Chapter 024: Playing Table Tennis

In truth, when you think about it, the owner of Science Popularization Net Café has good reason to charge rates comparable to those of the shady internet cafés. First of all, if the prices are set too high, even with top-notch equipment, an internet café whose main customers are middle and high school students and unemployed youths simply won’t do good business if it’s more expensive than others. Secondly, these cafés are situated in a residential area for workers, benefiting from the presence of a large-scale steel plant nearby. The area is remote, the rent is cheap, and, to top it off, the electricity comes from the steel plant's industrial supply, which is extremely inexpensive. Residents pay just over 0.2 yuan per kilowatt-hour, and if some electricity is siphoned off or tapped from streetlights, the cost drops even further. Moreover, in the nearby villages, the locals even pay a flat ten yuan monthly for all the electricity they can use. In the end, the only real expenses for the owner are equipment and renovations.

It’s not just the café owner who’s confident this cluster of cafés will thrive; even Lin Jia and his friends know this area will soon be a magnet for local internet users. You can tell just by looking at the other cafés nearby—not as luxurious as Science Popularization, but still well above average.

A cluster of top-tier internet cafés is bound to draw large crowds. With the surge in popularity of online games and the increasing demand for high-end equipment and fast internet connections, only these high-end cafés can survive the fierce competition. The era when anyone could open an unlicensed café with a handful of private computers and a few home internet connections is over.

The three brothers, now in the game, stocked up on potions and cautiously dodged the players venting their frustration in chaotic city-wide PK due to the lagging servers. These frenzied players, hacking at anyone they see, seemed to have lost all sense. Even when defeated and left with nothing but their shorts, they would stubbornly force their way out of the safe zone, charging back into the melee without a second thought.

Passing by the potion shop, Lin Jia noticed a warrior trailing behind, wielding a bronze axe and occasionally swinging at thin air. Perplexed, Lin Jia stopped to see what he was up to. The warrior shuffled forward and, after a long pause, finally came up and struck Lin Jia with his axe, then stood there foolishly, unmoving.

Losing a third of his health, Lin Jia finally realized the warrior was trying to PK him, except the lag was so bad it took ages for him to make a move. Popping a medium healing potion, Lin Jia, amused, used his still-level-0 "Fire Repulsion Ring" to push the warrior away, sending him flying. Given his bare appearance, the warrior was clearly of lower level. The Fire Repulsion Ring doesn’t deal damage—its main use is to push away surrounding enemies for escape. When bored, mage players sometimes play "ping pong" with lower-level characters.

The origin of "playing ping pong" goes back to two mage players who arranged to practice their skills together. Observers saw them standing face to face, using a hapless chicken as the ball, timing their Fire Repulsion Rings to push the creature back and forth as if playing table tennis, all to rack up skill points for the spell.

This pastime soon spread among the mage community. Now, mages would recruit a fellow player to ambush a foe. When hit by the Fire Repulsion Ring, the victim is briefly stunned, unable to move or fight back. With well-timed spells, a mage could endlessly humiliate an enemy without killing them—far more frustrating than simply being defeated. However, this only works if the mage is at least a level higher than their target, since the spell only affects those of lower level.

When the server is slow, it’s common to see two mages firing off Fire Repulsion Rings at each other, with one cursing as he’s bounced back and forth, much to the amusement of onlookers who might even keep score.

The warrior Lin Jia had pushed away was remarkably persistent—after being sent flying, he would trudge back over and over, doggedly attacking Lin Jia, who delighted in bouncing him away each time. By chance, another mage leaving the safe zone for potions crossed their path, and the warrior crashed into him. The mage casually fired a Fire Repulsion Ring, sending the warrior flying again.

Apparently intrigued, the mage stuck around and typed, "Hey brother! Best of three? Loser pays ten thousand coins!"

Lin Jia laughed and replied, "No thanks! Got to go level up—my friends are waiting!" With one final push, he sent the warrior flying, and the other mage, not pressing the matter, chased the warrior out of the city, quickly vanishing from sight.

Watching this spectacle, the eldest and fourth brothers nearly died laughing. The fourth caught his breath and said, "I bet mages and warriors are destined to be mortal enemies! As far as I know, warriors hate getting pushed around by mages the most!"

It was true; mages generally out-leveled warriors at this stage, but even a mage two or three levels higher would usually lose in a fight. Warriors, with their superior attack and defense, would land the first blow and lock onto their target with the shift key for auto-chase. A mage’s scattered attacks couldn’t kill a tanky warrior in one go, and since mages rarely carried many healing potions, they usually ended up fleeing or dying—unless their level or equipment vastly outclassed their foe. Mages, whose spells cost both health and mana, rarely wanted to duel warriors, who only needed to manage their health and required much less skill to operate.

Ignoring the complaints about server lag from the many players in the city’s safe zone, the three brothers triumphantly headed for Sabac Castle. With their private room, they no longer had to worry about anyone discovering their secrets. The overloaded server had indeed slowed things down, and there were hardly any players leveling up at the usual spots along the way—no one wanted to risk getting killed by monsters because of lag. Most people were hanging out in the safe zones, chatting and cursing while waiting for the admins to fix the network issues.

Re-entering the secret passage outside Sabac Castle’s walls, the three brothers skillfully made their way to the Fragrant Stone Catacombs as before. Now at level 20 with all new gear, Lin Jia cleared out the zombies at more than twice his previous speed. After just one quick trip to the city for potions, the densely packed monsters in the catacombs were wiped out.

Having cleared the main hall, they noticed another identical short passage directly opposite theirs, but without a staircase; instead, there was a damaged hole in the wall. After discussing, the brothers decided that with their improved equipment and levels, the zombie-filled catacombs were no longer suitable for grinding—too dangerous and troublesome to lure monsters—so they resolved to push forward and see if they could find a better training ground.

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(Apologies—have to work this afternoon, so I’m updating early! What a pity to miss a chance to appear on the homepage every six hours! Sigh~! Today I made it to the new book chart, currently at 42nd place! Feels like breaking into the top ten is hopeless... Brothers, if you’ve finished reading, please click the button below!)

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