Dragon Raja 3; Chapter 69: Ace Combination (2)

Dragon Raja 3

Lu Mingfei woke up, groggy, and looked out the window, “Tokyo! We’re here! I wonder where Akihabara is.”

“The electric town?” Caesar said, “I’d like to check it out too, maybe for a game release or something.”

“The Otaku street” Akihabara—Caesar had heard of it. There were thousands of electronics stores on the street; the newest games and gadgets were released there, and there were even unique maid cafes. It’s said that Akihabara was a sacred land for otaku, and that if an otaku prayed there, the god of otaku would grant him a girlfriend and unlimited game pre-order bonuses… But this didn’t interest Caesar much. He said it merely to show Lu Mingfei that he didn’t look down on the group’s only “geek” and didn’t mind sharing a cheap hobby with him.

“Caesar, you’re interested in games? I thought the heir to the Gattuso family wouldn’t have time for that,” Chu Zihang said.

“Don’t make me sound like a monster!” Caesar frowned. He felt that Chu Zihang’s words had an unfriendly implication.

“People without a childhood don’t have time to waste on games.”

“Don’t make assumptions about someone else’s life—that’s basic courtesy!” Caesar’s voice turned cold, carrying an edge of anger.

“Uh… everyone, you’re all tired… how about we rest after landing, refresh, and continue later…” Lu Mingfei quickly intervened to defuse the tension.

The atmosphere that Caesar had worked so hard to maintain was about to collapse before the plane even landed—this “ace” combination’s fate seemed uncertain. Chu Zihang waved his hand, whether to indicate he meant no offense or that Caesar wasn’t worth his disdain, and then closed his eyes again to rest. Caesar shot him a cold glance, gathered his documents, turned off the reading light, and closed his eyes as well. The cabin was plunged into darkness as the plane descended below the clouds, with rain pouring outside. In the rainy veil, Tokyo shone brightly like a grand altar, forever illuminated by offerings to the gods.

Lu Mingfei remembered seeing a satellite photo—a night view of the world, cities connected by a luminous spider web. Each bright spot on the web represented a city, some brighter, some dimmer, but Tokyo stood out as a dazzling white. Tokyo Bay looked like a burning candle in the night. Leaning against the airplane window and looking out, Lu Mingfei felt as if he were back on his uncle’s rooftop, staring blankly at the brightly lit CBD area in the distance.

His uncle lived in affordable housing, quite far from the CBD area. But his uncle always claimed he lived like a CBD-level consumer. He loved taking friends to star-rated restaurants in the CBD, sitting in comfortable chairs, enjoying the sweet words of beautiful waitresses, which brought him great satisfaction. Then he would order a few cost-effective dishes and open the cheapest bottle of red wine. In his uncle’s description, every inch of the CBD was paved with marble, polished so smoothly it could reflect the skirts of beautiful women… oh, no, it reflected the poised figures of successful people. Everything there was shining brightly, from Italian leather shoes to the makeup mirrors of the ladies, from rooftop billboards to the glass curtain walls of international business centers. Everyone there walked with a proud bearing, living a life of fulfillment and meaning. His uncle often lamented that if he had enough money to move to the CBD, even a small apartment would make him happy, just to be surrounded by that positive, motivating atmosphere, and Lu Mingfei and Lu Mingze would grow up strong and ambitious. His aunt would say, “Nonsense, you just want to show off! Or else you just want to wander around and look at pretty girls. Take a good look at yourself in the mirror—you’re an old man already, still an old otaku. Young girls in the CBD only like rich men; they won’t give you a second look. You’d better settle down with me in this dump; you’re just a frog staring at another frog, wide-eyed and futile!”

From his uncle’s description, Lu Mingfei learned that there were people in the world who lived lives completely different from his own, doing things far more meaningful than playing games. He rarely had the chance to visit the CBD, and even if he did, he’d get lost among brand names in foreign languages he couldn’t read, too scared to walk into places where successful people gathered. In his imagination, those people were always energetic, dressed in luxury brands, always knew what they were doing and where they were going, never lost or bewildered. As someone with no sense of presence, Lu Mingfei envied them. Everyone wanted to live for some lofty, great purpose. If they couldn’t be the hero, they wanted to be the villain in a game—no one wanted to be the NPC that could only walk back and forth in front of a blacksmith shop, repeating endlessly, “Our swords are genuine, fair prices for all!”

Yet even though he longed for it so much, he felt like he could never truly reach the CBD. Sitting on the rooftop, looking at the neon-lit CBD, it felt like that place didn’t actually exist in the real world—it was just an empty mirage. But finally, he had a chance to integrate into that long-desired light. He sat in the passenger seat of a Ferrari, dressed in a suit, with the red-haired shrine maiden stepping on the gas pedal, the fiery red car weaving through the elevated roads. For the first time in his life, as the CBD lights reflected off the polished Ferrari, Lu Mingfei felt he was actually “entering” the CBD, not just a moth yearning for the lamp behind a glass window. At that moment, his ambition was bold enough to conquer the world, and after conquering it, he’d marry the girl he liked most… He mustered the courage to board the helicopter sent by the college, trying to stand a little taller than Nono.

Now, he was indeed different from before. With the title of a Special Agent, he was crossing the Pacific in a top-class business jet. To transport his sixty-plus kilograms to Japan at the fastest speed, the college spent hundreds of tons of aviation fuel, showing that he was someone of considerable status now. On this plane, he could eat any fruit he wanted, drink orange juice at will, all without paying a single penny! If he threw a fit and refused to save the world, maybe even Anjou would have to humble himself to beg him. But he wasn’t happy at all because Nono was about to leave.

Caesar was already preparing for the wedding, so the date must have been set. After this mission, Nono would marry the best young master in the world. He knew how to enjoy material luxuries, had a spirit of adventure, had leadership qualities, and also a sexy physique. Worst of all, despite his outstanding traits, he was loyal and had no flaws—except maybe his tendency to act overly dramatic. Even if Lu Mingfei owned the whole world, he wouldn’t be able to change that outcome, because Caesar was already as perfect as one could get. He could provide a girl with everything she needed. Nono lacked nothing and desired nothing more.

Lu Mingfei suddenly realized that he was still an unimpressive kid. He wanted to perform well, to be a hero, to be glorious, to be dressed well and courteous—all just so that the girl he liked would see it. He wanted to appear in her eyes… as brilliant as the stars. But even if there was a day when he returned adorned with stars, if the eyes that used to look up to the sky were gone, if the star-gazing girl had left, what would all that brilliance mean? It would be so lonely that even the stars would want to fall.

He seemed like the most harmless member of this group; with Caesar and Chu Zihang being arch-rivals, they needed him to act as a buffer between them—otherwise, things could easily escalate. But his mood was awful. Chu Zihang wasn’t asleep, and neither was he. All the way, he acted drowsy and half-awake, only because he didn’t know what expression to wear facing Caesar. He couldn’t just keep smiling and saying, “Boss, good luck with the wedding!”

“Lu Mingfei, Lu Mingfei, you must uphold honor; don’t lose your mind and backstab the boss during the mission!” He warned himself internally.

Deep down, he harbored a certain fear of himself. Even a cowardly little panda could sometimes show sharp claws… He had told Chu Zihang and Lu Mingze that he had figured it all out, but he knew he was lying. He closed his eyes, and the fatigue accumulated throughout the journey instantly took over; amidst the shaking of the landing, he actually fell asleep.

To the south of Tokyo, Kanagawa Prefecture, in the outskirts of Yokohama.

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