Lu Mingfei: Don't call me a loser, call me a hero.

"Lu Mingfei! Come play me a game of StarCraft, I'll buy you a Red Bull later!"

Inside the smoky, shouting internet cafe, a man with a flushed face stared at the defeat animation on the screen and the taunts coming from his opponents in the public chat. Finally, he couldn't hold back any longer and broke down:

"If you can beat the crap out of the other side, I'll buy you internet for today!"

Although he was very angry, his older brother had his own principles.

It's impossible for me to use cheats; I can only hire someone to play for me to maintain appearances.

It just so happens that the best StarCraft player in Binhai is in this internet cafe. His appearance fee is only a pack of spicy strips or a bottle of drink, and he is available whenever you call.

After you finish, they'll smile and say "Thank you, boss," making for a fantastic experience.

Brother Hongwen was a regular customer, and he thought he could summon Lu Mingfei by shouting, but he didn't expect that he would not appear for a long time.

Seeing that his opponents were tired of taunting him and were about to find someone else to bully, Brother Hongwen quickly stood up to look for someone and finally found his target in a corner of the internet cafe.

The older brother walked over, ready to slap him on the back of the head, but his gaze swept over the pages of documents on the screen, and his hand froze in mid-air, the cigarette in his mouth falling to the ground in shock.

"Damn it, Lu Mingfei, have you lost your mind?"

"If you come to an internet cafe and don't play games, anime, check QQ, or use any other apps, don't tell me you've caught up in studying!"

Everyone around me is either playing World of Warcraft or CrossFire, or at the very least QQ Speed ​​or Audition Online. Why is some idiot here looking at study materials?

And it's Lu Mingfei, that hopeless internet addict!

It's hard to imagine what kind of shock he must have experienced to go to an internet cafe to study hard.

Did you confess your feelings and get rejected? Or did you confess your feelings and get rejected? Or did you confess your feelings and get rejected?

At such close range, Lu Mingfei finally heard someone calling him. He took off his headphones, turned around, and saw it was his regular customer. He grinned and explained:

"No, it's just that our literary society is organizing an event to publish our own collection of essays, and I'm doing the final proofreading."

Upon hearing this, the older brother looked him up and down, his eyes full of disbelief: "The literary society? You?"

If Lu Mingfei, this good-for-nothing who's good for nothing but spouting nonsense and spending all his time playing video games, can join the literary society, then the future literary scene might only be filled with toilet humor.

Lu Mingfei was displeased upon hearing this. He didn't mind making other jokes, but when it came to the prestige of his literary society's core members, he had to make a solemn declaration:

"I was personally invited to join the literary society by the president; my talent is obvious to all, and my abilities are known to everyone!"

"Otherwise, why would she entrust me with such an important finishing touch?"

He spoke with a strong and confident tone, but his older brother didn't even bother to lift his eyelids:

"It's just correcting a typo, look how arrogant you are."

As it turns out, the red temperature doesn't disappear; it only shifts.

Lu Mingfei's face flushed red, and he stubbornly argued, "Correction isn't about fixing typos! It's a matter for cultured people... can it be called fixing typos?"

Then came a whole bunch of nonsense, like "polyphonic characters," "homophones," and "similar-looking characters," which made everyone laugh, filling the internet cafe with a joyful atmosphere.

In the end, Lu Mingfei failed to clear his name and also failed to earn the Red Bull and internet fees promised by his older brother.

He could only huddle in his seat, grumbling as he completed the tasks Chen Wenwen had assigned him.

Prepare a birthday gift for Chu Zihang!

That is, the collection of articles he is currently compiling.

To be honest, Lu Mingfei never imagined that he would one day have any interaction with Chu Zihang.

In his view, Shilan Secondary School was a hierarchical pyramid structure, where the gap between people was greater than the gap between people and dogs.

The top layer is Chu Zihang, who was born standing in the light.

He has excellent grades, is handsome, comes from a wealthy family, and even his walk exudes a cold and aloof aura that keeps strangers at bay.

He is like the moon in the sky, or a flower on a high mountain, visible but untouchable.

The middle layer consists of people like Zhao Menghua. Although he is not as perfect as Chu Zihang, he is still a prominent figure. People greet him wherever he goes, and girls scream when he shoots a three-pointer on the basketball court.

Below them are the followers of those influential figures and ordinary students, with average grades, average looks, and average popularity, but each with their own strengths and their own cliques within the class.

Lu Mingfei, however, does not belong to any of the above categories.

He's like a frog in a well, or a blade of grass by the roadside—a loser anyone can step on.

No one wanted to stick with him for support.

Whenever the class is divided into groups to do chores, he is always the last one left unattended.

In PE class, when playing basketball, he's always the one picking up the ball on the sidelines; he's not even good enough to be part of the atmosphere-building group.

Even when serving food in the cafeteria, the auntie would shake her spoon three times when scooping food for him, as if giving him even a little extra shredded meat would be a waste.

So when the news that Chu Zihang was going to throw a birthday party spread throughout Shilan Middle School, Lu Mingfei's first reaction was:

Wow~ They're throwing an awesome party this weekend, all the big names will be there, but guess who won't get an invitation?

KoNo明非哒！

Logically speaking, it would be very unwise to hold a big birthday party before the college entrance examination, but Chu Zihang was awarded the title of "City's Outstanding Student" by choice.

His father wanted to celebrate with him, so he asked him to invite his close classmates over for a barbecue.

The intention was good, but Chu Zihang was known for being a loner at school. In the past six years, no one had ever seen him walk side by side with anyone, let alone any close classmates.

Unable to disobey his father's wishes, Chu Zihang could only send invitations to various clubs and organizations at the school, inviting them to send representatives to his birthday party.

This move immediately ignited the entire Shilan High School, causing a sensation no less than if Jay Chou personally sent you a notification:

"Hey, not bad! Interested in joining my private party? Jay, Edison Chen, and the others will be there."

In the words of one of the girls in Lu Mingfei's class, this was no longer a birthday party, but a symbol of status.

However, the number of invitations was limited, and each club could only have one spot, so a silent war broke out among the various clubs at Shilan Secondary School.

The president and vice president of the music club almost fell out over the invitations, the broadcasting club created ten new groups in one day, and even the calligraphy club, which is usually peaceful and unassuming, held three meetings for the first time to discuss who should be the representative.

The only ones that didn't make a fool of themselves were the dance club and the literature club where Lu Mingfei was.

Lu Mingfei was unaware of the situation in the dance club, but the literary club was popular among its members, and its president, Chen Wenwen, naturally became its representative.

Even if there were a few dissenting opinions, they couldn't change the voting results. In the end, all they could do was kick Lu Mingfei, who had made sarcastic remarks, to vent their anger.

There was nothing he could do; no matter where he was, Lu Mingfei was always at the bottom.

Although he claimed to be a key member of the literary society, he was actually just a handyman.

Everyone else in the literary society could write something, more or less, but he was utterly useless.

Whenever a club activity required a submission, he would either spend an entire afternoon writing a few hundred words of nonsense, or he would simply write a collection of what he thought was humorous and witty but was actually utter rubbish, making the club president shake his head in disbelief.

So most of the time, his job was to move things, collect manuscripts, and run errands.

This time is no exception.

Gifts are a must when attending a birthday party, and Chen Wenwen racked her brains and finally decided to compile a collection of works from the literary society as a gift for Chu Zihang.

With tight deadlines and heavy workloads, lower-level members like Lu Mingfei only need to follow orders: soliciting submissions, providing illustrations, typesetting, proofreading, contacting print shops, expediting progress, and collecting finished products.

However, the club president has many things to consider: overseeing the entire process, finalizing the papers, writing the preface and closing remarks, maintaining the club's atmosphere, comforting members who weren't selected, buying dresses for the party, designing new hairstyles and makeup...

Only by making a glamorous appearance can she stand out from the representatives of other groups.

Lu Mingfei worked from Monday to Friday and finally finished the work Chen Wenwen assigned him before the holiday.

"Done!"

After uploading the file and clicking send, Lu Mingfei didn't even have time to stretch before switching to QQ and clicking on a girl's profile picture wearing a baseball cap:

"Chen Wenwen, I've compiled the collection of articles and sent it to your email. Could you please take a look and see if there are any parts that need to be revised?"

"If you don't have it, I'll take it to the print shop /smiley face /smiley face".

One second... two seconds... three seconds...

The gray avatar remained silent and still, without any movement.

The expectation in Lu Mingfei's eyes silently faded; his goddess wasn't online again.

I scrolled up through the chat history and found that she hadn't replied to the message I sent at noon.

The chat box only contained his one-sided messages, one after another, like throwing pebbles into the ocean without even making a splash.

It's understandable, after all, Chen Wenwen has family and friends who care about her, and it's impossible for her to spend all day online like him.

Besides, she's the president of the literature club, a recognized literary beauty in the second year of high school, and there are many things in her life that are more important than replying to his messages.

He mentally came up with a bunch of reasons for her, but his gaze still involuntarily lingered on that grayed-out profile picture for a long time.

"Your balance is insufficient. Please top up your account promptly."

It wasn't until a cold, indifferent message popped up at the top of the screen and his stomach started growling that Lu Mingfei came back to his senses.

He glanced at the time; it was already 8:30 PM. He had been working on a Word document for nearly three hours in the internet cafe without eating or drinking.

This was simply unbelievable for a teenager addicted to the internet. Lu Mingfei patted his stomach, half in awe and half in pride:

"Is the power of love really this strong? It can make people forget to eat and sleep to this extent."

Since he had informed her in advance that he would be home late after school due to club activities, he didn't have to worry about being scolded. He just didn't know if his aunt would leave him some food.

If my uncle leaves work on time, there should be some meat and vegetables left over.

Never mind, I don't want to think about it too much.

Internet cafes have recently "introduced" a lot of new games, so I'm taking advantage of the remaining time to try them out.

Upon opening the game menu, a single-player game called "Dragon Raja: Heroic Era" comes into view.

The icon is a red-haired witch with a little yellow duck toy on her head, with an adorable and incredibly beautiful expression.

Among the pile of pirated games pre-installed in the internet cafe, he stood out as exceptionally fresh and unique; he had to try something salty.

After double-clicking, the game didn't load; instead, a friendly reminder popped up.

White background with black lettering, the calligraphy flowing like dragons and snakes:

Pi has no end, and the dragon race ends in tragedy.

Are you prepared to become a hero and save everything?

Lu Mingfei was baffled. Why make such a big deal out of a small game he'd never heard of?

He muttered, "Of course," and clicked "OK" with the mouse.

Then there is no more.

Before the progress bar even loaded, the computer screen went completely black.

"Holy crap, is this game addictive?!"

Lu Mingfei was stunned and frantically typed on the keyboard and mouse, trying to perform cardiac resuscitation on the computer.

If he breaks the computer, the network administrator will at most make him pay for it, but my aunt will definitely skin him alive.

After frantically pressing and holding the power button to restart, the computer finally responded, and I could use it normally after entering a short password.

All the desktop icons were there, except for the game called "Dragon Raja: Heroic Era".

But at that moment, who cared about that damn virus? Lu Mingfei quickly got off the plane and ran away.

As he walked out of the internet cafe with his schoolbag on his back, the hot summer night breeze carrying the fumes from the barbecue stalls hit him, making his mouth water.

Unfortunately, his aunt kept cutting his allowance in various ways, and he had to save some to buy a game console. The little he had left couldn't even buy a sausage.

He swallowed hard and turned into a dark alleyway next to him, intending to take a shortcut home.

After walking only a few steps, I noticed several thugs squatting in the alley, smoking.

If nothing unexpected happens, they are waiting for a wealthy person to generously donate.

Lu Mingfei's heart was in his throat. He was penniless and would probably get a beating if he couldn't pay the toll.

Getting beaten up doesn't bother me; my main concern is getting injured and not being able to run errands for Chen Wenwen.

She's so kind; she definitely wouldn't let him work so hard while he's injured.

Seeing that the thugs had noticed him, Lu Mingfei racked his brains, trying to find a way out of the predicament.

"Ta-da~ Ta-da-ta ...

Whether it was due to CPU overload or hunger pangs, a pleasant background music suddenly filled Lu Mingfei's ears, followed by a blinding white light that filled his vision, and two bold, powerful characters slowly appeared in the center—

Dragons!

Lu Mingfei's breath hitched: "Holy crap, isn't this that game virus from before? How did it get out of the computer?"

You're right, but Dragon Raja is a brand new open-world adventure game developed with the sponsorship of the High Observer.

A voice responded in my mind, neither male nor female, devoid of emotion, a purely mechanical voice.

Lu Mingfei was completely stunned, not even noticing that the thugs had already surrounded him.

At this very moment, his brain was being frantically bombarded with the game, leaving him no time to think about anything else!

Thank you for participating in the closed beta test of "Dragon Raja: Heroes Era".

The story takes place in a fantasy world called "Dragon Continent," where those chosen by dragons awaken "Golden Eyes" and harness the power of words.

Players will take on the role of a mysterious character known as a "hero," encountering companions with diverse personalities and unique abilities during free exploration. Together, they will defeat powerful enemies, find lost relatives, uncover the secrets of the gods, and save the world!

I?

hero?

save the world?

What kind of international joke is this?!

"Everyone in the entire Shilan High School knows that I, Lu Mingfei, am a notorious coward and a weakling. You must have the wrong person, right?"

"You should be looking for Chu Zihang. He has exceptional learning abilities, outstanding athletic talent, and excels at everything from playing musical instruments and singing to playing basketball. He's the only one who can save the world!"

Although Lu Mingfei dreamed of becoming a hero who would save the world, when his dream became reality, he did not hesitate to back down.

There's no way around it; Spider-Man's experience speaks for itself. To become a hero, you first have to sacrifice your parents, and then have an uncle die.

Forgive Lu Mingfei; he simply didn't have the courage to face a world where only his aunt existed.

That's too cruel!

However, no matter how he analyzed the pros and cons and criticized current affairs in a sharp and incisive way, this open-world adventure game still wouldn't let him off the hook, and the cold, mechanical voice rang out again:

[Wild freaks detected approaching; combat mission triggered!]

【请选择——】

1. Defeat the enemy

2. Capture the enemy

3. Eliminate the enemy

"Wait a minute—!!!" Lu Mingfei couldn't help but blurt out a string of curses:

"Isn't this option designed for a typical shonen manga protagonist like Chu Zihang?"

Look closely, my biceps aren't even as thick as your system font!

Asking me to fight bad guys is no different from sending a Chihuahua to fight a Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Isn't there a gentler solution?

For example, give me Batman's wealth and Iron Man's fortune, and let me shower them with the sugar-coated bullets of capitalism?