Elf Kingdom: Game of the World Tree - Chapter 17 - I’m Going to Blow Up! (Seeking Recommendation Tickets!)

This story is about a rookie researcher, who was forcefully dragged away from his restful life, compelled into facing various killers and zombies, always having to risk his life at the brink of death, and finally becoming an advanced researcher that is acclaimed by all. And throughout his adventure, he met an alluring(?) killing machine, who he started to have fantasies on after they had an accidental kiss…

Xiao Yan: Did I fall for him? But he’s a man!

Maya: Who knows…. maybe it’s the other way round?

- Description from Novelupdates

[The citizens of planet #674589 has been given the opportunity to awaken.]With this abrupt message that appeared out of nowhere, the world as everyone knew it had ended.A series of apocalyptic level of natural disaster washed over the Earth, claiming numerous lives in the process.Every lifeform on earth that managed to survive the apocalyptic natural disaster was given immense power.Animals metamorphosed into terrifying beasts and various plants gained self-awareness, while the surviving humans gained powerful supernatural abilities.Leo, a young man finally left the orphanage, a place he'd called home for his entire 16 years of life. With his dreams of finally breaking free and experiencing adult life outside of the orphanage finally coming true, his world was turned upside down after receiving the message with the rest of the world.Freedom was no longer something given, it now had to be earned. This apocalyptic and ruined world was something that could take kill him in an instant.[Requirements met. First Seal Broken.][Innate skill awakened: Regeneration.]

It begins on the mountain.

With the glint of a knife, a flash of steel in the hands of a sworn brother. A betrayal.

Stabbed and pushed down the mountain, Zi Chen lied within the red-stained snow, left to die.

This is where it begins; he is given life by lightning,
baptized by thunder.

Those who had once betrayed him should all suffer in his cruel revenge.

- Description from Novelupdates

A princess's duty is to be beautiful, quiet, not loud, to be seen and not to be heard, which was how Dahlia lived most of her life. Bound by the expectations of her title, she spent years trying to prove to her father that she was more than just a princess and capable of being more than an ornament in his court but each time she never got the chance. Instead, she was forced into a marriage of convenience with the bravest knight in all the kingdom, Reagan Hawthorne.Dahlia thought she would use this marriage to escape the brutal crutches of her father and glide out of her cage but Reagan’s cold disdain was an unexpected prison of its own. While he waged wars on distant lands, she stayed behind, holding his household together and protecting the people he seemed to ignore. But Dahlia carried a dangerous secret. By day, she was the perfect wife. By night, she became the “Black Knight,” a masked vigilante fighting for justice in the shadows.Reagan returned, ready to focus on his personal mission: avenging his father’s death. To him, Dahlia was just another pawn in his plans—a spoiled princess he needed to tolerate. But as cracks began to form in her perfect façade, Reagan couldn’t shake the feeling that there was more to his wife than met the eye.Now, with enemies circling closer and their secrets threatening to collide, Dahlia and Reagan must confront the lies they’ve told themselves and each other. But when masks fall and truths are revealed, will their fragile bond withstand the storm—or will it shatter beyond repair?One wound. One secret. One night that changes everything.