Returning to my senior year of high school before college, I became addicted to dating.

(Those who don't play games can skip this chapter).

Before Lin Feng could even express his feelings, Tiger shouted:

"Brother Feng, log in! Let's play KartRider! I'm going to beat you today!"

Lin Feng logged into KartRider with the account name "[Brakes All Depend on Shouts]", wearing green gloves with two fingers, and holding an L2 driver's license.

Tiger chose the map "Forest Hairpin," which has many curves and requires a high level of skill.

Raymond Lam uses the Panda G3, while Tiger uses the Alloy E2.

Countdown: 3, 2, 1, Start!

Lin Feng took the lead from the start. Soon, they arrived at the series of U-shaped bends in the forest hairpin.

Lin Feng rapidly tapped the arrow keys and Shift key—pulling the car back, a small boost followed, a perfect drift along the edge, a full nitro boost, and instant acceleration.

Drift, gather boost, accelerate—all in one smooth motion.

Tiger, struggling to keep up, yelled, "Damn! You've been practicing secretly, haven't you?"

Lin Feng ignored him and executed a perfect drift along the edge at the second U-turn, filling his nitro gauge to full again.

With continuous acceleration, they quickly left Tiger far behind.

On the last lap, Raymond Lam was already ten seconds ahead of the second-place finisher (who was not Tiger; Tiger was in fourth place).

Crossing the finish line! First place!

Tiger threw down his headphones: "I'm not playing anymore! You fucking cheated! You were the only one who finished this!"

Lin Feng smiled and lit a cigarette:

"What cheating? This is called skill. Understand?"

"You weren't this good at KartRider before! You stayed close to the corners the whole time without crashing?" Tiger looked incredulous.

Lin Feng exhaled a puff of smoke: "Can't I just have an epiphany?"

But in his heart he was thinking: I've been playing KartRider for years, and you've only been playing for a few days! Dealing with you is like a dimensional reduction attack, isn't it?

Tiger, unconvinced, retorted, "Come on, Audition Online, let's compete! I don't believe you're good at everything!"

Raymond Lam logged into Audition Online and chose Koyote's "Spark".

As the music of "Spark" started playing, the arrows dropped down with a "swish, swish, swish," and Raymond Lam's fingers frantically pressed the arrow keys as if he were having a cramp.

I'm practically typing away at the spacebar until it sparks.

Perfect! Perfect!

P×3, P×5, P×10, and P continues indefinitely!

When the song ended, the screen displayed: All Perfect.

Tiger was stunned, completely unaware that cigarette ash had fallen onto his crotch.

"Are you even human?" Tiger asked in shock.

Lin Feng swung his hand dismissively:

"That's nothing, I can be even faster."

Several girls playing Audition Online gathered around to watch, and one of them, a girl with a ponytail, exclaimed in surprise:

"Wow, it's AP! You're amazing! I've only ever done five in a row, and you did the whole thing!"

Lin Feng laughed and said, "Just practice more."

The little girl with the ponytail blushed and asked, "Can you teach me?"

Tiger chimed in from the side, "Hey, Feng... someone wants to learn to dance from you!"

Lin Feng ignored him and instead said to the little girl:

"Let's add each other on QQ, I'll teach you sometime."

The young girl excitedly added Lin Feng's QQ number.

Tiger, standing nearby, said sourly, "Why don't any girls ever ask me for my QQ number?"

Raymond Lam: "Because you look like a bear."

Tiger: "..."

----

After playing until after 9 p.m., Tiger opened Fantasy Westward Journey, and Lin Feng went over to take a look.

Tiger plays a level 69 Tang Dynasty official character named 【Causeway Bay ~ Hao Nan】.

The equipment is average, the training is average, and the pet is average too.

Lin Feng frowned: "Brother Tiger, your account isn't good enough. Only this much damage at level 69?"

Tiger scratched his head: "I'm not very good at it either, I'm just playing around. The equipment is too expensive, I can't afford it."

Lin Feng took the mouse, looked at Tiger's warehouse and backpack, and then looked at the prices in the area.

He pointed at the screen: "Listen to me. From now on, you'll be running escort missions, completing daily quests, and escorting goods every day. Don't waste the money you save; hoard it all as Rainbow Fruits."

Tiger was taken aback: "Colored fruit? What's the use of dyeing clothes?"

Lin Feng said confidently, "Right now, one colored fruit costs 30, and in a month it will be worth at least 1500. If you stockpile 100 and sell them in a month, you'll make a net profit of 15 million."

In 2006, the exchange rate for Dream Coins was approximately 100 million = 10 RMB.

150 yuan is a lot for a student, especially since it's free money; it's enough to cover a month's accommodation at Heimen.

Tiger's eyes widened: "Holy crap! Really?"

Lin Feng then pointed at the beast skills: "When have I ever lied to you? Stock up on Advanced Combo, Advanced Critical Strike, Advanced Ambush, these are cheap now, but they'll double in price in a while."

Tiger nodded like a chick pecking at rice: "Okay, okay, I'll do whatever you say."

Lin Feng glanced at Tiger's equipment again: "Your weapon is too rubbish. Go get a simple one tomorrow, with over 400 damage. It'll cost around 200 million. I'll pay for it."

Tiger said embarrassedly, "Brother Feng, this isn't right, it's always your money."

Lin Feng patted him on the shoulder: "We're brothers, don't say such things. You'll have your chance to make money in the future."

Tiger was deeply moved: "He truly is my good brother."

Lin Feng smiled but didn't say anything.

What he was thinking was: I can't let Tiger down again in this lifetime. In his previous life, Tiger had lost money and spent seven days in jail because of him fighting, and he had to make up for all those regrets.

----

At midnight, the internet cafe was packed with people staying all night.

Most of them were young people around seventeen or eighteen years old, some were students, and some were young people involved in the underworld.

They were all smoking, drinking beer, playing games, and cursing under their breath.

"Damn it! My Yulgang account got hacked."

"Come on, let's play Counter-Strike! Dust2, I'll be the cop."

A group of World of Warcraft players shouted excitedly:

"Take the tank! DPS, don't over-aggro!"

"Healers, keep the tank focused! Don't just look at the DPS!"

"Holy crap! We're wiped out, time to run back to our corpses."

Lin Feng leaned back in his chair, watching all this, feeling a warm glow in his heart.

This is what youth is all about: no mortgage, no car loan, no KPIs, no 996 work schedule.

All I had was an internet cafe, instant noodles, big white pears, and a bunch of silly brothers.

And... there are wild, natural-looking girls everywhere.

Tiger was eating instant noodles next to him, watching the recently popular TV series "The Return of the Condor Heroes".

He was still cursing: "Damn it, I'm so angry! Little Dragon Girl actually got her shelled by Yin Zhiping."

"That Yang Guo is a fucking bastard, damn it, he's really infuriating."

Tiger noticed Lin Feng staring at him and said, "Are you eating instant noodles? Why are you looking at me? The noodles will all clump together in a minute."

After saying that, he leaned closer to Lin Feng and whispered:

"I downloaded Waga, let's watch it together late at night, I downloaded a really good one..."

Before he could finish speaking, a blond-haired man in the front row angrily stood up:

"Who the hell downloaded the video? Why is it so laggy? Internet cafe manager!"

Tiger quickly sat back down, looking guilty, and glared at the blond guy.

Lin Feng smiled and shook his head, then opened his browser and entered a website address.

The 2006 NetEase homepage was riddled with blobs of "GG," a stark contrast to the minimalist style of 2026.

He read through the news articles one by one, confirming the timeline.

"The Qinghai-Tibet Railway is now fully operational."

"The World Cup is being held in Germany."

Lin Feng closed the webpage, opened QQ Space, and wrote a blog post with only one sentence:

"2006, I'm back."

He leaned back in his chair, staring at the screen with a meaningful smile on his lips.