Chapter 24: The First Player

Translated by Coldtaco

Edited by Aelryinth

The next day, 10 AM...

Chen Mo was awake and had already had breakfast. He was waiting inside the experience store.

Yesterday, for the entire afternoon through 8 PM when the doors closed, there wasn't a single gamer. All the visitors were here for the internet cafe. After realizing it was an experience store that cost five bucks an hour, not a one of them stayed.

Of course, one of the reasons nobody wanted to join was because the store was empty.

Chen Mo wondered if his life was supposed to be so difficult.

-My game is about to shock the entire gaming industry. Even though I allow you guys to spend five bucks to play it before it's released, you're still not satisfied?-

Chen Mo wasn't going to give in, so he opened the store on time on the second day.

He even prepared a cup, waiting for his first customer to serve them a cup of coffee. However, the thought of not having enough players come in for an entire week had slowly crept into his mind.

If he didn't gather enough thoughts from players and couldn't gather enough feedback, all he could do was to test it on the market and change as he went.

Relatively speaking, Chen Mo preferred talking to the players face to face.

As Chen Mo was deep in thought, a tall woman walked into the store.

Long black hair, about a hundred and seventy-two centimeters, and still wearing heels. Luckily Chen Mo was still in his seat, otherwise he'd feel some pressure from her towering over him.

The woman did look alright, but she had a strong aura surrounding her, keeping everything within five meters at bay. Even a fly that wandered into the exclusion zone would be killed.

Basically, if you gave her a katana, she would be entirely capable of cosplaying Saeko from High School of the Dead.

The woman checked out the store before setting her eyes on Chen Mo.

Chen Mo felt shivers go down his spine and greeted her with, "Hello!"

The woman asked, "Is this an experience store? Just opened?"

Chen Mo nodded, "Yep, since yesterday."

The woman looked at the empty seats and said, "Completely empty, has nobody been in here?"

Chen Mo didn't have anything to say.

-Doesn't she understand to not kick people when they're down? You can tell just by looking that the store is empty. You think by asking the store will be magically filled with people?-

-And I so want to say 'No, there's bunches, you just can't see them'.-

Noticing that Chen Mo didn't answer, the brunette asked another question, "Is it because the price is too high? Too few games?"

Chen Mo answered, "Five bucks an hour."

The woman nodded, "Of course, you charge more than the internet cafe, no wonder it's empty."

Chen Mo said nothing.

Changing the topic, the woman said, "However, the environment is quite nice here, unlike the internet cafes with terrible atmospheres. Alright, I wanted to chill out for a bit anyways, I'll play for an hour."

After finishing her sentence, the woman swiped her ID on the bar table, then paid using her phone, and sat down at a computer.

Internet cafes in this world were basically self-service. All you had to do was swipe your ID, and payments were completed by scanning a QR code using your phone.

Chen Mo finally came back to his senses after the woman sat down at a machine.

-What? That's how I get my first customer? Wasn't that a bit sudden?-

Trying to contain his happiness, he prepared a cup of coffee using the cup from before and placed it on the desk she was using.

"What's this?" the woman asked.

Chen Mo replied, "As you are the first customer, a complimentary coffee!"

The woman scowled and teased him, "Tut tut, opened since yesterday, but only received your first customer today. Sir, you sure are miserable. Sigh..."

Chen Mo, "... I'll be taking this away."

The woman said in a happy tone, "Just leave it. Why are you so narrow-minded, despite the good looks?"

Chen Mo laughed sarcastically as he returned to the bar and looked at the notification of the woman's identity.

Wen Lingwei, 21 years old.

-At this age, probably a uni student at the nearby university, probably second or third year.-

-She has such a nice gentle name, why is she so mean? Probably because people around her have gotten accustomed to her antics because of her good looks.-

As Chen Mo's impression of her wasn't too good after she was so mean, he decided to not pay her any attention and went back to work.

However, at least he had his first player, so he was still quite happy.

------

Wen Lingwei turned on the computer which only had one game on it. The icon was quite interesting, a filthy hand coming out of the ground holding a flower.

"Plants vs Zombies?"

Wen Lingwei felt the game had vibes of Guan Gong vs Qin Qiong[1] which didn't feel quite right. However, this game made her curious; how did plants fight against zombies?

She double clicked the icon, starting the game.

The logo of Thunderbolt Games flashed across the screen.

Soon, a loading screen was up on her monitor. There was a path in the middle of the screen. To the left were many zombies breaking through the fence, and on the right were plants waiting for the evil forces.

The entire image was quite cartoony. Although the zombies were very ugly, they weren't disgusting. In contrast, the plants were quite pleasant and had human-like features, a mysterious focal point.

"Hey, feels alright!" Wen Lingwei was surprised. She thought that a newly opened experience store with a nobody designer couldn't make anything worthwhile, but she had been captured as soon as she entered the game.

The art and UI were filled with elements related to zombies, and the style of the UI had a strong resemblance to tombstones. However, the tombstones didn't seem out of place, but matched the trees and houses in the background quite well.

A popup appeared, asking Wen Lingwei to register a Thunderbolt Gaming game pass.

Wen Lingwei scowled at the extra effort, but continued with the registration, skipping her mobile phone and ID number.

After registration, Wen Lingwei clicked on the uppermost Begin Adventure button, entering adventure mode.

A hand poked out of the ground in front of the tombstone all of a sudden, and coupled with a low creepy laugh, gave Wen Lingwei a shock.

"... that was evil," she muttered before entering the game.

The whole screen was occupied by a large piece of land that resembled the backyard of a house. A strip of grass was rolled out right in the middle of it, taking up around a fifth of the space.

The tutorial was very simple. An arrow appeared on the screen, hinting for her to click on the tile on the top bar. The tile had a green plant on it, nicknamed Peashooter.

Wen Lingwei clicked on the Peashooter and planted it on the lawn according to the hints.

At this point, a small sun drifted down from the top of the screen. Following the hints, she clicked on it, receiving twenty-five suns.

As Wen Lingwei planted the second Peashooter, the zombies appeared. With a growl, the zombie limped slowly towards the Peashooters.

============================

T/L Note:[1] Guan Gong and Qin Qiong were generals born two hundred years apart, used to describe someone in command who blindly makes decisions.

Also, 'bucks' is the slang term for bills of paper money in the Orient. So, five bucks in China is 5 RMB/yuan, but would mean 5 ringgit in Malaysia.