Liang Wu had sat down beside Chen Li Li to show her what a video game character was. Somehow, this had led to her starting to cry. “Uh… um…” He had no idea what to do or say to the crying girl, so he just sat there awkwardly, fiddling with the gaming console in his hands.
“Hm, hm… uh, look at this. It's my character's ultimate skill.” He coughed awkwardly and tried showing her the screen in an attempt to distract her from the sadness she was experiencing. The screen showed his character swinging their sword at a group of enemies, and a cutscene began playing. A massive sword descended from the sky, slicing through the clouds toward a group of foes. The blade shone with a brilliant, celestial light, casting shadows on the trembling enemies below.
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXc2GlWG908GTRwdVGaV-ySgjD0UrxOOnfhX-NMZQnn-17FA8ucR6Cj2VTvoaticErGXK6eAA3Pk66JYqL1rssKvoHB6FNmQdSw4ui2Tm1iB8rDO4lpISNFTXEI9JiyjJppiyLf-Kn957Ejfof2I-ZYiFys?key=kLtdLxqIg5E-84VqVyrK8w]
She wiped her tear-stained cheeks with the back of her hand and glanced at the screen. “How does your image stone have moving images? Mother said that mine was the highest quality, but it can only capture a single still image.”
“It’s not an image stone. It is a game console. I'll make you a profile; you can try playing it yourself.” He started a new game and handed her the console while explaining the controls.
“Okay, press the ‘A’ button—it’s this button—to begin your character creation.” He reached over and pointed at the button with an ‘A’ printed on it to take her to the character creation screen.
“Like this?”
“Yeah, now you can move this joystick to adjust the sliders. They will change your appearance. However, it’s very hard to create the perfect character. It took me three entire days to perfectly replicate myself, and my game has the greatest character creator ever made! After all, it was made by myself, the Supreme God Emperor!” As he ranted about how perfect his game was, Chen Li Li had already finished her character.
“Look! Doesn’t this look just like me?!” The character on the screen was a graceful young woman, clad in a set of pink robes that had a cute little bear motif on the sash tying the robe together. The character looked almost identical to how Chen Li Li looked in real life.
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXfOjYuJDBHLqWabb55suD8FJ7WEqiIaADNzuyyOy3iZ3kIw3yJ3mnRNIwGKl6gEKwdiz1OTAgt8Q6WGmHgv1mnu8HK8EBvXYY-IAVHbSD3R6qafqY77-VITCsrO5ppLZe5hcYoJic5y2gcmbOdSxNYQhcxt?key=kLtdLxqIg5E-84VqVyrK8w]
Liang Wu sat in shock as he stared at Chen Li Li’s character. It was nearly perfect. He had never seen a more realistic representation of a person in a video game before. Even his own character, which took him three entire days to create, paled in comparison. “Um… yeah, that’s okay… I guess.”
“What do I do next?” she asked excitedly.
“Move your joystick down until you see the option labeled ‘Finish’ at the bottom of the screen, then press the ‘A’ button again.”
“Oooh! This image stone is so cool!” she exclaimed as another cutscene played. It was the beginning scene of the game; it featured a man floating in the air above an immortal palace. With a loud shout, he ripped the void asunder and stepped through the black hole that had formed as a result.
“Like I said before, it’s not an image stone; it’s a game console!” Liang Wu shouted. However, Chen Li Li wasn’t paying him any attention; she was locked into the immersive cutscene.
“Wow! This image stone has sounds!”
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“That’s why it’s called a video game. A video is basically an image with motion and sound.”
“Oh, so it’s a video stone?”
“No! It’s a game console!”
“I’m going to call it a video stone.”
“!!!” Liang Wu writhed in silent fury. He wanted to continue arguing, but the stimulus was too much for him. The injury to his soul acted up, giving him a terrible headache. He had to lie down to rest until the pain left him.
---
Chirp! Chirp!
Liang Wu awoke to the sound of birds chirping and the sun just beginning to rise over the tops of the trees. He sat up and heard some noise beside him. Turning, he saw Chen Li Li in the exact spot she was in when he fell asleep.
“Argh! Why can’t I beat this guy!?” She grabbed at her hair in frustration, making it look disheveled.
“Did you spend the entire night playing?” he asked with a hint of eagerness in his voice. He was excited that she was so engrossed in his game that she would spend the entire night playing it.
Chen Li Li glanced up from the screen, her eyes peeking through her messy hair with large dark circles under them. Although she had messy hair, dark circles, and red eyes from sleeplessness, her beauty was unmarred. It actually served to add a touch of casual playfulness, like that of the girl next door.
“You, come here and help me beat this bastard!” she growled with a deranged look in her eyes.
image [https://lh7-rt.googleusercontent.com/docsz/AD_4nXdT3MS2e2XT20qqaLX98tYCNgLaFKZpiDEoio_knA_5TFMyvT16mL9a9DcsNk0XOAcxgj7_Qy0M7eynWz_gq8DZJV2knoHodJBm7h_Om7BFtcrxdXWAlUIVkC6xtr9pHhvLgSd22LMSwZW1UEDUtuK0hsg?key=kLtdLxqIg5E-84VqVyrK8w]
Hearing the deranged growl, he felt like he’d be in danger if he didn’t go to her quickly. So Liang Wu scrambled up, rubbing the sleep from his eyes as he made his way over to her.
As he was making his way to her side, he glimpsed the screen on the console. She was currently fighting the first boss in the game: a large winged tiger inside of a forest. “I see you found the first boss.”
“Boss? What’s that?” she asked after the winged tiger’s claw ripped her character to shreds.
“A boss is a type of enemy in a game. They are stronger than normal enemies and usually have special features that other enemies don’t have. This one is the first boss you can encounter in the early stage of the game—the Winged Tiger! It is also the first flying enemy.” He launched into a passionate speech about how he finely crafted each enemy in his game. Chen Li Li interrupted him before he could ramble too long.
“Help me beat the boss.” She looked up from the screen, her disorderly hair falling away from her forehead to reveal her red, tired eyes that stared at Liang Wu with hopefulness.
“Sure, scooch over, and I’ll show you how it’s done.” He grabbed the console from her with a confident smile on his lips. “I’m an expert at this game. After all, I’m the one who made it! Haha!”
---
“Argh! Why won’t this bastard die!”
“Liang Wu, that’s enough. It’s been two hours; let’s just give up for now.”
“Hold on, let me try one more time.”
“That’s what you said an hour ago. We have to get back on the road before dark.”
“Damn it! Fine, we’ll continue the fight tonight, then.”
Liang Wu shut the screen off on the gaming console. Just before the screen shut off, one could catch a glimpse of a winged tiger tearing apart a girl in a pink robe, turning her into floating pixels.