This Event Is So Damn Awesome

Li Xiang was twenty-three this year, a local. He had muddled through three years at junior college, and after graduating, his family arranged for him to become an ordinary employee.

In 2002, even junior college students were fairly sought-after in this small county town.

Ever since a coworker had introduced him to Legend by chance last year, he had been completely hooked. Now, aside from eating, sleeping, and working, he went to the Internet cafe. His life followed a strict three-point routine.

He was basically nocturnal now, because overnight sessions at Internet cafes offered the best value. The usual rate was two yuan an hour, but an overnight session ran from 10 PM to 8 AM the next morning and cost only ten yuan—just one yuan an hour.

The average worker in the county earned around six hundred yuan. His monthly salary of over eight hundred yuan was considered pretty decent.

But even so, with the hefty Internet fees and Legend's absurdly expensive thirty-five-yuan game cards, more than half his salary went into it. It was barely enough, and he had become a proud member of the paycheck-to-paycheck crowd.

Today, Li Xiang followed his usual disciplined routine of staying up all night until after 8 AM. With dark circles under his eyes and a listless expression, he staggered out of New Century Internet Cafe.

In ancient times, there were brothels; now there were Internet cafes. Both kept people coming back for more while draining their wallets dry.

Li Xiang's home was not far from New Century Internet Cafe, only a five- or six-minute walk away.

After coming out, he bought two steamed buns nearby and ate as he walked. He planned to hurry home for some sleep, then come back after waking up and fight again, clinging to the tail end of the weekend and refusing to let it slip away so easily.

Before long, he passed a supermarket. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted a flyer on a bulletin board in the distance. It was quite new, clearly just put up, and the blurry image on it looked somewhat like the warrior he played.

Li Xiang shook his head. Sure enough, playing too much Legend had given him hallucinations. What did a supermarket entrance have to do with Legend? It had to be some promotion by a nearby business, something like buy ten eggs and get one free.

A few minutes later, when Li Xiang reached the entrance to his residential complex, he found an identical flyer on the bulletin board beside it. That truly piqued his curiosity.

He leaned closer to inspect it. Sure enough, in the upper-right corner of the flyer's background stood a Legend warrior, one hand braced on a greatsword while the other beckoned forward in invitation.

On the left were several huge words: Pentium Internet Cafe, Grand Early-Year Deals, Limited-Time Event!

Pentium Internet Cafe? Li Xiang vaguely remembered it. It seemed to be that Internet cafe on the east side of town. He had gone there once when it first opened, just to check it out.

It was larger than the New Century Internet Cafe he usually visited, and its computers had better configurations too. But it was a bit far away—even by bicycle, it took more than ten minutes. To him, distance was king. Legend could be played anywhere, so why bother going farther when somewhere closer would do?

When he saw the event details on the flyer, Li Xiang's pupils shook. As he read further, the magnitude of the quake only grew.

Th-this... Has Pentium Internet Cafe gone insane? There's actually such a good deal?

Li Xiang did the math in his head. Oh my god, this is so damn awesome!

Suddenly, Pentium Internet Cafe did not seem all that far away. Hehe. It really does smell good.

A man stood beside a utility pole, staring at it for a long time with a doubtful look on his face.

Cures infertility—pah! Pentium Internet Cafe, Grand Early-Year Deals, Limited-Time Event!

He tried to tear the flyer down, only to find that it had been stuck on firmly as hell. What a rotten bastard. Forget the sanitation ladies—he wanted to start cursing himself.

Turning his head, he spotted the culprit some distance away, walking off with a stack of flyers in his arms.

"Hey, kid! Stop right there!" The man waved at him.

Upon hearing him, the boy not only failed to stop, but sped up and started running.

"Hey, I'm not gonna catch you! Fuck, I've gotta do morning exercise before work now. I climb poles and string cables every day—am I really gonna let a little brat like you get away?" The man chased after him in several long strides and soon cut the boy off.

"I told you to run! Why the hell were you running? Give me one of those flyers."

The boy hugged the flyers protectively, his face full of caution. "No! These aren't for handing out. I don't even have enough to put up myself. Hey, my flyers! You're bullying a kid!"

The man directly snatched one from the boy's arms, then pressed a large hand to the boy's head and gave it a twist before lightly kicking him in the butt.

"Scram. Go play somewhere else."

The man looked at the flyer in his hand. It was identical to the one on the utility pole. He muttered to himself, "Sure enough, Master is ruthless. That kind of boldness is something else. Well, I'm working overtime this weekend anyway. I'll ask and get to the bottom of it."

Liang Hongjin was twenty-eight this year, an employee in the communications crew at a telecommunications company and a military enthusiast. With the computer age arriving, he did not like the hack-and-slash of Legend, nor did he like the sci-fi warfare of StarCraft. Maybe it had something to do with his name, but Red Alert was the one game he loved.

Under his influence, he and several coworkers would occasionally find time to link up for Red Alert matches. They had a great time, especially at his master's Internet cafe.

More than ten minutes later, Liang Hongjin arrived at work. Seeing his master drinking tea from a thermos, he quietly sidled over and shamelessly asked, "Master, did something happen at your place?"

Chen Xingguo glared at him. "Watch your mouth."

"Hey, that's not what I meant." Liang Hongjin shrank back, but unwilling to give up, he gritted his teeth and probed again. "I mean, doesn't your Internet cafe have some kind of event going on?"

"No. Yesterday, Xiao Hao just put out some snacks in the cafe. You were the one who told me about that."

Seeing that his master seemed genuinely unaware, Liang Hongjin found it even stranger. He got straight to the point. "Then take a look at this." With that, he slapped the flyer in his hand onto the table.

Before Chen Xingguo could look at it, the flyer was snatched away by a young man around Liang Hongjin's age standing nearby.

Xu Tao held the flyer and began reading it aloud.

"Pentium Internet Cafe, Grand Early-Year Deals, Limited-Time Event!

"Anyone who registers as a member of our Internet cafe and tops up their account during February 27–28, 2002, will receive rebates.

"Top-up benefits: the more you top up, the more you get.

"Top up 50 yuan and get one bottle of cola or a beverage of the same price.

"Top up 100 yuan and get 5 yuan.

"Top up 200 yuan and get 15 yuan.

"Top up 300 yuan and get 30 yuan.

"Top up 500 yuan and get 70 yuan.

"Top up 1,000 yuan and get 200 yuan.

"Top up 5,000 yuan and get 1,314 yuan."

When he heard that topping up five hundred yuan earned seventy yuan, Chen Xingguo's expression had already darkened. By the time Xu Tao read that five thousand yuan earned 1,314 yuan, the knuckles gripping his cup had turned white. That little spendthrift. My monthly salary is barely over a thousand yuan, and he's just... giving it away?

You just had to be nosy. Now go bear the fury yourself, Liang Hongjin secretly chuckled.

Xu Tao's voice grew weaker and weaker as he read. "Master, even you didn't know about this. Could someone be trying to mess with your Internet cafe?"

Using his tea as an excuse, Chen Xingguo calmed his turbulent emotions. After all, he was nearly fifty. He still had that much composure.

"Master, there's more on the back. Should I..." Xu Tao swallowed, unable to make up his mind.

"Read it!"

"Membership benefits: Different membership levels receive different Internet discounts. The higher the level, the bigger the discount! Don't miss this opportunity.

"Regular Member (Beginner): Top up or accumulate spending of 50 yuan or more (originally 100 yuan). No Internet discount.

"Bronze Member (Standard Internet Addict): Top up or accumulate spending of 100 yuan or more (originally 200 yuan). 5% off Internet fees.

"Silver Member (Internet Cafe Manager Recommended): Top up or accumulate spending of 200 yuan or more (originally 400 yuan). 10% off Internet fees.

"Gold Member (King of Cost-effectiveness): Top up or accumulate spending of 300 yuan or more (originally 600 yuan). 15% off Internet fees.