Chapter 25: Addicted to Killing Zombies, Can't Stop
The zombies moved very slowly, and the cartoon-style zombies weren't particularly scary either, but Wen Lingwei still felt a sense of tension. As the zombies shuffled step by step toward the two Peashooters, she couldn't help but feel a little nervous.
Just then, the two Peashooters began spitting peas. With a series of "puff puff puff" sounds, the peas continuously pelted the zombie's body.
Before long, the zombie's hand fell off, and soon its head dropped too. The headless zombie collapsed to the ground, dead.
Wen Lingwei breathed a sigh of relief and thought to herself, "That's it? Pretty simple. Guess it really is a casual game—not too hard."
"But the concept is pretty interesting, though. How did they even think to combine plants and zombies? And it's weirdly satisfying."
Soon, Wen Lingwei cleared the first level and earned a new card: Sunflower. She moved on to the next level.
The early levels were basically a breeze—anyone paying attention could pass them. Following the tutorial, Wen Lingwei kept unlocking new plants.
Sunflower, Cherry Bomb, Wall-nut... one new plant after another kept unlocking.
The combat attributes of these plants matched their characteristics perfectly, making them easy to remember.
All the various plants, zombies, and even the weird neighbor "Crazy Dave" fit together seamlessly, giving the game a very complete world-building feel with nothing out of place.
Wen Lingwei felt that although this was a casual little game, it was made with great care and was incredibly fun. Before she knew it, she was completely hooked.
She simply couldn't stop. She charged through Adventure Mode without pause.
After who knows how long, Wen Lingwei suddenly noticed a pop-up in the bottom right corner of the screen: a reminder that there were only five minutes left until the hour was up.
Wen Lingwei was startled. How had it gone so fast? She felt like she'd only cleared a few levels—how had an hour already passed?
She didn't have time to think too much about it. She was having too much fun to just walk away now.
Wen Lingwei scanned the QR code again and paid another ten yuan, ready to play for two more hours.
A casual little game—surely two more hours would be enough to beat it, right?
...
Noon.
Wen Lingwei took a sip of coffee and kept fighting.
By this point, she had started running into some difficulties. Many specific levels had restrictions on which plants she could use, which threw her off.
Moreover, more and more new types of zombies were appearing: Pole Vaulting Zombie, Dancing Zombie, Newspaper Zombie, Screen Door Zombie, and so on. Each had its own unique traits, requiring specific plants to counter them.
The first time Wen Lingwei encountered these zombies, she suffered losses because she wasn't familiar with their abilities, forcing her to restart.
But these small setbacks didn't dampen her fighting spirit. Instead, they made her find the little game even more fun and replayable. The kind of game that required thinking got her really excited.
Before she knew it, it was noon.
Wen Lingwei glanced at her phone and was surprised to see it was already past twelve.
She turned her head and saw Chen Mo still at the counter, staring intently at his laptop screen, lost in thought about something.
Wen Lingwei raised her hand and said, "Store owner."
Chen Mo looked up. "What's up? Having trouble with the game?"
Wen Lingwei said, "No, I just wanted to ask—do you serve lunch here?"
Chen Mo shook his head. "No, but there are restaurants and fast-food places across the street. You can also order delivery."
Wen Lingwei blinked her big eyes. "Store owner, what are you eating? How about you go buy food and grab a portion for me?"
The corner of Chen Mo's mouth twitched slightly. What's this, am I being ordered around now? Should I put up a sign in the store: "No ordering the store owner around"?
"This experience store doesn't offer meal delivery service. Also, no eating inside the store. If you want to eat, you can only do so at the table in the meeting room," Chen Mo said.
Wen Lingwei asked, "Then where do you eat, store owner?"
Chen Mo said, "I usually eat on the second floor."
Wen Lingwei said, "Then I'll eat on the second floor too."
Chen Mo was speechless. "The second floor is private space. No entry allowed."
Wen Lingwei pouted. "Stingy."
Chen Mo: "..."
Wen Lingwei said, "Fine then. Store owner, how about you order a fast-food meal for me? I'll eat in the meeting room later. I'll transfer the money to you."
Chen Mo said, "Can't you order it yourself?"
Wen Lingwei said, "Oh, come on, I'm busy here. I can't spare the hands. Hurry up, I'm hungry."
With that, Wen Lingwei focused back on the computer screen and continued fighting.
Well, there it was—he'd cultivated an internet-addicted girl.
Chen Mo hadn't expected Wen Lingwei to get so hooked that she'd even forget to eat. Since he was hungry too, he pulled out his phone, ordered delivery from a fast-food place, and got two portions.
Chen Mo stood up from the counter, walked around a bit to stretch, and took a look at which level Wen Lingwei was on.
The screen showed a dark scene—it looked like the second major level's night mode. Among the zombie horde, the troublesome Football Zombie had started appearing. Wen Lingwei had clearly failed this level once before and was prepared. As soon as the Football Zombie appeared, she started planting a ton of plants on that lane, trying to overwhelm it with firepower.
She managed to take down the Football Zombie, but the other lanes lacked enough firepower, and the zombies broke through, causing her to lose the game.
"Ah! Damn it!"
Wen Lingwei took a defiant sip of coffee and chose to restart.
Chen Mo couldn't help but smirk. This was normal. In Plants vs. Zombies, each level had only so much sunlight. Spending too many resources to brute-force the Football Zombie would inevitably leave the other lanes under-defended.
Actually, the best way to deal with Football Zombie was with Hypno-shroom, but Chen Mo didn't plan to tip her off. As the saying goes, "A true gentleman doesn't spoil the game." Spoiling things would ruin the gaming experience.
It definitely wasn't because he was holding a grudge over Wen Lingwei's sharp tongue earlier.
Seeing Wen Lingwei so absorbed, Chen Mo felt a bit relieved. It seemed that classic games were still classics in this parallel world. Good games never go out of style, and they don't suffer from cultural transplant issues.
Based on the game's full content, if an experienced player played through Adventure Mode's first playthrough, it would take about five hours. Clearing the entire Adventure Mode would take about eight hours.
Including the other mini-games, if someone was truly gifted and grinded like crazy, they could finish it in two days.
Of course, Endless Mode was another story—that could be played for a lifetime.
But for a beginner, they definitely couldn't breeze through level after level like a veteran. There would inevitably be a learning and research process.
And casual games weren't meant to be grinded to death. Playing two hours a day, plus time for studying, it would take about a month to fully master the entire game.
Even after clearing everything, Endless Mode and friend rankings were still waiting ahead—it was a bottomless pit.
So, Wen Lingwei thinking she could beat the game in two more hours? In Chen Mo's eyes, that could only be described with one word: naive!