Chapter 35: Farming Monsters in the Arcade

In the afternoon, following instructions, Song Jiaru bought a pair of wooden nunchucks at Decathlon and stuffed them deep into her backpack like a secret weapon.

Then, she took several deep breaths and walked toward the designated afternoon instance—[Bustling Arcade].

This was an extreme bombardment of sound, light, and electricity effects. Deafening dynamic music, sound effects from various game machines, and excited screams of players mixed together.

For Song Jiaru, this was undoubtedly the ultimate challenge.

Xu Yunzhou's voice sounded in her mind:

"

[Ding—Main Quest updated!]

[Instance Name: Arcade Survival Grand Challenge]

[Quest Objective: Independently complete four designated activities (Dance Dance Revolution, Taiko no Tatsujin, Basketball Machine, Claw Machine), each activity must be successfully played three times.]

[Instance Mechanics: During the process, special events such as 'Passersby Spectating' or 'Harassment/Being Hit On' may randomly trigger. The Host is requested to handle them flexibly on her own.]

[Special Notice: The System Possession function has entered cooldown and will not be activated except in life-threatening situations. Please make good use of learned skills and items.]

[Quest Reward: Big Brother's praise, a large amount of Courage Value, and growth progress toward 'Future Queen of Pop'.]

[Do your best, brave young girl! Go create miracles!]

"

"Command received! Big Brother System!"

Song Jiaru stood at attention in her heart.

Holding a tragic and heroic mentality of "the wind sighs mournfully and the Yi River is cold," she tightly gripped the "Medals of Courage" (arcade tokens) she had just exchanged, and plunged headfirst into this bustling place where light, shadow, and sound waves intertwined.

(TL: "The wind sighs mournfully and the Yi River is cold" is a famous poetic line by the ancient assassin Jing Ke before his suicide mission, implying a point of no return.)

She tactically chose the relatively remote Taiko no Tatsujin machine where she could face the wall and reflect on her mistakes, attempting to camouflage herself as a background board.

However, gold will always shine, and beauties... will always attract flies.

She hadn't hit the drum a few times when a few non-mainstream youths—sporting rainbow-colored hair, wearing "fashionable" items that looked like they were dug out from a garbage dump, and chewing gum blowing bubbles—swayed over as if they smelled something.

They surrounded her like visiting a zoo, starting to gesticulate and make "tsk tsk" noises.

"Beauty, was your sense of rhythm eaten by a dog? That's too lame! Want brother to teach you hand-in-hand?"

"Playing alone is so lonely, team up with brother, guaranteed to let you experience the feeling of flying!"

Familiar panic poured over her head like ice water. Song Jiaru felt she could barely hold the drumsticks in her hands, and her rhythm completely turned into a pot of messy porridge.

The desire to survive made her let out a heart-tearing, lung-splitting scream in her heart:

"Big Brother! Mount me! Mount me! Hurry up and mount me!"

(TL: "Mount me" translates shang wo, which literally means "go on me" or "possess me," but is highly sexually suggestive slang.)

"Pfft—cough cough cough!"

Outside the screen, Xu Yunzhou, who was drinking water, was directly choked by these tiger-and-wolf words until his face turned red, almost spraying water onto the keyboard.

This girl, asking for help in such a fresh and refined way!

But he forced down his smile and put on a cool electronic voice:

"

[System Notification: Warning! The Possession function is in a cooldown state. Forcible activation may lead to System overload.]

[Suggestion: The Host is requested to rely on her own strength to solve the problem. Recall the clear video of the 'Panda Base' instance and invoke the 'Venomous Tongue Counterattack' skill.]

[Reiteration: You, Song Jiaru, are a future superstar, not an object that any random Tom, Dick, or Harry on the side of the road can casually tease! Please bring out your imposing momentum!]

"

Song Jiaru's heart beat like she was carrying a crazy rabbit.

She stopped her movements, closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and crazily replayed in her mind the cold aura of "everyone seated here is garbage" from when "Big Brother possessed her."

She raised her head, trying hard to make her gaze look less cowardly.

Although the palms holding the drumsticks were still sweating, and her voice still carried a trace of undetectable trembling, her tone was as steady as possible, and she even deliberately brought a bit of impatience:

"No need. I prefer to study it slowly by myself and enjoy the process of exploring."

She paused, imitating "Big Brother's" venomous tongue, and added, her gaze sweeping over them,

"In addition, you standing here is blocking my light. Moreover, the sound of your discussion is a bit noisy, affecting my judgment of the rhythm."

Those young men clearly didn't expect that this little girl, who looked timid and as if she would cry if scared, would counterattack so directly, and with thorns in her words.

The playful smiles on their faces stiffened. They looked at each other, momentarily not knowing how to reply.

After Song Jiaru finished speaking, she didn't look at them anymore. She refocused her gaze on the screen, picked up the drumsticks, and began to strike attentively.

Although the rhythm was still not considered perfect, her back revealed a firm and cold attitude of "strangers keep away."

Those few people felt bored and somewhat lost face. They sheepishly muttered a few sentences like "what are you pretending for" and "so boring," and then walked away resentfully.

Right at the instant they turned around!

"YES!!! Oh yeah!!!"

Song Jiaru let out a marmot-like scream in her heart!

She did it!

She relied on herself to drive away the annoying ghosts!

This refreshing feeling of winning respect relying on her own strength was more intoxicating than consecutively drinking ten cups of full-sugar milk tea!

Looking at this scene, Xu Yunzhou couldn't help but clap his hands, his eyes revealing an old-father-style gratification of "my family's daughter has grown up."

Pressing the advantage!

Carrying this buff of victory in the first battle, Song Jiaru's momentum was like a rainbow!

She stepped onto the Dance Dance Revolution machine, ignoring the surrounding gazes of either amazement or curiosity, dancing elegantly and immersively along with the dynamic rhythm.

As expected of the future Queen of Pop, her sense of rhythm and physical expressiveness were naturally gifted. A few simple movements attracted quite a few appreciative lines of sight.

She went to challenge the basketball machine, striking iron with a "clang" time and time again, and stubbornly picking up the basketball time and time again, not giving up even until her arms were sore and weak.

(TL: "Striking iron" is basketball slang for missing a shot and hitting the rim.)

Finally, in front of the claw machine, relying on precise judgment and patience, she actually hit the target in one strike, successfully catching an incredibly cute CJ7 plushie!

When she walked out of the still-bustling arcade hugging this trophy symbolizing "independence and victory," the golden glow of the setting sun plated her with a warm halo.

She looked back at that "dragon's pool and tiger's den" that once made her afraid, her heart full of a conqueror's exhaustion and huge satisfaction.

"Big Brother,"

She said softly, her tone carrying the calmness of a metamorphosis,

"I seem... to really not be that afraid anymore."

"[System Notification: Arcade Survival Challenge completed! Rating: A-Rank!]"

Xu Yunzhou's voice still maintained the "aloofness" of the System, but listening closely, it seemed to have softened by a tiny bit,

"Mhm, it can barely be considered taking the first step from social anxiety to a normal human being. Don't get smug, next we transition—adaptability training in the core business districts of Chunxi Road and Taikoo Li."

That was the most prosperous business district in Chengzhou, with crowds weaving like a loom, gathering fashionistas, tourists, and street photographers.

It was a place to observe the myriad states of society, and also the place where "stories" and "accidents" were most likely to happen.

"Where is Taikoo Li?"

Song Jiaru blinked her blank large eyes, having no concept of this future landmark.

(TL: Sino-Ocean Taikoo Li Chengdu is a major shopping complex that opened in 2015, so it didn't exist in 2012.)

Xu Yunzhou stalled for half a second, before speaking vaguely with a tone of knowing heavenly secrets:

"Uh... a place you will know about in two years."

...

Song Jiaru had been strolling in this design-filled block for less than ten minutes, and it was simply as if she triggered some mechanism for fixed-point monster spawning.

Xu Yunzhou's "System perspective" sharply locked onto the front right—several middle-aged men carrying professional photo lenses, their eyes mixing scrutiny and greed, were undisguisedly using their "cannons" to unscrupulously conduct "fixed-point sniper shooting" of Song Jiaru.

"Attention! Nine o'clock direction front right, by the flowerbed, three Elite Monsters have spawned—'Greasy Old Masters'!"

Xu Yunzhou's voice instantly switched to combat alert mode,

"Your new quest: Frontal negotiation, order them to immediately, right now, and unconditionally delete all image materials regarding you!"

"Ah? Me?"

Following the "System guidance," Song Jiaru looked over and saw those few men who were older than her dad. A massive bewilderment surged in her heart, like "Benbo'erba receiving the mission to eliminate Sun Wukong,"

(TL: Benbo'erba is a weak, low-level demon minion from "Journey to the West.")

"They... look so fierce, like they're not to be trifled with... I don't dare. Besides, it's just taking a few photos... it's nothing, right?"

"Nothing major?"

Xu Yunzhou's voice instantly sank,

"Letting you go is exactly to temper your negotiation ability when facing people from all walks of life, and your courage to clash head-on!"

"What do you mean 'just taking a few photos'? Do you know where your images might be used if they leak out? On 'beauty service' cards in cheap roadside hotels? Photoshopped into unbearable masturbation materials in certain dark forums?"

"Or even more disgusting illegal uses! Thinking about your face being associated with these, don't you feel disgusted, don't you feel angry? Is your portrait right, your privacy, so cheap in your eyes?"

Xu Yunzhou's series of soul-searching questions were like a Gatling machine gun, hitting Song Jiaru and catching her off guard.

Thinking of those disgusting possibilities, a wave of nausea instantly washed over her, followed immediately by a surge of anger from being violated popping up with a "whoosh"!

"I... I'll go!"

She tightly gripped her backpack straps; the hard nunchucks inside seemed to give her a little extra confidence.