Lu Mingfei: What? They're all real!

Xia Mi quietly let out a long breath. She was glad that she had observed her roommate carefully and had a complete understanding of her roommate's mind.

However, Zero was still conflicted. "But we... shouldn't lie or deliberately cause trouble. That's betrayal..."

"My little girl, you're so innocent it's frightening!" Xia Mi thought to herself. "How did he manage to get you like this? Or are you his personal bodyguard?"

"No, no, no, listen to me, we won't cause any trouble. Besides, there are still pursuers, right? We don't have time to control her... We're just testing what their fates are like. If they really are bound by destiny, then we'll accept it. Anyway, we're not doing anything bad... And we're being chased, so this is a reasonable way to avoid danger. He won't blame us."

Xia Mi hatched a plan and leaned over to whisper in Ling's ear...

Zero's eyes darted around, and after a long internal struggle, he nodded in agreement without expression.

This sounds like an acceptable solution; it wouldn't put too much psychological burden on her...

……

The girl, who was squatting on the ground, was looking at the traffic coming and going at the intersection in front of her with teary eyes when her vision was suddenly filled by two figures.

"Little sister, you look cold?" the taller girl asked kindly, as she unbuttoned her coat and removed the scarf around her neck.

Beside her, a slightly shorter girl took off her top hat.

……

Lu Mingfei wandered around like a headless fly, trying to find the two girls who clearly had gotten into trouble, but his phone died at the crucial moment of his call with Ling, and he only heard their general location... Now he could only rely on his eyes to search.

He was utterly exhausted, on the verge of fainting from lack of breath. He forced himself to stay awake and left before Yuan Zhisheng, using the last of his strength to rush over. He was truly on the verge of collapse, so he couldn't use his Bloodline Chains anymore. Even the slightest exertion would likely cause him to fall to the ground.

Lu Mingfei circled around the area many times, but still couldn't find anyone. There were so many people here, and more and more of them were crowding around him, following the flow of people. He didn't know where all these people came from.

It's really difficult to find a specific person here.

But Lu Mingfei has always been a meticulous person, and he always has a long and accurate memory of the people around him.

As he was being jostled through the crowd, it was as if an invisible thread was guiding him. Suddenly, he noticed Xia Mi's coat and the scarf she was wearing that day.

She was facing away from him, wearing the tall hat that Zero always wore, with all her hair tucked inside. Judging by her height, she was probably Xia Mi. She might have stolen Zero's hat... That wretched bully dragon.

Muttering to himself, Lu Mingfei finally felt a little relieved and relaxed for a moment. He quickly approached the girl who was squatting there and gently placed his hand on her shoulder. However, because he had reached his limit, his legs went weak and his hand slipped. In an instant, it was as if he was hugging the girl, and his body pressed completely against her shoulder.

The girl struggled as if she had been electrocuted.

"I'm out of strength." He slumped down, his voice soft, both affectionate and gentle. "Let me lean on you for a while, just a little while. I'll treat you to goose leg when we get back..."

Then, it seemed that his gentle words had an effect. She stopped struggling, but she didn't give any verbal feedback, as if she hadn't understood his words at all, only his affectionate tone.

"Thank you, at least you still have some conscience..." He thought to himself that he hadn't treated this wicked dragon to so many meals for nothing, and breathed on the girl's ear to add his thanks, accompanied by an intimate laugh.

The words of affection reached the girl's ears, and Lu Mingfei felt her stiff body soften. Then, he felt himself being supported by the girl.

Chapter 142 The Girl Heads Towards a New World

No one has ever leaned on Uesugi Erii's shoulder like this before.

Throughout her relatively short life, she always faced two kinds of gazes: the common fear and the rare pity. Everyone who had to get close to her was always extremely cautious, as if approaching a venomous snake with its tongue flicking out. This was easily seen in their eyes.

Only her brother was slightly better. Sometimes he would play Street Fighter with her, sitting shoulder to shoulder with her in front of the TV, passing the time for ten or twenty minutes. Then he would pat her head lightly and then leave through the door, leaving only the echoing sound of the door closing. The room would then become quiet again, with only her dolls keeping her company.

Of course, the doll can't talk, and thankfully she can't either, so no one feels neglected.

She couldn't quite understand what the boy was saying, but she could understand his tone. She didn't quite understand his sudden behavior, but she felt the hug was very warm. Not long ago, two kind girls asked her if she was cold and helped her put on a coat, scarf, and hat. The thick clothes were warm, but none of them were as comfortable and warm as this embrace.

The girl looked back at all the toys she owned, whether it was a half-human-sized Rilakkuma or something else, none of them seemed to have such a warm and cozy feeling.

The boy was affectionate and happy, with a sense of relief that the girl had never felt before at any time or place. No one had ever hugged her so intimately, and she had never received such a rich expression of emotion.

So she happily accepted the affectionate embrace.

The girl turned her gaze to look at the boy's face.

Then, slightly different from what she had expected, his expression was a bit strange. He blinked blankly, so she blinked blankly back. Their eyes stared at each other for a long time. The girl adjusted her blinking frequency to synchronize with the boy's, and she felt inexplicably happy because of it.

She felt she had met someone like herself, or rather, a friend.

Lu Mingfei's perspective was different. He was about to say something when he unexpectedly saw a face that was completely covered up—the forehead was covered by a hat, and the area below the eyes was covered by a scarf, making it look like a Middle Eastern person's attire.

He suddenly remembered hearing in history class that "the King of the Earth and Mountains once included the Middle East in his territory," and wondered inwardly if Xia Mi was reminiscing about the past.

But looking at the blank, blinking eyes in front of him, he refuted this claim in just two seconds—

Her eyes were too innocent; they couldn't possibly be the kind of eyes that belonged to someone with so many cunning ideas that they were practically overflowing. Even if someone were to act, they couldn't pull it off. He instinctively tightened his embrace, then realized that the feel of her was also off. The girl in front of him was extremely thin, like a blank sheet of paper swaying in the wind.

The girl's blank gaze turned curious, as if she didn't understand Lu Mingfei's intention in pulling her arm. Then, she imitated him and tightened her embrace, holding him even tighter.

Now Lu Mingfei was completely certain that this girl was not Xia Mi. He looked her up and down and found that she was wearing tabi socks and straw sandals like a shrine maiden, which were completely different from the deerskin boots that Xia Mi had worn when she went out that morning.

Oh no, they've picked up the wrong person!

Lu Mingfei instantly snapped out of his previous bitter and resentful state. He inwardly cursed Jormungandr, saying she was truly incorrigible and a terrible villain! How dare she casually drape her clothes over another girl, causing him to misunderstand! He vowed to whip her to death with a small leather whip when they got back…

What should I do? I heard that Japanese police are pretty tough on gropers. I wonder if I can get a lawyer like Phoenix Wright...

But as he thought about it, he inexplicably felt that the girl's eyes looked familiar... as if he had seen such innocent and clear eyes a long time ago.

After a long and bizarre face-to-face blinking session, Lu Mingfei finally decided to speak. He cleared his throat—

"There she is! The girl in the overcoat and top hat, she's the culprit. Catch her and kill her on the spot! And the one next to her! Catch them!"

Suddenly a sharp female voice rang out, shouting angrily as it rushed towards them.

The female voice still sounded somewhat familiar. Lu Mingfei was already puzzled, but now he was even more so. He felt like Zero's long-legged friend had reappeared like an NPC! This was definitely her voice!

But the surging crowd left him no time to linger and think. The phrase "kill without mercy" was too terrifying. He couldn't gamble, much less brutally kill someone in the street.

Lu Mingfei didn't have time to be stunned. He moved his hand to the girl's waist, mustered his last bit of energy, burned his hidden reserve power, and started up again. He carried her across the intersection, not even having the energy to look back. He was about to faint.

The girl in his arms seemed to be trembling slightly, and when she turned her head to look back, Lu Mingfei felt even more anxious. He didn't want an innocent girl to be involved—he now understood that Xia Mi must have used a trick to escape, transferring the identifying marks to this innocent girl.

That's absolutely awful!

Of course, as for Zero... he was probably just led astray to do bad things, or his hat was simply stolen.

Thinking this way, Lu Mingfei felt he had to take responsibility, so he hugged the girl tighter, cradled her head with his other hand, and pressed her against his shoulder.

He practically burned his soul as he carried her and ran at breakneck speed, leaping across the busy road and weaving through the streets.

"Don't be afraid, don't be afraid, you'll be alright. I'll apologize to my friend on your behalf," Lu Mingfei whispered reassuringly, forgetting in his panic that he should use Japanese.

But the girl seemed to receive his feelings. She stopped resisting, even though her resistance was just a slight tremor. She stopped looking back and ran alongside the boy on the ground, even helping him to support his body.

Isn't this girl a bit too strong?

Lu Mingfei was puzzled, but didn't have time to ask for an answer. He and the girl stood close together, side by side, charging forward. Night had already enveloped the entire sky, but the neon lights on the ground were still flashing. Before them was a beautiful and dazzling world.

They marched toward the glittering world. The evening breeze gently caressed the girl's body, causing her clothes and scarf to flutter in the wind. The bustling crowd on the sidewalk parted to make way for them upon hearing the boy's shouts, and stared at him as if welcoming a king and his queen.

The bizarre and wonderful sights and the crowds she had never seen before were reflected in the girl's eyes. She looked around curiously, sometimes making a "whoosh" sound, which was mixed with the joy and novelty of her sightseeing.

Finally, she glanced quietly at the profile of the boy who was half a body length ahead of her.

Chapter 143 Lu Mingfei's life is coming to an end.

Lu Mingfei didn't know how long he had been running. In the end, he was even squeezing out his own life force, truly squeezing out the vitality flowing through his body.

He was so tired that he could barely lift his eyelids, but he still kept running.

The crowd following behind was relentless, reappearing just when he thought he had shaken them off, urging him to run with the girl like a whip. He felt he had run about ten kilometers, a distance that, judging from his physical perception, was almost the same as the physical test in Kassel that had nearly killed him. He had just seen the Akihabara signpost; they had run all the way from Shinjuku to Chiyoda.

When Lu Mingfei saw the road sign for Akihabara, he was surprised by how far it was, but what surprised him even more was how well-behaved the girl beside him was, so well-behaved that even Zero, the most well-behaved girl in his heart, seemed to be somewhat inferior.

She seemed to trust him, a complete stranger she had just met, implicitly.

She ran all the way without putting up any resistance. Logically speaking, any girl who is suddenly kidnapped should at least struggle, but she seemed to only be looking at the scenery. Lu Mingfei looked back at her three times and each time saw her shaking her head and looking in all directions, even staring intently at an ordinary building, as if she had never left the house before.

Lu Mingfei stumbled through the streets like a headless fly, eventually finding a place to hide, albeit under a bridge. But he didn't have time to think about anything else.

He stumbled and crashed headfirst into the dirt, only able to groan. In a daze, he repeatedly told the girl who was still holding him to be "careful," wanting to say something more, but he felt his breath catch in his throat, reaching his limit. Then his head tilted to the side, and he fell silent.

……

Lu Mingfei was sleeping soundly, but he could vaguely feel a hand gently stroking his face. He felt that the hand was familiar, as if he had been touched by this hand a long time ago, but he did not feel so good about it, as if something heartbreaking had happened to this hand.

He struggled to open his heavy eyelids, feeling as if he had been in a very long dream, so long that even time had vanished, yet that hand still gently caressed his face.

His vision cleared, and Lu Mingfei saw the girl's face. She hadn't run away; she was still there, staring blankly at him without saying a word.

Lu Mingfei saw that she had taken off her hat and untied the scarf wrapped around her face, and her face was now clearly displayed in front of him, as well as her dark red hair that had fallen down her shoulders and lay on Lu Mingfei's chest. He blinked quietly, and then realized that his eyes and face had become moist.

The girl was clearly frightened by his behavior. She shrank back in fear and looked around anxiously, as if she was afraid that she had done something wrong.

Lu Mingfei couldn't speak right now; his throat was choked up. He could only hold the girl's hand, shift his weight closer to her, then wrap his arms around her waist and press his face against hers.

The girl was less afraid. It was as if the affectionate embrace made her feel at ease, as if she had done something wrong to make him cry. In fact, the boy in front of her was hugging her so tightly that she felt a strange flutter in her heart. This was the second time he had expressed such fervent feelings, which made the girl happy. She even seemed a little more cheerful.

Lu Mingfei finally calmed down a bit and belatedly realized that his behavior was not very elegant. He loosened his embrace around the waist and then propped himself up to sit up.

For a moment, he suddenly didn't know what to say and could only stare blankly at the girl's face. It all happened too suddenly. Not long ago, he had told Genji that he wanted to find the missing piece of his soul, but when he opened his eyes and woke up, that piece suddenly appeared in front of him.

Then, a thought flashed through his mind, and he suddenly glanced at the girl's clothes, instantly understanding everything.

It must have been the kind-hearted and beautiful Zero who spotted the girl first. However, because she was being chased, she couldn't linger. Yet, she desperately wanted to leave her mark, so she came up with the idea of ​​using her clothes as a marker so that Lu Mingfei could easily spot her.

Zero, what a good girl...

Lu Mingfei was silently moved to tears. After a difficult internal struggle, he decided to reluctantly praise Miss Xia Mi at this moment as well... Although it was very likely that Ling had forced her to do so—she cherished her clothes and would not easily let them hang on other girls—she still deserved praise.

He stopped his wandering thoughts and turned his attention back to the girl who was standing close to him. She was staring at him blankly, her head leaning closer, her face full of curiosity.

Lu Mingfei felt he should say something; he couldn't just keep staring at each other like that.

“You…” Lu Mingfei hesitated for a moment, then chose to start with the most common eating card deck. He asked, “Are you hungry?”

It wasn't that he didn't want to say something more powerful; he simply couldn't think of anything more meaningful. The girl might not even know him now, let alone share his feelings... Maybe she hadn't even thought of anything yet...

The girl remained silent for a long time, not answering his question.

Lu Mingfei could only remain silent, but then he remembered the new information and repeatedly berated himself for being an idiot. He patted his head and asked, "You can't speak, right?"

The girl nodded repeatedly, with a hint of surprise and delight, astonished that he knew such a thing. She was overjoyed by this amazing discovery.

Lu Mingfei felt his tear ducts becoming even more difficult to control, as if his life was about to come to an end.

Then the girl became frightened again, as if she began to doubt that she had done something wrong. It seemed that her upbringing was somewhat abnormal and that her personality was somewhat strange.

But none of that mattered. Lu Mingfei suddenly stood up from the ground, pulling the girl who was squatting on the ground up with him.

"Let's grab something to eat. There's someone selling taiyaki over there." Lu Mingfei pointed to a small shop on the riverbank, so small it could almost be called a stall.

It wasn't fully light yet, and the roads were empty with no pursuers in sight. At this moment, Lu Mingfei recalled the extremely familiar female voice and even began to doubt whether there were any "pursuers" at all.

He climbed the steps, and the girl followed him obediently and curiously. Although they had only known each other for one night, he felt an unparalleled trust in her. The girl's hand was on his sleeve, like a little girl who had to hold her brother's hand tightly when crossing the street.

However, she wasn't worried about vehicles rushing out from either side; she was just worried that the people in front of her would suddenly disappear.

……

Watching the girl bite into her sweets, her eyes sparkling with a smile like a deer's, a cool breeze blew across the river, brushing against Lu Mingfei's face and ruffling the girl's dark red hair. At that moment, Lu Mingfei finally felt his tense heart relax a little.

Chapter 144 The Strange Girl's Strange Thoughts

"Here you go." Lu Mingfei handed over the notebook and pen he had just bought.

The girl happily took it, and before Lu Mingfei could say anything, she started scribbling and drawing. She seemed extremely familiar with this way of communicating, and her desire to express herself had reached its limit.

She quickly wrote down many hiragana characters, crooked and mixed together, but Lu Mingfei still managed to identify what the girl was most concerned about—she was very curious about him, and all her questions were about him.

These questions left Lu Mingfei feeling somewhat disappointed, and even his smile twitched.

He had been worried about something for a long time—what if the people in his memory hadn't just "gone away," but had actually "disappeared" long ago?

He couldn't tell whether the girl in front of him simply hadn't remembered anything... or whether, like Chen Motong, she was actually some kind of "experiment," a newly born life...

This wasn't a random thought of his. After listening to Chen Motong recount her family background, he pieced together a clue, and he could even guess what the person behind all this looked like. In his memory, this wasn't the first time something like "copying a woman" had happened... And now, he suddenly recalled Zero's words, and his heart felt even heavier.

But then he noticed that the girl's hand was frozen in mid-air, waiting for his reply.

Lu Mingfei quickly dismissed his pointless thoughts and responded to the girl's expectation.

He wrote his name in the notebook and added a "^_^" symbol after it, but the girl didn't seem to understand this way of expressing it. She pursed her lips and wrote the next string of words, asking him what the last word meant.

Lu Mingfei couldn't help but chuckle. He took a pen and drew an arrow, explaining that it meant "laugh." The girl's expression brightened. She blinked and thought for a moment, then wrote down another string of characters. This time, she wrote Chinese characters—"Uesugi Erii," which was her name. But after the name, she added a "^_^" symbol, which she copied from the original. An arrow extended from the symbol, pointing to the "laugh" that Lu Mingfei had written.

The two people's names are indirectly linked.