VILLAINOUS SYSTEM: I am fated to be a villain in fantasy novel - Chapter 10: [THE SPARK BEFORE THE FLAMES]

“The world’s not fair, but fairness doesn’t pay the bills. You don’t wait for a handout — you build your own damn ladder, one step at a time.”Ethan Grey’s life was built on ambition, hard work, and hope — until a single accusation destroyed it all.Framed by his ruthless boss, Ethan loses his job, his reputation, and is left drowning in half a million dollars of debt.Cast aside by a society that thrives on crushing the weak, he’s at rock bottom with no way out.But in his darkest moment, something extraordinary happens. A mysterious system awakens, offering Ethan a second chance — but with rules.[Congratulations, You have awakened the Harem Investment System]It can’t make him rich overnight, and it won’t give him shortcuts. Instead, it points him toward physical investments: crumbling properties, broken-down machines, and forgotten treasures.Each one is a gamble, but with every success, the system rewards him with newfound skills and opportunities.

The world ended.Zombies and monsters rose. Cities crumbled.And Merek? He woke up in the apocalypse with a job that lets him create armor for lingering souls—spirits without bodies, desperate for purpose.Turns out, the dead don’t rest easy. Some are angry. Some vengeful. Others? Just lost. When Merek binds them into steel warframes, they don’t just fight... they evolve.Now, he leads a legion of the undead—ghosts in armor, bound to him by oath and fate.Faction leaders call him mad. Warlords want him dead. And God? If He’s watching, He’s not talking.Merek was supposed to die with everyone else.Instead, he got a support type job no one’s heard of... and a shot at rewriting his pathetic Earth-life.In this world, only the fittest survive.And Merek? He’s got undeads in steel at his side.

In a monstrous post-apocalyptic setting, this is a story of how a lowly Inventor, Lance, conquered a nation governed by immoral group of Scientists called The Corporation. He grew and climbed up to the highest rank possible as a Scientist with his inventions and side businesses. Eventually, he became a weapons inventor, building weapons to two opposing sides. In doing so, Lance always crossed a dilemma. How could a nobody topple the most powerful government? How could one overcome circumstances beyond his grasp, especially in a world filled with monstrous mutations called the Abominants?

The backstage manipulator of the Immortal Cultivation World, the sole law in the real world!After transmigrating to the Immortal Cultivation World, Su Ping diligently cultivated for twenty years.Trapped by his mediocre talent and seeing no hope for Foundation Establishment, he decided to lay low and become a wealthy layabout.Fortunately, he activated the Fishing Man game system.Not only could he obtain unscientific and non-immortal cultivation game props, and magical fish species through the fishing game, but also Pot Cave Heavens.He could even exchange his fish catches for Town Return Talismans, allowing Su Ping to return to Water Blue Star.Thus, the Immortal Cultivation World henceforth had a self-proclaimed Fishing Man as the backstage manipulator.And Water Blue Star gained a backstage boss who followed no rules but his own!