For Shilan High School, today was beyond bizarre.
They'd thought it was a prankster student. Then realized it was an outsider.
That escalated things fast. An intruder breaking in and beating up a student—if the school didn't handle it, their reputation would be wrecked. So they called the police.
The student who'd been beaten unconscious woke up during the nurse's exam, screaming to find his attacker. Of course, no one knew where he was.
The mess only kept growing, and in all this, one person was quietly forgotten.
Class continued, but most students couldn't focus. Their minds replayed the morning like a loop.
And Lu Mingfei sat there, holding his bruised cheek in silence.
It should've been his fight.
Yet now it had blown up into something else entirely, and he'd been erased from the story.
No one cared. Even that boy had forgotten Lu Mingfei, obsessed only with finding Yu Jin.
It was like he'd fought back, gotten himself hurt, and the world still passed him by.
Whatever… he was used to it.
When the bell finally rang, Lu Mingfei packed up slowly and stayed for cleaning duty.
There were supposed to be three other students helping. They dumped it all on him.
By the time he finished, dusk had swallowed the sky. The last sunlight dragged his shadow long over the ground.
Lu Mingfei touched his swollen face.
"If I go home like this, they'll definitely interrogate me again."
He thought of his aunt and fell even quieter.
Still lost in that silence, he wandered into a park and sat on a stone bench facing the big lake.
More than the pain, he couldn't stop thinking about what that boy had said.
It gnawed at him.
"Did they really divorce? Did they really not want me anymore?"
He wanted to shout no way…
but what if?
What if it really was true?
At fourteen, living under someone else's roof, it was the perfect age for spiraling.
He kept spiraling until someone sat beside him.
He exhaled hard and snapped back to reality.
"Man, I'm exhausted," the person beside him sighed.
"That voice… why is it familiar?" Lu Mingfei was about to stand and leave, but instinct made him look over.
One glance—
and his heart nearly stopped.
Sitting next to him was the outsider who'd stormed their school today.
Yu Jin.
"Why do you look like you saw a ghost?" Yu Jin grinned at him.
Lu Mingfei's brain auto-snarked: I've clapped ghosts and they never hurt me. You? Different story.
Fear flooded him. He's not gonna hurt me, right?
Yu Jin saw the fear and ruffled his hair hard.
"You ungrateful brat. I climbed to the third floor bare-handed and beat that mouthy punk for you. And now you're scared of me? Kid Lu, you wound me."
Lu Mingfei couldn't resist the hand, but Yu Jin's words sank in.
"You… came here specifically to help me."
He didn't know why he was sure.
Yu Jin nodded like it was obvious.
"Who else? Now hurry up and say thanks, little bro."
"Uh… thanks, Brother Yu Jin. But…" Lu Mingfei hesitated, then asked, "Why did you suddenly show up and… help me?"
He didn't know why he cared so much about the answer.
He got it anyway—and it terrified him.
"Because I was bored, so I decided to stalk you. And I happened to catch this."
…?
When I put a question mark here, it's not because I'm the problem.
"Dude, we've met once! Why are you stalking me?!"
Lu Mingfei's brain exploded with one terrifying possibility—
Wait… is he… into guys?
Lu Mingfei wanted to flee on the spot.
"If you start thinking something disgusting," Yu Jin said calmly, "I'm tossing you into the lake."
Lu Mingfei relaxed instantly.
Okay, not gay.
"Anyway, what were you thinking about all alone here?" Yu Jin asked suddenly.
That dragged Lu Mingfei back to the earlier spiral.
Maybe he really wanted to talk to someone.
After a long silence, he said, "I was wondering if my mom and dad… really don't want me anymore…"
"Thinking here won't help. If you want to know, ask them later in person."
"You don't get it."
"Yeah. I don't." Yu Jin nodded. "Because I'm an orphan."
That made Lu Mingfei look at him.
He opened his mouth to say sorry, or something—
but Yu Jin just smiled and ruffled his hair again.
"You kids your age overthink everything."
"And now you're pitying me too." He chuckled. "I'm not someone worth pitying."
"Because if you've got nothing, there's nothing left to fear."
"But you've got a whole pile of teen-drama crap to deal with."
"True…" Lu Mingfei sighed bitterly. "Just thinking about going home and hearing my aunt's mouth go off gives me a headache. You wouldn't believe how brutal she is."
The boy let out a long breath.
Yu Jin smiled.
"Be grateful. At least you've got food, clothes, a room, and a computer. Back when your Brother Yu Jin was your age…" He dragged the sentence out. Lu Mingfei stared expectantly.
Yu Jin grinned. "Not telling you."
"Tch." Lu Mingfei clicked his tongue, but without realizing it he'd loosened up. The tension was gone, replaced by a weird comfort.
The gloom lifted like clouds after rain.
He looked back at the lake and breathed slowly.
Yeah. Thinking in circles here did nothing but make him worse.
He'd ask his parents face-to-face someday.
As for the aunt's lectures… still annoying.
But he had to go home no matter what.
The sky was already dark.
Lu Mingfei turned to Yu Jin. "I should head back."
"I won't walk you home. But before you go, I want to ask you something." Yu Jin stared straight into his eyes.
"Suppose one day your friend is in danger, about to die. A devil offers you a deal—one-quarter of your life. If you accept, he gives you power to save your friend. Do you take the deal?"
To Lu Mingfei it sounded like a fairy-tale devil: take a quarter now, take another quarter later, lure you into the abyss.
He wanted to say he didn't even have friends.
But looking at Yu Jin waiting for his answer…
a truth surfaced inside him.
A breeze rustled through the trees. Leaves drifted down.
Lu Mingfei answered, "I think I would."
Yu Jin smiled.
"Cherish your life. More than trading a quarter to save your friend, I'd rather you say: I won't let my friend fall into danger in the first place."
He stood and brushed leaves off his clothes.
"I know that's hard, but…" He looked down at Lu Mingfei seriously. "If it's you… you can do it, right?"
"I don't even believe that about myself," Lu Mingfei muttered, "why do you believe it more than I do?"
"Belief doesn't need a reason!" Yu Jin flashed him a thumbs-up.
"If that kind of choice ever comes, remember today's talk."
"Like that'll happen. There are no devils in this world." Lu Mingfei rolled his eyes. "You're mature one minute and a kid the next."
"Maybe." Yu Jin grinned—then his face snapped hard.
Lu Mingfei didn't know what happened. He only saw Yu Jin lunge toward him—
and warm liquid splashed across Lu Mingfei's face.
Across the lake, beneath the shadows of countless trees, a pair of eyes watched. The girl's brows knit tight.
"That shouldn't be… wait—what is that? How is this possible?"
She was staring at something unbelievable.
Lu Mingfei collapsed onto the ground, eyes huge with terror, iron-rust blood stink flooding his nose. He couldn't even scream.
In front of him stood Yu Jin—skewered clean through—
and a monster.
"Why are you still sitting there?! Run!" Yu Jin roared at Lu Mingfei behind him.
With the shout, blood spilled from Yu Jin's mouth, but he didn't have time to care.
"What the hell? Why is there a Dead Servant here?!"
"I didn't bring any weapons today!"
Yu Jin clenched the monster's claw as it pressed forward. But his body, punched through earlier when he'd shoved Lu Mingfei aside, could barely put out strength.
He felt the kid still frozen behind him.
"Run!" he roared again.
Lu Mingfei was panting, staring at the scene, mind blank.
The world had gone insane.
Monsters.
What was that monster?
Yu Jin's chest had a hole. Yu Jin was going to die—for pushing him out of the way.
Lu Mingfei's worldview cracked into pieces. He wanted to move, but his body wouldn't listen.
Then Yu Jin's shout jerked him awake. He staggered up.
He wanted to say, Brother Yu Jin, I'll help you.
Yu Jin screamed again:
"This isn't a romance drama—run, you idiot!!"
Yu Jin wasn't afraid for himself. He'd die and revive after a few seconds anyway.
But a few seconds was enough for the Dead Servant to reach Lu Mingfei.
Maybe Lu Mingfei wouldn't die.
But Yu Jin was the adult here.
He wouldn't force a middle-schooler to face this.
Seeing Yu Jin's pain-twisted face and hearing the furious yelling, Lu Mingfei bit his lip and ran.
Yu Jin watched the boy's back retreat and finally eased a fraction.
"Run faster, middle-schooler!"
Lu Mingfei flinched—and sprinted even harder.
Once Lu Mingfei vanished into the distance, Yu Jin let go.
His head exploded.
Yu Jin died.
The Dead Servant started to move after Lu Mingfei.
But next second, flames burst from Yu Jin's body. His face reformed in a snarl.
"You filthy bastard. You were real smug just now."
Yu Jin's fist hammered into the Dead Servant's skull, blasting it back several meters. It shook its head—and came again.
Yu Jin was sure now.
This wasn't an ordinary Dead Servant. It was a nasty one.
"Someone's messing with me." Yu Jin didn't need to think long to know that.
Who? He didn't know. But he didn't care right now.
He just wanted to tear this thing in half.
Monster and immortal tore into each other.
The Dead Servant's purity was frightening. One hit could punch through Yu Jin like paper.
But every time he fell, he rose from flame.
And without anyone noticing, the power of a next-generation dragon was waking inside him.
At first, a punch only made the Dead Servant stumble a few meters.
After dying over ten times, that strength surged forward like it had found the throttle.
Yu Jin rode the Dead Servant down, fists raining on its head, bricks around them cracking and bursting.
"Die!"
One final punch shattered its skull completely.
Yu Jin panted, staring at the motionless corpse, then stood.
"Don't let me find out who's pulling strings, or you're eating a Rhine." He spat the threat and bolted.
The noise was huge. People would come soon.
Time to vanish.
After Yu Jin left, a figure stepped out beside the Dead Servant, raised a hand—
and the corpse vanished.
She murmured softly, thinking aloud.
"Not a hybrid. A next-generation dragon. But the ability that lets him rise from death again and again… what is it?"
As she stood there, she turned sharply toward the distance.
Someone had forced himself through fear and come running back.
But when he arrived, the place was empty.
He fell to his knees in despair.
-------
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