Genshin Impact: Watch me turn the tables and kill my servants at the start!

Fanes stood on the streets of Liyue Harbor for an entire morning, holding that prototype, his mouth dry from talking, but he didn't sell a single order.

I initially thought this thing had obvious advantages—it could make real-time calls to people thousands of miles away, and watch videos anytime, anywhere. It seemed like a groundbreaking invention.

So, after squatting at the entrance of the busy alley next to Tiger Rock for almost half an hour explaining it to someone, the cloth merchant across the street only replied with one question: "How much is this?"

Fanes quoted the cost price plus a 20% profit margin, and the cloth merchant's face changed instantly. He waved his hand and left, leaving behind the words, "I can't even earn enough in half a year to buy this lump of iron of yours."

The next person to ask was a young adventurer, who fiddled with it for a while with great interest, and finally asked, "Is it reliable?" before putting it down.

Before Faenes could explain, an old merchant passing by leaned in and whispered, "You dare use something from the Fools? What if it's been fitted with a listening device?"

Upon hearing this, the adventurer immediately put the prototype back on the table and took three steps back, as if he had touched something unclean.

Fanes packed up his stall, squatted by the roadside, and scratched his head. Ordinary people couldn't afford it, and rich people didn't believe in the hype; his communication terminal was stuck in an extremely awkward middle ground.

After squatting by the roadside for half an hour, he finally stood up, dusted himself off, and made one of the most important decisions of his life—he would stop selling terminals and start selling services.

They rented a small shop near the port in Liyue Harbor, where they set up a dozen or so demo computers, each fully assembled and connected to the mainframe. A wooden sign hung at the entrance, with four large characters written in crooked but barely legible Liyue script: "Yangshizi Internet Cafe".

Below that is a line of smaller print: "You can read novels, watch videos, and play mini-games. Billed by the hour, fair and honest."

Business was lukewarm for the first few days after opening. Most of the customers were curious young people who would go in, look around, and leave once the novelty wore off; very few actually sat down and spent money to play.

Fanes wasn't in a hurry. He used the last bit of money in his savings to buy the online rights to several popular Liyue novels, and also added the few flop novels he had written in Fontainebleland.

Then he had someone make several extremely simple games—puzzles, mazes, and card matching—with a rudimentary art style that evoked memories of roadside arcade machines from over a decade ago.

The effects were gradually becoming apparent. First, a few young people from the Adventurers' Guild discovered that they could lie down and read novels here without having to buy physical books. Then, sailors from the port would come over after disembarking to play a couple of puzzles to pass the time.

Half a month later, Fanes asked Xiangling to record a few short videos of her cooking and put them in the video section. Although there was only visuals and no sound, the images of her stir-frying in the wok, combined with the clear display on the crystal panel, actually attracted many passersby to stop and watch.

Fanes leaned over the counter, calculating the month's expenses. After finishing, he let out a long sigh of relief, turned to Little Black, who was huddled outside the door, and said, "Little Black, this is how you'll make your food money next month."

Little Black poked its huge head through the door frame, its round amber eyes filled with grievance. It made a series of whimpering sounds, as if saying, "I don't want to be vegetarian! I want to eat meat!" Its tail swept twice outside the door, startling several passersby who took several steps back.

Fanes had also considered making short videos, thinking of having Rosalyn record some clips of bards singing and put them online, or having Walnut film some promotional videos for the Hall of Rebirth.

After contacting a few people, Rosalyn said she wasn't interested in showing her face, Hu Tao said she could film but would have to pay an appearance fee, and the rest of the people she knew were either too busy or didn't know how to handle the new equipment at all.

Looking at the pitiful balance on his ledger, Fanes silently crossed the words "short video" off his schedule. Ningguang's loan still had two years to go before it was paid off, and the interest rebates wouldn't be credited to his account until the loan was settled. Until then, he could only rely on the revenue from the internet cafe to keep going.

But he could accept all of that. What bothered him the most was that drunkard who came to use the internet for free every few days.

Since discovering this internet cafe, Wendy has felt like she's found a new home. She comes every two days, and when she enters, she doesn't make a purchase or register. She just sits down in front of the demo machine in the corner and starts watching videos.

Fanes tolerated it for the first week, started counting in the second week, and finally couldn't stand it anymore in the third week. He walked up behind him, hands on his hips, and looked at the green-robed bard who was staring at the image of Xiangling cooking on the crystal panel, drooling: "Lord Wind God, are you going to use the internet for free again?"

Wendy waved her hand without turning her head: "What do you mean free? I'm just increasing your popularity. Look, I'm sitting here. When people pass by and see that there are customers in this store, they will come in, and when they come in, they will buy something, and when they buy something, you make money. I call this customer acquisition."

Fanes took a deep breath: "Do you even know what that word means?"

"I don't know. But what I said makes sense, doesn't it?"

Fanes reached under the counter and pulled out an unopened spare data cable, holding it up and pointing it at the back of Wendy's head.

"I've tolerated you coming here nine times out of ten, but if you don't pay this tenth time, I'll drag you out of the store and hang you up at the door as a public spectacle."

Wendy finally turned her face away from the screen, a look on her face that said, "How can you be so stingy?" "I'm the Wind Goddess! It's your honor to let the Wind Goddess use your internet for free!"

"Then why don't you ask the wind god to pay you! Are you going to blow a few fallen leaves over to use as mora flowers?"

Wendy thought for a moment, then said seriously, "Can I use dandelion wine to pay off the debt?"

"No!"

Fanes raised the data cable as if to slap it, "Pay up! Mora or you're out! You choose!"

Wendy jumped up from her chair, took two steps back, and looked aggrieved: "I'm the Wind Goddess, how dare you hit me..."

"So what if you're the Wind God? Do you know how much traffic you've been piggybacking on from me this year? Do you know how many crystal panels' lifespan those video clips consume just to load? Do you know—"

Wendy had already slipped to the door, turned back and gave Fanes a "come again next time" gesture, her dark green cloak flashing along the edge of the door frame before disappearing around the corner.

Fanes stood behind the counter, clutching the data cable, his chest heaving several times before he could calm down. He bent down to put the data cable back in the drawer, then turned to organize the queue records for the sample machines on the shelf.

The little black dog poked its head in again from the doorway. Its amber vertical pupils glanced at the data cable in Fanes' hand, then at the direction Wendy had disappeared in, and let out a very soft, faint whimper, like a dog chuckling.

Fanes tilted his head and glared at it: "What are you laughing at? It's not me who'll be starving next month!"

Little Black withdrew its head, pretending it hadn't done anything, and went back to sunbathing by the door.

As for Wendy, that habitual freeloader, Fanes has already put up a sign at the door that says "Wendy and dogs not allowed."