Dragon Raja: Lu Mingfei Returns from EVA

"Take a walk after meals, and you'll live to ninety-nine. You already eat little, so you should move around more. Don't always hide in the dorm with Finger; spending too much time with someone like him will make you moldy."

Since the last operation, Lu Mingfei has received several times more attention at Kassel College, and wherever he goes, people of dubious origin with ulterior motives swarm around him.

To avoid the hassle of socializing, Lu Mingfei started staying in his dorm playing games and ordering takeout. Recently, he's become obsessed with fighting games like King of Fighters, Tekken, Dead or Alive, and Street Fighter, which he plays with great enthusiasm. Even Fingel has been drawn into the game by him, and they battle hundreds of times every day.

Ling, unable to bear it any longer, took away Lu Mingfei's card to prevent him from slacking off on ordering food. She then prepared three meals a day for Lu Mingfei, packed him food regularly, and recently even forced him to go for walks.

At night, the playground of Kassel College is filled with people jogging, taking walks, playing football, and playing basketball on the adjacent basketball court.

"You should be like them." Ling held Lu Mingfei's hand as they walked across the playground, pointing with her other hand to the energetic young men and women around them.

"Your standards are too high, Zero. I even gave you the unlimited black card that the board of directors rewarded me with, and you're still not satisfied?" Lu Mingfei complained in a low voice.

"If you use your black card to buy sports cars and villas, I don't care. But if you only use it to order takeout and never go out, that won't do," Zero said. "Appropriate exercise and contact with people are good for your physical and mental health."

"But I really can't get along with them..." As Lu Mingfei listened to the sounds of basketball, the footsteps of night runners, and the laughter of people chatting on the grass, the closer these sounds were to him, the further away he felt from the world.

"I don't know how to get along with these people." Lu Mingfei found that he seemed to be able to make friends only on the battlefield. He recognized Ye Shengya and Professor Mans. He was willing to answer all kinds of questions asked to him by the Selma Gang fan club. He was willing to be "arranged" by Zero. But he didn't know how to take the initiative to make friends with ordinary students.

Aside from online friends, he recently encountered two formidable rivals on the gaming platform, one named Little Yellow Duck and the other named Giant Tortoise. When he played games with these two, the joysticks on his controllers drifted, but it was still difficult to determine a winner.

Lu Mingfei thought, "I really want to meet them in person. Judging from their gaming style, these two must be very serious people, the kind of people I can trust with my back."

(Didn't you use a pad this time?)

"Lu Mingfei," Zero's voice suddenly pulled Lu Mingfei back to reality, "I'm talking to you, did you hear me?"

"Huh? What did you just say?" Lu Mingfei asked.

"I asked you if you'd considered joining a club; it's an opportunity to expand your social circle. My food club, Ye Sheng's swimming club, Selma's adventure club, the equipment department, the Lionheart Club, and people from the student council have all asked me if I could join them." Ling frowned slightly. "They think it's me..."

"What do you think of me?" Lu Mingfei didn't hear clearly.

"It's nothing. Anyway, which club are you interested in?" Zero asked.

"Forget it, I have you, that's enough. You probably don't know, but I'm actually a bit socially anxious," Lu Mingfei said nonchalantly.

"I'm glad you said that, but what I hope for even more is that you can grow up healthy and enjoy your university life."

"Hey, what's with that weird tone of yours? It sounds like I was being nagged by my mom just now." Lu Mingfei got goosebumps all over and kept rubbing his arms.

"You..." Zero glared at him, then said nothing more.

Lu Mingfei hadn't expected that even Zero would be so vulnerable to his words, and he didn't dare to speak either. He could only cautiously follow Zero on their walk, and the silence between them made Lu Mingfei's scalp tingle. Sometimes he really couldn't figure out what Zero was thinking. He couldn't help but think of the little yellow duck. He didn't talk much with the little yellow duck, but that kind of silence was relaxed and pleasant.

Zero's silence always put a lot of pressure on him. It's like when you make a mistake and your mom doesn't criticize you, but just stares at you without saying a word, you don't dare to speak either. Because you know that once you say "Mom, I was wrong," the next thing you'll hear is "What did you do wrong?", and if you can't answer, then the real storm is about to break.

Where does this small body get such a strong aura? Lu Mingfei looked at the girl in front of him and wondered.

-----------------

"I asked Ling about inviting Lu Mingfei to join the Lionheart Society, and she said she would ask around for me."

Susie and Chu Zihang were also taking a walk on the playground. The playground lights were on, and there were several other couples walking and whispering to each other ahead of them.

"What does Lu Mingfei mean?" Chu Zihang asked.

"It's hard to find him in person. He's either surrounded by fans after class or he goes back to his dorm and won't come out," Susie said. "So I can only give him change, and she's quite easy to talk to."

Chu Zihang nodded and said, "Then let's wait for Zero's news."

"I think Ling is being a bit too controlling," Susie said. "Lu Mingfei isn't very sociable to begin with, and Ling is always dictating to him. It's not really appropriate for a grown man like him to have his girlfriend decide what he eats, is it?"

"It's not that Zero wants to deal with him, it's that Lu Mingfei is avoiding him," Chu Zihang said. "After the operation ended, he received more attention. Logically, when a person's popularity increases, their social frequency should also increase. But Lu Mingfei's social activities decreased instead of increased. When he's not in class, he stays in his dormitory and doesn't go to the cafeteria to eat anymore."

"Zero is forcing him to go out, not letting him hide," Chu Zihang said.

Susie thought about it and realized that it did seem to be true.

She used to think that when Lu Mingfei and Ling were together, Ling was dragging Lu Mingfei along, and Lu Mingfei was being dragged along unwillingly. But according to Chu Zihang, if Ling hadn't been dragging him along, Lu Mingfei probably wouldn't have even left his dormitory.

"You're right. I never expected you to analyze things so thoroughly," Susie exclaimed.

"I recommend you read Erich Fromm's 'Escape from Freedom,' which says that when a person gains more freedom, more attention, and more choices, he/she may not necessarily become more open. Instead, he/she may retreat into a more closed state because he/she cannot bear the pressure of being seen," Chu Zihang said. "This is very similar to Lu Mingfei's situation. What people are afraid of is not being ignored, but the expectations and responsibilities that come with being noticed."

"Huh?" Susie exclaimed in surprise, "Did you read that analysis in a psychology book?"

"Yes."

Susie fell silent. What the book said did make sense, but...

"So, what do you think?" Susie asked casually, her gaze fixed on the track ahead, "Wouldn't this method be a bit embarrassing for Lu Mingfei? If it were any other guy, he probably wouldn't have been able to handle it, right?"

Her heart was pounding as she finished speaking.

If Chu Zihang says he doesn't like this, it means he doesn't like being controlled.

If Chu Zihang said he didn't care, then at least she knew he wasn't averse to it.