Work Prophet
Chapter 714 - 40 Another Internet Cafe

Chapter 714: Chapter 40 Another Internet Cafe

Niu Xiangui remembered that when he was in junior high, the thing he looked forward to most after school each day was going to the internet café.

Back then, the restrictions on minors using the internet weren’t as strict as they became later, and many internet cafés didn’t require an ID card for entry; there were even some elementary school students inside chatting on QQ and playing Audition Online.

There were shirtless young people cursing while playing Counter-Strike, and World of Warcraft players were busy clearing dungeons for gear or dueling others in PK.

The entire internet café was permeated with the pungent smell of secondhand smoke and body odor.

However, for Niu Xiangui at that age, it was heaven.

His love for the internet also originated from there, although this passion was gradually worn down after he entered the industry.

But when he learned that the Double Rest Sect’s internet café was preparing for a trial opening, Niu Xiangui felt as if he had rediscovered that youthful enthusiasm for surfing the web.

Therefore, on the opening day, he couldn’t wait to get out of bed at the crack of dawn and rush to the front door of the internet café.

You have to say, this internet café that He Chaoyang personally oversaw during construction looked quite... like an internet café.

It was sandwiched between a bathhouse and a cinema, with a rectangular sign hanging right above the door, featuring five large characters—"The Other Side Internet Café"—and a small piece of paper was stuck to the wooden door.

Niu Xiangui leaned closer to read it, seeing it written in Chinese characters, "According to local regulations, minors may also enter."

The façade of the internet café was not large, and it had only one floor; Niu Xiangui figured there were at most a dozen computers inside. For now, it was okay, but in the future, as the number of transmigrators increased, it might not be so easy to find an available spot.

This wasn’t Li Yu implementing scarcity marketing on purpose; it was mainly because the "router with not so good signal" he won at the annual meeting was an old router that could only handle a dozen or so computers.

If he got a few more computers, it probably would go on strike first.

To ensure that every transmigrator had time to go online, Li Yu even considered adopting a lottery system later on, where those who didn’t get a spot would be rolled over to the next round.

Niu Xiangui was sneakily peering inside through the wooden door when someone unexpectedly patted him on the back. Turning around, he saw it was Lu Weijia.

Lu Weijia’s presence there didn’t surprise Niu Xiangui at all, as Lu Weijia was an up-and-coming creator of spoof videos in his previous life, never away from the internet for long.

The third person to arrive was Gu Qian, who planned to catch up on the TV dramas she hadn’t finished watching before her death.

Then came Tan Yiting, with the religious name Paul, a chemistry teacher by profession who had studied materials science as a graduate student and arrived in Green Field about two months ago.

Li Yu appointed him as the factory manager of the Green Field First Steel Factory, but Tan Yiting was still learning the language and wouldn’t be officially in charge until he passed T4.

He also helped out when Ge Lipeng was making guns.

Speaking of Ge Lipeng, he came today as well, saying he wanted to search the internet for some additional materials to download.

The person who arrived last, however, was a bit of a surprise to the other transmigrators.

Zhu Zhigang, according to his own admission, used a basic phone that could only make calls and send text messages when he was a security guard; he didn’t even have WeChat, immersing himself wholly in martial arts training.

When Lu Weijia first heard that he also practiced traditional martial arts, he enthusiastically brought up the last legend of martial arts, the grandmaster Teacher Ma.

However, Zhu Zhigang was clueless, stating he had never heard of this name; but he was quite interested in learning about Teacher Ma’s "Lightning Five-Chain Whip," which was reputed to be exceptionally powerful.

In Zhu Zhigang’s own words, "The path of martial arts eschews working in isolation. Only through constant sparring, and especially with masters, can one absorb strengths from others and make continuous progress."

But Zhu Zhigang immediately remembered he had come to another world and wouldn’t be able to exchange martial arts insights with a master surnamed Ma, feeling a slight tinge of regret.

Seeing everyone staring at him, a look of confusion crossed Zhu Zhigang’s face.

"Haven’t you all seen my wings already?"

"It’s not about the wings, Lao Zhu, we just didn’t expect to see you at an internet cafe," Niu Xiangui said.

"What’s wrong with internet cafes?" Zhu Zhigang grow more puzzled, "I used to go there often."

"Huh? What did you go to internet cafes for?"

"To watch martial arts films, read martial arts novels, and learn Kung Fu online. There are quite a few manuals online, all for free, very convenient," Zhu Zhigang explained matter-of-factly.

......

Eventually, almost all the transmigrators had gathered just before the internet cafe opened its doors.

Some of them had been living on this Continent for nearly a year, while others had arrived just 2 or 3 weeks ago.

Although most of them were quite satisfied with their current lives, they all still held some nostalgia for the world they had lived in for decades.

They saw this as an opportunity to take another look at it.

The transmigrators waited for a while longer, and when the sun was three poles high, the internet cafe finally opened.

Lu Weijia was the first to rush in, he turned his head for a quick look around and couldn’t help but chuckle.

Inside, there were twelve tables with various brands and models of computers, not only desktops but also laptops and even mini PCs.

Most of them were collected by Eco-friendly Frog.

In modern society, electronic waste is hardly scarce, and this was a major source of Eco-friendly Frog’s trash collections.

There were especially many computers and phones. Li Yu had already amassed almost fifty sets of mice and keyboards, enough to sustain the internet cafe’s daily use.

Lu Weijia scanned the room and picked out the fanciest-looking desktop computer to sit in front of.

Because based on his common sense, usually the ones with stickers of anime girls are gaming PCs, which tend to have slightly better performance.

Indeed, that was the case. Lu Weijia opened Master Lu software and was impressed to see that the graphics card was actually a 1050ti; under 1080p resolution, aside from some of the newer GPU-killer games, it could run almost anything smoothly.

Lu Weijia had completely forgotten his original intention to search for video materials. He quickly downloaded Steam, logged into his account, and couldn’t help but exclaim, "Damn, it’s not blocked."

Ge Lipeng nearby nodded in agreement, "I’ve also logged onto YouTube."

"Perfect," Lu Weijia opened his game library, deciding to skip Civilization because that’s a game you can play from sunrise to sunrise. Skip 2077 as well, too demanding for the system. Fall Guys... that’s not bad, but it seems you can’t kill other players or win the championship, only be a server ghost.

Lu Weijia stared at his game library, lost in thought.

On the other hand, Niu Xiangui, looking at the familiar icons in front of him, couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of nostalgia.

Even that thing called Ding Ding didn’t seem so annoying anymore.

That being said, Niu Xiangui still clicked the mouse to open file explorer and uninstalled it.

The desktop felt much more refreshing instantly.

What to do next? Browse the forums for a bit? Watch a movie? Or find a game to play like Lu Weijia?

Or maybe check in on those familiar people from a past life?