That day after cleaning, we went to the market.
Shanghai didn't just have a market; it had a battlefield. The moment we stepped into the shopping district, the sound of a thousand haggling voices hit us like a physical wall. It was chaotic, it was loud, and it smelled like high-octane street food
People crowded inside market like bees when I throw stones at beehive.
And now we are here.
Not to buy something. We are broke
In the fact we aren't even going to the market. We are going to this road.
Why?
To have fun. To enjoy life.
And how? We are going to play games.
"So this is the cyber cafe where we can play games?" Xun pointed.
The place filled with stores and saloons.
"Yes. I heard our school students come here almost every day," Taraka said confidently.
"Then let's enter," Xun said, moving forward.
"Wait for me, son," Taraka rushed.
The inside was dark.
Monitors everywhere. People shouting at the back.
The smell of sweat and cheap snacks.
Like really cheap snacks.
The owner was an uncle in his 40s with black hair and 2 hands,2 legs...
Oh wait I ain't writing an essay..
The Uncle had the face of a Grumpy Cat that had just been told it was on a diet. He was staring at us with pure suspicion. 'He looks like a depressed Dooraemon,' I whispered, not realizing my mouth was actually moving
Taraka hit me hard on my head.
"You idiot, you are talking, not thinking!"
The uncle was looking at us with an angry face.
"Uncle, forgive us, forgive us!" Taraka begged.
"His mental condition is a bit lost."
"Here, here is the money for both of us. We are booking for 2 hours."
Taraka put the money on the table and quickly pulled Xun inside.
"You motherfucker. You wanna die? Thinking and talking are different!" Taraka tried to slap me but my reflexes easily..
No I got slapped my reflexes ain't fast.
"You almost got us killed by calling him Doraemon."Taraka shouted.
"Sorry, Taraka. I got carried away. Welp it was the truth though." Xun said
"Anyway, now you owe me another 40 yuan; total: 55 yuan," Taraka said.
"Okay!" I will pay it after I die.
They both sat beside each other and opened the computer.
"So which game are we going to play?" Taraka said.
"PUBG? Free Fire and Arena of Valor, huh?"
"I heard about them all."
"The students in the back always talk about them," Xun said.
"Let's play PUBG?" Taraka suggested.
"Just land, loot, and shoot? Right? it should be easy," Taraka said.
"Okay. It sounds fun too," Xun said.
We both logged in.
We made accounts with the most generic names.
Xun_Pro
Taraka_king
Taraka tried to take the name "Xun's Father," but fortunately, it was taken.
Wait. Why did you even try to take it ?!
We started the first match.
We got thrown onto some random island inside a plane.
"Taraka, how do I jump out of this plane?!!" Xun shouted.
"Just click that big button."
"Which one??"
"The big button that has a man jumping."
"Uh, got it."
We both landed in some random place and got stuck in a tree for 20 seconds.
"How to get out, Xun??" Taraka said, moving his mouse.
"I don't know. I am trying to get out too. I never played a game except that Nokia snake game," Xun said.
"Same here," Taraka agreed.
And while getting out, we got shot.
Someone killed us in 2 bullets; a guy named Pookie_Jing.
"It's a girl," Taraka said.
"I heard in games a girl's name means it's a boy," I said proudly, showing off my knowledge.
"Okay, whatever, we lost. Come on, start the next game."
We landed in some place called Pochinki this time.
"Xun, look! I got a gun called M762," Taraka said.
"I got a gun called M416 too," Xun told him.
We both spotted an enemy.
We zoomed and fired. We missed every shot by a distance of more than 5 meters.
But him?
He sprayed us in 2 seconds.
We looked at the chat.
"Ez.. trash kids," that guy typed.
"I am 10 and still killed you in 2 seconds. You noob."
"WHO THE FUCK IS THIS KID?"
"I WILL KILL HIM!"
"WHERE DOES HE LIVE?"
Xun slammed his desk, standing up.
"Calm down, son! Calm down!" Taraka said, putting his hands on Xun's shoulder.
"Taraka, don't call me son... I am raging."
"Son, don't shout; Daddy is here."
"Look, our teammates revived us. My—no, sorry," Taraka said.
"Taraka, surround the kid. I will kill him."
"Land exactly 280 centimeters away from him."
"I will kill this kid," I planned while we were in the parachute.
But then I heard a sound.
My character died. And in 3 seconds, Taraka's died too.
This kid killed us in a parachute using a sniper.
"This fucking brat."
"Where does he live?"
"You guys? Shouting too much?" the uncle came over.
"Uhh, sorry," Taraka apologized.
"Anyway, 2 hours have passed. You guys shall leave now."
"Uh, okay," Taraka said.
We both left the cafe.
We played 2 matches. Died with 0 kills.
Died in a parachute by a 10-year-old kid.
"Just let me find his location; I will kill him," Xun said inside.
"But it was fun. I never felt this joy that I felt today."
"Son..."
"Sorry... my friend."
"Xun, want to play again another day instead of doing math?" Taraka asked, spreading his hands.
"Yes, absolutely. I will play again. Maybe next week," Xun said, clenching his hand.
"We will play again."
"We play again to Enjoy Life!"
Later that night, we both downloaded PUBG Mobile on our phones to play again.
We opened it excitedly.
"I can't wait to log into my Xun_Pro account."
"Me too; Taraka_King is waiting for me."
But while logging in, we realized something.
"Ohh! No! Where is my account?"
"Wait, what? Why does it have some random name?"
"Wait a second... we logged in with a guest account, didn't we?"
"Fuck!" we both screamed at the same time.
We later spent the night to recover our account and fortunately..
No we couldn't recover we just wasted our time.
But it was fun explaining a dead account with 2 matches 0 kills to strangers.
We didn't waste time I will say. We just had fun.
And that's the thing that will matter.