Star Abyss Walker

Chapter 17 Dungeon Crystal (Thanks to Alliance Leader Ciwang!)

in the office.

Deputy Captain Wang's voice rose and fell: "Your boyfriend has already explained the situation to us, so we'll let it go this time. You can leave now, take your things with you, and be more discreet when you set up your stall in the future, don't be so blatant."

"Boy...boyfriend?" Lu Xiaobei looked bewildered.

"Also."

I quickly gathered up the pile of trinkets on the ground and hugged them to my chest, saying, "Brother Wang, we're leaving now."

"Go."

Team Leader Wang lit a cigarette, crossed his legs, and looked quite smug.

……

Outside, the autumn wind blows, and the plane tree leaves on the ground roll, which makes me think of the city of Nanjing.

"Ding Han, you were so obsequious just now..."

Lu Xiaobei glanced at me and said, "It's okay for a man to be poor, but he must have backbone, you know?"

"You still have the nerve to say it?"

I glared at him and said, "You know I paid the price of a soft drink to get you out of trouble?"

"what?"

Lu Xiaobei lowered her head, a little embarrassed, but then she seemed to remember something, looked up at me and said, "Who told you to say he's my boyfriend?"

"I didn't say that."

I looked down at the road beneath my feet: "It was his guess, and I couldn't say much. In that situation, saying anything would be superfluous and could easily disrupt the atmosphere of bribery I was creating with a soft approach."

As I handed her the package, I asked, "How much did you pay for all this stuff?"

"More than five hundred."

"..."

I'm a bit helpless. I only bought a little over 500 worth of goods, but it cost me more than 300 real money!
"Ding Han..."

Lu Xiaobei's momentum weakened considerably, and he said, "I'm hungry..."

"Then let's eat, it's your treat!"

"There's a beef hot pot restaurant across the street that I've been wanting to go to for ages, but I've never had anyone to go with. How about... I treat you to this meal? Consider it a thank you for going to the city management office to bail me out today..."

"walk!"

……

At the hot pot restaurant, Lu Xiaobei ordered some beef and other side dishes, and also a few bottles of Heineken beer.

I hadn't eaten anything this delicious in a long time, so I ate my fill. Beer and hot pot are a perfect match, and before I knew it, I had drunk a little more than I should have.

After downing the third bottle of Heineken, my face felt numb and I felt a sense of confusion.

Holy crap, I forgot something important!
One side effect of gastrointestinal strengthening techniques is alcohol intolerance!
But I never dreamed that he would be so impatient, passing out after just three bottles of beer!

“Lu Xiaobei…”

I frowned, struggled to stay awake for five seconds, and then collapsed onto the table with a "thud," falling asleep. I could almost hear Lu Xiaobei's laughter in my ears: "What kind of drinking capacity is this? Are you trying to make me laugh to death, Ding Han? Wahahahahaha~~~"

……

My mind is completely blank.

When I woke up and opened my eyes, I found myself facing a familiar ceiling. The chandelier was unique and beautiful. I looked up and realized that I was lying on Lu Xiaobei's bed.

"I rely on..."

He jolted awake and suddenly stood up.

Finding out it was already 3 a.m., I grabbed my phone from the table and rushed downstairs. There I saw Lu Xiaobei sitting in the internet cafe manager's seat, propping her chin up with her fair arm, her head nodding off, clearly very sleepy.

"Hey!"

I quietly approached from behind and startled her.

Lu Xiaobei was timid, so she jumped up from her chair on the spot. When she saw it was me, she angrily threw a punch: "Are you trying to kill me? You scared me to death..."

I took the punch; after all, my defense was already at 54 points, while Lu Xiaobei was just an ordinary person in the Star Abyss World, so it didn't hurt at all.

"Are you covering my shift?" I asked.

"Well, what if?"

Lu Xiaobei suddenly curled his lips into a wicked smile: "Oh dear, speaking of which, your alcohol tolerance is really..."

She pursed her red lips: "I've lived most of my life, and this is the first time I've ever seen someone with this level of alcohol tolerance."

"Even the strongest man has weaknesses that no one knows about. Is that so strange?"

I rolled my eyes and said, "Alright, go to sleep. I've had enough sleep. I'll be fine here."

"Your noise has made me wide awake."

Lu Xiaobei pulled up another chair, crossed her gleaming white legs, and sat down next to me: "I'll keep you company on duty, so you don't get sleepy and get complained by customers."

"alright."

I looked at the shelf and said, "I'm hungry. I want a bowl of noodles and an extra sausage."

"Are you a reincarnated starving ghost?"

Lu Xiaobei said speechlessly, "Just eat it, why do you have to tell me specifically?"

"I feel bad taking a sausage when you're not around..."

"Oh my, Ding Han, are you really that thin-skinned?"

……

After finishing the noodles, I felt completely revitalized. I looked at Lu Xiaobei beside me and asked, "Are you going to set up the stall again tomorrow?"

"Ah."

She nodded seriously: "Recently, there has been almost no business taking photos at the inn, so I can only make money by setting up a stall. Every little bit helps. Besides, if I don't set up a stall, your soft-core card will be wasted."

"If you set up a stall, you might not be able to earn two hundred yuan a day, which is not a long-term solution."

I pondered for a moment and said, "Actually, if we put more effort into our internet cafe, this is the easiest place to make money."

"What suggestions do you have?" Lu Xiaobei asked.

"Our internet cafe has too few computers, and their performance is also poor. Some customers who play games like Legend of Mir and MU Online are prone to lag, so getting a batch of computers with better performance is an urgent task."

I pointed to the storage room and said, "I've looked inside the storage room. It's quite spacious. After cleaning and painting the walls, we can fit at least seven machines inside. That would expand our Feiyang Internet Cafe to 30 machines, which would be comparable to the other three in terms of the number of machines. What do you think?"

“That works, but… where will the new machine come from?” Lu Xiaobei’s eyes widened, and he was very excited.

"Let's find out if any internet cafes are closing down and deciding to sell their machines. We can go check them out."

"Okay, I'll inquire about it tomorrow!"

Lu Xiaobei looked full of energy.

Just then, a bell rang, triggering another daily task!
[You have triggered the daily quest "Expanding the Scale" (Rank B). Quest objective: Help Lu Xiaobei expand the internet cafe from 23 machines to 30 machines. Quest reward: A large amount of experience points, and a certain chance to obtain a special reward!]

……

A B-level mission, quite good!

I was slightly pleased and said, "Okay, I'll go with you to find out where there are used computers for sale tomorrow. You can go upstairs to sleep; you have a lot to do tomorrow."

"Ok."

Lu Xiaobei finally gave up her stubbornness and went upstairs to sleep.

The next day, early in the morning.

Before Zhao Yihang could take over the shift, Lu Xiaobei came in from outside, carrying two breakfasts. He said, "I've already found out that there's an internet cafe on Binjiang Road that's going out of business. The owner is selling computers at a low price. I don't know much about computers, so you'll definitely have to come with me. I've already made the arrangements. Shall we leave now? I've bought you breakfast."

"Okay, we'll leave once Zhao Yihang arrives."

Soon after, Zhao Yihang took over the shift, while Lu Xiaobei and I took a pedicab to Huaihai Road.

The autumn wind was howling, and I was still wearing a T-shirt. I have to say, it was a bit chilly.

Fortunately, the steamed buns and soy milk were both hot, and my stomach felt warm after eating them.

……

The owner of the bankrupt internet cafe was a fat man with a miserable look on his face. He said that his other family businesses were losing too much money, so he had no choice but to transfer ownership of the internet cafe.

I glanced at the computer specs and asked, "Boss, how much do you want for each of these machines?"

"To be honest, I had someone configure it when I bought it. Each machine cost more than three thousand. Although I've used it for more than a year, it was still worth selling each one for one thousand five hundred."

Lu Xiaobei glanced at me but didn't say anything, seemingly leaving the bargaining to me entirely.

"So you got ripped off a little back then."

I said seriously, "The graphics cards and motherboards of these machines are indeed acceptable, but the memory is too small. They're okay for playing Legend of Mir, but they'll likely lag when playing games like MU Online. That's probably why your internet cafe business isn't doing so well. To be honest, we really want them. It's over 1,500. Internet cafe business isn't easy these days. We can only offer 1,200 at most, that's our sincere price. Boss, if you think it's feasible, great; if not, then forget it."

"1200 is too low, isn't it?"

The boss looked pained.

Lu Xiaobei, on the other hand, looked nervous.

So, after some haggling with the down-on-his-luck shop owner, the final price was set at 1,300, which was the limit that Lu Xiaobei could afford.

Afterwards, Lu Xiaobei took out a wad of cash, found a small truck, and transported the seven computers back to Feiyang Internet Cafe.

……

Lunch was at a ramen shop next to the internet cafe, and of course, Lu Xiaobei treated everyone.

At this point, the workers had already cleaned the storage room and were painting the walls. Once the painting was finished, the cables could be installed inside.

"These seven computers alone are not enough."

I looked up at her and said, "These computers have too little memory. What I mean is to add a memory stick to each of these computers, and use the best Kingston 512M DDRII 533 available on the market."

"Is it expensive?" Lu Xiaobei asked cautiously.

“New ones would cost around 500 each, but we don’t need to buy new ones. We can just go to the second-hand market and find some used ones. I’ll go with you. I’ll be in charge of choosing, and you’ll be in charge of paying. Once these seven computers have new memory sticks, they can run all the games currently on the market smoothly, even some single-player games that use a lot of memory.”

I smiled slightly: "Then we can partition the storage room and turn these seven computers into a VIP area, which will cost two yuan per hour. Those who seek a sense of superiority will definitely not miss it."

"The price can still go up?"

Lu Xiaobei's eyes lit up.

"Of course!"

I nodded and smiled, "In the future, as our internet cafe expands and becomes bigger and stronger, we will divide it into premium, VIP, and honorary areas based on machine performance. This kind of tiered system will trigger a competitive mentality, and those with the means will naturally flock to it."

"Okay, I listen to you!"

Lu Xiaobei nodded with a smile.

"Also, don't just wander around outside all day. A lot of customers come to our internet cafe because of your beautiful boss. You need to be out there at least once a day."

"Oh……"

……

Three days passed in the blink of an eye. Lu Xiaobei and I went to the second-hand market and bought seven 512M memory sticks at 200 yuan each. After inserting the memory sticks, the seven machines in the storage room immediately became the best performing batch in the entire internet cafe!
The moment I turned on the power, I heard a ringing sound.

[Congratulations! You have completed the daily quest "Expanding Scale" (Rank B), and have received the following rewards: Character Experience +6, and an additional special reward: "Dungeon Crystal - Red Sand Raid Field" (Rare ★★)!]

(End of this chapter)