It had been nearly half a month since "World Environment Day." After a heavy downpour, a strange resident Lu Yan had picked up from the rain moved in across the hall from him.

Surname Xiao, given name Heng. A dog's temper, a young master.

Occupation, unknown.

"Yan, for a few days in a row, I saw the rich young master coming out of the building when I was brushing my teeth in the morning."

On the weekend, when Brother Wei came over to visit, he said, "Are you two living together?"

"..."

Lu Yan was brushing his teeth and almost swallowed his mouthwash.

"What are you thinking? He lives across the hall from me!" Lu Yan shouted.

Brother Wei: "?!!"

Lu Yan briefly explained the situation.

After hearing the whole story, Brother Wei understood. "So he's living in room 601 now?"

The TV in the living room was on, tuned to the local news channel. After the background music finished, a female host in formal attire appeared on the screen. With perfect enunciation and without blinking, she said, "Hello, viewers. We now bring you an urgent news report. Recently, a highly dangerous individual has been at large in our city—"

After washing up, Lu Yan glanced over. "What dangerous individual?"

Brother Wei said, "A con artist."

Lu Yan didn't think much of it. In a place where you could run into someone like Scar just by turning left and taking two steps out the door, a con artist was nothing unusual. After he finished eating, he noticed Brother Wei was still standing there, not leaving. "Bro, just say it. What do you need my help with?"

"Get lost, you think I'm you," Brother Wei said. "It's just that I'm bored this weekend... wanna go to the internet cafe?"

There were only a few forms of entertainment among men.

Drinking and gaming.

Lu Yan had no plans for the day, so he said, "Sure."

The internet cafes near the Seventh District, or rather, in the entire Lower District, were very distinctive. They made no secret, even brazenly advertising, that they were illegal internet cafes. The one closest to the Seventh District was simply called "Black Internet Cafe."

A hazy, dream-like neon sign flashed with the three words "Black Internet Cafe," and a black curtain hung at the entrance.

Since you didn't need an ID to get online, the internet cafe was a melting pot of all sorts of people.

Lu Yan walked to the entrance of the internet cafe, pulled back the black curtain, and ducked inside.

"Kill, kill, kill!"

"Wait a sec, I have an ultimate."

"Get him! Get him!"

"..."

A cacophony of noise.

Just inside the curtain was the counter. The net admin's face was blocked by the computer screen, revealing only the top half of his head and one hand on the mouse. As Lu Yan got closer, he could also smell smoke.

"Attendant, two computers. Two ten-yuan sessions," Lu Yan let the curtain fall, lowered his head to dig for change, and fumbled in his pocket for a while before pulling out two ten-yuan bills.

The hand moved the mouse nonchalantly.

After two mouse clicks, a man's voice spoke.

The man seemed to have a cigarette in his mouth, giving a casual "mhm."

Then the hand reached out and took the money.

The man then called out two numbers: "16, 17."

It sounded a bit familiar.

Before Lu Yan had time to think, Brother Wei hooked an arm around him and led him inside.

After starting a game, Lu Yan realized the male-to-female ratio in this internet cafe was a bit off.

Girls were in the majority.

And they weren't watching videos or playing games, just calling for the net admin every other minute.

"Attendant, why won't this open?"

"Attendant, my computer screen went black."

"Attendant..."

Attendant, net admin, net admin.

After a while of this, the net admin finally stood up from his seat with extreme impatience.

The man was dressed very casually, wearing a pair of ten-yuan plastic slippers from the supermarket. He had a cigarette dangling from his mouth and seemed drained from his night shift, his eyes half-closed as he said listlessly, "Be quiet."

This time, it was more than just familiar.

Such a familiar and damn cool tone.

Lu Yan maneuvered his character to find cover behind a tree, and in the moment while waiting for an enemy, he looked up.

...

Brother Wei shouted, "That squad is out, hurry up and shoot!"

Lu Yan snapped back to reality, his shot going wide.

The outcome was decided. Brother Wei wailed, "You missed five shots! We almost won just now!"

Lu Yan didn't answer.

He took off his headphones and leaned back in his chair, watching Xiao Heng, who was sitting opposite him, smoking while fixing the computer for an excited-looking young girl.

He never would have thought the job Xiao Heng found was as an internet cafe net admin.

Compared to the excited girl, Xiao Heng's state could be described as completely unperturbed. With a 'don't bother me' attitude, he typed on the keyboard for a bit, then stood up after he was done.

The chair scraped against the floor as it slid back.

Then Xiao Heng, with the cigarette in his mouth, also saw the person opposite him as he stood up.

"..."

Two minutes later, Xiao Heng was sitting in the empty seat next to Lu Yan.

"How did you find this job?" Lu Yan asked.

"I don't have my ID," Xiao Heng replied.

Xiao Heng added irritably, "Applied for a new one, but it won't be ready for a while."

This guy really did throw everything away when he left.

Completely.

"This is something else. If someone comes to inspect, the police will find that not only do the customers not have IDs, but the net admin doesn't either."

Lu Yan joked with him while playing his game, but the person who usually retorted back didn't respond.

When Lu Yan finished the round he was playing, he turned his head and found that Xiao Heng had closed his eyes and fallen asleep.

Being an net admin wasn't an easy job. When it was your turn for the night shift, you had to stay up all night. Xiao Heng had probably pulled a few all-nighters already.

Xiao Heng was slumped over right next to his hand.

If Lu Yan moved his hand just a little, he could touch Xiao Heng's hair.

It was prickly, as stubborn as his foul temper.

Only then did Brother Wei take off his headphones and lean over. He pointed at Xiao Heng and asked in a low voice, "What's going on?"

Lu Yan said, "It's nothing, let's keep playing."

But Lu Yan was clearly off his game for the latter half, his aim abysmal. He kept an eye on the black curtain at the entrance while playing. During the third match, the black curtain moved, and someone lifted it to enter.

Lu Yan directly tapped Xiao Heng on the head and called, "Attendant, new customer."

Xiao Heng opened his eyes and realized he had been asleep for over half an hour.

Two hours later, Lu Yan logged off.

He stopped by the counter on his way out, knocked on the desktop with his knuckle, and said as a farewell, "Leaving."

Xiao Heng sat behind the computer, his face unseen. His hand rested on the mouse, unmoving, just like when Lu Yan had arrived.