"Give me a bottle of Snow Power and a pack of Red Five!"
In the West District of Jiang City, in the Flying Dragon Internet Cafe hidden deep in the alley, Wang Pu put a ten-yuan note and his ID card on the counter.
He looked around the smoke-filled room, and when he saw that his usual seat was still empty, he let out a sigh of relief and whistled at the girl at the bar counter.
The girl at the counter glared at Wang Pu and threw the cigarette, drink, and ID card back to him.
"You only have 15 yuan left in your card. Do you want to top it up?"
Wang Pu grabbed it and laughed, "No hurry. I will use it later. There is no discount now."
The girl at the counter rolled her eyes and turned her head away, ignoring him.
Wang Pu didn't care. He sat down in his seat and turned on the computer skillfully.
There were at least hundreds of big and small Internet cafes in Jiang City. The Flying Dragon Internet Cafe was one of the most inconspicuous ones. It had a long history and backward conditions. The computers were all used for four or five years, almost to the point of obsolescence.
The place was small. If he farted in his seat, half of the people in the Internet cafe could smell it. Because of this, although there was a "No Smoking" sign, no one cared about smoking.
The most important thing was that the Flying Dragon Internet Cafe was very cheap. It only cost two yuan an hour. Moreover, there would be a "Charge 100 for free" event from time to time. Young people like Wang Pu, who lived at the bottom of the city, could also find their own cheap happiness here.
The machine started slowly. Wang Pu was not in a hurry. He put the drink aside and tore open the pack of cigarettes.
"Lao Wang, give me one."
Suddenly, a low and hoarse voice came from the side, making people who heard it shudder.
"F * ck!"
Wang Pu, who was unprepared, was shocked. He turned his head and saw the guy next to him asking for a cigarette.
Wang Pu knew this guy. "Guru, are you trying to scare me to death?"
The "Guru" was definitely a legend in the Flying Dragon Internet Cafe. Everyone who came to the Internet cafe often knew him. He was about the same age as Wang Pu. He was unkempt and skinny. He always looked like he didn't have enough sleep.
There were many stories about the Almighty. The most famous one was that he once fought continuously for seven days and seven nights in an online game that had just been released. He didn't even sleep for a day. His boss was so scared that he almost called the police, fearing that he would suddenly die in front of the computer.
However, the Almighty's vitality was even more tenacious than a cockroach's. Wang Pu still looked the same as when he first came to Flying Dragon Internet Cafe a few years ago.
Other than that, the Almighty never went to work and relied on playing games to earn money for his internet and meals.
Towards Wang Pu's complaints, the Almighty didn't feel guilty at all. He continued to extend his hand. "Give me a cigarette …"
"You win!"
Wang Pu took out half a pack of cigarettes and gave it to him. "I'll give you half. I'm a good friend, right?"
The Almighty had played a game with Wang Pu before, so the two of them had some friendship.
As for Wang Pu's generosity, the Almighty snorted disdainfully. "Half a bag of Hongwu is considered loyal? Bullshit … "
Wang Pu was fuming. He wanted to take the cigarette back, but the Almighty had already slipped it into his pocket.
He even had one in his mouth.
"F * ck!"
Wang Pu retracted his hand resentfully. He held the mouse pad and opened the browser. At the same time, he logged into his QQ.
Di di di!
The QQ avatar kept jumping. Wang Pu clicked on it one by one. He blacklisted those who swindled, borrowed money, and harassed him. He replied to a few messages from his friends. Finally, he opened the group chat of [Lao Bai Group].
[Lao Bai Group] was a large group of thousands of people. The composition of the hundreds of group members was very complicated. They ranged from doctors and professors to brick-moving workers. The only thing they had in common was that, like Wang Pu, they were all lovers of online novels!
And they had a long reading age.
Wang Pu was 25 years old this year. He had been reading online novels for 10 years. When he was in junior high school, he began to rent pirated books. He could read a book for 50 cents for a few days. Later, he found books online. It could be said that he had read countless books.
For the current Wang Pu, reading online novels was the greatest joy he could obtain with the least amount of money. What he read on the internet was genuine, and he was a VIP subscriber that he could be proud of. However, most of his subscription coins were obtained through various activities on the book website, as well as the red packets sent by rich readers.
It was just that recently, Wang Pu found that this happiness was becoming more and more difficult to obtain. It wasn't a matter of money. He still had a lot of subscription coins in his accounts on several big websites.
It was just that there were fewer and fewer books that he could read and his appetite!
This was the greatest sorrow of a "Lao Bai" reader like Wang Pu. The more books he read, the higher his requirements would be. He could not accept those novels with rough writing, excessive fantasies, and serious routines. However, most of the websites were filled with such books.
Wang Pu was helpless. He even thought about writing one himself. As a result, after writing thousands of words, he realized that writing a book was a very difficult thing.
There were a lot of ideas in his head, but the text that came out through the keyboard was extremely awkward. He felt very embarrassed when he looked at it, so he could only give up.
The problem of the lack of books couldn't be solved.
"Everyone, please recommend some books. It's best if it's new. I've basically read all the old books!"
Wang Pu shouted in the group, "There's no more books to read!"
"Ten Thousand Tons of Copper Balls!"
"Me too. I've been reading old books recently, and they're all wonderful ones. What the hell are they now!"
"'Eight Wilderness Demon Slayer' is not bad. I strongly recommend it."
"I've just read it. It's not bad in Xianxia. I'm keeping it!"
"I'm reading 'Midnight Tomb Watcher'. It's very scary …"
The group members were all talking at once, recommending more than ten books. However, Wang Pu was very disappointed, because these books were either ones he had already read or ones he didn't like.
Wang Pu liked fantasy, Xianxia, and historical online novels.
Just as he was about to close the chat box and search on the website, a member with the ID "Old Bookworm" said, "I'm reading 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer'. It's very interesting. I recommend it to everyone."
He also attached an address link.
Wang Pu clicked on the address and opened the new book recommended by "Old Bookworm."
"The Smiling, Proud Wanderer"?
The title was not bad. At least it wasn't some Demon God Emperor Tyrannical Dragon. Hopefully there would be a surprise!
There were quite a few people in the "Old White Group", and there were many like Wang Pu who clicked on the address link.
Everyone was lacking in books!
Soon, someone complained in the group, "Oh my god, Wuxia? Isn't that an antique? "
"Only 70,000 words. How can we bear to destroy such a young seedling?"
"It hasn't even signed a contract yet, and the numbers are too low. Is it really a good book?"
"Old Bookworm, are you recommending yourself?"
"Recommending myself + 1!"
To be honest, Wang Pu also suspected that "Old Bookworm" was recommending himself or a friend. The book he recommended was not only not signed a contract, but also had a low word count and poor results. If it was really a good book, then wouldn't the editor of Waves Books have made a mistake?
Hundreds of clicks, dozens of bookmarks, on a big website like Waves Books, he really couldn't fail again!
Wang Pu had been in an author's group before, so he had some understanding of the online literature circle.
And this Wuxia theme … was really out of the mainstream.
The works in Waves Books were divided into fantasy, xianxia, urban, history, online games, sports, military, science fiction, supernatural, and so on. There was also a custom genre.
The so-called custom genre allowed the author to define their own works, such as fantasy, sadomasochism, super-science, and so on. Basically, they were all niche and imaginative works.
The "The Smiling, The Proud Wanderer" recommended by "Old Bookworm" was in the custom genre, and the author defined it as Wuxia.
Wuxia, in Wang Pu's impression, was really an antique novel. He vaguely remembered that when he was a child, he seemed to have read a book about a sword. It seemed to be written by a Xiangjiang author.
Would this kind of book be the food that "Old White" liked?
He subconsciously gave "The Smiling, The Proud Wanderer" a negative score in his heart.
"Old Bookworm" explained in the group, "It's really not recommending myself. I'm the food, you can read it yourself."
Wang Pu thought that since he didn't have any books to read, it didn't matter if he contributed a few clicks to others. He would just consider it as supporting the newcomer. So he clicked to read the first chapter.
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