TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 47

We’re really a perfect match.

Is this really something you can call a perfect match?

Lin Mingfei gazed into Xia Tong’s eyes. The little Omega’s eyes were wide and bright, with a clear distinction between the whites and pupils, the gleam in them sparkling like the pure moonlight, free from any dust. The Alpha froze for a moment, then suddenly smiled faintly.

Sometimes Lin Mingfei thought Xia Tong was a strange little creature. No matter how many trials he went through, it seemed like nothing ever affected his pure heart. As long as someone around him was upset, Xia Tong would immediately flash his innocent, charming smile and use his warm, sunny energy to uplift others.

Gu Dongsheng silently watched the two of them bumble around in their foolishness, not even progressing much, and he couldn’t help but click his tongue in mild exasperation. Xia Tong and Lin Mingfei both turned their heads in unison, and saw Gu Dongsheng taking a can of beer out of his little stall, popping the tab and letting the white foam splash onto his fingers, then drinking deeply.

“I say, you two are really too good at romanticizing your relationship,” Gu Dongsheng commented. “What ‘perfect match’—perfect match is a compliment. You two should be called ‘the pot and the lid’ or maybe ‘the tortoise and the green bean,’ like two things that just fit together.”

Lin Mingfei: “……”

This old man couldn’t speak without saying something ridiculous!

Xia Tong, however, didn’t feel offended at all. In fact, he was quite amused and clapped his hands happily. “I like this version too!” He smiled broadly, pointing at Lin Mingfei, then at himself. “Zero, if you’re the green bean, then I’m the one who’s in love with you, the tortoise!”

Lin Mingfei’s right eyelid began to twitch. Seeing Xia Tong about to blurt out something else, he quickly covered the little mouth that was babbling away, stopping him mid-sentence. “Alright, alright, I know you like me now.”

“Mm-hmm!” Xia Tong nodded eagerly, his face full of sincerity, sending waves of approval toward Lin Mingfei.

At that point, Gu Dongsheng had made his money, had his fun, and was now happily basking in the leftover joy built upon his godson’s “misery.” The dopamine in his brain was overflowing, and he felt slightly tipsy with happiness.

“I think it’s getting late,” he lazily yawned, waving his hand. “You two should head off and do your own thing. As for me, I’m going home to sleep.”

“Uncle, you’re leaving already?” Xia Tong looked at him with a reluctant gaze, clearly not wanting him to go.

“Of course, I can’t compare with all you energetic youngsters,” Gu Dongsheng replied.

Lin Mingfei pulled a new set of keys out of his pocket and tossed them to Gu Dongsheng. “I’ve also changed the lock on the main door. Here’s the new key. Don’t lose it again.”

He said this sternly, but Gu Dongsheng didn’t take it seriously. Instead, he grinned mischievously and raised his eyebrows at Xia Tong, as if showing off. “See? My godson is useful, isn’t he? He can do everything. He’s incredibly capable.”

Lin Mingfei was afraid that Xia Tong might say something like, “I wish I had a son like Zero. I want one too,” or other similar remarks, so he quickly interrupted his godfather’s sales pitch. “Enough talking, let’s pack up and head home.”

Gu Dongsheng replied, “Alright. Anyway, now that we’ll be in the same city often, we’ll have plenty of chances to meet. If you need anything, remember to come find your godfather. Don’t be shy.”

Lin Mingfei: “…”

Gu Dongsheng’s sudden outburst of fatherly love caught him off guard, and he had no idea what exactly Gu Dongsheng meant by that. It made him think back to the two years he spent overseas for medical treatment.

He hadn’t told anyone about the issues with his eyes, not even Gu Dongsheng. Back then, he didn’t know that double vision was a physical condition. Before he found any medical solutions, he thought the suffering would never end. But even then, he didn’t feel the need to tell anyone—he didn’t want anyone else to carry the weight of his endless despair. He was like a boat drifting alone on the ocean… Now, after all this time, looking back, it almost seemed unbelievable. How had he quietly endured those painful, hopeless, and dreary days alone? If it were him now, he couldn’t imagine tolerating even a little of it. Just thinking about it made his heart sink.

Why did he change like this?

Lin Mingfei was still lost in his thoughts when he unconsciously glanced at Xia Tong.

The source of all the changes was this little Omega. It was Xia Tong who had changed him.

It was probably because of Xia Tong’s straightforward concern, which had been repeatedly and tirelessly offered. His own walls had gradually worn down and cracked open. He began to accept the kindness of others through that crack—like the comfort from Gu Dongsheng—and slowly incorporated these external expressions of care into his own life, his inner self becoming softer.

Being a soft creature… didn’t actually feel that bad?

After parting ways with Gu Dongsheng, it was already very late into the night. The food stalls on the side of the road were slowly packing up. Lin Mingfei and Xia Tong walked side by side, heading back to the base along the increasingly quiet and desolate food street.

“Uncle Gu is really good to you!” Xia Tong said, hands clasped behind his back, hopping along the curb.                                                                                       

“He is.” Lin Mingfei responded noncommittally but paused before adding, “But he’s definitely not a good parent. You can tell by the fact that he switched to selling fried skewers.”

“Why?” Xia Tong asked. “Actually, I think selling fried skewers is better than making movies! I love fried skewers!”

As expected from a simple-minded person like Xia Tong, Lin Mingfei couldn’t help but laugh helplessly. “Don’t listen to him when he talks about how humiliating it is to attend my parent-teacher meetings. He actually didn’t attend many of them. Either he overslept or got the time and place wrong. Later, the teachers probably thought I inherited his lack of discipline, so they gave up trying to save me and stopped inviting him to the meetings.”

Xia Tong was laughing at his story.

“You never went to school?” Lin Mingfei suddenly became curious.

“Mm.” Xia Tong nodded.

“Then how did you learn to read and write?”

“Debon taught me! Debon would download lots of books for me to read. Although I didn’t understand most of them, there was nothing else to do, so I just read!” Xia Tong said, “Later, I found that going online was more interesting than reading. I started watching people play games on live streams. The only bad part was that Zheng Linchuan always stopped me from going online.”

He casually mentioned this past, but it made Lin Mingfei feel uncomfortable, his heart aching as he thought about how he wanted to slap Zheng Linchuan across the face.

“It’s okay. Once you’re at the base, you can do whatever you want. No one will stop you,” Lin Mingfei reassured him.

Xia Tong lowered his head, sighing softly with a touch of sorrow. “But I can’t just take advantage of the food and shelter here without doing anything in return. I should be helping you guys, right?” His steps slowed, and he seemed less cheerful, the weight of the thought making him heavy-hearted. “Zero, I still can’t walk A. What if I can never learn to walk A? What should I do?” He paused, then added, “Shouldn’t you guys… find a more reliable wizard teammate instead?”

Lin Mingfei glanced at him.

Xia Tong’s anxiety and unease finally showed on his face. This was probably the reason why he couldn’t sleep tonight and had sneaked out alone to distract himself.

“How could anyone never learn something?” Lin Mingfei’s voice was gentle but firm. “It’s impossible. There’s a saying in the world: ‘Where there’s a will, there’s a way.’”

“What does that mean?” Xia Tong asked.

“It means that as long as you have perseverance, you will succeed in the end. If you fail once, try again. If twice doesn’t work, try three times. As long as you’re willing to put in the effort, there’s nothing you can’t learn—only lazy people,” Lin Mingfei said. “Besides, you’re a very smart Omega.”

Xia Tong lowered his head, looking skeptical.

“Do you know? Shi Ya used to play as a DPS elf. He would attack anyone he saw. He was the ultimate kill-stealer. For him, keeping his focus on supporting teammates was torture. When we first formed the team, he rushed in faster than anyone else, only to realize once he got close to the enemy that he had no offensive skills. He would end up getting beaten up and barely made it back. Oh, most of the time, he didn’t make it back. That horrible reflex lasted for about half a month. It wasn’t just him—us, his teammates, couldn’t even get any healing. The whole game experience was terrible. He once swore he would never learn to play support and even wanted to quit the team.” Lin Mingfei said.

“Ah? That bad! What happened next?” Xia Tong asked, curious.

“What happened next? He got forcibly trained by us and turned into the supportive, loving ‘dad’ he is now.” Lin Mingfei replied nonchalantly.

Xia Tong let out a “Wow!” and poked his chin with a finger. “I can’t really imagine what it’s like for Shi Ge, such a gentle person, to steal kills!”

“Hm, there’s also Zhou Yanjun,” Lin Mingfei continued. “Before he signed with the club, he was a professional troll. His mouth was filthy, and whenever the game went badly, he’d lose it, completely losing his mind. He’d go crazy, biting anyone he could catch, and back then, if you were a second late taking off your headset, you’d regret it for life. As his teammate, you know what I mean, right? It was really painful. Very painful. The moment I took off the headset, I’d feel like a saint.”

“What happened next?” Xia Tong asked, stunned.

“His bad habit hasn’t been fully corrected yet, but at least it’s mostly under control now,” Lin Mingfei said. “At least, when you’re in a match, you can communicate with him like a normal person. We’ve learned to be content with that. Let me tell you about Xiao Bo now. Can you guess why Xiao Bo chose the Axe Warrior class?”

“Is it because he thinks the skills of the Axe Warrior have a good sense of impact?” Xia Tong guessed.

Lin Mingfei raised a finger and shook it gently. “You’re overthinking it. He chose Axe Warrior because the class’s NPC looks a lot like his late grandfather.”

Xia Tong: “…”

Lin Mingfei: “And the weapon the class uses is similar to the axe his family uses for chopping firewood, so… at heart, he’s just a sentimental type.”

Xia Tong: “…So Xiao Bo can still play professionally. That’s pretty impressive.”

Lin Mingfei snorted. “Impressive? He was getting beaten up without fighting back when he first started. And his signature phrase was: ‘My grandpa told me not to fight randomly.’ An Axe Warrior who doesn’t want to fight? Did our team hire a human punching bag with money? Ha!”

Xia Tong was shocked. He never expected that the formation of Team P would be so rough. Every seemingly impressive person had a dark past, and it was the kind of past that felt like a mental injury.

“Compared to these guys, ‘can’t walk A’ doesn’t even seem worth mentioning, does it?” Lin Mingfei said with a smirk. “Trust me, everyone who looks impressive started off as a rookie.”

Xia Tong thought for a moment, then carefully lifted his eyelids and asked, “Then, brother, were you ever a rookie?”

Lin Mingfei: “…”

Xia Tong: “Do you… have any dark past?”

The Alpha froze for a moment, then indifferently turned his face away.

“No, I was never a rookie, and I don’t have a dark past!”

–

Author’s note: 

Lin Mingfei: I’m going to be the perfect Alpha of the base!

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