Connected to the Abyss, This Couch Potato Is Forced to Become a God

New upcoming story, please add it to your reading list: Sentinel/Guide novel, "The Little Bee Guide Ignores Compatibility"

Blurb for the upcoming story:

[Mutual pining, both faithful, dark Guide x ghostly male Sentinel]

Jian Cheng, whose compatibility with everyone is only 60%, finds a little one.

In other people's eyes, this little one is a "person," but only Jian Cheng knows it's a spherical spirit entity of unknown origin.

Jian Cheng needs to join a team to look for her missing parents, and to do that she needs a child. What a coincidence: she doesn't have a kid, but this little one can fill in.

The only catch is, the registration form needs a "father."

Jian Cheng hesitates for exactly zero seconds before writing down Lu Yuanhuai's name. He disappeared without a word and has been missing for three years, after all.

When Jian Cheng hides her first spirit entity and joins the team with her second, a Grade B Bear Peak, the little one vanishes.

Jian Cheng panics and loses control.

But as she turns around, a shadow falls over her. An overwhelmingly familiar scent hits her, and her legs almost give way.

Lu Yuanhuai narrows his eyes. "I heard you have a child?"

She tries to run, but is pinned down by his powerful mental strength.

Lu Yuanhuai leans in. "I also heard the child's father is me?"

Jian Cheng answers confidently, "How was I supposed to know you were still alive?"

Lu Yuanhuai: "..."

Lu Yuanhuai, the chief Sentinel, was forced to spend three years in a dangerous zone. There, he unexpectedly discovered a secret about the Tower, and that secret concerns Jian Cheng.

He left back then to keep her safe. Now, all he wants is to hide her beneath his wings.

But when Lu Yuanhuai returns with a compatibility rating of 96%,

Jian Cheng pushes him away. "It's just a compatibility rating. If I want to, anyone can score higher than you."

Lu Yuanhuai's expression darkens, and his pressure pins her in place. "I. Don't. Agree."

---Blurb for this story---

Xia Xiyao is just an ordinary person. She lies flat, has no goals in life, and somehow neither dies nor lives.

Well, she's ordinary, but she's also highly sensitive and constantly affected by other people's emotions.

To make life a little easier, she imagines there's a space station in her mind that processes emotional trash, where she can toss all the emotions that have nothing to do with her.

The door to the space station opens. Huh? Why has the world turned black and white? What's that floating in the air?

Her neighbor's hand has turned into a chicken claw covered in tumors. Wait, did he just rip someone's head off?

Blood drips down, staining the world red.

The door closes, and the world returns to normal.

On her first visit to the inner world, Xia Xiyao is a clueless little chick, getting mauled by dark matter and that damn System that keeps pushing her to work hard.

On her next visit to the inner world, she doesn't care about dark matter or the path to godhood. She just wants some peace and quiet!

The city turns into a monster that eats people?

Xia Xiyao: Go be a meatball somewhere else.

Tadpoles swarm around women who are out and about?

Xia Xiyao: Turn into stones, all of you!

Whispers squeeze her brain, trying to use her as nourishment.

Xia Xiyao: So what if you're a god? I'll eat you and become one myself!

The Abyss, a place that drives people mad and breaks them down.

Xia Xiyao: Oh. Aside from being bigger and more boring, there's nothing special about it.

The Abyss twists and writhes. A voice full of malice fills her mind, and before she can escape, she's swallowed up.

The voice laughs savagely: "Die with this world."

Reading guide:

1. The female lead grows over the course of the story.

2. The female lead becomes the strongest in the end, not in terms of physical strength. She's a magic-focused fighter.

3. There isn't much of a romance plot, and it comes near the end.

4. Women's stories and perspectives are the main focus of the plot.

Blurb for the new story, "Ghostbusting Costs Money":

Lu Ru is more used to being a ghost than a person. But if her soul stays out of her body too long, she'll leave the world of the living for good. Her family is worried, so they search everywhere for a way to stabilize her spirit.

The ghost officers of the underworld snatch a newly captured ghost from her hands. "Please, Auntie, go back already! Stop making us work so hard!"

Lu Ru: "I'm not making you work hard. I just want to earn a little extra."

Being a ghost is boring, but she notices that the captain of the joint bureau is strange. He's handsome and smells amazing. Most importantly, his aura shines with golden light.

So Lu Ru sticks close to him and chats whenever she can. She's a spirit, so she has nothing to fear and says whatever comes to mind.

Lu Ru: "How come your nose is so high and straight? I hear people with high, straight noses are really..."

Lu Ru suddenly blushes. "Oh, you're awful!"

Yi Xiangbai, pretending to sleep: "... (How am I awful??)"

She leans close to Yi Xiangbai's ear. "You smell so good. How about you be my boyfriend? I can support you~"

The bureau gets word that there's been a major accident in the suburbs, with multiple fatalities.

Yi Xiangbai has no choice but to end his precious nap and get up to work.

He pauses, then turns to face empty air. "It's time to work. Didn't you say you'd support me?"

Lu Ru, bent over the Register of Life and Death: "Are you talking to me?! Wait, you can hear me???!"

Lu Ru: "What's our motto?"

The little ghosts: "Pay us and we'll smile. Owe us, and you'll get a one-day tour of hell!"

Lu Ru: "What's our future?"

The little ghosts: "Renovate the City of Wrongful Deaths, and happily wait for reincarnation!"

Lu Ru: "What's our goal?"

The ghosts, full of enthusiasm: "Support our supervisor and marry the handsome hubby!"

Yi Xiangbai: "...I've washed up. Waiting for you."

Reading guide:

What's our Lu's line of work?

It includes, but isn't limited to, being a soul reaper, an underworld constable, a substitute for Lady Meng, and the supervisor of the City of Wrongful Deaths.

Why?

Of course it's because our Lu has people backing her up. No, ghosts below backing her up. She's got a huge support network!

Theme: The world is beautiful. Live well.