Chapter Fourteen
Mo Wansheng eventually agreed to Huo Yuzheng's request, but she didn't ask about their final destination.
On Sunday morning, she and he rode in the same car and went there together.
Her mouth didn't stop talking the whole way.
"So you take breaks too?"
Huo Yuzheng: "Is resting strange?"
Mo Wansheng asked the driver, "Did your boss used to have holidays?"
The driver chuckled awkwardly, "Yes, but the boss doesn't get much rest."
She then turned to look at Huo Yuzheng, "How often do you take a break?"
"One and a half months."
Mo Wansheng smacked her lips, "No wonder she's a work robot."
Although she also works at a dessert shop year-round, she has much more freedom, since she doesn't have to manage an entire large company.
She only needs to manage her own small shop.
Because they only accept pre-orders, they occasionally sell surplus products.
So the number of guests wasn't too many, nor too few.
For her, working at the dessert shop was more of a hobby than a full-time job.
The scenery outside the car kept changing as the tires moved, and soon we were on the ring road.
With her head hanging low, she asked again, "Where are we going?"
You'll find out in a bit.
She didn't understand why Huo Yuzheng insisted on keeping the destination a mystery.
They kept her hanging on.
But since he wouldn't say anything, there was nothing she could do. She could only watch the changing city scenery outside the window with utter boredom.
Finally, the car drove into the underground parking lot of a shopping mall.
This shopping mall is not located in the most bustling area, but rather has a long history.
The foot traffic is far less than that of the brand-new shopping malls in the city center.
Mo Wansheng followed Huo Yuzheng out of the car and took the elevator.
She didn't understand why he had brought her here.
If it comes to shopping, the goods here wouldn't be Huo Yuzheng's choice.
The elevator doors closed, and Huo Yuzheng pressed the button for the top floor.
Mo Wansheng suddenly remembered something.
The largest arcade in Jinshi is located on the top floor of this building.
Why did he bring her here?
Before the elevator doors even opened, the cacophony of the arcade, filled with loud electronic music and game sound effects, could already be heard through the metal doors.
The door slowly opened.
She hesitated for a moment, and Huo Yuzheng turned to look at her.
Aren't you leaving?
She then said "Oh" and stepped out of the elevator car.
Huo Yuzheng seemed quite adept at it. He walked into the arcade and went straight past several dance machines.
She didn't know why he was so familiar with the place, but she quickened her pace and followed closely behind him.
The light here is mixed together, creating a bizarre and fantastical scene.
The game console made a constant, incessant noise, accompanied by rhythmic sound effects.
Every young person here is exceptionally excited and happy.
Huo Yuzheng found the machine for exchanging game coins and exchanged a whole basketful of them.
He pushed the basket in front of Mo Wansheng.
What do you want to play?
Seeing that Mo Wansheng did not move, he calmly said, "Never been here?"
He placed the basket on a small platform on the machine next to him.
He leaned casually against the machine, the colorful light shining on his sculpted face.
He tilted his head slightly, looking languid and casual, even a little sexy.
Especially his trench coat.
Today, instead of his usual serious-looking black suit, he wore a high-quality khaki trench coat.
When she went out, Mo Wansheng was taken aback.
His usual refined and aloof demeanor had vanished; everything about him was deviating from the image she had of him.
Mo Wansheng answered honestly, "I've been here before, or rather, I used to come here often. I'm just a little surprised."
Huo Yuzheng chuckled softly, his deep voice mixed with electronic sound effects, "What's so surprising? Surprised that I would bring you to a place like this?"
Her gaze remained fixed on Huo Yuzheng's open-necked trench coat; she still couldn't believe that the person in front of her was Huo Yuzheng.
"Relax, Mrs. Huo, just have fun. I told you, you're coming with me today."
"Since I'm accompanying you, you choose."
Huo Yuzheng pointed to the nearest claw machine and asked, "Shall we start with that one?"
"Okay." Mo Wansheng shrugged slightly; she was open to playing whatever she wanted.
She had already explored everything here years ago.
The two walked together to a claw machine with flashing lights.
It was filled with many little white rabbits.
Without any hesitation, Mo Wansheng took a few game coins from the basket and put them into the machine.
She figured it was his idea to play anyway, so she didn't hold back.
The claw machine's mechanical arm is, as always, adjusted so that it only develops grip strength after being hit a sufficient number of times.
The first time, I almost missed; my arms went limp and I let go of the doll.
Mo Wansheng wasn't surprised; she'd done this kind of thing a lot.
After all, even the claw machines in virtual games have a certain probability of success.
By the fifth time, she could clearly feel the robotic arm becoming stronger.
The rabbit doll came out of the machine.
She wasn't surprised at all.
Huo Yuzheng didn't see a trace of surprise or excitement on her face. He only saw her bend down and put the rabbit into the basket, and the smile in his eyes deepened.
"Unhappy?"
Mo Wansheng shook her head and said calmly, "This doesn't have much value, but this machine is still quite decent."
Conscience meant that she completed a cycle of the robotic arm in five attempts.
"Let's change to something else, this one's not interesting."
Her gaze settled on the flying car not far away. "Um, let's have a race."
For her, games without competition don't provide any excitement.
"OK."
Huo Yuzheng lifted the heavy basket, and a snow-white rabbit lay among a pile of game coins, looking somewhat comical.
He strode towards the two flying cars, the hem of his trench coat fluttering slightly.
Insert two game coins into each machine. After a crisp sound of coins dropping, the two large screens are filled with racing scenes, accompanied by exciting sound effects that beat the rhythm.
Random track.
The big screen flashed, "Ready go!"
As the countdown ended, Mo Wansheng's red race car took off first. She stepped on the gas and drew a perfect drift line on a bend.
The tires sparked a terrifying amount of sparks as they scraped against the ground, and in an instant, they pulled several car lengths ahead of Huo Yuzheng's blue race car.
She has absolute self-confidence.
No matter what, she's someone who's driven a Horizon sports car for two years.
Although she lost badly to him in the last "King of Fighters" game, she is still very confident in racing.
After all, she hasn't lost yet, at least not yet.
Huo Yuzheng remained completely calm, his car simply staying firmly behind the red race car, proceeding steadily and cautiously.
With the race halfway through, the red car has been leading the pack, but it hasn't been much faster than the blue car.
Suddenly, they found themselves in an extremely complex tunnel area.
The flickering light in this space is undoubtedly a major distraction, and mistakes often occur here.
Just as Mo Wansheng was entering the bend, due to an unintentional mistake, her wheels slipped slightly.
The previously stable speed was disrupted in an instant, and the car veered slightly off course.
In that instant, a blue shadow passed her.
Huo Yuzheng floored the accelerator, and the blue race car sped past the red race car.
All of this happened in a second.
Mo Wansheng had hoped to break free from the clutches of the race car in front of her at the last moment, but the blue race car was firmly blocking her way, leaving her no chance to overtake.
In the end, Huo Yuzheng won by an extremely narrow margin.
The word "lose" flashed across the game screen, and Mo Wansheng sighed deeply.
Huo Yuzheng's screen played victory music for him.
At a glance, he set a new record for this arcade machine.
Several young people nearby, who had noticed the intense competition, couldn't help but murmur their admiration when they saw Huo Yuzheng's score.
Mo Wansheng leaned back in the racing car seat behind her, glancing at Huo Yuzheng's screen.
She was instantly dumbfounded.
So fast! A full three seconds ahead of her.
Aside from the mistake of entering the tunnel, she had almost no major problems in today's race and was already much faster than her previous results.
I just didn't expect there to be people more capable than me.
Last time it was "The King of Fighters", this time it's racing.
Just how capable Huo Yuzheng truly was was something she was unaware of.
At least in various games, he has been hiding too much of his strength.
She voiced her doubts, "Do you come here often?"
Huo Yuzheng replied calmly, "Yes, I come here occasionally when I'm taking a break."
Mo Wansheng said casually, "That's a surprise. I thought you were the kind of non-human who only knew how to work."
As soon as she finished speaking, she quickly covered her mouth. It seemed impolite of her to say such things; it was as if she was calling him inhuman.
But Huo Yuzheng didn't seem to care. "What kind of project do you want to do next?"
He ripped off the long string of vouchers that the game console had spat out, and Mo Wansheng immediately followed suit by ripping off her own.
She leaned out of the race car and stuffed them all into the basket.
Huo Yuzheng picked up the basket and waited for Mo Wansheng's instructions.
Mo Wansheng remembered something, grabbed his sleeve, and said anxiously, "Come on, let's go play that."
She led him through a dazzling array of machines, finally stopping in front of a few rhythm game machines.
Colorful musical notes fell from the screen and landed on the judgment line.
The musical notes shattered, turning into fragments.
She guessed he wasn't good at something that tested his rhythm.
She guessed right.
Mo Wansheng loosened his sleeve and deliberately inserted game coins into the machine in front of Huo Yuzheng.
"Please." A mischievous glint flashed in her eyes.
The game has officially begun.
Huo Yuzheng knew the general procedure, but he didn't have a good grasp of it.
His movements weren't exactly graceful, but thanks to his quick reflexes, he was able to keep up with the rhythm of some of the notes.
But he relied entirely on his responsiveness, rather than the rhythm of the music itself.
Throughout the race, he appeared somewhat flustered and lacked the composure he displays when driving a race car.
He would occasionally miss a few notes.
Every time she saw the word "miss" flash across the game screen, Mo Wansheng couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Huo Yuzheng was not disturbed by her and simply continued on his own, adapting to the situation.
The song ended.
It's a rating that's neither high nor low.
But compared to his skill level in other games, this is undoubtedly a mediocre performance.
"So there are games you're not good at, huh?" Mo Wansheng chuckled.
Huo Yuzheng looked at that bright face, but he wasn't angry. Seeing her smiling so happily made him happy too.
"There are quite a few games I'm not good at, and this one is definitely not for me."
Then, he changed the subject, "But seeing you smile so happily makes it all worthwhile."
In this noisy place, what was clearly just a casual remark silenced all the clamor around Mo Wansheng.
Her heart skipped a beat.
Mo Wansheng stared blankly at Huo Yuzheng, who looked unruly.
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