novelbin Chapter 182 Mingpo and Ai Shiping's Childhood
Chapter 182 Mingpo and Ai Shiping's Childhood
Chapter 182 Mingpo and Ai Shiping's Childhood
Thinking of this, Mingpo went to take a look at Gao Fan's bedroom.
There's no one in bed yet, which means Gao Fan hasn't cleared the level yet. He probably won't be out anytime soon.
Should he take this opportunity to contact "Nyarlathotep"?
In a true Cthulhu universe, this would be suicidal. It's at a level so dangerous it could trigger a massive attack on the spot.
However, Mingpo felt that there shouldn't be any major problems on his side.
The other party's nickname is "Nyarlathotep," so how could it be the real Nyarlathotep? There's no such thing as a scammer's nickname being "scammer."
Furthermore, this world doesn't have any K-pop elements; it's probably just cosplay. Otherwise, just knowing the name would probably have gotten me tested. Considering the other person's avatar is Nyarlathotep, it might even qualify as role-playing.
Rather, it would be more accurate to say that in a world where Cthulhu culture is prevalent, Cthulhu elements should be impossible to exist.
Mingbo pondered, toying with the silver oak blade.
He flicked out the blade, deftly tossed the knife up, and then used each of his five fingers in turn to flick the handle up in sequence, starting with his thumb and then flicking it back around with his little finger, just like playing the piano.
The knife spun and danced in the air, threatening to chop off a finger if one wasn't careful. Ai Shiping, watching from the side, was terrified.
But upon closer inspection, he exclaimed in surprise, "Holy crap, Polaris!"
"—What?"
Mingpo was taken aback.
With a slight twist of his wrist, the short dagger that had been spinning and dancing in the air came to a standstill. His base was firmly supported by Mingpo's middle finger, and he gripped the blade with his other hand and pulled it back.
"Wow, it really is the North Star!"
Ai Shiping's eyes lit up: "Where did you buy it from?!"
"This is a micro-technology knife—want to play with it?"
Mingpo chuckled softly, flicked out the blade, and tossed it gently into the air.
He took a half step back, clearly not intending to catch it.
Ai Shiping immediately understood Mingpo's meaning.
He took a step forward, intending to grab the blade that was spinning and falling from the sky.
The blade gleamed silver, its light exploding in the air like a flower. It was like a flower with a blue-silver inner ring and a blood-red outline on the outermost edge. That was the smudged blood at the tip of the silver oak blade.
Unfortunately, Ai Shiping's eyesight and agility were ultimately inferior to Mingpo's.
He suddenly reached out, trying to grab the blade.
However, Ai Shiping's timing was still somewhat lacking.
It's almost like precisely pinching the blades of a spinning electric fan with two fingers to stop it.
He reached out with lightning speed, but failed to grasp the hilt or even the blade. Instead, he struck the blade as if throwing a punch.
--clang!
Ai Shiping did not bleed.
Because his punches were very fast, the "chariot" provided him with a considerable degree of defense. The blade struck the web of his hand, but only left a white mark as if he had been hit by a plastic knife, and made a sound like metal clashing.
Ai Shiping punched the blade, sending it spinning and flying away!
But this time it spun very slowly, and Ai Shiping easily stepped forward and caught it in mid-air.
He played with the knife with obvious delight, flicking it out and then retracting it. He even boldly extended his finger to test the sharpness of the blade—and this time, with just a light touch, the blade easily cut his finger, drawing blood.
Clearly, when "stationary," even Ai Shiping, who wears the title of "Chariot," has no defensive capabilities whatsoever.
Even so, Ai Shiping did not give up playing with the knife at all.
This is a common hobby among men: they like weapons.
Ai Shiping once vividly told Mingpo a story. When he was in elementary school, he found a tree branch that looked extremely straight in front of his house, which looked like a long spear.
He took it to school and passed it around among the boys for several days. They all had to beg and plead to borrow it from Ai Shiping for a few minutes. During those days, Ai Shiping learned to twirl the stick without any instruction.
Later, another classmate broke the stick; the head, which was originally like a gun barrel, broke off.
Ai Shiping was heartbroken and took it home to try to save it—which was then discovered by his grandfather.
Ai Shiping's grandfather was also a playful old man. After a little research, he took out the popsicle sticks he had collected, glued them together, and carefully sanded them for two days, finally transforming the "spear" into a Green Dragon Crescent Blade. The original spear body was also re-sanded and varnished.
There's even a majestic dragon head carved on the blade!
Ai Shiping took it to school, and it was incredibly impressive.
That day, he was undoubtedly the most dazzling guy in the entire class, even the entire school. Even their principal stopped to admire him when he passed by, and borrowed him to carefully examine him.
—It startled their homeroom teacher, who called their parents that same day.
In the end, Ai Shiping took the Green Dragon Crescent Blade home, where his grandfather carefully repainted it, carved dragon patterns all over the shaft, and enshrined it on a table.
It remained in the living room of the old house until the earthquake struck my hometown.
—Although Mingpo didn’t say anything at the time, he was actually quite envious.
He envied Ai Shiping for finding such a precious wooden stick, and he also envied Ai Shiping for boldly taking it to school to show it off.
I envy him even more for having such a good grandfather who was willing to play with Ai Shiping and also had such creativity.
If Mingpo had found it, he would probably have liked playing with it. But he certainly wouldn't have taken it to school.
Because Mingpu would think that would be too "childish".
Perhaps because she was precocious, Mingpo cared a lot about this when she was a child.
He didn't even like chasing and playing around with his classmates, or pretending to be Ultraman and unleashing special moves.
Whenever his classmates ran around, Xiao Mingpo would sit quietly in his seat, reading with his face held high—or rather, with a sour expression. The noisier others were, the quieter he became; the more others laughed and joked, the more he would put on a serious face and pretend to be mature.
He did indeed possess an inexplicable air of authority. This made the children instinctively afraid to approach him, and even somewhat fearful of him—they not only wouldn't drag Mingpo into the game, but they would also deliberately avoid Mingpo and dare not provoke him during roughhousing.
It wasn't "ignored bullying," but rather "fear." Even though Mingpo had never hit any classmates or held any management position, the other children were instinctively afraid of him. Even their class monitor would consult Mingpo before doing anything.
Although he appears to be a "school bully," he doesn't have anyone gathered around him, nor does he form any small group that follows his lead.
This phenomenon was very strange, and even the teachers were worried that something was wrong, so they cautiously investigated it—after all, Mingpo's primary school is quite prestigious. However, they eventually gave up because they couldn't find any problems.
This may be one of the reasons why Mingpo lacked friends growing up.
Deep down, however, Xiao Mingpo always hoped that someone would shamelessly drag him along to play.
Ideally, it should be the kind of friendship where he keeps resisting, but the other person is extremely stubborn and insists on dragging him into things like a sudden, unexpected robbery.
It's like something out of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha.
Back then, Mingpo quite enjoyed watching these kinds of transformation anime.
From Ultraman to Cardcaptor Sakura, Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, Kamen Rider, Power Rangers—and Saint Tail and Cat's Eye, Superman, Batman, and Spider-Man.
As a child, Mingpo really liked the element of "hiding one's identity in the city".
This might be the reason why he developed such a strange "low-key yet pretentious" personality.
Their current personalities are, in a sense, a reflection of their childhood.