Lu Mingfei at the Internet Cafe

A moment later, Luo Qiusheng stared at the StarCraft base on the screen that had been completely flattened by Lu Mingfei, his mind still lost in a daze.

The sweetness of the iced cola in his hand vanished into thin air.

"I specialize in Zerg, yet I actually lost to you, Lu Mingfei, in an outsider match?"

He tilted his head to look at Lu Mingfei, annoyed. "You aren't throwing the game on purpose, are you? Even if Nono really was using map hacks back then, with how you played this round, you shouldn't have lost at the third-tier camp."

He didn't notice at all that in the shadows beside Lu Mingfei, the pitch-black Little Devil, Lu Mingze, was curled up.

The boy leaned gently against Lu Mingfei's ear and whispered, "Brother, this kind of power to do whatever you want—if you want it, I can give it to you at any time."

Luo Qiusheng immediately dragged Lu Mingfei into the next round. The situation reversed instantly; he played with full focus, winning with ease as if he were a different person.

In the third round, Lu Mingfei won by a hair.

In the fourth round, Luo Qiusheng took the win again.

The two went back and forth for several rounds, the StarCraft battlefields on the screen shifting and changing, until Luo Qiusheng suddenly pressed down on his mouse to call a halt.

"No, something's wrong!"

"Let me check the logs."

He snatched the mouse from Lu Mingfei's hand, his fingertips flying across the controls to pull up the match history. A few seconds later, his brow smoothed out slightly.

"The logs are fine." But he remained suspicious in his heart.

Lu Mingfei's heart tightened abruptly, nearly fearing that Lu Mingze's presence had been exposed, and only then did his suspended heart settle slightly.

He had to admit that Luo Qiusheng's StarCraft level was far beyond his imagination. The screen-switching speed was dizzying; even if one deliberately tried to peek at the opponent's screen, it would require top-tier visual acuity and instantaneous memory to keep up. Even if an ordinary expert could steal vision, they wouldn't necessarily be able to beat him consistently.

After a few rounds, he was convinced of his loss, yet a lingering, indelible sense of unwillingness remained in his heart.

If Lu Mingze could easily sway the outcome of a battle, why couldn't he?

Everyone around him was dazzling and eye-catching: Chu Zihang had extraordinary talent, and Caesar was born to stand at the heights. Only he was a failure, like an extra, useless burden.

After verifying the match, Luo Qiusheng teased Lu Mingfei a bit and simply exited StarCraft.

"Wait for me to bypass the firewall; I'm downloading a new game. By the way, Mingfei, want to go out for a stroll tonight? I know a few interesting places."

Lu Mingfei's gaze fell on Luo Qiusheng's interface. A string of unfamiliar characters flashed by, and the game tag [LOL] at the end made him suspicious. "This game hasn't been officially released in the country yet, has it?"

"Simple, if you want to play, just bypass the firewall. If you don't know how, ask Eva. You're an S-rank student; it's a waste not to use your privileges."

Luo Qiusheng loaded the client while standing up to walk to the counter and grab two bottles of iced cola.

When he returned, he saw Lu Mingfei lost in thought, so he pressed the cold bottle against the other's cheek. The bone-chilling cold instantly pulled Lu Mingfei's drifting thoughts back.

"Don't always get stuck in a rut and overthink things; clear your head. Our lives as Hybrids are never our own to begin with. No one can say whether tomorrow or an accident will come first, so living in the moment is what matters most."

He sat back in his chair. Seeing Lu Mingfei remain silent for a long time, he tilted his head back and took a large gulp of cola, his tone tinged with a touch of melancholy.

"The ones who recruited you into the academy were Jiu De Yaji and Ye Sheng, right?"

Lu Mingfei's voice was low. "Yeah..."

"Without enough power, you can only watch helplessly as regrets happen. Don't wait until it's too late to feel remorse."

Speaking of this, Luo Qiusheng's thoughts drifted back to his past in the Douluo Continent.

It wasn't that he hadn't thought about using the Constantine dragon bone within his body to travel between the two worlds again, but two difficult obstacles stood before him.

The first was the flow of time. His last trip confirmed that time on both sides was nearly synchronized one-to-one. Once he left, he would either miss the events of Dragon III and watch Erii head toward tragedy, or he would miss the Continental Advanced Spirit Master Academy Elite Tournament. Reasonably, he should prioritize protecting Erii, but in his heart, he was thinking about how he could have both.

The second was that he hadn't fully grasped the pharmacology of the rare herbs in Douluo; returning rashly would just be a futile trip.

"But I... I don't have the innate bloodline talent of Chu Zihang, nor do I have a family background like Caesar's to back me up."

Beside his ear, Lu Mingze's seductive voice kept ringing out: "Brother, you are the best!"

Luo Qiusheng didn't respond. He calmly opened League of Legends, typed in a simple firewall-bypassing program, registered an account, and logged into a beginner match.

Silence stretched for several minutes. Luo Qiusheng watched himself win streak after streak on the screen, understanding the inferiority buried in Lu Mingfei's bones. Perhaps from today on, the gears of this loser's fate would quietly turn toward a different trajectory, and he, too, could find a way to have the best of both worlds through this change.

The match went smoothly. For the first few games, Lu Mingfei only glanced at it indifferently, not caring at all. After ten consecutive wins, curiosity sparked in his eyes. By the time dozens of wins had passed, Lu Mingfei's face was full of astonishment.

Seeing that he had successfully piqued the other's interest, Luo Qiusheng smiled faintly. "Look at this game. No matter how disadvantaged I am in the early game, I can always turn it around if I drag it to the late game. Some people start with every advantage, but in the end, they don't necessarily secure the victory. It's the same with people. Your current inferiority and sensitivity are just a temporary low point. Sooner or later, the power hidden within you will erupt completely. I have always believed in this."

Lu Mingfei spoke in a low voice: "Luo Qiusheng, you don't need to comfort me. A game is just a game after all; the comeback methods inside can't be brought into reality."

As soon as he finished speaking, the Little Devil's whisper in his mind surfaced again. With these words stuck in his throat, he couldn't find a way to refute them.

Finally, as the time neared 3:00 AM, Luo Qiusheng rubbed his eyes and slumped over the table.

"Mingfei's bloodline is too high-level; I can't keep up, I really can't. I'm going to rest first."

Lu Mingfei stared at Luo Qiusheng's just-extinguished computer, where the words "Diamond" hung brilliantly on the screen. His eyelid twitched, and then he looked at his own rank: Gold...

Actually, for a beginner like Lu Mingfei, reaching Gold in a few hours was something he could brag about for half a year, but he didn't know that. He only knew that beside him lay someone who had just started and had already slaughtered their way through the entire server.

It was truly a genius meeting a cheater; even a genius would feel helpless.

The next morning, the smell of Lu Mingfei's instant noodles woke Luo Qiusheng up.

He checked the time; it was past six.

"Lu Mingfei, instant noodles aren't nutritious. Shall I take you out for a nutritious meal?"

Luo Qiusheng's sudden voice startled Lu Mingfei, who was planning to eat his solo meal in secret. Hearing about a nutritious meal, he looked at the noodles he had already soaked. "Forget it."

"Alright then. Don't always hole up in the internet cafe. Go out and get some fresh air, be more cheerful, and girls will come to talk to you on their own."

To be honest, Lu Mingfei's foundation was actually quite good, but he always walked with his head buried, so insecure he looked like a monkey that had become a target for everyone's ridicule.