Zhihao kept the three figurines back on the shelf with a heavy heart and walked towards the screen that was displaying random gameplay. To his surprise, the gameplay looked too familiar and in the next second, he could see himself on the screen. It was his own gameplay that was being rebroadcasted.
Zhihao felt a bit embarrassed when he saw himself on the screen and that too looking oddly good looking on-screen, now he knew why people would watch his live stream.
Li Ling stood in front of the shelf without being able to comprehend why Zhihao suddenly got angry.
"Why am I the one on the screen?" Zhihao asked and Li Ling finally reacted as he came forward to look at the screen alongside Zhihao.
"Maybe it's because you are the top player?" Li Ling answered, acting ignorant. He had lied. It wasn't because Zhihao was the top player, it was simply because it was Zhihao. Even if Mastermo was overthrown from his throne—he would still be the only player who'll be displayed on this screen, this was because this whole setting was arranged by Li Ling.
"Oh"
Li Ling could guess that Zhihao was thinking deeper about something as he heard Li Ling's answer but Li Ling was no mind reader so it was only natural that he didn't know what Zhihao was thinking about. There were times when he wanted Zhihao to think harder on certain topics and there were times he didn't want Zhihao to think at all and just accept things as it is without questioning them, unfortunately, the reality would always be opposite to his hopes. Zhihao would not dwell on the things Li Ling wanted him to dwell on and he would overthink the things Li Ling didn't want him to think about.
"What are you thinking about?" Li Ling asked nervously, praying that he hadn't been caught yet.
"Nothing." The answer was short and it was a lie, Li Ling could see through it but if Zhihao didn't want to talk about it, Li Ling would not question any further.
Li Ling was right, Zhihao was overthinking again. He was receiving so much attention because he was the top player and if he were to be overthrown one day, would he receive the same amount of attention? He'll probably receive even more attention because the gaming king had been overthrown—it would be the headlines but that news would also die out and what happens after that? Would his fans leave him? Would Li Ling see that Zhihao wasn't the best and leave him as well?
Zhihao was a complicated man. He was scared of such a thing happening but he was also looking forward to it.
If a player were to challenge his throne, Zhihao would have the time of his life. He kind of prayed for such a thing to happen, for such an opponent to arrive. At the moment, the player that looked the most likely to overthrow him was Yingli and his own partner Li Ling. Did Zhihao feel jealous of the two relatively new players who came out of nowhere? No way. He was proud of the two and had to admit that the two were amazing players with natural talent and if this talent can be honed, how interesting would that make things?
When Li Ling saw Zhihao's eyes suddenly shine with excitement, he really could not understand what went inside the head of this man, and he wanted to know.
"That looks cool" Zhihao commented and Li Ling nodded.
"Mastermo looks the coolest when he's gaming."
Zhihao had no reaction, at least his face didn't betray anything but his ears turned slightly red, his heart was melting. He didn't respond, looking as if he was completely mesmerized by the gameplay.
"I miss playing it." Zhihao commented and Li Ling chuckled as he heard this.
"What do you mean you miss it? It's just been a day, we have nine more days to go before the server opens up again."
If Zhihao was in Li Ling's shoes, he would've laughed too. He felt like a kid whining over a small game that had been confiscated away for a few days.
Or Like a kid who was banned from going into the arcade.
Arcade.
Zhihao remembered something from his childhood, something very important that his brain had forgotten and no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't completely recover the memory. In his memory, he saw himself going into an arcade and getting angry but that was it, he couldn't remember it any further than that. He didn't know the time frame of this memory, he couldn't even be completely sure if he was the boy or not and he couldn't remember why the boy was angry or was he really angry?
Zhihao had a good memory but through time, some memories get erased and it's an inevitable process that your brain does so that it can make some space to store new information.
Li Ling looked at the man whose face had suddenly turned blank, "What are you thinking about?"
"I'm trying to remember something."
"..."
Li Ling looked at the man and his heart started to race but he wasn't ready yet, so he responded, "If you can't remember something, don't force yourself to."
Zhihao nodded, "You're right. If I can't remember it, it's probably not worth remembering."
Li Ling was the one who suggested it but when he heard Zhihao giving up like that, his heart dropped a little. Li Ling was a little disappointed but he didn't let it show on his face.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Slow and steady wins the race.
Slow and... Li Ling sighed, he wanted to hit himself on the head and knock himself out.
"What's that?" Zhihao asked as he moved forward.
Li Ling looked over at the object that was being pointed out, "Oh that. It's a VR room."
"A VR room? I've never heard of such a thing before." Zhihao said as he looked at the room that was closed off with glass walls.
"When the server is open, you can play T.I.A.D. inside the room but of course, the price is not at all small."
"Sounds interesting."
Li Ling continued with a proud smile, "The room is completely equipped to give the player real game experience. It is even equipped with an inbuilt temperature controller."
"What does that mean?" Zhihao asked.
"It's kind of complicated to explain the use of the whole thing but it changes temperature according to the game. Okay, that wasn't hard to explain. If you are thrown into a cold region in the game, you'll feel cold inside that room and if you are thrown into the Sahara desert, the room would become extremely hot. There are a lot more features such as the pain receptors."
Zhihao, "Pain receptors?"
Li Ling smiled mischievously, "It's something that tricks your mind. If you get stabbed in the game, inside that room, you'll feel the pain in real-time."
"That sounds both interesting and dangerous." Zhihao responded, "What if you die in the game?"
"Depends on how you die. According to that, you'll feel the pain but you won't die from it."
"..."
It sounded like torture cause in a game, who cares how much their in-game character gets hurt? They wouldn't feel it anyway, but what happens when such a VR room exists and they feel the pain in real life? It wasn't going to be pretty and you'd try to save your character but with old habits that were hard to kill, you'll still end up hurting yourself.
Zhihao wanted to try it out. He wasn't a masochist but the thought of feeling the pain his in-game character felt and the immersive experience really drew him in and now he had two things on his want-to-do list. He wanted to come back here and buy those three figurines and when he comes again he will also try out this VR room.
Li Ling had read Zhihao's mind, "If A-Zhi wants to try it out, we can always come back after the server has reopened."
"Nope. I don't want to pay to get myself tortured." Zhihao lied with a straight face.
Li Ling looked at the man and he could see through the lie. This man was going to come back and was planning to come alone. Zhihao trying to hide this from Li Ling only made Li Ling want to laugh more—he wanted to ruffle this man-child's hair.
Li Ling didn't say anything further on it because even if Zhihao planned on coming here alone, Li Ling will still be informed and he could just show up and have a fateful encounter with the man.
"It costs a lot and no matter what, the player would be allowed to play one level. Even if the level was over in ten minutes or stretched out for ten hours, the rate will be the same." Li Ling informed the man who was planning his future trip.
"Ten hours?" Zhihao looked at the man, "But what if the game stretches out even after the closing time of the arcade?"
Li Ling, "The arcade is open 24/7"
"Ah! That's cool" Zhihao was in awe.
This place was like a dream world for all T.I.A.D. players and Zhihao was feeling a little selfish. If he posted something about this place or said anything about it on social media, this place will be flooded with fans and Zhihao didn't want that. He wanted this place to remain a secret from the world. It was good as it was—a hidden haven.
"Come with me." Li Ling grabbed Zhihao's hand and dragged him away again, this time towards another area, adjacent to the VR room.
"Woah!" Zhihao's mouth was open and he couldn't close it, "What is this?"
Li Ling smiled widely as he showed off his collection, "These are all the physical identical copies of the in-game items, equipment, and gears. It doesn't have everything but there are some copies of common ones and some rare high-grade ones. Shuang is also here. It's a pity that they are only copies and do not work in real life."
Zhihao looked at the shinning teal coloured sword that he never thought he would physically get to hold and he could only ask one question as he grabbed the hilt of the sword, "Is it for sale?"
"Do you want to buy it?" This time Li Ling wasn't going to be an idiot.
This was a one-of-a-kind collection and naturally, it wasn't up for sale, at least that was the case for normal buyers. If Zhihao wanted it—it would be sold to him with no questions asked.
Zhihao looked down at the sword and stroked the blade—it cut his finger. The blade was real and Zhihao didn't care about the blood that flowed out from his fingers all he cared about was how much he'll have to pay to buy this amazing friend.
"I want to buy it" Buying a sword would not make Zhihao look like a kid so he was very open with expressing his desire.
"It's for sale." Li Ling beamed, not yet seeing the blood that flowed out from Zhihao's finger cause if he did, this blade would end up in an incinerator.
Unbeknownst to Zhihao, a whole ass treasure was about to fall on him. A priceless treasure that would be sold to him for a rather cheap price.
"You don't want to buy anything else?" Li Ling asked as he took another sword from the shelf, it was Huo, his in-game spiritual sword.
Zhihao, "I'm afraid I won't be able to afford everything but if I could, I would want to buy this entire arcade."
Li Ling grinned, thinking in his mind as he did, he certainly won't sell the whole arcade to Zhihao. He wouldn't sell it because he knew Zhihao loved it—something loved by Zhihao would certainly be more useful in the future but the items inside this arcade however would be sold to Zhihao for cheap and if Li Ling did as he wanted, he would end up selling it for free to the man.
Li Ling chuckled it off and said, "You can buy the items. I don't know about the whole arcade though, maybe you'll have to steal the heart of the owner first."