TTW Chapter 177: Lu Mingfei (Patreon)

Looking at the sky and the setting sun, Lin Yi realized it was already afternoon.

Slightly raising his eyes, he looked at the unfamiliar building in front of him. A second later, memories flooded back. It was the screening hall, a place exclusive to the literary club. He had spent quite a bit of his free time here, watching old-fashioned movies.

"Whew..." Lin Yi took a breath. The system's capabilities were truly unimaginable. The identity and memories it created for him were terrifyingly real. Sometimes, he would feel confused himself. Looking at the screening hall again, it felt incomparably familiar.

Today happened to be the farewell party for high school graduation.

"Hey... you're finally here," Lin Yi heard a beautiful female voice before he even approached. Yang Miaomiao was a girl who had only made an impact in Lin Yi's mind through his sparse, false memories. She was the girl who performed Grade 10 piano pieces at various school banquets.

The girl was pretty and gorgeous; if it were before, she would probably have been considered the school belle.

"Come on in; everyone has been waiting for you for a long time," Yang Miaomiao urged.

Both of them entered the screening hall, already packed with students. Many greeted Lin Yi and Yang Miaomiao.

However, knowing that this world was a Dragon Raja world, Lin Yi had lost interest in these ordinary classmates and offered perfunctory replies.

The main reason he came was to meet the protagonist of the original story, Lu Mingfei.

Both of them looked around but didn't find their target.

"Did I remember wrong?" Lin Yi wondered.

Just then, the door creaked open, and a somewhat disheveled figure walked in. A pair of dark-framed glasses couldn't conceal his loser-like demeanor.

The man wore a high-end Korean-style suit and a white shirt. However, no matter how you looked at it, the attire didn't seem to fit him well.

"Wow! Hahahaha! Look, a monkey wearing a suit," pierced Lu Mingfei's ears as soon as he walked in. The loudest laughter came from Su Xiaoqian, a wealthy, beautiful young woman. In school, she was almost like a little princess.

With her taking the lead, the room burst into laughter. The dozen or so members of the literary club, already seated and enjoying themselves, joined in the mockery. Under the dim light, Lin Yi could clearly see their faces turning the color of eggplants.

However, Lu Mingfei had grown accustomed to it, as well as to the ridicule. He just lowered his head and did not react.

"Stand over there to give your speech later," Zhao Menghua, wealthy and influential, instructed Lu Mingfei. "Don't block the center of the screen. Pictures of the literary club will be displayed on it later."

"Mm," Lu Mingfei took a deep breath, nodded heavily, and agreed.

Lin Yi slapped his forehead, finally recalling what would happen next.

Lu Mingfei planned to use this evening's event to confess to the school's beauty, Chen Wenwen.

For this, he had even bribed the projectionist with two packs of cigarettes. According to his plan, during the film screening, his confession would be displayed on the big screen.

"Ah, what a love-struck fool," Lin Yi muttered to himself.

Yang Miaomiao next to him didn't hear clearly and turned her head to ask, "What did you say?"

"Nothing," Lin Yi shook his head. Among all the main characters he had seen across different dimensions, Lu Mingfei was one of the most pitiful.

He had been inconspicuous all his life, extremely timid. His few moments of glory were bought at the cost of a quarter of his life, and even so, not many people knew about them.

After his moments in the spotlight, he returned to his detestable self.

But only Lin Yi knew that this was a human-shaped tyrannosaurus, a terrifying being who could easily destroy this city when truly angered.

On the stage, Lu Mingfei frowned slightly. For an instant, he had clearly seen a flash of white light quickly passing by. Was it an illusion? Lu Mingfei turned his gaze in the direction where the white light had flashed. It was Lin Yi. He immediately lowered his head; he and Lin Yi were people from two different worlds. Why would Lin Yi pay attention to a loser like him?

Bang!

A sudden, intense light lit up, dazzling his eyes. It wasn't a light coming from above but from the front projector.

The whole audience hissed, signaling everyone to quiet down.

Chen Wenwen, iLoveYou—what a poetic way to confess. Lu Mingfei, a nobody throughout his high school years, was now in the spotlight for the first time. That's because he was the 'i' in "iLoveYou," helping someone else confess to the woman he had a secret crush on.

Only now did Lu Mingfei realize that he was still a clown.

Because today Zhao Menghua was also confessing and had taken the initiative before Lu Mingfei. Lu Mingfei's grand confession plan had already fallen apart before it even started.

He had even become the boost for Zhao Menghua's confession.

He thought he had the courage to risk everything. With less than 200 yuan in his pocket and a bag containing a bunch of wilted dandelions he had painstakingly gathered, he wanted to stand up and shout out the confession he had silently rehearsed in his heart countless times. But he had asked himself more than once, "What do you have to compete with the wealthy and powerful Zhao Menghua?" In the end, he obediently returned to his place, assuming the role of that letter.

"What a wimp," Lin Yi shook his head. No matter how many times he saw it, this scene still made him angry.

Because who among the original readers did not empathize with this unlucky kid?

He still remembered that when he first read the original book, he wanted to abandon it. He couldn't understand why the author would design such a useless protagonist.

But he continued reading because the worldview in the book was particularly fascinating.

"Today was supposed to be our Literature Club gathering, but I want to take this opportunity," Zhao Menghua, dressed in a finely crafted suit, jumped onto the stage holding a bunch of dark red roses, surrounded by a group of sycophantic friends, and loudly declared, "We are about to part ways, and I don't want to have regrets. Whatever I want to say to Chen Wenwen is already on the screen. I have to take a gamble. Otherwise, when we part and can't see each other, liking someone for three years without anyone knowing would be utterly pathetic, wouldn't it?"

"Accept him! Accept him! Accept him!"

Shouts filled the projection hall.

Some were just there for the spectacle, while others had been prepared by Zhao Menghua—atmosphere-makers paid for their services.

~~~



Lu Mingfei