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

As it turned out, Fanes underestimated the market potential of his run-down internet cafe.

In the first few days, the turnover was indeed dismal; the Mora coins barely made a few clinking sounds in the box each day.

But starting from the second week, the number of people coming inexplicably increased, and they were no longer the kind of people who would just come in for a quick look and leave; they actually sat down and spent money.

By the third week, a queue had actually started forming at the door. Fanes leaned over the counter, counting the ever-thickening pile of Mora in the money box, and calculated the month's profit on his fingers. He was surprised to find that after deducting maintenance fees and the food expenses for Little Black's three pigs, there was still quite a bit left.

He later learned the reason from Hu Tao. There were simply too few places for young people in Liyue Harbor to go. Teahouses cost money, storytelling cost money, and stages cost money, and they just told the same old stories over and over again.

The novels and short videos in Fanes' internet cafe aren't exactly abundant, but they're fresh—you can see Xiangling's first-person perspective of stir-frying, browse through adventurers' field exploration notes from Mondstadt, and even play that jigsaw puzzle game.

Although the puzzle is so simple it's almost childish, the store has a leaderboard where the person ranked first each day gets a free glass of juice. This leaderboard is updated daily, which creates competition and leads to repeat purchases.

After listening, Fanes remained silent for a long while before saying, "So I accidentally found the data traffic password."

Nevertheless, the store is still troubled by one problem—Wendy.

Ever since that drunkard discovered the internet cafe, he's treated it like his own living room. He comes every few days, sits in a corner, watches videos, and leaves without ever paying.

Fanes tried threatening him by wrapping a data cable around his neck, posting notices on the door, and even hiring two Fools soldiers to disguise themselves as security guards, but Wendy always managed to sneak in in some unbelievable way, either through the ventilation duct or by climbing over the skylight. Once, he even crawled out of the sewer and appeared under the counter, scaring Fanes so much that he spilled a whole cup of Fonda on his pants.

By the fourth week, Fanes had reached his limit. He spent an entire afternoon pondering a solution, and finally, during a chance encounter with a pet shop in Liyue Harbor, he got an idea.

Standing in front of the pet store window, watching the orange cat lick its paws, Fanes suddenly remembered something someone had casually mentioned while drinking earlier—the Wind God was allergic to cat fur, quite severely so, to the point that his nose would turn as red as a ripe sunset fruit whenever there were cats around.

Fanes pushed open the door of the pet shop.

I adopted three cats in the city. A big, fat orange cat lies under the sign at the door as if on guard duty, a short-haired black and white cat squats next to the counter licking its paws, and a long-haired gray cat spends all day curled up on the chassis of the prototype machine in the corner, sleeping soundly.

Fanes added another wooden sign at the entrance that read, "Cats are kept in the shop. Allergy sufferers beware." He then underlined the word "cat" in red pen. Fanes himself didn't actually have any special feelings for cats, but the effect was immediate.

Wendy arrived the next day. As usual, he climbed in through the unlocked window in the back alley, landing gracefully and calmly, even carrying a half-finished bottle of liquor.

But as soon as Wendy's foot touched the floor, her nose twitched, and her dark green eyebrows furrowed together at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Looking down, Wendy saw a black and white cat crouching in front of the counter, its head raised, its round, golden eyes gazing at him quietly and emotionlessly. Wendy's expression changed.

Wendy took two steps to the side and bumped into the big, fat orange cat stretching by the door. The cat let out a low growl of dissatisfaction after Wendy stepped on the tip of its tail. Wendy's nose turned red at a visible speed in an instant, and an unnatural blush spread across his face from the base of his neck upwards.

He covered his nose and took three steps back, his back hitting the wall behind him, and his eyes began to well up with tears.

When Fanes heard the commotion and came out of the inner room, this was the scene he saw: Wendy was pressed against the farthest corner of the wall, her nose was so red it looked like it was about to bleed, one hand covered her mouth and nose, and the other hand was frantically waving forward to drive away the air, her voice muffled and leaking out from between her fingers.

"What...what do you mean?!"

Fanes leaned against the counter, arms crossed, his tone as calm as if he were remarking on the nice weather: "I've prepared this special reception for you in case you have allergies. Would you like to sit down? I can put another long-haired one next to you."

Wendy followed his gaze to the corner—the gray long-haired cat was fast asleep on the prototype, its tail drooping and swaying with its breath, its fur so thick that just looking at it made you imagine hearing it sneezing.

Wendy's face turned from crimson to deathly pale, and then she turned and flipped out of the back window with a speed that Fanes had never seen before. When she landed, her movements were at least twice as fast as usual. A series of rapid and muffled sneezes echoed down the corridor as she gradually disappeared into the distance at the end of the alley.

Fanes walked to the window, closed it, brushed off a piece of dark green fabric that remained on the windowsill, and nodded in satisfaction.

The big, fat orange cat walked back to the doorway and lay down again, its tail sweeping along the edge of the threshold. It rested its chin on its two crossed front paws and squinted its eyes.

Fanes crouched down and scratched its chin. The orange cat purred contentedly, its tail tip swaying gently in the air, as if to say, "This job is not bad."

After that, Venti never climbed in through that window again. Sometimes, when Fanes was walking on the streets of Liyue Harbor, he could hear a muffled sneeze or two coming from a distant rooftop. When he turned his head to look, he would only see a dark green hem of clothing disappearing at an extremely fast speed behind the eaves.

One evening, while sweeping the floor in front of the internet cafe, Fanes found an empty wine bottle next to the threshold. There was a note on the bottom of the bottle, which read "You're ruthless" in messy handwriting. Below it was a crooked cat head with a big X on it.

Fanes folded the note and stuffed it into his pocket, then continued sweeping the floor. The setting sun bathed the street in a warm orange hue, and rows of warm blue lights shone from the demo panels behind the floor-to-ceiling windows in the internet cafe. The chubby orange cat was dozing by the door, and occasionally a passerby would curiously peek at the newly replaced signboard before pushing the door open and going inside.

The reservations for the few demo units inside the counter were booked for three days in advance. The numbers on the counter finally climbed steadily from those dismal single digits, step by step, forming a small, slow but steadily rising diagonal line. Fanes put away his broom, turned around, and walked back into the store. He casually poured a bowl of water for the orange cat by the door. The cat opened its eyes, glanced at him, and then closed them again.

For now, we don't have to worry about Xiao Hei's food expenses.