Amazed that the old man still had such good teeth at his age, Pei Yan took the large pear soda and began to drink it down. The icy coolness swept through him, refreshing him to the core, and after a shiver of pleasure, he finished off the rest of the soda in one go and handed the empty bottle back to the shopkeeper.
The two continued walking, with Pei Yan no longer lost in thought but instead curiously observing everything around him. As soone born in the late ’90s, close to the year 2000, the scenes from an earlier decade seed distant yet resonated with many aspects of his childhood mories.
Following Cen Xiaoran through winding alleyways, they finally stopped in front of a sign with crooked letters that read "Yilong Arcade." Noticing Pei Yan’s confused expression, Cen Xiaoran gestured invitingly toward the inside.
Without hesitation, Pei Yan walked in. At the entrance, an old arcade manager handed him a five-yuan bill with older-style designs featuring two minority figures, sothing rare he hadn’t seen since growing up. Cen Xiaoran patted him on the shoulder and pointed toward the arcade’s counter, squatting quietly on the floor to smoke.
Puzzled, Pei Yan entered the arcade. He exchanged the bill for ga coins from a shirtless man behind the counter, and with a handful of heavy tokens, he looked around, unsure why Cen Xiaoran had brought him here. Seeing nothing suspicious, he sat down at a gaming machine to play.
The machine was one he was familiar with—a fighting ga, King of Fighters ’97 Plus. Coins in, characters selected, Pei Yan relied on his youthful ga mories to advance quickly against the computer-controlled opponents. Just as he was about to face the final boss, another person pulled up a chair beside him and inserted a token into the machine.
Pei Yan turned and laughed; indeed, it was her. He had suspected as much on the way here with Cen Xiaoran, though the eting place was unexpected.
"Why are you dawdling around? Pick a character!" urged the young girl who had once forced Pei Yan to eat a fish by the pond and scared off various formidable foes at a mysterious warehouse.
Without asking further, Pei Yan shrugged and quickly made his character selection. As the countdown ended, the fight began. Confident in his skills, Pei Yan was surprised to be beaten soundly, losing one character after another. A second try saw slight improvent, but he was still defeated in a two-on-three match.
Observing the little girl, smug and with legs crossed, looking at him with contempt, Pei Yan inserted a third coin in frustration. The match began again, but this ti it was a close fight, and after several rounds of battle, Pei Yan erged victorious.
The girl’s face turned sour after losing, but she angrily shoved another coin into the machine. Yet again, Pei Yan won. Coin after coin, until after five consecutive losses, the girl couldn’t hold back any longer. She smacked the back of Pei Yan’s head, shouting, "Don’t think I don’t know you’re using your powers to play! No cheating!"
"Then what’s the point? I can’t win against you!" Pei Yan responded, scratching his head in grievance. He had indeed relied on Suzi in his mind to help with the ga moves, only with her assistance did he barely win.
"Then let win!"
Hearing such a childish demand, Pei Yan accepted his fate. After she inserted her coin again, he was utterly defeated, and the triumphant girl gleefully opened a can of Jianlibao soda, laughing as she asked, "How was the fish I gave you, taste good?"
"It was delicious! Really delicious!" Pei Yan recalled the day when he ate the fish three tis a day and replied insincerely.
Holding her can, the girl turned her head and continued, "Have you t that person?"
"Are you talking about the one who’s the fundantal essence of this world?"
The girl nodded, and Pei Yan reluctantly said, "I’ve t her, almost got killed."
"Did she ntion ? How did she describe ?" The girl asked with interest.
"I don’t know if the person she referred to is you, but based on her description, she called you..." Pei Yan paused.
"A bitch?" the girl suggested, cocking her head.
"Sothing like that, she also said...whore!"
"Hahahahaha!"
The girl’s hearty laughter echoed in the arcade. With a wave of her hand, the surroundings rapidly changed, and the people in the arcade began to disappear. In a blink, Pei Yan found himself reclining on a soft sofa, and the bustling arcade had transford into a spacious, simply decorated living room. The girl rummaged through the fridge, while Cen Xiaoran sat on a bamboo chair, devouring a mango.
"Want sothing to drink?" the girl asked, standing by the fridge door.
Still in a daze, Pei Yan shook his head; his stomach was still full from the pear soda he’d just finished. He touched the sofa beneath him—it was solid and real—and slapped himself hard across the face. It hurt! This wasn’t an illusion?
"Do you think you’ve been caught in an illusion technique?" the girl asked, tossing him a peach as she walked over.
Taking the peach, Pei Yan sniffed it, overwheld by its rich fragrance. He bit into it, with juices bursting out, and feeling the texture of the fruit in his mouth, he nodded dumbly.
"What you see is real, yet also illusory! They’re all mories from my mind, and I can take you to any scene from those mories. The people and things you encounter there are real," the girl explained, reaching into Pei Yan’s pocket to retrieve the remaining three ga coins, tossing them into his lap.
Holding the coins, Pei Yan was shocked. If what she said was true, wasn’t this akin to creating worlds? This was practically a god-like ability!
Ignoring the astonishnt his words had caused, the girl sat cross-legged in front of Pei Yan, biting into another peach, and mumbled, "Tell about what happened that day. Although Xiaocen told , I want to hear it from you."
Realizing she wanted to resolve so issues, Pei Yan didn’t hold back and recounted the events in full detail. After listening to his account, the girl scratched her head and sighed regretfully, "I didn’t expect her resentnt to still be so strong!"
"Honestly, if it were as she said, being locked up for twelve years because of you all, I’d also hold a huge grudge," Pei Yan remarked, glancing at her expression, seeing no reaction, he continued, "Having such imnse power, yet being treated as a toy or livestock, being cut and manipulated at will, no one would accept that."
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