Chapter Five: The New Star Forgotten by the World

For many young people on Blue Star, there is a nightly ritual that must be performed before sleep: they adjust their position as comfortably and relaxingly as possible, then pick up their phone—charged or not—and open various social apps. Driven by curiosity, envy, or more secretive intentions, they scroll endlessly, refreshing their feeds over and over.

In this era where the internet has transformed people’s lifestyles, information spreads at a breathtaking speed. People enjoy the convenience brought by this rapid dissemination, yet amidst the relentless tide of news, they also neglect many things they once cherished.

With every passing day, new celebrities, new idols, and new sports stars emerge one after another, while those from the past are either celebrated as legends or fade into obscurity like shooting stars.

It was eleven o’clock at night in Dormitory Building 15 of Jinling University of Technology.

A male dormitory is always filled with a variety of “fragrant” odors, and in the summer, the scent is tinged with the smell of rotting fruit.

Watermelon rinds soaking in instant noodle bowls—a testament to how the young men of university continually redefine the meaning of laziness.

Li Pengfei was clutching half a watermelon, waving his spoon, while his three roommates were locked in digital combat at their computers.

“Idiot, stop wandering in the jungle! The enemy’s already storming your base, and if you don’t get back soon, even your towers will be gone.”

Li Pengfei vented his frustrations at his brothers-in-arms, watermelon juice spraying from his spoon.

“Damn it, you clown, just focus on your fruit! If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have lost all day. Old Tong even dropped out of Diamond rank because of you. Anyone who teams up with you again is a fool.”

True to expectations, Li Pengfei was the legendary “theory master”—the first in the dorm to pick up this real-time strategy game, yet paradoxically the lowest ranked among the four. His grasp of strategy was impressive, but his execution existed only in theory.

“I can’t watch this anymore, three rookies,” he scoffed.

Seeing the other three united against him, Li Pengfei could only sulkily return to his own seat and resume his role as a spectator.

He tossed his spoon into the nearly finished half-melon, picked up his charging phone, and began scrolling through “SwiftCast.”

“SwiftCast” was the largest personal social media platform on Blue Star, boasting nearly a billion users worldwide. More than seventy percent of the Republic’s population was on it; essentially, if you had a smartphone, you had SwiftCast.

Li Pengfei opened his SwiftCast feed, refreshing the real-time updates from everyone he followed.

There were the usual couples flaunting their love; Li Pengfei would glance at the women, lingering a bit longer over those he found attractive or sexy, letting his imagination roam, and swiping past those who didn’t appeal to him.

As he refreshed again, a post from the “goddess” he’d been following appeared.

His roommates often joked about his “goddess,” saying if one day Li Pengfei actually embraced her, it would look like Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, only missing the other six dwarfs.

Indeed, Li Pengfei had long been infatuated with Ma Dongmei, a girl with an old-fashioned name. She was also a student at Jinling University of Technology, admitted through a special program.

“Damn, who is this idiot? Heaven help me, my goddess has moved in with someone!”

On Ma Dongmei’s latest update, she was pictured with Wang Lei’s arm around her shoulders, the domestic setting behind them hinting at cohabitation.

“Haha, Big Mei finally found herself a man? Let me see if he’s a dwarf like you.”

With their base already destroyed, the other three crowded around, eager to see who had left Li the Rookie so heartbroken.

“Wow, you and your Lei? Li Rookie, you’re finished. This guy is way better looking than you, and he’s tall. They make a great couple.”

“Nonsense, that idiot must be standing on a stool—or wait, on a table! Look how pale he is, probably kidney-deficient, definitely impotent. Mei Mei, think twice!”

“Huh, this guy looks familiar. Where have I seen him before?”

“Yeah, he’s got to be an athlete too. Maybe from the Yangtze Club? That means he’s got it all—tall, rich, and handsome. Li Pengfei, you might as well give up.”

Any opportunity to tease the usually sharp-tongued Li Pengfei was not to be missed.

“I know who he is—he’s Wang Lei! The one who went to America for trials, then had that accident. What a tragic figure.”

The roommate who found Wang Lei familiar finally remembered.

With that revelation, everyone in the dorm knew who Wang Lei was. Two years ago, when they’d just started university, news about Wang Lei had been everywhere, rumors and conspiracy theories flying thick and fast. Reporters besieged him, desperate for any scrap of information.

But after that, Wang Lei vanished from the public eye. The man dubbed “the tragic protagonist of life” disappeared completely after leaving the hospital—no one knew where he went.

Well, at least now Li Pengfei and his roommates knew Wang Lei was in Jinling, since just yesterday the local paper reported the Yangtze Women’s Volleyball Team was training in the city for the summer.

“Damn, the guy’s a cripple. So Big Mei…”

Realizing something, Li Pengfei hurried to leave a comment on Ma Dongmei’s page.

“Mei Mei, seeing your photo broke my heart. You can date whoever you want, but not a disabled guy! We’re not prejudiced, but it’s just not convenient, you know?”

As expected, Li Pengfei’s comment, though seemingly noble, was tinged with a strong sense of pettiness.

Meanwhile, many others who saw Ma Dongmei’s photo also left comments. She was well-known in Jinling, still young but already the unquestioned main attacker for the Yangtze Women’s Volleyball Team. Her powerful spikes had earned widespread admiration, and despite her height, she was considered exceptionally attractive among female athletes, greatly boosting her popularity.

Two years was enough for many to forget who Wang Lei was, but some basketball fans recognized him. Still, given his story, most people’s first thought was that it was a pity Ma Dongmei ended up with a disabled man.

As the photo drew more attention online, Wang Lei, after two years of silence, also posted the same picture on SwiftCast, captioned identically: “Me and my Mei Mei.”

Such unabashed displays of affection were sure to provoke jealousy in some.