Reborn with Steve Stand

Chapter 642: I believe you

Seeing Fang Mo floating outside his own window while holding a door left King somewhat bewildered. After all, normal people usually just use the door, but since Fang Mo was his benefactor, King quickly went to open the window.

"Priest," King greeted Fang Mo politely. "You arrived so quickly."

"Yes, I had nothing else to do," Fang Mo nodded casually at King's comment. "Anyway, I'll stay here for one night and leave in the morning."

"Understood," King replied. After thinking for a moment, he asked, "Do you need me to prepare some food? To be honest, since I live alone, there's not much in the refrigerator. If you're expecting any visitors tonight, I need to prepare in advance."

"Oh, there's no need for that," Fang Mo waved his hand. "Just letting me stay is already a great favor; you don't need to buy anything."

"It's no problem at all. After all, Priest, you've helped me a great deal," King said more casually, given there were no outsiders. "If you hadn't helped me by lying, I might have been beaten to death by some monster by now. So please, let me show you some hospitality."

"Come on, we're friends," Fang Mo cheerfully waved the quartz door in his hand. "Let's just find a wall for now; I'll set up my place first, and we can discuss the rest later."

As he spoke, Fang Mo looked around.

It's worth mentioning that King's apartment wasn't large. Although it was better equipped than Saitama's apartment, it was still a single-person apartment and didn't require much space.

"Alright, let's set it up here," he said, pressing the quartz door against the wall. Fang Mo then clapped his hands in satisfaction and turned to King. "My family will stay in here tonight. If you need anything, just knock."

"This door..." King seemed confused. "Priest, maybe I should prepare a room for you."

"Oh, it's fine. This is a portal," Fang Mo explained upon seeing King's confusion and decided to demonstrate.

He pulled the door open, and with a click, the door revealed not the apartment wall but a completely different space. It looked like a beautifully crafted garden, and further away, a familiar villa. Interestingly, the sky inside the door was white, with no visible sun, moon, or stars.

This sight puzzled King, who couldn't think of anywhere in the world with a sky like that.

But it was understandable why King was confused. The door Fang Mo had brought was a dimensional portal, connecting to his own pure white world. He had previously placed a similar door in the Kurosaki household during the Shinigami mission.

"...Truly an incredible technique," King finally remarked, giving up on understanding and turning to Fang Mo with an awkward smile. "As expected of you, Priest."

"Just a little trick," Fang Mo replied nonchalantly. He walked into the living room and noticed a game on the computer. "Hmm? Were you playing a game just now?"

"Uh..." King suddenly looked a bit flustered. "Yes, I was."

"Let me see what game it is," Fang Mo said, a bit intrigued, as he hadn't played games in a while due to his travels. He moved closer, and after reading the screen, exclaimed, "Memories of a Shy, Sweet Heartbeat... Wait, a GalGame!?"

"..." King was so embarrassed that he couldn't speak, nervously shifting his feet.

"Is this what you usually play?" Fang Mo asked in shock, glancing at King and then at the computer screen again. "Oh wow, you even unlocked the hidden ending and collected all the CGs?"

"Please, stop talking. Just stop," King begged, utterly mortified.

KING covered his face and frantically tried to explain: "I just play this game occasionally. My favorites are fighting games, strategy games, and RPGs... I also dabble a bit in sandbox games."

"Do you play Red Alert?"

Fang Mo touched his chin and suddenly asked.

"What is that?" KING was taken aback by the question. He had never even heard of the game. "What kind of game is it? Is it a new release?"

"Oh, does it not exist in this world?"

Seeing KING's confused expression, Fang Mo quickly realized what was going on. Indeed, the world setting of One Punch Man is quite bizarre. The whole world is just one country, with cities distinguished by letters. Concepts like the Allies and Soviets don't exist here, so naturally, such a game wouldn't either.

"Here, take this."

With that in mind, Fang Mo casually pulled out a CD from behind him: "Install it and give it a try."

"...Alright."

Although a bit puzzled, KING accepted the recommendation. As a gaming enthusiast, he wasn't resistant to trying new games and quickly began installing it with practiced ease.

In fact, Fang Mo didn't get this game disc from another world.

In the worlds he had previously traversed, this game didn't exist either. However, with the help of Supreme Intelligence and Ultron, Fang Mo only needed to provide a rough concept, and these AIs could create a similar game based on his ideas.

Soon, the game was installed.

Fang Mo pulled out a computer, eager to start playing with KING.

However, after nearly three hours of gaming, Fang Mo didn't win a single match. He was utterly defeated by KING. Even when he brought in Xiao Yao for a two-on-one, they still lost more than they won.

"No way, are you cheating?"

In the end, Fang Mo couldn't hold back any longer: "Even with my Apocalypse tanks right in your face, I still lose?"

"The Apocalypse tank is too cumbersome."

Hearing this, KING took off his headset and said casually: "Yuri just needs to control the front line a bit, and your micro-management is terrible. The tank's firepower is totally wasted..."

"Fine, let's switch games."

Fang Mo, unable to keep his composure, pulled out another CD from behind him: "Let's play a fighting game this time, King of Fighters '97. It's a classic. I trained under Master Ma back in the day and was quite the arcade champion."

"Oh, okay."

KING nodded amicably: "Let me familiarize myself with the controls first..."

However, ten minutes later.

"Damn!"

Fang Mo threw the game controller to the ground: "How can your Athena Asamiya beat my Orochi with infinite energy while keeping full health? That's unfair!"

"Uh, are you upset?"

KING looked at Fang Mo in surprise, still holding the controller: "Should I play you with just two fingers?"

"How dare you look down on me."

Fang Mo gritted his teeth and pulled out another CD from behind him: "I guess I have to regain my dignity with PUBG. Let's play a duo match. From now on, this place is called Chicken Palace!"

Then, about half an hour later.

"I'm done."

Fang Mo threw his keyboard forward: "My cabinet moved, I'm not playing anymore."

"This game is quite fun."

KING seemed to be enjoying himself, setting down his keyboard as well. Without a care for the duo match comment, he smiled at Fang Mo and said: "Next time, you and Saitama can play against me. It might be a bit more challenging that way."

"You..."

Fang Mo wiped his face upon hearing this.

He could only say that there are two unreasonable aspects of the One Punch Man world: Saitama's inexplicable strength and KING's gaming skills. It's simply absurd.

In Fang Mo's view, these two are the epitome of strength and skill, respectively.

The Golden Pavilion of Strength: Saitama.

The Silver Pavilion of Skill: KING.

If KING were given a remotely controlled robot along with a controller and screen, he could easily rise to the top of the S-Class.

Originally, Fang Mo just wanted to relax and play some games.

But now, his head was aching.

Rubbing his temples, Fang Mo noticed that it was getting late. He decided to put away his computer and opened the dimension door to inform Ah Xue, letting her know that some people might visit tonight and asking her to make some preparations in advance.

After doing that, Fang Mo glanced at Xiao Yao, who was still battling against KING. The two of them had started playing a Warcraft RPG, something about a thief character. Since it was his first time playing, KING wasn't very skilled, but he was barely able to keep up with the defense, not dragging the team down.

From their conversation, it seemed like Xiao Yao wanted to challenge KING to a game of Chenghai 3C next.

Shaking his head, Fang Mo didn't bother with them. Instead, he pulled out his phone from his pocket and dialed a number. The call was quickly answered by a familiar voice.

"Priest? Do you need something?"

There was a faint electronic sound in the voice, indicating it was the Metal Knight.

"Hey, Old Guy, do you want to come over for dinner tonight?" Fang Mo cordially invited over the phone, "If you come today, I'll be leaving tomorrow."

"No, I just finished eating ramen."

Predictably, the Metal Knight refused Fang Mo's dinner invitation as usual. "If you have something to say, just say it. I'm not coming over for dinner, and my controlled robots are different from cyborgs... they don't have eating functions."

"You're really stubborn..."

Fang Mo twitched his mouth but quickly explained his request. "I want to visit your lab. Is that okay?"

"Absolutely not."

The Metal Knight refused without a second thought. "My lab contains many secrets. Those are my carefully prepared trump cards. There's no way I'll let you know about them."

"Just as expected?"

Hearing the Metal Knight's refusal, Fang Mo nodded instinctively. He had anticipated this response. Fang Mo simply wanted to explore and unlock some modules, but the Metal Knight had always been very cautious, likely fearing that his technology would be stolen.

However, since Fang Mo dared to ask, he had already prepared some countermeasures and bargaining chips.

"How about this?"

After a moment of contemplation, Fang Mo began, "I can trade my stuff with you. You've been interested in some of my methods, right? You can study them. Consider it a gift from me."

"Hmm?" The Metal Knight seemed surprised, trying to gauge the truth of Fang Mo's words. "...Are you sure?"

"Of course. Why would I tease you for no reason?" Fang Mo rolled his eyes.

"Why?"

After a brief silence, the Metal Knight asked curiously, "My stuff is all technological creations, while you study mysticism. You don't even understand the basic structure of a circuit board. Why insist on visiting my lab?"

"Would you believe me if I said it's a gift for my wife?"

Fang Mo shrugged.

"...Do you think I would believe that?" The Metal Knight asked flatly after a brief pause.

"What if I offered rare metal materials? How would you respond then?"

Fang Mo remained calm and began to introduce, "I have substances that are not on the periodic table, some that even defy the laws of conservation of mass-energy and... what's that law called? The three little laws of thermos?"

"…Are you referring to the three laws of thermodynamics?"

The Metal Knight's tone was somewhat incredulous, with a mix of surprise and skepticism. "Are you claiming you can create a perpetual motion machine?"

"I don't really understand it either."

Fang Mo replied, "But if you talk about features, that's the case... We sorcerers don't adhere to logic."

"…"

The Metal Knight remained silent, seemingly weighing the credibility of Fang Mo's words.

"Oh, besides metals, I have many other valuable items." Fang Mo continued without waiting, "Such as neutron degenerate matter, infinite resources, Lambert energy crystals, and phase space expansion technology."

"Wait, what was the first thing you said?"

The Metal Knight suddenly asked.

"What?" Fang Mo paused and recalled, "Are you interested in metal materials?"

"Not that, the sentence before that."

"Uh... I said I wanted to prepare a gift for my wife." Fang Mo replied, puzzled, "Do you believe me?"

"I do."

The Metal Knight responded, "I believe you completely."

~~~

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