Business Prodigy

Morning, Feiyang Internet Cafe.

I repeatedly dismantled and reassembled a computer host to gain a large amount of skill experience. It's very important for me at this stage to level up several Tier 2 skills to max level!

"Don't eat instant noodles for lunch today."

Lu Xiaobei leaned on the counter and looked at me. "I'll go to Aunt Xue's Restaurant across the street and cook a few dishes for you."

"There's such a good thing?" I was overjoyed.

Lu Xiaobei rolled her eyes and ignored me.

At noon, she indeed returned from the restaurant opposite, carrying a few takeout boxes in a plastic bag. We ate together behind the counter. They were all home-style dishes: shredded pork with garlic sauce, stir-fried cured meat with garlic leaves, and stir-fried kidney flowers.

"So fast?"

I put down what I was doing and picked up a portion of rice to eat.

"Well, their business isn't very good."

Lu Xiaobei said, "I heard that they're not allowed to deliver food into Stream City University anymore. Students are required to eat in the school cafeteria. Apparently, the cafeteria owner is the principal's brother-in-law. The students are all complaining, so the business for restaurants outside the school is bad. Aunt Xue's Restaurant's business is very poor; there are hardly any customers at noon."

"Actually, the taste is quite good."

I wolfed down the food.

"Yeah, I also think their chef's cooking is good," Lu Xiaobei agreed with a nod.

After eating, I cleaned up the lunchboxes, threw them into the trash can outside, and then went back to work.

Lu Xiaobei, holding a cup of milk tea, sat to the side. She took a palm-sized novel out of her pocket and started reading. The novel's name seemed to be something like Don't Speak, There's Someone Under the Bed. I guessed it was either a horror novel or an affair novel.

"Ding Han."

After reading for a while, she put down the book and said, "Quite a few people have been topping up their accounts recently. I've saved up 30,000 yuan. How do you think we can use this 30,000 yuan to make our Feiyang Internet Cafe's business even more popular?"

"Are you asking me something you're ashamed to ask?" I asked.

"Yes!"

She nodded heavily, then rested her chin on her hands, her beautiful big eyes staring straight at me.

"Alright, since you're humbly seeking advice, I'll teach you a thing or two."

I leaned back in my chair and beckoned her over with a finger. "Come closer. The fewer people who know this kind of business secret, the better."

"Okay!"

Lu Xiaobei immediately got up, put her hands on my shoulders, and leaned her ear closer.

"First, our Feiyang Internet Cafe's pricing structure isn't very good. There are only two price tiers. Of course, this is related to the number and quality of our machines, and we can't rush it. However, since we're in the service industry, I think we should focus more on personalized services."

"Mhmm, mhmm!"

She nodded repeatedly. "Continue!"

The faint scent of her perfume reached my nose, and I felt a little dazed.

"We have many long-time internet users in our cafe who sit here for the whole day without even time to eat. I was thinking, since Aunt Xue's Restaurant's business is also not good, why don't we cooperate with them? We can make Aunt Xue's Restaurant our partner and establish an ordering system for Feiyang Internet Cafe. When customers get hungry while online, they can pay at our counter, and we can place an order with Aunt Xue's Restaurant to have the food delivered. This way, both the internet cafe and the restaurant win, and customers get a better online experience."

"Ah?"

Lu Xiaobei's beautiful eyes widened as if a new world had opened up. "Ding Han... you truly are a business prodigy!"

"Praise me later."

I showed a look that suggested this was just the appetizer and continued, "Actually, it's not just about meals; milk tea is the same. It's a bit troublesome to buy a milk tea making machine for our internet cafe. But there's a milk tea shop less than fifty meters away. Their business is also average. We can go and talk to them about cooperation and establish an order channel between Feiyang Internet Cafe and their milk tea shop."

"Okay, okay!"

Lu Xiaobei nodded gently. "I can go and talk to them about the cooperation."

"Mm."

I nodded slightly. "Furthermore, for the customers' online and gaming experience, I think we can also create a voice broadcast system."

"Ah?"

Lu Xiaobei's mouth slightly opened. "Wh-what do you mean?"

"It means exactly what it says."

I smiled. "Take Legend, for example. If a player logs into their account in our internet cafe, and they are a Level 42 Blaze Warrior, but no one knows it when they log in, they'll feel rather bored. But if we establish an automatic game data collection system, once it captures a certain threshold of the player's game data, and when they log in, there will be a voice broadcast throughout the internet cafe. For instance: 'Welcome, Level 42 warrior Dao Dao Lie Huo from Legend Server 7, logging in on Machine 22.' Or, 'Welcome, Level 71 Bishop Wo Ju Neng Nai from Digimon World, logging in on Machine 18.' Wouldn't that provide a completely different experience?"

"..."

Lu Xiaobei was dumbfounded, staring at me blankly.

"How is it? Shocked?"

"To be honest, I'm truly shocked..."

Lu Xiaobei looked at me deeply. "Ding Han, how did you come up with these ideas?"

"By delving deep into the psychological needs of customers, you could have thought of them too."

"But..."

Lu Xiaobei said, "Establishing such a voice broadcast system would cost quite a lot of money, right?"

"No need to spend money, I can write the program. It won't be too difficult, just grabbing game information from members' computers and setting certain trigger values is enough."

"Okay!"

She nodded vigorously, "I'll leave this to you. I'll go negotiate the collaborations with the restaurant and the milk tea shop."

"Alright."

In the afternoon, I started writing the voice broadcast program. Before I began, I used all the skill experience I had accumulated that morning to level up Advanced Programming. I immediately reached level 5, greatly expanding my understanding and vision in programming. Afterward, it took me less than three hours to complete the voice broadcast system.

At four o'clock, Sakura came to hand over her shift.

Lu Xiaobei also returned.

"I've already finalized things with Aunt Xue's Restaurant, but we need a way for them to hear our order situations at any time."

"That's simple. I can write a small program so their mobile phones can automatically play our order voice."

"Great!"

"What about the milk tea shop?"

"Also finalized!"

"Good!"

Just then, three punks, surrounding a punk girl, walked into the internet cafe. They were our regular customers.

They each took their seats. As the girl logged into her Audition account, the internet cafe's voice broadcast immediately sounded.

"Welcome to the East China Zone, 'Waves Washing Sands' dance king 'We are candy, sweet to the point of sadness' online at machine 21!"

Instantly, the entire internet cafe erupted!

"Holy crap!"

One of the punks stared dumbfounded at the girl with the explosive hair, "Zhou Lijuan, did you hear that?"

"I heard it, it's amazing!"

The girl named Zhou Lijuan stood up, "Xiaobei, how did your internet cafe do this voice thing? It's really impressive..."

"It's a voice broadcast system."

Lu Xiaobei smiled, "It's a newly launched feature at our Feiyang Internet Cafe, the only one in the entire Stream City."

I continued her words, "Our voice broadcast system is still being optimized. Currently, it supports seven games: Audition, Legend, Miracle, Digimon World, Stone Age, Red Moon, and Fantasy Westward Journey. More will be added continuously."

"Amazing, truly amazing..."

One of the punks said, "Boss, this voice thing of yours is unbeatable!"

Lu Xiaobei smiled, "Then we'll have to trouble you to spread the word. Our Feiyang Internet Cafe will strive for perfection and aim to provide customers with a better online gaming experience. If you have any friends who don't know yet, please help us spread the word a little."

"Definitely, definitely!"

The group sat down, energized.

Lu Xiaobei gave me a look that said, "You're a genius."

I returned a look that said, "Just standard procedure, sit back and watch."

In the evening, I bought some ingredients and returned to my place to cook.

"Han'er."

As I was stir-frying, Milo said, "Do you want to come to our bar tonight? I happen to have a free seat card and some drinks to give away. Come and support me, I'll be performing 'The Ordinary Road' for the first time at the bar tonight. I hope you can be there."

"Alright."

I thought about it. There wasn't really anything important scheduled for the evening. I had originally planned to disassemble my Blue Roarer a few hundred times to earn some skill experience, but that wasn't urgent.

"OK, it's settled then!"

"Mhm."

After dinner, Milo didn't rush off. He handed me his guitar, "Can you play?"

"I know a little."

"Alright, try playing a song."

"You think I can't?"

I held the guitar to my chest and played and sang Richie Jen's Too Soft Heart.

"As expected, you know a little," Milo said, pinching his nose and laughing. "You missed at least three out of ten notes. I can only barely tell what song it is."

"I'm an amateur, why are you so demanding?" I glared. "I just learned a bit from a friend back then. I felt my talent points weren't in music, so I stopped learning."

"Your tone is actually pretty good."

Milo said seriously, "How about... you spend a skill point and learn the Instrument Mastery skill?"

"Learn music?"

I frowned. "If you don't mind me saying, even a dog wouldn't learn that. What's the use of wasting skill points on instruments? If someone aims a shotgun at me, am I supposed to pull out a suona and play 'A Hundred Birds Paying Homage to the Phoenix' for them?"

Milo said speechlessly, "Really not considering it? With your voice, and if you level up your Instrument Mastery skill by seven or eight more levels, you could basically form a band with me. You'd be the lead singer, and I could play for you."

"Not interested."

I shook my head. "I'm really not interested in music. I prefer fighting and killing."

"Damn, so crude..."

The two of them chatted until 8 PM, then took a taxi straight to the bar where Milo worked.

About ten minutes later, the taxi stopped in front of a bar.

At the exit, I looked up. The bar was called "The Fifth Element," and it had a sci-fi theme. There were even two warriors in Power Armor holding Power Swords standing on either side of the entrance. Too bad they were fake.

I followed Milo into the bar. The seat he had reserved for me was on the left side of the stage, very close. Quite a few customers had already arrived, and dim, ambiguous lights floated through the bar.

"Huh?"

Suddenly, at a table not far away, two beautiful women stood up simultaneously, staring at me in disbelief. "Ding Han?"

They were none other than Zhang Ruolin and Ling Baiwei!

I was speechless. Those two decadent bad women! So the resident singer they were supporting was actually Milo!