In February of 2008, a serious snowstorm broke out in the southern region, especially in southern Hunan Province, which was hit hardest. Northern Chu Province was also affected to a certain extent. Although it was already February, the temperature outside was still terribly low.
"It only snowed a little yesterday, but I didn't expect the ground to freeze."
Xia Yuan was wearing cream-colored winter boots today. Since they were new shoes, they were a little slippery when she walked. She could only hold Lin Youxi's arm and move forward carefully on the ground.
Mei Fang followed slightly behind, looking at the two girls' backs, lost in recalling the past.
After the moving incident, the three maintained a long and stable friendship, but as they entered puberty, in addition to the obvious growth caused by the emergence of secondary sexual characteristics, Xia Yuan and Lin Youxi's temperament also changed.
Xia Yuan is no longer the little crybaby she used to be. She is always in a cheerful mood every day and seems to have endless happy things to talk about. Now she likes to tie a small braid on her short hair, which looks a bit like aho-go.
Lin Youxi is no longer as lively and active as she was in fourth grade. She started to grow medium-length hair and liked to walk with her hands in her pockets.
Although not as aloof as in the previous life, I still give off an aura that says "don't bother with me".
"Afang, save me, save me, save me!"
Xia Yuan slipped and was about to fall to the ground with her body hunched over. Lin Youxi was trying hard to pull her up.
Seeing this, Mei Fang didn't care about what was happening, and hurried forward, grabbed Xia Yuan's hand, and pulled her and Lin Youxi up together.
Xia Yuan clung to Mei Fang's shoulders and panted non-stop in front of him, "Huh... I was scared to death. If I fell, my butt would definitely hurt for several days."
"That's why I told you not to go out today. You almost got your comeuppance."
Xia Yuan stuck out her tongue mischievously, "Today, the game hall on Main Street has opened a new gun-shooting machine for fighting zombies. We have to go check it out while it's snowing and there are fewer people!"
Just as Lin Youxi lamented, the old-fashioned arcade game halls with only joysticks quickly declined in Baimei County in the past three years, and were replaced by complex arcade halls that combined slot machines, fishing machines, racing machines, and shooting machines.
At the same time, the value of coins in arcades has also soared, from 6 coins for 1 yuan to 2 coins for 1 yuan now. These advanced machines require 2 to 4 coins to play. Even so, such stores are still very popular in small counties that have never seen much of the world. After all, there are still many wealthy families like Xia Yuan.
Xia Yuan took out money and exchanged it for 20 yuan, then he came to the newly installed light gun arcade machine in the game hall impatiently.
"That's it!"
It turns out that the light gun game I played back then was the famous "House of the Dead 3"...
The demo screen on the game screen kept showing various zombies with terrifying appearances. There were two brand new shotguns in front of the arcade. Xia Yuan picked up the shotgun and played with it for a while. Then, he showed Mei Fang how to load and lower the gun. "How about it, do I look like a lone female gunman?"
"I find it strange. You like cute things, but you are suddenly interested in this zombie-killing thing..."
"What's so strange about this? My love for cute things doesn't affect my love for exciting things."
Xia Yuan said with a curious and amused expression, "Fang, tell me the truth, are you afraid to play?"
Lin Youxi, who was playing with a light gun at the side, suddenly added, "He has been timid since he was young. He doesn't even dare to play with frogs."
"Hahaha! Now that you mention it, I remember it now! Ah Fang, you are really scared, right?"
"What am I afraid of? I'm afraid of a ghost."
"It's okay, Ah Fang. If you're afraid, just watch the sisters play nearby. We won't laugh at you."
"Who cares?"
So Xia Yuan put the coins in one after another, and picked up the gun together with Lin Youxi, while Mei Fang watched from the side.
This game is a classic light gun game. Although it does not have a complicated gun system, the shooting feel and the overall plot performance are well done, and you really have to load the gun every time you change the magazine.
"Wow... I'm so naive. I'm sorry, Youxi."
"It's okay, it's okay. Yuanyuan, you're already very good."
"But you're much better than me!"
"I... I also play similar games on the computer more often, haha."
Although it was the first time for Lin Youxi to play a light gun game, her shooting feel was quite good. She was seen staring at the game screen intently, with an attitude of "kill one if one comes, kill two if two, and kill a pair if two."
"Come on... Ah Fang, this time it's your turn. Let me see if you're scared or not."
"Come if you want."
I have to say sorry here, Yuanyuan!
The person standing in front of you is the first player to reach Baimei County in "House of the Dead 3" in your previous life, and the record holder for the least amount of coins spent!
As an all-round game planner, Mei Fang's gaming experience and technical level in his previous life were among the best in the county. Sitting in the arcade, he was the boss admired by other children.
The biggest enemy that prevented Mei Fang from continuing to complete the game back then was English. But now that he has attended university, Mei Fang has no problem reading English, and there is not much trial and error required when playing the game. He has been guiding Lin Youxi in the operations.
"Youxi, when there is a rescue, you have to hit the enemy marked with danger, so that we can both get an extra drop of health after the crisis is resolved; just aim at the head of the security boss. After the plot is over, you must aim at the head. If we don't hit the weakness in these few cut-scene animations, we will both lose blood!"
After all, it was a new game, and the two people's operation was quite exciting. The exciting battle between Mei Fang and Lin Youxi quickly attracted many children to stop and watch.
Now these two older kids seem to have become legends in this small county. Their tricks will be passed on by word of mouth among the audience children and become urban legends in the arcade.
"Ah, I'm out of coins."
"I made it to chapter 3 on my first playthrough, so that's about it."
Mei Fang and Lin Youxi decided to stop in front of the BOSS in the third chapter and no longer renew the coins.
If you want to complete a level in an arcade with one life, you still have to spend countless coins to practice memorizing the moves.
After all, unscrupulous merchants will often set the game difficulty to a higher level when setting it up, forcing all players to exit the game or refill their coins at the speed of light. However, it is generally not set to the highest level, because after all, they have to give players a false hope that they can complete the game in one life. Otherwise, if they are nicknamed a coin-eating machine, that would be the end of their life.
In addition, this type of shooting game requires you to hold the gun all the time and reload and change bullets from time to time, which is very tiring to operate.
Mei Fang and Lin Youxi finished the game. Xia Yuan, who was standing by, immediately took Mei Fang's arm excitedly and said, "Fang, your hand speed is really fast! You are worthy of being someone who plays games at home every day. You are different after practicing."
"What do you mean by fast hand speed? That's because you have good technique."
"Don't they all mean the same thing?"
Xia Yuan scratched his head in confusion, and then his eyes were attracted by the cabinet machine filled with a wide variety of goods next to the light gun machine.
"Fang, there's a new claw machine over there! Let's go grab the dolls over there!"
Now it’s time to start my daily routine! Don’t forget to read along.
There is no update tonight. You can come to the group to urge me to write.
(End of this chapter)