Chapter 1: Who Has Given Me This Second Chance at Life?!

Lu Mingfei’s high school grades were far from impressive. Although he attended the most prestigious private high school in the area, with exorbitant tuition fees and exceptional teachers, his mind was nowhere near his studies. To his teachers, he was that one black sheep who ruined the whole pot of porridge.

Fortunately, he barely passed the university entrance exam with scores above the cut-off line, so he didn’t have to settle for a private vocational school. Yet, contrary to everyone’s expectations, he didn’t follow the conventional path to university, nor did he become a rapper to revive underground hip-hop. Instead, he resolutely took up the banner of Chinese esports in StarCraft.

In an era dominated by Korean players in StarCraft, Lu Mingfei burst onto the scene like a sudden atomic bomb, shattering the dark sky thick with the scent of kimchi. Since his debut, the pinnacle of StarCraft has forever flown a vibrant red banner. Warcraft had its King of Humans, StarCraft had the God of Lu.

The former was China’s first esports icon; the latter was a god who crushed all challengers. This young man, who once reached the summit and never descended, was an insurmountable mountain and an unavoidable nightmare for all StarCraft players. Ten years undefeated, no one could break his golden record—even after a year’s hiatus, he returned to dominate once more, later even winning a StarCraft championship at the Bird’s Nest Stadium.

Compared to the young League of Legends player Ah Fei next door, Lu Mingfei enjoyed success in both love and career—truly a winner in life. Yet, at this very moment, Lu “Life Winner” Mingfei sat on the edge of a bunk bed measuring one meter eighty by one meter twenty, propping his chin with one hand like Rodin’s The Thinker, quietly pondering life.

“Damn it, where did this come from while I was asleep? Is this still the Old Lu household?” He muttered, his eyes filled with shock and confusion as they swept across the cramped, unfamiliar room.

His gaze passed over a cluttered desk piled with study materials and an old IBM laptop, finally settling on a desk calendar beside the computer. He didn’t focus on the crossed-out dates but fixed on the four glaring Arabic numerals—2009!

The instant he saw the year, Lu Mingfei felt his heart skip a beat. His first thought was someone was playing a prank; the second was he was still dreaming. But when his eyes landed on the wardrobe mirror, where a scrawny boy in a wrinkled white shirt stared back with dull eyes and disheveled hair, pinching his own face hard, his heart sank completely.

Who in the family could understand? He had woken up ten years in the past! His wife and kids existed only as a future possibility; the legend of his invincibility in StarCraft was gone; the detached villa with a garden vanished...

He rubbed his belly and found that the wife’s favorite eight-pack abs were all neatly back in place!

What the hell was this? Had he been struck by some divine thunderbolt?

“Even rebirth has its rules. I have a happy family and a successful career, with twins on the way—why the hell would I want to be reborn now?”

Lu Mingfei reflected honestly: apart from having lost his parents, he met none of the typical qualifications for someone reborn. He wasn’t handsome enough to be worshipped, nor had he suffered any heartbreak so tragic it would justify a second chance.

He didn’t drive recklessly, didn’t meet truck drivers at midnight crossroads, didn’t share girlfriends in the esports circle, nor was he a backup boyfriend licking wounds. Though his life had its regrets, none warranted a full reset.

Could someone be casting a curse behind his back?

But he was already planning to step aside for the younger generation. Now this forced him back onto the path of invincibility, stirring up another bloody storm?

“Ah, if I’d known, I wouldn’t have boasted that I’d retire after one more championship.”

Lu Mingfei sighed deeply. Flags were not to be raised lightly; one misstep and life would restart.

Fortunately, his luck held—he wasn’t reset to factory settings, nor forced to re-roll from kindergarten. With knowledge of the next ten years, he could play the role of a ghostwriter or an information mule to earn money while lying down. If worse came to worst, he could gamble on soccer and stocks to strike it rich overnight.

But there’s a saying: when a man pees off a rooftop, a storm brews thousands of miles away in Tokyo.

No one could predict what massive ripple his little “butterfly effect” might cause in the future.

To be safe, the compensation money from his parents would quietly stay in the bank for now.

“No choice, I’ll just have to make life harder for my brothers in the StarCraft scene again.”

Since rebirth was a done deal, Lu Mingfei could only accept and enjoy it. He wasn’t planning to attend university anyway, so he might as well take a long leave and go find his wife.

What if she had also been reborn? Wouldn’t that be wonderful?

Two underage bodies carrying the souls of twenty-seven or twenty-eight-year-olds—old wine in new bottles.

Tsk, just thinking about it made him feel wicked.

As Lu Mingfei was plotting his plan to cross the sea and reunite with his wife, a roar erupted next door, as loud and fierce as a river tiger’s bellow, dripping with impatience and irritation:

“Lu Mingfei! Young Master Lu! How long do you need to drag your feet just to buy a few things? Do I have to carry you in a sedan chair?”

“Every single day it’s either sleeping or gaming, not a shred of responsibility for your own affairs. Do you really want to repeat a year?”

“We spent so much money on you—it’s like throwing it into the water making noise—but what good are you besides causing trouble?”

The voice boomed like a great bell, crashing like thunder.

For a moment, Lu Mingfei felt like the chopsticks in Liu Bei’s hand during a heroic debate over wine—about to be shaken out of his grasp by that shout.

Fortunately, the one yelling wasn’t Chancellor Cao, but a middle-aged woman who seemed to be hitting menopause. The voice sounded familiar, but he couldn’t quite place it. Following the principle of diplomacy before conflict, he tried to reason:

“Why shout so loud? Can’t you speak with a better attitude?”

But upon hearing this, the stout, somewhat sharp-faced middle-aged woman next door instantly flared up like a tigress whose tail had been stepped on. Her voice nearly tore through the ceiling in volume and pitch:

“Attitude? What attitude do you want—beef tripe, ox tripe, or money tripe?”

“All these years I’ve fed you, clothed you, sent you to school, and you’re not even happy when I say a few words?!”

Outrageous! A mere dependent, living under someone’s roof, living at their mercy, ignored on the shelves, a disgrace to take outside, and yet this deadbeat dared to talk back to the head of the household!

Starting today, he would be cast out... No, he had to be taught who was boss!

The middle-aged woman stormed out of her quarters like an enraged monarch, ready to crush the insolent subject.

Lu Mingfei was curious—who had the nerve to claim they raised him all these years? Even his deceased parents would have blushed at such words.

Curiosity aside, since the formalities were over, it was time for a verbal battle in full force.

If he didn’t knock the old woman’s false teeth loose today, his name wasn’t Lu Mingfei!

Soon, heavy footsteps like an earthquake reached the door, accompanied by a voice piercing the clouds and shattering stone:

“Do you think just because you’re almost an adult and have grown wings, you can look down on us poor relatives and refuse to obey?”

“Or are you still bitter about me applying for you to study abroad when your lousy grades only got you into a second-tier school?”

“I’m telling you, Lu Mingfei, if it weren’t to give your parents some peace of mind, I wouldn’t bother caring where you end up in university!”

The buzzing words assaulted his ears like a thousand flying dragon soldiers circling relentlessly. Before him stood a middle-aged woman of distorted features, swollen with anger and years of frustration.

Seeing that familiar scowl he hadn’t laid eyes on for over a decade, Lu Mingfei knew his first question upon rebirth had its answer: he really was back in the Old Lu household!

Though it wasn’t the same Lu household he remembered, and he had no clue why his rebirth point had reset here, the shock was brief before he quickly recovered.

Gazing at the fierce woman, the deep-seated loathing the boy had buried inside sprang forth, but just as it reached his lips, it transformed into the most sincere blessing:

“Then why don’t you go down and give them an explanation yourself?”