Chapter 8: The Eighth Day of Lying Flat Like a Salted Fish

“Mm.”

To Goudan’s surprise, Lu Yuan actually looked up and hummed in agreement. It was only a single syllable, but still-

“You just said ‘mm’, didn’t you? You definitely did!” Goudan cried out. “You actually agreed with this guy! So why did you turn me down every time I asked to play games with you before!”

“Because you’re too trash at them,” Siming said with a beaming smile.

“…Hey!”

“Be good,” Lu Yuan soothed. “You don’t even like gaming that much anyway. Watching dramas is better. When you’re watching your shows, I still… well, I’ll occasionally watch them with you.”

“You hesitated!”

“It’s mainly that your taste is just…” Siming stopped halfway through his sentence. Seeing Goudan’s hostile expression, he swallowed the rest of his words. “But I don’t mind. As long as you pay, I’ll act out whatever you want.”

Saying this, he gave a couple of affected coughs and crossed his legs. He leaned back, tilting his chin up and narrowing his eyes to strike a cold, haughty pose. “The weather is turning cold… let the Wang Corporation go bankrupt¹.”

Lu Yuan couldn’t help but chuckle.

Goudan’s eyes, however, lit up. “Hey! That’s the perfect feeling! You’ve improved, Siming! Tomorrow we’ll reshoot this scene; the effect will definitely be better!”

Siming froze mid-pose.

Lu Yuan laughed. “Alright, go cook. Once you’re done, you can watch your drama.”

“Fine, fine.” Goudan shrugged and headed toward the kitchen.

Only then did Lu Yuan press the start button on the console to enter the game.

Much like his love for reading novels, he enjoyed playing games.

Otherwise, products like “games” would never have appeared on the shelves of this little shop.

One had to understand that making a game was a massive hassle. Given how lazy Lu Yuan was, he wouldn’t have lifted a finger to make them if he didn’t enjoy them.

“Huh?” Looking at the login screen, Siming was surprised. “It’s actually not the same one?”

“What’s not the same?” Lu Yuan paused for a moment before realizing. “Ah, you mean it’s not the same as Zhu Rong’s?”

“Yeah.” Siming nodded.

The reason Lu Yuan made the connection to Zhu Rong was that ever since Siming decided to stay here, he had moved into Zhu Rong’s home.

Of course, that home was no longer the “home” they had before. The fight between Siming and Lao Tong had reduced the entire house to rubble. The current house had been rebuilt on the original site.

Fortunately, while most resources were scarce on the Desolate Planet, there was no shortage of timber suitable for construction.

The Desolate Planet still had plenty of trees. Due to the poor soil, the trees grew slowly, resulting in a hard, extremely dense wood that made for sturdy and stable houses.

Siming had helped the mother and daughter build their new home and moved in as a result. Lu Yuan didn’t know the specifics of how the three of them got along, nor did he particularly care. However, according to Goudan’s descriptions, they lived together quite harmoniously.

Goudan was actually very interested in both their pasts and their present.

He was someone who was both good at and fond of discovering stories in everyday life. His keen nose for the unusual told him that these three held many secrets, all of which could serve as material for his television dramas.

However, all three remained tight-lipped, refusing to satisfy his curiosity. Goudan couldn’t beat Siming in a fight, and since Lao Tong and Zhu Rong were under Siming’s protection, Goudan couldn’t force them either. Consequently, he had yet to obtain any concrete information.

This led to Goudan constantly nitpicking and finding fault with Siming, clearly unable to stand the man.

But usually, he didn’t dare say much. It was only here with Lu Yuan, with Lu Yuan backing him up, that he would show his obvious “dissatisfaction.”

Unfortunately, in Siming’s eyes, it seemed more like a joke.

…Actually, Lu Yuan felt the same way.

“This morning I snatched Zhu Rong’s console to play,” Siming explained as he entered the game, browsing the introduction and controls to familiarize himself with the buttons. “But I couldn’t beat her high score. I played several times and was still nowhere near it. Wow, it was so embarrassing. Lao Tong mocked me relentlessly.

“I said it’s just a high score and I’d break it by tomorrow. But after practicing a few more times, I felt like there wasn’t much hope… so I thought I’d come to your place to practice.

“Besides, since these are your games, you’re definitely familiar with how they work and might know some tricks. I figured if I played with you, I might be able to learn a thing or two. That’s why I specifically picked a console with the same color scheme as hers, but when I turned it on, the content was different.”

“…The consoles here are all handmade by me,” Lu Yuan said, giving him a helpless look. “I just used whatever materials were handy. I never paid attention to the color schemes… You could at least glance at the written descriptions underneath them.”

“?” Siming’s eyes widened slightly. He actually stood up and went back to the shelf. “Holy crap, the font is so small! Who could possibly see that!”

“…” Lu Yuan was speechless.

“So, are you switching games?” Lu Yuan asked. “If I remember correctly, the one Zhu Rong took was that Mecha game? You actually can’t beat her record? She’s only been playing for ten days.”

“No need.” Siming waved his hand and sat back down. “Let’s play this one. I read the intro; it seems pretty fun.”

“Mm…” Lu Yuan gave a somewhat subtle response and asked, “Really?”

“?” Siming gave him a strange look.

Lu Yuan tilted his head. “Speaking of which, do you think Zhu Rong’s game is fun?”

“It’s great,” Siming said. “Feels more fun than the ones I played a few days ago. She’s got pretty good taste, better at picking than me!”

As he spoke, he gave a thumbs up.

“Is that so?” Lu Yuan’s eyes crinkled as he gave a faint smile.

It was quite a coincidence.

The content of the game Siming had picked was indeed completely different from the one Zhu Rong bought, but the two shared one commonality-

While all the consoles here were handmade by Lu Yuan, these two were the only ones that featured games entirely designed and created by Lu Yuan himself.

For Lu Yuan, making the consoles wasn’t actually that difficult. The hardware part, in particular, was far easier than repairing a Mecha or a starship.

In contrast, finding suitable game software proved to be the real challenge.

On one hand, there was the issue of copyright. Most popular games on the market were not open-source; while playing them via StarNet was perfectly fine, downloading them to be built directly into the console was impossible.

On the other hand, modern games were typically massive holographic experiences, as such titles could be sold at much higher prices. Lu Yuan’s game console, however, was incredibly retro and lacked the hardware to support holographic processing.

Consequently, when Lu Yuan was building the console, he had to hunt down some antique games, ranging from Whac-A-Mole and Snake to Mario.

But these games were far too simple for Lu Yuan. Combined with the lack of challenge in single-player mode, he felt they just weren’t fun enough. Eventually, he tried his hand at designing and creating his own games.

He only made two. Initially, he had several concepts in mind, but he grew bored after finishing the first two… and that was the end of that.

Lacking experience, Lu Yuan subconsciously drew material from his own surroundings during the design process. As a result, the background for both games featured the thing he was most familiar with: the interstellar battlefield.

The game Zhu Rong had bought was a mecha combat game. The format was simple: the player controlled a mecha to battle against the system.

The one currently in Siming’s hands was a star war game, simulating a local theater of war.

In multiplayer mode, each operator led a fleet to battle the opponent, with victory going to the one who wiped out the enemy fleet. In single-player mode, the player faced off against the system.

Both fleets started with identical initial conditions, but as the operators managed them and applied their own preferences, the two fleets would gradually evolve into distinct entities.

Lu Yuan had referenced his own past experiences while creating this game, and without realizing it, he had poured quite a bit of heart into it. Thus, while the game appeared simple, it was actually full of infinite variations, featuring a vast map and immense room for player creativity.

The mecha game was the same. On the surface, it seemed like a basic matter of using a few buttons to control mecha movements, but through various button combinations, it could simulate every operation of a basic mecha, and perhaps even more.

It was only natural that Siming found these two games more enjoyable than the others.

“Still, this game is quite different from Zhu Rong’s.” In the connected lobby, Lu Yuan watched Siming go through the beginner tutorial. The scenes on the game screen were so familiar that a hint of a smile touched his eyes.

However, he still offered a reminder. “You’ve probably noticed that the controls for this one are much simpler than the other. It tests strategy and management more than anything. Even if you master this, it doesn’t mean you’ll be able to beat Zhu Rong.”

“Doesn’t matter!” Siming had already discovered the joy of the game during the tutorial. He shook his head dismissively, his fingers never stopping their rhythmic clicking on the buttons. “If I can’t break the record, then I can’t break it. Worst case, I’ll just admit I’m a dog². Woof, woof, woof!”

Translator’s Notes