Chapter 6

Reminder: In this chapter, I wanted to play a joke. There is no NTR in this story.

——

"Guardian Spirit, your Long Princess is very happy." Xia Ci sat in the chair, smiling broadly. "I'm hungry, let's go to 'Mysterious Place' for dinner!"

"Sure." Wang Fubu closed the webpage. He would check the download count when he uploaded the V0.5 version of "Raging Tide" tomorrow. Unlike the novelists who would refresh the page every ten minutes after publishing their books to see how many clicks and recommendations they had, Wang Fubu was very calm about the performance of "Raging Tide." Of course, this was also because he had full confidence in the game.

"Is the great god going to log off?" Seeing Wang Fubu and Xia Ci walking over, the person at the front desk quickly returned the hundred yuan bill. "Great god, you coming to my small internet cafe is a great honor. Whenever you want to come, just come, and I won't charge you."

The person at the front desk was not the network administrator from the morning, but the man who had been sleeping next to Wang Fubu and then challenged seven people, Sun Yifeng.

"Are you the owner here?" Wang Fubu asked in surprise.

"Yes, I've done a few jobs, but none lasted long. I just like playing games, so I pooled some money from my family and opened this small internet cafe." Sun Yifeng smiled. "Great god, take the money, no need to worry about it. Consider it a way to make a friend. My name is Sun Yifeng, how should I address you?"

"Wang Fubu." Wang Fubu took the hundred yuan. The economy was tight, and every bit saved was a bit earned.

"Great god is great god, your name sounds so majestic! Will you come back later?" Sun Yifeng asked.

"I'll come back tomorrow." Wang Fubu said. Xia Ci couldn't wait and pulled him, so he quickly said goodbye.

Stepping out of the internet cafe, it was a bit cold outside. But Wang Fubu noticed that Xia Ci's small hand was warm and soft, completely different from the coldness of the morning.

As they walked, Xia Ci looked up at Wang Fubu. "Guardian Spirit, if I could have summoned you earlier, it would have been better."

Up until now, Wang Fubu didn't think he was summoned by Xia Ci. But he was infected by her happiness and laughed. "When do you want to summon me?"

"Preferably on the day my mother left." Xia Ci shook Wang Fubu's arm forcefully, as if she was angry that he didn't appear when she needed him. After thinking for a moment, she added, "If not, you could have appeared on September 4th last year!"

Wang Fubu chuckled inwardly, wondering what this little girl was thinking, and why she remembered such an arbitrary date. Suddenly, he felt a chill and immediately had a bad feeling. He quickly asked, "What happened on that day?"

"First, you can't laugh at me!" Xia Ci's face turned red as she warned him.

Wang Fubu couldn't help but think of the reports about the principal that appeared every few months 14 years later, making him even more nervous. "Tell me quickly, I promise not to laugh."

"That day was when the 'Unmentionable Evil' descended upon the world. Although I am the Long Princess, I didn't have the courage or strength to fight it back then, so I cried all night in my bed." Xia Ci said, embarrassed.

Wang Fubu stopped, feeling a chill in his heart, and a surge of anger rose. He clenched his fists tightly and bent down to look Xia Ci in the eye, trying to keep his voice steady. "Tell me in detail what happened that day."

"Don't be so serious, I can fight them now." Xia Ci resisted, but Wang Fubu straightened her up, and she had to continue. "That day after school, I was walking home with a few classmates. But the 'Unmentionable Evil' suddenly appeared, and my classmates all hid. I ran home alone... but I couldn't outrun them. I was so useless, I had no courage to fight, and I just cried. I ended up wet all over and bleeding..."

"Damn!" Wang Fubu's heart ached, and he cursed repeatedly, pulling Xia Ci up. "Let's go to the police station and report it! I won't believe it!"

"It's no use, don't go." Xia Ci stood firm, but she couldn't stop Wang Fubu from dragging her forward.

"They took advantage of your fear, that's why they succeeded. If you don't stand up, more girls will be harmed. We must stop them!" Wang Fubu ignored Xia Ci's resistance, picked her up, and asked, "Where is the police station?"

"I don't want to go there!" Xia Ci shouted repeatedly. "Even if we go, they'll say it was just a storm and a fall! And it happened last year! They'll laugh at me!"

"Huh?" Wang Fubu, holding Xia Ci, was stunned, his mind unable to process the information. "What are you saying? A storm? Bleeding from a fall?"

"Yes, I fell and it hurt! My knees were scraped! That day, the 'Unmentionable Evil' came out in full force, with the Noise Demon, the Meteor Demon, the Swamp Demon... all of them! If I had summoned you that day, I wouldn't have been so scared." Xia Ci closed her eyes, her eyelashes fluttering, tears streaming down her face. Clearly, that day had terrified her, and the memory was still painful.

Wang Fubu took a deep breath, almost scared to death, but it turned out to be just a little girl afraid of a storm. He shook Xia Ci, who was in his arms, angrily. "Why didn't you explain clearly? You made me worry for nothing."

"What did you worry about?" Xia Ci opened her tearful eyes, confused, looking at Wang Fubu.

Wang Fubu looked at Xia Ci's puzzled eyes, feeling frustrated. Could it be that I'm the one with impure thoughts? He put Xia Ci down, feeling sulky. "I didn't think anything."

"Hehe!" Xia Ci, for some reason, was very happy, and continued to pull Wang Fubu to "Mysterious Place," humming a song as they walked.

After a while, they arrived at a restaurant that looked elegantly decorated. Wang Fubu saw the name, "California Western Restaurant," and couldn't help but ask, "Is this the 'Mysterious Place'?"

"Yes, every time I pass by here after school, I can smell a strange fragrance. This place should be where extraordinary people live, and maybe we can gain rare powers here." Xia Ci said, full of hope.

Wang Fubu looked at Xia Ci, then at the name "California Western Restaurant," feeling powerless. The United States had only been founded for two hundred years; what good dishes could California have? But seeing Xia Ci so excited, he didn't want to disappoint her.

"May I ask for two?" The hostess welcomed them. The Western restaurant, possibly due to its name, had always had poor business, and there were even fewer customers at noon. Any customer was a rare guest.

"Two." Wang Fubu nodded.

"Please follow me." The hostess led them to a window seat, so people outside could see them dining. Any help was better than none.

Xia Ci nodded solemnly, as if she were visiting the residence of a hermit. After sitting down, she took out a pink piggy bank from her pocket.

"This is the menu." The waiter brought the menu and glanced curiously at the pink ceramic pig on the table.

"My Guardian Spirit, today the Long Princess's allowance will pay for your meal. Order whatever you like, no need to worry about court etiquette." Xia Ci, with someone watching her, didn't feel embarrassed at all but was even more immersed in the role.

The waiter, standing by to take their order, was stunned.

"Ah." Wang Fubu looked at the prices on the menu and the pink piggy bank, feeling unreliable. He finally chose an 18 yuan "Beef Burger Meal." This meal came with white rice and corn soup and was one of the cheaper options on the menu.

"I'll have the shrimp pasta." Xia Ci decided.

After the waiter left, Wang Fubu asked, "Why don't I pay?"

"No! This is the Long Princess's insistence!" Xia Ci said, holding the pink piggy bank and speaking softly. "Treasure Beast, my Guardian Spirit has finally appeared. He can protect me and help me defeat the Unmentionable Evil... Thank you for being with me for two years. I will never forget you."

Before Wang Fubu could stop her, she smashed the pink piggy bank on the ground.

Hearing the sound, the waiter and the kitchen staff ran out to see what happened. They saw the broken pieces and coins on the floor, confused. A manager came out and asked, "What happened? What's going on?"

Xia Ci squatted down and carefully picked up the scattered one-yuan and fifty-cent coins.

Wang Fubu had to explain, "She wanted to use her allowance to treat me to a meal. I'll clean up."

The manager sighed with relief. "No need, we'll clean it up. You two have a great relationship, it's really enviable."

"Thank you." Wang Fubu said politely.

The food was quickly served. Wang Fubu, seeing the speed of the service, didn't expect much from the taste. The food was likely pre-prepared and heated in a microwave, neither fresh nor flavorful.

Xia Ci, however, was excitedly playing with the knife and fork, with a small pile of coins next to her. These were the coins she had saved over two years.

After saving for so long, using them here made Wang Fubu feel it wasn't worth it.

Wang Fubu looked at the unappealing beef burger on his plate and waited for Xia Ci's pasta to arrive before eating. He thought to himself that once "Raging Tide" was sold, he would definitely take Xia Ci to some proper good places to eat.

While Wang Fubu was frowning at the beef burger, it was late night in Washington, D.C., on the other side of the world. A man was sitting in front of a computer, muttering to himself, "Impossible, this can't be."

His name was Li Ming, whose parents were Vietnamese Chinese. After the Vietnam War, a wave of anti-Chinese sentiment swept through Vietnam, and he, like many other Chinese living in the Indochina Peninsula, fled. Li Ming had exceptional computer skills and, on the not yet developed internet, he used the pseudonym "Goose Man," known to almost everyone.

He and his partner developed "Counter-Strike," which not only sold for a good price but also earned him a $200,000 annual salary contract and a significant stock option at Valve Corporation.

As usual, he was browsing Valve's official website before going to bed, planning to see the adoration and respect from players in the "Counter-Strike" thread. Unexpectedly, the "Counter-Strike Beta Download" thread he posted in August last year had dropped to second place.

Since August last year, his beta download thread had always been at the top of the official website, never dropping to second place. Li Ming was shocked and carefully examined the top thread.

[Independent game developer, using an engine more advanced than "Half-Life," with graphics five years ahead of its time, this is "Dead.Wave.Beta"!]

"Raging Tide? A game? Interesting." Li Ming was surprised and clicked on the thread.

Sure enough, it was a game introduction thread. Li Ming skipped the game description and went straight to the screenshots.

Having developed "Counter-Strike," he knew that the graphics of a game largely represented the developer's skill. It took him great effort to make "Counter-Strike" reach the level of the original "Half-Life."

But the first screenshot in the thread made Li Ming almost throw his mouse.

The texture, color, and anti-aliasing of the graphics were far beyond "Half-Life"!

How could this be! A game mod, how could it have better graphics than the original game?

Li Ming immediately decided to stay up all night, download "Raging Tide," and see what it was all about.

The post was made two hours ago, and in just two hours, the download count had already reached over a hundred. "Where did this monster come from?" Li Ming grabbed his phone and dialed his boss's number.

Page AD starts

Page AD ends