Chapter Seven: The Little Devil's First Time

Early morning study. Gentle sunlight streamed into the classroom, casting a faint shadow of the boy’s flushed face on the clear glass. It was obvious he was ill, and still feverish.

After making close friends, Lu Mingfei’s outlook had indeed changed greatly. Yet, it was only his mindset that transformed. At present, his body possessed merely the strength of an ordinary person, without any special enhancements. Thus, he too suffered from colds and fevers like everyone else.

Yesterday, despite being sick and feverish, Lu Mingfei had stayed up with Funina as she wept through half the night, crying until the fever subsided naturally. In a sense, this was nothing short of a miracle.

He was fortunate—the fever had broken. But miracles are miracles precisely because they do not happen easily.

Lu Mingfei’s body was already nearing its limit. Even so, he had not received the rest and care he needed. He had to continue attending school and classes, and the accumulated stress would once again drag down his fragile body, making the torment of illness return.

So uncomfortable...

But... I can’t disturb Funina...

She still has important things to do...

Lu Mingfei lay quietly on his desk, his vision slightly blurred. Still, no negative thoughts arose in his mind, for he feared they might affect Funina.

The time for morning study slowly passed, but as the minutes slipped away, his condition failed to improve. Instead, his temperature kept rising, and his consciousness grew increasingly muddled.

At that moment, a crisp voice sounded once more in Lu Mingfei’s mind.

“Hmm... I feel a little hungry, I want macaroni...”

“Macaroni?”

Immersed in the misery of his fever, Lu Mingfei was startled. The oppressive heat seemed to dissipate a little in the face of such confusion. He summoned his strength and teased with a smile, “Hey, wait, didn’t you just say you were in a formal setting? And you’re thinking about this? Is that appropriate? Are you really thinking about food during a court session?”

Lu Mingfei?

Oh no, he hadn’t spoken for a while, and I forgot he could hear my thoughts.

Ah~ Social death! I’m mortified!

“I... hmm... ugh... ah...”

Funina’s face turned bright red in an instant, her inner voice stuttering and hesitant. She wanted to say something, but her mind was overloaded and couldn’t function.

After pondering for a while, she finally exclaimed, “You... you... how dare you try to fathom the thoughts of the Water Goddess? I am a deity—a goddess! How could someone like you possibly comprehend the mind of a divine being? Yes, that’s it. My thoughts have deeper meaning, special significance. You simply cannot understand! Hmph!”

A laugh escaped Lu Mingfei. “Ha, yes, you’re absolutely right.”

A genuine smile blossomed on his face. The pain of his fever seemed not as unbearable as before. Funina’s adorable, evasive words kept echoing in his mind, and he sensed her charming presence.

Things will get better, he thought hopefully.

Illness, perhaps, is not so despairing. What is truly hopeless is sorrow, loneliness, and despair itself—the real terminal disease.

Yet from Lu Mingze’s perspective, everything appeared entirely different.

The little devil only knew his brother had changed—probably from yesterday’s fever muddling his mind, causing some strange mental problem. Today, his illness was worse, and as he neared death from fever...

He laughed. He actually laughed!

He laughed so freely, his smile so unburdened, as if he saw a beautiful future. Brother, my dear brother! What has become of you? Has life made you so hopeless?

We still have to hunt down the traitors together! Brother!

...

“Hm?”

A peculiar power circled and surged within Lu Mingfei’s body. He felt his condition improve, as if some force was easing his sickness.

Is it just my imagination?

The boy wondered skeptically. His years of experience told him there was nothing supernatural in this world; those were inventions of novels and anime. His sensation must be an illusion.

“Brother, are you despairing?”

A familiar yet strange voice rang out. Lu Mingfei instinctively looked toward the abyss. The little boy in a white tie and black suit sat by the window, unable to hide the sadness and resentment in his eyes.

“Brother? I don’t know you.”

Lu Mingfei replied.

He felt as if he’d been freed from the shackles of illness, and the space around him shifted and inverted—the classmates who had been studying early vanished, leaving only the two of them in the classroom.

The sunlight faded, the world’s colors turned to black and white. In this monochrome realm, the gold in the boy’s eyes was the only color.

“Do you want to make a deal?”

“A deal?”

“You give me your soul, and I give you power—the power to overturn reality.” The little devil leapt lightly, instantly appearing before Lu Mingfei, his golden eyes gazing into the darkness of Lu Mingfei’s.

Soul for power?

Lu Mingfei instinctively wanted to refuse, but the thought of Funina in another world made him change his question: “Then... your power, can it cross worlds? Can it let me go to another world?”

“...”

The little devil fell silent. He hadn’t expected Lu Mingfei to be so disappointed in this world that he was already considering starting anew in another one.

After a moment, he finally said, “Brother, you could use my power to reshape this world to suit you. In that case...”

“Forget it, I’m not interested. There’s no one I want to see in this world.” Lu Mingfei answered decisively.

If, in the moment of crossing worlds, he could see Funina, perhaps he would ask about the price of his soul, though whether he would actually make the deal was uncertain. But if he could not travel between worlds, he had absolutely no desire to sell his soul.

He valued his life, he had Funina by his side, and he neither wished to die young nor lose his soul.

Power? Change the world?

He had no interest in such things.

“Is that so?”

The little devil murmured softly. He understood his brother’s despair and resolve. Only someone who had completely lost trust and hope in this world would say such words.

Lu Mingfei’s true meaning was: I want to see Funina. This world has no Funina, so there is no one I want to see.

But the little devil had no knowledge of Funina. In his eyes, Lu Mingfei was saying he did not want to see anyone in this world—a clear sign of absolute disappointment.

Their meanings were completely mismatched.

(The contract is still under review, likely delayed due to the New Year, so it may take a bit longer.)