Tome of Troubled Times - Chapter 50: The Waking of Insects

Perhaps the paintings in a museum are subjected to more nonsense than you would hear anywhere else in the world.The language that comes out of an artist’s life is the painting itself. It contains the most ordinary lives that know failure, desire, recoiling in fear, and compromise.Learning is about understanding that language. We miss much of what the paintings speak because there is no way to ask the long-dead painters about the philosophy of their lives.In an alleyway in the residential area of Jongno, there’s a peculiar art gallery. This place enables us to transcend such limitations. By sheer coincidence, I ended up visiting that place and began living an entirely different life.

Long time ago, the world was ruled by the Primordials — an ancient and powerful race who mastered magic and shaped the land with runes and magic. They built bastions that stood as monuments to their greatness, cities protected by powerful enchantments. But their thirst for even greater power led to disaster. They opened gates to another realm… and unleashed demons.What followed was swift and brutal. The Primordials fought back, but they lost. Their civilization crumbled, their names were erased, and only the magical bastions remained — sealed places protected by forgotten runes that even demons could not cross.Now, demons rule the night. Humanity lives in fear, hiding behind rune-marked walls, unaware of their true origins or how close the world stands to its final collapse.Into this broken world falls Alex — a stranger from another reality. Upon his arrival, he awakens a forbidden power within himself: nature magic and the ability to shapeshift. A gift… and a curse.Magic is forbidden. Hunted. Destroyed. If anyone discovers what he is, he could be executed on the spot. But only through his power does Alex stand a chance of surviving… and fighting back. As he journeys across this dark and ruined land, he begins to unravel secrets long buried, truths about the demons’ origin, and the real reason the world fell.This is a dark fantasy tale of blood, survival, ancient knowledge, and inner transformation. Alex must choose what he will become: a monster, a savior… or something in between.Hello and welcome to everyone who decided to read my first writing attempts!The story you are reading is created in my free time, so new chapters will be released approximately 3-4 times a week. I run my own business, which sometimes makes it difficult to find a moment to sit down and fully focus on writing.I'm a fan of brutal, bloody scenes – the kind that stay in your mind long after you've finished reading. I have a vivid imagination, and when I write, I see each of these fights clearly, as if they were happening right in front of me: torn bodies, blood spraying, guts... none of that sugar-coated fighting.I try to transfer these images from my head to the page with as much intensity as possible, so you can feel the same tension and thrill that I do while writing.I also want to build a sense of horror – especially when it comes to monsters. I'm not interested in easy enemies. These are meant to be creatures you feel before you see them. The kind that stir fear and force the characters into desperate decisions.I hope you'll enjoy these scenes too – brutal, emotional, and full of darkness.As for the plot, I already have a general outline in my head, so there’s a lot of writing ahead of me. In the future, the story may include R18 scenes, but before that, I want to build a solid world and well-developed characters.If you have any ideas or suggestions, feel free to reach out—I’d love to discuss them, and maybe we can add something interesting to the story!Enjoy the read!

Shen Xi was the daughter the Jiang family had mistakenly taken home. After their real daughter, Jiang Xue, returned, Shen Xi’s foster mother asked Shen Xi to stay, hoping she could help Jiang Xue get used to life in the city as Jiang Xue had been living in the countryside all this while. Alas, everyone claimed that Shen Xi was clinging to the Jiang family because she refused to part with the family’s wealth. Her foster parents didn’t clarify this accusation. Then, Shen Xi’s fiance ended up getting engaged to Jiang Xue instead.One day, Jiang Xue killed someone when she was driving. Shen Xi’s foster parents knelt before Shen Xi, begging her to take the fall for Jiang Xue with tears in their eyes. Shen Xi agreed to their request to repay their kindness for raising her. However, she didn’t know that the person Jiang Xue had killed was her foster father, in other words, Shen Xi’s biological father! While Shen Xi was in prison, Jiang Xue even indirectly killed Shen Xi’s biological mother! In an instant, Shen Xi became an orphan.After experiencing her foster family’s ruthlessness and persecution, Shen Xi exposed the sinful deeds the Jiang family had committed over the years and Jiang Xue’s crimes after being released from prison! Then, she detonated a bomb, sacrificing her life to take revenge for her biological parents.However, after the bomb exploded, Shen Xi was shocked to find herself returning to many years ago when Jiang Xue was first found, and Shen Xi’s identity of not being the Jiang family’s real daughter was about to be exposed. During this time, she was still a rich young lady dressed in expensive clothes as she sat in the Jiang family’s car on the way to her fiance’s birthday banquet. Shen Xi’s lips curled up slightly. A good show was about to begin.She wanted to change her fate and her biological parents’ fates. However, she never expected that both her parents were heirs to a large financial group. Also, the renowned movie star, a young genius doctor, and a domineering CEO were all her biological brothers! She, who wasn’t loved in her past life, was being pampered in this life! Then, the paparazzi caught her on camera, entering a hotel with a rumored bigshot. The crowd gasped. Was this bigshot Shen Xi’s brother as well? The bigshot hugged Shen Xi’s waist and kissed her. “Nope. I’m her lover!”

“Son, do you know what this is?”

Thanos raised his golden gloves, and the six Infinity Stones shone with pleated radiance: “If I snap my fingers, you will turn into dust in the wind.”

“Dad doesn’t believe it.”

Fang Mo, who was wearing an endless suit, slowly shook his head, and pointed the Universal Sword in his hand at Thanos Nawa’s bright purple head: “Don’t talk about the Infinity Stones today, even the Heart of the Universe can’t save your dog’s life!”

“Do you know what this is? This is the begging jade!”

Madara Uchiha stood in mid-air and laughed wildly: “It is the strongest spear and the strongest shield, there is nothing it can’t destroy!”

“You really haven’t seen anything hard…” Fang Mo took out a piece of bedrock with a grinning smile: “Dare you dare to compare with it!?”

“Is this… the Sage’s Stone?”

Edward stared blankly at the red crystal in front of him: “Can it ignore the law of equivalent exchange?”

“Well, in a sense, it can only be regarded as the basis for an equivalent exchange.”

Fang Mo touched the portable conversion table in his hand: “But if you want, I can consider sending you a set.”

…

When the fourth natural disaster met the mysterious island module, the cube man finally began to bring disaster to the world.

(To reiterate, the stand-in is Steve, the protagonist of Minecraft, not Captain America, this is the MC text…

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