Small-Town Boy (2)

—"As if I'm scared of a flea market."

A light drizzle fell as Lu Mingfei walked home from school without an umbrella, his mindset thoroughly in the screw it, whatever happens happens state.

The world of the Orange Soda Boy... quietly shattered.

At first, he didn't rashly jump to any conclusions. The countless bloody battles with Deadpools in his dreams hadn't left him without any growth. Those monsters had taught him, in the cruelest way possible, the patience a hunter needed.

Thirteen hours had passed. From morning to dusk, he had lived through another daytime in the small city according to his usual routine. Whenever he sensed someone watching him, he quietly activated his Word Spirit and amplified his hearing to the maximum.

There were way, way, way too many watchers. Shilan High School alone had at least two groups stationed there. There were only more around Uncle's home, not fewer. Even the owner of the internet café was one of them. What had he, Lu the Divine, done to deserve living in The Truman Show all this time?!

And these people didn't seem especially dedicated to their mission, either. Every one of them was living quite comfortably, as if they had come here for a vacation, health retreat, or retirement. It gave off a strong sense of office workers happily collecting their paychecks while chatting, slacking off, and picking at their feet.

He could understand slacking off at work, actually. No matter how outstanding an agent was, if they were assigned to watch an utterly ordinary person, their vigilance might not fade during the first year or two without incident. But after watching for eight or nine years and realizing the target was such a harmless, unlucky nobody... there was no way their mindset wouldn't change.

At that very moment, Lu Mingfei's mind operated at an unprecedented speed. His thoughts were as clear as they had been in his dreams. On top of that, some of the watchers had incredibly loose mouths and practically let information spill out... Before long, he filtered out the useful intelligence and made some simple deductions from it. There were four points in total.

First, this secret organization had been watching him from every angle since the day he was born. And this organization was most likely in the same camp as Cassell College, where he, Chu Zihang, and Caesar had been in the instance.

According to what had been said in the instance, this organization's goal seemed to be dragon slaying. Killing Deadpools was probably just a free egg thrown in with a phone top-up.

Second, this organization could monitor his computer, and it had experts in both romance and deduction.

He had inferred this from the fact that those watchers knew he had once liked Chen Wenwen. He had never told anyone at Shilan about it, and his sense of secrecy had been quite good in his first year of high school. After thinking it over, the only possible leak was probably his old QQ chat logs on the computer. He would have to be more careful when using computers from now on.

Third, Cassell College didn't seem to be united internally. These watchers took their orders directly from the principal of Cassell College.

During their conversations, they mentioned "avoid the Board of Trustees" four times and "the principal instructed us to do this and that" twice. They had also each referred to him once as the "secret weapon," "the principal and vice principal's illegitimate son," "the principal's biological grandson," "the principal's younger brother from the same mother but a different father," "the reincarnation of the principal's biological father," and "the principal's great-grandfather who came back from the dead."

Fourth, he didn't need to hide. Hiding would be useless anyway. The force behind these people was unimaginably powerful, but their current attitude toward him was relatively friendly. Or rather, he had some important mission or significant use.

Judging by the importance they placed on him, if he really caused a huge mess... no matter what, a whole bunch of people would show up to clean up after him. Revealing his abilities would at most make them conclude that his bloodline had awakened. As long as he didn't commit evil, the worst outcome would probably be getting dragged off to Cassell early to attend college.

So I'm actually this important... Lu Mingfei, who had been looking down and counting leaves, grinned. He was a little amused.

Anyone being watched like this wouldn't feel only happy, right? Besides, these watchers didn't give their "food and clothing provider" any special treatment at all. If the internet café offered discounts and the teachers were kinder, he wouldn't have said anything.

How about... finding an opportunity to expose this Cassell College? He shook his head, trying to fling away that extremely unreliable thought.

No, no, that was too extreme and too ridiculous. It was enough to make a note of it in his little notebook. Reality wasn't some hot-blooded manga.

He, Lu Mingfei, had grown up under the sun. He was a well-rounded, upstanding young man.

Setting aside those outsiders, it had already been two days, yet Uncle and Aunt still hadn't come looking for him. Uncle might have wanted to come, but with Aunt in such a rage, he didn't dare come out either... which was understandable, right?

Lu Mingfei laughed at himself again.

Maybe Uncle also thought he had violent tendencies, that he was a monster.

Without realizing it, he bit his lip. After taking a deep breath, his mindset quickly returned to normal.

He didn't want to think about that question anymore. It felt like he was humiliating himself.

They were all adults now. They should each live their own lives. From now on, it would be enough for him to do what he wanted. Without realizing it, he felt as though some kind of shackle around him had been smashed apart.

Perhaps so-called family had always been a one-sided wish. Why had he been unwilling to admit something he should have understood long ago?

He would not recklessly go against his own nature. That would be a betrayal of his soul. But he would also never be so hesitant and overly cautious again. That would be a betrayal of his life.

Droplets of water began striking him rapidly, announcing that the drizzle's gentleness had ended.

The sound of rain grew clearer and clearer until it finally exploded beside Lu Mingfei's ears in a roaring whoosh. Leaden clouds rolled across the distant sky, white lightning winding through them before thunder crashed down.

It was a torrential downpour, suddenly assaulting the school buildings already draped in nightfall. Waves of cold swept through the air, and even the high school students carrying umbrellas hurried their steps.

Those without umbrellas held branded schoolbags over their heads and charged forward. Whether they carried Hermes bags or custom-made Valextra ones, the young masters and young ladies only thought the bags didn't cover enough rain.

In the traditional impression of this southern small city, the rainy season meant, "When rain falls on the yellow plums, there will be no sun for forty-five days." Continuous rainfall mixed with sudden downpours... Today, everyone could feel the rain's majesty, as though God's gaze was hidden within the storm, coldly sweeping across the city.

"Just my luck." Lu Mingfei swept all his black bangs back, casually slicking them into a swept-back style. The rain had soaked his black hair, especially the fringe over his forehead, which nearly blocked his vision.

He was someone with neither an umbrella nor a home. He didn't run with his schoolbag over his head like some of his classmates.

With his physical condition, weaving through a torrential downpour would be no problem. Walking a little slower in the rain might help clear his head, too. Maybe it could wash away the worst parts of his mood.

The turf on the football field had been churned into pieces. A stream of luxury cars picking students up from school had nearly blocked the entrance completely. Some belonged to students' parents, while others were driven by family chauffeurs.

Within the pitch-black rain, honking and shouting blended into utter chaos.

"City Television reminds you... We are now broadcasting an emergency typhoon warning and traffic conditions... Typhoon No. 0903, 'Lotus,' is passing through... In recent days, heavy rainfall has affected the southeastern part of our city. Vessels are advised to return to port, and vehicles should—"

As Lu Mingfei passed the Mercedes-Benz, he paused and frowned slightly. After listening to the car radio's typhoon warning, he thought of another equally dark and stormy downpour from more than four years ago.

The typhoon that made landfall that year seemed to have been called... Dandelion?

He remembered it quite clearly. Back then, the endless dark clouds, raging wind, and torrential rain had made him shiver. In his heart, he had prayed to God and Buddha alike, hoping some hero would save this poor loser. Liu Miaomiao, who had been in his class at the time, hadn't offered him a ride. He had seen the equally expressionless Senior Brother Chu waiting in the rain for a car, but hadn't dared to go up and speak to him.

What a pity. If he had seen through Senior Brother Chu's warmth and loyalty beneath that cold exterior and ridden in his family's car, maybe they could have become friends earlier. Maybe they could have fought side by side like they had at Genji Heavy Industries.

He truly craved friends.

It would be nice if there were someone trustworthy he could talk to right now.

Making his way through the fierce wind and rain, soaked from head to toe, Lu Mingfei suddenly spotted familiar faces beneath a shelter. His eyes lit up, and he jogged to the bus stop pavilion outside Shilan.

After breathing out twice, he lightly adjusted his still-dripping shirt. His gaze was as sharp as a hungry wolf that had spotted fat prey as he raised a hand and casually greeted the two beautiful girls who drew so much attention at Shilan.

"Liu Miaomiao... and Su Xiaoqiang? Your family drivers haven't arrived yet?"

"Do you have Senior Brother Chu's contact information? QQ or email is fine. Thanks, thanks."