Chapter Eighteen: The Intoxicated Elegance of Mai (Two Chapters Combined)

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Heart-Talk Internet Cafe.

After seeing Lu Mingfei and Su Xiaoqiang off, Old Lei went upstairs to tidy up their workstations.

Just as he sat back down at the front desk, the "ding-ding-ding" sound of a MapleStory friend notification chimed—his new female apprentice from a few days ago was asking for help again.

Old Lei was about to reply when the internet cafe door was pushed open.

Against the blinding sunlight, her face was obscured, but the light outlined a tall, graceful silhouette amidst the floating dust.

Old Lei glanced up, then lowered his head, his gaze returning to the computer screen. "Two yuan an hour. Members get ten yuan free with a ten-yuan deposit. If you want a terminal, show me your ID."

The woman slapped a card onto the counter with a "snap." Old Lei reached out without looking up, his fingertips fumbling until they found the card.

The moment he gripped it, he froze.

The texture was strange—it felt somewhat like metal, yet not quite, and the surface had a high-end matte finish.

It was clearly not an ID card.

Old Lei slowly opened his palm. A black card lay there, devoid of text, bearing only strange abstract lines and numerical symbols. He flipped it over; on the back were two crossed silver guns, with the English word "Hunter" inscribed beneath them.

Old Lei remained silent for two seconds before sliding the card back across the counter. "We don't accept anything but official ID cards."

"Is an ID card strictly necessary?" the woman asked in a mature, languid voice. "Can't I use a temporary pass? I just flew in from Japan this morning and only have my passport on me; I haven't had time to process a temporary residence permit."

"Sorry, this is a legitimate establishment." Old Lei pulled a "No Minors Allowed" sign from under the counter and placed it on the desk.

At that moment, the door was pushed open again. It was Lu Mingfei, returning after dropping off Su Xiaoqiang. Lu Mingfei had his hands in his pockets. "Boss, I'm back. Give me another two hours."

He had barely finished speaking when he noticed the woman standing beside him—fair-skinned, beautiful, long-legged, with her long hair tied up high.

Even though she wore large sunglasses that hid most of her face, one could tell her features were quite stunning. She was carrying a small suitcase.

The three of them stared at each other. Awkwardness hung in the air like dust.

A flash of surprise crossed the woman's beautiful face, but it quickly turned into a coy, mocking smile. She tapped the counter with fingers painted in black nail polish, looking at Old Lei. "I thought you said no minors allowed?"

"I-I-I walked into the wrong place!"

Lu Mingfei, sensing that something was off, recalled Old Lei’s earlier comment about "strict inspections lately." His heart skipped a beat; he wondered if this beautiful woman was the inspector.

Though he was technically an adult, he was still a minor on paper, so he hurriedly bowed to the two of them and slipped away as quickly as he could, leaving without a trace.

"See, he's gone. I told you, this is a proper cafe. You can't get online without an ID." Old Lei said.

"Fine." The woman shrugged, tucked the card into her inner pocket, and pulled out a new one, handing it to Old Lei. "Then tell me, does this one work?"

The content on this card was even simpler. There was no writing, only an engraving on one side of a silver-lined image: a lush World Tree.

Old Lei suddenly felt a tightness in his throat, as if someone were gripping his windpipe.

"Who are you?" Old Lei’s voice was dry.

"It seems you recognize this card."

"I recognize half of it."

"Half is enough."

The woman put the card away. "Don't be so nervous. I've only come today because I need you to look into someone for me. Of course, there will be compensation. I can pay you in person, or if you're worried, we can process it through the Hunter platform. It's your choice."

"If I say I don't need the money, will you leave?"

The woman smiled. "Of course not."

"You're forcing a sale, then." Old Lei spread his hands in resignation. "Fine, speak quickly. Best to keep it brief. I still have to take my lovely apprentice on a dungeon run."

"Alright, I'll be concise." The woman leaned slightly against the counter. "You have a major local corporation here called the Black Prince Group. Do you know it?"

"Of course. It's the city's leading enterprise and a major taxpayer every year."

"The boss of the Black Prince Group has a driver. His name is this."

The woman borrowed a pen and paper from Old Lei, scribbled a few characters, and handed it to him.

Old Lei looked at the name and frowned. "Chu Tianjiao?"

"Yes."

"Never heard of him."

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"That is the first strange thing," the woman said, crossing her legs and shifting her posture against the counter. "I haven't heard of him either. I even dug through the Black Prince Group's social security records, and I couldn't find a trace of him."

"Is it possible that this person simply doesn't exist?"

"According to an extremely reliable source, this man definitely exists—or rather, he once existed. And like you, he is a graduate of Cassel College." The woman paused. "His bloodline was even above A-grade."

"Impossible!" Old Lei immediately denied it. "The resident execution department commissioners in every city know each other. I have never heard of such a person. Especially not one with such a high bloodline. You must have made a mistake."

"That is the second strange thing," the woman said. "I mobilized every resource at my disposal to investigate this man. Though I couldn't find a shred of his identity, I did find information on his son. Isn't that strange? A man who might not exist left a son in this world."

"..."

"You should know his son; he's your alumnus."

"What's his name?"

"Chu Zihang."

Old Lei took a deep breath. He had definitely heard that name.

As the founder of the "Chu Zihang Must Die" list at Shilan High School, that name had firmly occupied the top spot since the list's inception.

Furthermore, Chu Zihang was one of the few people recorded by the college as having a potentially high-risk bloodline in this city.

From a genetic standpoint, for Chu Zihang to possess such a high bloodline, at least one of his parents had to be a high-level dragon-blood descendant.

The woman continued softly, "We've looked into Chu Zihang's records. According to the retrieved data, his biological mother was just an ordinary, beautiful woman. His current legal father, Lu Tianming, is merely his stepfather. Therefore, his dragon blood could only have been inherited from his biological father."

"But how are you so sure that Chu Zihang’s biological father is this man named Chu Tianjiao?" Old Lei spotted a contradiction. "Logically speaking, if you can't find any information on Chu Tianjiao, how can you be sure he has a son? You can't just be assigning fathers to people because they both share the surname Chu, can you?"

"Because our source is extremely reliable... even if the whole world is wrong, he wouldn't be."

The woman moved away from the counter. "If you don't believe me, you can verify it yourself. See if you can find a single trace of Chu Zihang's biological father. A man who vanished into thin air, a father with no background—putting those two together, I believe that should prove a few things."

"I'll look into it when I have time," Old Lei said. "But I have one last question."

"Go ahead."

"Why did you come to me for this?"

"Because you are the most suitable person to investigate this." The woman tilted her head, her narrow eyes behind the sunglasses fixed on Old Lei. "Cassel College Commissioner B007, Raymond. You've been stationed in this city for years; no one knows every detail of this place better than you. Plus, when you were at Cassel, you were a member of the 'EVA' design project. There aren't many hackers in this world who can break into the NOMA database, and we believe you are one of them."

"..."

Old Lei remained silent for a long time before nodding, a smile curling his lips. "It is interesting. I'll take this private job. How do I contact you once I have results?"

"This is my number." The woman wrote a string of digits on the paper with "Chu Tianjiao" written on it and handed it to Old Lei with a foxy smile. "Make sure you keep it safe. There's no telling how many men want my number."

"I admit you're beautiful, but unfortunately, you're not my type." Old Lei curled his lip. "I like the cute ones—a bit shorter, flatter chest, someone who talks in a high-pitched, spoiled way, someone who loves snacks."

"What a coincidence. I have a friend who is exactly that kind of girl."

"Holy—hurry and introduce me, sister! Hurry, quick!" Old Lei’s small, Li Ronghao-like eyes widened, instantly excited.

The woman shrugged. "You remember my number and name first, then I'll consider introducing her to you."

"Deal. What's your name, sister?"

The woman's lips moved, and she smiled as she spoke a few words: "Jiu De Ma Yi."

...

While Jiu De Ma Yi and Old Lei were negotiating, Lu Mingfei was walking down the street, deep in thought.

For some reason, Lu Mingfei felt that the beautiful woman with the sunglasses looked familiar, and the perfume she wore felt like something he had smelled somewhere before.

This wasn't the first time.

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Ever since he saw Xia Mi on that rain-drenched overpass, Lu Mingfei felt that his sense of déjà vu had been particularly strong lately; everything he saw felt familiar.

Even looking at Old Lei, he had the feeling that "I have met this brother before."

But Lu Mingfei immediately brushed it off—it was only natural that he knew Old Lei.

When he was in junior high in his past life, Old Lei was the manager at this internet cafe, most obsessed with pursuing online romances with girls from MapleStory and Audition.

However, because of Old Lei's small, Li Ronghao-like eyes, his online romances always died the moment they met in person.

Because of this, Lu Mingfei often saw Old Lei sitting on the threshold of the internet cafe, crying like Jia Baoyu.

But not long after Lu Mingfei started high school, Old Lei left that internet cafe. People said he had found his true love online and finally met her in reality.

"If I can run into Su Xiaoqiang at an internet cafe, it's no surprise I'd run into anyone."

Maybe if he went to the Xinhua Bookstore now, he’d run into Chen Wenwen.

But Lu Mingfei only thought about it; he wouldn't actually go to the bookstore to try his luck.

From the moment he watched Zhao Menghua hold Chen Wenwen’s hand in the choir and place an engagement ring on her finger, Lu Mingfei had let go of everything concerning Chen Wenwen.

The dwarves took in Snow White when she was at her lowest and protected her, but she would only ever remember the prince who kissed her awake and made her spit out the poisoned apple.

Chen Wenwen was destined to have her own Prince Charming; what could a dwarf like him do? Naturally, only offer his congratulations.

Fairy tales are the most innocent stories, yet they are also the most cruel.

No matter how well the dwarves treated Snow White, there was an insurmountable chasm between them. The ugly duckling that turned into a swan was a swan all along; no matter how much effort or how painful the price, the mermaid princess could never enter the prince's world...

Damn it, stop thinking. The more he thought, the more he felt his life was a tragedy. He’d been in middle school for nearly ten years, and he hadn't even kissed a girl.

"Sigh, nowhere to go. Might as well head back."

Lately, Lu Mingfei’s pockets had been quite empty.

Some time ago, Lu Mingfei had brought up the subject of a graduation trip to his aunt.

He had expected his aunt to refuse, fly into a rage, or use that trumpet-like voice of hers to lecture him on how hard it was to raise him, telling him to be considerate and using that as a reason to decline his request.

To his surprise, his aunt agreed quite readily, though the money would be deducted from his future allowance.

"If it's a graduation trip for the whole class, then go." His aunt said without looking back, busy picking vegetables. "It's not easy for classmates to study together for three years. A gathering with everyone present might only happen once in a lifetime. But be frugal with the money, don't be extravagant, and remember to bring back some local specialties for your uncle to give as gifts..."

This was the first time in Lu Mingfei’s memory that his aunt had agreed to something so easily.

In his past life, there had been a graduation trip too, but Lu Mingfei hadn't told his aunt; he had gone to his uncle instead.

His uncle didn't hold the purse strings of the family, but when it came to things that really mattered, his uncle was never stingy with him.

His uncle, living up to expectations, generously gave Lu Mingfei the money for the trip. Of course, the price was that for the next three months, his uncle’s cigarettes changed from Yuxi to Lao Baisha.

Including that time in the restaurant in Japan when he ate with Erii, his uncle—thinking he was being hunted—had chased him out of the restaurant and stuffed his wallet into Lu Mingfei's hands.

Often, the people you think like you don't actually like you. Like Chen Wenwen.

Often, the people you think don't love you might actually care about you quite a bit. Like his uncle.

...

When Lu Mingfei walked home, it was nearly two o'clock.

There was nothing to eat in the fridge. Fortunately, at the internet cafe, Lu Mingfei had "freeloaded" a bowl of instant noodles, two eggs, and two sausages from Su Xiaoqiang, so he wasn't hungry yet.

It was the height of summer; the air was stifling and hot, and even the cicadas outside the window sounded listless.

Lu Mingfei turned on the air conditioner in his room first, then stripped off his clothes to take a shower. That way, by the time he finished, the room would be at a cool, comfortable temperature.

However, Lu Mingfei could only do this when his aunt wasn't home. If she saw him, she would complain about him wasting electricity.

After his shower, he turned on the computer and logged into QQ. Just as he was about to start StarCraft, the QQ notification sound "ding-ding-ding" rang out. The little penguin in the bottom right corner was blinking.

It was broad daylight; who would be looking for him?

The few gaming buddies he knew who played StarCraft were all night owls.

Lu Mingfei moved his mouse over the blinking penguin and clicked it with a "click."