Crossing through time 04, I blew up the American aircraft carrier.

In 94, Southeast University connected to the international Internet for the first time.

By 04, Dongda's internet cafes had spread to county towns and even some larger townships!

If you hang a banner that says "China Telecom and China Unicom dual 10 Mbps fiber optic access", it will be even more high-end and classy!

What about Yemen?

Yemen only connected to the international internet last year. Currently, network coverage hasn't extended to other provinces, as setting up networks in mountainous areas is no easy feat!

There are about ten internet cafes in Yemen's capital, and Yemen's trendiest young people are just beginning to get in touch with this fashionable high technology!

This is the current state of the internet in Yemen. However... it's still better than Somalia across the border, which was the last country in the world to connect to the internet and still hasn't done so!

Sana'a Old Town.

Narrow streets, Mr. Gu's brick and stone building...

If properly repaired, it might even become a tourist attraction, but... nobody cares. Even if it were listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, it would still be just as dirty and chaotic.

Human excrement is everywhere on the street corners, and groups of people sit by the roadside chewing khat. This place seems very close to heaven, yet also very far away.

A dilapidated two-story building stands by the roadside.

On the red brick wall outside, there are a few crooked tadpole-like characters.

Alibaba and the Forty Thieves Internet Cafe.

It looks big from the outside, but once you come in, you'll find that most of the place is empty, except for a wooden table in the L-shaped corner with a total of... five computers!

The bulky monitor sits atop the horizontal computer case, while the keyboard and mouse are positioned in front of it.

Four Yemen youths sat intently on wooden chairs.

Forty Thieves? There are only four internet addicts in total!

They were thin, their eyes following the computer screen, their fingers pressing a few specific keys on the keyboard.

I thought I was playing some kind of high-end game! A quick glance at the screen... Road Rash?

"Boss, turn on one machine and give me another serving of instant noodles."

Behind the counter near the entrance, the shop owner looked bewildered: "Instant noodles?"

"Never mind if you don't have it!"

Qin Yuan turned on the only empty computer.

After waiting for two minutes, the blue sky and white clouds finally appeared, followed by the large Windows 98 logo.

Qin Yuan opened Internet Explorer and launched into a flurry of actions, the rapid-fire typing making his buddies stare in astonishment.

This keyboard can actually be operated with both hands, instead of just two index fingers?

Amazing, amazing, truly a master!

Enter the URL, and then there's the long wait!

The screen started refreshing line by line!

Fortunately, the QQ app was right at the top. Once it appeared, Qin Yuan clicked to download it.

Another long wait ensued, one hour, two hours...

Finally, QQ was successfully downloaded and installed on my computer, and then I registered an account.

Looking at the eight-digit premium number, Qin Yuan logged in successfully with satisfaction. Next, he added friends, and the familiar QQ number flashed through his mind.

Send a friend request!

Keep waiting!

If I remember correctly, today should be the day someone skipped work to go to an internet cafe and then got fired from the factory...

Dongda University, Dongshan Province, Laiyang City, Feitian Internet Cafe.

The internet cafe was very large, spread over two floors. The lobby on the first floor was crammed with nearly a hundred computers, making it extremely crowded. The air was thick with the smells of sweat, instant noodles, and cigarette smoke, creating a pungent odor.

The noise was chaotic, even more so than in a vegetable market.

"Quick, quick, come up from behind!"

"Flick the snipe and blow his head off!"

"Damn it, a flashbang!"

In a corner, a young man of about eighteen or nineteen years old was wearing a sky-blue work uniform, with the words "Laiyang Steel Plant" clearly visible on his chest.

In front of the computer screen is a bucket of instant noodles held by a small fork, emitting a unique aroma of technology and ruthless work.

He hadn't even had time to eat yet. He held a piece of letter paper in his left hand and a pen in his right. He glanced up at the screen, then looked down and went back to drawing.

Beside him, his best friend Zhang Hongguang put down his headphones, glanced down at the instant noodles he had just made, and rolled his eyes.

"Ergang, what are you doing?" he said, while secretly reaching into the instant noodle cup, picking up a fork, and sticking it directly into the sausage inside.

At the same time, he glanced guiltily at the computer screen: "Is this the maze from the Legend of Sword and Fairy?"

"That's right, I'm going to draw the entire labyrinth of the Dragon Gate Evil Realm. I refuse to believe I can't find my way out!"

In this era, there aren't many game guides available online, and often players have to draw their own maps!

After the release of Chinese Paladin 2, Zhao Ergang started playing it and spent a whole month playing until he reached the Dragon Gate Evil Realm!

Working during the day was too time-consuming, so he simply skipped work and came out!

I'm aiming to clear the game within a week!

As Zhao Ergang was speaking, he turned his head and glanced at Zhang Hongguang.

Zhang Hongguang had just put the sausage in his mouth when he was caught red-handed, which made him a little embarrassed.

Cough!

What was that sound?

"Ergang, your headphones are ringing, someone's adding you as a friend!"

Zhao Ergang quickly switched screens, opened the QQ friend request box, and then widened his eyes.

Zhao Ergang, add me! I'll make you rich!

Is this someone we know?

So he accepted without hesitation.

Who are you?

I, the Pharaoh of Egypt, have been sealed inside the pyramids for hundreds of millions of years! All it takes is a container of gas cylinders to unseal me. I'll transfer six thousand dollars to your account below, Yemen…

What?

Egyptian Pharaoh?

Zhao Er was taken aback for a moment, then his fingers began to tap rapidly.

I, Qin Shi Huang, have been sealed inside the Terracotta Army for billions of years! All it takes is a Celeron 300A computer to unlock me. Mail it to the Laiyang Steel Plant residential compound... Later, I'll lead my army over and let you command the three armies!

This action earned Zhang Hongguang a thumbs up.

"Ergang, you're amazing!"

"Hmph, that's how you deal with people like that! Hey, why did you eat all my tea eggs?"

"Cough cough, I even saved some instant noodle soup for you, that's the essence..."

Zhao Ergang brought over his instant noodle bucket, and sure enough, there was only soup left!

Zhang Hongguang was still burping when he covered his headphones, clearly intending to pretend he couldn't hear his anger.

Just as Zhao Er reached out to twist Zhang Hongguang's ear, his own ear started to hurt first.

"Hey, who the hell is that...?"

"You son of a bitch!"

The voice made Zhao Ergang's heart tremble. He looked up and saw that it was indeed his mother!

"Mom, what's wrong...?"

"You little brat! How much money did our family spend to get you a job in the factory?! And you still can't live up to that! Come back with me!"

"Mom, wait, let me log out of QQ first!"

Ye Men, watching the other person's figure turn gray on the screen in front of him, and the chat box just showed "886", Qin Yuan was speechless.

Uncle, what are you doing? Answer me right now!

Since it was inconvenient for Qin Yuan to go to the East, he thought of his uncle.

In 04, my uncle was twenty years old. His family spent tens of thousands of yuan to pull strings and finally got him a job as a worker at Laiyang Steel Plant. He wouldn't go on any of the dates his family introduced him to; all he did was play video games all day...

Just today, I was fired from the factory for skipping work to play video games!

After a severe beating, my uncle reformed and started a business, from selling liquefied petroleum gas door-to-door to reselling gas cylinders. When the domestic gas cylinder market became saturated and natural gas gradually squeezed out the gas cylinder market, my uncle became an international middleman, selling gas cylinders to third-world countries and making a lot of money.

Although it was only 04, when we needed to purchase steel pipes and gas cylinders from the East, we naturally went to my uncle, hoping to get him to act as an international middleman. Little did we expect…

I just said I was an Egyptian pharaoh, which is in line with my uncle's goofy personality. His replies are so classic. I was just about to continue chatting when my uncle went offline.

Are they going back to eat stir-fried bamboo shoots with leather belts and stewed pork with corn?

"Hassan, what should we do next?" Sayyid asked.

"Let's make the payment first, and come back at this time tomorrow. Boss, this QQ software of mine can be used for global chatting, it's very important, so please don't delete it!"

"well."

The boss watched as the young men next to him seemed to have discovered a new world, copying the software, registering, logging in, and chatting, and nodded repeatedly.