Chapter 93

Chapter 93: Du Zihan’s Growth

When playing games, someone invites you; win and you can even make money.

Du Zihan had never heard of such a good thing in his life?

He could already see Xia Yuan’s ten yuan waving at him.

However, as his fuzzy memories gradually cleared, Du Zihan also realized that the girl sitting next to him, eager to challenge him, was actually the annoying snot-nosed girl, Lin You Xi, from kindergarten.

That little snot-nosed girl from back then has grown so tall…

She was almost a head taller than Du Zihan.

Women are truly terrifying creatures.

Du Zihan adjusted his senses and began to insert game coins into the machine.

King of Fighters 2002, like 98, is a compilation set without a comic storyline as a background. It mainly aims to collect more characters for sale, but this generation’s reputation is one of the best ever, with the most notable feature being the balance of characters—there’s basically no character that can’t be played.

But to Du Zihan, who was familiar with 2002, he clearly knew which characters were stronger.

He quickly chose his characters: Kim Kaphwan and Hwoarang from the Korean team, and Billy from the Stickman team. His choice even earned praise from Mei Fang.

“You’ve chosen too strategically. These are all S-class strong characters in 2002. No wonder you’re a regular here.”

“Heh, naturally.”

Du Zihan thought, “Mei Fang, you’re pretty decent. Why do you always play with girls? You’re making us men look bad.”

After choosing his characters, he waited for Lin You Xi. But Lin You Xi was taking her time selecting her characters because Xia Yuan was still discussing which characters to use with her.

“Use Fire Dancer, Yuri is also good! Hmm… This purple-clothed girl, I’ve never seen before. There wasn’t such a character in King of Fighters before… Oh right, You Xi, you need to save a spot for Athena…”

“Ugh, foolish women!

Always choosing characters based on looks, how vulgar!

How could you possibly beat me like this?”

Du Zihan was almost certain of his victory.

Lin You Xi hastily selected her three female characters in the last second: Fire Dancer, Kula (Ice Maiden), and Mai Shiranui (Mai Shiraushi). Although she chose them based on looks, the latter two were not weak either.

But Du Zihan had never taken Lin You Xi’s skills seriously. He slowly moved the joystick, waiting for her to try out the light punch and light kick keys, believing himself to be gentlemanly. Just as he was about to strike, Lin You Xi suddenly performed a large jump with Fire Dancer, using a simple throw to pin him against the edge of the stage and start a combo frenzy.

Oh my god oh my god oh my god oh my god!

As Du Zihan was pinned and suffered a smooth, continuous combo from Lin You Xi, his own movements visibly deformed. He started frantically shaking the joystick and wildly tapping the buttons, which inadvertently broke Lin You Xi’s combo chain.

“Du Zihan, play properly! Be careful with the machine or the shop owner will come over and beat you up.”

Ignoring Xia Yuan’s warning, Du Zihan struggled desperately, and managed to press out a special move, salvaging some of the situation.

After realizing Lin You Xi’s strength, Du Zihan no longer dared to underestimate this cunning woman and started to fight her seriously.

Arcade machines, especially fighting ones, were often ravaged by elementary school students. Even having functional buttons was impressive. The sensitivity couldn’t be too high. Lin You Xi was playing 2002 for the first time, and her inputs differed slightly from those in 9798. She was quickly surpassed by Du Zihan and lost the first round.

The Ice Maiden, Kula, who was Lin You Xi’s second character, struggled despite Mei Fang’s guidance, barely defeating Du Zihan’s first character, Hwoarang. However, she was soon finished off by Du Zihan’s second character, Billy.

Phew…

Du Zihan finally let out a sigh of relief.

Hehehe, ten yuan is waving at me!

Du Zihan watched as Lin You Xi’s third character, Mai Shiranui, appeared.

“Hmph, Du Zihan, you have to be careful.”

Xia Yuan eagerly awaited the appearance of this character, her hands on her hips, “Our You Xi’s Athena is super powerful, even Alphonse can’t resist.”

“Hmph, what’s so difficult? Watch me…”

Lin You Xi’s Athena immediately brought Billy down and kept him in the air, regardless of Du Zihan’s frantic button mashing. Athena’s perfect victory animation played:

“Yay! Kampeki!”

Du Zihan felt like he had just gone through ten seconds of disappearance.

Who am I… Where am I… What am I doing?

Is this a combo a normal human can perform?

This should only be achievable by the big shots on Game King TV!

At this moment, Du Zihan’s repressed memories attacked him.

It reminded him of that sunny afternoon at the Cultural Square when he wore his new roller skates, ready to be the coolest kid there.

But Mei Fang’s appearance forced him to choose an escape route.

When his third character entered the stage, he even felt an urge to stand up and pretend to go to the bathroom and run away.

No…

I can’t keep running away anymore!

Flowers may bloom again, but youth cannot return!

Back then, I didn’t complete that roller skate competition out of fear, allowing Mei Fang to become an indelible shadow in my roller skating career.

Every time I put on roller skates, I would remember the fear of being easily defeated by Mei Fang’s backward skating and the embarrassment of fleeing desperately.

Now, after finally breaking free from roller skating, I discovered my talent for gaming and found a lifelong dream—to become an e-sports expert like Xiaohei Shen or Sky.

To pursue this e-sports dream, he has been constantly striving, from fifth grade until now. Whenever he had free time, he would play games, even if it meant being scolded by teachers or beaten by his mother. This summer, he spent all his pocket money on gaming.

If I run away again, I might become a coward who always backs down and runs away for the rest of my life!

Awaken, Du Zihan!

Burn, my little universe!

After a tumultuous internal struggle, the young boy who always avoided difficulties finally achieved spiritual growth today.

This time, he chose to face his fears!

In his heart, he swore he would end the game with his signature character, Kim Kaphwan.

“Yay! Kampeki!”

The cruel reality shattered Du Zihan’s burning determination once again. Lin You Xi won easily.

“Woah, You Xi, your Athena is really strong!”

Xia Yuan hugged Lin You Xi from behind to celebrate, while Mei Fang was stunned.

In a sense, Lin You Xi’s Athena was indeed a specialty…

Du Zihan stood up shakily, his heart filled with regret.

I should have escaped earlier, sobbing.

I’m so out of touch…

Compared to the adaptable self from before, I’m worlds apart…

Just as Du Zihan was about to retreat, Mei Fang called him back.

“Hey, Du Zihan, aren’t you going to continue playing?”

Mei Fang handed Du Zihan the basket of game tokens, “Leaving like this isn’t like you. Play a few more rounds, you might have a chance to beat You Xi.”

“Yeah, I was careless earlier, just picked some random characters.”

Du Zihan took Mei Fang’s tokens and sat back down. Peng Xue noticed something, patting Mei Fang’s shoulder and teasing him, “Enough already, you’re really bad, Mei Fang.”

“What are you talking about… I just wanted to see You Xi have fun?”

Mei Fang bent down to pat Lin You Xi’s shoulder, “This version of Athena has a hidden super move, with nine stages of transformation. Want to try it out?”

Lin You Xi became interested upon hearing about something new, “How do you pull off this hidden super move?”

“It’s quite hard to perform. I practiced for a long time to get it right. Let me show you…”

During the next few rounds, Lin You Xi focused on performing Mei Fang’s nine-stage transformation instead of the match results. Despite her efforts, Du Zihan, who was struggling to fight back, was easily defeated. Just as Xia Yuan yawned and urged Mei Fang to play something else, Mai Shiranui’s screen flashed with the super move animation.

“One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight—”

“Ahh! I did it! Sailor suit! Cheongsam! Swimsuit! Knight costume! And this combo is too cute!”

Xia Yuan happily jumped up with Peng Xue, while Lin You Xi excitedly high-fived Mei Fang.

Du Zihan, after finishing his combo, went all out to deal damage, finally defeating Lin You Xi’s Athena during her celebration.

This is… the joy of victory!

I finally overcame my fear!

I won!

Du Zihan feared others might not recognize his victory, so he quickly clarified:

“This is because you guys were careless. I pulled off the combo earlier, don’t blame me for cheating.”

“Alright, alright, we understand, no one said anything.”

Xia Yuan took out ten yuan from her wallet and gave it to Du Zihan, “It was supposed to be given after the first win, but considering how hard you tried, it’s fine.”

Mei Fang followed suit, “These leftover tokens are yours to play with. You Xi should join us for roller skating.”

Lin You Xi, exhausted after performing the nine-stage transformation, looked reluctant when Mei Fang helped her up. They bid farewell to Du Zihan, who was still basking in his victory.

“I’m so tired… This machine’s sensitivity is too low. Look at my hand, it’s red.”

Lin You Xi showed Xia Yuan her reddened hand.

“What are you tired about… We haven’t even started yet. You Xi, you just need more practice.”

Xia Yuan pushed away Mei Fang’s hand and held onto Lin You Xi, “Come on, today I’ll teach you how to slide backwards and regain your old skills!”

Suddenly feeling thirsty, Xia Yuan pouted at Mei Fang, “Alphonse, can you buy me a drink? I want a Qoo.”

“Sure, what do you want, You Xi?”

Lin You Xi wiped the sweat from her forehead, “I’ll have Pulse.”

“Then I’ll have—”

Peng Xue hesitated for a moment, sensing something was off since Lin You Xi was looking at her. Feeling embarrassed, she touched the back of her neck, “I’ll go myself!”

“Don’t worry, Xiao Xue! Let Alphonse buy it. We often treat each other, he’s not stingy.”

Mei Fang looked at Peng Xue, “What do you want?”

Peng Xue clapped her hands and smiled sweetly, “I’ll have a Farmer’s Orchard! Carrot juice… Thanks to the generous Mei Fang!”

Everyone had a great time that day, achieving a world where no one was hurt.

(The End)