The Rise of the Black Plain - Chapter 261: A Night Of Fun (*)

'Nina?'The thought hit me before I even really processed who it was. Nina Shoka from my class. She was just walking along, probably listening to music, totally unaware that this car had lost control and was sliding right toward her.I didn't think about it. Didn't weigh the pros and cons or consider my options. My legs just started moving.I dropped my phone and sprinted toward her. The car was maybe three seconds away from hitting her when I slammed into her side, pushing her as hard as I could toward the sidewalk.She went flying, landing hard on the concrete but definitely out of the car's path.Me? Not so lucky.The impact felt like getting hit by a train. One second I was pushing Nina to safety, the next I was flying through the air. Then I hit the ground and everything went wrong at once.I couldn't move my legs. Couldn't really move much of anything, actually. There was this weird warm feeling spreading across my chest and stomach, and when I tried to breathe, it felt like drowning.'Well, this sucks,' I thought, staring up at the sky. 'Guess that's what I get for being a hero.'My vision started getting all swimmy and weird, but I could make out Nina crawling over to me. She had pulled out her earbuds and there were tears streaming down her face.“Why did you do that?” she kept asking, over and over. “Why would you do that?”I wanted to shrug, but my shoulders weren't really cooperating. It seemed pretty obvious to me - she was in trouble, so I helped. That's what you do, right? Nothing fancy about it.She was talking to me, saying my name a lot. I didn't realize she even knew my name, to be honest. We had been in the same class for like three months and I don't think we had ever actually had a conversation.“Kofi, stay with me, okay?” she was saying. “You're gonna be fine. The ambulance is coming.”

Book I: Lost ThingsTristan Abrascal is a thief, one of many making their living under the perpetual twilight of the greatest city in all of Vesper. Quick wit and a contract with a capricious goddess have always kept him one step ahead, until one night he crosses a line by accident that burns all the bridges he had left. But not all is lost, as his mentor offers a way out of peril that turns out to be more than a simple escape.It is also an opportunity to get even with the infanzones, the nobles he’s lived under all his life, and it so happens that Tristan has a full ledger’s worth of scores to settle with them.Lady Angharad Tredegar has fled halfway across the world, leaving behind a ruin of a life: her family butchered by a ruthless enemy, their estate torched and their nobility revoked. Yet no matter how far she flees the blades of assassins follow, and she finds herself growing desperate for any protection. She has one relative left to call on, her estranged uncle, but she finds that the safety he offers comes at a cost.Angharad has sworn revenge, however, and her honour will allow for no compromise. She will do what she must to survive so that one day bloody vengeance can be visited upon her enemies.The paths of the two take them to the doorstep of the Watch, but for desperate souls like them enrolment is a lost cause. They will have to do it the hard way instead, by surviving the trials on the isle known as the Dominion of Lost Things.Where every year many go, and few return.Book II: Good TreasonsThe trials of the Dominion are over.The four survivors have become students of Scholomance, enrolling together as a cabal, yet even on those infamous grounds they soon learn none are beyond the reach of their pasts.Angharad Tredegar is returned to a semblance of the world she left behind, but finds her honor sorely tested by bargains offered - every bit as tempting as in the stories and even deadlier.Tristan Abrascal needs answers. Mysterious enemies keep trying to abduct him, his classroom does not exist and he’s now had several conversations with dead people. Worst of all, his carrots keep dying.Maryam Khaimov is going mad, which would worry her less if it were happening on schedule. More frightening yet is the possibility that she is not, and there truly is someone else going around wearing her face.Song Ren must forge the others into a functional unit, all the while fending off enemies on all sides: rival cabals, vengeful countrymen and the deluge of implacable foes her companions simply cannot seem to stop attracting.Failure is not an option, for Song must bring back honor to her family’s name whatever the cost: it is the only way to keep their disgrace from literally eating them all alive.And as the four chase shadows in Scholomance, in the distance looms the greater test awaiting them in the Asphodel Rectorate. Asphodel is a faded power, the rotten carcass of what it once was, but under that rot looms darker things - of which monsters might just be the least dangerous.Besides, is treason really such an evil when you have the best of reasons for it?

“Will you marry me?”As a metaphysics master, An Yan was humiliated by a rejected marriage proposal.She turned around and grabbed the man with the best fate in the entire room to propose to him.“Miss An, you'd better not regret this!”In the blink of an eye, the hunter became the prey, and An Yan was a bit panicked.She was truly cherished, but it was a possessiveness-driven affection that An Yan did not want.It wasn't until he fell ill.That she realized what was called deep affection was just a conspiracy.Everyone says he is the Li Family's deity! Because of him, the Li Family flourished with riches and glory.In reality, he is the Li Family's demon! He could potentially drag the entire family to irreversible doom at any moment.

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!”