A single mother finds a friendship that turns into something else when her sixteen year old daughter finds herself in a dangerous interaction. they work through everything together and she and her kids find a missing piece of the puzzle that is their family.

Chapter 5 Marooned part 4
     It takes four months for the two working together to build a new house. Barely two months later Ashley give birth two four puppies. The first-born boy is called Han, the second boy Aaron, the first girl Sara, and the last born is Tia. They live in the house in the woods for three years. Ashley teaches the kids how to fish and how to craft clothing and tools. Tatsu teaches them how to hunt, how to read and mathematics. Tatsu tries to teach them the art of arcana, but none of the kids show any aptitude for the mystical arts.
     By the time the kids are four they have the bodies of teenagers. They age both physically and mentally surprisingly fast from Tatsu's point of view. Ashley doesn't seem so surprised, maybe on this planet lives are shorter than on world's Tatsu has been to before.
     In the fall of the fourth year, snow comes earlier than would be excepted. Leaves only started to fall by the time the first freeze comes. Ashley tastes the air. She watches the skies; she knows what is happening. The conditions are perfect for an arctic storm. This winter will be a deadly one. Ashley looks back to her house as she thinks. "our house will not stand through the winter."
     Tatsu watches the kids as they are sawing lumber and cutting firewood. Tatsu looks up to his lover "what are we going to do?"
     "Riverdale. We need to go back to the town I was born in." Ashley looks upset. "I was hoping we could stay out here forever."
     The six of them pack up their bags and move back to town. Ashley knows the owner of an apartment complex and has no trouble getting ahold of efficiency unit. One room, one bed, one bath. It is not ideal, but it is conferrable enough for a group of effectively mountain-men. The winter is just what the lot of them expected, four feet of snow before the fall festival, the temperature hardly ever getting above freezing without invoking the specter of another storm. 
     The kids show interest in seeing what the school looks like. Tatsu talks Ashley into signing the kids up for a semester so long as they are stuck in town anyway, after all, except for Aaron they are all tough kids and can handle whatever primary school can throw at them. Aaron is small and often get sick or injured, but even he wants to take this opportunity to meet some kids his age. 
***
     The kids haven't even been in school for a week before Ashley starts getting calls from the school complaining about disorderly behavior.
Ashley picks up the phone "Fawks residence."
A low tenner voice comes over the line "Ms. Fawks, this is Dean Alania Puzzle."
"Is there a problem Dean?" Ashley asks.
"I have been asked to bring you into the school to discuss an issue." Puzzle explains
     "what sort of issue?" Ashley rubs her neck trying to imagine what this could be about.
     "Tia and Aaron were caught in the locker room engaged in lewd activity with a number of other kids." Puzzle explains a slight stutter as she is apparently being couched by someone else in the room with them.
     Ashley has to bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing "I'm sorry, is that a problem? They are kids, that is just the sort of thing they do."
     Puzzle whispers "normally I would agree with you in that this is a minor infringement and could be handled by a pink slip but one of the other parents involved are threatening litigation if you and your husband do not meet with them."
     Ashley barks aggravated "on what grounds."
     "Tia exposing herself at school has infringed on the religious rights of Mallard family."
     Ashley yells "your writes end at my nose! Everyone excepts that no one has the right to enforces their preferences on another family."
     The Dean explains "clearly you haven't been watching the news over the last three or four months. the Duel Earth Society has talked parliament into hearing them out in writing a new constitution."
     "What!" Ashley shouts "I am on my way, I don't know what you are but us foxes don't care for having our writes infringed on!" she drops the phone and turns to face Hetatsubachi, who is sleeping on the floor of the apartment. "Get up! I have a face I need to stomp on."
     Ashley slaps a leash Tatsu and marches out the door. Halfway to the school Tatsu stops walking and looks at a food stand on the street corner, he points "Mad Jack Burger."
     Ashley shacks her head "it's not meat. You can't buy any meat product in the city limits, part of why my grandpa didn't want to live in the city."
***
     In the dean's office, two ducks wait with the dean for Ashley to arrive. The first duck has green hair with blue stripes. He dresses in a black coat with white blouse and tie, the women with him has on a long black gown, she has a red ribbon tied to one leg, she has tan hair.
     The Dean is a giraffe, she has red hair and a red three-piece suit on, she sits with her head on the desk before her, her hands rested on her horns rubbing them to keep herself calm as the male duck can't seem to stop talking.
     "And that is why my brothers and I will not allow this ungrounded, thoughtless law to go on. In the days of our ancestors perhaps it was fine that all people acted as if it was only themselves that matter. But if one lives only for the moment than how is one to think about the future?" the duck waves his wings around as he is dancing about the room boiling with anger. "just imagine if it had been my daughter that had been in the shower when that fox uncased her holiness. That could have lead to all sorts of mischief. And what if it had been the brother fox, not the sister that had disrobed, can you imagine…"
     Dean Puzzle tries to get a word in "in this progressively more hypothetical discussion I would imagine that they might have done what kids tend to do when left unsupervised. They would have done hands-on research to understand the differences between there races." 
     One of the male's wings snap upwards "my point could not be clearer! A school is no place for such vulgarity. Only under the watchful eye of the commune should a child bare their flesh."
     Dean puzzle cuts in again "to be fair Mr. Mallard; I would like to make it known that when it was voted on to add comprehensive sexual education and healthcare to the school's agenda, I offered an upvote. I think it would be far safer for my instructors to instruct our kids than to let the church do it in these affairs."
     Mallard points with an accusatory wing "you and your godless establishment are the last holdouts. No one else holds to this flowed 'experimental science' nonsense."
     Puzzle groans "logical fallacy, 'argument from popularity.' Not to mention 'at hominid attack.'" Puzzle looks at the female "Ms. Mallard, can you calm your mate?" the female duck shrugs.
     Ashley slams the door open walking in with Hetatsubachi. Mr. Mallard and Ashley stat talking over each other without seemingly even the need to hear what the other is upset about. Puzzle wave side to side introducing everyone to one another mostly fruitlessly "Rick Mallard this is Ashley Fawks, Ashley this is Dina Mallard. I am Dean Puzzle."
     Within moments the argument over who has what constitutional rights dissolve into Rick hissing and Ashley showing her fangs. Puzzle stands up and trumpets at that point to get everyone to look at her. "we are going to do this civilly, or I am getting the constable down here, and we will be having this talk at the city center."
     Rick takes the lead of the conversation "Lady Fawks, your daughter exposed herself in public."
     Ashley answers "that is not a crime in this community. Our district has no 'age of consent' to be seen nude."
     Rick continues "my son has never seen naked flesh, this could have inspired him to go into rut prematurely."
     Ashley jumps back in "never seen naked flesh? Do you have any other kids? A mate? Have you ever walked around your house with your robe lose? It is ridicules to think somehow he would never have seen it."
     As Ashley and Rick fight Dina notices the feral wolf in the room with them. The magic that hovers around Tatsu is in full effect, Dina takes a deep breath enticed by the wolf. Dina unfolds her leg and leans back in her chair slightly. In no unclear way, Dina rocks her hips up trying to get Tatsu to lower his eyes and look at her cloaca. 
Tatsu can't help but notice Dina; his tongue slides out one side of his mouth as he licks his nose.
Rick stomps a foot "if only you heathens would join the Duel Earth Society you would understand why such ideas are immoral."
Tatsu is drawn in by this statement "Hold it right there feathers! What is the Duel Earth Society?"
Puzzle offers to explain "a pro-capitalist, anti-educational, political action comity, with a theistic agenda. If I am not mistaking isn't your convent also the one that believes the world is less than 10,000 years old and believe in geocentrism?"
Rick adds "you forgot about the part of us being sphere deniers and climate deniers."
Tatsu shakes his head violently as he tries to take in the insanity that has just been described "that is wrong, everything you just said is wrong."
Puzzle can see things are about to blow up again and tries to cut things off at the pass "to be fair; he has the constitutional right to hold this position. We have to respect his beliefs."
Tatsu barks "Shut the duck up! We have to acknowledge his point of view not respect it! Beliefs are dangerous when held dogmatically. You have the right to be wrong. And I have the right to tell you, 'you are wrong' every idea you hold should be held tentative. There is no reason to hold onto a demonstrably false notion. You have just failed at logic, and that is pitiful. Epistemology, learn it!" 
There is a gambit of emotion that flashes across the room with Hetatsubachi's outburst: Puzzle grunt triumphantly almost shouting "Bangarang!", Ashley brakes down laughing; Rick jumps back in fear at the white wolf's anger.
Dina stands up "I need to pee."
Puzzle points "out the door, walk past the scrap closet. You know the way."
Rick looks between Puzzle and Tatsu "Is he a feral? Dean, do we have to take a feral seriously?"
Puzzle nods "Ashley, please ask your partner to wait for you outside wall we try to defuse all of this."
Ashley and Tatsu whisper to each other "I told you someone would bring up that you look like a feral."
Tatsu grunts in understanding "I'm not even mad, he is just rude."
Ashley places a hand on Tatsu's head petting him "if you want to head out I can catch up with you soon."
Tatsu turns his head watching as Dina steps out "Do you mind if I fuck the duck? I have never been with a duck, and she was giving me so big-time bedroom eyes."
"if you can do it and not get caught I would say have fun." 
Tatsu jumps down from the chair he had sat in and walks out of the office. 
Dina walks into the storage room down the hall from the office. It is a large room filled with out of date books waiting to be recycled and damaged desk, art supplies, and anatomical sculptors as well as some posters. Dina can see Tatsu is only a few steps behind her, her blood is running hot, her skin feels sticky; she is almost drooling, something about the wolf is getting to her. Dina can't remember the last time she felt such a strong need for attention.   
Dina climes up on a table, she sits on it with her legs held apart, she brings down a wing and tickles her thighs easily getting vaginal cream to coat her feathers making herself glow. Tatsu slips into the dark room; his lips curled slightly he rubs his tongue across his fangs.
Dina waves Tatsu over "I don't know why I want this so bad but come here."
With a growl Tatsu bows approaching. Dina wraps her wings around Tatsu's head forcing him to stick his nose into her cloaca. Tatsu rolls his head up and down muzzling the duck. Dina whimpers, her head turns backward. In spite with of how much smaller Dina is then Tatsu, her distinct body shape allows him to play with her comfortably. The taste of the duck gets Tatsu hard and ready. 
After only a minute of being licked Dina lets go of Tatus's head and rolls over laying on her stomach, Dina fans her feathers beckoning to Hetatsubachi. The wolf doesn't complain; he jumps onto the table setting his paws at her sides. Dina lifts her hips lining the wolf up with her slick slit. Tatsu grips one thigh pulling back on Dina to get into her body. 
Dina excites easily, her and Tatsu move quickly, this is meant to be fast and fun nothing else. The rowdy duck twitches and tugs smoothly at the wolf. The two of them only need to spend a few minutes with each other to be satisfied. Tatsu folds his paws under the duck's chin resting over her. His cream is running out of her hole as the two recover from the quickie.
Tatsu spots one of the posters on the floor partly uncurled. It has a pure white background and spiraling pattern pushing outwards, thousands of names written on it branching out in progressively more complex ways.
Tatsu nudges his nose up pointing "what is that?"
Dina reaches into one of her pockets pulling out a pair of reading glasses "it's a phylogenetic chart. A few years ago I was actually on the team that worked on that graphic." Dina is happy to see this relic from her past life. "it is simplified of course to make it easier for school-aged kids to read. But it is still a great graphic."
Some voices start whispering in Tatsu's mind, pulling at him, dogging him to remember his past lives.
"what are phylogenetics?" Tatsu ask.
"it is the systematic classification of life and adaptations. All life on this planet can be traced back to only a dozen or so animals, planet, and fungi." Dina explains.
Tatsu tips his head trying to read the chart "what is that wavy line near the center?"
"phylogenetics can only track life back as far as there is sexual reproduction. Everything before that line is possible mutations. Animals that would have lived during a time when horizontal gene transfer was possible."
Tatsu nods "what are those spots where the graph tappers?"
Dina smiles, her voice becoming bubbly as she seems to enjoy the conversation "Extinctions events. Every so often the world changes in a way that forces mass and sudden adaptation. Animals that can't change fast enough die out."
Tatsu reads along the chart "I see three extinctions. How long did it take to recover from each of them?"
"the one nearest the center was a thermal shift, this resulted in the mygalomorphs and everything related to them dying off that made room for the rise of the therapsid, and aviamorphs. It took five million years for the world to become repopulated after that. The second was a change in atmospheric conditions. The hydrogen level in the atmosphere suddenly dropped. Suddenly there was a hard cap on how large animals could grow. That took fourteen million years."
At this point, Tatsu can pick up on something strange in the first to event there are huge gaps of time that pass signified by two brake marks, next to the last there is no such thing "how about that one" he points at the previous event.
"that was when the fimiliara appeared on this planet," Dina explains
"what are they?"
"they are us. It is counterintuitive but all the animals you see walking around right now belong to a single species, we are all cross-fertile. There is a good deal of misinformation about this, but It turns out that we maintain our diversity in appearance because when we divide the lions share of our genomes are taken off our x chromosome."
Tatsu looks confused "the female chromosome?"
"right, our kids will always look like their mother. From a genetic standpoint, this makes sense, the female is the basis of the race, embryology tells us that all blastocyst are female until the male mutation takes place."
"how long ago did this mass change take place?" some part of that sounded wrong, Tatsu doesn't understand what part but some part.
Dina speaks up "just over two hundred years ago."
Tatsu wiggles around having fun still resting on the duck's back " were you a teacher at some point?"
  Dina giggles as Tatsu is tickling her "yeah. Worked at the university as a biologist."
"why did you leave?"
"I wanted to spend more time with my kids."
Tatsu lowers his head onto the neck of the motherly duck; he hugs her considering playing with her again. Dina doesn't protest; she pushes her hips up encouragingly.
Tatsu shuts his eyes, the haunting memories shout at him. The voices are becoming clearer all the time. 
"When IT came, we surrendered to it. My world died, this one appeared in its place" the voice of a fish-girl named Keyor fights its way to the top.
"My eyes can see ever farther into the cosmos; the universe is getting smaller every day," Cilverant whispers to him next.
"The Biggest of the Big fish" the man called Devil explains.
Hetatsubachi complains "Stop talking to me, me."
Dina starting to have fun wiggling the wolf around in her again looks over her shoulder "Is something wrong?"
Tatsu tries to block out the nagging voices in his mind "what happened two hundred years ago that triggered this change?"
Dina searches her mind "well, that was around the time that the church of the black moon was dedicated."
The next memory is in the voice of Charlie Belmond "She is a void worshiper!"
The lights flicker as a massive magnetic field seems to drop over the city, the field gets stronger, metal starts to warp. Tatsu looks around; his energy sense kicks in detecting something from another world pushing its way into this one. Tatsu jumps down off the table running back to find Ashley.

Award-winning author Dustin Feyder is back with the fifth book in the Red Twilight saga, where monsters can be beautiful.The Cosmos are in tatters, Heaven has been torn apart, world after world falls to the God of Hunger. The rules of time-space become unbalanced.

Hetatsubachi Una races across the endless ocean of ice, filled with hunger and lust, the Demon of the Flowers ask one simple question “Is the hunt still on?”  Joined by Jessica the Weaver, Hetatsubachi will jump from world to world hunting the servants of Cravixs in hopes to slow his attack on reality as the days before the end of the all things tick down to their final hours.

“this is the point on which history turns. This is the path Loki had set you on. If you decline this honor, I will not hold you to blame, but if you chose to fight I trust you understand what that means for all of us. Irrespective, tonight the war ends for you.”

-Jessica the Weaver-
“you think this is me? You think anything that happens to this body means anything to me? this is just a puppet that I have placed before you to act as a mouthpiece. You cannot hope to bask in my beauty, I speak worlds into being, my breath set time in motion, light burn to the beating of my heart. I am the foragemaster that tempers the fires of the real. I am the living dream that gives shape to life. You are weak, your ideas small, your actions meaningless.”
-Cravixs-

Shen Luo'an moved closer to take a look.
It was a small puzzle with nine grids, so it was very simple.
However, for a two-year-old child, it isn't easy.
Shen Luo'an took one glance at it and in disbelief, asked, "Did Xiao Yue'er complete this by himself?"
"Yes!" Shen Zhilie said rather excitedly. He then looked at Shen Luo'an and said, "I bought this for him and earlier on, I had passed the puzzle to him and he immediately started working on it. The little chap's fixing up the sixteen grid one right now. Come on, let's go take a look!"
Shen Luo'an, felt extremely proud and excited when he heard this.
He tagged behind Shen Zhilie as they made their way to Xiao Yue'er's nursery room. There, they saw the little boy sprawled out on the floor engrossed in playing with his toys.
When he noticed Shen Zhilie and Shen Luo'an entering the room, he looked up at them and laughed merrily before calling out, "Daddy! Uncle!"
"What are you playing with?" Shen Luo'an asked as he walked over and squatted down beside him to take a look.
Xiao Yue'er looked at him and then proceeded to point at the puzzles before obediently replying, "Uncle."
"Did Uncle give this to you?" asked Shen Luo'an. He then caressed the boy's head gently and asked, "Do you like it?"
"Yes, I like it," said Xiao Yue'er with a grin.
Shen Luo'an glanced at the puzzle and realised that Xiao Yue'er was almost done with it.
The four corners of the puzzle were already completed properly.
"Have you completed the puzzle?" asked Shen Luo'an.
Shen Yuexiao looked at the puzzle in front of him and proceeded reached out for the puzzle piece in his father's hand. He then shook his head and simply said, "No."
Subsequently, he pieced the puzzle that he had grabbed to where it was supposed to be on the sixteen-piece puzzle set on the floor.
Shen Zhilie and Shen Luo'an watched him in silence, awed by his ability. Soon, they realised that he had completed all sides of the puzzle perfectly, all the pieces were fitted correctly.
Within a short period of time, he was fixing up the last piece of the puzzle which features an eye-catching image of Wolffy, the Big Grey Wolf. The puzzle was completed perfectly, without any error.
Shen Luo'an seemed as if he had expected this and looked to be in complete disbelief. On the other hand, Shen Zhilie simply laughed out loud and said, "Brother, look at this."
Shen Zhilie pointed at a lego house in the corner of the room. It was a tall and beautiful little villa with such intricate detailing.
"I just brought all these toys home today. Look how well he has built the house," said Shen Zhilie.
Shen Zhilie looked extremely proud when he said this. "Like I said. My nephew can't possibly be dumber than other kids," he said.
"Who said that Xiao Yue'er was dumb?" Shen Luo'an asked as he raised his eyebrows. "He has always been very smart. There were many times when he could remember little details and facts even though I've only told it to him once. You often play with him as well, don't you? You're not the least concerned about your nephew and yet you have the cheek to say such a thing?" questioned Shen Luo'an.
Shen Zhilie felt slightly awkward and so he coughed lightly before trying to defend himself, "Well, I just realised. Kids from other families are also pretty smart. Look at Ou Ming's daughter. She's one year younger than Xiao Yue'er but she already knows how to use the bathroom by herself. She's also articulate and very quick-witted."
"Girls tend to be quicker in learning how to speak. Their brains will also develop faster. But the development is only limited to its physical growth. Xiao Yue'er's IQ is much higher than his peers," countered Shen Luo'an.
"Well... My sister-in-law's son is also pretty smart. I'm referring to Li Jinnan's son," said Shen Zhilie.
"Oh?" said Shen Luo'an.
"He speaks smoothly and he enunciates clearly," continued Shen Zhilie.
"Does he know how to solve the Rubik's Cube?" Shen Luo'an asked.
"Gosh... How would I know?" Shen Zhilie replied, dumbfounded.
"Xiao Yue'er already knows how to solve the Rubik's Cube. He can even fix his own broken toys," replied Shen Luo'an nonchalantly, making it extremely evident that he was bragging about his son's capabilities. "This child's just like me. He doesn't like to talk much but his mind is definitely much sharper compared to talkative people like you," continued Shen Luo'an smugly.
"...So you're even launching a personal attack now?" Shen Zhilie asked.
"Am I?" said Shen Luo'an as he took one glance at Shen Zhilie. "But aren't I speaking the truth?" he continued.


In her previous lifetime, they had married for five years. He meant everything to her, but she was thrown away like an old shoe. 

After her rebirth, she gave him a divorce contract preemptively— 
“Divorce after one year, the terms of the contract are as follows: husband and wife shall not share a room or bed. Intimacy forbidden?” 
he raised his eyebrow. 

Who knew that after she got drunk one day, leaning on the headboard, he rested his deep-set eyes on her. "You broke the contract, Mrs, Li."

Next day, the class started as usual, 
Use of signs, expression and basic language were taught,
101 clearly understood the sign, and expression, but language was still hard to comprehend even for him.
Days passed, the daily routine was same,
First wake up, early in the morning, the class would then start, the children were then left alone in the room, so they could play with each other, none of them knew how to speak, they would simply play with the toys given to them, most of them were in groups,
In order to fit in, even 101 was inside a group, it was made up of 3 kids, Number 101, Number 18, Number 71,
All of them were similar in height,
Number 101 had deep-black eyes, and black hair, Number 18 and Number 71 both had white hair, Number 18 had blue gem like eyes, while Number 71 had black abyss like eyes,
Different types of puzzles were given to them, one of them was a wooden box with holes of different shapes, next was wooden blocks with different shapes, by keeping the correct wooden block in the correct hole, the puzzle could be solved,
Three of them tried to solve it, Number 18 was the first to solve it, followed by Number 71, Number 101 did not even try he was simply observing the other two, he noticed every child in here was unlike normal children, their cognitive and comprehensive abilities were unlike normal children, they learnt in an incredible rate,
Number 18, noticed Number 101 had not solved the puzzle yet, thinking he could not solve the puzzle, Number 18 took one of the triangular blocks and inserted it in a triangular hole, while showing it to Number 101, 
Number 101 looked at Number 18, she was smiling, they could not speak, but from her expression he could tell, she was trying to say, "This is how you solve it, you should try it too, it's fun", 
He smiled a little, then solved the puzzle,
Number 71 did not care about others, he simply looked at the puzzles, and solved as much as he could, in most classes he would be the one who would solve the most puzzles.
In the night most kids would simply sleep for around 10 hours, but Number 101 was different, he wanted to learn, but the situation was not favorable for him, if he could read then he would be able to read books, thus be able to obtain information,
But they had not started to teach about writing, he did not have any books or papers, he could only wait,  
He would also not sleep for 10 hours, he would mostly meditate, it was a habit from his previous life, next he would do light exercise, his body was still that of a 6-year-old, he did not push it too much, 
 
The Days Continued,
After a week, most kids started to speak, little by little,
Some could speak light words, some were still struggling,
Speaking with each other's, helped them improve their vocabulary, 
Small groups started to merge, those who could speak most fluently, were the ones who took the lead,
Most groups consisted of around 12-20 people
Except one, it was the group of only three people, consisting of Number 101, Number 18 and Number 71
Number 71 did not interact with others, he minded his own business, he was like the one weird, quiet and lone kid present in most classes
Number 101 was also similar, when other tried to interact with him, he could simply stare at them with his deep black eyes, the empty expression and the black eyes, would simply scare away most kids
Number 18 was mostly interactive, most kids knew her, she was invited by various groups, but she chooses to stay with the two of them
The reason Number 71 choose to stay in this group was mostly because of the quite atmosphere and an unfamiliar yet strange feeling of similarity, Number 101 choose to stay because he did not want to join any sort of big group neither did, he want to stand out, Number 18 choose to stay was because of the uniqueness she felt in them compared to others.
"101, hel.o..…. I….a.m…. num..be.r…..18" 
"I…...a…m...…. num... ber….71"
The kids started to introduce themselves, today they were taught about basic greeting and introduction
Their voice was sluggish,
Number 101 choose to stay quiet,
Days passed,
The moment had finally arrived, papers and pen were distributed, they started to teach about letters and how to write,
Different letters were shown, they taught how they were pronounced,
In the end some assignments were given,
He tried to learn as much as he could, he tried to soke in as much information as he could, like a sponge absorbing water,
The kids were taken to a library,
The library was filled with simple story books, and history books, the kids were not allowed to learn history right now,
Only story books were given,
Most kids could not read the contents of the books,
Yet, the books were given so they could slowly start to comprehend the contents while learning in the class,
It was night time,
101 was sitting in his bed, trying to read the book, however it was not easy, even if he had 200 years of memories, his mind right now was still that of a child, he could not instantly understand all of it,
He had to read letter by letter, just reading one line took more than 5 mins,
He shook his head, "This won't do", he said to himself
Using his previous knowledge, he thought for ways to learn language faster,
The best way he could think right now was translation,
He would read the contents in the foreign language, then write it down in his own language,
By using his original language as a comparison for another language, it would increase his comprehension but would also require more effort,
He was not afraid of the effort it required, but if someone else found the pages where he translated the book, it would arouse, suspicion, that was a problem,
His sights then went towards the candle, 
"Hehe"
He found the solution
That day he did not sleep much, he spent nearly half a night translating, yet he could only cover half a page, "No matter it's just the beginning"
Other kid even did not bother looking at the books, as they have just learnt to speak, reading and writing was something they just started to learn,
"Did you guys looked at the books", Number 18 spoke, her voice was now a bit clearer, 
I shook my head denying it,
"Only the first page", Number 71 replied
Number 71 was able to read the first page in the night, while Number 101 only translated half a page, this was simply because translation took much more time than just simply reading.
 
The Days Continued,
 
2 weeks passed, most kids now started reading the books,
Some had just started,
"How many pages did you study till now?", Number 18 asked,
"Around 70 pages", Number 71 replied
"Just started", Number 101 replied
However, Number 101 had finished translating around 1/3 of the book, Number 71 was talented, with ever word he read, his comprehension increased in a rapid rate, but Number 101 progress was even faster as his method was superior and he also had a habit of learning new languages,
In the first day he could only translate half a page, in the second he completed 2 pages, in the third day 5 pages, his progress just increased, and after 2 weeks, he had translated over 100 pages,
Not only that he had also gained various insights,
Insights about this world, 
The books given were simple story books,
But even though they were just short and simple stories various things could be deduced from it,
Like what time period it was? what kind of cultures were present in this world?
Those were simple things but it was a start,
 
Right now, simple tests were being taken,
It measured how much a child had learned till now,
In the test, Number 101 would solve only the problems that gave him average results
In the test, Number 71 and Number 18 both were first and second,
Thus, various problems began to rise,
Some kids struggled with the assignment, so they asked Number 71 for help, but he bluntly refused, some even asked Number 18 but she politely refused, both of them were busy studying on their own,
This caused others to feel inferior to them,
Even in such young age some sort of hierarchy was already established
The feeling of inferiority was slowing giving birth to hatred within them.
But being kids they did not act for now,
They kept asking Number 71 for help but he refused, and Number 71 got irritated and he shouted at them, "Mind your own business you brainless idiots"
Those words had now just decided what kind of life they would life from now on,

Every night, when he rested on his bed and looked back on his way of life. He discovered nothing but regrets. 

But what could he do then? 

He was now old and out of time—he could do nothing but accept his life choices and pray that he acquire enough wisdom to experience life with little regrets in the next life.

Life is cruel. Everyone faces mishaps, sorrows, and tragedies, which in turn give birth to regrets. 『Master Of Centipedes』 is a story of a king who lived his entire life, caged in the misery of regrets but received a second chance in life.

Once a king, now a pupil inside a sect.

This time, will he be able to live a life any different from before?

Note: He doesn't reincarnate as a centipede. Instead, he's a being who can control centipedes. But, the insects will evolve.

--The past--
 
It was spring, and the flowers were blooming. Kaia was only four years old, then. She had been a sickly child so she always stayed at the hospital. Kaia was about three feet tall with slightly more curls than she had when she was older, which went down to her shoulder blades. She was wearing her pajamas, which had a bunch of cats on them.
 
At this age, she was already used to being alone. Her sister had school, while her parents had work. She sat on the nursery floor putting together a puzzle. She placed her tiny hands on the sides of the pieces, slowly putting it together one by one. That day it was a bit empty. The others kids had to stay in their rooms, so it was only a few of the nurses' kids running around. But there was one exception.
 
There was a boy just a few years older with pale, shaggy blonde hair. He stood at about four feet two and had icy blue eyes, which could be seen behind his black-rimmed glasses. He wore black pants and a button-up shirt. The boy noticed Kaia having a bit of trouble with her puzzle and walked over, kneeling down on his knees in front of her. "Let me do it," he commanded, reaching for a piece of the puzzle. Kaia frowned and smacked his hand. "No! I can do it myself! I'm a big kid now!" She picked up another piece of the puzzle, moving it around to try to find the match.
 
The boy frowned while looking at her. "Let me help, it'll get done quicker." Kaia sighed and looked up at him. "Who are you anyway? Are you even supposed to be in here?" she asked, crossing her arms. The boy gave her a huge grin. "My name is Zander. My father is a patient here, so I came to visit him."
 Kaia sighed shaking her head."Don't you have school?" Zander looked at her with a scowl. "Why are you asking so many questions? Besides, what makes you so special?" he retorted huffily, crossing his arms. Kaia blinked. "What makes me so special? I'm here because I need to stay here. They say I'm sick. Very sick. Something about bone narrow. I don't know what it is but I heard them say it wasn't good," she said proudly even though she knew she was sick and it was bad. Zander blinked. "What's a bone narrow?" he asked, tilting his head. Kaia shrugged in response.
 
Kaia returned to her puzzle. Then Zander grabbed her hand. "Puzzles are boring. Let's play!" He gave her a mischievous grin. Kaia looked at the boy as if he was insane, but in the end, she smiled and nodded. "Ok. Let's play."
 
And so they played all day. They finished the puzzle, drew, played hide and seek, and even tag. They were running around just the two of them before more kids joined in on the fun. Kaia was "it" and she ran around trying to catch all the kids. "Zander you're too fast!" she giggled while chasing after him. Her breath started getting ragged and she stopped, her vision began to blur. She grabbed her head. "Z…" Before she could finish what she was saying, she blacked out. She landed on the floor, her head falling near a chair, snagging the skin behind her ear, which left a gash behind her ear. Zander stopped when he heard a thud and turned around. His eyes widened when he saw Kaia collapsed on the ground. "H--hey! Are you...are you ok?" he exclaimed, running over as panic overcame him. He shook her lightly, growing even more frantic. The other kids ran off to get a nurse and the supervisor.
 
The nurse ran over to Kaia, telling Zander to move away as a few other nurses brought in a stretcher. Zander was sobbing as he watched his new friend getting carried away. 
 
"Alexander Sabor! There you are!" A harsh sounding woman's voice called out. Zander turned his head to look at his mother. She glared at him in disgust. "Men don't cry! Go wash your face," she ordered, grabbing his hand and practically dragging him away.
 
Kaia ended up getting her second transfusion, which made her stats level out. She was able to go home two days later to rest properly.
 
Coincidentally, a few days later Zander returned to inquire about Kaia's condition. When he asked the nurse, she told him that she was gone. He thought she meant that Kaia had died. He didn't even know her name. When he was old enough to be a donor, he signed himself up to be bone marrow donor and saved two lives already.
 
--Back to the present--
 
It was about three in the morning when Alex woke up from his sleep. He sat up, running his hand through his hair while staring at the wall. Why did I dream about that little girl again? he asked himself. He knew he wouldn't be able to go back to sleep after waking up from a nightmarish version of the memory of his past, where Kaia was running away under his gaze. He saw her drop onto the floor suddenly and was unable to run towards her and save her. He saw her carried away in a coffin instead of a stretcher and he watched it all happen, unable to do anything.

Kaia Crestfall is the youngest CEO of Crestfall Industries, a leading business in the entertainment world. But despite being capable of such a high position, she still needs to constantly watch her back. Especially with a fiance who has ulterior motives…

One day, after calling her mom to call off the engagement for the umpteenth time, she almost gets run over by a car. Narrowly escaping death, she is pulled into the arms of the last person she expected to meet. The one person who had broken her heart...the one person who will brighten her world...the one person she should never be with… Why? Because he’s her enemy. But for some reason, while she is stunned by the man in front of her, he tells her, “Marry me…”

*End: Cliche synopsis plot (only as a set-up for the rest of the story!!!)*
*Start: The storyline after they get together* 

Despite many hidden secrets along the way, the secret relationship between her and the love of her life—Alexander Sabor—continues to grow. But as fate may have it, due to a dangerous man playing a dirty trick behind the scenes she is once again torn away from Alex. This time not of a broken heart from betrayal, but one of love and endurance.  

As you read, get ready for some cute and heartwarming, as well as some heartbreaking scenes. But a good story will always have its heart-wrenching twists and turns!

***“FLUFF” WARNING (a.k.a “the birds and the bees”): Chapter 7: The First Time & more to come in the future ;)


Special thanks to Editor/Proofreader
TomoChinYan
Cover Art: Tzviatko Kinchev

Most children would not have the patience to finish the puzzles. They only clamored their parents to buy for them on impulse. She got one because she saw her then colleague buying it for her child.
Two days later, after she finished her work that night, she saw a tall Eiffel Tower model standing on the table in the living room. The puzzle she had bought for her son was at an advanced level, with more than two thousand pieces of puzzle. The boy only needed two days to figure out the jigsaw puzzle by himself. She could imagine how he had spent two full days inside his room, patiently cutting and piecing the parts of the puzzle one by one. 
After half a month, her then colleague complained to her about wasting hundreds of yuan to buy the puzzle. Apparently, her former co-worker's kid lost his patience with the 3D puzzle halfway through playing it. In the end, she and her husband had to cajole and coerce the child into completing the puzzle. 
Looking at her colleague's woeful expression, the woman replied proudly, "My son completed the puzzle in two days."
Her colleague immediately rebutted, "No way! He must've done it with your help!" To which she objected, "How would I find the time to play with him? I have to work till late at night!"
"I don't believe you!"
She then took out her cell phone to show her colleague a picture of the completed jigsaw puzzle model before the latter took her words for real. 
As the other woman sized her up with a weird look, a question was thrown at her that made her laugh. "Shishi… how did you raise your son?"
Indeed, her son was really one-of-a-kind, and the question tickled her to no end.
"The more patient a child is, the more he's likely to be smart."
"That's right. My kid has no patience at all. No toys can hold his interest for more than three days."
The actress did not have such a problem with Youyou. The boy would painstakingly preserve the toys she got for him inside his cabinet. Every now and then, he would take them out for polishing.
Even though the mother-son pair had moved houses many times, the boy hardly lost any of his treasured toys. Before moving away, he would always ensure that all his toys were kept safe and secured inside a carton.
Honestly, he was a sentimental child. He might have lost interest in these toys as he grew up but he would never have the heart to throw them away. After all, these toys were his companions during his lonely childhood.
The actress beamed to herself all of a sudden. There was nothing more blissful than knowing that her son cherished her love for him.
Whenever she saw how the boy poured his heart into taking care of the toys she got for him, she would teem with a great sense of achievement and happiness.
Regardless of romance or kinship, there must exist a sense of reciprocal pleasure between both parties.
Just as kids would want to please their parents, likewise, parents would want to please their children.
In this fashion, with the store clerks busily exchanging tips on parenting and expressing their envy at her, they helped her into the mermaid dress.
When the actress reemerged from the changing room, they could not help exclaiming with wide-eyed wonderment!
"Ms. Yun, your boy has a good aesthetic sense, indeed! The mermaid dress really brings out your charm and beauty!"
"Thank you for the compliment."
"I mean it! You really look good!"
The moment she pushed the door open, Youyou dashed to her excitedly. He was stunned at the sight at first, then slowly, he circled her a few times while nodding and sizing her up with great satisfaction.
"Mommy, you look better in this dress compared to the one earlier!"
Mu Yazhe and Little Yichen turned their heads to look at her and their eyes displayed their pleasant surprise simultaneously
"WOW!"


She became a surrogate mother in exchange for over a million yuan.

As the esteemed CEO of the most powerful Empire in the capital, he holds absolute power, while she is just an adopted daughter to a family of lowly status. She agreed to bear him his offspring, simply because her adoptive father's business was failing.
 
On the day of her delivery, the elder brother was born healthy, but the younger one was stillborn. Having fulfilled the contract, she disappeared from his sight along with the astronomical sum of money. 


Six years later, he is still that arrogant and high-profile CEO. When she accidentally gets embroiled with him again – like a canary trapped in his cage, he closes in on her. “Woman, do you think you can escape from my clutches?!" 

However, he does not expect a little kid to interfere; the boy pompously points his little finger at him and warns, “Mu Yazhe, you’d better leave her alone! She's mine – this baby's woman!” 

The man is alarmed, simply because the little kid's facial features are identical to his...

Tags: Adorable Child, CEO, Sweet Romance, Scheming, Wealthy Aristocrats, Fluff, Two-faced, Child, Rich and Powerful, Treachery

we find our places and get ready for anything. we've of course been dual and regular cultivating since we got here. through scrolls that Elder Quiang has we've actually made a room in the house for suction of cultivation energy. 
the toddlers can even meditate in there and get stronger. they only last a few minutes before their attention span wavers and they're out doing something else.
Aimee and Sherry are nearly inseparable. 
they have to sleep hugging each other.
Mei and Clarissa have my only sons.
Now waiting on our testing.
We have all of our weapons within our rings and are ready to pull them out as needed. 
students your first test is as a deep rumbling is heard and a series of gates appear around us.
Announcer: When your badge lights up pick the gate designated to you and go through the maze.
There's traps and monsters you have 2 hours from the time your badge lights up we have several families together you'll go as a group. 1 1/2 hours for your family groups. 
now begin our badges light up shortly and we find the corresponding gate. 
and we're off.
we move through time and space to find that so do the traps and monsters. 
glad the kids are in care right now. We mow through the monsters like tofu and reached the end in 10 minutes. we left the corpses and just ran.
Avoiding pitfalls was easy the launchers were a pain. 
hopefully we had the best times. 
finally around supper time the event ended and we came in 3rd.
We're not going to be able to skate through this place. 
For a short while at least we're going to have ro definitely push ourselves. 
We received a notice that we're to arrive tomorrow for the next assessment test.
We leave to pick up the kids and head out to supper. 
Elder Quiang meets us at our residence.
Elder: Not bad kids tomorrow will be tougher. Day 3 will be the toughest and the final assessment about 200 were eliminated and will be going home. 
tomorrow another 200 to 300 will be eliminated then the final will determine the final to be accepted. 
I did say it will  be tougher here.
Yes Elder. 
Rest and cultivate you may need it tomorrow. 
Pick your best weapons is my cheat for you. 
I'm off and I'll be watching give me some fun tomorrow. 
my 2 daughters were almost impressed today.  their looking forward for tomorrow.
Sorry babies we have to go where kids aren't allowed. we'll be back soon. 
And we're off. 
Today people when you go through the gates you will find a monster which will asses your level and fight ine level above you. we're looking for lowest times again the top 500 will proceed to tomorrows final evaluation. 
My badge lights up and i go through the gate.
I find a machine that looks vaguely humanoid and suck it into a black hole. 
elapsed time 2.3 seconds.
I proceed through the next gate to the winners area shortly all of my girls make it through. longest time 3.3 seconds for Mira 
Beka was second with 2.7 seconds. 
Shawna 3.1 seconds 
We actually made the top 5.
tomorrow will decide who gets to stay. 
we pick up the kids an hour before supper and find a place to relax and the older kids can play. 
after supper we relax and take turns cultivating till the kids go to bed.
the 4 infants are too young to enter the room and the 2 older ones want daddy amd mommies to play with them. So my cultivating time will be last as usual. 
Then of course Elder Quiang shows up and congratulates us on a good time for his daughters. 
Tomorrow will be a test of intelligence. 
So we can only relax and work on our communication finesse. 
Quiang told us that they have no way to monitor mental communication. 
physical items like passing notes and mechanical devices are forbidden. 
Shawna helps us with melding our minds  for communication. 
Same thing next morning.
Last test girls. we'll be back soon. 
Announcer: Find your corresponding table and wait for instructions. 
Each table has a puzzle box on it we meld our minds to see what each other sees. 
Announcer: on my mark you will begin ny opening the box and assembling whats inside younhave 1 hour. BEGIN. 
our hands move as one and open the box within seconds. taking out a jumbled puzzle of blocks we separate the blocks bu size and shapes. 
soon a 3d 20 sided shaped sphere is before us. 
We immediately un meld and await our results. 
fully assembled in 1 minute 10 seconds. 
We got 4th through 8th places.
after the results Elder Quiang and 2 women approached us and after introductions invited us into their group of the inner sect disciples. 
We agree and are taken to a new residence. 
This will be your new home for the foreseeable future. 
your abilities willnbe stretched to the limit. 
bring the babies and they will be protected even in training we have staff to watch coddle, train and spoil them terribly. Our mom will take them as her own grandchildren. 
no one messes with mom not even the head Elder. 
Clarissa was one of moms personal students. 
Mom wouldn't ever let anyone or anything happen the the babies. 



extremely OP student wiped mind trying to figure out who and what he is.
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