Chapter 382 - It"s Not A Girl
Unlike Mo Cheng, who had rarely touched a computer in his life, his uncle was a self-proclaimed gamer who knew all about the latest and coolest games on the market. As soon as he"d heard about the release of a game based on his sickly nephew"s favorite story, he started saving up to buy Mo Cheng a laptop for his birthday.
It was his hope that he could give his nephew the chance to experience the joy of computer gaming.
The invalid boy"s uncle felt like there was very little he could do for his nephew, who was incapable of leaving the hospital.
He dearly wished to give his nephew as many good memories as he could in the little time Mo Cheng had left in this world.
Now that same uncle laughed kindly at his response, placing the laptop on Mo Cheng"s lap.
"You will love it," he promised. "You"ll see." He left his promise hanging in the air as he clicked on the game icon.
As a new screen flashed up on the laptop, the image of a handsome youth with tanned skin, wearing a light blue robe, suddenly appeared on the screen.
The young man looked cool and handsome. His lean, muscular arms were adorned with leather cuffs, and one of his long legs kicked high into the air. What was even more impressive than his valiant posture was the polished sword he held in one hand, pointing towards the viewer.
"He looks really cool, doesn"t he?" Mo Cheng"s uncle boasted. "The graphics have been really well done." He was glad to see the way his nephew"s attention was riveted on the screen.
Mo Cheng just nodded dumbly. The graphics mesmerized him. The character design looked so amazing! His uncle had no need to try to convince him to play, because he couldn"t wait to start!
His focus then s.h.i.+fted away from the centre of the screen, staring at the rest of the characters displayed around and behind the main character - Mo Cheng. The other characters were no less impressive than the main one.
Beautiful girls surrounded the protagonist, each one more captivating than the next. The girls were highlighted in the painting-like image and framed the youth in the middle as if surrounding him in a golden halo.
The images of the girls brought a faint blush to Mo Cheng"s pale cheeks. He was just a shy little boy, and his sole interaction with the fairer s.e.x was the old nurses who took care of him. The nurses looked nothing like the pretty girls in the picture on the screen.
"You see this guy," his uncle said, pointing to the youth in the centre. "You play as Mo Cheng, the protagonist, just like in the book." He smiled proudly at seeing how captivated his nephew was by the game. "This girl here is my favorite," he added, pointing to a beautiful girl on the left side of the screen. "Do you remember Shu Qianqian from the book? That"s her. I like her because she loves the protagonist the most. Oh, and this one is…" His uncle kept talking, introducing each of the characters.
As they compared the beautiful girls from book to game, Mo Cheng noticed a mysterious-looking character in one corner of the game screen.
He could not recognise this person, and wondered who it was.
The character"s back was turned to the viewer so that anyone looking could only see long white hair falling to the character"s knees, and their side profile as they eyed the protagonist with undisguised malice.
"Who"s this person?" Mo Cheng asked, squinting at the screen and moving the mouse to hover over the white haired character in order to point them out to his uncle. "Is this a girl too?"
It was difficult for Mo Cheng to tell if the character was a boy or a girl, because they were drawn really prettily.
In fact, the white-haired character looked prettier than all the other girls in the picture!
His uncle facepalmed and grimaced.
"No, you goofball! Well, I can see why you"d think that, but still…" he trailed off, muttering a little under his breath.
Mo Cheng caught a few words, like "embarra.s.sing" and "mistake", but then his uncle cleared his throat and spoke more clearly. "It"s not your fault. They designed this character to look a little too androgynous, in my opinion."
"Androgynous?" Mo Cheng echoed, blinking up at him. "What"s that?"
"It"s… uh… it"s a trap for guys."
Mo Cheng raised a single eyebrow, as that made even less sense. His uncle was good with computers, but wasn"t very good at explaining other things. With that kind of answer, Mo Cheng would only get more confused.
His uncle nervously scratched the back of his neck. This conversation was not heading where he wanted it to, not at all.
"Never mind that now," he said as he lightly pushed Mo Cheng"s hand aside, taking control of the mouse to navigate the cursor around the screen. With one light tap, he pressed the play b.u.t.ton on the screen.
Another picture of the white-haired character appeared on the screen as the game buffered; this time, the character was shown a little bigger, and it became obvious that it was not a female.
"Oh," Mo Cheng mumbled, embarra.s.sed. "That"s not a girl…"
"Do you remember who it is now?" his uncle asked. Mo Cheng examined the picture.
The white-haired man had very bright eyes; with their slit pupils, those eyes reminded Mo Cheng of a demon rather than a human. However, he still could not quite recognise the character.
"Remember the villain of the story?" his uncle prompted, exasperated. "That"s him."
Mo Cheng"s eyes widened.
"This white-haired person is the bad guy?" he asked, his tone uncertain. He had to confirm, just to make sure he heard his uncle correctly.
"Yeah." His uncle ruffled his hair. "He"s the final boss in the game, just like in the story. You have to fight him so he doesn"t destroy the world."
Although the villain was the most powerful character in the book, he barely ever made an appearance in it.
The story itself ended in a showdown between the protagonist and the white-haired villain, but this part was very briefly written and was not very memorable.
The white-haired villain"s sequence reached its grand finale with the villain being sealed away in an immortal"s cell.
The focus then s.h.i.+fted to the protagonist"s cultivation and his ascension to the heavens, and the story"s ending was finalised with a happy conclusion.
When Mo Cheng had first read the book, he"d not understood why the villain had been so determined to destroy the world. Then again, it wasn"t like an evil character really needed a reason to do bad deeds.
After being briefly introduced to the game, Mo Cheng wasted absolutely no time. He finished playing it within two days.
The seasons changed, and the kids who stayed in the ward had all gone, switched out with another set of unfamiliar faces.
Only Mo Cheng remained, a static presence in an ever changing environment.
Unlike the others, who had come and gone, he felt like just another piece of the furniture.
His uncle was right about one thing: Mo Cheng loved his birthday present very much. It was the best memory he had of his previous life, and it was the last birthday present he had received before he pa.s.sed away.