Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei's War Journey

"Heh." Seeing Chen Wenwen's angry expression, Lu Mingfei chuckled, then turned his head back to continue smoking and said.

"It's all true."

"What?" Chen Wenwen was stunned.

"It's true that I want to study hard, and it's also true that I don't like you anymore."

Lu Mingfei continued, his tone as calm as if he were discussing the weather. He flicked his cigarette ash, which drifted down onto the grass and vanished instantly.

"Why?" Chen Wenwen blurted out, but she regretted it as soon as the words left her mouth. She quickly covered her lips with her hand, and an embarrassed blush rose on her fair cheeks.

Lu Mingfei looked at Chen Wenwen with some surprise, not understanding why she would ask such a question, but he still answered her, thus putting an end to his unrequited love that had ended without a trace.

"Isn't it normal to study hard? As for... not liking you, isn't that normal too? After all, you don't like me either. You've always treated me like your lapdog and follower, and I've fallen for someone else."

If Su Xiaoqiang knew that he had liked Chen Wenwen before, then there's no reason why Chen Wenwen wouldn't know and yet hadn't reacted at all. Clearly, she was making a fool of him. She was really pathetic before.

"I didn't!" Chen Wenwen immediately denied, but her voice lacked conviction. She had indeed been comfortably enjoying Lu Mingfei's pursuit and flattery.

"There's no need to explain, it's all in the past." Lu Mingfei looked at Chen Wenwen's face, which was slightly flushed with anxiety, and chuckled again.

His crush on Chen Wenwen used to be the most important thing in his life, but now it's so insignificant that he no longer cares.

"Then who did you fall in love with... Su Xiaoqiang?" Chen Wenwen unconsciously bit her lower lip, her tone carrying a hint of bitterness and resentment that she herself was unaware of.

Although she didn't like Lu Mingfei, the fact that her followers had suddenly turned to someone else still left her feeling uneasy.

"She was a very beautiful girl with red hair. She was the first person to stand in front of me when I was in danger, and the first person to say that she would protect me."

Lu Mingfei's mind began to recall Nuonuo's appearance; he still longed to see Nuonuo again.

Looking into Lu Mingfei's eyes, which were filled with nostalgia and tenderness, Chen Wenwen knew that he was not lying.

"Oh," she responded softly, her voice filled with undisguised disappointment. She hugged her knees and buried her face in her arms.

"When you handed in your assignments before, I didn't say you didn't submit them, but you should remember to go back and complete them yourself." After a moment of silence, Chen Wenwen's muffled voice came from her arms.

Hearing Chen Wenwen's words, Lu Mingfei was stunned for a moment. He remembered why he used to like Chen Wenwen. Besides being beautiful, Chen Wenwen was the only girl who had never mocked him to his face and would occasionally show him a little kindness.

"Thank you, then please don't tell the teacher about my smoking." Lu Mingfei stood up and dusted himself off.

"Let's go, class is about to start."

"Mmm," Chen Wenwen responded softly, and stood up as well.

Lu Mingfei walked forward alone, without looking back or waiting for Chen Wenwen.

Since the decision has been made to draw a clear line, it should be done cleanly and decisively, leaving no room for ambiguity.

But he hadn't taken more than a few steps when a suppressed cry of pain suddenly came from behind him.

Lu Mingfei immediately turned his head to look and saw Chen Wenwen sitting on the ground, her delicate eyebrows tightly furrowed.

Her ankle, clad in white socks and leather shoes, appeared to be twisted. More noticeably, her knee was scraped raw by the rough ground, with tiny beads of blood seeping out.

Her eyes were red from the pain, and she tried to stand up, but she staggered because of the pain.

Lu Mingfei stopped in his tracks.

He looked at Chen Wenwen's slightly furrowed brows due to pain, and at the insignificant wound and blood droplets on her knee. This small injury was nothing compared to the horrific scene he remembered of Nuonuo, whose abdomen was pierced by an iron rod and whose back was covered in blood, or to his own frostbite and cuts from metal on the snowy mountain.

A sense of absurd contrast arises spontaneously.

He stood still, not immediately stepping forward. His indifference left Chen Wenwen somewhat bewildered and aggrieved. She raised her head and looked at him with teary eyes, as if questioning his indifference.

Lu Mingfei sighed softly. He wasn't heartless after all, and eventually went back and squatted down in front of Chen Wenwen.

"I'll carry you to the infirmary."

"Mmm," Chen Wenwen responded softly, carefully climbing onto Lu Mingfei's back and gently wrapping her arms around his neck.

Lu Mingfei's back was much broader and stronger than she had imagined; she could feel the firm muscle outline beneath his clothes.

Lu Mingfei didn't say anything more, but silently carried Chen Wenwen towards the infirmary.

This broad back was completely different from the slightly hunched and timid back she remembered of Lu Mingfei.

She could even smell a faint scent of tobacco on him, mixed with the aroma of sunshine and grass, creating a strange yet pleasant smell.

Her cheeks felt hot, and her heart was racing uncontrollably. It was a complex and indescribable feeling that she had never experienced before.

She secretly turned her head to look at Lu Mingfei's profile. His jawline was much clearer than she remembered. His eyes were looking straight ahead, without any emotion in them. There was neither the flattery and infatuation of the past, nor the awkwardness or romance that should have been there at this moment.

There was only a bottomless silence, as if carrying her was just a task that needed to be completed.

"Lu Mingfei...you...you've really changed a lot," Chen Wenwen couldn't help but whisper.

Lu Mingfei did not pause in his steps, only giving a faint "hmm" in response, without saying anything more.

But Lu Mingfei's heart was far from as calm as he appeared. His thoughts drifted back to the Andes Mountains and to that stormy night.

He carried Nuonuo on his back, trudging step by step through waist-deep snow.

The path to the infirmary seemed exceptionally long, with sunlight filtering through the leaves and casting dappled patterns, as if the hustle and bustle of the campus were shut out.

In this eerie silence, Chen Wenwen could only hear her own somewhat flustered heartbeat and Lu Mingfei's steady footsteps.

Finally, Lu Mingfei reached the door of the infirmary. He gently put Chen Wenwen down without a trace of hesitation.

"arrive."

The school doctor quickly came over to treat Chen Wenwen's wounds, while Lu Mingfei stood by and watched.

"Thank you for bringing her here, classmate," the school doctor said to Lu Mingfei while disinfecting the wound.

Lu Mingfei simply nodded, his gaze sweeping over Chen Wenwen, noticing the trace of iodine on her knee, before looking away.

"If there's nothing else, I'll go back to class now," he said to the school doctor, without even glancing at Chen Wenwen again.

"Um... thank you." Chen Wenwen lowered her head, twisting her fingers around the hem of her skirt, and thanked her softly, but she felt empty inside.

Lu Mingfei gave no response, turned around, and left the infirmary without looking back. His figure quickly disappeared at the end of the corridor.

Chen Wenwen looked at the empty doorway; the stinging pain in her knees was nothing compared to the inexplicable sense of loss in her heart.

She realized that Lu Mingfei, who used to only have eyes for her and would be overjoyed or depressed for an entire day because of a single word from her, might really have disappeared completely and would never come back.

It's just someone I don't like anymore, and they don't like me anymore, so why do I suddenly feel sad...?