In The Mind Of An Npc

Cast out as a child, betrayed by blood, and erased from his father’s empire—Adrian DeLuca was never meant to return. To the mafia, he was just a bastard, a mistake, a ghost better left in exile. But ghosts have a way of coming back. Now a cold and calculating lawyer with nothing to lose, Adrian returns to the city that abandoned him. He doesn’t come with guns blazing—he comes with something deadlier: a mind sharpened by years in the shadows, an unshakable will for revenge, and the hunger to tear down the empire brick by brick. His half-brothers rule the DeLuca syndicate with arrogance and cruelty. His father sits on the throne of blood, untouchable. But Adrian knows their secrets, their weaknesses, their sins. He will turn allies into traitors, rivals into pawns, and enemies into stepping stones. Every courtroom victory, every hostile takeover, every life ruined brings him closer to his endgame. But power has a price. The deeper Adrian dives into the underworld, the more dangerous the game becomes. Enemies close in, the law hunts him, and even love becomes a weapon aimed at his heart. In a world ruled by loyalty and blood, Adrian must decide: Will he reclaim the throne as the true heir… or burn the entire empire to the ground and bury his family with it?

In 2081, five-year-old twins Aaron and Anya Lockwood are forced to flee as their parents’ secret neuroscience lab goes up in flames. Moments before the end, their parents inject them with the final fragment of a groundbreaking invention, Neuroid, a neural implant capable of recording not just memory, communication through mind link but the very essence of consciousness. Separated to survive, the twins grow up in different worlds. Aaron becomes Kael Vale, a hardened ex-Marine buried under years of trauma and silence. Anya becomes Lyra Thompson, a rising neuroscientist unknowingly working to resurrect the very technology that tore their family apart. Twenty-five years later, Kael hears a voice no one should know: his real name. As echoes of their past resurface through dream bleeds and shared memories, the twins are drawn back into a corporate war for control over human minds. But Neuroid is more than tech, it’s legacy. And somewhere inside the system, their parents are still alive… in pieces. To survive, Kael must find Lyra and reunite to resist the ghosts inside them, and decide whether to weaponize memory or heal from it. In a world where minds can be mapped, sold, and rewritten, what does it mean to remember who you really are?

After taking her stepsister’s place, Yvonne Miller is married into a wealthy family. To take back her family business, she plots each step she takes carefully. Everyone knows Stephen Anderson is a cruel and ruthless person. Yet, his ugly and uncultured wife has him wrapped around her little finger. Stephen doesn’t mind that his wife’s an ugly duckling. On the contrary, he dotes on her excessively. When he hears gossip about his wife being ugly, with cosmetic surgeons offering her discounts, he whirls into a rage. “These blind dogs! My wife’s the most beautiful woman alive!” he insists.With that, a rumor spreads in Northerna City that Yvonne is Stephen’s retribution for his past misdeeds… Until one day, Yvonne returns from abroad drop-dead gorgeous, sending shockwaves all across the city. However, she doesn’t show up in Stephen’s life again. “What do you take me for, coming and going as you please?” he demands. Stepping aside to present the young kid behind her, Yvonne says in chagrin, “My child’s father?”

Ryker Hartley, a young man embroiled with a crime boss to claim a hidden treasure. Would fleeing be his only option in this uncertain journey? Or would he challenge his destiny against all odds? ********** A once easy-going boy turned the beastly version of himself, feared by all. With a past that has left a scar on his mind, the most cherished of all his memories has turned out to be an unfairly large grieving package for him. With an unchecked bitterness, and oblivious of an inescapable fate trapped in times, awaiting the moment to descend, he roamed, but with animosity and undue misanthropy. Ryker has closed himself off to the world, he's not one to forgive the most trivial atrocities against him, but when a frenemy manages to break through his defenses, Ryker's integrity is put to the test in ways he never thought possible. As secrets are exposed and alliances are formed, Ryker's life takes a dramatic turn as he becomes a celebrity. Will he rise to the challenge or crumble under the weight of his past? . . . . Find out in this action-packed and thrilling novel that takes a deep dive into the complexities of human nature. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- PS: The image is not mine, I got it from Pinterest and then, do the editing. Owner >> Cody Garrett Hatcher

What would you do to clear a debt you could never repay? Isaac Rhoades is at rock bottom. After taking a massive illegal loan to pay for his sister’s surgery—only for her to die anyway—he’s hunted by brutal loan sharks, fired from his warehouse job, and left homeless. Just as he's about to end it all, a strange voice echoes in his mind: “System Activation: Mission Credit Redemption Protocol Initiated.” The Debtbound System offers him a way out—but every cleared dollar requires a mission. Deliver cursed packages. Eliminate dangerous criminals. Expose corrupt politicians. Some missions save lives. Others destroy them. Every success earns him powers and a chunk off his debt. Every failure comes at a horrifying cost. As Isaac navigates this deadly path, he discovers he's not the only one bound by the system—and some users will do anything to break free. What started as a fight for survival becomes a war for redemption, power, and the truth behind the system’s origin. To win his freedom, Isaac must conquer the missions. But to keep his soul… he must conquer himself.

He trusted his brother. He believed in love. He swore an oath. But what happens when all three turn into lies? Kabri was once a silent force in the shadows—an elite operative loyal to a cause, to his blood, and to the woman who said she carried his child. But loyalty means nothing when betrayal runs deeper than bullets. When Jamil—his own brother—fakes his death and pulls the strings from behind the curtain, Kabri’s world fractures. Then comes Evelyn. The woman who wasn’t who she claimed to be. The pregnancy? A lie—twice over. The love? A weapon. The truth? Buried under years of deception. Now hunted across continents, with a child’s life on the line and hallucinations of Evelyn whispering from the grave, Kabri is trapped in a brutal mind game. The lines blur between justice and revenge, love and obsession, reality and delusion. Why did Jamil destroy everything? Was Evelyn ever real? And in the end… who is Kabri, really? The Blood Oath is an urban psychological thriller packed with fire-fights, betrayals, shifting identities, and one impossible question: If your past was a lie, can you ever escape it? Or are some oaths written in blood… meant to end in blood?

Deep in my heart I yearned to be a player in tales of adventure, but I have buried this selfish desire with the obligation I have put upon myself to my fellow man. So, I decided to dedicate my time, my effort, my LIFE to my work in the hopes that I would be of help to my fellow man. But in a twist of fate the people I wished to help have turned on me. This left me broken with a hole in my mind and heart, but my resolve would not waver. Like every failure from before, I began to pick up the shattered pieces of myself and attempted to put myself back together, but suddenly I am reminded of what I truly wanted. ADVENTURE. To see the world and experience all that I could. Be it through fear, cold, or even nightmarish hardships. I WILL HAVE AN ADVENTURE. These 5 words rang out in my subconscious and with-it fate had turned, and I now find myself in an unknown place, my memories fractured, and my body changed? "WHERE THE HELL AM I?!" Now in an unknown world and with very few memories. Our protagonist will venture forth to find himself. The time it will take, what will occur, and even how will he be changed are all questions that run behind every tale. But interestingly, other tales run in parallel with him. They will cross paths and sparks will fly as numerous as the stars.

The entire Carmichael family looked on in curiosity as the convoy of Fords rolled into the mansion's grounds. It looked like a King was making his entrance. The cars came to a stop and a driver ran over to pull the passenger door open. Luke stepped down from the car and shocked silence swept through the Humsworth family. He looked at them, a smug smirk curving his lips. "L-luke?" His wife, Fiona, stuttered. "In the flesh. Hello, in-laws, your wretched son-in-law is finally home…" *** What would you do if you were insulted and shamed by your wife's family for being poor, but one day, you discover that you're the heir to a lost fortune? Luke Bradford is the average, wretched son-in-law of the rich Carmichael family. He is shamed, disgraced and abused by his wife's family until one day, he finds out that he's the heir to a Diamond empire running into trillions of dollars. Luke returns with one thing on his mind…to take revenge on every single person who dared to hurt him in the past, but the Humsworth family have also vowed that a low class peasant like him will never lord over them. Taking a path through drug money, lies, deceit, treachery…and even the deadly mafia, will he succeed, or will the sneaky Humsworth family clip his feathers before he can even fly?

Won, a 14-year-old orphan from the slums, survives a deadly Veyne raid, a monster-infested rift—only to be sentenced to execution for being the lone survivor. Accused of betraying his comrades and causing the revered General's coma, he narrowly escapes death when the General awakens and demands his presence. Instead of freedom, Won is thrust into a perilous master-ranked Veyne as a test of his worth. Armed with newfound abilities—heightened senses (Sensari), shapeshifting (Disguise), and mind manipulation (Cognidominance), he battles illusions, cannibals, and monstrous entities, uncovering corruption and dark secrets along the way. After slaying the Veyne’s boss, he encounters the dying God of Emptiness, who names him as his vessel. Won gains divine power and an unprecedented rank—Gravemarch, the highest Ashen rank in history. Concealing his true strength, he enrolls in Meteor Ashen Technical, an elite academy for monster-slaying Ashens, where he faces ridicule as the only "Flintshade" in his class. As Won navigates academy life, he uncovers deeper conspiracies: a hidden war among gods, the truth behind the Veynes, and his own destiny as the world’s first Gravemarch. With enemies lurking in the shadows—monsters, corrupt officials, and divine entities—Won must master his powers before the world’s greatest threat emerges.

Mu Qiu jolted awake, the stench of decay filling his nostrils. He wasn't in his old apartment; he was sprawled on cracked asphalt, surrounded by the moans of the undead. He was reborn in the apocalypse. Worse, his body, dormant for two years, had mutated. He was a Corpse King, an apex predator with the power to devour and assimilate. Then, a voice echoed in his mind, clear and precise. [Congratulations, Host! You have successfully bound the Supreme World Sign-In System!] [You have arrived at your first sign-in location: Ravaged City Center. Reward: Holy Lord's Demonic Energy.] Mu Qiu stared at his clawed hands, the flesh pale and cold. A system? In this hellhole? [Next sign-in location: Mutated Zombie Hive. Estimated time: 12 hours.] [Daily Quest: Devour 100 Lesser Undead. Reward: Evolution Points.] [Status: Corpse King - Level 1. Evolution Points: 0. Demonic Energy: Acquired.] [Inventory: Empty.] He could see the information floating in his vision, like a translucent screen. The world was a nightmare, and survival as a human was impossible. But as a Corpse King with a system? That was a different story. [Would you like to absorb the Holy Lord's Demonic Energy?] Mu Qiu's jaw clenched. Yes. [Absorption commencing...]