#596Chapter 596: A Game Hall Older Than Cheng TianAI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 596: An Arcade Older Than Cheng Tian
Heaven's Chosen Space, Cheng Tian's unique 'pure prison primitive hybrid style' personal space.
"Did you cause trouble with the Black Pearl again?"
Fina, the Goddess of the Red Moon, who was, as usual, slacking off and drinking tea, asked the returning group while leaning back.
Cheng Tian didn't answer directly. Instead, he flicked the Black Pearl back.
Although Cheng Tian could use the Black Pearl's power through their contract, its true owners were the Twin Moon Sisters. In other words, the Twin Moon Goddesses could also use the Black Pearl's newly added Orochi summoning effect.
In Cheng Tian's hands, it could theoretically only sign the Eight Elite contract with players during main missions, but in the Goddesses' hands, it would be different.
If Fina, with her Authority of Freedom, used it, everything would lean towards freedom and lack of restriction. She could even just apply for permission from the Space and open a bounty dungeon themed 'Black Holy Grail War,' where players would fight each other to determine the winner.
If Rhea, with her Authority of Order, used it, she could further refine the contract terms, reducing disadvantages and increasing advantages, such as adjusting the Holy Grail tax rate, which was only 8%, upwards.
It was similar to how the Twin Towers of Heroes were brought back to the Space. The Holy Grail War system was also brought back to a certain extent, though the wish-granting mechanism differed from the Fate worldview.
This journey through the FATE world had a significant impact on Cheng Tian.
Firstly, after the mission was completed, Bazett, although still identified as 'Cheng Tian's Servant/Heroic Spirit,' was practically no different from other players, and she didn't even occupy a team contract slot.
While Irene might fall slightly behind, Bazett, who would 100% share Cheng Tian's main quest settlement attribute and skill points, would definitely keep up.
Moreover, Bazett had re-established a link with her original world. During non-Space-stay periods, she could return to the FATE world. Based on Cheng Tian and his group's actions, a series of events would inevitably ensue.
Then there was the clone, Qiongqiong, who had no intention of visiting and directly entered her own private space.
As a nearly perfect clone possessing a complex mix of genes from Cheng Tian, Kyo Kusanagi, Orochi, and others, yet still stable, Qiongqiong's inherent arrogance might be more resilient than anyone imagined.
Even after being suppressed and defeated by Cheng Tian in terms of strength, she would only outwardly submit, while secretly holding a grudge, determined to find a way to get her revenge at some point in the future.
Intimacy? Qiongqiong didn't need such trivial things!
In her eyes, Cheng Tian was both an annoying old geezer she would eventually find a way to surpass and trample underfoot, and also a goal and role model she could only look up to for now!
All the losses she incurred at Cheng Tian's hands would accumulate and settle within Qiongqiong, then transform into a catalyst for her to ascend to even greater heights.
Finally, there was the Black Pearl, now with the added Holy Grail War rules.
Cheng Tian also casually crossed off the 'Silver Side Quest.' The remaining unfinished events on hand were only 'Makaimura' and 'Knights of the Round Table Festival.'
He wondered what special treatment he would receive when he went to the Knights of the Round Table, now that he had gained the recognition of Type-Moon's Arthur.
But as the saying goes, a balance of work and rest is the way of a king. Cheng Tian, having gone from merely observing to personally disrupting the situation, had entered full power-saving mode and desperately needed to recharge.
And for Cheng Tian, who had made Heaven's Chosen Space his life's main quest, his method of recharging was clearly only one—
The real world, Shengjing, United Arcade.
Unlike Cheng Tian's specific trip to Tianjin to experience North China's largest collection of retro games, the place now before Cheng Tian's eyes instantly made him feel as if he had traveled thirty years back in time, arriving in the nineties, a decade before he was even born.
The spotted brick walls left over from an old industrial city, the cramped and suffocating old space, and the various old machines placed on both sides of the room, further narrowing the already narrow aisle.
Cheng Tian took a deep breath, like Brother Qian smoking—
The top note was a large amount of dust accumulated on electronic components stored in a warehouse.
The middle note was the choking and unpleasant mix of different brands of cigarettes.
The base note was the chaotic aroma of instant noodles, fried melon seeds, spicy strips, fried rice, carbonated drinks, and a host of other foods and drinks mixed together... Then these various scent particles, penetrating his nostrils and deep into his lungs, made Cheng Tian cough uncontrollably, feeling as if his lungs were about to be coughed out the next second.
Bazett, wearing a mask and standing beside him, slammed Cheng Tian's back twice.
In the real world, without equipment buffs, Cheng Tian, whose strength was just over twenty points, was almost hammered to the ground by the female berserker, but it successfully brought him back from the unique yet familiar scent.
Damn it! This was the smell!
If the Mai X Bear Arcade in Tianjin was a physical museum dreamed of by all players who loved old arcade games, then the United Road Arcade in Shengjing was a place of remembrance where time seemed to stand still.
There were no claw machines, no dance machines, and certainly no coin pushers. All there were were battle-damaged arcade cabinets, one after another, with yellowed casings, stained with grime, and wrapped in bandages.
The sole arcade on United Road had been open for 35 years, making it almost the only arcade in all of Shengjing primarily featuring old arcade games. Aside from some new machines, refrigerators, and fans added with the changing times, and a reduction in mahjong machines and fruit machines, the layout, decor, and even the owner were not much different from 35 years ago.
Similarly, the same group of people who came to play thirty-five years ago were still the same group of people, either by themselves or bringing their children, thirty-five years later.
Cheng Tian was obviously one of these players.
Moreover, here, you could hardly see any 'female' units. From children to old brothers, and from uncles to grandpas, 100% of them were men, so Bazett's appearance was quite conspicuous.
Cheng Tian, very familiar with the place, casually rummaged through the yogurt box filled with coins at the counter. He grabbed and released, picking out a dozen coins of at least seven or eight different styles.
These were not the tokens currently used by the United Arcade, but rather different styles collected over the past thirty-plus years from various arcades across Shengjing, and even nationwide, that had long since closed down.
Zhongxi, Guilin, Yimei... some of these grimy coins were even older than Cheng Tian himself, deserving to be respectfully called 'Coin Senior.'
Cheng Tian selected a King of Fighters '97 machine, called Bazett to sit beside him, and then, as if no one else was around, pulled out a donkey meat pastry he bought from next door from his bag and very naturally inserted a token into the coin slot.