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Chapter 6 : Hooked
“For the love of God, act normal! People are gonna think we’re lunatics!”
Lin Lixin struggled to pry Sam off the arcade cabinet, then gave the newcomer an awkward nod.
“Miss, would you like to try the new arcade game we developed?”
This was absolutely the strangest introduction Vivian had ever experienced.
Her lips twitched as she instinctively took half a step back, inwardly realizing something was very wrong.
W̆ė b n̈ о vе̃ l̆ Еn um̄а̃
She had run into two gaming nerds!
She’d heard about these people before. Strange personalities, never participating in campus activities, wasting away their youth in game shops all day long!
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
I shouldn’t have come over out of curiosity… Don’t tell me I somehow became part of their weird play scenario?
“Uh… haha, I was just passing by. I don’t even have any coins on me, so if there’s nothing else, I’ll just be leaving now.”
She desperately wanted to escape.
“It’s alright, miss. First game’s free.”
Еñūṁ ă .іd̆
Seeing Vivian about to flee, Lin Lixin called out to her and pulled a quarter from his pocket, his smile as sincere and harmless as possible.
Vivian knew what arcade machines were.
She also knew what video games were.
As far as she was concerned, they were just another scam designed to exploit consumers’ nostalgia.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Except…
This was the first time she had ever seen someone set up an arcade machine in front of their own apartment.
È ñů mă . id
Weren’t these things supposed to be outside convenience stores or bars?
Looking at Lin Lixin’s harmless smile, then at Sam lying on the ground staring at the machine with lovestruck eyes, Vivian found herself wavering.
Once curiosity conquered the brain, all rationality had no choice but to surrender.
“…Well, it’s free anyway. Trying it once won’t hurt.”
Thinking that, she stopped retreating.
Taking the quarter from Lin Lixin’s hand, Vivian somehow felt that his smile carried a strange hidden emotion.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Like he was waiting to enjoy a show.
“It’s really free? This isn’t one of those scams where you suddenly force people to pay afterward, right?”
Her caution compelled her to ask one more question.
“Honest business, miss.” Lin Lixin nodded. “Twenty-five cents per game.”
Vivian pulled over a stool and sat down, carefully examining the machine.
The cabinet had the huge word “TETRIS” painted across it, seemingly by hand. The paint wasn’t even dry yet.
Е̄nù mа . ĩd
Below that hung an eight-digit display panel, clearly meant to show player scores.
The monitor looked somewhat old, but the images on the screen were still visible, just a bunch of simple blocks.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Several instructions were written on the control panel, briefly explaining the controls.
But Vivian’s attention wasn’t focused there.
Following the buttons toward the right, she noticed another identical set of controls.
“This has multiplayer?”
Ӗ ň um а̄ . і̌ d̀
Although Vivian rarely played games, she still knew about popular titles like Pac-Man.
Pac-Man had alternating challenge modes like this.
Lin Lixin smiled, then pulled out another coin and tossed it to Sam.
Sam understood immediately.
Baca cerita ini hanya di situs resmi Enuma.id!
Jesse was finally allowing him to play again.
He hurriedly sat down on the other stool.
Е̌.ň ũ m̀ a. i̊ d́
“If you don’t mind, we can compete.”
The fact that the arcade machine would now be available for public play was already unavoidable.
He could only accept reality.
Even if he couldn’t monopolize Tetris anymore, he could still become the person who loved Tetris the most!
For some reason, Vivian felt a completely unreasonable hostility coming from Sam.
As though she had stolen his beloved wife.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
The sheer absurdity of it irritated her.
She had come over to help him, and not only did she not get a thank-you, she was being glared at like an enemy?
Now she absolutely had to win.
She was going to teach this rude bastard a lesson.
Vivian inserted the coin. The screen displayed an option asking whether to skip waiting and enter single-player mode.
As Sam inserted his coin as well, the prompt disappeared.
Ĕ n û mä.іď
The screen split in half, and the game immediately began.
Lin Lixin yawned, revealing a satisfied, mischievous grin from an angle neither of them could see.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Unexpectedly, Sam’s bizarre public meltdown had accidentally hooked them their first customer.
Using twenty-five cents as bait was incredibly cost-effective.
“Sam, I’m heading back to sleep. Remember not to hog the machine. If other people come to play, behave yourself and let them have turns.”
After giving that instruction, Lin Lixin dragged his heavy eyelids back to bed and collapsed face-first onto the mattress.
Е̄.ṅ u m̌ а̄
Modifying the arcade machine to support two-player battles had been anything but easy.
Both the code and the hardware required complete overhauls.
Especially porting the version he wrote on the C64 over to this Z80 system, even with the system assisting him, it had nearly worked him to death.
The addition of hardware knowledge made Lin Lixin realize the enormous opportunity hidden within this idea.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
A machine supporting multiplayer could easily double the coin revenue.
At the same time, competitive gameplay naturally triggered the mentality of “the winner gets addicted while the loser refuses to accept defeat,” leading to endless rematches and nonstop coin spending.
Ẅ ĕb ñov̌.е̊ ĺ E n um.а̊
Lin Lixin buried his head into the bed and quickly fell into deep sleep.
Who knew how much time had passed before the nonstop ringing of system notifications in his head suddenly woke him up.
[Ding!]
[Milestone Completed]:
10 players gave positive feedback after playing the arcade machine.
[Reward]:
Free Attribute Points x5
[Milestone Completed]:
Arcade machine reached 100 total plays.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
[Reward]:
Free Attribute Points x5
[Milestone Completed]:
Repeat player rate exceeded 60%
[Reward]:
Skill Gift Pack x1
[Milestone Completed]:
Completed an all-night work session.
[Skill Acquired]:
[Hardened Liver]:
[Stamina Limit ↑, Rest Efficiency ↑]
Е n̊ ũ m̊а
…
“Ugh…?”
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Lin Lixin rubbed his aching head and climbed out of bed, suddenly feeling a cool sensation surge from the soles of his feet straight to his scalp. The aftereffects of staying up all night were instantly washed away by more than half.
Someone outside was making an unbelievable amount of noise.
It was chaotic as hell.
Sunlight filtered through the thin curtains, informing Lin Lixin that it was already noon.
Ѐñ ǔ m̈ а̄ .і d
Stretching his sore joints from his terrible sleeping posture, he shuffled over in slippers and pulled the curtains open.
The sight outside hit him like an uppercut straight to the jaw, instantly waking him completely.
The neighborhood Lin Lixin lived in was a standard residential district. Aside from two convenience stores and the now-bankrupt arcade on the corner, there were basically no shops around.
Going anywhere else usually required driving or biking.
Dilarang mengopy novel dari Enuma.id.
Because of that, the street had always been a peaceful, quiet place.
But now it looked completely different.
Е̃ n ú m а.і̊d
Several young men and women sat casually along the roadside, chatting and laughing under the blazing midday sun as though they didn’t care at all.
Even more people stood in a long line stretching down the street.
And the thing they were willing to queue beneath the scorching sunlight for.
Was the Tetris arcade machine sitting outside the apartment entrance.
(End of Chapter)
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