Chapter 294: Small Game, King of Fighters

Letting aside the fact that Gongsun Chui and Gongyi Xiu were currently venting a bellyful of frustration by hacking away in Legend, Boss Fang was clearly in an excellent mood at this moment: "Enough, enough! I finally have enough money to buy King of Fighters and the joystick peripherals!"

"What on earth is that?" Liu Ningyun, Huangfu Tao, and the others who were currently guests at Boss Fang's place were completely bewildered.

Although Liu Ningyun didn't particularly care for Fang Qi, she had already planned to come here every day from now on to watch dramas; surely she couldn't keep giving him the cold shoulder? So, she reluctantly joined the gathering.

As for Huangfu Tao, he was a shrewd old fox and naturally wouldn't bicker over trivial, unnecessary matters.

Huangfu Tao asked, "King of Fighters? Does it have anything to do with a Martial King?"

"Look at how smug you are!" Ruan Ning rolled her eyes at him, watching as Boss Fang pulled out the joystick peripherals and connected them to the computer he had purchased earlier. "What is this thing used for?"

Ruan Ning had wanted to ask for a long time—what was the point of buying a computer in My Space? And it was so expensive!

"To play games, of course," Fang Qi replied.

"...Play games?!" The people beside him were all speechless. "Don't tell me one can play Legend inside this as well?"

"Legend isn't available," Fang Qi replied. "There are some mini-games to train reactions and rhythm, but those aren't the main point."

Fang Qi clicked open the shop list, pointing at certain items within it. "You can take a look at this fist technique manual."

Following his guidance, Ruan Ning and the others looked up, reacting like a walking book of 'One Hundred Thousand Whys' as they asked again, "Why is it grayed out? There's even a lock on it?"

"Because it needs to be unlocked." Fang Qi then flipped through a few more pages of the shop interface. "All these grayed-out items later on require unlocking. For instance, this Song of Washing the Mortal Heart requires zither arts to unlock; the refining method for this Wind-Pattern Elixir requires one's alchemy level to unlock, and right here..."

He pointed at the column for King of Fighters: "It requires this computer game to unlock."

"It can even work like that?" Listening to Fang Qi share these tidbits of trivia about 'My Space', the few of them clearly still harbored some doubts. Ruan Ning spoke up and asked, "Whatever fist techniques these are, they're all things for you warriors. What use is it to us?"

Fang Qi shrugged. If Orochi's Marokaku or Black Particle counted as spells...

Perhaps, though he hadn't seen the Orochi moves available for exchange just yet.

"Play it or don't play it," Boss Fang expressed. "Anyway, this boss is going to play it. Is anyone else willing to give it a try?"

Following a stretch of familiar music, they quickly arrived at the character selection screen. Boss Fang discovered that this game was also a remastered version, with graphics that were at least far more exquisite.

"How do you play this?" Seeing that such a bizarre thing actually existed within 'My Space', everyone found it utterly incredible.

"Won't you know if you come and try it?" Boss Fang flashed a warm smile.

"..." Everyone indicated that they had no desire to take over Boss Fang's game.

"The little companions from the Dajin Nation are still the dependable ones after all." Fang Qi instantly rolled his eyes at the few of them and opened his QQ communication.

"Young Master Song."

Song Qingfeng: "I'm hacking away in Legend, what's up?"

Fang Qi: "Come play a couple of rounds of King of Fighters."

Song Qingfeng: "What's King of Fighters? What new stuff are you up to again? (Husky disdain emoji) Boss, I have no money!"

Fang Qi: "...It doesn't cost money this time!"

Song Qingfeng: "Really?"

Fang Qi: "Cut the nonsense, this boss has even prepared a pot of Green Spirit Tea. Are you coming or not?"

Very soon, Fang Qi received a basic QQ emoji: "OK".

Before long, Song Qingfeng arrived in a bustling flurry, bringing Lin Shao and Xu Luo along with him. After Fang Qi casually made introductions...

"Boss, what is King of Fighters? Where is it?"

After an explanation from Fang Qi, everyone discovered: "A computer game can actually be played like this?!"

"Aren't these characters just like string puppets?" Song Qingfeng manipulated the joystick, watching the character inside perform various movements according to his command. "Each command corresponds to a move... This seems way more complex than the keyboard-and-mouse versions of Resident Evil and Counter-Strike..."

Song Qingfeng chose Kyo Kusanagi and was currently testing out the moves...

Forward quarter-circle + Punch: "Arabai!"

Then followed by another forward quarter-circle + Punch: "Kokonatsugu!"

After testing for a while, he quickly got into the zone.

"You can actually execute moves like this?!" Spinning the joystick two more half-circles, a sharp light flashed across the screen as flames surged within Kyo Kusanagi's hands.

Immediately following that, a massive wave of fire swung out: "Oh—! This burns so much health!"

"This kind of domineering and fierce move is exactly suited for this young master!" Lin Shao immediately mimicked the motion of flames rising from his hand beside them, shouting aloud just like the character on the screen!

"Domineering!"

The companions from the Morning Star Sea beside them looked utterly disdainful: "So foolish..."

Xu Luo hurriedly asked, "Can this be learned as well?!"

"Uh... perhaps." After all, Shingo Yabuki could also use Kyo Kusanagi's moves; it was just that without the Kusanagi bloodline, he couldn't manifest the Kusanagi flames.

However, since these people possessed martial qi, it was truly hard to say what kind of results they might produce.

"Come, come, come, I've tested all the moves!" Eyeing Boss Fang, whom he had beaten down until only a sliver of health remained, Song Qingfeng gave a sly, villainous chuckle. "Let's fight, let's fight!"

"Arabai! Kokonatsugu!" Song Qingfeng was still over there dutifully executing his fists in a proper manner.

On Boss Fang's side, with Iori Yagami, a figure blurred, perfectly dodging Kyo Kusanagi's attack. Following that, Fang Qi's joystick flicked, and Kyo Kusanagi was instantly grabbed, losing his center of gravity as he was hurled to the side.

Heavy claw!

A flash of light erupted on the screen—Ya Otome!

"Why can't I move!" Song Qingfeng frantically manipulated his joystick and slammed the buttons wildly!

Under a blur of Iori Yagami's claw silhouettes on the screen, fresh blood sprayed wildly. Even across a screen, under the extreme realism of the striking effects, it still made for an incredibly exhilarating sight.

Not to mention that even the combo moves had been rationalized to the maximum extent by the system!

Almost every punch hit the flesh, packed with immense force!

Finally grabbing the opponent, a headbutt slammed down violently. Looking at the purple flames that occupied almost half the screen and the vibrating monitor, the few of them watched, dumbstruck!

Just as the character stood up, another round of heavy bludgeoning ensued; after two or three sets of combos, Song Qingfeng's Kyo Kusanagi directly collapsed to the ground!

"Hahaha... Hahahahaha!" On the screen, Iori Yagami buried his fingers into his blood-red hair, laughing maniacally.

"Holy crap, this guy is so arrogant!"

"That set of claw techniques just now was simply too fierce!"

"Can this one be learned too?!"

The three of them let out a series of exclamations, their eyes clearly growing more and more fervent.

"Trash Young Master Song, you couldn't even beat him when he had a sliver of health left. Let me do it!" Lin Shao volunteered himself.

Behind them, Huangfu Tao, Liu Ningyun, and the other players who had only recently come into contact with Legend exchanged glances, somewhat bewildered: "A game can actually be played like this?"

Next, Boss Fang began to explain some advanced gameplay mechanics to them.

For instance, combos—this sort of thing could actually be achieved in reality as well, it was just that it wasn't as fluid as in the King of Fighters game, nor could it link together so many moves.

After all, as several martial artists and cultivators, their comprehension capacity was still quite a bit higher than that of ordinary people, and they quickly grasped a few key points.

"How does this sound somewhat interesting..." Ruan Ning muttered. "It sounds just like playing chess, guessing the other person's intentions to determine what move to use against them, and how to proceed next after hitting them... and how to move if the calculation fails..."

Liu Ningyun also seemed somewhat swayed: "It feels like there's actually a bit of learning to it..."

"Mmh..." Huangfu Tao nodded, murmuring, "When matched against an equal foe, it often becomes a fierce battle of psychological wits. In chess, one might deeply ponder the next move, but in this game, the slightest hesitation invites an onslaught as unrelenting as a tempest... Intriguing indeed."

"Care to give it a try?"

.