The Horrifying Experience in the Internet Cafe chapter 3

“Naming themselves ‘Ghost’, interesting. I’ll do the same!” Jake typed “Ghost 00” in the name field and then joined the gangsters. True to his skills, Jake’s joining quickly turned the tables for the gangsters. Normally, the whole internet café would cheer for him, but here, no matter what happened, everyone remained calm and just silently started the next round of the battle. Just as the battle was at its peak, “Ghost 01”, who was originally the second – ranked gangster, defected to the police side. Immediately, the situation changed. No matter whether Jake was hiding in the shadows waiting for his prey or carefully planting mines, he would be discovered by the other side. Moreover, the opponents were extremely good. They could always kill Jake with just one bullet. Even if Jake followed the other eleven gangsters, he would still get shot. After killing Jake, “Ghost 01” never paid attention to the other gangsters but just shot wildly at Jake’s “body”. After a dozen or so rounds like this, Jake’s ranking dropped from first to last.

Jake could no longer hold back his anger. He suddenly stood up from his seat and shouted at the owner at the door, “Hey, someone is cheating!”

“Who?”

“Ghost 01!” As soon as Jake said this, he once again attracted the attention of the whole café. Twenty – four people, as if they had been trained, said in unison, “Ghost 01? We are all Ghost 01!”

Jake’s scalp went numb. How could this be possible? There were 24 people on the local area network in the café besides him. In the game, there were 12 policemen and 12 gangsters. How could all these 24 people be Ghost 01? Jake sat back down helplessly. The clock on the wall had passed 10 p.m., but Tom and the others still hadn’t come. Jake wanted to call and urge them, but his phone had no signal. “Well, there’s still plenty of time. I might as well take a nap before they come.” Thinking this way, Jake lay down on the table and gradually fell asleep.

In his dream, Jake became a gangster in the game again, wearing a camouflage suit and holding an AK47 automatic rifle. Shells flew in the fire. With a heavy knife strike, blood spurted from the enemy’s neck. Looking at the label on the enemy, it was exactly “Ghost 01”, who had ambushed him before. After avenging himself, Jake led his team and chased the enemies everywhere. The battlefield was full of dead bodies and discarded guns. But gradually, the number of his allies behind him became fewer and fewer, while the number of opponents doubled. A hail of grenades was thrown at Jake from the enemy’s camp. The fire burned every inch of his skin, and the feeling was so real…

Suddenly, as if time and space had switched in an instant, the burning fire suddenly moved from the battlefield to the internet café. The café was in a sea of flames. In the thick smoke, Jake had to lower his body. The explosions of the monitors, the screams of people, the pungent smell of melting plastic, the gradually warming floor, and the falling ceiling lights all filled Jake with extreme fear. He didn’t care about the cuts on his hands and feet from the broken glass and crawled forward desperately. Finally, he managed to crawl to the wall. “As long as I follow the wall, I’ll definitely find the exit!” Although there seemed to be a glimmer of hope, the smoke was getting thicker and thicker, and Jake kept coughing. The whole internet café was only about fifty square meters. Why couldn’t he find the door after crawling for so long? Just as Jake was about to give up, the words “Emergency Exit” in green lights flashed in front of him. “The fire – proof door! I’m finally saved!”

But hope came and went so quickly. A huge padlock locked the fire – proof door! Jake cried and beat on the door. Although there was fresh air and a cool night outside, it was destined that Jake’s life would be burned and evaporated by the fire inside the door!

The vibration of the phone on the table pulled Jake back to reality. It was just a dream! Jake looked around. The internet café was empty. There was only him and the owner at the front counter. The 24 people were all gone. Jake picked up the phone and shouted, “Hey, Tom, where the hell are you? There’s no one here. You guys should come quickly!”

“Jake!” Tom’s voice on the other end of the phone was trembling. “I’ve been trying to call you for a long time but no one answered.”

“Yeah, there was no signal just now. Are you cold? Why are you shaking?”

“Jake, what did you say the name of that internet café was?”

“Red Speed. You haven’t even got the name right after all this time!”

“No! Do you remember the big news in our city half a year ago? A fire in an internet café killed 24 people?”

“There seems to be such a thing. So what?”

“That internet café was called Red Speed…”

“Hey, Tom, don’t hang up. Hey!” No matter how much Jake shouted, there was no more sound on the other end of the phone. Thinking about this strange internet café and that overly real dream, Jake felt cold sweat breaking out on his back. His heart was pounding. He didn’t dare to hesitate and shouted at the owner, “Boss, check out! Here’s $10. Keep the change!” “Ten dollars doesn’t seem to be enough.”

“Not enough? I’ve got more. Here’s $50. Take it all!” At this moment, Jake didn’t care about bargaining. He just wanted to leave this eerie internet café as soon as possible. “Hehe…” The owner looked up. For the first time, Jake clearly saw his face – a face distorted by the fire. His eyes seemed to be white and foggy from the smoke, with no black pupils. “We don’t take money here.”

“Then… what do you want?”

“What we want is for you to play games with us.” After the owner said this, 24 monitors all turned towards Jake. There was a face on each monitor, which were exactly the 24 people who had been playing games before. But different from before, these 24 faces were now filled with creepy smiles…

A few days later, an unnamed male body was found in the ruins of “Red Speed”, where the fire had happened half a year ago…

(Recommended by: Lily)