I Will Never Submit to Miss Grim Reaper - Chapter 257

Chapter 257: Bicycle Swaying Back and Forth

 

“What’s going on, Sister Gabriel?”

 

Although I had received a warning from Xiao Mo before coming that this angelic young lady might be “extremely skilled” in the field of computers and I had mentally prepared myself to some extent.

 

I was still surprised when I saw her effortlessly playing games and even winning a round of games with just having been introduced to the computer. This angelic young lady from another world really amazed me.

 

Doesn’t this mean… “Alright, students, let’s start the class. This class is mathematics. Let’s start by reciting the multiplication table. One times one is one, one times two is two… Alright, students, you’ve grasped the basic mathematical knowledge. Let’s do some advanced calculus problems, shall we?”

 

You see, Gabriel hadn’t even touched a mouse and keyboard before noon, and APEX Legends was her first time playing a game.

 

“Is she a bit too strong…”

 

When it comes to computer games, I’ve always been a bit “slow” compared to the boys. To put it simply, I couldn’t keep up with the updates.

 

Because I grew up in an orphanage, I never had parents to buy me various electronic products, and I had almost no exposure to things like “mobile games” and “computer games.”

 

When I was born, the “brick phone” was just starting to become popular, and using a phone to make calls was a symbol of wealth. People without money could only use something called a “pager.” The function of this electronic device was that if someone “paged” you from their home phone or a public phone booth at a convenience store or grocery store, the machine’s screen would display the calling number, and then the wearer would write down this number and go to a nearby public phone booth to make a call so that both parties could actually talk.

 

At that time, in the orphanage, only the director had a “pager,” and each of us children living in the orphanage needed to memorize the director’s pager number in case we got lost or something similar happened.

 

Then, we children started primary school, and mobile technology began to mature. “Brick phones” were replaced by models like “Motorola” and “Nokia.” Some of the leaders in the orphanage also upgraded to more convenient black-and-white screen phones for communication. It was also during this period that mobile phone versions continued to iterate.

 

From simple black-and-white phones that could only make calls and send texts, they evolved into color-screen phones, and the concept of “internet connectivity” emerged. Various mobile games and applications emerged continuously, and phones became smarter.

 

It wasn’t until I was about to graduate from high school that mobile phones reached a level close to smartphones. Standard features included mobile QQ and mobile browsers. It was then that we, the children from the orphanage, finally got our hands on the outdated black-and-white phones from the institution and applied for our first mobile phone numbers using our own IDs.

 

Then came college. Everyone in the dormitory had their own laptops. During the first and second years, everyone was playing games. I had to work hard to earn my tuition fees. After much effort, I managed to buy a second-hand computer when my university life was about to end.

 

After entering the workforce, I managed to save money to buy a desktop computer. Due to configuration issues, most of the games on the market couldn’t be played, so I could only play some older games that didn’t require high specifications.

 

For example, APEX Legends, which came out shortly after PUBG, was a “copycat” battle royale game. It was rumored to be made from scraps of the game “Titanfall.” Titanfall was a game from around 2014 that didn’t require high specifications.

 

Because I had limited exposure to this area since childhood, my attitude towards games was similar to Yoshikage Kira‘s attitude towards alcohol in JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure – “just a taste, never diving deep.” I would willingly seek out information about some games and watch others play them, but I wouldn’t become addicted or feel the need to become the strongest or the most skilled player. I also wouldn’t spend time practicing last-hitting or mastering gunplay.

 

In my impression, games are meant to bring joy, and playing games should be done with a smile. So, despite my terrible shooting skills and gaming level, I was often teased by Jiang Wei and Pi Pi when playing APEX, being the “worst player in the team.”

 

Luckily, whether it was Jiang Wei, Pipi, or Su Yunjin, none of them took games too seriously like I did. Even if I messed up, they would just laugh and curse me a bit before starting the next game.

 

This led to my APEX account maintaining a consistently low level. My kill ratio was below 0.5, and I rarely played ranked matches. This season, I’m only at the bronze level.

 

Although it’s true that because of my low-level account, my teammates are also not that good, but Gabriel… it’s clearly not something that can be explained by “facing weak opponents.”

 

In APEX Legends, each game has a total of 60 players divided into teams of 3. Excluding yourself and your teammates, you need to eliminate the other 19 teams, totaling 57 players, to win. In Gabriel’s game data… she killed 17, assisted in 3, cooperated in 2, which means her team eliminated 22 players, nearly a third of the players in the entire game!

 

You have to understand, this is a battle royale game, with a very large map. Generally, when everyone lands, there’s a chance of a fight. Often, within three to five minutes of landing, four or five teams are eliminated. Later on, as the circle shrinks, these teams will continue to eliminate each other. Even if a professional player jumps to a hot spot and keeps fighting non-stop, reaching such data also requires a certain amount of luck.

 

“Angels are like this. When they’re serious, their brains can surpass the computing power and reaction speed of a computer CPU,” explained Yin Xiamo beside me when she saw my curiosity.

 

“Nuo’er, I’ve watched the game you’re playing. It requires quick judgment of information and a certain level of shooting skills.”

 

“But…”

I remembered my own set of terrible peripherals and display screen.

 

“Can Gabriel’s reaction really be this strong?”

 

“If it were my true self, I could achieve it too. When Fei Luo is serious, she can reach about 50-60% of Gabriel’s reaction speed.”

 

Yin Xiamo sat on the bed, opening the bag of clothes we bought.

 

“After we left just now, she probably practiced shooting alone for a long time, memorizing all the trajectories of the guns in the training grounds. In actual combat, she can almost never miss a shot. Plus, her brain’s extremely strong processing power for information, even if the enemy moves, she can react to the gun within a fraction of a second. Nuo’er, you said this game is heavy on shooting, right?”

 

“Ah…”

I hesitated for a moment. “Indeed.”

 

“Besides that, fundamentally, this game is also a kind of warfare simulation. Over the thousands of years, we’ve fought countless battles. Although we don’t have firearms where we come from, most magic spell trajectories are linear. If Gabriel, an angel, can’t react the moment the enemy appears based on the trajectory of their magic or aim at the enemy, she’s likely to get injured easily.”

 

Yin Xiamo continued explaining, “As long as she sees the enemy’s figure on the screen or hears any movement through her headphones, even just a little, she can quickly move the camera, lock on, and shoot. Once she shoots, she almost never misses, and she can keep moving to avoid being hit, while most Earthlings sometimes don’t even know where the enemy is when they get busy. That’s where the difference lies, isn’t it?”

 

I turned to Gabriel in front of the computer. “Sister Gabriel, is it like this?”

 

“The enemies in this game are too stupid. If they had this reaction speed in ancient wars, they would definitely die.”

 

Gabriel didn’t express agreement or disagreement. “But I still can’t understand why humans here can create machines like this, and such stimulating games, it’s simply… simply a masterpiece of the gods.”

 

“Gabriel’s visual and body micro-control abilities are the strongest among us. After all, in the past, the majority of the battle angels were flying in the sky, acting as reconnaissance units.”

 

Yin Xiamo took out the T-shirt with the words “Fallen Angel” printed on it.

 

“Nuo’er, you probably didn’t mention anything about the display resolution to her, did you? Gabriel, let me ask you a question. If this monitor could separate the colors it displays, how many color points do you think the length and width could be subdivided into?”

 

“Huh? Separate the colors?”

 

Gabriel paused for a moment, then thought for a moment. “Now that you mention it, I did notice that this thing you call a monitor seems to be made up of many little glowing things put together. Let me see… for the length and width, the length should be 1920 small light points, and the width should be 1080 small light points. But there are two points on this monitor that are always dark, I don’t know if they’re broken or what the situation is.”

 

Hiss…

Gabriel’s answer gave me a feeling of being “shocked.” She could even directly perceive the resolution of the monitor? Was this magic or real… were angel eyes that terrifying?

 

Can Gabriel, Xiao Mo, and Fei Luo all do such exaggerated things?

 

“Don’t make that kind of expression.”

 

Seeing me standing still, Yin Xiamo chuckled. “Nuo’er, you can do it too.”

 

“Huh? Huh?”

 

I was astonished. “I can do it too? No way! I can’t see the resolution of a monitor at all.”

 

“It’s not about resolution. What I mean is, Nuo’er, if you really focus on it, you could reach about one-third of Gabriel’s level. But your brain hasn’t fully developed yet, and you’ve been busy with work during this time, so you haven’t played games and haven’t noticed.”

 

Yin Xiamo gestured to my hands. “Nuo’er, you can try now. Use both hands, draw circles with your left hand and squares with your right hand.”

 

“Like this?”

 

I extended a finger and tried on the tabletop as Yin Xiamo instructed, drawing circles with my left hand and squares with my right hand.

 

No problem, right?

 

“In fact, many people on Earth can’t do this kind of thing, you know?”

 

The girl on the bed laughed.

 

“The human brain has limited processing power. Some people, when playing similar shooting games, during the tension and gunfight process, all of their brain’s computing power will be allocated to controlling their hands—controlling the gun, aiming, shooting, commanding the eyes to focus on the enemy… These commands fill up the entire brain, while their eyes continue to receive messages. For example, seeing new enemies appear in the corner. But the brain can’t handle so much information, so it chooses to ignore the eye’s prompts, leading to situations where they end up fighting with someone and then getting taken advantage of by another team.”

 

“In some MOBA games, I’ve also seen similar situations on the Tongmeng website’s app. Isn’t there a mini-map in the bottom right corner? Some people’s brains can’t multitask. Even if they see information on the mini-map during intense matchups, they can’t process it in time and end up getting ambushed by enemies.”

 

“So, Nuo’er, you can imagine Gabriel in a state of focus as a machine that can process all information and hardly ever makes mistakes, a machine that can consider every frame and every pixel.”

 

Isn’t that too terrifying?

 

If that’s the case, Gabriel herself is basically… a devastating blow to games, especially competitive ones.

 

It seems like my imagination is still too impoverished.

 

Indeed, individuals like Gabriel and Fei Luo, who have lived for thousands of years, won the War of the Demon King, and are good friends with the Grim Reaper Momo, are not ordinary.

 

Maybe in the future, I could reach a level similar to Gabriel in novels. If that’s true, then am I currently in a state of “super underclocking” because I haven’t fully developed yet?

 

When I first turned into a little girl, I did feel that my brain was much more active. Both my physical reaction speed and my brain’s thinking ability were much stronger than when I was an adult. I thought this was already surpassing human limits. Could it be that Xiao Mo intentionally suppressed the abilities of this body, plus the fact that I haven’t fully developed yet?

 

I cast a somewhat complex look towards Yin Xiamo on the small bed, feeling a small sense of gratitude for some reason.

 

Using an avatar to communicate with me is probably a similar concept.

 

Xiao Mo… She would rather give up the vast majority of her memories and abilities, rather “descend as a mortal,” be oppressed by life, make herself appear silly like an ordinary person, just to uphold my dignity.

 

This feeling is like… when a human sees a little kitten, worrying that their size might scare the kitten, so they use magic to turn themselves into a kitten too, then discard most of their human cognition and memories, licking each other’s fur with their beloved kitten, purring at each other, happily bouncing around together in the wild, chasing butterflies together, and rolling on the ground because of a human’s teasing stick.

 

Anyway, Xiao Mo really didn’t have to accompany me, an ordinary person, like this… renting a house, buying groceries, cooking, working at the cafe every day, living such a simple life.

 

“Why are you suddenly looking at me like that?”

 

Perhaps my gaze was a bit too “intense,” Yin Xiamo lifted her little head.

 

“Does the little kitten want milk again?”

 

“It’s not like that!”

 

I turned my head away. “I’m just thinking, when I grow up to be as formidable as Gabriel, what method should I use to knock down a certain Miss Grim Reaper?”

 

“I’m looking forward to that day!”

 

Seeming to know that I would say something like that, Yin Xiamo just mischievously smiled. She picked up the “Fallen Angel” T-shirt and handed it to Gabriel, then gestured to the shoes and socks on the bedside table.

 

“Here, these are what Nuo’er and I just bought.”

 

Gabriel picked up the T-shirt. “Are these also handmade products from Earth? They’re almost on par with the quality of items from the Holy Heaven!”

 

“These are all mass-produced in factories,” Yin Xiamo replied.

 

Getting up from the small bed, Yin Xiamo said, “Don’t get too engrossed. Remember to try on the clothes. If there’s anything that doesn’t fit, you can return it early. Got it?”

 

“Okay.”

 

Gabriel then pressed the “Ready” button in the bottom left corner of the game and casually pulled off her dress, putting on the “Fallen Angel” T-shirt.

 

Seeing her without a bra, I quickly covered my eyes.

 

“No need to be so nervous, Nuo’er is also a girl, and this angel lady doesn’t mind,” Yin Xiamo reassured.

 

She then took my hand and led me out of the room. “Gabriel, what do you like to eat?”

 

“I prefer vegetables or fruits, with rice if possible, just vegetarian.”

 

“You and Fei Luo, one loves vegetarian dishes, the other loves meat. Let’s just buy a bit of everything.”

 

“……”

……

 

“Just turn your body a bit…”

 

In the corridor outside the room, the girl beside me gestured for me to turn away from her. Then I felt a slight itch on my head, as Xiao Mo seemed to have taken something out of my hair.

 

“An almond blossom.”

 

Soon, the girl opened her hand, letting me see the small yellow flower in her palm.

 

“These almond trees outside often drop these small flowers. Nuo’er, you should check before going inside.”

 

“What’s the big deal?”

 

I touched my head and adjusted the strands of hair next to my ponytail. “Xiao Mo, turn around for a moment.”

 

“What’s wrong?”

 

The girl in front of me turned around, facing away from me, and asked curiously, “I’m sure there are no flowers on my head…”

 

“Just turn around!”

 

As I said this, I took off a cherry blossom hairpin I bought a few days ago from my bangs, tiptoed, and clipped it onto Xiao Mo’s forehead.

 

*Click.*

 

I didn’t know when it started, but things like hair ties and hairpins, which only girls would have, have become more common in my life. The street stalls and small shops selling “girl accessories” that I never paid attention to on my way to and from work have now started to attract me.

 

This little hairpin was something I recently picked up at a roadside shop, and it was not expensive, just two yuan each.

 

“Why all of a sudden…”

 

Seeing me clip the hairpin onto my her forehead, Yin Xiamo was first surprised, but then seemed to accept it without moving the hairpin.

 

“Why do you act like a child?”

 

“You said it yourself before, I could act like a child.”

 

Sticking out my tongue at her, I dashed towards the entrance. “Let’s go check out another market today.”

 

Ever since that supermarket near the vegetable garden opened, where the nearby grandparents’ vegetables could be purchased collectively, the vegetable market near Starlight Elementary School has become considerably quieter.

 

Though even with a few fewer stalls in the free market, there hasn’t been much issue with daily grocery shopping. But considering that Gabriel is coming over tonight, and there are quite a few people at the rental house, we need to buy quite a few things.

 

So, I decided to go to another market in the Nanqi District. That market is relatively larger, but the journey is a bit farther compared to the vegetable garden behind the neighborhood, so Xiao Mo and I plan to bike there.

 

“Come on.”

 

With the bunny backpack on my back, Xiao Mo took the initiative to bring out my little bicycle from the nearby parking spot, sat on it, and gestured for me to step onto the back pedals.

 

“You can’t suddenly speed like you did before.”

 

I stepped onto the pedals behind the bike’s rear wheel. “Steady.”

 

“Okay, okay, whatever the wife says.”

 

Once both of my hands were on her shoulders, Yin Xiamo rode the bike out. “Got a good grip?”

 

“I’ve got it.”

 

“Whew, whew, whew—”

 

Amidst the smooth rolling of the wheels, the girl in front rode the bike with me out of the neighborhood, slowly moving along the quiet tree-lined paths of the Nanqi District, with a gentle breeze blowing.

 

“Nuo’er.”

 

“What’s up?”

 

“Nothing… nothing at all…”

 

“You’re being mysterious, I’ll bite!”

 

I leaned in close to the girl’s ear and bit her earlobe, speaking unclearly. “Quick… tell me!”

 

“Ah, okay okay okay, it’s just… ”

 

Yin Xiamo spoke in a pleading tone, “It’s just that, by bringing so many people from other worlds here, wouldn’t it disturb Nuo’er’s life?”

 

Adding on, Xiao Mo said, “If Nuo’er doesn’t like it, I can remove the teleport coordinates.”

 

“Well… it might be a bit disruptive, indeed.”

 

I released my mouth. “But I also really want to meet Xiao Mo’s friends, or rather… hmm, comrades? I want to thank them in person for taking care of Xiao Mo all these years.”

 

“Nuo’er, are you serious?”

 

Yin Xiamo seemed somewhat surprised. “Aren’t you afraid they’ll laugh at you like Fei Luo does when they find out you’re a reincarnated hero?”

 

“I am, but it’s something I have to face eventually.”

 

I lifted my head and looked up at the sunlight above. “Anyway, with your personality, Xiao Mo, even if they wanted to, those people wouldn’t be able to intrude on our little world.”

 

“How would you know that!”

 

“Do I really need to know? It’s obvious. When Gabriel came over and just hugged me, Xiao Mo, you acted like the wife who saw her husband taken away…”

 

“Alright, Nuo’er, you dare bring that up…”

 

“No no no, my mistake, forget I said anything. Xiao Mo, could you drive a bit slower…”

 

“……”

 

Amidst laughter and chatter, ten minutes later, Xiao Mo and I arrived at the entrance of the market located on the west side of the Nanqi district.

 

After parking our bikes at the market entrance and securing them, I carried the small backpack and walked into the market with Xiao Mo.

 

“It’s quite big.”

 

The location of this market was not too remote, but perhaps due to the sparse population in the Nanqi district and the fact that it wasn’t rush hour, there weren’t many people at the market at this time.

 

“Let’s go buy some vegetables first.”

 

After observing a few shops near the market entrance, Xiao Mo and I approached one of the vegetable stalls.

 

Unlike the market behind the Starry Garden residential area, where the stalls were more specialized, with one selling spinach and another selling cabbage, here at this market, the variety of vegetables was much more diverse.

 

“Do we really have to buy like they do in the videos? Isn’t that inappropriate?”

 

At this moment, there were already two burly men standing in front of the vegetable stall. Speaking with a northern accent, they seemed to be good friends. One of the men looked hesitant and said to his companion, “Won’t we get ripped off?”

 

“I’m not sure, but I’ve seen in videos that you can buy like this. We don’t have enough money, so why don’t you go get some more?”

 

Though I was curious about what these two were doing, Xiao Mo and I still approached them. After quickly scanning the stall and rummaging through the tomatoes, I picked out two with good color and handed them to the stall owner.

 

“Are you selling two as well?”

 

The northern man next to him was shocked. “Are you two little ladies here to buy groceries too?”

 

Ignoring the two men, I rummaged through the vegetables again and picked out two bunches of scallions.

 

The man was even more surprised. “You’re selling such small amounts of scallions?!”

 

Seeing that the mustard greens at the stall looked good, I picked out two bunches and handed them to the owner.

 

“Do you have corn?”

 

Thinking that I hadn’t eaten corn at home for a long time, I decided to buy some and maybe cook it with minced pork.

 

“We do.”

 

The owner of the stall gestured to another table nearby. “I also have stuff there. Do you want corn kernels or whole corn?”

 

The man beside me exclaimed, “Corn kernels too? What a service!”

 

“I’ll take the corn kernels, one pound.”

 

“Sure.”

 

After packing everything for me, the owner turned to the two men. “What do you two want to buy?”

 

“Well…”

 

One of the men cautiously spoke up, “Can we have three tomatoes?”

 

“Of course, feel free to choose.”

 

“Can you really sell like this?”

 

“Are you guys from the north?”

 

“Yeah, what about it?”

 

“Nothing, just pick what you want. The tomatoes are over there.”

 

With bags in hand, I scanned the QR code and paid. Looking around, I walked with Xiao Mo towards the nearby “Authentic Free-Range Chicken Shop” with a sign hanging saying “Freshly Slaughtered and Sold”.

 

“Do you want some chicken soup tonight?”

 

“Sure.”

 

The girl beside me seemed quite happy.

 

“Nuo’er is making a loving chicken soup just for me, hehehe…”

 

“Don’t get too excited. Do you prefer regular chicken or black chicken for the soup?”

 

“Black chicken!”

 

“Should I add mushrooms or chestnuts when simmering the soup?”

 

“Um… chestnuts, I guess.”

 

“Alright, I’ll buy a whole black chicken and add some chestnuts and wolfberries. Does that sound good?”

 

“Sounds great, anything you cook tastes delicious, Nuo’er.”

 

“Always flattering. Tonight, I’ll cook and you’ll do the dishes.”

 

“……”

 

As I left the stall, I could still hear the conversation between the two men and the owner:

 

“Boss, can you reduce the amount of ginger here… I don’t need to buy a lot.”

 

“How much do you need? If you just need a little, you can take some for free, no need to pay.”

 

“Maybe just… about two or three, to get rid of the smell when we go back.”

 

“Then take it with you.”

 

“Seriously? Can we really do that?”

 

“What’s the matter, buddy? If you want to pay, I don’t mind. Even a penny or two is money, haha.”

 

In front of the market’s free-range chicken shop, I glanced at the board displaying several slaughtered black chickens, chose one, and handed it to the shopkeeper.

 

“Cut it into pieces.”

 

“It seems that even within the same country, there are significant differences between regions.”

 

My companion, Xiao Mo, commented, “Fei Luo adapts well. I’m worried that Gabriel might cause some trouble here due to her habits.”

 

I casually remarked, “Xiao Mo, as a demon, can’t you control an angel?”

 

“I don’t know if I can control angels.”

 

The girl beside me gave a somewhat challenging look, “But I’m sure I can handle little kittens.”

 

“You wish!”

I refused to back down, saying, “Then I won’t cook for you tonight.”

 

“No, no, no, my dear wife, I was wrong.”

 

Hearing me say that, Xiao Mo quickly leaned in and said, “Tomorrow night, my dear wife will be on top, okay?”

 

“I never said we’re going to do that kind of thing tomorrow night.”

 

Taking the chicken cut by the shopkeeper, paying the money, I casually stuffed all the bags into Xiao Mo’s arms.

 

“Be safe when you go to the other world at night, and don’t bring back any strange things.”

 

“……”

 

……