The Horrifying Experience in the Internet Cafe chapter 2

There used to be an internet café not far from home, which was once a battleground for Jake and his friends. However, after several large – scale “raids” by their parents, Jake and his friends had to abandon the place and look for a new one. Jake and his friends agreed that whoever found an internet café with cheap prices and enough seats on the street would call each other to inform.

Jake rode his bike and somehow ended up in a secluded alley. The dim yellow streetlights flickered on and off, looking extremely eerie. “How did I get here?” Just as Jake was about to ride out, a light – red light – box advertisement suddenly lit up at the end of the alley – “Red Speed Internet Café”. As he got closer, he saw a sign at the door that read: “Special offer for Memorial Day weekend. Pentium 4 processors. Overnight for $10.” There were more than forty computers neatly arranged in the café. Besides about twenty players, there were still more than a dozen computers empty.

Jake immediately took out his phone: “Tom, I just found an internet café called Red Speed. It’s only $10 for an overnight session. Hurry up and bring the guys here. I’ll go in and save the seats first!”

After making the call, Jake walked in and said to the café owner, “My friends will be here soon. I think we’ll take all the remaining dozen or so computers here. We’ll be here for two days and three nights. So, you know…”

The owner was in his late twenties. His thick glasses covered most of his face, reflecting the light, making it impossible to see his hidden eyes. He was writing something on his own without looking up: “Don’t worry. There won’t be any other customers tonight.”

The owner’s gloomy voice made Jake feel uncomfortable. What was even stranger was that in this day and age, the owner was still using a brush dipped in red ink to write in the ledger. “Computer 25. Go ahead!”

After Jake sat down, he couldn’t help but shiver all over. He found it a bit strange and looked around. All the players around him were wearing headphones, staring intently at the screens. Their sunken eye sockets, greasy hair, and the complete lack of fatigue on their faces were quite noticeable. Jake asked a player beside him, “Dude, do you come here often?” “Yeah.” “How long have you been playing?” “Four years.” “Four years?” Jake exclaimed, and everyone in the café looked at him. Jake quickly smiled apologetically and greeted everyone. Then, while playing the game on his own, he murmured to himself, “There’s something strange about this internet café. Why aren’t these guys excited when playing games?”

Normally, when Jake played games with his friends, there were constant screams, exclamations, curses, and complaints, and their expressions were a mix of all kinds of emotions. But in this internet café, all that could be heard were the sounds of keyboard typing and the friction of the mouse on the desktop. It was so quiet that it didn’t seem like an internet café but more like a library. Even more strangely, all the computers seemed to be running the same game: CS, the online game of “Counter – Strike”.

Speaking of “Counter – Strike”, Jake always considered himself a top – notch player. Listening to the different types of gunshots echoing in his ears, Jake seemed to transform from a high – school student into a professional killer. For someone who was naturally timid, he seemed to find a sense of balance in this killing game. On the local area network, 12 policemen were fighting fiercely with 12 gangsters. Their names were all from “Ghost 01” to “Ghost 24”.