“Come on, come on, let’s go play King of Fighters!”
Tang Yayun mumbled as she clamored to play the arcade game. Before the other two could even respond, she was already trotting off toward the game machines.
“Hey!”
Tang Chengmin had just wanted to call out to her, but saw his younger sister had already sat down and started inserting coins into the machine.
The two had no choice but to follow her over.
It had to be said, King of Fighters 97 really was a timeless classic among arcade games.
Though so many years had passed and, with the tides of the times and policy interventions, arcade centers no longer thrived like they once did, compared to other games, it was still quite popular.
There were a fair number of people playing, but most of them were boys; girls were few and far between.
“Xiaoyuan-jie, come play with me!”
Tang Yayun pulled over a red plastic stool and patted it, signaling Lin Xinyuan to sit down.
Lin Xinyuan quickly declined, “Forget it… I don’t know how to play. You can play with cousin first, I’ll just watch.”
She wasn’t just making an excuse. Unlike the boys her age in primary and middle school, most of whom had at least some experience going to arcade centers or playing arcade games, she genuinely hadn’t been to such places before.
It wasn’t that she didn’t want to go; back in elementary and middle school, she would watch others sneak off in groups to play, and honestly, she was a little envious.
But she never mustered the courage to step into an arcade, hadn’t even glimpsed one…
This was Lin Xinyuan’s first time here, so naturally, everything felt both curious and unfamiliar.
But what surprised her even more was Tang Yayun—seeing how skilled she looked, she must have come to play often before.
“It’s fine, Xiaoyuan, you play with Yayun first, it’s really easy to pick up.”
Tang Chengmin grinned, and Tang Yayun nodded enthusiastically in agreement, “That’s right, sis, I’ll teach you!”
“Alright then…”
Seeing the two of them so insistent and Tang Yayun so eager, Lin Xinyuan didn’t refuse anymore.
To be honest, she was quite interested in giving it a try herself…
“Xiaoyuan-jie, at the start you have to pick three characters. It’s your first time, just choose whichever you like!”
“….”
“Hey, you picked Hou Shen and Madman, and Mai Shiranui?”
“These two are called Kyo Kusanagi and Iori Yagami, right? They’re the only ones I recognize.”
Lin Xinyuan had never played this game before, but those few characters were really famous, so she simply picked whichever ones she liked the look of.
Still, she was a little curious about the way Tang Yayun referred to those two characters.
Before Tang Yayun could respond, Tang Chengmin, standing by, smiled and answered first, “That’s what we always called them when we played before, just got used to it.”
“Then why doesn’t Mai Shiranui have a nickname?”
“Uh… not very appropriate, maybe?”
Lin Xinyuan stared at the screen, at the scantily clad woman in red, and seemed to understand, “I see…”
At this moment, Tang Yayun interrupted their conversation, “Oh, never mind! Ready up for the game, sis!”
“Oh, alright.”
The scene shifted, and they entered the game.
Tang Yayun hardly needed to explain much—Lin Xinyuan tried a few moves and quickly figured out the basic controls.
After all, there were only a few buttons, and just as her cousin had said, it was easy to get the hang of.
But Tang Yayun seemed to be going easy on her, feeding her moves and holding back, and before they knew it, both sides were down to their last character.
Lin Xinyuan’s Iori Yagami still had almost full health, while Tang Yayun’s Drunken Dwarf had less than half his bar left.
She kept feeling like that old man looked really familiar, almost like a character from a Jackie Chan Movie…
In the end, Lin Xinyuan thought it over and told Tang Yayun not to hold back, but the result was clear: as a complete newbie, she couldn’t even land a single hit before being comboed into defeat.
“Hehehe, Xiaoyuan-jie, aren’t I amazing~”
The girl puffed out her little chest, shaking her head proudly and humming as she looked at her character’s victory pose on the arcade screen.
Tang Chengmin, on the other hand, was unimpressed, “Tch, you used to get utterly crushed by me all the time!”
Tang Yayun had wanted to show off in front of Lin Xinyuan, but was cut off by Tang Chengmin. Now she was quite disgruntled, “baring her fangs and claws,” and instantly challenged him, “You scumbag brother, spouting nonsense, dare to solo me or not!”
“Bring it on, you little rookie!”
Sensing things might go awry, Lin Xinyuan timely intervened, “Yayun is really good, could you teach me a bit first?”
“Hmph, since Xiaoyuan-jie said so, I’ll let you off for now~”
Tang Yayun sensibly slid off the stool, clearly still riled up by her brother’s teasing.
Tang Chengmin curled his lips, not bothering to argue with her further. As a refined and handsome gentleman, he said he would be magnanimous, “Fine, fine, you’re letting me off, PA…”
Afterwards, under the guidance of the siblings, Lin Xinyuan even checked a few strategy guides online and gradually got the hang of executing combos in the game.
In the following rounds, Tang Yayun found herself struggling more and more, unable to win against Lin Xinyuan, and was finally beaten soundly.
“Wow, Xiaoyuan-jie is bullying me! I’m not playing anymore, this game isn’t fun!” Tang Yayun wailed, feeling terribly frustrated inside.
Xiaoyuan-jie hadn’t played for long, but already had her in agony—how was she supposed to enjoy the game now?
Even Tang Chengmin, who had been quietly observing, was amazed and couldn’t help but marvel at the difference in talent.
In just half an hour, the girl’s skill level had already surpassed that of most ordinary players.
Even now, he couldn’t be sure he’d always beat Lin Xinyuan…
Hearing the girl’s complaints beside her, Lin Xinyuan felt a bit embarrassed, worried she’d dampened Tang Yayun’s enjoyment, “It’s fine, I was just playing casually.”
Tang Yayun grew even more dejected, her big eyes looking pitifully at Lin Xinyuan, “Jie~”
Lin Xinyuan couldn’t bear it when Tang Yayun acted like this, so she awkwardly reached out to comfort her, “There, there, let’s not play anymore, let’s go do something else.”
“Okay!”
Receiving a pat from her cousin, Tang Yayun brightened up instantly, like a comforted young beast, her gloomy expression replaced by cheerfulness.
“Let’s go look around somewhere else!” She stood up, taking the girl’s hand and muttering, “Hmm, let me think… Metal Slug or Cadillacs and Dinosaurs…”
“Hey, I haven’t played yet! I bought these coins!”
Seeing the two about to leave, Tang Chengmin got upset and quickly called out to them.
“Oh, almost forgot I have a brother. Then let’s graciously play a round with you too!”
Tang Chengmin was speechless to the point of spitting blood, “You little brat…”
Lin Xinyuan sat behind the siblings, propping her chin on her hand and staring blankly at the two tough guys firing away on the screen, but her mind wandered, unable to muster much interest.
In the end, she couldn’t resist her emotions. Suppressing the shame and awkwardness inside, she had, just moments earlier while the siblings weren’t looking, sent a message to a certain annoying someone.
She’d tentatively asked if he wanted to come out and join them for lunch, but more than ten minutes had passed and there was still no reply…
Logically, that guy shouldn’t be busy—there’s no way he hadn’t seen it…
Maybe he’d turned on “Do Not Disturb” and missed it?
Lin Xinyuan tried to comfort herself, but only grew more irritable.
“You guys keep playing, I want to go check out over there…”
Hearing this, Tang Chengmin glanced in the direction she pointed and, seeing it was the Basketball Machine, nodded in relief, “Alright, Xiaoyuan, go have fun. It’s boring just watching us.”
But even so, he couldn’t help but worry about his cousin; she was simply too soft-hearted and seemed to have pretty severe social anxiety.
He was afraid Lin Xinyuan might get bullied somewhere out of sight, so he added, “But don’t go too far! When we finish this round, we’ll come find you, then we can go eat.”
“Okay.”
Lin Xinyuan nodded. She didn’t dare to go too far either, afraid someone might try to strike up a conversation. If she ran into someone like Lin Minghua, she’d really be out of luck, with no one to help her.
The Basketball Machine was at the very edge of the arcade, with few people playing.
When she arrived, Lin Xinyuan saw that out of five machines, only one had someone in front of it.
It was a couple, playing happily together, flirting so sweetly it felt like pink bubbles of affection were about to stick to her face…
Already feeling a bit down, Lin Xinyuan only felt worse seeing this scene.
She quietly walked to the furthest machine, right against the wall, crouched down, and fed in two coins, ready to play—
The Scoreboard above the hoop glowed red, counting her score as she rapidly threw basketballs, venting her frustration.
But what frustrated her even more was that after tossing more than twenty balls, barely any went in…
Normally, she was pretty good at pitch pot, so this extremely simple Basketball Machine shouldn’t have been a challenge.
But staring at the glaring “005” on the Scoreboard, her already impatient movements lost all rhythm, and finally, as if giving up, she just started venting her feelings without caring about the game.
The result was sore and aching arms…
“Hiss…” Lin Xinyuan gritted her teeth, rubbing her shoulder, and looking at the countdown nearing zero, she dejectedly picked up a basketball, moving much slower, and flung it toward the hoop.
What the heck! Stupid blondie… totally a liar…
Asked me where I was, just so he could make me…
Still wants me to take the initiative and find him?
As if I would…
What a waste of an outfit, I’ll never wear it again! Hmph…
While the girl was inwardly cursing a certain someone in secret, all of a sudden, she felt a strong arm wrap tightly around her waist from behind and drag her swiftly into the farthest corner.
“Mm…”
Lin Xinyuan’s heart stopped for a moment. Her pupils shrank in terror, and her little hands flailed helplessly like a kitten.
She tried to shout, but a large hand clamped over her mouth, and all she could do was let out weak, desperate whimpers.
Despairingly, she looked at the couple still having fun nearby, and at her cousins not far away, unable to resist at all.
It’s over…
The ball rolled around the rim and finally dropped in.
The Scoreboard jumped from a single digit to double digits, the mechanical female voice announced the game’s end, but there was no one left in front of the machine…