Chapter 580: NO．162：Young People's Thoughts Are Also Young

NO. 162: Young people's thoughts are also very young.

Perhaps for myself, August 16th is a day worth marking prominently……

Standing in the model shop with shelves lining the walls, Aomo couldn't help but think this way.

The astrologers of the Wastetime Association always say that although human fate fluctuates unpredictably, there will always be three or four special days.

Either they are turning points of fate, or major milestones in life, or simply rock bottoms—one must prepare accordingly to avoid being completely crushed.

So one must come to consult them!

The small package costs two thousand, the medium package ten thousand, a full test is one hundred thousand each, and there's even a foolproof deluxe package—such things can't be said to be useless, but at least the fates observed tend to be changeable.

Often people, to ensure a smooth life, choose to consult them regularly for nearby readings, thus relying on prophecies, becoming enamored with the allure of controlling fate, and thus falling deeper into the intricacies of fate.

The outcome is nothing more than being deceived, having one's money squeezed dry, and dying peacefully in old age—such is the usual flow.

Naturally, the final outcome is the best, but the first two cases are also not uncommon.

The Wastetime Association is merely a platform; those with talent but no virtue, and those with neither talent nor virtue, may all mix within it—at least Aomo never placed hope in those subtle diviners.

Similarly, for fate observation, the supervisory strength of the Gospel of Divine Blessings class is much more reliable than that of the Wastetime Association, though its service range is not as finely diversified in divination as the latter.

But neither comes cheap.

The former Aomo kept his distance; the present Aomo merely considers that he might visit due to horse soul racing in the future, with no basis in his own desire.

Yet at this very moment, he still can't help but think of those diviners' ideas.

Bad gossip, strange announcements.

Unclear past pursuits coming after him, odd present events unfolding.

As a native-born citizen of the Jiemen district who underwent nine years of concurrent science-source education, he can't help but doubt whether his trajectory has encountered some interference of source-energy nature, or perhaps a distortion of causal relations.

But his knowledge reserves in this field are severely lacking, so such doubt is merely speculative.

If one must diverge in thought, then use the causal topic to further associate with the Demon God Zero.

This is also precisely why he appears here.

The official model shop in Akihabara, Jiemen Xiqu, directly connected to GBN and one of over ten thousand stores, while serving as an online purchase pickup point, also directly sells related models.

During the peak years of GBN, its turnover could even rival local horse girl merchandise stores, even expanding in scale to nearly venue-sized areas.

But as GBN's player base gradually dwindled, it too ultimately declined.

Surrounded by countless horse girl merchandise stores, it was defeated beyond recovery, becoming a stubborn holdout, nearly fading into obscurity as an ordinary model shop.

Even the staff came and went in shifts, with only the boss standing firm.

"I say, Aomo..."

The model shop boss, with exposed skin bearing obvious implant modification marks, is truly a soul of steel through and through; likewise, having crystal implants for bodily control, he naturally won't forget his old customers, even if two years have passed, he can still approach with a familiar demeanor.

"The two women you brought..."

"They're interested in GBN." Aomo replied, turning his head to look at this burly man, who, compared to the model shop boss, resembles more a gym trainer.

"Really? Can new players still join now? And female players?"

"Is this what a model shop boss should say?"

"I also feel sad, but this is just the fact," the boss raised both hands to cover his face, saying, he is clearly a Jidong person, with rather flamboyant body movements, yet his speech carries traces of East Yan Culture intertwined, "GBN's broken game version updates so slowly; being able to scrape by as the current top one is already not bad, but comparing it to new games? Completely unqualified."

"But there still needs to be people joining, otherwise how would your store stay open? Relying solely on Gundam fans buying ordinary models?"

Models not needing to be scanned as GBN units, but merely as display pieces, ultimately must be much cheaper.

"Just scraping by, though business was pretty hot these past few days, likely because your cyber horse girl won the championship."

"What logic is that?"

"Let me think," the man thought, raised his hand, and with one sentence bent down a mechanical finger, "Miura Bourbon's comeback, then her skill design itself has Gundam elements, she herself also seems to like Gundam, and newspapers even promoted her as Gundam—roughly like that?"

"What does 'promoted as Gundam' mean?" Aomo was somewhat speechless.

"I'm not clear on the specifics either; you could check Umastagram's topic trends? Those people's topic shifts are quite formidable."

"As a boss, you don't even look into the specific cause of the sales increase?"

"Say that again and I'll call for it—I'll call Aomo Lindun, the trainer, right here!"

"You're already over forty years old."

"Soul of steel, forever young!"

"Step on."

"So those two are the ones you brought in? Really impressive, kid… uh, did you shrink?"

"You just noticed?"

The reunion of two crystal-implanted brain individuals created an atmosphere akin to Sakota resonance, though this might also be because these two years brought no major changes to either.

"Following the atmosphere almost exactly as in memory, we chatted unconsciously—how so? What elixir did you take?"

"I drank the medicine from the subordinate in charge."

"Ah, so it's true—those deeds of Ailisuzhi on the website are real?"

"That depends on what website you're browsing, but I'll discuss that website later."

As Aomo said this, he already saw the new message light up on the light screen.

"Now I need to go check on those two girls."

Aomo, having crossed out the message, waved his hand at him: "You don't need to come over."

"I get it, I get it—first time seeing you with girls around, becoming a trainer really changes things. But still, even as a trainer, would you be interested in human girls?"

"It's not the kind of relationship you're thinking of."

"Sigh, still horse girls, huh? Thinking about how those little girls have such high average mass, all with idol tags, I have an old customer who's always worried those horse-eared girls affect young people's mate selection standards."

"Won't happen—modern people's mate selection standards will only get more chaotic, even transmigrators know to buy a robot first—alright, they're urging over there, I have to leave now."

"OKOK, if you really return to the fold, remember to send a message to Takumi—he complained to me a few days ago that you didn't bring him."

Takumi?

That guy isn't interested in this game, is he?

Although Aomo, who initially deliberately kept his social distance, had interacted with Xiangyu Takumi on GBN, it was only brief.

Compared to Gundam, that guy still prefers Digimon more; even if Aomo simply gave him a Digimon-themed modified Gundam, it would be meaningless.

Shouldn't the guy whose beast tamer soul is burning fiercely be spending every day immersed in the digital world?

Aomo, somewhat surprised that the guy had come here, merely nodded and then walked toward the distant shelves.

With the shelf number indicated in the contact, finding this target point was not difficult.

"Why so slow?" the black-haired Hetong female questioned her, her expression quite dissatisfied.

Meanwhile, the chestnut-haired girl beside her wanted to speak but held back, finally lowering her voice to greet: "Welcome back, M… coach."

"Back already? Had a brief chat with the boss, how was it? Did you find your desired unit again?" Aomo asked softly.

Shouting would be inconvenient.

Whether it's Meipu Bourbon or Narita Hakujin, neither is suitable for shouting out in public, even though both have altered their appearances through technological convenience.

The name Aomo Lindun is the same; in this store directly linked to GBN, it could even resonate more loudly than the previous two names.

After all, this is the name that recently appeared in a server-wide announcement.

Moreover, it was in the form of a ban.

— The evil server-crashing dog ultimately received the due punishment.

This is precisely why that boss asked him to proactively contact Takumi.

Aomo returning to the pit this time can only be with a secondary account or even someone else's account; having already experienced a second palace entry, the golden era's end, this time he could be banned all the way to the end.

And this is likewise the reason he brought Bourbon and Hakujin to the physical model store.

The Magus Zero is purely a limited edition; why don't you consider something else?

Although, given Narita Hakujin's age, the age restriction for the Super Robot Wars series certainly wouldn't stop him, but the threshold for that thing, in various senses, is higher than GBN's.

Purely a fan-oriented work, if it's a mecha game pure layperson, relying solely on liking the appearance of a single unit to play, it's genuinely difficult to get started.

Aomo couldn't possibly stand by and watch her waste time like this; besides, he also felt Bourbon needed a companion more like Tsui than just a casual playmate.

As a senior Uma Musume, she's obviously not bad, though the better choice is actually Maruzen.

After all, not long ago, Maruzen had messaged him, telling him to bring Bourbon along when he came for racing one day.

This message, at first glance, seems quite abrupt, like Maruzen Sukī's indiscriminate promotion of racing, but if one considers Hakujin's great escape lead in the Asu Derby… it's not hard to imagine that Maruzen has the same interest in Hakujin as Hakujin has in Chazuo.

Perhaps he could be a good teacher.

But right now, the one who came to the door is Narita Hakujin.

Although it's unclear how she knew about Magus Zero, he can roughly guess the core reason for her interest in Magus Zero.

Finding a substitute based on this isn't difficult.

So when he saw her simply say "here" and hand over the box, he wasn't surprised either.

"This set has a somewhat high threshold for beginners."

Looking at the string 'GundamExiaDarkMatter' on it, Aomo inevitably thought of that red-haired colleague.

"You are the one who ignited my fighting spirit; are you going to flee from battle?"

"Although I don't understand how this saying is calculated, but okay, needing help is also expected."

Moreover, if it's just snapping together the parts to finish, it's also the most hassle-free among the people I've met today……

He didn't say this out loud, but at this moment, he indeed thought so.