Yanwang Internet Cafe.
Deng Zheyan stayed at the cafe until around 5 or 6 p.m., then left to have dinner. He didn’t need to keep watch at night—after all, monitoring all day was exhausting.
By 7 or 8 p.m., the trio—Yellow Hair Man, Red Hair, and Green Hair—arrived at the cafe. After a few days of adjustment, they had gotten familiar with the cafe’s operations and were assigned the night shift.
Of course, they preferred working nights since there was less to do. After 11 p.m., most customers were there for overnight sessions, so all they had to do was assign them machines. Occasionally, they might need to make instant noodles for someone or handle a broken computer—though they didn’t have to fix it, just move the customer to another machine. The rest of the time, they could play games.
After taking over their shift, the trio went about their usual tasks, but today, their expressions were noticeably tense.
"Yellow Hair Man, business is booming… Are we really gonna sabotage this place? What if we get caught…?"
"Shut it! We don’t have a choice—they’ve got dirt on us."
"Listen, I’ve been asking around these past few days. The Wanlong Society is way darker than we thought. I heard they once threw someone off a building right in front of the cops! And that huge fire a while back that nearly burned a bunch of gang bosses alive? Rumor has it the Wanlong Society’s young mistress led that hit!"
"Damn… That ruthless?" Red Hair and Green Hair gasped.
"So, you wanna end up as fish food at the bottom of the river?"
"Definitely not…"
"Then stick to the plan and stay sharp!"
"But… when do we do it? The place is packed right now—it’s too risky."
Yellow Hair Man glanced at the wall clock. "After 10. By then, the crowd will thin out. I’ll cut the power to the surveillance. Red Hair, find a marker that matches the color and add a stroke to the ‘one’ on the promo poster—turn it into a ‘ten’!"
"And Green Hair, use this to hack into the system and tweak the discounts." He handed Green Hair a USB drive. "That’ll make it easier for me to manipulate the memberships at the front desk."
"Got it!" Green Hair nodded.
Yellow Hair Man looked at them seriously. "This is it—our one shot! Pull this off, and we might just get out of this mess!"
Green Hair suddenly perked up. "Hey… if we pull this off, can I join you guys at the bathhouse later?"
"No!" Yellow Hair Man and Red Hair snapped in unison.
"So heartless…" Green Hair sulked.
Time passed slowly.
Yellow Hair Man kept checking the clock. By 10 p.m., the crowd had noticeably dwindled. He gave Red Hair and Green Hair a sharp look.
They nodded back.
It was time.
The operation began.
——————
Internet cafes were usually quiet in the morning, with business picking up in the afternoon and evening.
So, after lunch, Deng Zheyan leisurely strolled over to the branch near the university district around 2 or 3 p.m. for an inspection. Seeing the place still packed to the brim, he couldn’t have been happier.
The only odd thing was the day-shift staff—they all looked dazed, almost numb.
Deng Zheyan figured they were just exhausted from the nonstop business. "Poor guys," he thought. "As their boss, I should reward them. Maybe I’ll whip up some motivational talk later!"
But when he sat at the front desk and pulled up the day’s earnings report, his smile vanished. He blinked hard, even refreshed the system multiple times, but the number staring back at him remained stubbornly in the double digits.
"What the hell? What the hell is this?!"
He glared at the staff. "Someone explain—where’s my money?!"
The day-shift employees exchanged uneasy glances before shaking their heads in unison.
Deng Zheyan let out a bitter laugh, pointing at the packed cafe. "Then what are they doing here? Surfing the web for free?"
The staff nodded.
Deng Zheyan: "???"
"Boss, they all have memberships, and… and…"
"And what?"
"And every single one of them has ten hours of free browsing time, so no one’s topping up."
Deng Zheyan: "Wait, ten hours? What ten hours?"
One employee pointed at the promo poster outside.
Deng Zheyan followed his finger, then rushed out the door.
That’s when he saw it—the poster advertising, "Bring a friend to game together, and each gets one extra free hour!"—except the character for "one" had been altered with a matching marker.
Someone had added a stroke, turning it into "ten."
The numeral "one" had shockingly transformed into a "ten."
In other words, what was originally a free one-hour offer had now become ten hours. Even more outrageous, the fine print had added four words: "permanently valid."
Deng Zheyan’s face turned green when he realized the problem.
"Which goddamn, no-good bastard did this?!"
If it had been a case of giving ten free hours to everyone who recharged, he might have been able to stomach it.
But now, every seat was occupied by freeloaders—something he absolutely couldn’t accept. And on top of that, it was "permanently valid."
This wasn’t just a minor hiccup—it was a trap.
University students were indeed the main customer base for internet cafes, but many of them had limited living expenses and usually couldn’t afford to splurge on gaming.
If word got out that his place was offering ten hours of free internet permanently—especially during the peak of students returning to campus before classes even started—a flood of freeloaders would swarm in.
Even if this promotion lasted only a short while, it would be enough to devastate his revenue.
Relying solely on food and drink sales wouldn’t be enough to compete with the rival internet café, Huangquan.
With that in mind, Deng Zheyan stormed back into the café, scanning the crowd of customers in the main hall.
Soon, his gaze locked onto a loud, purple-haired punk girl in the middle of the second row.
The purple-haired girl was shouting at the top of her lungs, teaming up with a few others in an FPS game.
"Push B! Push B! Get your asses moving! What are you scared of? There’s just one sniper left on low health! Rush their spawn! Spawn camp them!"
"Lin Tao, why aren’t you covering? Can’t you see they’re flanking? Do you have eyes on your ass or what?"
"Wait, if you had eyes on your ass, you’d actually see behind you..."
"Stop camping like a log—throw a grenade! Spam A platform! Then I’ll rush A long! This time, I’ll cover your backs!"
"Some idiot didn’t even notice me hiding behind the door—got him with a knife, hahahaha!"
"..."
