The train arrived at its final stop.
Chen Hao and Xu Pengkun did not hurry. Only after everyone had left did they calmly gather their luggage and stride away.
The first thing they did after getting out was rush to the restroom. One went to relieve himself, while the other squatted on the toilet.
After sitting on the train for so long, Chen Hao still felt as if the ground were slowly swaying like the train even after getting off. Fuck, I'm constipated.
Every train had the same final stop, but every passenger had a different destination.
Chen Hao's university was in Ice City, while Xu Pengkun's university of finance and economics was in the capital. He still had to suffer through a transfer and endure another night before reaching the capital.
After leaving the station, the two brothers hugged. They had already said everything they wanted to say on the train, so they wished each other well and went their separate ways!
After arriving at school, Chen Hao put his things in the dormitory and went to register first.
Chen Hao's university was a mediocre college in Ice City. The junior-college program lasted three years. By the second half of the third year, there were no classes, and the school encouraged students to intern in society. During that time, it would organize several on-campus job fairs.
Before graduation, all they had to do was submit a graduation thesis and an internship certificate, and they could get their diplomas. It was very simple.
There were six people in the dormitory: two locals, three from other cities in the province, and one southerner.
People always said northerners could withstand the cold, but that was complete nonsense. Let a northerner spend an entire winter in the south and see how he liked it—the temperature indoors was even lower than outside.
As for that southerner, during his first year, he took cold showers as soon as winter came, leaving the other five in the dormitory dumbfounded. How could he stand it?
Chen Hao's relationship with his roommates was ordinary, nowhere near as close as his friendships with his middle- and high-school classmates. They were merely acquainted enough to play games and buy meals for one another.
He remembered that after graduating in his previous life, they had still called each other during festivals for the first two years. After that, they gradually lost contact and never spoke again.
He passed the familiar small commercial street and Internet café.
He had originally wanted to relive his wonderful university life.
Unfortunately, it was about to end before he knew it.
When he returned to the dormitory, only Third Brother and Fifth Brother were there. The two locals were playing games on their computers, while the others were nowhere to be seen.
After exchanging greetings, Chen Hao took a laptop from his luggage and placed it on the desk beneath his bed. He had picked up the secondhand laptop at a computer mall on the way from the station back to school.
"Yo, you bought a laptop? A Dell, too? Not bad, Second Brother!" Third Brother's eyes lit up, and Fifth Brother behind him came over to take a look.
"Why is it secondhand? The specs are pretty average. It probably can't even run Warcraft."
After discovering that the laptop was secondhand, the two immediately lost interest. They chatted for a couple more sentences before returning to their gaming.
Chen Hao had bought the laptop simply to make looking up information more convenient. As long as it could access the Internet, that was enough. He had no high demands.
Using the laptop, he searched all the major forums online as usual.
A few minutes later, Chen Hao's eyes narrowed when he saw a post on a forum, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Post title: My Legend Isn't Ordinary—No Grinding, Instant Max Level, Top-Tier Gear Everywhere! Message Me If You Want to Know More!
He clicked into it. There was an image in the post: a level-fifty warrior holding Dragon Slayer, standing in the safe zone of Earth City. There was no one around him. He stood alone, seeking defeat.
Chen Hao replied, "Where's your sense of morality? Where's your bottom line? In broad daylight, under a clear sky, don't let yourselves be fooled. This guy's a scammer—I was just cheated out of thirty."
Then he registered another account and clicked the poster's private messages: "Brother, are you selling a Legend private server? Leave me a phone number, will you? May good people live peaceful lives!"
Two days later, in a city somewhere in the south.
"Achoo!"
Chen Hao sniffed. Winter in the south really was different.
This down jacket was probably a physical-defense item. Its magic resistance was truly pathetic. The cold wind kept drilling into the gaps between his bones. He needed to finish his business and get back quickly.
A couple of days earlier, he had seen the contact information left by the "good person" who made the post. He contacted him immediately, and after chatting for a while, discovered that the other man really did have the goods.
At first, the other man wanted to trade online, but Chen Hao refused. He needed to inspect the goods first, and the sum involved was considerable, so they arranged an in-person transaction.
In the end, the other man agreed and left him an address.
After traveling by train for an entire day and night, Chen Hao arrived at the destination. He did not go to the Internet café specified by the other man. Instead, he found a fairly large Internet café in a bustling downtown area and called to arrange a meeting there.
The Internet cafés in big cities really were different. Looking at the various Legend posters plastered across the walls, the décor already had the feel of a themed Internet café.
Even though it was a weekday morning, more than half the computers were occupied. Chen Hao went straight to a relatively secluded spot and got online.
His computer number was 47, but he told the other man he was at the empty computer in the row ahead, number 36.
Half an hour later, Chen Hao saw a man in a hat walk near computer 47 and linger for a moment, as if looking for someone. The brim was pulled very low, making his face impossible to see clearly.
Seeing that only one person had come, and that the man was somewhat shorter and fatter than himself, Chen Hao relaxed and walked over, patting him on the shoulder.
"Careless sailing lasts ten thousand years?"
"Lightly swaying grass by the river?"
The password check succeeded. The man raised his head, revealing a rather ordinary face. He appeared somewhat older than Chen Hao.
Chen Hao led him back to his seat, and the two sat down side by side.
Chen Hao lowered his voice. "Did you bring the goods?"
The man was very straightforward. He immediately took out a large hard drive.
Huh? Not a USB drive?
Fuck. Chen Hao realized his mistake. USB drives at this time only held a few dozen megabytes, enough for some seed files at most. The Legend code, along with all the map, item, and resource files, required at least several hundred megabytes.
He had been careless.
"Wait a moment."
Chen Hao stood up and went to discuss things with the network administrator.
"Admin, I need to open the computer case and install a hard drive to check the contents. I'll put everything back exactly as it was afterward!"
"No way. This Internet café has rules. Customers can only use the computers; they aren't allowed to take them apart!"
"Really? You can watch me from the side. If I damage anything, I'll buy you a new one." Chen Hao discreetly handed him a large bill.
"Rules are rules. This isn't about money."
Another bill.
"Well, it's not entirely impossible. I'm not a customer, after all. Leave it to me."
Chen Hao returned to his seat with the network administrator. The administrator worked rapidly, shutting down the computer, opening the case, connecting the data cable to the new hard drive, and booting it back up. Just like that, he earned two hundred yuan. It was plain and unremarkable.
After connecting it, Chen Hao glanced at the hard drive. Its data could already be read normally.
He handed over another large bill.
Chen Hao and the man who sold the hard drive stared fixedly at the network administrator.
"Uh, sir! Please carry on."
The administrator understood instantly. He pocketed the money and scurried away, shaking his head and grinning. He had gotten incredibly lucky today, earning nearly half a month's wages in less than half an hour.
Once the nuisance was gone, Chen Hao first scanned the contents of the USB drive. Its root directory contained only one folder and one instruction document.
The instruction document had already undergone Chinese localization. It explained the installation process and the basic settings and parameter adjustments in detail. It was very considerate, and Chen Hao closed it after a quick glance.
He opened the folder. At first glance, the directory structure and the code in the core source files looked legitimate, and he could not spot any problems.
To be safe, it was still better to run it.
He unplugged the computer's network cable. Once the code finished compiling, he ran it directly, and the Legend interface reappeared!
He entered the game to test it. It was already a Chinese-localized version, and it matched the official Legend version.
Chen Hao then tested the most basic functions, modified a few simple parameters, and verified them in the game. There were no problems!
An expert only needed to make one move to show whether something was genuine.
The man who sold the hard drive had watched the entire process. He had understood what was happening at first, but afterward he had been completely lost. He said in shock, "Yo, brother, I couldn't tell you were an expert."
"I only know a little."
"Could you teach me those later steps?"
"Then the price would have to come down a little?"
"Uh..." The man thought about it. "Forget it. I didn't expect this thing to be worth so much."
"Is it easy to sell?"
The man immediately became animated. He opened the floodgates and said, "It's all right. I've sold it a few times before. It sells well, but it's hard to teach. Even when I ran into people who understood computers, I still had to explain it over and over. Those people were as stupid as pigs. One idiot couldn't learn it no matter what, so he refused to buy it and even called me a scammer. Tell me, where was I supposed to go to seek justice?"
"Here's the agreed-upon ten thousand. Please take it." Once he had the goods, Chen Hao did not want to waste time arguing. After completely deleting everything from the Internet café computer's hard drive, he unplugged the drive, tucked it into the innermost layer of his backpack, and took out an envelope of cash to hand over.
The man counted it. The amount was correct, and the two shook hands.
"Pleasure doing business!"
"Likewise, little brother. Want to grab something to eat nearby? Big Brother's treating!"
Chen Hao politely declined, then called the network administrator over for an inspection!
After that, he left the Internet café, hailed a taxi, and headed straight for the train station.
Before you continue