West Within

At this moment, in a certain large flat, side-by-side computers were flashing with light. Two young girls sitting in front of the monitors were wearing headphones. One was yawning out of boredom, using one hand to control the mouse for her character and skills, while playing on her phone with the other hand.

The other long-haired girl had her body completely sunk into the sofa. She was holding potato chips with both hands and munching on them, extending her pantyhose-clad feet to control the keyboard and mouse.

"Won again." Seeing the victory screen, An Shiyi looked very bored. "We can win even with our feet. Why don't we go play professionally?"

"You'll get bored after playing for two days," An Shiyu said. She then glanced at the opponents' IDs. "The other side seems to be a four-player or five-player team. Their reactions are like middle-aged men. And why is that cat on the enemy team only staying on the Swordmaster?"

"I don't know, probably a couple." An Shiyi shrugged. After all, aren't there players who don't really know how to play? They just pick a cat or a Yao and hang onto someone to get it over with.

"Done."

After finishing this match, An Shiyi stretched and took out her phone, tapping away on it. "There's no sense of urgency when you can't die. Instead of living this leisurely life, it'd be better to go mess with Uncle."

"Not interested. What's there to mess with?" An Shiyu played with her phone indifferently, looking completely unenthusiastic.

"Is that so?" An Shiyi waved her phone's chat box.

"Hey, Uncle said he's coming over to see us."

Hearing this, An Shiyu paused. "Hmm?"

She reached out to fiddle with her bangs, her eyes looking up as she unconsciously asked, "See us? When is he coming?"

Then the girl looked left and right. "Where's my comb?"

When she noticed An Shiyi covering her mouth, unable to hide the smile on her face, An Shiyu became expressionless. "Are you messing with me?"

"Oh my, where's my comb~~~" An Shiyi mocked sarcastically. "Not interested~~~"

As a result, in the next second, a foot stepped right on her face.

"Ugh."

"A sneak attack?!"

"Ever since you paid for that revival coin last time, you've gotten weaker." An Shiyu stood on the sofa with her arms crossed, looking down at An Shiyi, then suddenly leaped up and dropped her knee to strike her.

"Die."

...

Compared to the chaos on the two fishes' side, Ye Shuang's side was much quieter. Looking at the string of red match records in front of him, Ye Shuang couldn't help but suck in a breath through his teeth.

"Can we just win one game?" Ye Shuang said. This was getting out of hand; they were practically just giving away free points.

"You can't blame me, I'm the MVP every round," Chen Hai immediately said.

"Aren't I the MVP every round?" Aunt Li said with a sidelong glance. This Chen Hai really had nothing but a stubborn mouth.

"You don't understand, the MVP awarded by the system is fake. I'm the real one. What does this system know?" Chen Hai stubbornly retorted.

As a result, after a whole afternoon, Ye Shuang's five-man team didn't win a single game.

"We'll go eat after we win one." Chen Hai looked at the extra page of red match records and immediately said, "Let's play it safe this time, don't feed."

Compared to the occasional shouting from Ye Shuang's side, Tang Keke had already been playing console games with Bai Yuyou for a long time. They occasionally looked back at Ye Shuang's group.

"These adults are just like little kids, insisting on winning a game."

"Yeah." Bai Yuyou nodded in agreement. But for some reason, even though Ye Shuang and the others kept losing, she could see Ye Shuang bursting into loud laughter from time to time. Unlike his usual gentle smiles, this kind of laughter seemed to burst forth from the very depths of his heart.

Perhaps Ye Shuang could only be this relaxed in front of his best friends?

Bai Yuyou couldn't help but take a few more glances, only returning her attention to the game screen when Tang Keke reminded her.

Ye Shuang and the others finally exchanged two pages of red records for a single victory. After all, it was a game that was over a decade old. There were very few new players, so those who stuck around basically all knew how to play a few heroes very well.

After all, who isn't a hero when they can lane against life itself?

...

The night was growing heavy and dim. Ye Shuang and the others stretched as they finally came out of the internet cafe. They threw the blame at each other and ultimately decided to make the worst player, Chen Hai, pay the bill for dinner later.

"I can pay the bill, but I wasn't the worst one, okay?" Chen Hai said.

"A young man's blush beats any confession." Aunt Li covered her mouth, referring to how Chen Hai had turned red with rage several times just now. He was simply terrible at the game but loved playing it.

Even in the only game they won just now, Chen Hai had hurriedly typed taking apprentices, but forgot to switch to the all-chat channel.

"Next time we play CF."

"Whatever works."

The group chatted and then returned to their respective cars to head to the restaurant for dinner. Tang Keke and Bai Yuyou, who had followed Ye Shuang, naturally sat in his car.

"Brother, you guys played for a really long time," Tang Keke said. From after lunch until the evening, they had played for a full six or seven hours.

In Tang Keke's impression, Ye Shuang and the others didn't seem like the type to play games for that long.

"When we were young, there weren't many entertainment options, so we often played games like this," Ye Shuang explained. "Back then, we even used to pull all-nighters at the internet cafe. You have no idea how addicted your Sister Chen Qin was to online games."

"She could grind and spend money like crazy. The games I played back then required prepaid cards to top up, and your Sister Chen Qin had stacks and stacks of them."

Ye Shuang couldn't help but recall the past. Then, as if remembering something, his gaze fell on Bai Yuyou and Tang Keke.

"Was it boring coming out to the internet cafe with us uncles and aunts?"

"It was okay. The game Yuyou and I played was also very fun," Tang Keke said, and Bai Yuyou nodded gently, "Yeah."

"It's just that I thought the adult activities you mentioned..."

"Haha, what did you think adult activities were?"

"Like singing karaoke, or going to bars and stuff?" Tang Keke asked.

"Maybe some people do that, but everyone has different hobbies. And after becoming an adult, there are many things you can no longer do as you please," Ye Shuang said. "Everyone faces various pressures, so we cherish the beautiful things from the past even more."

"I used to not understand why my father liked to talk about his childhood when drinking with his friends, telling those same old stories over and over again."

"Now I understand. He was never reminiscing about the events that happened, but rather missing the carefree version of himself who once had people to rely on."

Ye Shuang smiled, as if remembering something, and looked forward again.

"I've said too much. You guys must be hungry, right?"