Star Abyss Walker

Chapter 23 You decadent woman!

After finishing his meal, Lu Xiaobei collected the leftovers and put them in a plastic bag.

"Shall we rest here for a while?"

Looking at the shimmering water in the canal, she smiled and said, "When I have nothing to do, I like to sit here and watch the boats come and go."

"Oh?"

I had seen cargo ships along the Suzhou Canal when I was a child, so I didn't refuse and watched with her for a while.

"Ding Han".

After a heavy cargo ship sailed past in the canal, ripples splashed across the banks. Lu Xiaobei watched intently and said, "Do you think the waves in this water, are they the same waves from the previous second?"

"Not any more."

I calmly said, "The rise and fall of waves follows the 'momentum' in the water. Every wave rises because of the momentum, but every second of the wave is different. Just like the saying, 'Talented people emerge in every generation, each leading the way for hundreds of years,' history is a stage, constantly reenacting the entrance and the exit."

"That's so profound..."

She glanced at me and said, "I think you're showing off."

I laughed out loud.

"Actually, I really like the idiom 'to cut through the waves'."

Lu Xiaobei clasped his hands together and rested his chin on them, his bright eyes fixed on the boats sailing on the canal. He said, "No matter whether the waves in front of us are the same as before, as long as we cut through the waves, we can keep moving forward instead of constantly looking back and seeing all the unpleasant things that happened in the past."

"That was a pretty good show-off..."

I clapped my hands gently.

"..."

Lu Xiaobei glared at me angrily.

"What did you find from your market research at Fengyun Internet Cafe this morning?" I asked.

"No, I was too busy playing Bubble Fighter."

"..."

I was speechless; I couldn't rely on her anymore.

"Let's go, there are two more internet cafes waiting for us."

"Ok!"

……

In the afternoon, the two sneaked into their second market research target, Thunder Internet Cafe, an internet cafe that mainly sells MU Online.

Lu Xiaobei turned on a machine and quietly observed everything around him.

I wandered around for a bit before finally sitting down next to her. I lowered my voice and said, "It's 2:30 PM now, which is peak time for internet access. However, less than a third of the people in Thunder Internet Cafe are playing MU Online. I see quite a few people playing 'Fantasy Westward Journey' and the newly popular 'Fantasy Westward Journey.' It just so happens that our internet cafe's servers don't have either of those games. I'll add them when we get back."

"Ok!"

Lu Xiaobei nodded emphatically, her beautiful eyes shining brightly.

"correct."

I frowned: "How's your income from setting up a stall in the old town these past few days?"

"It's so-so. Sometimes I don't sell a single item all day, not even enough to cover my lunch break." She looked helpless. "Don't you think people's hearts have changed? Tourists these days are so hard to fool..."

"I rely on..."

I almost vomited blood, and could only helplessly mutter, "Who on earth has lost their moral compass?"

Then, I glanced at her and said seriously, "For the sake of the development of our Feiyang Internet Cafe, I think you need to restrain yourself and stop wandering around like a street urchin. When business is slow during the day, you can sit in the internet cafe, turn on a computer. You're so pretty, your presence will attract a lot of people to come and surf the internet."

"is it?"

Lu Xiaobei seemed quite pleased with herself. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear and smiled, "You also think I'm pretty, right?"

I nodded painfully, "Yes..."

My sin was fueling her arrogance.

Lu Xiaobei was probably overjoyed, and he squinted at me and kept smiling.

Not long after, Lu Xiaobei and I conducted market research at our third internet cafe, Jisu Internet Cafe, which specializes in CS shooting games. Before sunset, the two of us sat by the canal again to enjoy the scenery and summarize our market research findings.

"Actually, the business strategies of the other three internet cafes are also very rigid. Their only advantage is that they have more machines and their machine configurations are better than ours. I think it's only a matter of time before we surpass them."

"Uh-huh!"

Lu Xiaobei nodded repeatedly, his eyes shining.

"You need to go to the game disc wholesale market."

I glanced at her and continued, "Buy more promotional posters for popular games like Audition Online, Legend of Mir, MU Online, and Counter-Strike. Then clean up the advertisements on our exterior windows and put up the posters. We need to create a gaming atmosphere. You know there's a saying that details determine success or failure. Don't be lazy about things that are easy to do."

"Okay, I'll listen to you."

Lu Xiaobei nodded again: "Ding Han, I've discovered that you're really amazing... Your understanding of market research is deeper than mine."

"Not bad, just good at thinking."

"What do you want to eat tonight? My treat."

"Is this considered publicly funded dining and drinking?"

"Calculate!"

"Is it too much to eat hot pot then?"

"Calculate!"

"Then let's continue with the boxed lunches."

"Okay~~"

Time passes day by day.

The wait for Feiyang Internet Cafe's usage rate to increase is long, like waiting for flowers to bloom. It's a market incubation process that can't be rushed.
But Lu Xiaobei has indeed changed a lot. He really spends most of his daytime hours in internet cafes, and has started to integrate into the crowd. He even became friends with a group of customers who were surfing the internet, and they danced hot and sexy together!
Seven days later.

It was around 8 p.m.

Feiyang Internet Cafe was almost packed with people. I arrived early and witnessed with Lu Xiaobei the incredible phenomenon that the empty machine rate was less than 10% during peak hours. There wasn't a single empty machine in the entire internet cafe, which was incredibly popular!
Just then, a ding-dong sound rang in my ears, signaling that the previous task was completed!

[Congratulations! You have completed the daily task "Business Objective" (Rank B)! Rewards: 12 Character Experience, and an additional reward: "Dungeon Crystal - Green Junkyard" (Rare ★★)!]

"Clap!"

A diamond-shaped dark gold crystal fell into my extradimensional storage space!

I was overjoyed! I got another dungeon crystal! What great luck!
"Lu Xiaobei".

I turned around and looked at the beautiful boss behind me, saying, "I'm a little tired today. Want to keep me company on duty tonight? I'll do the first half, and you can do the second half?"

"Oh?"

Lu Xiaobei asked with a puzzled look, "Haven't you been getting enough rest lately?"

"If I sleep in an internet cafe every day, when do you think I'll ever get a proper rest?"

"Too."

She nodded: "Okay, then I'll go with you."

So, after starting the all-night session, I stayed up for a little while and then fell asleep. At four in the morning, I was woken up by Lu Xiaobei. She started managing the server, while I ate a bowl of instant noodles and then went back to sleep, making sure I was well-rested so I could use up the new dungeon crystals the next day.

Keeping dungeon crystals in your possession will only cause them to depreciate. The key is to use them to increase your level and combat power. Just like Old K said, you must learn to snowball in games. Players who don't know how to snowball are definitely not experts.

The next morning.

Lu Xiaobei personally bought breakfast. After I finished eating, I made an excuse to go out for a walk and left the internet cafe.

……

Ancient City District, activate the dungeon crystal.

"Shh-"

On the game map, a small golden dot kept flashing. Its location wasn't too far away, about two miles away.

When I finally arrived, I was stunned. A dungeon portal that looked exactly like a surging starry sky had appeared on the railing at the edge of the canal, so entering the dungeon would be like jumping into the river.

I glanced around to make sure there were no security cameras nearby, and the nearest one wouldn't be able to see this area. I also made sure no one else was around, to avoid any awkward situations like an old man rushing out and yelling, "Young man, please don't do anything rash!"

After confirming everything, I suddenly leaped into the dungeon portal!
"rustle……"

Stumbled, and suddenly found himself inside the instance map, notification bells ringing incessantly in his ears—

[Please note that you have unlocked the dungeon "Green Junkyard" (Rare ★★)!]

[You have entered the map: A mysterious abandoned open-air mechanical graveyard in the wilderness!]

Objective: Destroy the goblin scavenger-modified "Boom Boom Boom Boom" rocket vehicle!

[Warning: Beware of rocket vehicles! They can cause devastating damage!]

……

"Zhizhi~~~"

Just as I was familiarizing myself with the map and getting used to the environment, health bars appeared in the grass ahead, followed by grayish-brown insects that came into view. They were covered in thick carapaces and their antennae were twitching wildly, clearly attracted to me.

Wilderness Cave Bug, Level 20, Common Monster.

This monster has low attack and defense, and only 1000 HP, but it is a high level, a full level 20. For my current level, killing a monster 4 levels higher will give me at least a 20% bonus to experience points, so it is very cost-effective. It allows me to gain the most experience with the least amount of bullets and equipment wear, which is quite good.

The next moment, at least a dozen Wilderness Burrow Insects rushed over!
I immediately switched my primary weapon to the Roarer and started firing wildly at the swarm of cave worms. Bullets sprayed out in a dense barrage. There were too many monsters to be careless, and I didn't need to think about conserving bullets. After quickly emptying three magazines, I finally managed to wipe out most of the cave worms. As soon as the remaining five wounded cave worms got close, I switched to sword mode!
"Pong!"

With a single sword strike, Yuan energy surged forth!

Ground stab!
In an instant, a dense array of sharp spikes shot out from the ground in a fan-shaped pattern, dealing massive damage to a group of wilderness burrowing insects!

"553!"

"548!"

"527!"

"555!"

The damage numbers exploded, and the few remaining Wilderness Cave Bugs were instantly wiped out. Their squeaking cries turned into white light of experience points and flew into my body. This feeling of frantically absorbing experience points was quite fulfilling. Unfortunately, my level is now high. It even takes 50 experience points to go from level 16 to level 17, so the road to leveling up is extremely long and I can only accumulate experience points slowly.

After clearing out a wave of Wilderness Cave Bugs, I didn't underestimate them and rush in. Instead, I sat down and reloaded all my magazines before moving forward to continue conquering the dungeon.

"drop!"

A WeChat message from Zhang Ruolin: "Ding Han, what are you doing? Want to go out for drinks tonight? Xiaobai and I found a nice bar with interesting live music. If you come late, Xiaobai and I might get taken advantage of, and you'll regret it!"

I was speechless for a while.

Then I took out my phone, took a picture of the scene inside the instance, sent it to her, and added a dog emoji.

"Depend on……"

Zhang Ruolin sent a shocked emoji: "Next time there are dungeon crystals, remember to take me with you to share some experience... I'm willing to pay to join the team!"

"Keep drinking, you decadent woman!"

"..."

Zhang Ruolin was speechless, then sent a trembling kitten emoji.

(End of this chapter)