Samurai Shodown

Qingling looked around and quickly made her choice. "This game."

"Samurai Shodown! Sure!" Wu Dahai eagerly sat down in front of the arcade machine.

The stool was so low that Qingling had nowhere to put her long legs. She simply took off her shoes, drew her knees up together, planted her heels on the edge of the stool, and rested her chin on her knees. If not for her ice-cold expression, the pose would have looked almost lazy and cute.

"Ever played before?" Wu Dahai asked.

"No." Qingling held the joystick, completely unfamiliar with the four buttons on the left. Even after inserting a coin, she had no idea how to select a character.

Wu Dahai was quite patient with a beautiful girl. "This controls the direction. You can use it to pick a character... right, once you see one you like, just press A."

Qingling didn't care and picked the first one.

"Haohmaru! Nice!" Wu Dahai grinned. "Then I'll pick Ukyo Tachibana!"

With their characters selected, the fight began.

Wu Dahai's Ukyo Tachibana lunged in with an upward slash, then knocked Haohmaru to the ground with a string of light attacks and short combos. Haohmaru had barely gotten up before Ukyo Tachibana closed in again.

"Reverse hell march!"

"Secret technique! Light snow!"

Ukyo Tachibana unleashed a dazzling flurry of combos on-screen. Haohmaru's health bar emptied, and he fell with a scream, never to rise again. From start to finish, Qingling hadn't managed to land even a single move.

Although Wu Dahai had scored a perfect victory over Qingling, he felt no sense of achievement.

It was best of three.

When the second round began, Wu Dahai didn't rush to attack. Instead, he patiently taught her. "A is a light slash. Try pressing it."

Qingling pressed it, and Haohmaru swung his sword swiftly, cutting Ukyo Tachibana.

"B is a medium slash. Press it."

Qingling did as instructed. Haohmaru swung at moderate speed, driving Ukyo Tachibana back two steps.

"A and B together give you a heavy slash. Try it."

Qingling pressed both at once. Haohmaru swung slowly but forcefully, knocking Ukyo Tachibana to the ground.

"C is a light kick. D is a heavy kick. Pressing C and D together gives you a heavy kick too. Same thing."

For a beginner who had never played before, Qingling picked things up quickly. She swiftly repeated each move.

"All right! Let's start." Wu Dahai began controlling his character.

Ten seconds later, Qingling's Haohmaru suffered a crushing defeat. Still, she had improved this time. At least Haohmaru had fought back and inflicted some minor damage on Ukyo Tachibana.

"Best of three. You lost." Wu Dahai stood up.

"One more game," Qingling said.

"Maybe next month."

"One more game," Qingling repeated, a burning fighting spirit rising in her eyes.

Wu Dahai hesitated. "Fine. One more."

"Wow, you're making an exception just like that?" For a moment, Officer Huang couldn't decide whether to be happy or hurt. "No matter how much I begged before, you wouldn't make an exception."

"Obviously. You're a middle-aged guy. What do I get out of making an exception for you?" With that, Wu Dahai turned to Qingling, utterly unapologetic. "I can give you another chance, but I want to touch your hand."

Qingling looked puzzled. "Why?"

Wu Dahai chuckled. "Honestly, I've never touched a girl's hand in my whole life. A human girl, I mean. Beasts don't count."

"Is there a difference?" Qingling asked.

"Of course! Just knowing she's a Beast kills any interest, okay? Every woman in the organization is stingy as hell. None of them will let me touch them. Seriously, it's just a touch. It's not like they'll lose a chunk of flesh!"

It was the first time Gaoyang had met someone so shamelessly lecherous. For a moment, he didn't even know where to begin.

Qingling thought briefly, then bargained. "One more game. If I lose, I'll let you touch it."

"Great! It's a deal!" Wu Dahai hadn't expected Qingling to agree so readily. He was certain he would win!

"Let's start."

Wu Dahai sat down again and inserted a coin. They still played Haohmaru and Ukyo Tachibana, respectively.

Apparently feeling that beating a beginner as a seasoned player was hardly a fair victory, Wu Dahai started teaching Qingling again. "Let me teach you Ukyo Tachibana's combos too..."

"No need. I have enough," Qingling refused outright.

"Fine. I won't go easy on you." This time, Wu Dahai held nothing back, attacking even more fiercely than in the previous game.

Qingling didn't just stand there like an idiot either. She kept blocking.

Blocking in a fighting game took skill. A standing block couldn't stop a crouching kick. A crouching block couldn't stop a jumping slash. You had to switch quickly between blocking positions based on your opponent's attacks.

This round, Qingling did nothing but block.

Although she switched between blocking positions very nimbly, defending without attacking still let her health get chipped away. And once an opponent got close, they could use close-range moves to break her guard.

Qingling blocked for the entire round and lost.

She wasn't impatient in the slightest.

In the second round, Qingling began trying to attack.

She used no special moves or combos-she didn't know any. She simply stood still. When her opponent attacked head-on, she blocked. If he got close, she used A's quick light slash to knock him away. If he used a jumping slash, she countered with B's medium slash.

With the right timing, those two moves could counter almost any close-range attack or jumping slash. Even when they failed, both sides took damage, allowing her to trade small amounts of health with her opponent.

But Wu Dahai was an experienced, skilled player. All he needed was one opening to get close, break her guard, and follow up with a combo that immediately slashed away more than half her health.

Unsurprisingly, Qingling lost again.

"You lost!" Wu Dahai stood up happily, his eyes fixed on Qingling. "I get to touch your hand!"

Qingling stood and held out her hand to Wu Dahai.

Wu Dahai was astonished. He hadn't expected Qingling to be so willing!

Wu Dahai reached halfway out, then suddenly pulled his hand back.

A greedy, sleazy smile suddenly spread across his face. "How about this? I won't touch your hand. I can give you another chance to challenge me! But I want to touch your breasts. I touch first, then we play!"

Qingling remained expressionless, apparently considering it.

"Forget it. Let's come back another time."

Gaoyang couldn't bear to watch anymore. If someone had harassed his sister like this, he would already have thrown a punch. But he had no standing to interfere in Qingling's affairs, so he could only try to persuade her.

"Exactly. You win some, you lose some," Officer Huang added. "I've seen plenty of girls go astray in my decade-plus on the job. But in your case, Qingling... there's no need. Really, there's no need."

Qingling's competitive streak had taken over. She ignored them and faced Wu Dahai. "Fine."