Black Beauty

“Yeah, I’m sure he’ll be back,” Kaelan said. “We need to leave.” Kaelan picked the four daggers up then headed for the door. The duo left the room and made their way down the stairs. “Huh? Are you leaving?” the innkeepers voice sounded behind them. Two scythe is hand, each connected to chains. “You havent paid your clean up fee. Im sure you two messed up the room with your fun.” Kaelan raised a brow, but Lira spoke first. “How much?” “Ten Sarls.” She didnt complain. She placed it on the front desk beside and asked, “can we leave now?” “Yes, yes. Do come again. I like customers like…” the innkeeper paused. His grip on the scythe got tighter. “Tch, they are back again.” Liras ears twitched, and her hand tightened around her dagger. “They are here,” Kaelan said, while looking around. A shadow moved across the broken window. Then, the door burst inward, splintering at the edges. Three assassins tumbled in, cloaked in black, daggers flashing in the dim light. One lunged straight for Kaelan. Kaelan bent to the side, letting the blade slash past him. He grabbed the table and swung it, smashing the first attacker into the wall. The impact sent dust into the air, and the man groaned. “Hey! My Sarls,” yelled the innkeeper. Glass shattered as assassins came in through the window. “I’m gonna kill ya,” he said and charged at them. Lira was already moving, slicing, dodging. Her attacker was fast, but she was faster. Kaelan tossed a dagger at him. It pierced his neck from behind. Lira turned to him, but he didnt pause. He grabbed the third assassin, swung him like a rag, smashing his back into the wall. Kaelan bolted out the inn and Lira leapt after him.

Connor Waratah, once heir to the powerful Waratah empire, lives a humble life in Melbourne after being cast out by his family, falsely branded a thief, and abandoned when he needed them most. When the family’s loyal retainer, Jimmy Coolabah, arrives to bring him back, Connor rejects the offer, unwilling to forgive their betrayal. Later, at his wife Kirra’s wealthy Kuranda family gathering, Connor makes a desperate public plea for a loan to save the struggling Billabong Elder Care and Children’s Home—the orphanage where he was raised. His appeal is met with ridicule, insults, and humiliation, leading to his ejection from the event. Kirra, furious over the embarrassment, demands that if Connor wants to redeem himself, he must secure a lucrative property deal her family has long been denied. But when Connor returns to the care home to confess his failure, he discovers a mysterious $2 million donation, medical supplies, and toys for the children—courtesy of Jimmy Coolabah. Jimmy also presents him with two staggering gifts: a rare black card with unlimited funds and full ownership of Jarrah Properties, the very company controlling the building Kirra needs. Though Connor refuses the wealth outright, he realizes he now has the power to help both the care home and his wife. Keeping his fortune and new position a secret, Connor visits Jarrah Properties, enduring cruel treatment from an old enemy before revealing to the company president that he is the new owner. Connor orders that Kirra’s family be given fair access to properties without ever knowing his involvement. Determined to restore the orphanage, protect his wife’s pride, and quietly outmaneuver those who wronged him, Connor begins using his hidden influence to change their lives—on his own terms.

In the first apocalypse timeline, he trusted the wrong people, gave away what little he had, and was betrayed when food became more valuable than human life. Death came quietly—without heroism, without meaning. Then time rewound. Kyle wakes minutes before the world collapses, reborn with all his memories intact—and a system no one else possesses: the Infinite Supplies System. Food. Water. Weapons. A private Paradise Space untouched by ruin. But abundance comes with a rule carved in cold logic: nothing is free. Supplies can only be unlocked through Emotional Function Points. As cities fall and boys’ survivor zones are wiped out, a sealed girls’ campus becomes an island of desperation. Kyle alone can move freely through the apocalypse. He doesn’t force obedience. He waits. Hunger does the work. Cleaning earns meals. Labor earns water. Emotion—fear, shame, gratitude, desire—determines how much. Six girls stand at the center of this fragile balance: a campus beauty hiding terror behind smiles, an ice-cold strategist who refuses to beg, a fallen heiress desperate to reclaim control, an arrogant provocateur who thrives on chaos, a kind healer who sacrifices herself too easily, and a hardened survivor who refuses to be owned. Between them, alliances form and fracture. Submission becomes strategy. Strategy becomes betrayal. Kyle’s relationships with them are never simple. He is their provider, their ruler, their shield—and, increasingly, their moral problem. As the system rewards cruelty more efficiently than kindness, Kyle begins to realize a terrifying truth: the system doesn’t care about survival. It cares about consumption. When outside survivor factions finally make contact and the system escalates beyond Kyle’s control, he is forced to choose—declare himself sovereign over a starving world, or challenge the very system that keeps everyone alive. And the system is already watching how he decides.