Lu Xiaobei (Thanks to Alliance Leader Zuo Ge Ren 0723!)

The manager's area.

A beautiful woman with long legs poured me a cup of warm water from the water dispenser with a disposable plastic cup. Her eyes shone brightly as she looked at me, "I'm the owner of this internet cafe, my name is Lu Xiaobei. What's yours?"

"Ding Han."

"Okay!"

Lu Xiaobei said, "Our internet cafe's managers work in three shifts. The morning shift is from 8 AM to 4 PM, the evening shift is from 4 PM to 12 AM, and the overnight shift is from 12 AM to 8 AM. We have three managers rotating, with a monthly salary of 1,800. No days off all year. Can you accept this offer?"

"???"

I stared at her, thinking, How can such a beautiful woman be so heartless? Is there any capitalist more heartless than you in this world?

"Boss."

I coughed and said, "I was a bit modest earlier. Actually, I can fix basically all the problems with the computers in the internet cafe. I can also maintain the hardware, and I can even help reinstall the internet cafe system. A skilled worker like me is different from a regular manager. Would you like to reconsider and increase the salary a bit?"

"This..."

Lu Xiaobei was very tempted. She wanted talent but didn't want to spend more money. The words "stingy" were practically written on her face.

"As you can see, our internet cafe's business is quite average. At this time in the morning, there are basically no customers. Even around 8 PM, the computer usage rate is at most 30%. In this situation, I really don't have the ability to offer a higher salary."

She frowned, "How about this, I'll secretly raise your salary to two thousand, but you can't tell the other two managers."

"Deal."

I nodded, "But I'm new here, so I hope you can provide room and board."

"Room and board?"

Lu Xiaobei bit her lip. "Food is not a problem. You can take three buckets of instant noodles from the counter every day. As for accommodation... how about I arrange for you to work the overnight shift? Since there are fewer people during the overnight shift, you can use chairs to make a bed. What do you think?"

I sighed. She was indeed quite honest, and I didn't have any other options at the moment.

"Okay, I want to eat a bucket of instant noodles right now."

"Great!"

Lu Xiaobei was overjoyed.

"Boss, do you provide the five social insurances and one housing fund here?" I asked again.

"What five social insurances and one housing fund?"

Lu Xiaobei looked at me with surprise.

I stopped thinking and quickly opened a bucket of instant noodles, pouring hot water into it. A few minutes later, I didn't even care that it was too hot and wolfed it down, even drinking the soup.

Delicious!

Master Kong Braised Beef Noodles, it lives up to its reputation!

"Ding Han, did you just arrive in Stream City?" Lu Xiaobei asked.

"Mhm."

I nodded, "I'm a wanderer from the wilderness, just entered the city."

"Oh..."

Lu Xiaobei pursed her lips and said, "Three machines in the internet cafe have been malfunctioning recently. Can you fix them?"

"Sure!"

Before I could finish speaking, the task arrived.

[You have triggered the daily quest 〖Fault Maintenance〗 (C-rank)! Quest objective: Repair the computers in Feiyang Internet Cafe and restore at least three computers to working order. Quest reward: Large amount of experience, 〖Step Slash〗 (B-rank) skill scroll!]

Step Slash?

My heart leaped with joy.

Step Slash is a Tier 1 universal skill for Super Weapon Masters. It can greatly increase movement speed, mobility, and survivability for a short period. It can be considered one of the essential skills for Super Weapon Masters!

To get Step Slash for a mere C-rank quest, it's a huge profit!

So, I started to get busy.

I found a screwdriver and opened the host of one of the computers to check the problem.

Lu Xiaobei knelt beside me, holding her knees, and shone a flashlight for me. Her waterfall-like hair cascaded down, emitting a faint fragrance.

"The graphics card is broken."

I frowned, "Do we have spare parts in the internet cafe?"

"I collected some old computer parts before, they're all piled up in the storage room, but I don't know what a graphics card looks like. Can you look for it yourself?"

"Okay."

Led by Lu Xiaobei, I pushed open the door to the storage room. A wave of damp, moldy smell immediately hit me. After turning on the lights, I found that the storage room was actually quite spacious. There were many old computers piled up inside, likely collected cheaply by Lu Xiaobei. It's probable that many of the computers in this internet cafe were assembled this way.

I easily found a compatible graphics card from one of the hosts. After replacing it, the first broken machine restarted and began to work normally.

"Amazing..."

Lu Xiaobei was a little excited and patted my back lightly, "Ding Han, what did you do before? How do you understand such complicated things?"

"I went to Jingxi Technical School and learned how to repair computers. Learn a trade, go to Jingxi! We're number one in computer repair, haven't you heard?" I glanced back at her, spouting nonsense.

"No..."

Lu Xiaobei lowered her head, feeling ashamed of her ignorance, but only for a few seconds.

I started repairing the second computer. This one was even simpler: low disk space and a virus. So, I downloaded Kaspersky, ran a scan, and it was back to normal.

Speaking of which, the internet cafe's system really has a lot of problems. The entire management system should be redone to prevent this kind of situation.

"Ding Han..."

Lu Xiaobei looked at the second computer, which was back to normal, her pretty face full of joy. When she looked at me, her eyes held a sparkle of "good quality and low price."

I started repairing the third computer. This time, it was a power supply issue causing game crashes and screen tearing. I found a replacement power supply in the storage room and swapped it out. The third computer was then online and working normally!

Just then, a notification rang in my ear: Quest Complete!

[Congratulations on completing the daily quest "Fault Maintenance" (C-rank)! Reward: +30,000 Character EXP, and bonus reward: "Step Slash" (B-rank) Skill Scroll!]

Done!

I took a deep breath. While Lu Xiaobei was happily testing out the computers, I leveled up to 10 first. Then, I turned and took out the skill scroll from my dimensional storage space. It was a treasure book emitting a faint green light.

[Step Slash] (B-rank): Instantly dash forward 5 yards in your current direction and gain a protective aura for 2 seconds. Cooldown: 3 seconds. Costs 3 Essence per use. Profession: Super Weapon Master.

With a wave of my hand, I learned it directly. A new icon immediately appeared in my skill bar.

Step Slash is a dash-type skill that allows for instantaneous movement of 5 yards with an extremely short cooldown. It can be used to close in on opponents, evade fire, and also grants a protective aura that reduces damage taken, making it crucial in combat.

The drawback is its high Essence cost. Each use consumes 3 Essence, and a player at full capacity only has 100 Essence. This Essence also needs to supply offensive and defensive skills. Once depleted, you can only wait for the Essence Furnace to slowly recover. Most players simply can't afford to spam such a high-cost skill.

As for me, with an SS-rank Furnace with a 99% conversion rate, I basically have no worries in this regard.

I glanced at my skill experience. I still had over 90,000, enough for the required level-up.

So, I immediately leveled Step Slash up to 10, gaining an additional 6 Strength!

"You're on the night shift today. Find some time to sleep this afternoon."

Lu Xiaobei gave me a disgusted look and said, "You reek. Why don't you go take a shower?"

"I can shower, but I'm broke."

I said helplessly, "Manager Lu, how about you give me an advance on my first month's salary? I can go to the bathhouse."

"Huh?"

Lu Xiaobei frowned. "Forget it, I'll make a sacrifice. I live in the attic above the internet cafe. There's solar hot water up there, so you can go wash up. But this is a one-time thing!"

"Alright..."

At 4 PM, a plump girl with braided pigtails walked into the internet cafe. Her name was Sakura, and she was another internet cafe attendant.

After handing over the host, Lu Xiaobei led me upstairs.

The entire Feiyang Internet Cafe was located in a single-story building. The attic above occupied about a quarter of the second floor's area. It was built with what looked like flimsy plywood, reinforced with steel plates on the outside. I figured even a slight breeze could blow it away.

However, the attic was fully equipped, with a living room, bedroom, bathroom, and shower all included. Lu Xiaobei's boudoir was visible at a glance, with cute wallpapers adorning the walls and a uniquely designed lamp hanging from the ceiling, making it look very cozy.

"The bathroom is over there. Hurry up and wash, make it quick."

"Okay, thanks, boss."

I took a quick shower, still wearing the same clothes.

"Boss."

I glanced at Lu Xiaobei and boldly said, "Actually, your attic space isn't that small. If it's really not enough, you could just partition off a small space for me in the living room. I only need four square meters."

"No!"

Lu Xiaobei's pretty face finally showed a hint of wariness. "Ding Han, what are you trying to do?"

"Don't overthink it."

I said helplessly, "I just want to get a good night's sleep..."

"In any case, it's definitely not happening here."

Lu Xiaobei looked a bit guilty, but her stance didn't waver. "Once business picks up a bit, I'll give you an advance on your salary, and you can find your own place to live."

"Okay."

I nodded and said no more. I went downstairs, dragged a few chairs over, and lay down to sleep in the small space next to the plump girl, Sakura. She looked at me with disgust, as if I were a piece of dog poop.

Perhaps I was too tired. I slept soundly until almost 10 PM.

After waking up, I grabbed a cup of instant noodles and devoured it. I didn't mind it at all. Sakura, sitting nearby, shot me a smile. "Ding Han, the boss went up to sleep. As for me... my boyfriend said he's coming to pick me up for hot pot."

"Oh?"

I glanced at her. "Is he inviting me to eat hot pot too?"

"Don't misunderstand. I mean, can you clock out two hours early?" She put on a cutesy expression that sent shivers down my spine. "Thank you, kind person. May your life be peaceful~~"

"Alright, but don't let it happen again."

For the sake of colleague relations, I didn't refuse.

Sakura left happily, while I went to work early, starting with simple operations like booting up computers and handling checkouts. Not long after, a group of young people with dark circles under their eyes but incredibly high spirits walked in: "Internet cafe manager, we want to book overnight!"

Normally, it cost one yuan per hour to surf the internet, but an eight-hour overnight package was only five yuan, so business was quite good.

After a brief period of busyness, I pulled down the rolling shutter, refusing further customers.

The sound of keyboards clacking echoed throughout the internet cafe. A group of young boys and girls were dancing energetically to popular music, while I sat in my chair, summoning the Star Chart. I called out within the Star Chart: "Newbie online, calling for nearby friends!"

Recommendation tickets are very important during the new book period, and they refresh daily. I humbly request them (ω`)