Lu Mingfei's Sorrow

Lu Mingfei had once thought that as long as he was salty enough, no stray cat would want to take a bite out of a salted fish like him.

But life was a fan of strong flavors. The saltier you were, the more life liked taking a bite out of you.

Slaying dragons, saving the world...

Those had never been things a loser like him should do. Being a hero came at a price.

His greatest wish was to earn some money, find a girl he loved, take over the old man's newsstand at the entrance to his neighborhood, and live a life free from worries about food and clothing.

At the senior graduation party, that red-haired girl named Chen Nuotong had made a dashing entrance, using glue to stick the feathers of a white swan onto this ugly duckling and leaving behind a legend of Lu Mingfei at Shilan High School.

But that was not the real him, either.

There had to be some mistake with this S-Infinity-Class.

Lu Mingfei had always told himself that.

If there was anything that set him apart from everyone else, it was probably that he could make deals with a self-proclaimed little brother called the Little Demon.

No matter what wish it was, as long as you paid a quarter of your life, he could grant it.

But what kind of person was Lu Mingfei? A coward with no ambition and no fighting spirit. What could possibly make him trade his life with a Demon?

There was something. He had already made two deals.

After every deal, he always walked on thin ice, terrified of falling into Lu Mingze's trap again.

Yet in the end, he discovered that whenever he fell into a pit, only Lu Mingze could help him out of it.

Ben had thought it was a joke Lu Mingze had made, but it turned out to be a cross-world chat tool.

What kind of mindset did it take to write a novel like this? Lu Mingfei desperately wanted to press a Desert Eagle to the author's head and ask what grudge he had.

Lu Mingfei drew his legs up, his eyes somewhat vacant.

"04.24, went to Tokyo Skytree with Sakura. The warmest place in the world was at the top of the Skytree."

"04.25, went to Meiji Shrine with Sakura. Someone was holding a wedding there."

"04.26, went to Disneyland with Sakura. The haunted house was scary, but Sakura was there, so it wasn't scary."

"Sakura was the best."

Sometimes, he really felt exhausted, but there was no way to stop and catch his breath.

Erii.

He did not know what mindset he should use to face that girl.

When he saw that he had treated her as Nono, Lu Mingfei had been so embarrassed he could have carved a castle out with his toes.

A girl who liked anime and video games, someone with whom he had so much in common—so Lu Mingze, you little bastard, arranged a Tokyo Love Story for me!?

But that girl...

She really had fallen for him.

And he was still running away, just like before.

He had lived for twenty years, and she was the first girl who had ever liked him.

He did not understand why anyone would like a loser like him. A lofty Princess becoming infatuated with a passing background character like him...

That was not a fairy tale at all.

Yet that girl just liked him that much.

The signature on the check in Humpback Whale's hand had, in a corner, a familiar handwriting: Uesugi Erii.

That girl had bought a hundred thousand flower tickets just to make him stay.

Pulling a pillow off the bed and hugging it against his chest, Lu Mingfei did not know what he was feeling at that moment.

It felt as though his heart were being gripped, his mind filled with the descriptions from the book.

At the very end of the book, he walked away unsteadily, like a wind-up doll whose spring was about to run out.

Every time, he was this pathetic. Every time, he failed to protect what he wanted to protect.

In this theatrical life, everything he gained was accidental, while loss seemed to be the norm.

Lu Mingfei got out of bed and put on his shoes. Listlessly, he picked up a coat and lifted the silver aluminum-magnesium alloy suitcase Lu Mingze had prepared for him.

Chu Zihang had already been waiting for him by the front door for a while.

"Have you packed your luggage?"

"Yeah." Lu Mingfei nodded without much emotion.

Chu Zihang thought Lu Mingfei was feeling down because Caesar and Nono had gotten engaged.

"What I said before still stands."

Chu Zihang suddenly said this as Lu Mingfei put away his luggage.

"Hm?"

"Chop off his axle."

"..."

Senior Brother, I'm touched, but could we stop fixating on Caesar's axle?

Lu Mingfei forced a smile. "Senior Brother, I just had a nightmare and didn't sleep well."

Last night, Lu Mingze had put on a show in his dream about fishing for a giant Dragon, startling him awake in the middle of the night.

Then a chat group spanning countless worlds had appeared in his mind, and he had spent the entire night reading "Dragon Raja 3."

"Mm, let's go. You can sleep on the way to Chicago Airport."

Probably not. I still have to keep reading "Dragon Raja 4" later.

"Here."

After they got in the car, Chu Zihang handed Lu Mingfei a carton of milk and a piece of bread.

"Thanks, Senior Brother."

He knew Lu Mingfei had not eaten breakfast and even brought him a meal. Senior Brother Chu was too considerate. It wasn't for nothing that I used a quarter of my life to save you.

Slurp~

Lu Mingfei drank milk and chewed on bread in the car, thinking it was such a pity about Xia Mi. The two of them had actually been quite a good match, but one of them was a Dragon—and a Dragon King at that.

Who wouldn't love such a warm and considerate senior brother?

If he, Lu Mingfei, were a girl, he would love him too.

Wait!

Lu Mingfei shuddered.

The events of "Dragon Raja 1" and "Dragon Raja 2" had already happened, so he had not read much of them. But he suddenly remembered a line he had casually skimmed at the beginning, one that described Xia Mi.

Female version of Lu Mingfei.

The bread nearly choked him.

"Water."

Lu Mingfei took the bottle of mineral water Chu Zihang handed him and gulped down a mouthful.

"Ha—"

After catching his breath, Lu Mingfei forced his thoughts elsewhere. It would have been nice if this chat group had come two years earlier.

Then perhaps many things could have changed.

No, perhaps nothing could have changed...

Old Tang, Xia Mi...

If the future could be changed, if the written script called Ben could be rewritten, that would naturally be wonderful.

But could it really be that easy?

Others might be able to escape, but Lu Mingfei could not.

For Lu Mingfei, running away was shameful and useless.

He could not escape.

From the moment he set foot in Kassel Academy, he had been unable to escape this vortex.

With his intelligence, he should not have been thinking about so many questions, so most of the time he chose to ignore those things that seemed unreasonable.

"Black Swan Port," "Zero," "Renata," "Authority."

When these things were laid out before him from God Almighty's perspective, could he still ignore them?

Several hours later.

The black Gulfstream G550 let out an ear-splitting roar. There were only three passengers on this flight from Chicago to Japan.

Lu Mingfei leaned back in his seat. This time, there was no drool at the corner of his mouth, nor was he leaning on Senior Brother Chu's shoulder for Caesar across from them to silently comment on.

People did not share the same joys and sorrows. Lu Mingfei only felt that life's hardships came wave after wave.

(Ben Chapter Complete)