Lu Mingfei originally thought Old Tang's so-called "offline peak duel" was just two internet friends meeting up at a cybercafé to grab a couple of PCs, play some StarCraft, and waste away an afternoon.
He never expected Old Tang to be a rich guy, throwing money around like it was nothing. He went big — rented the entire café, paid the owner in advance, and promoted the event with a generous prize pool. This attracted a whole wave of the city's top StarCraft players, and what was supposed to be a casual meetup turned into a full-blown StarCraft championship.
When Lu Mingfei entered the café, he showed his ID and received a player number badge. A pretty hostess assigned by the café escorted him to a VIP seat and announced him as the current "Platform Master" of StarCraft XX. Per the rules, anyone who could defeat a platform master would be promoted directly to the finals.
The red-haired, green-haired, badly styled internet addicts below eyed the skinny middle schooler like starving wolves — clearly convinced this guy was just a free win. They rushed forward to take him down and snatch the prize money.
And then… they all tasted bitter defeat.
Every single challenger — male or female, young or old — lasted no more than a few minutes before being completely crushed by Lu Mingfei. Some were so enraged they punched their monitors, then calmly got up and apologized to the café owner for damages.
Others screamed, "Damn hacker!" but had no way to refute the godlike plays they'd just witnessed, so they could only retreat while the audience laughed in their faces.
Some even turned into fanboys, throwing him snacks and drinks and patting him on the back, saying things like, "That was my final ripple… bro, you gotta win for me!"
Lu Mingfei didn't let them down. He crunched on snacks, downed an energy drink, and shouted, "Leave it to me, Zeppelin!" before diving back into the game, commanding his Zerg swarm to devour every challenger.
The furious clicking of keys and mouse filled the café like a battlefield. Time passed in a blink. When Lu Mingfei finally looked up, the digital battlefield was littered with bones and blood, and even Old Tang — the final boss waiting at the end — was defeated in ten minutes flat.
The Esports Emperor had been born.
Someone shouted it from the back, and then the entire café erupted with chants like "Esports Emperor!" "StarCraft Legend!" "Mingming is our king!" Old Tang gave him a big thumbs-up and cursed in awe, "You monster, why the hell were you holding back on me all this time?!"
Compliments poured in like a flood. Lu Mingfei walked out of the café in a daze, feeling like he was in a dream.
So… I'm actually this good? He floated out of the café with his prize money. Never in his life had he received such heartfelt encouragement — not from his parents, not from his teachers, but from these fellow gamers and netizens.
He wandered for a while along familiar roads before realizing he'd ended up near Shilan Middle School. A few classmates approached from the opposite direction, laughing and tossing around nasty comments.
"Hey, isn't that… what's his name again?"
"Lu Mingfei!"
"Right, the guy living with his aunt and uncle 'cause his parents abandoned him!"
"Haha, c'mon, at least they still send him money, right?"
"Please. Probably divorced abroad and just dumped him here!"
Even though Shilan Middle School was an expensive private school, money couldn't buy decency. There was never a shortage of jerks who enjoyed mocking others.
Lu Mingfei's fists clenched.
He had just descended from the clouds of gaming glory only to be slammed down by these insults. Teenage fury exploded in his chest.
BAM!
Before the classmates could react, Lu Mingfei's fist landed square on the most obnoxious guy's face. The boy toppled to the ground in shock, then stammered, "Lu Mingfei?! You hit me?!"
"Damn right I did. You called me an orphan? Today, anyone who doesn't dare throw hands is the real bastard with no parents!"
The whole street froze.
"You little punk, you're dead!" the guy snarled and lunged at him. They rolled into a wild scuffle, but before it got too far, some of the others pulled them apart.
"Don't fall into this loser's trap. If we cause trouble in front of the school, we'll all be screwed."
"Forget him!"
"Let's just report him to the teachers — let him suffer!"
But as they turned to leave, they ran headfirst into two rows of tall men in black suits marching toward them with intimidating presence.
"???" The middle schoolers froze. Had they stumbled into a mafia gang?!
The man leading the group wore huge sunglasses and walked with swagger. He strode up to Lu Mingfei and spoke in a low voice:
"Ricardo, we don't have much time. Are you still going to keep reliving high school drama?"
"Huh?" Lu Mingfei blinked, confused. Were they here to kidnap him? Or… did they need him to save the world?
But the next second, Lu Mingfei took a closer look at the guy's distinctive thick eyebrows. It was Old Tang!
Old Tang, what the hell are you doing?!
"Ricardo?" the classmates whispered.
"Ricardo M. Lu. That's what we call him," Old Tang said, glaring at the kids. They shrank back, terrified.
Old Tang continued, "Ricardo, you're our 'Esports Emperor.' You can't waste time with these amateurs."
He waved his hand. Two attractive female assistants stepped forward and dressed Lu Mingfei in a custom-tailored black suit and shiny leather shoes. A black-suited man handed him a fancy business card from a gaming club, along with a formal invitation. A stretched Lincoln limo even pulled up to the curb...
It finally clicked for Lu Mingfei — these people worked for some esports club that wanted to sign him! They'd gone all out to recruit him, the StarCraft prodigy!
The doors of professional esports were opening for him.
And so, a perfect "humble teen becomes a genius legend" scene played out. Lu Mingfei was whisked away in style, while the dumbfounded middle schoolers fled in panic under Old Tang's death glare.
...
Back on the street, Old Tang smacked his lips. He glanced at the payment notification on his phone from "Huan Ya Group's CEO" and thought, damn, that was the easiest paycheck I've ever earned.
"Old Tang, what the hell was that?" Shirou approached quickly after getting out of Nono's car. He'd just stepped out to ask something — Nono was still waiting in the car.
"Oh, I thought organizing the StarCraft tournament would be expensive, but then a new esports club backed by Huan Ya Group reached out. They handled everything — I think they wanted to use the event to scout talent. So I played along."
Old Tang showed him the transfer. "They paid me just to act — just to get 'Mingming,' that genius net friend I mentioned, to sign with them. He's insane. Even I can't beat him."
He added a bit of bragging, pretending his loss was part of some strategy.
"Huan Ya Group?" Shirou raised an eyebrow. That was Su Enxi's company — she'd been the one who funded the aquarium incident too.
"Yeah. Never heard of them before, but everyone local says it's a huge company. Their boss even got awards from the city. Anyway, bro, now that we've made some cash, don't you have any... ideas?"
Suddenly, Old Tang's face twisted into that sleazy look — the same one he wore when talking about sketchy massage parlors.
"Don't tell me..." Shirou narrowed his eyes.
"Heheh, Nono's a tough nut to crack, right? But with cash, you can find all kinds of girls—"
"Could you stop talking about those damn foot massage places?! I follow the law, I don't pay for sex!"
"Come on, it's not 'paying' if you're rich!" Old Tang insisted. "It's legal and respectable! In fact, the noble families have started recruiting outside students as magic apprentices."
"And that's relevant because...?"
"You forgot? We still hold honorary titles in the Zhou family. The project we worked on is recruiting now. I even asked the Lady herself — we're allowed to bring in one assistant each under project terms!"
Old Tang's eyes gleamed. "A magic assistant, bro! You know what that means — a cute student girl! She does the work, and when there's nothing to do…"
Shirou: "..."
Seriously? Do you realize the women around me would literally tear a poor girl like that to pieces?
...
"Let's go. That was just Old Tang playing a role. No big deal."
Shirou got back into the car and buckled up, lying back in the comfy passenger seat. Pretty schoolgirls? No thanks. Three women already make drama — four would be a war.
The car started up again. Nono casually asked, "So… acting? What kind of role? He looked super shady talking to you through the window."
"Probably because of the who— cough, cough!" Shirou slipped up and quickly stopped talking.
"Because of what?"
Shirou scrambled for a lie. "Magic studies! We were talking about that night at the overpass — you know, when I did the mana transfer. Old Tang was joking, asking if we'd, uh… 'done it.'"
"What?!"
Nono's face turned red, and she nearly slammed the brakes, instantly flashing back to that awkward bathtub incident.
"Next time I see that bastard, I'll rip his tongue out! Asking if we 'did it'? I'll 'do' him first!"
"Whoa, whoa, no need for that…" Shirou thought, damn, I really threw Old Tang under the bus.
"What does 'do' mean?" asked a curious voice from the backseat.
It was Melusine.
(End of Chapter)
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