Chapter 6 : Setting Sail_ From the Internet
Chapter 6: Setting Sail: From the Internet
Chen Fan looked at this group of youth dressed like gangsters.
He immediately understood that their intentions were not good.
"What's the matter?"
"Damn it, I'm asking you if you're called Chen Fan?"
Chen Fan pretended to be puzzled: "What do you want to find him for?"
The mohawk-haired guy spat a thick phlegm on the ground.
"My little brother is Huang Hu, you know him? Did you threaten him?"
Chen Fan shook his head firmly.
"It wasn't me. I didn't do it. It wasn't me."
At this time, one of the cronies suddenly pointed his finger.
"Brother Crow, that's the guy. Huang Hu showed me his photo."
Hearing this, the mohawk guy immediately smiled.
"Kid, you're quite sly."
"But even the slyest hunter can't defeat a good fox..."
One of the cronies reminded him: "Brother Crow, you said it backwards."
The mohawk guy slapped him with his hand.
"Shut the hell up."
Then he reached out to threaten Chen Fan.
"Huang Hu is my little brother, and in this area, he's under my protection, you know?"
Chen Fan hurriedly asked: "You are..."
"I'm Crow."
"Brother Crow, you can take me under your wing too, I'll recognize you as my boss."
Hearing this, Crow was clearly taken aback.
He was about to sneer when he saw Chen Fan suddenly look pleased and wave at someone behind the group.
"Teacher Wang, you're here for a meal too."
The group of youth was startled and turned around.
Then they saw Guo Shuai pour a bucket of slop water directly onto Brother Crow's head.
Chen Fan went up and gave him a kick, knocking him down.
"Damn..."
Before Brother Crow could open his mouth, Chen Fan and Guo Shuai had already slipped away and run into the alley.
"What are you still standing there for? Go after them!"
Brother Crow angrily got up, his head covered in rotten leaves, the smelly vegetable juice continuously dripping down his hair...
Chen Fan and Guo Shuai dashed through several alleys before stopping, gasping for breath.
"Can't run anymore. Let's rest, rest for a bit..."
Guo Shuai held his stomach, panting heavily.
"I say... who are those people?"
Chen Fan turned his head, snorted coldly.
"Who else could it be? Huang Hu asked them to teach me a lesson."
"Huang Hu?"
Guo Shuai sneered, "It's because of the student council president thing, right?"
Chen Fan was taken aback: "You know he likes Su Ruochu?"
Guo Shuai laughed.
"Only an idiot wouldn't notice."
"That dumb jerk Huang Hu thinks he's disguised it very well, but I could tell with one look that every time he looks at the student council president, he has ill intentions."
"Damn it, he dares to have designs on my sister-in-law, I'll get rid of him."
Chen Fan patted Guo Shuai's shoulder.
"Good brother. Appreciated."
"Alright, let's go back first."
"Wait!" Guo Shuai held Chen Fan back.
"That group of guys might be waiting at the school gate, if we go back now, isn't that walking into a trap?"
Chen Fan frowned: "Then what should we do?"
"Don't worry, let them wait. Let's go play at White Birch Forest."
"White Birch Forest?"
Chen Fan suddenly realized.
White Birch Forest was an internet cafe near the school.
Back in their school days, he and Guo Shuai often snuck in there to play games after class.
Chen Fan thought about it, Guo Shuai made sense, so he nodded.
"Let's go!"
The two quietly came out of the alley entrance, making sure no one was around, then took a detour straight to White Birch Forest.
As soon as they entered the internet cafe, Guo Shuai casually greeted the internet cafe girl.
"Beauty, open two computers for us, two hours."
The counter girl glanced at the two of them.
"Register with your ID cards."
Guo Shuai didn't bat an eye.
"I didn't bring it, let's just get a temporary card."
Chen Fan was a bit speechless, brother you're still wearing a school uniform.
But the counter girl really did take out two paper slips with a string of numbers and tossed them onto the table.
"Let's go!"
Guo Shuai pulled Chen Fan into the hall.
As they pulled open the thick curtain, damn, it was pitch black like an air raid shelter.
And it was filled with swirling smoke, very choking.
All kinds of sounds flooded into Chen Fan's ears like waves.
"Damn! My mine was stolen."
"The enemy's infantry are all coming over, where are the tanks? Why didn't you buy the Apocalypse tank?"
"Use your ultimate, quickly activate your ultimate... Shit, this Eight Immortals is useless, it's just a pile of crap..."
"Wuwu, Brother Xiaoyao and Zhao Ling'er are so touching..."
Hearing the sounds around him, Chen Fan couldn't help but smile slightly.
It was really nostalgic.
In this era, students didn't have short videos or video sites, a simple little game could excite them all day.
Guo Shuai pulled Chen Fan to find a spot in the farthest corner.
"Quick quick, turn it on. Today I'll let you witness my Red Alert unlimited troop spawning technique."
Chen Fan sat down with a smile and pressed the power button, the familiar Windows 98 startup music played.
"You play by yourself today. I have other things to do."
Guo Shuai glared: "Damn it. You come to an internet cafe and don't play games, did you come to watch the news broadcast?"
"Shut up. I have real business."
Guo Shuai mumbled as he went to start up Red Alert by himself, and soon became excited, shouting loudly.
In fact, in February of this year, Microsoft had already released the Windows 2000 operating system, but the small town internet cafe that Chen Fan and the others were in had not yet updated.
Moreover, the generation of Chen Fan and his peers were most familiar with the 98 version when they first used computers.
Seeing the classic desktop with blue sky, white clouds, and green grass, Chen Fan showed a satisfied smile.
It was really nostalgic.
In this era, the first batch of trendsetters had appeared on the domestic internet.
Chen Fan remembered that Xin Lang had successfully listed on NASDAQ in April, becoming a sensation for a time.
But soon, Wing Net would be listed at the end of this month, and the latest Sohu would also be listed on the 12th of next month.
At that time, the three major portals would be firmly established, becoming sensations for a time.
As for the more famous BAT in the future, Tencent was going through an internet winter, and Ma Huateng had once wanted to sell QQ for 1 million yuan.
And Alibaba's Ma Yun was struggling hard to build his own sales team.
As for Baidu, they were a little better off, having just launched their own Chinese search engine last month, fully entering the field of Chinese internet technology.
Of course, there was also another tycoon, Qiang Zi, who at this time was still selling CD burners at a small shop called JD Multimedia in Zhongguancun, and wouldn't completely transition to an online retail model until three years later.
However, all of this was irrelevant to Chen Fan, who was still a student.
Even as a time traveler, he was currently not qualified to discuss the world with these tycoons over wine.
Clicking the mouse to open the Xin Lang page, Chen Fan casually browsed some of the current news.
"U.S. stocks tumble, NASDAQ index sliding..."
Seeing this news, Chen Fan thought that probably not many people in China would know that before long, the wave of the internet bubble would sweep across the country.
At that time, a large number of domestic companies would die in this internet winter.
Only those companies that were prepared for the crisis would be able to get through this winter and then welcome a new boom.
But all of this was still too far away for Chen Fan at the moment.
He needed to find an opportunity to make his first pot of gold.
His mind pondered what area he should start in.
His gaze unconsciously swept over the top of the page, and a thought suddenly flashed, making Chen Fan's eyes light up instantly.
"Domain names, domain names... That's right, I can do domain name trading."