The landlord has multiple personalities and wants everyone to pay him.

Even before entering the arcade, the booming music was already emanating from the glass doors, waves of sound constantly assaulting Ye Shu's eardrums.

Ye Shu frowned subconsciously. To be honest, he had never liked this kind of place and would rather keep his distance from it.

He had never been to a video game arcade or game center before.

In his mind, such places are not cost-effective. The game tokens may not seem expensive, but when you actually play, the amount of money you put in is often much more than you imagine, and most of the time you lose everything.

Although this was mostly based on hearsay and his own imagination, the preconceived notion of "extremely low cost-effectiveness" was deeply ingrained.

Secondly, it's too noisy. Every time he passes by a similar shop, the loud banging coming from inside makes his head ache. He wonders how the people inside can stand it.

Another point is that he genuinely felt the games inside were boring.

It's nothing more than playing claw machines, coin tosses, dancing, or other simple toys that seem designed for children, which are indeed unappealing to him.

But today, after walking through the door with Xia Qing, the scene before him was somewhat beyond his expectations.

The arcade is decorated with a futuristic theme, with blue and white as the main colors. The white walls are uneven and have hidden blue light strips inside, which really gives it a futuristic feel.

In addition to the few things he knew, there were many others he had never seen before or had only seen online.

Things like basketball machines, racing simulators, motion-sensing devices, light gun shooting...

Ye Shu also caught a glimpse of a circular screen surrounded by buttons. A guy standing in front of it was moving so fast that he was taking pictures with blurry images.

Ye Shu began to change her opinion of this kind of place; seeing is believing, just as one can only imagine.

This place... seems much more interesting than I imagined. If I were ten years younger, still a teenager, and came to a place like this, my dream wouldn't be to be a scientist; I would definitely be an arcade owner.

"Sister Xia Qing, this..."

He turned his head and found that Xia Qing wasn't listening to him at all.

Xia Qing had already let go of his arm, her mouth slightly open, her eyes sparkling, just like his own just now, her eyes constantly scanning back and forth between various game consoles.

Moreover, she watched very attentively and seriously, her eyebrows slightly furrowed, as if she were observing how to play each game. She was so engrossed that she didn't even hear Ye Shu calling her.

Ye Shu reached out and held her chin to help her close her mouth.

"Sister Xia Qing?"

"what?"

Xia Qing snapped out of her daze and turned to look at him:

"what?"

Seeing the obvious excitement on her face, Ye Shu asked:

"Is this your first time in a place like this?"

"Huh? Oh, yes..."

Xia Qing was about to nod in agreement, but the words caught in her throat, and she instinctively wanted to maintain her image as a well-informed person:

"No, no! How could this be my first time here? I've been here all the time!"

But her voice grew softer and softer, until finally she felt guilty and couldn't continue. Then she pouted and gave up.

"Okay, this is my first time... I've never dared to go out alone before, let alone come to such a crowded place. What if I get too engrossed in playing and... Xiaoxue comes out?"

These words made Ye Shu feel as if someone had pricked her heart with a needle, but she still laughed and joked:

"So...aren't you afraid that Xiaoxue might suddenly appear?"

He looked at Xia Qing, wanting to see how she would respond—whether she would continue to be stubborn or something else.

To his surprise, when Xia Qing heard his question, the slightly dejected expression on her face disappeared. Instead, she grinned and gave Ye Shu a bright, almost dazzling smile.

She grabbed Ye Shu's arm and laughed:

"Isn't that what you're here for!"

These words struck a chord with Ye Shuxin. Now, he would probably do anything Xia Qing asked him to make a fortune in gold coins. He was deeply moved.

Xia Qing stopped looking at Ye Shu's stunned expression, turned to look at the game consoles in the store, and laughed:

"Hurry up, stop just looking here, go buy some coins, we're going to have a good fight today!"

Ye Shu was still reeling from the aftereffects of the words "That's what you're here for," and he suddenly realized that arcades were great places; coming to a place like this once in a while wasn't bad.

At least, it makes her this happy.

He stood in front of the vending machine, thinking that it was Xia Qing's first time here too, so she should have a good time and not be stingy and spoil the fun.

Then, with a heavy heart, I scanned three hundred yuan worth of coins. After a series of clattering sounds, a small basket of game coins gushed out.

Ye Shu carried the small basket back; it was quite heavy and felt very heavy in her hand.

Wow, so many!

Xia Qing immediately reached out, but instead of taking the frame, she grabbed his arm and pulled him inside.

Ye Shu followed behind her, being pulled forward by Xia Qing, and couldn't help but smile.

His eyes were immediately drawn to the two rows of claw machines, and in an instant, classic scenes from the anime and TV series he had watched flashed through his mind.

The male and female protagonists went to an arcade for a date. The petite and cute female protagonist immediately took a liking to a doll, but failed to get it after several attempts.

Just when the female lead is about to give up, the male lead will come up, take the last coin, and calmly and ruthlessly grab the doll and give it to the female lead.

Then the female lead will hug the doll with delight, her face flushed, and her affection level will skyrocket...

Thinking of this, Ye Shu began to feel excited. Could it be that... this romantic story of dreams coming true is finally going to happen to her?

He glanced at Xia Qing, then at the basket of game tokens in his hand.

Although I've never played it myself, I have a lot of coins. I've heard that these things have a guaranteed minimum, so I guess I can just keep piling them up, right?

Ye Shu's eyes began searching for a target in the claw machine, wondering which one Xia Qing would like.

However, Xia Qing didn't like any of them, and she had no intention of stopping at the claw machine.

She didn't even glance at the dolls, and pulled Ye Shu straight through the area to a light gun shooting game machine.

It's a two-seater game, and the visuals are from a classic zombie game.

Just now at the door, Xia Qing was immediately drawn to the bloody and gory scene on the screen.

"Quick! Play this! Play this!"

Xia Qing was clearly excited. She urged Ye Shu to insert coins, patted Ye Shu's arm, and kept her eyes glued to the screen showing the zombies bleeding.

Ye Shu, holding the basket of game tokens, watched as Xia Qing, her eyes gleaming, already raised her gun and waited. Then she glanced back at the plush toys lying in the glass cabinet...

Those heartwarming scenes of the male and female protagonists playing claw machines, filled with a loving filter and pink bubbles, were all torn apart by these zombies.