"Today, I must have a good adventure in the New World!"
"Tremble, wild beasts!"
Zhou Yang walked quickly through the Commercial Street. Seeing the Internet Cafe close by, he became even more excited and couldn't help but shout.
He didn't notice the strange looks from the surrounding pedestrians, some of whom were secretly pointing at him.
"Hmm?"
But when Zhou Yang arrived at the entrance of the Internet Cafe, he saw Su Ran standing there. Upon seeing him, Su Ran smiled and waved him over, signaling him to come.
Zhou Yang was startled, then reacted: "Heh, the boss must have detected my gaming talent in advance, so he's specially here to welcome me!"
Thinking this, Zhou Yang excitedly rubbed his hands, proudly raised his head, and walked over in what he considered a handsome pose.
But then he heard Su Ran say: "Um, I just heard someone outside selling pancakes. Could you help me buy ten—no, twenty pancakes? I can't leave the store, I have to watch it!"
Zhou Yang's face instantly went blank.
Ten minutes later, when Zhou Yang returned with twenty pancakes, his mood was complex.
How could he, a core student of the Academy, a genius on the Heaven Ranking, a Gold-ranked expert, be reduced to a mere errand boy?
Su Ran took the pancakes, glanced at them, and saw they were a bit gray, without any toppings or side dishes. He didn't know what they were made of, but it certainly wasn't flour. Then he immediately took a bite.
"Crunch…"
His first impression was that they were dry and hard. After chewing a few more times, they were also a bit bitter.
The taste was absolutely unrelated to deliciousness.
If he wasn't hungry, he would never eat such a thing, but he was truly very hungry now. There were too few ingredients in the refrigerator. He hadn't eaten enough yesterday, and after eating today, he felt even hungrier.
So he didn't care about the taste anymore, stuffing them into his mouth one by one. Fortunately, although these pancakes weren't tasty, they seemed to barely provide energy and nutrition, alleviating his hunger.
Zhou Yang had no interest in watching Su Ran eat. At this moment, he quickly urged: "Boss, I want to play! Hurry up and give me a computer!"
Su Ran swallowed and said: "I'm sorry, you came too late. It's already full now, there are no more spots!"
"What?"
"Gone again?"
Zhou Yang's body trembled, then his eyes widened, glaring angrily: "Are you messing with me?"
Su Ran shook his head and explained: "When you arrived just now, it was already full. So I suggest if you really want to play, come a bit earlier tomorrow!"
Earlier?
Zhou Yang was speechless.
He had only slept in for a short while today, even skipping class to rush over. Wasn't that early enough?
However, when Zhou Yang walked into the Internet Cafe and found that besides him, a large group of people, including Ouyang Qing and Liu Chengfeng, also hadn't managed to get a spot and could only enviously watch others play games from behind them, he fell silent.
...
Feiyun Country Royal Academy.
Inside the Martial Arts Plaza.
A martial arts class teacher looked at the loosely assembled team in front of him and was furious.
"No wonder most of you can only be ordinary students and cannot become core students. Just look at your attitude!"
He was responsible for teaching about forty students, but right now, a quick glance showed that at least a dozen were missing without needing to count.
He couldn't help but angrily say to the remaining people: "Look at those core students, how diligent, how self-disciplined! Like Zhou Yang and His Highness Liu Chengfeng, they would never be like you, so unmotivated and ignorant…"
"Teacher!"
But just as he spoke halfway, he heard someone in the team interrupt and remind him: "But Zhou Yang and Liu Chengfeng didn't come today either!"
Martial arts teacher: "…"
Until an hour passed, and the martial arts teacher left dejectedly.
The other students then gathered together.
"Why are so many people skipping class recently? Not just martial arts class, but also theory and combat. And even core students like His Highness and Zhou Yang are skipping. Do you know what's going on?"
"I don't know, but it's really strange!"
"I know, I know! They went to a place called an Internet Cafe!"
"What? An Internet Cafe?"
"Yes, I heard that there you can play games with a magical machine called a computer. They say it's especially interesting. I'm planning to go check it out now."
"Really? Then take me with you!"
"Count me in!"
As they discussed, they enthusiastically left the Academy and headed towards the Commercial Street.
...
At the same moment.
A Security Team of soldiers had already rushed to the Commercial Street.
Because they had received multiple reports from nearby residents saying that there might be a cultist martial artist organization's stronghold here.
So they immediately geared up and rushed over as a team.
"Are you the ones who reported it?"
"What exactly happened?"
"Where is the cult stronghold you mentioned?"
Zhao Yan, the captain of the Security Team, was asking the reporters about the situation.
Someone pointed to a small alley not far away and said: "Officer, just go straight in there. Yesterday, a group of people gathered there, shouting loudly, they were really crazy!"
"Not only that, I also overheard their conversations, it was terrifying! All about wild beasts, poison traps, and hunting!"
"Yes, yes, I heard it too! And they said many people died!"
Zhao Yan frowned upon hearing this, remained silent for a while, made a judgment, then waved his hand, leading his team into the alley and positioning them at the Internet Cafe's entrance, ready to act.
Zhao Yan's expression was somewhat solemn at this moment.
There were numerous cultist martial artist sects, spread throughout the continent, deeply rooted, and all of them were very powerful. Logically, they shouldn't be interested in a remote place like Feiyun Country.
But why would they appear here?
He thought about it but couldn't figure it out.
However, the arrow was on the string; it had to be loosed.
"Action!"
Zhao Yan took a deep breath, gave the order, and holding a long spear, he was the first to charge in, shouting sternly: "Everyone get down! Don't move!"
However, his first sight was an incredibly familiar figure walking towards him.
Liu Chengfeng was standing behind a computer at the Internet Cafe's entrance, watching others play games.
He was already a bit depressed today because he had arrived a little late and hadn't managed to get a spot. At this moment, seeing Zhao Yan lead a team of people rushing in, he felt even more bewildered. Moreover, this was the Internet Cafe, now a sacred place in his heart, so he couldn't help but scold.
"What's all the noise, Captain Zhao? What are you doing?"
"Your… Your Highness?"
Zhao Yan was startled when he saw Liu Chengfeng. His hand trembled, and the spear in his hand dropped directly to the ground, utterly stunned: "How are you here?"
Liu Chengfeng said as a matter of course: "Of course I'm here to play games. But you, why did you bring a group of people here so aggressively?"
"We received a report that this might be a cult stronghold!"
"What? A cult stronghold? Absurd! This is an Internet Cafe, a place to play games with a machine called a computer… Do you understand?"
"Uh…"
Zhao Yan looked embarrassed. Although he didn't quite understand, he knew that he had made a mistake.
Moreover, Zhao Yan glanced inside the Internet Cafe and found many familiar faces, almost all of them famous noble family members or genius martial artists from Feiyun City.
This made him even more curious about this so-called Internet Cafe, thinking that he should try it himself when he had time.