5: Chapter 5 Internet Cafe

However, Chen Fan didn't want to wait any longer, so he started trying from the first room.

He reached into his pocket to pull out his keys, only to find it empty.

He paused for a moment, then remembered that back in high school, he wasn't used to keeping his keys in his pocket. He was mainly afraid of losing them, so he usually hung them from his belt.

He unhooked the keys from his waist and took a look. There were only three keys, and Chen Fan easily identified the one for his room door.

Of the three keys, one was for the main gate of his old home, and one was for the back door of his house, so the remaining one was naturally the key to his room door.

After taking out the key, Chen Fan walked straight to the door and inserted the key into the lock without changing his expression. As he gently turned the key, the lock clicked open.

Seeing this, Chen Fan breathed a sigh of relief and pushed the door open to walk inside.

Once inside, Chen Fan looked around at the room's layout.

Sure enough, it was no different from what he remembered.

A one-meter-wide single bed, a table, a chair, and a washbasin stand.

On the table sat an electric fan, a kettle, and a clock.

Looking at this crude environment, Chen Fan found it a bit hard to adjust for a moment.

Fortunately, he at least had a place to stay. If Chen Fan were living in the school dorms, he would have to find a way to climb over the wall just to get online.

He checked the time; it was only around 8:20, and the Hongshulin Internet Cafe didn't offer overnight sessions until 10:00.

It took about ten minutes to get from Chen Fan's place to the nearest Internet cafe.

So he decided to set off at 9:40.

During this hour or so in between, he had nothing to do.

Lying on the bed, Chen Fan closed his eyes to rest.

Time passed bit by bit, and soon it was 9:45 PM. Chen Fan prepared to head out.

After leaving the courtyard, he didn't rush straight to the Internet cafe. Instead, he went to the potato slice sandwich stand across the street, bought a potato slice sandwich, and grabbed a bottle of iced black tea nearby.

Anyone who has pulled an all-nighter knows that usually by 1:00 or 2:00 AM, you start to get hungry. And that kind of hunger is different from daytime hunger; it's extremely uncomfortable, especially when someone nearby makes a bowl of instant noodles. When the aroma of the noodles drifts to the tip of your nose, the hunger from your body reaches its peak.

At that moment, anything to eat would feel like a gourmet delicacy.

Therefore, when pulling an all-nighter, you must have food prepared.

Of course, if you have the means, instant noodles are best. Chen Fan, however, found the instant noodles at the Internet cafe too expensive, and since his current living expenses were limited, he could only settle for a potato slice sandwich.

This thing doesn't lose its texture when cold, and it's quite filling. Given Chen Fan's appetite, one was enough to make him full, so he could save it to eat in the middle of the night.

Although Chen Fan was now eighteen, he had been a picky eater since childhood and ate irregularly in high school, so he was quite thin and not very tall. He was currently only 173 cm. In his past life, he grew a few more centimeters in college, eventually reaching 176 cm.

By the standards of over a decade later, anyone under 1.8 meters would be considered "third-grade disabled."

Chen Fan was quite self-conscious about his height. His appearance wasn't bad; his brows and eyes were well-proportioned, his skin was fair enough, and there were no major flaws in his features. It was just that he wasn't tall, he was too thin, and his overall presence wasn't great.

If he could grow a bit taller, hit the gym, and build up his body, he could definitely count as a handsome guy.

"Maybe the wealth store will refresh with items that can increase my height later on."

Chen Fan thought to himself as he walked towards the Internet cafe.

Ten minutes later, Chen Fan arrived at the entrance of the Internet cafe.

What came into view were the five characters for "Hongshulin Internet Cafe." In his previous life, during his third year of high school, Chen Fan came to this Internet cafe for all-nighters almost every week. Seeing this familiar sign, he felt a wave of nostalgia.

A few students in school uniforms were squatting on both sides of the entrance, each with a cigarette, blowing out clouds of smoke. Seeing Chen Fan approach, one of them looked up briefly before lowering his head to continue playing on his phone—a keypad phone with a tiny screen, making clicking sounds as the buttons were pressed.

Pushing open the glass door, a wave of heat mixed with the smell of cigarette smoke, instant noodles, sweat, and some indescribable odor rushed at him, making him squint his eyes.

This was the distinct smell of an Internet cafe in a county town in 2009.

This kind of scene was rarely seen over a decade later; they had basically all turned into Internet cafes with better environments, each one better than the last. Take, for example, the famous Green Tree Internet Cafe in Chang'an; besides the basic Internet access, they offered extra services like showers, billiards, and lodging, and even had pretty girls to play games with. The only downside was the expensive price—ten to twenty yuan, or even tens of yuan per hour—making it unaffordable for the average person.

After snapping back to reality, Chen Fan went to the Internet cafe's front desk. The receptionist was a girl around 20, with decent looks, but her figure was too flat, lacking any appeal.

Chen Fan took out his ID card and a 10-yuan bill and handed them to the receptionist. "I'd like to book an overnight session."

The receptionist didn't even look up; she took them and immediately began operating the system.

Accessing the Internet was very convenient in those days; there was no need for cameras, just an ID card. Even if you didn't have your ID, as long as you looked over 18, they would just provide an ID card for you to log in.

Soon, the female cashier finished the operation and handed the ID card and a small receipt to Chen Fan.

This slip had an account number and password printed on it. Since second-generation ID cards weren't widespread yet, everyone logged in using the account number and password on the slip.

After finding a seat, Chen Fan turned on the computer. A few dozen seconds later, the login interface popped up, and Chen Fan immediately began entering the account number and password.

Once on the desktop, Chen Fan didn't rush to start writing; instead, he clicked on the game list to take a look.

Popular games at the time were "CrossFire," "QQ Speed," and "Dungeon & Fighter." Chen Fan only knew how to play "CrossFire," but he didn't play it often.

He remembered that at this time, he liked playing a racing game called "QQ Sonic." It was a niche game that almost no one had heard of. He played it for several years, but the player base just kept shrinking.

When he got to college, his roommates got him into "League of Legends," and he became hooked. He played it for over a decade, and even before his rebirth, Chen Fan would play a few rounds from time to time.

Now that he was living a second life, Chen Fan took one look at these games and felt no interest, so he simply closed the game list.

It was time to get down to business.

He opened the browser and searched for Qidian Chinese Website.

That's right, the platform Chen Fan chose to upload to was Qidian. After all, in 2009, Fanqie didn't exist yet, and Qidian was the dominant player. If he wanted to make money, he definitely had to choose Qidian; he didn't even consider other smaller platforms.

After spending ten minutes, Chen Fan finished registering his account and completed the author identity verification. He thought about his pen name for a moment; to keep it simple, he decided on "Pen name," which matched his name.