Alternate Dimension Game: Happiness is all that matters!
Chapter 172 - 161: Internet Cafe Grand Opening!

Chapter 172: Chapter 161: Internet Cafe Grand Opening!

"Free is the most expensive!"

This was the profound experience humanity had garnered after a long period of exploration.

Thus, faced with the Transmission Watch, everyone harbored some doubts.

"I’ve thought of two possible reasons, first, because of the need for prosperity."

No. 24 analyzed, "Transmission is actually a basic function, much like the saying ’to get rich, build roads.’ It’s akin to a well-stocked mall; if there’s a fee to enter or leave the mall, no matter how luxurious it may be, it will see fewer customers."

"Moreover, if people had to pay to transmit, some might enter and then find themselves without the funds to leave, and would literally suffocate inside."

This reason was quite down-to-earth, due to the need for prosperity.

That is, the Game truly did provide an attractive chip for long-term cooperation with humanity.

"The second reason is that the cost of transmission has already been bought out. This watch is worth 10 points, but frankly... it doesn’t contain any high-tech elements. Judging by humanity’s industrial capacity, it’s priced at around 50 yuan, which is very cheap!"

No. 24 pointed to the Transmission Watch on his hand.

Plain and ordinary, just a few plastic buttons, it looked like the sort of commonplace goods that wouldn’t sell even at a street stall.

"A 50-yuan industrial product for 10 points... that’s equivalent to 10 units of source. They’re really asking for the moon."

He had just disassembled one and found that the structure of the watch was incredibly simple, just a regular electronic watch: a chip, circuit board, monochrome screen, plus a radio frequency device that could emit a sequence of electromagnetic wave signals.

"The signals emitted by this type of electronic watch seem to resonate with the extra star ’Beiming Star’ that has appeared in the sky."

"It’s because of this resonance that long-distance transmissions are possible."

"Is there a possibility of cracking it?" someone asked.

"In theory, there is... but I think we shouldn’t try to save this expense."

No. 24 answered, "For one thing, the main body of transmission is the Game, not this watch. It’s like the difference between a client and a server; even if we cracked the client, it’s not useful because we cannot crack the server... and there’s no need to invite unnecessary risks."

"On the other hand, this type of watch isn’t expensive, and the buyout fee of 10 points... even if we cracked it, we wouldn’t dare to stuff people in en masse, would we?"

"Right," Lu Tianming, lying in bed receiving an IV, asked weakly, "the international conference is about to convene soon. Are you guys prepared to go public with the news about the Game?"

Old Man No. 1 laughed and said, "The Game brazenly hovers in the sky, and since it can’t be kept secret, of course we’re going to sell it for a good price!"

"The transmission site is right here with us, which is already a huge bargaining chip. If they want to get in, they’ll have to go through our review process."

Old Lu asked, "The pressure we face will be substantial, won’t it?"

"Pressure? No, no, there’s no pressure. The Game’s grand supermarket is open for business, we’re just helping with promotion to make a bit of money, so where’s the pressure?"

Hearty laughter filled the small room.

...

...

On this day, Wang Hao’s long-planned "Everyday VR Internet Café" officially opened for business.

"Grand opening special!"

"Top up one hundred, get one hundred free; top up one thousand, get one thousand free! Top up ten thousand, get ten thousand free!"

On the first day of the Internet café’s opening, the business was booming. Over twenty machines were fully occupied, commandeered by nearby Net-addicted teens.

These teenagers, each wearing glasses and moving their bodies, were enjoying a more liberated virtual world.

A VR game Internet café... was quite rare.

Wang Hao sat at the front desk, watching the rising business income, grinning from ear to ear.

"See, I do have a head for business."

"Look at this business, this turnout..."

"Even the aunties from the community are coming to support..."

"This is only the first day. If the business wasn’t good on the first day, that would be the real surprise. Besides, you’re offering fifty percent off now; when will you recoup the costs?"

Han Xiaoyue was wearing a black T-shirt, her hair in her usual twin-tail style, youthful and pretty, sweet and cute.

She quietly observed the customers around her, analyzing the information she saw.

The customers were all ordinary people... nothing special.

From the back-end computer, she could see the games the customers were playing; just ordinary games, mostly shooting games, and a few action ones, first-person role-playing, life simulation, and so on.

Han Xiaoyue wondered if this Internet café was really just for killing time.

Just then, a male and a female Black-clothed Guard entered the café.

Han Xiaoyue’s eyes lit up, a smile spreading across her face... these weren’t special customers, were they?

"Boss, any spots open?" the guy asked.

"No more... how about playing some computer games? There’s free WIFI in the coffee area," Wang Hao replied, "Otherwise, you’ll have to wait."

A few shifty, scraggly kids came in through the door, their eyes rolling around, looking like middle school students, snickering and asking, "Boss, do you have those kinds of games?"

Wang Hao gestured with his mouth toward the sign behind him, [No Minors Allowed]!

"No, we don’t have those kinds of games during the day."

The silly kids laughed and left, "We will come back tonight!"

"Kids these days are so precocious!"

The two Black-clothed Guards were deeply disappointed.

"Do you guys want to play?" Having shooed away the pesky kids, Wang Hao said with a smile, "I recommend a VR game called ’Duo Quest.’ It requires two people to solve puzzles together, really fun."

"Ahaha, I’ve heard of that game too, has it come out in VR?" the boy quickly asked.

The girl asked, "Boss, where did you find this beautiful internet cafe manager, she’s so pretty. Is she your girlfriend?"

It was inappropriate for the boy to ask this question as it might come off as trying to steal someone’s girlfriend.

The girl asking made it seem completely natural.

"Oh, she’s a relative, just doing a summer job here... Actually, my internet cafe can operate unmanned. Customers just need to scan a QR code and pay to start using the computers. But since we’ve just opened, it’s good to have someone to watch over things," Wang Hao casually replied, pleased with his employee.

After all, Han Xiaoyue was indeed good-looking, radiating an undeniable youthful vigor, and she had a fun personality.

Beauties, after all, are liked by both boys and girls.

Youth, how magnificent!

If an 18-year-old girl shyly implored "When I grow up, can I be your wife," that would be an absolutely heart-fluttering scene like from a youthful idol drama.

But if an 18-year-old girl grew up another 10 years to 28 and said that, it would no longer be as cute, turning into an acceptable melodrama.

And if she were 38... cough cough, too old, too old.

Youth once gone, never returns. Cherish it, Wang Hao thought, glancing back at Xiaoyue and sighing endlessly in his heart.

But the word "relative" sparked a hint of suspicion in the minds of the two Black-clothed Guards.

The man and woman looked at each other, a bit at a loss for how to proceed, since their role was that of customers, and they couldn’t exactly conduct an interrogation like police officers.

The girl typed on her phone, "Jin Li, does he have relatives?"

"He does have some missing parents whose traces are faint in this world," the boy said. "His grandparents and maternal grandparents’ traces are also faint, linked to overseas Chinese. Beyond that generation, it’s impossible to trace, and we haven’t yet investigated whether there are distant relatives."

"After all, Jin Li’s threat level is quite low, not worth deploying too much effort."

"A faint trace" meant their intersection with the world was minimal, these people lived a life akin to hermits.

Seldom leaving records behind.

Even knowing them was a rarity.

That in itself was rather odd.

But this world was full of strange occurrences, and getting to the real roots would also have to consider the costs...

"Boss, can we take some photos of the shop?" the girl asked. "Your decor is really interesting."

"That drinks vending machine scared me at first glance, I thought it was a Monster."

"Of course, you can. Snap away! Even the lighting was carefully designed," boasting about this, Old Wang got quite proud, "This was the culmination of months of my creativity—"

As if!

It was copied.

Wang Hao mocked himself in his heart, shameless Old Wang!

While pretending to take photos, the girl surreptitiously captured the internet cafe’s scenery.

She dared not carelessly photograph Jin Li, fearing karma’s backlash.

But Han Xiaoyue, she dared to photograph her.

Han Xiaoyue seemed to notice the sneakiness of these two individuals and offered a faint smile.

Utilizing facial recognition technology, they uploaded the photo to the archive center for a comparison.

Quickly, relevant information popped up on their phones.

"...An ordinary person?"

The content in her record was mundane, detailing which school she attended and that she had just taken her college entrance exams, quite comprehensive.

"Her parents are deceased, and she was taken in by relatives. Poor girl... wait, this record..."

Suddenly, a chill surged from within.

"Wait, isn’t she Jin Li’s imaginary cousin?"

"She’s real?!"

"Does that mean, Jin Li... he’s not delusional?"

Now the two were visibly restless, sweating profusely as though they had encountered a great fear, barely able to support themselves.

Still typing on her phone, the girl wrote, "This girl is real? Did we make a mistake? Where did this record come from?"

Their gaze toward Xiaoyue shifted, as if they’d seen a ghost.

"How reliable is this record?"

"Common electronic records aren’t as strictly secured as the Black-clothed Guards, but they’re not easily tampered with."

"Do you have the equipment?"

"Yes, I do."

"Go recharge some points and run a check on this girl."

The girl stood up and, while topping up her points, happened to touch Han Xiaoyue’s hand.

Just a human, ordinary and unremarkable.

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