my own twists put on them.—Nobledark fantasy. This means that the world is often themed around tragedy and horror, but it’s not dedicated to being gritty. There are elements of high fantasy intermixed with the scarier stuff.—Episodic arcs. Each story arc usually has a specific locale and antagonist or set of antagonists, but certain overarching plots tie them together.— A long running narrative. I don’t have a specific projection of how long or how many arcs or books, but you should expect this to be equivalent to a long running serialized work.This is my first web serial! I hope everyone enjoys it. For trigger warnings, readers should beware that there are some heavy topics in here. When I think something might upset certain readers, I’ll put a warning in the author notes above a chapter. If I miss or overlook anything, feel free to let me know in the comments! I am currently publishing the same story on my wordpress, which is linked below and in my profile. I release three chapters a week on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. Thanks for reading!(I originally had a link to a wordpress, but I'm in the process of overhauling that space. It's not a priority since my readership is all here, but just in case anyone noticed and was wondering)

Sheep eat grass, man eat sheep, what does God eat?

eat human?

Not quite.

what is that?

The most basic food intake is life. When a life is born, a mark will be carved on the root; after death, another mark will be carved, and the gap between the two marks is eaten by God.

life? Is it too slow to eat?

Therefore, what God likes to eat most is the rise and fall of the regime. The birth, growth, change, and demise of a regime will also engrave a mark on the root cause, and the energy obtained at this time is far greater than that provided by life. Among them, the energy obtained from demise is the greatest.

Ah, this republic has existed for 600 years, it’s delicious, and now it’s a matter of making it perish, and then mass-producing barbarian kingdoms? Or make him an empire? How should I eat it?

The protagonist who traveled through was selected into the game of God and incarnated into the lofty will of a planet. Therefore, with this planet as the stage, the rise and fall of nations and the struggle for hegemony of various races will become the food of God.

- Description from novelbuddy

Bei Ran lay on the operating table, Gu Qingchen was her surgeon. His eyes, deep as the Aegean Sea, gazed at her: “Honey, it's been four years since we got married, and you're still afraid of me?”Honey? Last night he already threw a divorce agreement at her, what right does he have to call her that?In City A, Gu Qingchen is a long-lasting legend. He is a leading figure in the medical field and a major shareholder in a Fortune 500 company, capable of great influence in the business world.He only needed an obedient wife. Bei Ran was so 'obedient' that he never had to worry. The four-year marriage was just a matter of agreement, but who is the one lingering endlessly after the divorce?She accidentally fell into water at a wedding she was hosting, he said: “Beg me, you know I'm always responsive to your demands!”“Gu Qingchen, we're divorced!” Bei Ran couldn't stand it anymore!He laughed coldly: “Bei Ran, we've been married for four years, you have a five-year-old daughter, do you really want to die here?”Bei Ran was shocked, he knew? Would he fight her for her daughter?Gu Qingchen could never have imagined that the chubby little bun in front of him was actually his biological daughter!“Bei Ran, you hid it from me for five years, always flawlessly obedient before me, tell me, how should I punish you?” Gu Qingchen raised a bloodthirsty smile.Could she possibly not tell him there is also a son who looks just like him!Theater Version:The teacher informed Bei Ran that her son had used a scalpel in school to investigate the cause of death of poisoned small animals. Her daughter was causing a stir in school with her stock trading. In her anger, she said, “No one to take you to school today, take the bus yourselves.”The daughter sought help from Gu Qingchen but got no response, so she said: “Yesterday, a pretty aunt stayed in Dad's office for an hour, and her skirt was super short.”The twins truly had a shared understanding; the son said: “The station manager hugged Mom yesterday, even kissed her cheek, and said he would never let go!”Bei Ran and Gu Qingchen spoke in unison: “Trying to sow discord, you're still too naive, go to school yourselves!”The siblings shouldered their backpacks and went to take the bus, while the couple returned to the bedroom, closing the door behind them.She leapt onto him, her fiery temper on full display: “You actually stayed with that woman for an entire hour?”He was overbearingly domineering: “Damn it, which part of you did he kiss, I will seal his mouth with a scalpel!”