Lu Mingfei, how can you slay a dragon if you don't play the villain?

"Also, he's fallen out with his aunt's family, so the rest of the money can be transferred directly to his new card!"

"As for the new card number, it shouldn't be difficult for you to find out!"

The old man didn't speak, but just stared intently at the young man.

"Don't stare at me like that!" the young man said helplessly. "This really has nothing to do with me!"

"Alright, I have to go!" The young man raised his left wrist, glanced at the non-existent watch, and said, "Good luck on your mission!"

The young man's figure vanished from the room along with the sound, as if he had never existed.

The old man was the only one left in the office.

The beam of light streaming through the skylight slanted across the old man's back, dividing his figure into two parts of light and shadow.

After standing there for a few minutes, he took out his cell phone and made a private call.

beep!beep!beep!

After three rings, the call was connected.

"Principal Angers, what brings you here?" A respectful male voice came from the other end of the phone.

“Professor Schneider,” Angers regained his usual composure, speaking with a gentlemanly accent, “I have a favor to ask you to do!”

"Please speak!"

Angers took a deep breath and said calmly:

"I want you to arrange for your student Chu Zihang to return to China and go to Shilan Middle School to meet a senior high school student named Lu Mingfei!"

There was silence on the other end of the phone.

“Principal Angers, Chu Zihang has just completed his ‘A’ level assessment and is currently in the observation and adaptation training period. This task is not very suitable for him! Perhaps Ye Sheng and Ya Ji are more capable of handling this task!”

"It has to be Chu Zihang!" Principal Angers declared firmly, leaving no room for negotiation. "Don't ask why! Just do as instructed!"

"I'll have Norma send you Lu Mingfei's information. Remember, you can't share it with anyone, not even the board of directors!"

After a silence of about ten seconds, Professor Schneider on the other end of the phone replied, "Understood, execute the order!"

Click.

call ended.

Principal Angers slowly put the phone back in his pocket.

He strolled back behind his desk and sat down in the chair that the "intruder" had just sat in.

His brows remained furrowed, his sharp gaze fixed on the tightly closed mahogany door.

"What exactly happened?" he murmured, his voice so soft it was as if he were asking himself, "that would cause him to come in person?"

“Norma.” His voice echoed clearly in the quiet study.

"Yes, Principal." A gentle, mature female synthesized voice suddenly rang out from the dormant laptop on the desktop, and the screen lit up, displaying a simple operating interface.

"Extract the video recordings of all of Lu Mingfei's activities within China in the last 48 hours, integrate them with the highest level of authority, and play them."

"Command received, data retrieval in progress... Image data integration complete, playback commencing." Norma's voice was perfectly fluent.

The cold light from the screen illuminated Angers' aged and serious face.

He leaned forward slightly, his sharp gaze fixed on the screen.

The daily life of the boy named Lu Mingfei began to be presented frame by frame in video format.

……

October 3rd, 6:00 AM Beijing time.

Lu Mingfei walked confidently to the podium, basking in the astonished gazes of the entire class.

The homeroom teacher handed him the test paper with a look of satisfaction: "Lu Mingfei, congratulations! You got full marks in all subjects this time, which is..."

Chen Wenwen happily rushed from her seat to the podium and hugged him: "Lu Mingfei, you're amazing! I want to be your girlfriend!"

Just as he was holding Chen Wenwen and grinning foolishly while holding the test paper, a cold, emotionless mechanical voice suddenly rang in his ears.

[Daily Task: Study! Exercise! Until 6 PM!]

[Task Reward: 1 point, which can be redeemed for items in the system shop!]

[Mission Failure: Choose one of the five punishments (drowning, burning, wind cutting, burying, mental imprisonment)]

"What are you mumbling about?"

Lu Mingfei opened his eyes as if half asleep, and looked at the semi-transparent interface task floating in front of him.

"What's the matter?"

[You damn fool, do you even remember the beating?!]

A violent electric current suddenly surged, engulfing Lu Mingfei's entire body and causing him to bounce off the bed, sitting halfway up.

Then a scream ripped through the dark sky outside the window.

"Ahhhh!!!"

In the dimly lit room, as dawn broke, a faint light shone through the window onto Lu Mingfei, who was sitting half-upright on the bed.

His eyes were glazed over, his body twitched slightly, and wisps of white smoke rose from his head as he stared blankly at the semi-transparent interface in front of him.

He was woken up by an electric shock!

Getting electrocuted in a dream, and before the beautiful dream is even over, is such a waste!

"At least let me finish my dream, bro!" Lu Mingfei complained.

"Then I'll grant your wish!"

Deep within his mind, a chilling, mechanical voice immediately responded.

The next second, everything went black before Lu Mingfei's eyes!

The boundless black tide suddenly engulfed him, carrying his tiny consciousness like a bubble in a giant wave, mercilessly crushed, washed away, and thrown into an unknown abyss.

Time has lost its meaning; only endless depravity remains.

I don't know how much time has passed—perhaps eternity, perhaps just a fleeting moment.

"hiss--"

Lu Mingfei inhaled sharply, a chill running through his body, his consciousness forcibly returning to normal amidst the intense cold.

cold!

it's too cold!

He had never felt such a bone-chilling cold in his entire life.

The biting cold felt like countless icicles, piercing deep into the bones from the exposed skin.

He struggled to turn his stiff neck, and an unfamiliar scene slowly came into view.

With each breath he took, visible white vapor billowed out.

There was no familiar ceiling like at my aunt's house, nor the cozy decor of the Liu family's home.

All around were rough, heavy, dark gray boulders.

Most importantly, Lu Mingfei did not find the door to the room made of huge stones.

Where does light come from?

He struggled to lift his head.

High above, a small window almost touching the ceiling was tightly sealed off by eight bars that glowed with an eerie light.

That pitiful glimmer of light was the only proof of existence in this desperate situation.

"System Bro? Are you there?" The voice collided and echoed between the cold stone walls, but was quickly swallowed by the heavy silence, without causing any ripples.

It was eerily quiet here; there wasn't even a whisper of wind.

Only the uncontrollable clattering sound of Lu Mingfei's teeth could be heard.

To keep myself warm.

Lu Mingfei hugged his arms and curled up his legs, shrinking into a small ball on the cold stone bed, trembling like a leaf in the autumn wind.

He tried to recall what had happened... a beautiful dream, the system's daily tasks, the electric shock, that complaint that made him finish his dream... and then, he fell into this... ice cellar?

He struggled to get up, trying to get closer to the light source and see what was outside.

The stone bed was at least three meters away from the high window.

Even when he stood on the bed on tiptoe, stretching out his arms, his fingertips were still far from the cold railing.

The several futile jumps only resulted in muscle soreness and even heavier panting.

He tried calling out to the system interface, but it remained completely silent.

Despair, like the chill in this room, seeped into my bones little by little.

"System Bro...you're really not going to care about me anymore?" Lu Mingfei murmured, his voice already trembling with tears.

The extreme low temperature was like the cruel scythe of death; with every breath, he felt he was one step closer to death.

My vision began to blur, and my thinking became sluggish.

it's too cold!

Consciousness, like a frozen river, slowly sank into darkness...

……

When he regained consciousness, Lu Mingfei was gripped by an even more complete darkness.

It was truly pitch black, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face.

It seemed that even the last glimmer of light had been extinguished outside that tall window.

The absolute darkness was even more suffocating than the previous cold.

Time completely lost its measure at this moment.

He was like a speck of dust forgotten in a corner of the universe.