Ling Cage, pick up Lu Mingfei at the start.

After being greeted by various people along the way, Lu Mingfei finally arrived at the most familiar place besides his own home and Bai Yuekui's home—"Play and Read for Leisure".

But here Lu Mingfei met someone he never expected. Right in front of that relatively unpopular sci-fi racing game machine that was known for its high-speed response and micro-management, a figure that should never have been there made him freeze in his tracks as he was about to take out his coins.

A head of golden hair that shimmered like honey even in dim light, a simple light-colored shirt worn over a well-made brown vest, and a sapphire necklace at the collar that shimmered slightly in the reflection of the screen—Tasia.

She was leaning slightly forward, her hands loosely clasped, as if what was in front of her was not the plastic panel of an arcade game, but some kind of sophisticated experimental instrument, intently staring at the tunnel of light and shadow flashing across the screen.

Perhaps due to the screen's reflection, Tasia suddenly released the button, and as she turned around, her honey-gold hair tossed back. She smiled at Lu Mingfei, who was standing at the door, and waved.

"Hey, isn't this our Road God?" Tasia's voice was slightly teasing. "You've been holed up at home for days, and you finally went out today, but you still rushed here. You really are a net addict."

Lu Mingfei's face flushed slightly, and he subconsciously wanted to retort. He had clearly done a lot of important things today: he got a haircut, had his clothes measured, and even had a one-sided, profound emotional outpouring... But Lu Mingze's nonsensical words lingered in his mind, making him unable to even muster the interest to argue.

However, Lu Mingfei was quite surprised to see Tasia there, so he blurted out, "What are you doing here?"

But as soon as the words left his mouth, Lu Mingfei felt something was off. Asking like that made it seem like the person shouldn't have come, since Mai Duo, who had never played games before, had been dragged into gaming by him and Xia Dou.

She stood up, stretched her shoulders which were stiff from sitting for a long time, and her movements carried a unique feminine elegance.

"What?" She raised an eyebrow, her jewel-like eyes shining brightly in the light from the surrounding screens. "Don't I look like someone who plays video games?"

Lu Mingfei actually nodded subconsciously. He had ruled this gaming territory for quite some time, and he had met almost all the skilled gamers in the village, young and old, but he had never caught sight of this golden hue amidst the noisy electronic waves.

"I've never seen you here before."

"Of course you haven't seen me before." Tasia walked up to him, carrying a faint scent of old books and some kind of cleaning agent, which clashed with the atmosphere of the arcade. "Research work also needs a break; you can't always be on edge. It's just that my way of relaxing is rather limited. If I knew how to play cards or was good at something else, you might have run into me at 'Money Is Hard to Come By' or somewhere else. Unfortunately, this is all I know how to do." She pointed to the machine with its flickering lights behind her.

"You can do research too?" This was something Lu Mingfei really didn't expect. Last time they went on a mission together, he thought Tasia was also a combatant.

"Hmm, I usually go out to collect technology from the old world before the disaster, and I also do some research with Boss Bai, but what we research has to be kept secret," Tasia said.

"Speaking of which," Tasia suddenly changed the subject, looking Lu Mingfei up and down with great interest, "I've heard a lot about the title 'God Lu' these days, with his 'Extreme Reaction,' 'Final Boss of the Dragon Bone Village Game World'... His reputation is impressive, but I've only heard of him and haven't seen his skills yet. How about we have a go?" She paused, a gleam of eager anticipation flashing in her eyes, as if she had discovered a new challenge worth taking on.

Lu Mingfei was stunned. With his superb skills honed through countless hours in internet cafes, he had already firmly secured his position as the "Number One Player in Dragon Bone Village".

Challengers did appear, but most were defeated after witnessing his smooth and skillful maneuvers. Over time, the name "Road God" spread with a mix of mockery and admiration, and no one dared to challenge him easily after that.

Today, since he dominated the gaming world of Dragonbone Village, this was the first time he had heard such reckless words. Lu Mingfei whistled in his heart, thinking he should teach this fearless young girl a lesson.

"Sure," Lu Mingfei said, his voice regaining some of its usual energy. "The coins are on me. Don't cry if you lose."

"Hmph, I couldn't be happier. You don't need to insert any coins, I've already done it." Tasia was a little unconvinced by this, but she didn't dare to be careless, after all, a person's reputation is like a tree's shadow.

Lu Mingfei sat down next to Tasia and took the other handle she handed him.

"Let's begin!" Seeing that Lu Mingfei was ready, Tasia pressed start.

A cutscene begins playing on the screen, and as if traveling through time and space, the city model is generated in a spiral, creating a bizarre cyberpunk-style map.

Lu Mingfei was a little confused. He had never seen this game before, but how could he not have? He had already played all the games here before, so there shouldn't be any omissions.

As if hearing Lu Mingfei's question, Tasia said to herself, "Never played this before, have you? I found it by chance while I was looking for information about the old world recently. It's really new to me."

Lu Mingfei then suddenly realized what was going on.

Then the screen started playing a racing car demonstration animation. During this time, Tasia quickly explained the game rules to Lu Mingfei: "I'll keep the game rules short, it's racing plus stunt performances. I'm sure you understand once I explain these two labels."

Racing plus stunts? Lu Mingfei understood the rules as soon as he heard them. When the countdown on the screen ended, the two cars on the screen turned into streaks of light. The track went from the ground to underground, then back to the ground, and then into the air.

Lu Mingfei suffered a great loss at the very beginning of his first encounter with Tasia. Not only did he not know how to perform the special skills, but he was also interfered with by several of Tasia's items. However, who is Lu the God? He quickly mastered how to perform the special skills.

On the fourth lap, he started to catch up.

His fingers danced faster and faster on the controller, and the track information his eyes captured was automatically converted into control commands in his brain. On a certain bend, he successfully performed a triple spin in the air for the first time, and his nitro boost bar instantly filled up when he landed.

Unfortunately, they fell too far behind in the early stages, and no matter how hard they tried to catch up, they still lost.

"Haha, I won!" Tasia looked at the "WIN" on the screen, let out a long sigh, smiled, stood up and stretched her body, and her spine made a slight cracking sound during the process.

"Let's play one more round!" Lu Mingfei was unconvinced. He admitted he wasn't familiar with the rules in the first round, but he had to get his revenge in the second.

"No, no, one win is enough." Tasia immediately refused. She had watched Lu Mingfei master the skills with her own eyes. His progress was incredibly rapid. The name "God Lu" was truly well-deserved. She couldn't guarantee she would win a second round.

Therefore, even if Tasia wins one game, it's still a win; this counts as one victory for Tasia. Lu Mingfei has zero wins, so this is Tasia's second victory...

Lu Mingfei stared at her, his mouth slowly opening. He hadn't expected someone to use such a method to beat him, and for a moment he couldn't say a word.

"What? Are you angry?" Tasia bent down, bringing her pretty face close to Lu Mingfei's.

"Not at all." Lu Mingfei waved his hand. Being surprised was one thing, but being indifferent was another. In any case, his reputation as the God of Lu no longer needed these wins and losses to be demonstrated.

Suddenly finding himself with nothing to do, Lu Mingfei stared blankly at the finish line screen, his mind drifting back to Lu Mingze's words. He felt that Lu Mingze was definitely hiding something from him.

Just as Lu Mingfei was in a daze, a fair hand waved in front of him. "Hey, I just beat you once, is it really that bad?"

Lu Mingfei turned to look at the girl waving in front of him. He thought she had already left. After all, he was doing research with Boss Bai, and he would not see Boss Bai for long periods of time several times a week. However, he could see him for breakfast, lunch and dinner. No matter how long a person lives, they still need to eat.

"No, no, I was just thinking about something," Lu Mingfei explained.

"A girl you like?" Tasia tilted her head, smiling mischievously, half of her blonde hair hanging down.

Lu Mingfei felt that Tasia definitely had a gossipy side. Last time, she and Xia Dou were discussing why Fang Yuan hadn't had children yet, and now she was asking him if he was thinking about someone he liked.

When this topic came up, Lu Mingfei found that he didn't immediately think of Chen Wenwen, the girl who had haunted his dreams in the dead of night. Now, she seemed just so-so. She was indeed beautiful, but the feeling from before was gone. However, if he had to think of someone he liked, this first love would be the only one that came to mind.

But Lu Mingfei no longer wanted to think about her. He and she were no longer from the same world. This was his home now.

"No, but it is indeed about the past," Lu Mingfei said. "But do all you girls like to ask other people about their relationships?"

"But when a boy is deep in thought, nine times out of ten he's thinking about the girl he likes, so what else could it be?"

"Not necessarily. If you see a boy not talking, he might not be thinking about anything; he might just be spacing out."

"So what were you thinking about just now?"

Lu Mingfei remained silent.

Tasia blinked at him, but Lu Mingfei showed no intention of explaining, knowing it was someone else's private matter, and didn't pry further.

But at one moment, their eyes met, and Tasia read the loneliness in his dark eyes. Combined with the previous conversation, the perceptive Tasia easily deduced that Lu Mingfei was probably thinking about the world before he traveled through time.

Tasia's eyes darted around. She took a round disc from her bag, which was lying on the ground beside her. The disc's metal casing gleamed coldly, and its structure was intricate. She nudged Lu Mingfei: "Hey, wanna try making someone disappear?"

"Huh?" Lu Mingfei was taken aback, looking at the futuristic-looking disc in Tasia's hand. "Isn't this the teleportation device you had during the last shielding tower mission?"

"That's right, want to give it a try?" Tasia held the teleportation disc in both hands and shook it.

Lu Mingfei stared at the disc and asked, "Won't this teleportation be unstable? Won't the person be short-weight after the teleportation?"

"Would you dare use something that's incomplete?" Tasia said speechlessly, her eyes looking at a fool who questioned her professional level.

"Yeah, you're right." Lu Mingfei awkwardly touched his nose. "Shall we give it a try?"

Tasia crouched down, steadily installing the disc on the ground. She quickly slid her fingers across several touch points on the edge to activate it, saying, "Actually, it's not entirely without side effects." This startled Lu Mingfei, who took a few steps back.

Seeing this, Tasia rolled her eyes at him: "Then there's no need to be so afraid. It's not like I'm teleporting randomly. The teleportation distance is generally limited to what I can handle."

"What does 'can withstand' even mean? There are still side effects."

"If it happens, it will affect me. I might feel dizzy or vomit." Tasia stood up and stepped onto the disc. "Side effects include, but are not limited to: dizziness, vomiting, temporary spatial and temporal cognitive impairment..." She looked up, revealing a smile that was somewhere between mischievous and serious, "and a low probability of personality splitting."

"It's that serious!" Lu Mingfei exclaimed in surprise, waving his hands repeatedly. "Then let's forget it, I'm not playing anymore."

"We're in the village now, and it's not far from my house, so it's safe." Tasia held out her hand to Lu Mingfei. "Want to come? If you're too scared, the title of 'God of Lu' is yours."

Lu Mingfei instinctively gripped it, then suddenly noticed something: "Where did you say you were going...?"

Before Lu Mingfei could finish speaking, Tasia had already activated the teleportation. As if space itself was being slightly torn apart, the light on the disc suddenly burst forth, engulfing the two figures standing there.

From Lu Mingfei's perspective, the noisy electronic sounds, the flickering lights and shadows, and the floating dust in the arcade were all stretched and distorted in an instant. The feeling was very strange, as if it was being decomposed and then immediately reassembled.

The scene before him became unfamiliar. He stood in an unfamiliar room, simple and tidy, with bookshelves occupying an entire wall, crammed with old-world paper books and data chips.

For Lu Mingfei, the space he was in seemed to have been instantly replaced, just like in the game Mario, where it wasn't that he was controlling the character to move, but rather that the entire game scene was moving backward.

Lu Mingfei looked around in bewilderment until Tasia appeared in his field of vision, now bent over and dry heaving into the trash can.

He anxiously walked over and gently patted Tasia's back, asking nervously, "Hey, Tasia, are you alright? Didn't you say this distance was safe?"

"Ahem." Tasia didn't answer him, but just coughed twice.

Lu Mingfei didn't know what to do for a moment, so he hurriedly found the kettle and cup on the table next to him, poured a glass of water and handed it to Tasia.

Tasia seemed to have finally recovered, but her face was flushed from gagging and coughing. She took the water that Lu Mingfei handed her and drank it in small sips.

Lu Mingfei waited for Tasia to finish her drink before taking the empty glass to get another cup. But the moment his eyes met Tasia's, he suddenly felt something was off about her. Her eyes were still those jewel-like blue eyes, but everything inside them had changed; the gentleness and teasing were gone.

When he poured himself another glass of water to hand to Tasia, he turned around and found Tasia staring straight at him.

"Who are you, and what are you doing in my house?"

The voice was exactly the same as before, but the familiar gentleness had disappeared, replaced by distance and wariness.

"Didn't you bring me here?" Faced with Tasia's question, Lu Mingfei looked puzzled. How come this person was smiling and inviting him to try the magic of turning people into real people just a few minutes ago, but now she has turned on him like the blink of an eye? Could it be that Tasia has a twin sister? It can't be that she has a split personality and a second personality has emerged, can it?

Wait, "dizziness, vomiting, and in severe cases, it could lead to personality splitting," Lu Mingfei recalled Tasia's earlier words.

He looked into those familiar eyes, which were now coldly scrutinizing him, while a tiny, thin knife had appeared in her hand without him noticing.

Lu Mingfei broke out in a cold sweat, wondering what bad luck he had to encounter such a low-probability event.

"I had no idea I had a habit of bringing strange men home!"

With a flash of light, Tasia suddenly lunged forward, sidestepping Lu Mingfei and knocking him onto the sofa. Then, with one hand on the sofa, one leg on the ground, and the other knee bent, she pressed down on Lu Mingfei's stomach.

"Who are you?!"

"Sis! Sis! Don't get agitated, don't get agitated!"

What should have been a suggestive pose, however, brought Lu Mingfei no joy whatsoever at being pounced on by the beautiful woman. Instead, the cold-gleaming tip of the knife was positioned less than two centimeters above his left eye.

"I'll give you three more seconds." Her breath was warm on his face, but her words were icy. "Explain, or lose your left eye."

"Sis, it really was you who brought me here. You told me to try the 'magic trick' and that's why I came with you." Lu Mingfei didn't even dare to look at the tip of the knife. He felt his scalp tingling and hoped that Tasia's second personality wouldn't act impulsively.

Tasia didn't speak, but she didn't let go of Lu Mingfei either. She stared at his face as if trying to figure something out. After confirming that Lu Mingfei really didn't have any hostility, she moved the knife away slightly.

But from Lu Mingfei's perspective, this action appeared as Tasia raising her knife to stab him. A flash of golden light suddenly streaked across Lu Mingfei's eyes, then exploded, like a dormant volcano suddenly awakening, lava flowing backward along his optic nerve, coating his iris with a layer of flowing gold.

With a snap, Lu Mingfei knocked the knife away.

Tasia looked at those golden eyes with a mixture of surprise and fear, and jumped away abruptly.

"You really are suspicious!" Tasia stared intently at Lu Mingfei, but dared not look him in the eye. She found a broom on the side, took off the wooden stick, and held it horizontally in front of her.

"No, let me explain!" Lu Mingfei took a step back. Tasia's personality was far too sensitive.

"I don't want to hear it, take this!"