Chapter 16 - Playing Games isn't Trickery

Panda Novel

The man with the goatee patted Wu Shan’s shoulder and said quietly, “Let’s go in and see first; don’t make it hard for Brother Liang.”

Only then did Wu Shan reluctantly stop what he was doing. “If I find out that I waited this long for a place that runs scams on its customers, don’t blame me if I…”

“Smash this shop into pieces… Brother Wu, we said that countless times…” Liang Shi wasn’t surprised at all as he pulled on Wu Shan, who was still waving his weapon in the air, “Let’s go in and play first.”

“You opened really late today,” Xu Zixin said as she was a little unhappy, but Fang Qi only shrugged nonchalantly and replied, “I was too tired yesterday.”

“What’s so good about this shop? We waited outside for half an hour!” the girl in green who came with Xu Zixin complained.

Just then, Liang Shi and Xu Zixin’s eyes lit up upon seeing the inside of the shop!

Originally, they were worried that there wouldn’t be enough computers for everyone to play on, but there were 11 computers in the shop, all placed in an orderly fashion!

“There are so many!” Xu Zixin yelled in surprise.

“I got some last night,” Fang Qi replied. He wasn’t going to tell the others that his system performed another upgrade on his internet café last night.

“No wonder you opened late today.” The people outside the door finally ‘understood’ why Fang Qi overslept and didn’t blame him anymore.

Liang Shi even apologized to Fang Qi, “I’m really sorry, you got so many… um, com-computers. It must’ve taken a long time and some hard work!”

It was obvious that he was still unfamiliar with the word ‘computer.’

Fang Qi wasn’t tired because his system was in charge of everything. But upon hearing what Liang Shi said, he had no choice but to nod. “It’s fine.”

Then, Liang Shi and Xu Zixin both sat down and opened Resident Evil.

“Zixin, go ahead and play first,” the girl who came with Xu Zixin said in disappointment; her anticipation immediately disappeared upon seeing how small this shop was.

The two men behind Liang Shi also said, “We’ll watch first as well. Maybe it’s just a method of deception. Brother Liang, you shouldn’t let yourself be tricked!”

…

A man in a stylish, dark-purple robe followed a man in black all the way to Fang Qi’s internet café.

“Are you sure Zixin would come to a place like this?” This man with the extremely-handsome face asked.

“Young Master Xue, I swear it’s true!” The man in black said in a low voice, “My people saw her with their own eyes.”

“Why would Zixin come here by herself rather than practice her skills at Lingyun Academy?”

“I don’t know about that,” the man in black replied awkwardly.

The handsome man opened the door and walked in. As expected, he saw Xu Zixin sitting on the seat closest to him.

Then, he took out a delicate box from his inside pocket and walked up to her. He cleared his throat before calling out her name, “Zixin!”

No response.

He called her again, “Zixin!”

Only then did Xu Zixin hear someone calling her. She turned around, but her expression changed immediately upon seeing that it was him. “Why are you here?”

“Why are you at a place like this? Oh, and why didn’t you tell me that you left the Martial Arts Tower?” The handsome man replied awkwardly upon hearing her question, but he still handed her the little box in his hand. “This is a Tianxin Elixir; it’s extremely good for your warrior qi. I wanted to give you one as soon as I got them yesterday.”

“I’m not obligated to tell you when I leave the Martial Arts Tower and where I go afterwards,” Xu Zixin replied; this man followed her everywhere, like a fly.

Upon hearing this, the handsome man’s face became even more awkward.

“I’m worried about you…” The handsome man was obviously agitated as he pointed around the room. “Look at all these people here. How can I let you stay at a broken-down shop like this? What does this place even do?”

“What are you calling ‘broken-down’ for? Xue Ming, let me tell you! You don’t have the right to boss me around just because our families are close!” Xu Zixin’s face darkened. If it weren’t for this shop, she would have never broken through. “Leave, now!”

“Uh…” Xue Ming froze for a second, not sure why Xu Zixin was kicking him out like that.

Although her temper wasn’t good, she never treated him like this. “Zixin… but…”

“You really shouldn’t call me ‘Zixin,’ leave! Oh, and I can’t accept something as costly as a Tianxin Elixir, you should save it for yourself.”

“Forget it, Zixin. Why would you get mad at a man like him?” the girl beside Xu Zixin said. “Just ignore him.”

Only then did Xu Zixin snort and return to her seat. Then, she said to Fang Qi, “Sir, please kick this person out.”

“…” Xue Ming was completely dumbstruck. What is going on? Moreover, why is Shen Qingqing here as well?

Fang Qi was confused as well. What on earth is happening?

“You’re the owner of this shop?” The handsome man finally noticed Fang Qi. Upon realizing that Xu Zixin had asked the owner to kick him out, his expression darkened. “This is a private matter between us, I suggest you stay out of it! Or else, your rundown, dingy shop will not exist for very long!”

“You must be mistaken,” Fang Qi said in all seriousness, “I just have one thing to say. Our shop is actually very high-end; it’s not rundown or dingy.”

Upon hearing this, the handsome man began laughing as if he just heard a funny joke. He looked at Fang Qi up and down and sneered, “Do you even know what ‘high-end’ means?”

Then, he glanced at the blackboard by the door and added, “Do you think you’re high-end just because you charge more?”

“You’re so ignorant. Although I don’t know your definition of this word,” Fang Qi said as he pointed at the computer behind him and said, “Back in my hometown, there’s something called ‘low-key luxury.'”

“Low-key luxury?” Xue Ming carefully thought about the meaning behind these words. The vocabulary sounds new and interesting, but, this is just a small shop in the corner of the city, isn’t it? What is so special about this place?

“Why don’t you tell me how this place is low-key luxurious then?” Only then did the handsome man notice the screen in front of Xu Zixin. “What is she doing? Is she watching something?”

Instead of practicing her skills, she came here to watch this? he thought.

“She’s not watching anything…” Fang Qi replied, “She’s playing a game.”

“Playing?” The handsome man looked at Fang Qi in confusion.

Fang Qi laughed and asked, “What’s Ms. Xu’s relationship to you? Do you like her?”

“Uh…” At the mention of this, the man straightened his back and said proudly, “My family and Zixin’s family are close, and we both study at Lingyun Academy. We are a perfect match for each other…”

“…” Fang Qi almost laughed. A girl like Xu Zixin definitely had a lot of people pursuing her, and this man seemed to be one of them.

Therefore, he patted the man’s shoulder and said, “Young man, that’s not how you pick up girls.”

“Pick up… girls?” Xue Ming didn’t understand what Fang Qi was talking about.

“Anyways, you have to develop the same hobbies as her,” Fang Qi said as he pointed at Xu Zixin’s monitor.

“This?” Xue Ming snickered, “What’s so good about this?”

“There’s a famous saying in my hometown, ‘You’re not a fish, so how can you understand its happiness?'” Fang Qi answered, “You’re not her, so how do you know if she likes it or not?”

Upon hearing this, Xue Ming thought about it for a while before exclaiming in his mind, What a deep principle. Could the owner be an extraordinary individual?

“If you get her to admire you through her hobby, then her future is in your hands,” Fang Qi saw Xue Ming thinking and decided to strike while the iron was hot. “You just failed to acknowledge her hobby and even criticized her. Anyone would be mad at that. Trying to pick up girls like that isn’t going to work.”

Upon hearing this, Xue Ming’s eyes lit up as he gave Fang Qi a thumb up. “Listening to you speak is equivalent to reading books for ten years! What you say makes so much sense!”

Then, Fang Qi opened Resident Evil and put the virtual reality headset on Xue Ming, “Feel it for yourself. Of course, remember to pay!”

“Resident Evil!”

The screen darkened. Suddenly, Xue Ming felt like everything around him was in such close proximity as if he could touch everything before him! He felt like he had entered the world on his screen!

Unlike the world that he lived in right now, there were all sorts of weapons he had never seen before and horrific zombies he had never encountered before. Dangers were everywhere, immediately piquing his interest!

He finally understood what Fang Qi meant by ‘playing.’

“Is this really just a game?”

“Didn’t you already die several times? If you weren’t playing a game, how did you come back to life?”

“Right, right!” Xue Ming nodded in excitement. This is really a game!

As a prestigious man of a wealthy family, he was fit to play games that no one else heard of or ever thought about!

“This really is a low-key luxury! Watch me kill everything here! Then, Zixin will fall in love with me for sure!”

Upon seeing Xue Ming’s expression, Fang Qi couldn’t help but shake his head.

He’s so easy to trick… but… Fang Qi touched his nose, Playing this game isn’t trickery, right?

Then, Fang Qi saw a couple of people sneaking around outside his shop.

“Should we go in?” A warrior wearing a set of black armor said in a low voice, “They’ve been inside for so long and haven’t come out yet.”

“Should we go in as well?”

“Look, someone else went in!”

Soon, six more people came to the internet café. They were four young boys and two girls, all 16 or 17 years old.

The young boy standing in the front said, “Song Qingfeng and the others mentioned ‘Origins’ a couple of times. I did some investigation, and this is the only shop with this name!”

They looked around at the people who were already sitting down; there was a screen in front of each customer, and the contents on the screens moved; it was extremely weird.

“What does this shop do?” They watched for a while but still had no idea what this place did; this shop was different from any other shop they’ve been to!

Confused, the group had no choice but to call the owner!

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