I understand you’ve always lacked a suitable phone, so I’m giving you this iPhone as a small gift. It will also make it easier for us to keep in touch. Please keep this message, and just reply directly—I will receive your request. Since I’m not China Mobile, this text message service is free and won’t consume your soul… or body.
So, as the price, I’ve taken a quarter of your life.
Lu Mingze
Effective immediately
The moment he finished reading the message, the system switched to a brand-new interface, and an ancient bronze-colored roulette began spinning rapidly.
The moment Lu Mingfei’s finger touched the screen, the roulette slowed down and eventually stopped, displaying “75%” on the scale.
Lu Mingfei’s palm was drenched in cold sweat.
“Are you okay?” Nono asked.
Lu Mingfei hurriedly turned off the phone. “Why are you thanking me?”
He didn’t want Nono to know about this, whether it was a prank or real.
“Because without you, I probably would have died,” Nono said.
“What?” Lu Mingfei was stunned.
“When I passed out, I felt very tired, like I wanted to sleep. But I vaguely heard you calling my name,” Nono said. “At that time, in my groggy state, I thought, ‘Lu Mingfei must be scared to death, otherwise why would he keep calling?’”
After a moment of silence, Lu Mingfei nodded. “Yeah, scared to death.”
“If you hadn’t called, I probably would have fallen asleep. And if I slept, I might not have woken up.” Nono said, “Thank you.”
“Uh… you’re welcome.” Lu Mingfei repeated what he said earlier.
“Since I promised to look after you, I guess I couldn’t just fall asleep.” Nono frowned. “Don’t be annoying! Stop saying ‘you’re welcome’ over and over!”
“Uh… got it.” Lu Mingfei said.
It turned out that when someone promised to look after you, they could take it this seriously.
After saying so much nonsense, absurdities, and jokes, when he could barely tell which words were meant sincerely, it turned out that someone took them seriously.
It turned out that Nono… was just a stubborn kid.
So he laughed and scratched his head. Nono laughed too, reached out, and messed his hair into a bird’s nest.
“It’s fine, everything’s fine…” Lu Mingfei looked up at Nono and gave a goofy smile. “Don’t worry.”
“I’m not worried,” Nono shrugged. “It’s just that you looked a bit strange earlier. Want to join us for pizza? A lot of people are coming over later; it’s a party tonight.”
“I have something to do, so I’ll head out first,” Lu Mingfei said.
“See you later then.” Nono said.
“See you.” Lu Mingfei turned and left.
“Hey!” Nono called from behind.
“What?” Lu Mingfei turned back.
“Will you be noisy tonight? Susie and I are both sensitive to noise.”
“Don’t worry, as long as I stuff Finger’s mouth and shove him into his bed, it’ll be completely quiet.” Lu Mingfei said.
“Make sure you do that.” Nono turned back into her room.
Finger was talking loudly with Susie inside.
Noises came from downstairs—the sounds of people coming for the party.
Lu Mingfei turned a corner and spat at the phone. “Bah! Nonsense! I haven’t had enough of life yet. Selling my life to you?”
He hesitated, wanting to throw the phone and smash it through the glass window across the way. That way, it would disappear into a place he couldn’t reach.
But in the end, he just turned the phone off and put it in his pocket.
“Lu Mingfei,” he whispered to himself, “What power… as long as you don’t touch it, you can just keep living like this… living next door to someone you like… isn’t that good enough?”
“Hehe.”
A faint voice, only Lu Mingfei could hear, came from far behind him. It was a childish laugh—he couldn’t tell if it was kind or mocking.
Lu Mingfei’s Diary: 2XXX-04-23, Cassell College, Sunny turning Cloudy
To put it simply, today was summed up in two words: nothing noteworthy.
Introduction to Dragon Genealogy, two classes—felt a lot like high school history.
Level One Alchemic Mechanical Design, two classes—sounds fancy, but it was just mechanical drawing.
In the evening, I had a Level One Alchemical Chemistry lab, where we used a hydrogen flame to remove impurities from an aluminum can to extract pure aluminum. The damn lab instructor emphasized countless times that if the hydrogen cylinder exploded, it would drive through the floor like a pile driver and hit the basement, flattening on the hard ground like a steel plate—of course, we wouldn’t get to see that steel plate because we’d all be dead. So when I held the blowtorch, I was shaking with fear, and accidentally burned Zero’s hair.
I promised to take Zero out for lobster tails to apologize. If it costs $100, my credit card debt will be $4,850.45. Most of the money was spent on Finger’s midnight snacks.
This month’s scholarship hasn’t come in yet because I forgot to submit my homework for Introduction to Dragon Genealogy. Professor Guderian said he’d talk to me in his office before I could receive it.
I really don’t want to go—he’s so naggy!
Before I can max out my card, I’d better not go see that old nag…
This is the second semester of my uneventful college life, and this uneventfulness will continue.
But today, when passing by the gym, I saw Nono practicing ballet in a white dress!
A white ballet dress…
White ballet dress, God blessed me—no test for alchemical chemistry tomorrow!
[The End of Volume 1]