Friday evening study sessions are always a source of anxiety and frustration.

The math teacher was lecturing on the stage in a dull manner, while the students below were all absentmindedly thinking about whether they should go out and party all night after school.

Jiang Xia stared blankly at the formulas and numbers listed on the blackboard, his thoughts still lingering on the scene of eating in the cafeteria that afternoon.

In the end, as if they had agreed beforehand, neither of them spoke. Shen Ying kept bringing back spicy beef noodles, which eased the awkward atmosphere somewhat.

She kept talking, but Lin Yanwan seemed to be in a bad mood and only gave a few perfunctory replies.

Later, she left with Shen Ying. Jiang Xia looked up at Lin Yanwan's back and gave a self-deprecating bitter smile.

The shadows of the trees swayed outside the window, and before I knew it, the bell rang for the last class.

After explaining the weekend's instructions, the teacher left the classroom, and the students began to cheer.

Wang Ming walked over impatiently, his face full of excitement: "Should we go straight there?"

"Um."

Jiang Xia nodded. After all, the information available on mobile phones in this era is limited, and more detailed information can only be found in internet cafes.

Slowly following the flow of people out of the school, the two headed straight for an internet cafe not far away.

Jiang Xia was still somewhat dazed as he stared at the glittering neon sign that read "Nasdaq".

In the later era of widespread personal computers, traditional internet cafes also underwent rounds of market reshuffling. Those that survived eventually received some capital investment and became high-quality chain internet cafes that focused on environment and service.

The Nasdaq that had been with him for three years went bankrupt a few years later and turned into a thriving fast food restaurant.

Internet access isn't too expensive these days; an all-nighter costs 15 yuan.

At a glance, the internet cafe was packed with students from nearby high schools, and as always, only two games were playing on the screens: CrossFire and Dungeon Fighter Online.

According to the terminology used in this world, the two games are Anti-Terrorist Frontline and All-Round Warriors, with the latter being the most popular.

This shows that in this era, the "8 million warriors" is more than just a meme.

After finally finding a secluded spot in a corner, Jiang Xia turned on his computer and opened the game "Full-Time Warriors," whose icon had changed slightly. When entering his username and password, Jiang Xia hesitated for a moment and tried logging in with his QQ account from his previous life. To his surprise, he actually got in.

His character was a level 20 Sword Soul, wielding the most basic dim fluorescent sword, while Wang Ming's Ghost Swordsman was only level 10.

Hello, my name is Celia.

Upon entering the game and hearing that familiar line, Jiang Xia almost couldn't help but stand up and shout: "My youth is back!"

Looking around the internet cafe, he saw everyone intensely and excitedly typing on their keyboards, and for a moment, he couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

As a reborn person, this scene truly touched a soft spot deep within his heart.

He is a true veteran player who has experienced more than a dozen versions of DNF, and the familiar Arad continent has even been destroyed once.

Looking at the familiar interface and almost identical operating mode, Jiang Xia's heart was already boiling with excitement.

Anyway, there's no rush to look up information. Tonight is still long, so what I need to do now is to fully relive those memories.

"Hurry up, what are you dawdling for? Log in quickly, I can barely contain my inner rage," Jiang Xia urged.

"Don't rush me, don't rush me! Damn it! I entered the wrong password."

"Don't waste your time, bro. Finish your fatigue points quickly so you can get off work early. My time is more valuable than Bill Gates's, you know?"

"Damn it, it's not like I didn't pay your internet bill." Wang Ming pressed the Enter key heavily and said with a grin, "Old Jiang, my job advancement today depends on you. Bring me to level 18, and I'll even treat you to midnight snacks!"

"Stop talking nonsense, let's go!"

A team request came in, and Jiang Xia led his team into the Dark Thunder Ruins.

The familiar map, the familiar scene, the familiar background music, the familiar zombie monsters—Jiang Xia controlled his sword spirit to walk over, executing an extremely smooth combo of the Ghost Sword Technique followed by an uppercut, a cross slash, and a backflip slash. He repeated this three or four times before finally managing to kill the zombie monster in front of him.

"Wow, Sword Soul's skills are so cool!" Wang Ming said enviously, while controlling his character to follow behind Jiang Xia and pick up the loot dropped by the zombies.

"It's like scratching a small area of ​​skin. If it were a Berserker of the same level, these mobs would be gone in two hits."

Jiang Xia pursed his lips. He knew very well that in the future, it was a streamer named Xu Xu Bao Bao who single-handedly pushed Red Eye to its true peak.

Finally, after about 10 minutes, Jiang Xia skillfully and painstakingly defeated the Adventure-level boss, achieving an SSS rating and unlocking the King-level map.

Looking back, in the era of game numericalization, few people rack their brains to create strategies anymore, and the experience of struggling to clear a map with a dozen or more resurrection coins is gone. The damage is like having a cheat code, and you can easily hit a series of + numbers. Everything is about mindless, instant kills.

But that initial joy has changed.

Seeing that he had leveled up so quickly, Wang Ming's face was beaming with joy: "Hurry, hurry, keep going!"

Jiang Xia entered the instance on his own and casually asked, "Speaking of which, what are your thoughts for the future?"

"What else can we art students think? That's just how it is. If we perform normally, get into a good art academy, find a pretty girl as a girlfriend, and have a decent job, then life is perfect," Wang Ming replied casually.

Jiang Xia couldn't help but chuckle; his answer was exactly the same as in his previous life.

This guy has excellent artistic skills and performed exceptionally well in the exam, which led him to enter the Central Academy of Fine Arts. In his sophomore year, he created an outstanding short animation, "Blind Dog," which won the gold medal for best short animation creation.

Not only did he have a beautiful girlfriend, but he also turned down invitations from several large animation production companies before graduating. He then created his own studio, but the works he produced received a lukewarm response in the market.

Finally, the studio went bankrupt, his girlfriend broke up with him, and he and Jiang Xia became brothers in misfortune. Finally, five years after Jiang Xia got married, he had an accident one night after drinking - his car crashed through the guardrail on Binjiang Road and plunged into the Yangtze River.

Later, his family found a suicide note in his house and learned that Wang Ming had actually committed suicide.

This is why Jiang Xia was so surprised when she first saw Wang Ming after her rebirth.

"Don't worry, you'll do well on the exam." Jiang Xia sighed, patted his best friend on the shoulder, and pondered how he could save him from that death in this lifetime.

If all else fails, I'll just have him follow me.