Chapter 31: Can’t Stop, Won’t Stop
Translator: Noodletown Translations Editor: Noodletown Translations
Red Queen controlled everything, the zombie hordes were everywhere, and the lickers were horrifying. Everything on the screen was shocking. Moreover, this movie made the viewers feel like they were personally in the scene, making them worry about getting hurt and subsequently becoming an ugly monster like the zombies.
As the story progressed, Lan Yan noticed that not only was the plot exhilarating, the swift combat and the final battle against the lickers were amazingly nerve-racking as well. The more she watched, the more shocked she became!
How did the author do it? She was astonished.
This game is such a unique novelty! It amazed her!
She never thought something like this existed in this world! It was beyond her wildest imagination!
She finally believed that the customers weren’t duped into coming here. What the shop offered was more than enough to attract all these people!
“Is what we saw real?” Nalan Mingxue finished the movie at the same time. Although her expression was much calmer than Lan Yan’s, a hint of barely-visible amazement could still be detected if people observed her closely.
“Who knows? Maybe it happened in a faraway land, or perhaps it’s just a story,” Fang Qi answered casually.
“Really?” Nalan Mingxue could feel that her body was changing. For example, she felt like she could better control her body and even gained knowledge of combat techniques!
Although her warrior qi didn’t improve, if she were to engage in combat, she would be better than she was before!
Fang Qi shook his head. “It’s called a ‘movie.'”
“A movie…?” She carefully pondered the meaning behind this word.
“Is there anything else?” Lan Yan couldn’t help but ask, “What is the game you were talking about before?”
“I remember you accusing me of being manipulative. You said I tricked and bewitched my customers. You also said that I hired these people to act as customers in my shop.” Fang Qi looked at her and said with a smile on his face.
Song Qingfeng and the others also stared at her.
“…” Her ignorance was more obvious than ever. If there were a crack in the floor, she really wanted to crawl into it.
Lan Yan felt extremely awkward and embarrassed. Did I say that this shop… was tricking and bewitching its customers?
Before, she was looking at these warriors and rich young men as if they were stupid. But now… she felt like the stupid one!
“I admit that I underestimated your shop!” She looked at Fang Qi, feeling like she was going to burst into tears. She finally understood what Fang Qi meant by ‘ignorance is bliss’.
Fang Qi laughed before standing up and teaching them how to play the game.
Four hours later…
“What? We can only play for six hours?” Lan Yan immediately stood up from her seat and stared at Fang Qi with wide-open eyes.
“No!” she screamed, “I have to at least uncover the mystery behind the Book of Curses!”
The people around her couldn’t help but laugh. “The owner has never changed his rules for anyone.”
“Oh yeah?” She questioned as she took out a bunch of crystals and stuffed them into Fang Qi’s hand. She demanded, “What do you think? I’ll pay you ten times the original price!”
“Ten times?” The highest offer to date was from Song Qingfeng, and it was only five times the original price!
Did she just offer him ten times the price?
20 crystals for an hour?
A couple of customers looked at the crystals and swallowed their saliva. Talk about steep prices!
Fang Qi looked down at the crystals in his hands and hesitated. If the system allowed him to do so, he really wanted to run away with all that money.
Sadly, the system didn’t even respond this time around.
“I’m sorry…” Fang Qi gave her the crystals back unwillingly and said righteously, “Everyone has to follow the rules at my shop.”
Is he an idiot? Why wouldn’t he take the crystals? A single player could play for several days with 20 crystals! He really doesn’t want it?
“Then how much do you think we should give you?” Nalan Mingxue asked. Her tone was icy and sounded impatient; it felt like she wasn’t in the mood to negotiate with Fang Qi.
“A thousand times the original price? Or ten thousand times?” Fang Qi’s expression remained calm. “It doesn’t matter how much you give me; rules are rules, and I won’t bend them for anyone.”
“The owner sure is a rule-abiding person!” The man with the mustache said as he smoothed out his facial hair. He was relieved after seeing how Fang Qi followed his own rules. It meant that no one could get their hands on these computers.
Wu Shan and the others, who were originally unhappy about the time limit, felt much better upon hearing Fang Qi reject someone who offered him ten times the original price.
Song Qingfeng thought back at his own bitter experience and couldn’t help but gloat in his mind. We tried the same thing a long time ago.
“Are you… really not going to let us play?” Lan Yan felt like spitting out blood. She noticed that she couldn’t stop playing!
However, she couldn’t play anymore!
If she didn’t just witness how powerful the owner was, Lan Yan would want to kill him!
She thought Fang Qi was a sly scammer. But now, she realized that he was an honest business person!
How could someone not be moved by money? If he is a scammer, then everyone else would also be a scammer!
“I really want to keep playing…” Lan Yan stomped hard on the floor. “Can’t you accommodate us?”
“No.”
“You’re doing this on purpose!” Lan Yan glared at Fang Qi murderously, but he just ignored her.
After a while, Nalan Mingxue finally said, “Let’s go.”
Feeling embarrassed, Lan Yan didn’t want to let up. “But… I really want to keep playing…”
“Ah… Miss!” Before she could react, Nalan Mingxue had left the internet café. Lan Yan had no choice but to follow her.
Lan Yan’s expression was complicated as she walked out unwillingly. “Ms. Nalan… I think this shop isn’t what we thought it was.”
“Why didn’t that world look fake to me? It was so weird.”
“The zombies, guns, and virus all seemed so real…”
“Oh, and… I feel like I learned a lot of combat skills…”
“Oh, and… I think my skills improved.”
“I wonder what happens afterward… I’m so curious…”
“The owner is awful; I can’t believe that he won’t let us keep playing… I really want to teach him a lesson!”
“I really want to go back and play…”
Lan Yan blabbed on and on and on. In the end, Nalan Mingxue turned around; her expression was different than it used to be. She said softly, “Let’s come again tomorrow.”
“…”
– Yunshan Tavern –
To some extent, what happened to Xiao Yulv affected them as well.
Right now, all they cared about was Xiao Yulv and the three mysterious lightning strikes in Fang Qi’s shop.
“The owner’s so brave!” Blackie shuddered as he recalled what happened. “I can’t believe that he kicked Xiao Yulv out of his shop!”
“I wonder if anything bad will happen because of this,” Liang Shi sighed.
“Bad?” Blackie laughed. “You think the owner was looking for trouble? He didn’t even take them seriously!”
Li Kuan picked up his cup and toasted to Liang Shi with a bitter smile on his face. “I’m glad you stopped me back then, or else…”
Then, he shook his head and drank all the wine in his cup.
Wu Shan laughed loudly. “That’s not important, it has nothing to do with us. All we have to do is play the game! I’m impressed by the owner’s adherence to his rules!”
“Everyone is,” Li Kuan replied, smiling awkwardly.
They had to admit that the movie version of Resident Evil One brought more shock to them than the game did.
The large zombie horde, the dismembering scene by the lasers, and the messy city at the very end all left deep impressions in their minds.
Those who had never seen storylines like this before were all shocked beyond words!
On the other hand, everyone knew that watching the movie could help with the improvement of one’s combat skills. Although the improvements weren’t continuous and sustainable like the improvement from the game, it was still visible.
Some even wondered, Is this really virtual? The combat, weapons, and everything in the game seems real! Is it a record of a war somewhere that we don’t know about?
– Lingyun Academy –
After the movie version came out, the students had more to talk about in their daily conversations.
Most of the players were from the Lingyun Academy, so they would talk about Resident Evil on their way to the school.
Of course, there were also players who liked to play pranks on others.
After his martial arts techniques class, Song Qingfeng headed home around sunset.
There was a secluded tree-lined trail from the martial arts field to the gates of the academy. Because of its location, no one trimmed this area. Therefore, the branches and leaves of the Tung trees intertwined and created a giant, green arched passage.
The thick leaves stopped the sunlight from seeping through, so the trail was dark. Suddenly, Song Qingfeng noticed two people standing under a tree in front of him.
The two people were wearing ragged clothes and headed towards him slowly. There wasn’t enough light, and their heads were down, so Song Qingfeng couldn’t see their faces clearly.
He instinctively felt like something was wrong. He asked curiously, “What are you doing…?”
Suddenly, the two of them looked up and showed their rotten faces!
Then, they growled and charged at Song Qingfeng.
“Zombies?” Song Qingfeng was immediately terrified. How could there be zombies in the real world?
By the time he came back to his senses, the two ‘zombies’ had jumped before him; one of them even grabbed his arm!