Free Web NovelChapter 6: Chapter 6: That Year’s Regret
Friday night study hall was always an exercise in restless frustration.
The math teacher droned on about problems from the front of the room, while down below, every student’s mind was elsewhere, wondering whether they should go out and pull an all-nighter after class.
Jiang Xia stared blankly at the formulas and numbers on the blackboard, his thoughts still lingering on the scene in the cafeteria that afternoon.
In the end, the two of them said nothing, as if by some unspoken agreement. Shen Ying’s arrival with a bowl of spicy beef noodles did, however, help to defuse some of the awkwardness.
She chattered away, but Lin Yanwan seemed to be in a bad mood, only offering a few perfunctory replies.
Later, she left with Shen Ying. Jiang Xia looked up at Lin Yanwan’s retreating figure and gave a bitter, self-deprecating smile.
The tree shadows danced outside the window, and before he knew it, the bell for the last class of the day rang. ƒгeewebnovёl.com
After finishing the weekend announcements, the teacher walked out, and the students erupted in cheers.
Wang Ming hurried over, unable to contain his excitement. "Go straight there?"
"Yeah."
Jiang Xia nodded. After all, the information you could find on a phone in this era was limited; you had to go to an internet cafe for anything more detailed.
The two of them shuffled out of the school with the crowd, then made a beeline for a nearby internet cafe.
Seeing the glowing neon sign that read NASDAQ, Jiang Xia felt a bit disoriented.
In the future he’d come from, an age when personal computers were ubiquitous, traditional internet cafes had gone through round after round of market shake-ups. The ones that survived had, for the most part, received capital investment and transformed into high-quality chain "net cafes" that focused on ambiance and service.
And this NASDAQ, which had been his haunt for three whole years, would go out of business a few years later, replaced by a bustling fast-food joint.
Using the internet wasn’t too expensive back then. An all-nighter cost fifteen yuan.
A glance around showed the internet cafe was packed to the gills, almost entirely with students from the nearby high schools. On the screens, as always, were only two games: CrossFire and Dungeon and Warrior.
Or, as they were called in this world, *Counter-Terrorism Frontline* and Full-time Warrior. Of the two, the vast majority were playing Full-time Warrior.
This just went to show that in this era, the "eight million warriors" was more than just a meme.
After finally finding an empty spot in a corner, he booted up the computer and clicked on the slightly altered icon for Full-time Warrior. When it came time to enter his login details, Jiang Xia hesitated for a second before trying the account he used in his past life. To his surprise, it actually worked.
His character was a level 20 Sword Spirit wielding the most basic Dull Fluorescent Sword, while Wang Ming’s Ghost Swordsman was only level 10.
"Hello there, my name is Celia."
Hearing that familiar line as he entered the game, Jiang Xia almost shot to his feet and shouted, ’My youth is back!’
He glanced around at the atmosphere in the internet cafe—everyone was frantically hammering away at their keyboards. For a moment, he couldn’t help but feel emotional.
As someone who had been reborn, the scene truly struck a chord deep in his heart.
He was a true veteran player in every sense of the word. He’d lived through more than a dozen version updates of DNF, and the familiar Arad Continent had even been destroyed once.
Staring at the familiar interface and the nearly identical controls, Jiang Xia’s heart began to race with excitement before he even realized it.
Besides, the research could wait. The night was still young. What he needed to do now was fully immerse himself in this nostalgic experience.
"Come on, what are you dawdling for? Log in already! I can barely contain the primal power surging within me," Jiang Xia urged.
"Don’t rush me, don’t rush me! Crap! I typed the password wrong." freewebnoveℓ.com
"Don’t waste time, man. The sooner we burn through our fatigue points, the sooner we can clock out. You know my time is more precious than Bill Gates’ right now, right?"
"Damn, you say that as if I’m not the one paying for your time," Wang Ming said, slamming the Enter key. He grinned. "Old Jiang, my class advancement is in your hands today. Get me to level eighteen, and I’ll even treat you to a midnight snack, alright?"
"Enough talk. Let’s go!"
A party invite arrived, and Jiang Xia led the team into the Dark Thunder Ruins.
The familiar loading screen, the familiar scenery, the familiar background music, the familiar zombies... Jiang Xia controlled his Sword Spirit, walked over, and unleashed an incredibly smooth combo: Inner Demon Swordsmanship into an upward slash, followed by a Cross Slash into a Back Jump Slash. He had to repeat the sequence three or four times before he barely managed to kill the zombie in front of him.
"Damn, the Sword Spirit’s skills are so awesome," Wang Ming said with envy, controlling his character to follow behind Jiang Xia and pick up the loot the zombie dropped.
"Yeah, but the damage is like a light scratch. If I were a Berserker of the same level, a mob like this would be dead in two hits."
Jiang Xia pursed his lips. He knew full well that in the future, a streamer named Xuxu Baby would single-handedly elevate the Berserker class to its absolute peak.
Finally, after about ten minutes, Jiang Xia used his skillful controls to painstakingly whittle down the Warrior Level boss’s health, earning an SSS rating and unlocking the King Level map.
He recalled that in the numbers-driven future of gaming, very few people still racked their brains to create strategies. The experience of needing more than a dozen revival coins to struggle through a dungeon was a thing of the past. The damage output was like a cheat, casually unleashing a string of 99999+ numbers. Everything was about mindlessly one-shotting everything in seconds.
And in the process, the original joy of the game had soured.
Seeing that he’d leveled up so quickly, Wang Ming was grinning from ear to ear. "Quick, quick! Let’s go again!"
Jiang Xia queued them up for the next dungeon and asked casually, "By the way, what are your plans for the future?"
"What is there for an art student like me to think about? It’s the same old story. As long as I do okay on my exams, I’ll get into a decent art academy, find a pretty girlfriend, land a good job... and life will be perfect," Wang Ming answered nonchalantly.
Jiang Xia couldn’t help but laugh. His answer was identical to the one he’d given in the previous life.
The guy’s artistic foundation was excellent. He had even surpassed all expectations on his exams, getting into the Central Academy of Fine Arts. By his sophomore year, he had already produced an outstanding animated short, *Blind Dog*, which won him the Gold Award for Best Animated Short.
Not only did he get a beautiful girlfriend, but he also turned down offers from several major animation studios before he even graduated, opting instead to found his own studio. However, the subsequent projects he produced were all met with a lukewarm reception in the market.
Eventually, his studio went bankrupt and his girlfriend broke up with him. He and Jiang Xia became brothers in misfortune. Then, five years after Jiang Xia got married, Wang Ming had an accident one night after drinking—his car smashed through the guardrail on Binjiang Road and plunged straight into the Yangtze River.
Later, his family found a suicide note in his room. Only then did they learn that Wang Ming had actually committed suicide.
This was why Jiang Xia had been so shocked to see Wang Ming when he first opened his eyes in this new life.
"Don’t worry, you’ll do fine on the exam." Jiang Xia sighed and patted his best friend’s shoulder. ’This time,’ he thought, ’I have to find a way to keep him from dying.’
’If all else fails,’ he resolved, ’I’ll just make him stick with me.’
