harleyscars 029 The Butterfly Effect
029 The Butterfly Effect
As soon as Lu Mingfei pushed open the dormitory door, a huge black shadow rushed towards him.
"Confess! What kind of spell did you cast on Zero?" Fingel slammed his hand on the door, his eyes wide like saucers. "Did you use the winner's privilege of 'One Day of Freedom'? You can't force a relationship, buddy! She already had a bit of a crush on you, why did you have to force yourself on her?"
"Wait, wait, wait." Lu Mingfei raised his hand to interrupt him. "What are you talking about?"
"Zero!" Fingel's expression twisted, like the anxiety of having something stuck between his teeth that he couldn't get out, or the jealousy of seeing someone else's bowl have an extra piece of meat. "Zero, who never talks to anyone! Zero, who froze the upperclassman who tried to chat him up on the first day of school! And what did he do today? Cookies! Feeding him cookies! And wiping his mouth!"
"Did you use some kind of magic word in the 3E exam room? You can take it slow, become friends first, eat together, attend classes together, and let the feelings develop naturally..."
"I don't."
"...And what did you do? You forced a relationship, and you only cared about using it to quench your thirst."
Fingel's tone was urgent and pained, his features contorted in a grimace, completely absorbed in his personal deductions, consumed by jealousy.
"I didn't, don't talk nonsense." Lu Mingfei pushed him away and leaned back wearily in his chair. "She's too domineering, it made me feel terrible. She controlled me the whole time, I couldn't even refuse to eat, and as for the cookies... never mind, I won't talk about them."
Fingel suddenly fell silent.
"Heart-shaped cookies...are they tasty?"
"tasty."
Lu Mingfei regretted it as soon as he said it.
"Aaaaaah! I'm mortal enemies with normal people!"
Fingel yelled and leaped up, lunging at Lu Mingfei. The two instantly rolled around in the dormitory. Fingel used a wrestling hold, while Lu Mingfei countered with a joint lock, sending pillows and sheets flying.
"Calm down!" Lu Mingfei pressed down on Fingel's face and pushed him away.
"I can't calm down!" Fingel waved his limbs like a turtle flipped over. "You booked a private hot spring in Hakone with a red-haired shrine maiden, you fed a Russian beauty in the library, and you even used the chairman and president as stepping stones during Freedom Day! You've done so many 'norm-obsessed' things, and you still innocently say 'I didn't do anything.' Do you even know what kind of person you are?"
"What's your name?"
"You clueless jerk!" Fingel broke free from Lu Mingfei's grasp. "Your biggest sin isn't that you're a social butterfly, it's that you don't even know you are!"
"I'm really not a 'social butterfly'," he said.
"Look, look!" Fingel pointed at him. "That's it! The way you said that made me want to punch you again!"
The two sat on the floor for a while, neither of them speaking.
The sky outside the window gradually darkened, and the lights in the dormitory were not turned on, so the light became soft and blurry.
A long-lost sense of ease suddenly welled up in Lu Mingfei's heart. The rustling of leaves in the wind outside the window was pleasant, and his life in Kassel these past few days had been surprisingly comfortable. Although the students here were gossipy and had quirky ways of thinking, they were actually quite easy to get along with.
-----------------
He thought of Shinji Ikari.
He had only been with NERV for a few months at that time. One day after school, he went to Shinji's classroom to find him so they could go back to NERV together. At that time, Shinji had been punched by Toji Suzuki's sister because of his piloting Unit-01, and Shinji had fallen into a severe state of depression. Kensuke was standing next to Toji, holding his arm and saying, "That's enough, that's enough."
Lu Mingfei walked up to Dong Zhi, taking advantage of his age and status as a gangster to intimidate him: "Why did you hit him?"
Dongzhi glared at him: "What's it to you?"
"He's my friend," Lu Mingfei said. "If you hit him, that's none of my business."
He thought that was the end of it.
The next day, Shinji Ikari came to Lu Mingfei to complain.
"Lu Jun," he finally spoke, "could you... please stop coming to my class?"
Lu Mingfei was taken aback: "Why?"
"Because..." Shinji lowered his head, "Because everyone thinks I have powerful backers now, and nobody talks to me anymore. Toji even avoids me when he sees me."
Lu Mingfei wanted to say, "I just want to help you," but he swallowed the words back.
Everyone in that world was lonely. Shinji was lonely, Rei was lonely, Asuka was lonely. They were like four pebbles thrown into the same glass bottle, and Lu Mingfei thought he was the one who could bring them back together.
But he only made them hurt more.
"Shinji," Lu Mingfei said, "I'm sorry, I won't be going to your class anymore."
Shinji looked up, his eyes red-rimmed: "That's not what I meant, I meant..."
"I know." Lu Mingfei patted him on the shoulder. "You're not wrong, I'm the one who's wrong. I thought I was helping you, but actually I was just trying to make myself feel useful."
“But Shinji,” Lu Mingfei looked at him, “next time someone hits you, you should still hit back. Because you don’t owe anyone anything.”
Shinji lowered his head and remained silent.
-----------------
"Finger".
"Um?"
You owe no one anything.
"Why are you suddenly saying such strange things? It's creepy."
"Nothing, just remembered a friend."
"Let's get down to business." Fingel resumed his usual carefree tone. "I've come to see you with serious business, not to flirt with you."
"Who's flirting with you?"
"Shut up." Fingel pulled a piece of paper from his pocket, unfolded it, and said, "The student council and the Lionheart Society are going to have a joint exercise."
"exercise?"
"Yes, the codename is 'Operation Rock'." Fingel spread the paper on the table and pointed to the words on it with his finger. "This was prompted by you."
"My stimulation?"
"You single-handedly took down Caesar and Chu Zihang on Freedom Day. Do you know how much of a blow that was to them?" Fingel's tone became serious.
"Chu Zihang and Caesar went to the principal's office together and talked for an hour," Fingel said. "Then the principal gave special approval to this exercise project. Do you know what that means?"
"What?"
"This means that the two arch-enemies have joined forces for the first time."
Lu Mingfei looked at the paper, which had the words "Operation Rock" written on it in large characters, and below it in smaller characters: "Jointly compiled by the Student Union Executive Department and the Lionheart Society".
Fingel turned the paper over; a more detailed plan was pasted on the back.
"They've invited you to observe the third phase tomorrow," Fingel said. "It's a site visit and collaborative drill."
Lu Mingfei took the paper and, using the last bit of light from the window, began to read it.
The plan was written in great detail, covering everything from background and motivation to organizational structure, from operational plans to sand table simulations.
"The King of the Earth and Mountains?" Lu Mingfei uttered the hypothetical target.
"That's right. They're called the King of Earth and Mountains, but they can only simulate a third generation at most." Fingel leaned in. "Storm-type dragon kings need to simulate weather changes, which is expensive; deep-sea-type dragon kings need aquatic environments, which are hard to find; fire-type dragon kings trigger fire alarms, and Manstein almost cursed them to death last time. The King of Earth and Mountains lineage is the easiest."
Lu Mingfei continued reading.
"It's being conducted under the suppression of the academy's Word of Power; Word of Power cannot be used?"
"One of the core training objectives," Fingel pointed to a line of text, "is, "what are you left with when the power of words fails?"
Lu Mingfei's gaze lingered on the "Participating Units Staffing" section.
"12 people simulating the Dragon King?" Lu Mingfei asked.
"Three people act as the Dragon King himself, and nine people act as aftershocks, falling rocks, and the overflow effect of the Word of Power," Fingel explained. "The rule is that if the core group is hit by three people at the same time, it counts as one effective damage. The crustal reaction group is removed when it is hit, but one is automatically replaced every three minutes to simulate 'terrain regeneration'."
Lu Mingfei flipped through the sand table simulation records at the back.
Round 1: Collapsed in 15 minutes. The pincer attack couldn't keep up with the rhythm, and the assault team plunged headlong into the area of dense crustal reaction, resulting in the death of the entire team.
Round two: It's a little better, but window recognition is still chaotic. The Lionheart member playing the Dragon King said, "The time you guys charge in is when I'm least panicked."
Round 3: Confrontational simulation. Lionheart will not follow the script, and their formation will collapse in eight minutes.
During the debriefing, the executive department said this was unfair.
Lionheart would reply: The Dragon King won't follow your script either.
The third phase of the plan is very simple: on-site reconnaissance and joint drills, held on the east side of the academy's playground. Participants need to familiarize themselves with the terrain, test communication equipment, and practice basic formation changes.
"I'll go take a look tomorrow," Lu Mingfei said, handing the paper back to Finger.
"I knew you'd agree." Fingel gave a meaningful smile. "Oh, and by the way, I have some good news for you."
"What?"
"Zero will go tomorrow too."
"Where is she going?"
"She's a medic in the evacuation support team." Fingel blinked. "That means tomorrow she'll be on standby at the scene, wearing a medic's uniform and carrying a first-aid kit. Do you know what a medic's uniform looks like? A white skirt, a red cross—"
"I didn't ask you that!" Lu Mingfei interrupted him.
"Your expression just now didn't say that."
My expression said nothing.
"Your expression says 'delicious'," Fingel said, mimicking his earlier tone and laughing heartily.