Reborn in 2000, starting from the university website

In the department head's office, Bai Yuhang placed the approval document, stamped with a bright red official seal, neatly on the desk.

"Director, this is the approval just issued by the Municipal Bureau of Culture and the Sports Commission. Lansu Club, as a key municipal cultural enterprise in HEB City, is fully authorized to host this 'Digital Sports Competition Invitational Tournament,' and has invited our Department of Software Engineering, Computer Science, to participate as a technical support unit." Bai Yuhang's tone was calm. He didn't look at Chen Yuan, whose face was ashen beside him, and pointed to the heading of the document. "This competition is in response to the national call for 'quality education' and 'university students' social practice.' If our department determines that this is gambling, does that mean we also agree that the city's document supports gambling?"

The department head picked up the document, his fingertips tracing the red stamp. As someone within the system, he knew all too well the weight of that red stamp.

This is hardly a student farce; it's clearly a case of using someone else's name to create a big deal. The procedures are compliant and legal, and it even brought the department the glory of "school-enterprise cooperation."

"Chen Yuan." The department head put down the documents, took off his glasses, rubbed his temples, and his voice turned cold. "Is this what you call 'heinous' and 'corrupting'?"

Chen Yuan opened his mouth, his shirt soaked with cold sweat: "Director, I... I was only trying to ensure the safety of my classmates, after all, internet cafes are like that..."

"Enough." The department head crumpled Chen Yuan's letter of complaint into a ball and threw it into the wastebasket. "As a former student council member, you need to be more open-minded. You can't achieve anything yourself, so you target your juniors for sabotage? Who taught you this habit of making baseless accusations and labeling people? Get out!"

Chen Yuan slunk out of the office. As the door closed, he could still hear the director's gentle voice to Bai Yuhang: "Bai Yuhang, since this is a formal event, the department generally doesn't interfere, but you need to be more careful about security... If you need the department's help, just come to me. Is there any arrangement for the city leaders' event?"

Bad news travels faster than good news.

Before Chen Yuan could even return to the Geek Alliance's activity room, the sound of the wind blowing in from outside the school had already arrived.

Zhao Jianjun and his gang of internet cafe owners were no pushovers. They heard from Liu Jing that a student named Chen Yuan from the Speed ​​League was trying to cut off their source of income and ruin this competition that could earn them both fame and revenue. Bai Yuhang turned the tide and, together with the Blue Speed ​​Club, saved the day. At that time, they were constantly on the phone, and the news caused a complete uproar in the entire internet cafe industry.

Liu the Fatty from outside the city declared: "From now on, anyone from the Geek Alliance who dares to enter my internet cafe will be beaten up every time I see them."

Zhao Jianjun went even further, sending a message to Chen Yuan: "College students are precious, but cutting off their livelihood is like killing their parents. You can report me, but first you have to compensate for the losses suffered by these dozens of internet cafes."

This time, Chen Yuan really kicked a hornet's nest. Not only did he lose face in the department, but his off-campus "base" was also shut down. The Geek Alliance members will have to sneak around when they go to internet cafes in the future, for fear of being recognized.

Back in dormitory 206, the atmosphere was somewhat awkward.

Bai Yuhang casually tossed the official document onto the table, took off his coat, and lay down on the bed.

Jiang Shuo sat at his desk, his copy of "Advanced Mathematics" flipped to page eighteen, untouched for half an hour. As he listened to Liu Jing's vivid description of Chen Yuan's humiliating defeat and Yang Bo's calculations of the potential hidden benefits of the competition, his mental defenses finally began to crumble.

He always thought Bai Yuhang was walking a tightrope and would eventually fall to his death.

But now it seems that this is not walking a tightrope, but crossing one overpass after another.

Even the director had to nod in approval, and big bosses from all walks of life were vying for his attention. This ship was no longer something his pitiful pride could withstand.

His plan seemed shrewd; with the student council elections starting next semester, he had already registered to run for the next organization minister. But recently, he heard from the outgoing minister that everything had already been decided beforehand, and he was just there to make up the numbers.

He had been preparing for the exam for a long time, but he was always unsure of himself. Compared with the top students at the university, he was just an ordinary test-taker from a small town, and his academic ability in professional courses was far inferior to that of the students from big cities.

Lacking social skills and without any support in the school, I feel very insecure about everything I do.

He was so envious of Bai Yuhang and his roommates who were self-reliant and knew what they wanted to do, what they could do, and what they were doing.

He thought that if he didn't get on the boat soon, he would probably only be able to watch them eat meat from the shore, without even getting a sip of soup.

Jiang Shuo closed the book, his gaze lingering on Bai Yuhang's back for a long time. In the end, he didn't say "Take me with you." He just silently got up, went downstairs to get two kettles of hot water, and filled everyone's cups.

Friday night, New Century Internet Cafe.

Zhang Jian, a sausage dangling from his mouth, furiously typed away on the keyboard. He'd come to the internet cafe to stay up all night; his task for tonight was to maintain the server, clean up old logs, investigate the server configuration for the competition, and keep an eye on the user data registered on the school's intranet for the competition.

"I'm just baffled," Zhang Jian mumbled, chewing on a sausage. "Are these people bored? We haven't really promoted Renren.com much, so why is the traffic suddenly increasing?"

On the screen, the backend logs were refreshing wildly. He noticed that users who had been forced to register to play CS competitions weren't logging off after filling out the registration form. On the contrary, the number of requests they made in the site's search box was skyrocketing.

Search: Class 3, 1998, Harbin No. 3 High School

Search: Tieli No.1 Middle School

Search: Li Xiaoman.

Search: Zhang Wei.

"Why aren't these guys practicing shooting? Why are they looking for old classmates here?" Zhang Jian looked at the real class groups that had been created, and saw the messages like "Long time no see" and "So you're here too," and felt a chill run down his spine.

Bai Yuhang's "Look where your first love is" pop-up ad was more effective than any sleeping potion.

Suddenly, a post from the "University of Technology Second-hand Trading Area" caught Zhang Jian's attention.

This is a new feature section that was recently launched on Renren.com. It was originally suggested by Jiao Liwei to make it easier for everyone to create an electronic flea market on Renren.com and exchange information.

The poster, whose ID is "Extreme Speed," posted a simple message: "Accepting computer science graduation projects, Java and C++ are both acceptable. Years of experience, guaranteed pass, price negotiable. Also selling the complete source code for Extreme Speed ​​Navigation. Those who know, please contact."

Zhang Jian opened the person's profile, casually checked the IP address, and chuckled.

This IP address is located on the first campus of the university, and it's exactly the same IP range as the one from Chen Yuan's Geek Alliance. Judging from the ID style, it's probably a core member of the Geek Alliance. They're probably trying to make a quick buck before Speed ​​Navigation fails, or maybe Chen Yuan instructed them to sell the code to recoup some money.

"Want to sell yourself? Broken code isn't easy to sell, who wants it? I'll help you out." Zhang Jian swallowed the last bite of sausage, a wicked smile appearing on his lips.

He quickly registered a new OICQ account, changed the nickname to "Extremely Money-Controlling", changed the profile picture to a sunny boy holding a basketball, and directly added the contact information left by "Extreme Speed".

The verification message read: "Dude, I urgently need help with my graduation thesis. I haven't even finished the proposal yet, and I only have two months left before graduation. I'm really anxious. The price is negotiable, and I'll guarantee a pass. Can we discuss the details?"

Sent successfully.

Zhang Jian leaned back in his chair, staring at the penguin icon bouncing in the lower right corner of the screen, like an old hunter watching his prey fall into the net: "Chen Yuan, you idiot, you delivered yourselves to our door this time."