Electronic Nezha

Chapter 17: Obsessed
That day, Yuan Yuan and I played until very late. Usually, I would play a few rounds first and then use the money to pay me back when I ran out. The teammates I was randomly matched with perfectly embodied the phrase "love-hate relationship". Sometimes, even when I could clearly see "Liu Haha" not being able to jump onto the X-box, and giving away a great situation to the opponent, I would be about to curse. But in the next round, this guy would be like a completely different person, with calm operation and accurate shooting. He could easily get kills from a great distance with his Glock.

There was a little incident in between; Liu Zhenhua suggested going to bed an hour later, but I firmly refused...

I still prefer watching Yuanyuan headshot with an AK. If there are two or more opponents pulling back at the same time, its recoil control is even more amazing. When I sincerely asked it to calculate how long it would take me to reach its level with my current skill, it said it was almost out of power and had to go charge. Before leaving, it didn't forget to pour me a glass of water and put it on my bedside table. I don't believe that the battery it has for doing all this can't support it saying a single sentence. It's just like a character in a martial arts novel who writes "The one who killed me is that—" on the ground before dying, and then dies at the crucial moment.

For a while after that, I became completely addicted. It wouldn't be an exaggeration to describe it as "an old house catching fire." I've always been a loyal fan of FPS games. I just didn't have time before. To be honest, even without Yuanyuan, I would still be addicted now that I don't have to worry about Liu Zhenhua's studies.

Because of Liu Zhenhua's authorization, Yuanyuan used my phone to order a lot of things to modify its body, such as K-board, carbon fiber board, and some electronic components. At first, I was worried that I would need to help. Liu Zhenhua was right; his terrible hands-on skills were inherited from me. Later, I found that it was completely unnecessary. Yuanyuan could handle everything itself. I had all the tools at home. Needless to say, I had screwdrivers and pliers, as well as electric drills and angle grinders. You know, in the old days, a man with good hands-on skills could save a family a lot of money. Fortunately, my dad was good at it. In the first few years when he sold fruit, he made all the wooden boxes himself.

Yuan Yuan's hands are ultimately made primarily of aerospace-grade aluminum, which is a great material—lightweight, corrosion-resistant, and highly durable, but it's not cheap. With the support of AI technology, Yuan Yuan's hands are now practically perfect: small palms, long fingers, and even fingerprint protectors, so she no longer needs to wear rubber gloves to operate her phone.

If you didn't interact with Yuan Yuan before, it was just a prankster. It would make a clattering sound wherever it went, and the stubble of the wire that held the bamboo pole in place would poke holes in the artificial leather chair. It didn't have ankles or toes, and the bamboo strips that went into its rubber shoes were broken. It couldn't provide any support for its body, and it didn't stumble around because of its super computing power.

Now, things are much better. The hands are made of aviation-grade aluminum, and the bamboo pole still serves as the skeleton. A layer of skin is covered with K-board, a material that can be shaped by heat. Due to proper baking, Yuan Yuan has the curves of a human body. Considering that it is frequently in contact with the gas stove, a thin layer of food-grade stainless steel is used for fireproofing on its arms and waist. At its neck, Yuan Yuan is surrounded by a carbon fiber plate to form a protective layer, so there is no longer any need to worry about its head suddenly falling off when it is walking or charging.

Despite the limited materials, Yuan Yuan already looks like a high-tech robot from the future—light, coordinated, and graceful, except for its head, which is a large disc.

With the renovation complete, Yuan Yuan's gaming skills became even more exceptional, and even her cooking improved significantly.

The next problem is: I've become a middle-aged internet addict.

Watching others play games and playing them yourself each have their own fun, but watching others play is ultimately for the purpose of playing yourself. For the first few days, Yuan Yuan and I took turns playing on one computer. Later, I felt unsatisfied, so I came up with a solution that would satisfy both of us: we would play together.

Liu Zhenhua also has a computer in his room, with better specs than mine. It was used for his online classes, but he didn't use it much after that. I used it to register an account on STEAM called "Liu Xixi" and Yuanyuan and I played duos together.

Every night, I'm in this room and Yuanyuan is in that room; we communicate entirely by shouting.

"Yuanyuan, you haven't done this picture before, have you?"

"Yes Master."

"Do you want me to show you around the map first?"

"No need, Master. I have already downloaded and deciphered the data package of this image. I will mark a few 'sixth brother' positions for you in a moment. Just hide when your health is low."

"That won't work, I'm a penetrator."

Self-positioning.

After the game starts...

"I'm sorry, Master. I accidentally killed them all and stole your mission."

"Master, you go ahead of me in the next round."

"Master, be careful, someone's flanking us from behind... Oh, it's gone now."

"Master, you can follow behind me and finish off the enemies." Liu Xixi charged ahead with the Bison in hand, shooting white dots off the enemy helmets one after another. Then I would take out the dying enemies one by one. Have you ever seen someone get a pentakill by finishing off enemies?

After a few rounds, I finally died once, before I could even buy a gun—

"Master, I've grabbed a sniper rifle for you."

"No need, you can keep it and play with it. I have money to buy it myself."

Without a word, Liu Xixi tossed a high-angle shot at me, and suddenly I had a sniper rifle in my hand...

"Master, it's a Dragon Sniper rifle."

"Master, Master, hurry and go to the 'sewer' to block that guy, he only has one drop of blood left—oh dear, sorry, I killed him with a decoy bomb."

The above conversations were largely the same, echoing between the two rooms every day. Liu Haha played games with Liu Xixi, making everyone else laugh.

Over time, my game score skyrocketed, but the side effect was severe sleep deprivation. Every day after Liu Zhenhua went to sleep, we would play in my room, sometimes until the early hours of the morning. A game of this game takes about half an hour, and if the other side also has a few skilled players to support them, 40 minutes is quite normal. Every gamer probably has this experience: after finishing a game, you see that it's not yet 12 o'clock, and you always think about winning one more game before going to sleep. After finishing the game at 12:30, you decide to play one last game...

So these past few days I've been a bit out of it. I keep feeling sleepy while sitting at my stall, and I'm not as focused on business as before. I used to fight tooth and nail with customers over every penny, but now that I'm making enough to pay Lao Wang's salary, I don't care anymore. I rush home around four or five in the afternoon, and once I sit down at the computer, my mind is refreshed. Sometimes I think, what's the point of anti-addiction measures if they only target kids? It's adults who are addicted that's scary.

The same thing happened that day. I started playing duo queue with Yuanyuan just after five o'clock, and before we knew it, Liu Zhenhua came home. When Liu Zhenhua saw that the house was empty and the stove was cold, he spread his hands and said, "Yuanyuan, where's the food?"

Yuan Yuan quickly stood up: "I'm sorry, I'll do it right away."

I yelled, "Sit down! We're in a war!" Before I brought Yuan Yuan along, there was a time when one of our teammates went AFK to go downstairs to pick up takeout, and we yelled at him for the whole game.

Liu Zhenhua then spread his hands: "So, what should we eat?"

"Make me some instant noodles—make me a bowl too."

While making instant noodles, Liu Zhenhua grumbled, "I used to be able to eat noodles with soybean paste, but now I've been reduced to eating instant noodles."

“You’d better shut up. We’ve run into the ‘fish fryers,’ Yuan Yuan, let’s give them some color to see.”

"Good host."

Liu Zhenhua said speechlessly, "Dad, how about I develop a cheat device for you so you can play with it yourself?"

"What kind of talk is that? When have I ever cheated in a game?"

"No one can find out, don't worry. Even if you're forty years old and go to play a professional match live, it won't be a problem—I'll make you a pair of iris-scanning glasses and a fingerprint-unlocking aimbot mouse."

"Will the gaming environment be this bad in the future?" I felt scared just listening to it.

"These are just the most basic ones. There are also micro-chips that can be implanted in the eyeballs and fingers. If that's the case, the organizing committee won't be able to detect it even if they take blood or urine tests."

Is it really necessary to make such a fuss over playing a game?

“That’s right—” Liu Zhenhua said with dissatisfaction, “Is it really necessary to make such a fuss over a game?” Actually, he was just venting his frustration.

I slurped up the noodles as soon as they were ready, and the battle was in full swing when suddenly there was a loud knocking at the door. Old Wang shouted, "Fengzi, open the door! Li Ping and I have come to see you."

I was stunned for a moment, then suddenly stood up and saw that Yuan Yuan had already opened the wardrobe door and gone in, and Liu Zhenhua had taken its place.

I opened the door, and Lao Wang and Li Ping each carried a bunch of things and barged in on their own.

I steadied myself and joked, "You're here to freeload? We've already finished eating."

"We knew you guys had finished eating by now, so we came to have a drink with you." Old Wang waved the things in his hand: wine, cold dishes, braised pig's head, and garlic sausage, among other things.

I said, "What kind of wine is this, drinking when it's neither a holiday nor a festival?"

“You haven’t been doing well lately, so we’ve come to ‘inspect’ you,” Li Ping said, half-jokingly and half-seriously, carrying a bag of breakfast from the bakery and a carton of milk.

Old Wang sniffed: "The two of you are eating instant noodles?" He stood in the living room, looked at the computer in my room, then peeked into Liu Zhenhua's room, and said incredulously, "They're even playing games together?"

In the game, Liu Zhenhua was holding the sniper rifle that Yuanyuan had just captured, and with two shots, he got two kills from a distance—without using the scope.

Old Wang knew this game too. He paused for a moment, then said, "Are you cheating?"

(End of this chapter)