Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse - Chapter 142 - 141: The Art of Painting

A tale about the former leader of a special organization served under royalty, now leaving his past life behind and unintentionally getting involved with the martial world.

- Description from Novelupdates

Traversing to another world, Lin En is captured right from the start. The captor is the antagonist princess from the original work, intending to control him by using him for hypnosis experiments. In a critical moment, Lin En comes up with a quick-witted plan, feigning the success of the experiment and deceiving her with his acting skills. But this was only a temporary measure. Because in the original story, her ending is very tragic, and none of her associates meet good ends. Hence, Lin En must pretend to be under the hypnosis while secretly being ready to flee at any moment. But gradually things start to take an unexpected turn. ... The Princess’s Diary [The experiment was a success!] [As the sole specimen, I’ve decided to keep him by my side.] [Due to the curse mark on my face, I am loathed by the public, but he says I’m beautiful.] [I’m happy because people tell the truth when hypnotized.] [Alone with him, I impulsively kissed him.] [The feeling was strange and made me lose my composure, fortunately, he won’t retain any memory of it after the hypnosis is lifted.] [So, it’s okay to be a bit bolder, right?]

Xu Shulou dreams she’s a character in a bizarre storybook.The male lead is Long Aotian, a man with a “Dragon Overlord” script: treasures fall into his lap, beauties vie for his heart.The first heroine is his delicate junior apprentice sister. The second, the Demon Sect’s saintess. The third… the fourth…Where does Xu Shulou rank? She flips through the plot and realizes—despite being Long Aotian’s official fiancée, she’s nothing but a disposable pawn.In the story, her sect elders dote on her fragile junior sister.“Shulou, yield this treasure to your sister. She’s weaker and needs it more.”“Shulou, don’t be unreasonable. Your gentle sister deserves care.”Even Long Aotian prefers the junior sister. He’s a flirtatious mess, forcing Xu Shulou to compete with other women, her jealousy twisting her into a villain. Meanwhile, the junior sister blossoms into a pristine lotus.But Xu Shulou refuses to play along.When the script demands she and her junior sister be kidnapped, Long Aotian saves the “weaker” girl, saying, “Shulou, you’re stronger—you’ll understand.”In reality? Long Ao Tian arrives just in time to see Xu Shulou slaughter the villains, scoop her sister into her arms, and vanish into the sky—without sparing him a glance.When demons attack, the story expects Long Aotian to leave his fiancée and lovers in the sect’s care. The elders protect only the junior sister, letting Xu Shulou be humiliated.In reality? The elders sneer: “Our senior sister dominates the cultivation world. Why would we need you to worry about her?”When the story’s Long Aotian coaxes the Demon Saintess into betraying her clan for him…In reality, the Saintess timidly asks Xu Shulou: “You’re a righteous heroine. I’m a hunted demon. Why would you want to befriend me?”In the script, Xu Shulou claws at other women in jealous rage.In reality, she’d rather live in peace—until Long Aotian pushes too far. Then she draws her sword.In the story, Long Aotian reigns supreme, surrounded by beauties.In reality, Xu Shulou steals his allies, hoards his treasures, and occasionally beats him up—while he sulks.“My sword saves the world and shields the innocent. It’s not for fighting over men.”“See? Dreams lie. I’m the one holding the Dragon Overlord script.”

In a world where magic is a science, Siobhan is a genius.But even geniuses need schooling.When Siobhan stumbled into the theft of a priceless magical book, she thought her dreams of becoming the world's most powerful sorcerer were destroyed.But then a mysterious spell changed her life forever...Siobhan is now wearing the body of a strange man and has a new identity—Sebastien. With a new chance for a new start, she allies herself with a local gang—secretly a revolutionary party funding itself through crime. Now, she is bound by vow to repay them in magic and favors. But as Sebastien's reputation begins to bloom, and Siobhan's old enemies still lurk in the shadows, she quickly realizes that the secrets of this world are deeper and darker than she ever could have imagined.Forced to juggle the two sides of her double life, Siobhan is determined to uncover the truth and take control of the name they gave her - The Raven Queen.