Chapter 18: The Vanishing Him
The red Ferrari blazed like a fiery comet speeding down the city’s main thoroughfare, its engine roar thrilling like a Grammy-winning diva’s passionate performance, drawing the eyes of passing pedestrians and drivers alike.
A luxurious car paired with a beautiful companion—such a combination should delight any man.
Yet for Lu Mingfei, neither the stunning woman by his side nor the envious glances from others stirred the slightest interest.
Earlier on the elevated highway, he had already caught sight of the towering building guarded by countless skyscrapers.
Its design remained largely unchanged, except that the sign atop no longer bore the name “Tianjiao Group,” but instead boldly displayed the words “Black Prince.”
In that moment, the young man’s previously rigid, upright posture slackened completely, sinking into the seat as if all strength had been drained from him.
The red-haired girl in the driver’s seat had been watching him out of the corner of her eye. Seeing this, she half teased, half probed, asking, “What’s wrong with you? You look completely lost. Did a girl dump you or something?”
She didn’t suspect the Black Prince Group—after all, Lu Mingfei had never crossed paths with that imposing entity in his seventeen years of life.
Besides, the young master of the Black Prince Group was her junior brother, who had been studying abroad since kindergarten; there was no chance their paths would intersect.
So where exactly was the problem?
Nono silently analyzed Lu Mingfei’s unusual behavior today but, since she was driving, her mind couldn’t operate at full capacity.
She could only hope Norma might help uncover some of Lu Mingfei’s hidden past.
Unexpectedly, her casual tease actually hit close to the truth.
“More or less,” Lu Mingfei replied, leaning back in his seat, his gaze piercing through the window as he tracked the sun sinking toward the western horizon, his face etched with stories.
“...”
After a long silence, the red-haired girl couldn’t help but press further, “And then?”
Normally, Lu Mingfei would have narrated the tale of how he and that lilac-like girl met and parted with a tone tinged with sorrow and confusion.
So why the sudden stop?
“It’s not a breakup, just lost contact with a friend,” Lu Mingfei answered lightly.
Surprised, Nono exclaimed, “You have friends?”
The words escaped before she could stop them, and immediately she regretted it.
A lie wounds no one; the truth is the sharpest blade.
Her question had stabbed too swiftly, too unexpectedly.
Lu Mingfei didn’t get angry. Instead, he glanced at her indifferently.
“To live without even one friend is a failure of a life.”
With that, he fell silent, ignoring all her attempts to probe or coax, treating them as mere noise.
Seeing his shameless attitude, the red-haired girl felt like kicking him out of the car on the spot.
---
But he was, after all, a precious talent. If she kicked him out near the eSports club, the principal would surely lose his mind.
Fortunately, the awkward moment didn’t last long. The fiery Ferrari soon pulled up beneath the Black Prince Group’s skyscraper.
Opening the door, Lu Mingfei looked up at the nearly iconic tower, his eyes dark and uncertain.
The security guard at the entrance saw the car stop and was about to ask the occupants to move it.
But upon seeing the red-haired girl step out of the driver’s seat, he silently stepped back.
This girl had serious connections—she even called the chairman “uncle.” They dared not provoke her.
“We’re here. What are you planning to do?” Nono leaned on the car door, her tone teasing.
“If you want to go inside for a tour, just call me ‘senior sister,’ and I’ll guarantee you smooth access.”
She seemed eager to show off her senior status, but her future junior wasn’t impressed.
“No, thanks,” Lu Mingfei shook his head.
Taking one last look at the towering building, he left behind the tall, radiant girl and slipped into the shadows beneath the skyscraper, walking further and further away alone.
There was no romantic sunset or golden twilight, but Nono still sensed from his thin, retreating figure a loneliness as if abandoned by the entire world.
He had been fine just that morning; why had he suddenly sunk into despair?
“Norma.”
“I’m here.”
The red hair brushing against her ear was stirred by a light breeze, revealing a delicate headset. The girl spoke softly:
“Have you found the owner of the ‘Summer Cake Shop’ or that ‘Haunted House in the Woods’ that Lu Mingfei was looking for?”
“No news related to the Summer Cake Shop. The abandoned villa’s owner moved south for business ten years ago; their company is now on the verge of bankruptcy.
“Strangely, the owner seems to have forgotten about the villa and has never put it up for sale.”
“Anything else?”
Nono knew the school’s usual methods well. The N96 phone given to Lu Mingfei was undoubtedly equipped with tracking devices.
It was possible the academy was monitoring him the moment he connected to the internet.
Yet Norma’s answer was almost laughable.
The school had assessed early on that Lu Mingfei wouldn’t have a chance to use the N96 even if it was delivered.
His uncle and aunt would confiscate it under the guise of safekeeping or other excuses.
So the equipment team hadn’t modified the N96 at all—it was merely a communication device.
When Norma finally accessed Lu Mingfei’s phone data, all she found was that he was browsing posts about Chu Zihang, seemingly obsessed with this senior in some inexplicable way.
So, had the school prepared all along like a butcher ready to strike at a mere meat bun?
Nono was left speechless.
Indeed, no one expected the lifelong loser Lu Mingfei to suddenly rise up and resist his aunt’s tyranny.
---
“What about the professor?”
Given the sudden developments, she couldn’t believe Professor Goodrian would remain passive.
After all, if Lu Mingfei succeeded in enrolling, there was a high chance he would become his second student.
Norma replied regretfully, “The academic interview work is not yet complete. Professor Goodrian can’t personally guide him for now. He told you to keep an eye on him and not to focus on playing around.”
“Fine,” Nono sighed, sliding back into the car.
“Happy times are over~”
...
That night, after wandering the city like a restless spirit, Lu Mingfei returned to a hotel in the CBD.
Cold water sprayed fiercely from the showerhead, slicing through the air into dozens of biting streams that mercilessly washed away every speck of dust clinging to him from his outing, temporarily easing the physical exhaustion after his long journey.
But the weariness in his heart was like winter’s frozen ice—no matter how the cold water poured, it remained unshaken.
Lu Mingfei stared silently at the reflection in the mirror: a disheveled-haired youth with bloodshot eyes and a worn, haggard face.
After parting with Chen Motong, he had been to many places.
He visited the rented apartment where he had once lived with his parents, wandered around the youth center rumored to hold someone’s legend, and gazed from afar at the luxurious Peacock Residence villa district...
Finally, at a distinctive braised meat shop favored by a certain big boss, he confirmed one thing.
That man named Chu Tianjiao, along with the brother and sister pair, had vanished from this world.
“Old Chu, huh? He died in a car accident years ago.”
The braised meat shop owner held a white unlit cigarette between his lips, yet his words felt like secondhand smoke, inexplicably choking, bringing tears to one’s eyes.
“Bang!”
The mirror reflecting the pale face and emaciated figure of the youth shattered with a loud crash.
A dark red stain quietly trickled down, slowly spreading along the jagged cracks of the glass, tracing a mournful blood-red flower across the fractured surface.
Warm blood slid down from the clenched fist, each drop heavy and resolute, striking the cold sink with a soft, dull sound.
Within the shattered mirror shards, that delicate face twisted into a grimace of rage.
“Alive, you want to see them; dead, you want their body.”
“The report only says ‘missing’—there must be more to this story!”