I chatted with Sister Ruolin until noon and mooched a chicken stew meal off her.
The afternoon sunlight was languid.
The aftereffects of staying up late finally hit me. Feeling a wave of exhaustion, I decided to head back to the internet cafe and find a few chairs to sleep on for a while.
As I passed through an alley, several tourists on the left walked by chatting and laughing, while hurried footsteps came from the right. Someone laughed maniacally. "The city inspectors are here! Run!"
A figure rushed out of the alley, clutching a bundle to her chest. She looked flustered as she ran, constantly glancing back.
Lu Xiaobei!
I froze slightly.
"Ding Han!"
Lu Xiaobei spotted me too and hurriedly stuffed the bundle into my arms. "Run, run!"
Without asking what was going on, I instinctively followed her into another alley.
Lu Xiaobei seemed very familiar with the Old City District's layout. She led me through countless twists and turns before finally ducking into a nearly deserted alley. The danger was gone. She plopped down on a flowerbed, gasping for breath, her face flushed red from the intense run.
"What happened?!"
I set down the bundle. "What is this?"
After opening it, I found a pile of small plaques printed with various surnames on the front and Creek City designs on the back. There were also some little pendants bearing Creek City's logo, all tourist-culture trinkets.
"It isn't easy being a street vendor these days..."
Lu Xiaobei patted her chest with lingering fear and smiled at me. "Good thing I ran into you. Otherwise, those city inspectors probably would've gotten their hands on me."
I was speechless. "Was that really necessary? Feiyang Internet Cafe isn't enough to support you?"
"You don't understand."
Lu Xiaobei said, "There are four internet cafes on Forward Street. The competition is fierce. Even though we're next to Creek City University, business still isn't easy. Our cafe has few computers. Including the three you fixed, we only have twenty-three machines that can access the internet. The other three cafes all have thirty or forty machines at least."
She glanced at me. "If I don't scrimp and save, keep buying new machines, and make Feiyang Internet Cafe bigger and stronger, the other three cafes will eventually snatch away all our customers!"
"I didn't expect you to have such a strong sense of crisis."
I smiled awkwardly.
Lu Xiaobei crouched down and began sorting through the trinkets in the bundle.
"Didn't you go take photos for an inn?" I asked.
"I finished."
Lu Xiaobei said, "I might be pretty, but my rates are high. You get what you pay for. Those inn owners are all stingy, so how could there be that much work to take on?"
She kept talking to herself, then suddenly looked up and smiled at me. "Business was pretty good this morning. A few tourists on a family road trip visited my stall, and I made over two hundred yuan in just half a morning. Impressive, right?"
"Impressive."
I asked, "Are you setting up your stall again this afternoon?"
"Of course. The weather is nice today, sunny and pleasant. I have to seize the chance to make money."
She picked up the bundle and smiled. "I'm off to set up my stall. You should head back."
"Mm."
I nodded. Watching her retreating back, I couldn't help asking, "Lu Xiaobei, did you eat lunch?"
"What, are you treating me?" She turned to look at me, anticipation on her face.
"Of course not. I'm still waiting for you to advance my salary."
"Stop talking. My head hurts. I'm leaving."
She waved her hand and eagerly headed toward a group of tourists.
Late at night.
The overnight session began again. Business at the internet cafe wasn't great, with only twelve overnight customers. Most were teenage boys and girls from the Funeral Love Family playing Audition, while one or two middle-aged men who could make a pack of cigarettes last all night played Legend of Mir. In the silent night, the only sound in the cafe was the clatter of keyboards.
I reclined the attendant's chair and used it as a bed, narrowing my eyes to rest for a while.
People were chatting in the Star Map, and I began lurking like crazy.
Only after their conversation had started to run dry did I finally spend 1% of my Experience Points to officially enter the Star Map. "Brothers, I'm new here. I'd like to ask about someone. Have you seen a player called Chasing Light?"
"Nope..."
A player with a deep, mature voice laughed. "There aren't too many players around Creek City. Most came from the wilderness. Brother, if you really want to find someone, I suggest going to Crimson Dragon Country. I heard that most National Server players spawned over there. That's our main base."
"Oh, I see..."
A little disappointed, I smiled. "Thanks. It's fine, I'll keep looking."
"Mm-hm. A lot of us are looking for friends too, but this can't be rushed. The Friend System hasn't been released in the game yet, and everyone's waiting for it. Once the Friend System comes out, we can at least search IDs and add people. Finding someone then won't be so troublesome."
"Mm, thanks!"
I nodded and stopped wasting precious Experience Points, directly leaving the Star Map chatroom.
After that, I casually opened the regional rankings. A whole list of unfamiliar IDs immediately came into view—
1. Gun Like a Dragon Level: 14 Class: Starry Sky Super Weapon 2. One Blade Into Soul Level: 13 Class: Starry Sky Super Weapon 3. Milk Tea Life-Extending Immortal Level: 13 Class: Starry Sky Super Weapon 4. Chaos Demon King Level: 12 Class: Starry Sky Super Weapon 5. Lu Xun Deletes Comments Overnight Level: 12 Class: Starry Sky Super Weapon 6. Bunny Critical Hit Level: 12 Class: Firepower Specialist 7. Zu'an Liberal Arts Top Scholar Level: 12 Class: Psionicist 8. Chen Jinnan Level: 11 Class: Starry Sky Super Weapon 9. Ruolin Level: 11 Class: Starry Sky Super Weapon 10. I'm Bad But Can Talk Trash Level: 11 Class: Firepower Specialist
Looking at the levels on the rankings, I frowned slightly. There were plenty of monsters out there!
The top three—Gun Like a Dragon, One Blade Into Soul, and Milk Tea Life-Extending Immortal—were undoubtedly monsters. Anyone who could reach such levels at this stage either had exceptional skill or a deep pool of resources.
But according to what Sister Ruolin had revealed while chatting, players didn't spawn into this world through the legendary method of "cloning." Instead, they directly appeared in another version of themselves. I understood that deeply. This body was nearly identical to my real one. Even my scars and birthmarks were exactly the same. It was far more than simple cloning.
However, the hosts players spawned into were generally not wealthy or powerful. Almost everyone had to start from scratch. That made it easy to imagine just how formidable the top three players were!
When I saw the worthy, I had to strive to be like them. I needed to learn from them!
"Beep!"
Just then, a WeChat message popped up on my phone.
I opened it and saw a message from Sister Ruolin. "We've decided to form a five-person team tomorrow and check out a newly spawned map outside the city. I'm confirming with you—would you like to join the team?"
"Sure."
I replied immediately. "Are my thousand 9mm peanuts ready?"
"They're ready. You can trust Sister Ruolin to get things done."
Ruolin added a dog-head emoji.
I asked again, "Where are we meeting tomorrow?"
"Health Road, at the bus stop outside Creek City Third People's Hospital. Nine in the morning. Just wait there when you arrive. Someone on our side has an eighteenth-hand Santana that can take us out of the city."
"Alright. See you then."
"Mm, see you then!"
After putting down my phone, I felt a faint thrill in my heart. At last, I could leave the city to kill monsters and level up. What my SS-rank Essence Furnace lacked most right now was the chance to extract Experience Points. It was starving for them!
The next morning.
"Attendant, the overnight session is over. Open up."
I was woken from my dreams. I immediately grabbed the keys and raised the rolling shutter, letting a group of Funeral Love Family members with pale, corpse-like faces leave.
Outside, Zhao Yihang approached carrying several buns and a bag of soy milk. He smiled. "Ding Han, how does working the night shift feel?"
"Great my ass..." I was speechless.
"Ha ha ha ha~~~"
Zhao Yihang patted my shoulder. "Our Boss Lu putting you on night shifts means she values you. She wants to train you into Feiyang Internet Cafe's commander-in-chief. Why do you think she doesn't schedule me for night shifts?"
"Tsk, that's fresh."
I smiled. "Want to switch with me?"
"No way. I'm afraid too many late nights will give me kidney deficiency. The junior girls in our School of Business Administration are still waiting for me to care for them."
Zhao Yihang might not be good at anything else, but his boasting skills were truly impressive enough to make people convinced.
"Ding Han."
At that moment, footsteps came from upstairs. Lu Xiaobei came down dressed beautifully. She ignored Zhao Yihang as though she hadn't even seen him, her gaze falling on my phone.
"You bought a phone?"
"Mm."
I nodded. "A friend sold it to me on credit. How could I have money?"
"Did you install WeChat? Add me as a friend. If anything happens at the internet cafe, we can communicate in time."
"Alright."
As I added her, Zhao Yihang muttered beside me, "Boss, I've worked at the internet cafe for so long. How come I've never seen you take the initiative to add me on WeChat?"
"A phone call is enough. What would we add WeChat for?"
Lu Xiaobei demonstrated differential treatment to perfection.
By then, my friend request had gone through. I saw Lu Xiaobei's WeChat name. It was rather distinctive: Northern, followed by a cherry blossom, an ocean wave, and a leaf. One look told me she was someone who could never sit still, perfectly matching her personality.
Afterward, Lu Xiaobei and I went our separate ways in front of the internet cafe. She went to the Old City District to take photos for people, while I made a detour to a breakfast shop, bought several buns and a bag of soy milk, then headed to the bus stop. I finished eating there, rested briefly with my arms folded over my chest, and gathered my energy for today's adventure outside the city.
Before nine o'clock, a rusty-looking Santana slowly pulled up in front of the bus stop.
The driver was a middle-aged man with sharp brows and bright eyes, fairly handsome in a rugged way. What drew the most attention was his bearing—the calm, composure, and steadiness of a middle-aged man. His Left Hand held the steering wheel as he turned to look at me.
In the front passenger seat sat a big, burly man, staring at me with wide eyes.
"Ding Han!"
The rear window rolled down, revealing Sister Ruolin's beautiful face. As she shifted farther inside, she smiled. "Get in. Squeeze into the back with us."
I looked down and saw another woman beside Sister Ruolin. She was also very pretty, but her expression was rather cold, unlike Sister Ruolin's warmth.
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