Chapter 175: Young Master Song! Come Explore the New Game! (3/4)

"Whoa! Boss!" Jiang Xiaoyue exclaimed the moment she stepped downstairs and caught sight of the vastly expanded internet cafe. "Is this still our shop?"

She dashed outside to take a quick look, her face painted with sheer curiosity. "Huh? It's not like the storefront actually expanded outwards..."

"What are you all standing at the doorway for?" Nalan Hongwu, an elderly shut-in with entirely too much time on his hands, usually frequented the shop first thing in the morning. He immediately noticed the crowd gathered at the entrance, along with little Xiaoyue, who was hopping back and forth across the threshold.

Fang Qi replied with a sullen face, "We just expanded the shop a little. Is there any need to make such a fuss?"

"Exactly my point!" Nalan Hongwu scoffed before even stepping inside, casting a stern look at the crowd. "Every single one of you, hovering around the door for what?"

The moment he crossed the threshold, he shuddered.

"..."

His eyes nearly popped out of his skull. "It is this massive?"

Su Tianji gasped in admiration. "That senior is truly unfathomable. To think he could remodel this small shop to such an extent all by his lonesome!"

"We can hardly call it a small shop anymore!" Dong Qingli clicked her tongue in amazement. "To think it grew this large overnight! And look at all these extra computers. Were they all recently forged by that senior?"

"Oh? Why is this chair softer than demonic beast hide?" Zhang Wanyu commented as she took a seat on the couch. "It is remarkably springy, too!"

"Really? Let me try!"

Jiang Xiaoyue chimed in, "I want to try too!"

Fang Qi covered his face. "...Are you people actually going to play today or what?"

"What is the rush? There is no queue today anyway!" Su Tianji leaned back into the sofa with an air of pure laziness. "Disciple, go brew a cup of instant noodles for your master!"

"Right away, Master!" Fenghua and Yuexin happily went off to prepare the noodles.

Fang Qi was left speechless.

"Perfect, this old man shall have some noodles as well!" Having finished watching his television series, and knowing he could not eat while playing games, Nalan Hongwu sank into the sofa. Slouching deeply, he looked for all the world like a thoroughly content, lazy old fish. "Come to think of it, how many days left until episodes seven and eight of Jade Dynasty are released?"

"It is only Thursday, Old General," Fang Qi replied, slumping into his own lazy posture on the sofa. "Xiaoyue, brew a cup of noodles for me too."

Jiang Xiaoyue looked on with tears welling in her eyes. "Always brewing it, never eating it..."

And so began a delightfully lazy, harmonious morning, with a group of powerful figures contentedly slurping instant noodles and sipping cola.

However...

Fang Qi took a bite of his noodles and glanced at the quest panel within his system interface.

As they sat on the couch, eating noodles and chatting merrily, none of them had any inkion of what was to come.

After sitting with the crowd for a while and finishing his noodles, Fang Qi noticed the internet cafe filling up with more customers. The moment Song Qingfeng and his companions walked through the door, they saw Fang Qi writing and drawing on the small blackboard.

"What are you writing, Boss?" After their initial wave of awe at the new environment subsided, Song Qingfeng and the others approached the counter. "No way, another new product?!"

"Indeed," Fang Qi nodded.

"To fill the spiritual void left inside you after finishing Jade Dynasty, and to prevent any instability in your state of mind or future inner demons caused by your rapid cultivation progress, this shop is officially introducing a brand-new game." As he spoke, Fang Qi wore an expression of utmost seriousness, completely harmless and even carrying a hint of benevolent warmth.

"If you have a problem, take it up with the system," Fang Qi muttered inwardly.

"Silent Hill?" Xu Zixin stepped forward. "Come to think of it, the boss hasn't released a new game in quite a while. What kind of game is this?"

"A new game?" Nalan Hongwu, Su Tianji, and several others approached with their noodle cups in hand. Though the shop had introduced a few new items recently, it had indeed been some time since a new game had arrived.

Su Tianji had already completed Legend of Sword and Fairy three times over, and while she still played Counter-Strike, her opponents were dwindling. With her level of skill, she found little joy in bullying novices.

She could only find a proper challenge when receiving a thorough thrashing from Fang Qi.

Nalan Hongwu was in a similar boat. He had reached Act IV in Diablo II, but Act V was not yet available. He spent his time farming for gear and occasionally joining a round of Counter-Strike.

Since the next episodes of Jade Dynasty were still a ways off, a new game was a welcome distraction.

Yet...

"Silent Hill?" They exchanged glances, finding the name rather peculiar.

"To prevent mental instability caused by rapid advancement?" Nalan Hongwu pondered for a moment. "A game to temper one's state of mind... you youngsters could certainly use the discipline."

"I did not expect you to take even that into consideration," Su Tianji said, looking at Fang Qi with a hint of surprise.

What astonished her even more was that the games in this shop could actually temper one's willpower and ward off inner demons.

That was a formidable trait. It was not just for the youth; high-cultivation cultivators like herself could benefit as well. After all, the higher one's cultivation, the more treacherous an inner demon became to handle during meditation.

Su Tianji pondered silently, wondering if she possessed any hidden flaws in her own state of mind, and whether this game might offer some guidance.

Fang Qi shrugged. "If you provide a service, you must provide the complete package."

"The new game is that excellent? It can even sharpen the mind?! Boss!" As one of the most veteran players present, Xu Zixin had gained substantial strength, and her foundation was indeed slightly unsettled by the rapid growth. Combined with her love for trying new things, she declared on the spot, "Activate Silent Hill 2 for me!"

"Right," Fang Qi interjected with a warning. "Due to certain unique characteristics of this game, its settings differ from the others. For instance, you cannot exit Virtual Reality mode while in combat, and the pain setting for severe injuries cannot be lowered below fifty percent..."

Fang Qi explained the adjustments to the new game's mechanics. In Resident Evil, if a player faced imminent death and gave up resisting, they could immediately exit the Virtual Reality mode and revert to the keyboard-and-mouse setup to escape the agonizing sensations of the game.

But this game was different. Once engaged in battle, one could not leave Virtual Reality mode unless the character died, or unless the player chose to use the keyboard and mouse from the very beginning.

However, playing with a keyboard and mouse offered little difference from watching a live stream—at best, it was only slightly better—rendering the experience pointless.

Furthermore, the system had implemented a new function today: once a player entered the main storyline, external communication would be automatically blocked to prevent noise pollution.

"Aren't you playing the new game today, Boss?" Nalan Mingxue inquired, having slipped into the shop unnoticed at some point.

Fang Qi glanced over the internet cafe. "It is fine. We are not short on computers today anyway, so I will just watch for a bit."

"Oh, then I shall watch for a while as well." Nalan Mingxue purchased a bottle of cola and stood behind the crowd to observe.

"Should we play?" Zhang Wanyu asked.

"Let us watch first," Dong Qingli replied, feeling she had her hands full trying to finish both Legend of Sword and Fairy and Diablo.

"I want to see the new game too!" Jiang Xiaoyue squeezed through the crowd.

"Hahaha! What a surprise to have a new game today!" Behind them, Lin Shao and Xu Luo approached. "Young Master Song! Time to explore uncharted territory!"

"Master, shall we play together?" Fenghua and Yuexin had evidently activated the game as well.

"Boss, does this game support multiplayer co-op?" Su Tianji inquired.

"No."

"Then you girls can watch your master slaughter her way through first!" Su Tianji announced proudly.

"Yes! Master's gaming skills are superb!"

"Then let us watch first."