Electronic Nezha

Chapter 15 The Taste of Dad

The score was now 12-5. If we lost one more game, we would lose the match completely, meaning the opponent would have 7 match points.

The woman in purple, who had been silent all along, suddenly said coldly, "Liu Haha, you can leave now."

Liu Haha is my ID name. In the era when the game couldn't display Chinese characters, my ID was always "liuhaha".

Harsh words can be chilling, even in the heat of June. A few simple words made my hands and feet instantly turn cold. I'm not afraid of people saying I'm bad at the game, I'm afraid of being looked down upon. Most people who play this game are younger than me. Sometimes I can hear noise from internet cafes and dormitories through their microphones. They should be college students in their prime. Being younger than me means they react faster, learn new things more easily, and have more time. I always feel guilty standing in the team, afraid of becoming a burden. If they were complete newbies, it wouldn't be so bad. The problem is, I've had my glory days.

In the gaming world, there's a term called "Qing Dynasty veteran." Leaving aside the connotation of being kicked out for cheating, I think this term perfectly describes me—possessing an outdated skill, vain arrogance, but cruelly abandoned by the times. The psychological gap between going from "King of the Streets" to "just another player," from "veteran" to "Qing Dynasty veteran," is hard to describe.

"Damn it, you think you're the best player?" I shouted angrily.

Purple still coldly replied, "He played better than you." I checked the rankings; he was second, meaning he played better than me...

Just as I was about to retort, Han Shiya called. I got up angrily, patted Yuan Yuan, and pointed at the computer.

Yuan Yuan sat down in my seat and asked understandingly, "Master, do you want me to scold him for you?"

I said speechlessly, "You play for me." Being bad is one thing, but being bad and AFK is even more hateful. Anyway, it's the last game, as long as Yuan Yuan can control the character to run out of the base, it won't count as AFK.

I picked up the phone and hurried to Liu Zhenhua's room.

"What's the matter?"

"What is Liu Zhenhua doing now?" Han Shiya asked.

Liu Zhenhua, who had been comfortably lounging in his chair watching videos, sat up straight, turned the volume down to the lowest setting, and looked up at the phone in my hand with a worried expression, as if he were about to be enveloped by a shadow.

"Studying."

Is he free between 9 and 10 p.m. on Saturday night?

Liu Zhenhua waved his hand vigorously at me.

"Tell me what it is first."

Han Shiya said, "I found a famous tutor in Beijing who specializes in tutoring junior high school students in math. It's one-on-one video tutoring. If he has time, let him try it out first. If it's suitable, we'll have class at this time every week. You don't need to worry about the fees."

I said, "Liu Zhenhua has no problem with math."

Han Shiya raised her voice and said, "Getting 85 in math is no problem? If you get 85 now, how much will it drag down your college entrance exam score? Liu Chuanfeng, don't think like a loser!" I thought to myself, you've made 85 sound like this, what if you get 26? How are you going to live?
"Uh, Liu Zhenhua doesn't have time!" I said, giving Liu Zhenhua a look that said, "You got what you deserved." Liu Zhenhua was moved to tears and bowed to me twice with his hands clasped together.

"No time? Where is his time?"

"I also found him a famous tutor, but the schedule just didn't work out..."

"What a coincidence! Liu Chuanfeng, don't try to fool me."

I interrupted her and said, "You, a renowned teacher, didn't teach Qiao Yuchen?" Qiao Yuchen is her current daughter, the same age as Liu Zhenhua, and is excellent in both character and academics.

"Qiao Yuchen has finished all her senior year courses—don't interrupt, what exactly happened?"

“It’s true. Here’s what we’ll do: we’ll see if it works out based on the final exam results. If Liu Zhenhua can get 92 on the final exam—” Liu Zhenhua mouthed the number 92 to me.

"If I can get 92 points on the final exam, it means that the one I found is also very good."

"92?" Han Shiya was taken aback by my number with both whole numbers and zeros, and then said, "You need to score at least 95 in junior high school math to have a solid foundation."

Liu Zhenhua shrugged helplessly, indicating his compromise.

"Okay, then 95 it is."

Han Shiya was completely speechless. After a few seconds, she said, "Where's Zhenhua? I'll talk to him."

I gloated and handed my phone to Liu Zhenhua. Before he even spoke, the guy had a fawning expression on his face.

"Mom, what Dad said is true. He's talked to me several times about my midterm grades and even signed me up for a lot of classes."

"Hmm?" One word encapsulated all of Han Shiya's questions at that moment.

"My dad has changed a lot lately; he doesn't look at his phone anymore when he's helping me with my studies." That's the truth; he's switched to playing on the computer.

Han Shiya asked, "How did you learn English? Did you take any classes?"

"Did you report it... or not...?" Liu Zhenhua mumbled, even the super AI couldn't figure out what his mother was thinking, so he kept his mind at ease: AI can't replace humans.

Fortunately, Han Shiya only wanted to express her opinion: "No need to enroll in English classes, increase your vocabulary, read more foreign original works to find your sense of language, that's what Qiao Yuchen said - should I ask her to practice conversations with you?" "No need, with my vocabulary, the two of us are not even in sync."

Han Shiya said, "Okay, then good luck. Mom is waiting to see your final grades."

After hanging up the phone, I pointed at Liu Zhenhua and said, "You see, you see, you're just letting your dad take the bullet for you!"

Liu Zhenhua gave a thumbs up: "Dad, right now, you can be summed up in two words in my eyes: great and awe-inspiring!"

"You little brat!" As I walked into my room, Liu Zhenhua picked up his tablet again. I asked him habitually, "You haven't been playing with it, have you?"

Liu Zhenhua was stunned: "Playing around."

"Oh, that's okay."

I had just stepped into the living room when Han Shiya's text message arrived: Tell me how much the course cost, and I'll transfer the money to you.

I replied: No need to take it so seriously.

Han Shiya replied: It was agreed long ago that all the tutoring fees for Zhenhua would be mine.

I replied: It's not much, don't worry about it.

Han Shiya replied: Male chauvinism is no longer in vogue.

I didn't have time to pay attention to her anymore; I was still thinking about playing another round as soon as possible.

Back in the room, the screen still showed the map of Sand City 2, and the teammates were still the same few teammates.

"Master, you're back!"

I asked in surprise, "We haven't lost yet?" I pressed Tab to check the battle status and was immediately shocked. "Liu Haha" had 27 kills and was in first place!

"Did you hit this?"

"Yeah, I got two pentakills."

Looking at the score again, 11:12, the T team, led by Yuan Yuan, managed to catch up with 6 points, but now they're in a 2v4 situation with only 2 of our players remaining. As we were talking, Purple also died at B1. Yuan Yuan, wielding a dull, unskinned AK, didn't stop, charging from the CT spawn into the middle gate with a clang, the AK muzzle flashing: rat-a-tat-tat.

One kill in the bag. Actually, I saw the first bullet hit my head.

Turning around to look at A, I saw the heads of two CTs. "Da da da da da," a beautiful recoil control shot, all the bullets connected into a straight line, and two white flashes disappeared, killing two more.

"Red, it's up to you!" My orange teammate's voice trembled with nervousness.

With 12 seconds left, the grenade was on Yuan Yuan. It was too late to move to B site to lay the grenade. Yuan Yuan jumped onto the path and headed straight for the A bomb site. The last CT was holding the slope with a sniper rifle. Yuan Yuan used the path to jump to the CT spawn.

"Bang!" The sniper rifle fired, but missed.

"Da da da da." The AK fired in mid-air, securing the fourth kill.

Jump attack.

"Awesome—" came the roars of teammates from the speakers.

On the public channel, the other party typed a row of "?".

The score is tied at 12, and the vote will now decide whether to extend the time limit.

My teammates asked cautiously, "Brother Liu, should we go into overtime?"

I casually pressed the side button on my mouse and said, "Go ahead and fight."

Yuan Yuan wanted to give me her seat, but I held her down and said ingratiatingly, "You play." I wasn't surprised that she could play games of this era, but I didn't expect her to play so well. Now, looking at a bunch of bamboo poles and a round head sitting there, how come she has such an imposing and awe-inspiring presence?
The unanimous agreement to go to overtime is easy for us to explain; we're riding high. The opposing team's psychology is more complex. First, you can tell if someone's cheating by their movement, positioning, and aiming. In their eyes, I'm a top player, and they'd love to play with someone like me for a while longer. An S-rank player switching accounts to a C+ game to stomp on weaker opponents is called "smurfing," but someone like me is just "accidentally"—donk accidentally stumbled into a C+ game and wants to go to overtime with you, would you play?

At the start of the purchase, Purple stammered, "Brother, I admit my voice was a bit loud just now, please don't mind."

I leaned over and turned on the microphone: "You're not loud, you're just rude. You'll be fine next time."

Purple nodded meekly: "Yes, yes, Brother Liu is right."

I said earnestly, "Remember, no matter how good your teammates are, we are a team. Only by working together can we achieve victory. You have a long road ahead of you. Don't say you're bad or complain about others. Look at things from a developmental perspective."

Yuan Yuan exclaimed, "Wow, Master speaks with such a strong fatherly tone, I love it!"

This is the last time I'll use the 26-minute joke. Everyone, especially younger readers, must cherish your current opportunities to study and work, and enrich yourselves. Although it sounds a bit like I'm playing the dad, it's the truth. As for the older readers—even if Xiaohua's readers are 90, they're not old!
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(End of this chapter)