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墨書 Inktalez
On the night of graduation, I brought Xu Wenmo to the Daily Internet Cafe, intending to tease her. She wore a black suit made of smooth fabric, sharply tailored, which made her skin appear even whiter, contrasting starkly with the smoky, noisy environment of the cafe.
Her presence caught the attention of many men with dark circles under their eyes, their gazes lighting up. "Xiao Ye, come over here," the boss happened to be there as well. He greeted me but was quickly drawn to Xu Wenmo.
The boss was in his forties, balding, with a shiny face and a round belly. Leaning against the cash register with a cigarette in his mouth, his slick gaze assessed Xu Wenmo from top to bottom and then back up again through the haze of smoke.
Xu Wenmo took two steps back. "Let's go."
"But I want to play here for a while. I haven't been here in over a year; you must not have come here before," I said in a teasing tone. "I know you have a computer in your room, but the computers here are different from those at home. It feels different; don't you want to try?"
It was clear that Xu Wenmo wanted to shake her head.
I quickly added, "Just consider it keeping me company, okay?"
Xu Wenmo pressed her lips together, hesitated for a moment, and then nodded.
I took out some money and tossed it onto the counter, telling the attendant inside, "Two hours for each of us, and bring us two cans of beer."
The boss handed the money back to me. "No need; today you two are on the house. Xiao Li, set them up with two machines, no time limit." After saying that, he asked me, "Are two cans enough? Should I get some chips too?"
"Sure, bring a few bags," I handed him the money again, but he pushed it away. "I said it's on the house."
"Number 42 and 43," the attendant poked his head out and handed us two playing cards with the last twelve digits of our ID numbers written on the back.
I picked up the playing cards and took the beer and snacks from the boss's hands. I nodded at Xu Wenmo and said, "Let's go."
Xu Wenmo followed me down the aisle.
Halfway there, I suddenly turned around and saw the boss staring at Xu Wenmo's backside. When he noticed me looking at him, he raised an eyebrow at me. That lewd expression was truly disgusting.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing," I smiled at Xu Wenmo and led her through many gazes until we reached the last row. "Do you want to sit inside or outside?"
"Inside," she replied. Even though she tried hard to hide it, it was still evident that she was very nervous; her body was slightly trembling.
"Oh, go ahead," I felt a pang of sympathy.
In the last row were just the two of us. I sat outside while keeping her protected inside. After all, we had spent two years together; I wasn't heartless and had no real intentions toward her.
"Here, eat up, it won't cost you anything." I placed the large bag of snacks in front of her.
"No thanks, I don't really eat snacks."
"Is it because they're junk food?" I glanced at her sideways.
"No, it's just... I don't eat," she said vaguely, "I quit when I was very young."
"Quit? It's not like it's drugs."
She curled her lips into a slight smile, and I found it uninteresting, so I took the snacks back and set them next to my computer.
I powered it on, entered the number, and logged in with the password 123. Xu Wenmo followed my lead.
"This is different from home; there are no online games at home. What games do you usually play?" As soon as I said it, I felt it was a pointless question.
Sure enough, Xu Wenmo replied, "I usually don't play games."
"Your life sounds really dull," I remarked, "not eating snacks, not playing games, not making friends—what else do you do besides studying?"
Xu Wenmo's fingers froze over the mouse.
"Alright, that's not what I meant," I leaned forward and pointed to the front row, "Look at what they're doing. If you're really bored, just learn from them; if you don't understand something, ask me."
She followed my finger and looked over, suddenly freezing in place; I froze too.
The guy in the front row was watching some foreign romantic film with headphones on, his hands exhibiting suspicious twitching movements.
This wasn't unusual in an internet café, but seeing this through Xu Wenmo's eyes—I awkwardly turned to look at her. Strangely enough, she didn't show the embarrassment or panic typical of a girl encountering such a scene for the first time; instead, her face turned even paler. The back row was already dimly lit, and under the glow of the computer screen, she appeared even more bloodless than outside. But her condition wasn't just due to external factors; it emanated from beneath her skin, from her eyes, from every part of her body—a sense of powerlessness and despair that looked quite eerie, like a ghost crawling out of the computer.
"Hey, are you alright?" I asked cautiously while keeping my distance from her.
She trembled even more violently.
"Don't scare me now."
Finally pulling her gaze away from the front row, she gasped for breath and said hurriedly, "I'm sorry."
"It's fine, it's fine." I opened a can of beer and placed it beside her hand. "Drink a bit to calm down."
She hesitated for two seconds before gripping the can and tilting her head back to gulp down a big mouthful, immediately followed by a fit of intense coughing.
Her disheveled appearance was amusing; I couldn't help but chuckle. "Have you never had beer before?"
"No," she licked the foam off the corner of her mouth and smiled innocently like a child who had stolen their mother's high heels. "It's a bit bitter."
"It's a bit bitter, but you'll get used to it."
"Mm," she seemed to have heard some incredible secret, nodding emphatically in agreement.
This gave me an inexplicable sense of accomplishment, so I pushed the snack with the torn opening toward her. "Try this too; it's really good."
To my surprise, she flatly refused. "No need for that. You just play your game; don't mind me."
"Alright then."
I put on my headphones and opened DJ Max. With the music driving me, I quickly got into the game.
Having not been to an internet café for over a year, my finger dexterity and reaction time had declined significantly. I lost three rounds in a row, and just as my spirits were sinking, "Xiao Ye, playing a game?" The boss appeared behind me without me noticing, one hand propped against the table and the other pressing on the back of my chair, half-surrounding me. A strong scent of male musk filled my nostrils.
"Yeah," I felt disgusted inside but responded casually.
"Let me see what you're playing. DJ Max? That's a little girl's game. Why not try World of Warcraft Alliance? That's fun."
"Brother Wang, do you still have time to play games as a boss?"
"Hey, how can someone who runs an internet café not play games? You can laugh if you want; I dropped out of school because of gaming. Opening an internet café has been my dream since childhood." The boss tried to elevate his mediocrity to a spiritual level, thinking that mentioning "dreams" would earn him admiration. Unfortunately, neither Xu Wenmo nor I were naive enough to fall for that.
"Hehe, then Brother Wang, you're really impressive," I replied dryly with a forced smile.
The boss felt awkward, rubbed his nose, straightened up, inhaled deeply, and surprisingly squeezed through the gap between my seat and the wall, wedging himself between me and Xu Wenmo, similarly half-surrounding her.
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