At night, after Old Tang took Lu Mingfei to visit several famous attractions, they walked through the night to an Internet cafe called "Chapman" in Brooklyn.
The black boss in a white vest was slumped in front of the counter, smoking a low-grade cigar that he had rolled up by himself. His whole body was immersed in the diffuse gray smoke. Lu Mingfei stood in the distance and frowned as he smelled the smell, which was choking.
The smell of cigarette smoke seemed to penetrate from every pore on his body, but the boss looked intoxicated as he enjoyed it.
Old Tang held his nose and stood in front of the counter. He handed over a knife and a black wallet to the boss and opened two connected machines. Lu Mingfei looked inside the Internet cafe.
At first, Lu Mingfei thought this was an irregular Internet cafe. After all, two letters were turned off on the neon sign at the door, "Chapman" became "ha man", and the door frame of the narrow entrance to the Internet cafe was also crooked, with a mat in front of the door.
There were messy footprints on the tattered newspaper.
But the environment inside is actually much better than he imagined. The scale of the Internet cafe is slightly larger than that of ordinary domestic Internet cafes. Even the rows of computers are basically equipped with privacy fences, and the display screens are all the latest LCD screens.
, the configuration looks pretty good.
The most important thing is... there is not a single minor among the few people sitting in the Internet cafe!
No wonder the business of this Internet cafe seems to be sluggish, Lu Mingfei thought.
"Damn it, the price has increased again, this shady Internet cafe will be closed down sooner or later!" Old Tang handed out the meat buns with a beautiful knife to beat the dog, and he took back his black wallet with a curse.
Old Tang pulled Lu Mingfei toward the innermost side of the Internet cafe. On the dusty carpet under his feet were scattered cigarette butts and empty mineral water bottles in twos and threes. Old Tang did not deliberately go around, stepping on the cigarette butts and kicking the mineral water bottles "bang bang
"Ring, as if to vent his dissatisfaction with the boss who has dark skin and even darker heart.
"There should be a lot of Internet cafes in New York with a better environment than this one, right? How about we find another one?" Lu Mingfei asked tentatively.
At the same time, his peripheral vision also glanced deep into each row of seats he passed. This Internet cafe, or to be precise, the people in the Internet cafe, was very weird, so weird...even a little weird!
Logically speaking, Internet cafes should be full of noises and curses. Lu Mingfei would not be surprised if someone smashed computers and keyboards, but this Internet cafe was too quiet. Everyone was sitting at the end of the row of seats.
On the side, the sound of typing on the keyboard is light and slow, as if he is trying to do something and is afraid of being disturbed.
Even when Old Tang passed by and kicked the empty bottle, it failed to attract the attention of a few people. They huddled in the corner with headphones on their heads, focusing on the screen in front of them, concentrating on it, which made Lu Mingfei inexplicably think of it.
Some kind of rat that hides in the gutter and doesn't dare see the light.
Old Tang led Lu Mingfei to the corner of the last row. He pressed the power button on the main chassis of the two computers, and then nestled himself into the innermost seat of the soft gaming chair.
"Even though the environment here is bad and the boss is a trap, when I go online in Brooklyn, I usually only go to this Internet cafe. Do you know why?" Old Tang sat on the gaming chair and rubbed his hands fiercely.
"Maybe I guessed it..." Lu Mingfei looked at the very familiar Windows XP desktop wallpaper flashing on the LCD screen, with green grassland under the blue sky and curling white clouds.
Many people think that this photo that is too beautiful to be true has been synthesized or photoshopped. In fact, it is not the case. This is a beautiful scene that American photographer Charles Olier accidentally saw during his trip to California in 1996 and recorded it with his camera.
, Lu Mingfei read it in the American Geography magazine.
"This is probably...a hunter Internet cafe?" Lu Mingfei put it bluntly.
"Yes, obviously, how did you guess it?" Old Tang hung up his QQ on the computer while holding the mouse, and turned to look at Lu Mingfei, surprise written all over his face.
"How can a normal Internet cafe be so quiet? And, Old Tang, you know I can play games just fine. Although I can't see other people's computer screens, I can also see how often they click the mouse and type on the keyboard, so I can see
It turns out that not many people in this Internet cafe are here to play games. Is this reasonable?"
"And this Internet cafe is opened in such a secluded alley and it doesn't accept minors? How does the boss make money? Come on, this is the United States, which is full of freedom."
"There are too many details like this. The most important point is..."
"This Internet cafe is called 'Chapman', in tribute to Duane Chapman, right? Nicknamed 'Hound' and 'Bounty King', he was the most famous bounty hunter in the world. I have learned about his deeds."
Lu Mingfei's eyes shone with wisdom. This was the profiling ability he had secretly developed over the past three years. The future was extremely difficult and dangerous, and the battlefield was unpredictable. He didn't want to be a tough guy who had lost his brain.
To compete with a scheming old fox like Herzog, you must have a clear mind and strong analytical skills.
Moreover, Lu Mingfei had a vague hunch that Herzog might not be his ultimate enemy.
"You have such a good brain, I feel like you are more suitable to be a bounty hunter than me!" Old Tang scratched his messy hair and praised Lu Mingfei without hesitation, "But to say this is just a hunter's Internet cafe
It’s inappropriate. Although the people who come here are basically hunters, the boss here doesn’t restrict ordinary people from entering.”
"So Old Tang, you brought me here. Do you have any missions to browse or... do you still care about the 'Skinner' you mentioned during the day?" Lu Mingfei deliberately lowered his voice when he said the second half of the sentence.
"Of course not! We have more important things to do!"
"Obviously you don't know, I'm almost itching to death. After you left, my loneliness was like the endless spring water. I can't find anyone who can satisfy me all year round!"
Old Tang kept rubbing his hands and looked at Lu Mingfei with burning eyes.
"It's the roaring river...Old Tang, your choice of words and sentences are still so exciting." Lu Mingfei looked at the quiet surroundings, hesitating, "Speaking of which...do we really want to do this here?"
"Come on, obviously, I have been waiting for this moment for a long time!"
Old Tang rolled up his sleeves and eagerly opened a familiar icon in the corner of the computer screen.
Starcraft.
…
The two fought for six consecutive games, each with three wins. Lu Mingfei played all Zerg in the six games. As for whether to give in or go all out, only he knew clearly.
Perhaps because he was too tired from his part-time job as a security guard and drank a lot during the day, Old Tang had fallen asleep on the table. Lu Mingfei adjusted Old Tang's chair to a position that would not hurt his spine.
Then he put his coat on his shoulders.
It was freezing cold at night, with a bit of chill everywhere, and the huge Internet cafe was eerily quiet.
His hand was holding the mouse of Old Tang's computer, and white arrows were drawing circles back and forth on the screen against the blue sky and white clouds. He was hesitating.
There's something he really cares about.
So he boarded the hunter website.
Please remember the first domain name of this book: ._