Chapter 180: A good store will inevitably have several NPCs that refresh daily.
And so, Tianjin No.1's retro arcade now had a new NPC that refreshed daily.
He would appear when the store opened at 10 AM, disappear for about an hour around 12 PM to find food, reappear until about 5 PM when he would disappear for another hour, and finally return at 6 PM until closing. This cycle had continued for an entire week.
Naturally, the behavior of this NPC caught the attention of the store's staff.
They noticed that this newly appeared, regularly refreshing NPC completely ignored the machines meant for trendier young people. Instead, he focused entirely on the retro arcade machines, not aimlessly wandering, but playing one after another as if clearing out inventory. He would only move to the next machine after completing the current one.
And most importantly, this guy was genuinely just playing for fun!
He was clearly not a video blogger attempting some endurance challenge. There was no filming equipment around him. In fact, a curious employee even used the excuse of the NPC asking about a 'malfunctioning joystick' to openly check his chest and backpack straps, but there were no mini first-person cameras installed there.
Since he suddenly refreshed and rooted himself in the retro zone, and due to the inevitable aging issues of many machines, he had frequent contact with the store's repair personnel. The repair personnel shared their conversations with their colleagues, and only then did they learn that this NPC was from out of town!
Not only had this NPC already rented a studio apartment nearby, but he also planned to spend all his accumulated 'annual leave' on clearing machines, intending to conquer all machine types in the store and make his 'CT' name appear on the leaderboards of every machine!
The store also had some old employees who had been there since its opening. Over the years, they had seen all sorts of players from across the country, drawn to the boss's arcade, which was more of a museum of retro arcade machines. But a pure and extreme retro enthusiast like this, who would travel from out of town and rent a place just to play games, was truly a first for them.
The arrival of this out-of-town NPC in their store, and his attempt to conquer all machine types, naturally spread through the employees' gossip and reached the boss's ears.
As a wealthy individual who could afford to open an arcade and rent a warehouse for his collection, he certainly had other businesses making money to support his hobbies. Although he had heard about this unique NPC refreshing situation from his employees a few days ago, the rich boss had only just found time to come and observe the NPC's demeanor.
Clutching a small briefcase and holding a small plastic basket of tokens, the tall, thin boss, whose face showed the marks of time, peered into the retro zone he had designed. He then saw Cheng Tian sitting in front of the "Gouketuji Ichizoku" machine, controlling the female protagonist of this fighting game—
The 80-year-old "Oume Gouketsuji," who hugged and aggressively sucked on her opponent. When she got off him, the "rejuvenation" effect was triggered. The withered old woman, who had just been throwing her dentures as projectiles, transformed back into a young, beautiful, vibrant maiden.
"Hey buddy, playing, are we?"
The boss started with a friendly opening.
"Yeah, I am~"
Cheng Mouren, who had become a regularly refreshing NPC, responded without even turning his head.
In the week he had been clearing machines, similar conversations had happened more than once or twice.
Some local old players, upon discovering Cheng Tian's machine-clearing behavior, approached him with the 'fellow enthusiast' label. Some just chatted, while others would directly 2P join in and complete a game with Cheng Tian.
Of course, they weren't as idle as Cheng Tian, and their physical and mental energy couldn't withstand the consumption like Cheng Tian, a little monster with 18 strength, 14 agility, and 21 spirit. They usually played one or two games with Cheng Tian out of curiosity, then left with a mix of envy and exhaustion.
When playing games, sometimes the best setup isn't just a machine and a joystick, but a friend who can clear stages with you.
Although these old games can now be integrated through online battle platforms and played online, Cheng Tian always believed that the feeling of clearing stages online was simply not as good as playing offline.
Cheng Mouren, who had been a regularly refreshing NPC for a week, remained in the 1P position, while the 2P players changed one after another. His sparse contact list even grew to include phone numbers and WeChat contacts of some local guys and even ladies.
It must be said that women who like old games, especially those who actively play offline, are even rarer than men.
In the past, Cheng Tian had only seen female players who had conquered certain games or even won world championships in various arcade speedrunning communities. But offline, this was the first time Cheng Tian had seen a female player actually wielding a joystick and mashing buttons.
However, what Cheng Tian didn't know was that his regular refreshing behavior had spread through the online communities of several local old guys and ladies. This led to some local old guys, who hadn't originally planned to enter, slipping into the plaza with the excuse of "wanting to see if that NPC was still there" when they passed by.
Since they were here, they might as well play a couple of rounds~
Buying ten or twenty tokens directly felt a bit wasteful. Anyway, they'd be back later, so they might as well top up a bit more~
The emergence of these thoughts ultimately led to the arcade's revenue and foot traffic for the week being significantly better than the same period last week.
The boss put down his basket, directly chose a 2P join-in, and then selected the boisterous monk "Chen Nian," who belonged to the zodiac tiger.
Cheng Tian couldn't help but glance at the boss, because Chen Nian was one of the "dirtiest" characters in this game, with excellent projectile performance.
However, Cheng Tian didn't know who he was, nor did he indulge him. As a true Game Expert, he easily crushed his opponent, not even holding back, and directly gave him a big zero.
But the boss wasn't angry. After being defeated, he chuckled and extended his hand to Cheng Tian.
"Let's get acquainted. I'm the owner of this store."
"Pleasure to meet you~"
Cheng Tian, who had already broken free from his obsessions and desires seven days prior, didn't have any particularly strong emotional fluctuations at this moment. He simply shook the boss's hand with a look of envy.
To amass a collection of this scale, it was no longer something that could be achieved simply by having money.
"I heard from the staff that you've almost been living in our store this past week, brother."
"It's all because your machines here are so numerous and complete. The broken stores back in my hometown, I'd feel like an hour there is too much."
"Haha! I love hearing that!"
Hearing someone praise his collection, the boss was visibly delighted. As for the comments stepping on his competitors, he didn't care at all, because he wasn't in it for the money in the first place.
"Brother, what made you want to travel all the way here to play, even renting a temporary place?"
"Well, actually, I originally wanted to get an original Cadillacs and Dinosaurs arcade board for my collection. After asking around, I found out this is the largest and most complete retro arcade in the South China region.
I originally thought the store owner, which is you, might have spare original boards or something, but once I started playing, I forgot all about it."
Upon hearing Cheng Tian directly state his purpose, the boss pressed one hand to his temple, clearly recalling something, then suddenly slapped his thigh.
"A spare Cadillacs and Dinosaurs original board... I think I actually do have one!"