On the morning of the first day of the Lunar New Year, Changchun Road was adorned with festive lanterns all over the street, but it lacked its usual bustling crowd. Among a row of shops closed for the New Year, the Dragon Slayer Internet Cafe was as overcrowded and noisy all night long as ever.
Internet cafe owner Ma Yinglong, sitting at the billing computer, furiously shouted, "Are you all useless? Can't over thirty of you level 15s beat this level 20 trash?"
The cafe regulars were on the verge of tears, "Boss, his equipment is too good!"
"The key is he has a Tiger King Pet with the Shudder Technique, it's so damaging!"
"Boss, now he's blocking us and we can't even leave the village, what do we do?"
"Cold salad!" Ma Yinglong slammed the mouse and sighed helplessly, "Forget about this trash for now. Those jerks from Star are challenging us for the first kill on the guild establishment order boss. We absolutely cannot let them. Notify all our brothers both online and offline, and make sure to bring plenty of potions!"
"Boss, it's the first day of the New Year today, and a lot of our brothers can't get online!"
Ma Yinglong furiously replied, "Does Star not celebrate the New Year?"
The cafe regulars howled, "Boss, they've hired pretty girls to attract attention, they are not celebrating the New Year!"
Ma Yinglong fumed, "Pah! How many pretty girls know how to play games? Don't be a wuss, just do it!"
The cafe regulars hesitantly replied, "That's..."
Furious, Ma Yinglong got up to stretch his tired limbs from the overnight stay, trying to gather his scattered thoughts. The more he thought about it, the more unbearable the memories became.
Since the day before yesterday when that trash stole the Tiger King Pet, the jerk started snowballing. Normally, snowballing wouldn't be a big deal, we could just send a dozen more brothers to wear him down. However, that trash got extremely lucky and developed the S-tier special skill Beast King Tremor from the Tiger King, a low-probability version of Dragon Power. In the early game, it was unbearably overpowering.
In any case, let him off for now, deal with the guild establishment order first then slowly take back control! Just a piece of trash daring to challenge our Dragon Slayer, does he know how ridiculous he is?
While grinding his teeth in anger, Chang Liang came holding two buckets of ready-to-eat instant noodles and cheerily said, "Brother Peng, your noodles are ready!"
"Lil Liang, get me one too, the chicken soup flavor."
"Sure, I'll make it once the water boiler is ready!"
Ma Yinglong frowned, "Chang Liang, you didn't go home last night?"
Chang Liang approached with a chuckle, "Boss—"
Ma Yinglong's expression darkened, "Nonsense! I'm not your boss, I don't harbor underage students skipping school here!"
The cafe regulars burst into laughter, "Boss, Lil Liang has been volunteering here all winter break, just take him in!"
"Get lost, all of you shut up!"
Ma Yinglong replied annoyedly, "Chang Liang, even if you just want to freeload a gaming session, you need to pick your moments! Do you know what day yesterday was?—New—Year's—Eve!"
Ma Yinglong pulled out a stack of cash from the counter, "About a thousand, take it and get lost back home!"
Chang Liang looked both thrilled and conflicted, "Bro...
The cafe regulars laughed, "Boss, is this New Year's money or payment for work?"
Impatiently waving his hand, Ma Yinglong said, "Whatever, just don't let me see you before the eighth day of the Lunar New Year!"
Chang Liang let out a distressed cry, "The eighth day! That means I can't play games for a whole week!"
Ma Yinglong coldly stated, "How about I make it clearer? You must rank top 100 in your grade on your midterm exams next semester, otherwise I won't take you in."
Chang Liang was shocked: "Big bro, what does playing games have to do with our midterm exams?"
Ma Yinglong scoffed: "Of course it's related! If you can't score in the top 100, it means you're dumb. I don't welcome idiots here!"
Chang Liang, anxiously pointing at the other patrons in the cafe: "Boss, Brother Peng and them are poor students, they've never made it into the top 100!"
Ma Yinglong erupted: "That's why they are idiots! Not able to beat even one lousy player! Hurry, take your money and scram!"
The Internet cafe was filled with miserable howls: "Boss, you can insult our characters, but please don't insult our intelligence!"
"What intelligence?"
...
At that moment, Da Fei's triumphant laughter was shaking the room's window panes!
"Heh heh, can't keep the big guy inside the village? Kill once each time you see him? Who exactly can't leave the village? Who exactly kills once they see someone? Still the fucking Dragon Slayer Guild? Hahaha~~~"
Da Fei calmly lit a cigarette to calm his excited emotions. What next? Keep hunting higher-level bosses? Pshh, that's a lowly thrill; fighting for bosses is the real deal, the joy of battling others is endless! Better go online and see what they're up to.
The sound of knocking on the door came, and Little Li's voice could be heard: "Bro? What are you doing?"
What else could big bro be doing? Beside the nearly empty pack of cigarettes, Da Fei called out: "Busy here, go buy me a pack of cigarettes!"
Little Li pushed open the door and frowned, waving her hands: "Wow, that's a lot of smoke! Bro, didn't you sleep last night?"
"This is staying up on New Year's Eve, understand?" Da Fei pulled out ten yuan: "Buy Baisha!"
Little Li exclaimed: "Bro, you started smoking ten yuan packs?"
Da Fei coughed: "I mean, buy two packs! The white packet ones, not the black ones; those are the ten yuan ones."
Little Li exclaimed: "Bro, you smoke two packs a day?"
Da Fei frowned: "Big bro's working on something big here, needs inspiration, you get it? Hurry up!"
Little Li frowning: "So, Bro's not going to the temple fair today? It's the first day of the new year!"
Da Fei, impatiently pulling out a one-hundred yuan bill: "Here, your New Year's gift! You go worship the Buddha for me."
Little Li frowned: "Bro, are you playing games? Teachers say gaming is harmful and erodes ambition; why are you like this?"
Da Fei, almost choking on his cigarette: "Those teachers only care about their own performance and passing rates, they don't give a damn about eroding ambition; you're too young to understand the adult world."
Little Li urgently: "It's not like that—"
"Enough said!" Da Fei, taking out another one-hundred yuan while waving his hands: "Still a New Year's gift, hurry and go buy me cigarettes, two packs, fast!"
"I don't want it!" And with that, Little Li, huffing angrily, left.
Da Fei was left speechless; the Little Li of now was no longer the Little Li who idolized her brother; she had started to talk back, has bro really lost it? Life's tough for men, what would you little girl understand!
While sulking, Da Fei found an ad online from that freaking Star Guild with a beautiful woman leading the guild establishment order boss fight. Da Fei was even more irked: "Oh, a beauty leads? Does that pin down anything?"
Alright, that guild establishment order is mine! Seems like it's also the first guild order in the game, right? Alright, the Dragon Slayer Guild thinks they are awesome, right? Wait till I snatch the guild establishment order and name my guild "Dragon Slayer", I'll be the Dragon Slayer Leader, then I'll recruit trash members to do all the dirty works, I'm gonna make y'all sick. Haha, wahahaha~~~
(The text felt a bit stuck, so I wrote this prequel chapter casually. Hope readers get by with it.)