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PAWNS RISE AGAINST THE STRINGS

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Crestwood used to be peaceful. Now people lock their doors before sunset. The town has become consumed by a string of brutal murders, each victim connected in ways the police fail to understand. To everyone else, the deaths seem random. But Aubrey knows better. There’s a pattern hidden beneath the bloodshed—something watching, choosing, waiting. And when the pattern begins circling her, she realizes she was never outside of it. Desperate for answers, Aubrey gathers the friends she trusts most, only to uncover a terrifying truth: all of them are connected by something far deeper than coincidence. Their lives, their encounters, even the tragedies that shaped them feel orchestrated, as though they had been guided toward one another long before they were born. But the deeper they dig, the more reality itself begins to unravel. Because behind Crestwood lies something far worse than a murderer. There are forces moving beyond human sight—silent influences shaping lives, steering choices, and bending fate toward an outcome only they understand. To them, people are nothing more than expendable positions in a larger design, living entire lives unaware they were never truly in control. Everything was proceeding exactly as intended. Until one of them changed. Among Aubrey’s group, one fate begins drifting beyond what was planned, triggering a chain reaction no one foresaw. What should have remained controllable becomes unpredictable. Dangerous. For the first time, something within the system is no longer obeying the role it was given. And if even one pawn can move on its own… Then the ones controlling the board may finally learn what fear feels like.
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Reverend Insanity: The Goody Two-Shoes System

"Man is the spirit of all things, and gu are the refined fragments of the Great Dao. The ambition which blooms with the spring's morning breeze withers at the call of autumn's night. The accumulation of five hundred years - triumphs and failures - will be naught but ash with dawn's first light. The rising of the sun bathes the mountains in golden flame, but 'tis sunset upon the demon's time. " The demonic overlord, Fang Yuan, is cornered by his enemies after word gets out that he refined the Spring Autumn Cicada - a gu worm rumored to be capable of having a chance at sending one back in time but demands a terrifying price in return - the user's entire existence! With no hope of escape, in desperation, Fang Yuan uses the Spring Autumn Cicada which miraculously lives up to its name and sends him back in time. And now, he's back in Gu Yue Village as a fifteen-year-old ready to use his knowledge of the future to conquer the world... but there's something wrong. Something is quite different this time around. What's with this new notification that keeps popping up in his view? It calls itself 'The Goody Two-Shoes System.' It also starts giving him quests to complete. "Help Fang Zheng gain his confidence back!" - get a Green Copper Relic Gu! "Help your friends refine their gu worms!" - have your aptitude raised by 2%! All of these rewards and quests before him, why are they trying to convert this demonic overlord to the path of righteousness? And aren't some of these quests kind of... sus? Why does marrying Bai Ning Bing give him an immortal gu? Whatever, anything for benefits! [There will eventually be an in-universe explanation for the existence of the Goody Two-Shoes System within the story. Additionally, as the story progresses, the Goody Two-Shoes System will slowly decrease in importance particularly past 350 chapters or so.] This is a fanfiction based on Gu Zhen Re's work 'Reverend Insanity' known in Chinese as 蛊真人 or 'Gu Taoist Master'. I don't own the rights to the original work. 'Gu' in the context of this story are mystical insects that have various powers and are the basis of the world's cultivation system. Cover art courtesy of matchselaa
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