A Friend Request

In a dark, open zone with sleek black computers coupled with synthetic, off-white tables, a few folks were playing the most popular games. There were 20 rows of black leather chairs with red linings with a cheap headphone set on the table. Zooming in a random station, a young girl no more less than the age of 18 rubbed her small nose as she dexterously clicked away.

Click. Click. Click.

"You Win" dashingly appeared on the screen, shining off Yi Fei's thick glasses. Yi Fei's expression was stoical, she merely clicked 'replay' after seeing this. The next match was a little bit more entertaining, encountering an opponent that had an unique gameplay. She couldn't tell if he was playing stupid or smart. In the end, another satisfying "You Win" appeared on the screen.

This was Yi Fei's first time skipping school, and she conveniently chose to go to a PC cafe. Though she couldn't go home or else her father would humiliate her into going back to class, she could've gone to a library or even a spa. However, a PC cafe like this was dark-themed and not brightly lit, including the fact the stations were sectioned off, so attention was never sought or gathered. Yi Fei reluctantly paid for a pricy 6 hours, and so could she level up her game character in LUL and not be caught at the same time!

Yi Fei used games as an escape from reality. Having to concentrate in ranked matches with experienced players, Yi Fei had to work earnestly without a trace of distraction. She couldn't think of anything but the game, and this gave Yi Fei time. Simply time, as if time had exclusively stopped for her. Yi Fei obviously knew this wasn't true and time didn't stop for no one. But... it felt like it did.

With nonchalantness, Yi Fei eyed her water bottle on the sturdy table, thinking of her constantly chapped lips. Yi Fei grabbed the bottle, her dark eyelashes fluttering. She grasped the bottle, gently crushing it little by little. The sounds emitted from the bottle squeezing were pleasing to her ears. She eventually stopped to use it to hydrate her crusty lips. When she looked at the bottle, she realized some specks of blood was on the bottle's plastic finish. With a grunt, she then decided against saving some water for later, trying to chug the whole thing.

'5000BeautiesInMyGrasp sends a friend request'

Cough!

Yi Fei almost spat out her water at the computer, but luckily only some fell on her sweater and dark brown hair. She wiped the excess water on her mouth and strangely looked at the illuminating screen again.

"What kind of username is that?" Yi Fei blurted out loud.

The old owner looked up towards her from his armchair and composedly went back to reading the daily newspaper. Yi Fei felt the embarrassment surge within her.

'Ah! I can't believe this happened... Why did I speak so loud?' Yi Fei struggled. 'That username was too much though.'

Yi Fei never read the opponents and teammates' usernames, treating them as if they were computers. That was why Yi Fei never turned on the mic feature. Including the fact Yi Fei was also neither good or bad at most games, she didn't feel remarkably competitive when it came to anything. And so, Yi Fei barely interacted with others online.

And so, this to be the first time she received a friend request, she couldn't believe it came from such an arrogant username. As such, she was going to unhesitatingly click 'decline' when she abruptly got another notification.

'5000BeautiesInMyGrasp sends you 5000 tokens!'

Yi Fei's jaw dropped. This obvious rich second-generation was bribing her to accept his friend request. Though she could press 'decline' at this moment and leave him hanging with the 5000 tokens, she wondered if this arrogant second-generation would give her more tokens. Before coming to a decision, she felt a light tap on her shoulder.

"Hello Miss, we would like to ask you a few questions." a middle-aged police officer said with a smile.

A shaky string of fear and panic expanded in Yi Fei, making her indistinctly shudder. Yi Fei's eyes almost popped out and she was hastily deliberating. At that moment, she conveniently remembered yesterday's news; the country established a new law because of the low attendance rate in many local schools. In this case, minor students that skipped to go have fun were reprimanded at police stations, getting an order to go to court. Their immediate families had to attend the court session where the students got a total of 100 mandatory hours of community service from the judge. 100. Hours.

"Miss?"

She bolted.