TuxedoTranslations

Chapter 88

Thanks to the official server maintenance, Lin Mingfei didn’t torment anyone in Polaris that night. The entire Polaris team—except for Xia Tong—slept soundly through the night.

Early the next morning, Lin Mingfei woke up on time to the wimpy alarm tone he’d set himself. He was always disciplined and never had the habit of sleeping in, so he headed straight to wash up right on schedule.

He changed into clean clothes, lazily stretching his solid shoulder and neck muscles as he pulled open his bedroom door.

Just waking up early in the morning, anyone’s reactions would be a bit slow, and Lin Mingfei was no exception. He stared straight ahead, his eyes landing on the highly stylized spiral chandelier above the living room, completely unaware that there was someone standing in his blind spot.

So he stepped forward—and ran straight into Xia Tong face to face. Their feet tangled, and with a loud bang, the two of them made intimate contact with the hallway floor together.

The sensation of weightlessness snapped Lin Mingfei fully awake. The instant he hit the ground, he braced himself with his hands, just in time to prevent the slender little thing beneath him from taking another heavy impact.

At that moment, the bedroom door at the end of the hallway opened. Shi Ya came out yawning, tying the belt of his robe. He glanced sideways, and his beautiful peach-blossom eyes went from half-lidded to wide open in an instant.

“What are you two doing?” His expression looked exactly like the classic “confused old man on the subway staring at a phone” meme.

Lin Mingfei rolled his eyes slightly and, without changing expression, lifted Xia Tong—whose face had been squashed into a bun—from the floor.

“Doing push-ups,” he said. “Is that not allowed?”

“It’s fine, I guess…” Shi Ya poked Xia Tong with one finger. “But why were you pressing him down underneath you?”

“To increase the difficulty.” At that moment, Lin Mingfei pushed the iron rule of “As long as I’m not embarrassed, the embarrassed one will be someone else” to its absolute limit. “If I don’t go all the way, I’ll be breaking the law.”

Shi Ya: “…”

In this round of battle, Young Master Shi didn’t gain even the slightest advantage. He rolled his eyes and went back to his room to change clothes.

Lin Mingfei secretly let out a sigh of relief, then turned to fuss at Xia Tong. “What are you doing so early in the morning? Blocking my bedroom door?”

“I…” Xia Tong rubbed the back of his head, then his waist and joints, his delicate features scrunching together as he pitifully asked, “I just wanted to ask if you like your fried eggs over-easy or over-hard.”

Lin Mingfei froze. “Huh?”

“Just answer me!” Xia Tong grabbed his arm and shook it back and forth.

Hit by his adorable energy beam and seemingly losing the ability to think, Lin Mingfei blurted out, “Over-hard, I guess!”

Xia Tong cheered. “Yay! Then do you want sugar or soy sauce on it?”

Just as Lin Mingfei was about to answer again, there was a loud boom from the bedroom next door. Zhou Yanjun—like a wild boar—burst through the door and shouted excitedly, “Of course sugar!! Honey is even better!! With a fried egg it’s absolutely amazing!!”

“…” Lin Mingfei looked at him like he was staring at some kind of monster, the corner of his mouth twitching. “Sugar and honey with a fried egg?? What kind of pervert are you?? You dip fried eggs in soy sauce, okay??”

“Damn!” Zhou Yanjun immediately bristled. “Not only do I eat fried eggs with sugar and honey! I eat youtiao with sugar and honey too! Got a problem with that?”

“…” Lin Mingfei’s Adam’s apple bobbed as he imagined the sweet combination. His expression gradually twisted. “I can’t. I’m going to throw up.”

Zhou Yanjun flew into a rage. “What’s that supposed to mean?! Just because you can’t beat the Sweet Faction in a battle, you’re calling me disgusting?!”

Lin Mingfei gritted his teeth slightly. “I don’t battle perverts. Move!”

Xia Tong looked left and right, having no idea how his attempt at frying an egg had triggered such an earth-shattering battle.

Zhou Yanjun was still trying to defend his taste preferences. He grabbed Xia Tong. “Shorty! You fried an egg, right? Listen to me—add sugar and honey! It’s insanely good! Slurp!”

Xia Tong leaned back, chuckling awkwardly as he wriggled out of Zhou Yanjun’s chubby grasp. “Hehe… I’ve decided to add soy sauce instead! Sorry, Fatty!!” With that, he dashed downstairs, leaving Zhou Yanjun standing alone in the hallway, hopping mad. “You have no taste, Xia Xiaotong!!”

—

It all started with that over-hard fried egg drizzled in seafood soy sauce. From then on, Lin Mingfei could clearly feel that after just one night’s sleep, Xia Tong seemed like a completely different person.

Putting aside the fact that he personally made breakfast for him, during the meal he kept proactively handing him chopsticks, passing tissues, asking if he was warm enough—attentive in every possible way. Whenever he had a spare moment, the little omega would prop his chin in his hands, tilt his head, and beam at Lin Mingfei with a sweet, pure, silly smile.

At first, Lin Mingfei felt flattered, a sugary delight secretly bubbling in his chest. But the longer it went on, the more his scalp began to tingle.

“Xia Xiaotong.” His hand trembled slightly as he held his coffee cup. “If you keep smiling at me like that, I’m going to suspect you secretly looked at my medical exam report in advance.”

Xia Tong looked confused. “Huh?”

Lin Mingfei: “…Am I not long for this world?”

Xia Tong flew into a rage at those words, jumping up to cover his mouth. “I won’t allow you to say that about yourself! Zero, you have to always be full of hope! You’re the best! Protect the best Zero!!”

The dining table fell into complete silence.

Shi Ya: “…I also think he might’ve peeked at Zero’s medical report.”

Zhou Yanjun: “…Did he bump his head somewhere? I heard a ‘thud’ this morning.”

Bo Yu: “…Did he get involved with some kind of pyramid scheme?”

With difficulty, Lin Mingfei freed himself from the little omega’s clutches, then shot a fierce glare at the teammates who were clearly enjoying the spectacle. “What are you staring at? What’s there to see?”

Shi Ya drawled, “We’re looking at the light of hope radiating from you—”

Zhou Yanjun said in a mocking tone, “You’re the very best Zero—”

Bo Yu paused for a long moment, then cautiously added the second half, “…Protect the best Zero?”

Lin Mingfei: “…”

These guys were obviously taking revenge for the few words exchanged earlier that morning. Successfully overwhelmed by the cheesiness, Lin Mingfei shoved back his chair and stood up—just in time to see He Youjin walking in from the base entrance.

“I finally locked down the scrim time with Zhao Xin!” He Youjin announced cheerfully as he untied his scarf. “Tomorrow at 7 p.m., a 5v5 online arena match against Sabertooth’s current players—Dylan, Molan, Goblin, Yoyo, and Robin King. This time it’s different from before. It’s a traditional scrim—no livestream, all match details fully confidential, best-of-five format. You can play however you want, drop all pressure and baggage, and have a real tactical and technical exchange with Sabertooth.”

“Wow, so losing doesn’t matter?” Zhou Yanjun asked.

“For a withering team like ours, losing obviously doesn’t matter,” Shi Ya said with a faint smile. “It’s not like we have any pride or million-dollar contracts at stake. But for Sabertooth, that’s a different story, isn’t it?”

“Exactly. Winning and losing means a lot more in their team,” Lin Mingfei said lightly, curling his lips. “It’s not just about the result. Each person’s performance in a single match is tied to things like substitutions and individual endorsements. I’ve always thought that kind of system isn’t great—there’s a big safety risk.”

“Yeah. After all, King’s Tomb is a team-coordination game. If someone wants to be the red flower, someone else has to be the green leaf. If someone wants to bide their time and strike later, someone else has to charge at the very front. If everyone wants to play hero and be the MVP, then the game just can’t be played,” Bo Yu said quietly.

“Maybe in their team’s eyes, that’s a healthy competitive system. They probably think every one of us is just hopeless trash,” Lin Mingfei shrugged. “But, whatever.”

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