Volume 1, Chapter 369 – Meeting

Neon lights flashed along the street. Night had only just fallen, yet the roads were still full of traffic.

Having just filled her stomach, Shi Lan wandered the streets. Her delicate mixed-race features drew quite a few looks.

Letting her gaze drift aimlessly over both sides of the street, Shi Lan began calculating things in her mind. With the money on her, she would not last long, and the most urgent problem, identification, was nowhere in sight.

Without identification, she could not move a step.

Shi Lan slowly came to a stop and looked at a recruitment notice posted by the roadside.

Hiring Internet Café Attendant: Excellent benefits, salary negotiable, room and board available.

Her eyes lingered on room and board available for a moment before she stepped forward and pushed open the door.

Jingle.

“Little girl, you can’t come in here.”

Behind the counter, the owner in a black short-sleeved shirt glanced up and pointed to a sign beside him.

‘Minors Not Allowed.’

“Boss, I saw the notice outside saying you were hiring an attendant. Are you still taking people?”

“An attendant? You?”

The owner sized Shi Lan up and shook his head.

“We don’t hire minors here. There are night shifts. It doesn’t suit you.”

“The pay can be lower. Room and board is enough.”

The owner frowned slightly, stood up from behind the counter, called out to a waiter not far away, then pushed open the door to a small room beside the counter.

“Come in and let’s talk.”

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…

City Police Bureau, reception room.

After getting the composite sketch, Xiao Teng was no longer as anxious as before. He called in his men and gave his orders.

“Offer a reward of three hundred thousand. Missing-person notices, ads, push them all out for me.”

Without identification, she could not leave the city, and she could not get into any proper hotel either. That narrowed the range down considerably. As long as she was still in this city, with a big enough reward, there would definitely be news within a few days.

In this age of advanced information networks, finding someone might not be easy, but it was definitely not that hard either, especially once the search area had been narrowed down.

“Who exactly is this girl?”

Li Qingya folded her arms and leaned against the sofa, feeling that something was off.

Xiao Teng was paying far too much attention to this matter, and the girl in the sketch was also very pretty. It was hard not to let her imagination run.

“I had a younger sister in the orphanage once. It might be her.”

Xiao Teng tossed out the answer casually.

“A younger sister? Then how did she end up overseas?”

“She was adopted by a Chinese couple living abroad when she was little.”

Xiao Teng rubbed his brow, looking exhausted.

“I’m tired. I want to rest for a bit.”

Li Qingya could vaguely tell that Xiao Teng was not telling the truth, but seeing the weariness on his face, she could not press him further.

“Then I’ll take you back.”

…

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…

Zhang Guang lit a cigarette worriedly, glanced at the girl in front of him, then silently put the cigarette out.

“Shi Lan, right?”

“Mm.”

“Your situation is a little unusual…”

Zhang Guang hesitated for a long while, then finally sighed.

“Forget it. Start working for now. Room and board included. Two thousand a month.”

“Thank you, Boss.”

“Just call me Guang-ge.”

Zhang Guang stood up and waved a hand.

“Come on. I’ll show you around.”

Shi Lan rose and followed him, finally feeling a little relieved.

An orphan, no identification, the orphanage shut down because it was badly run, and the older children were simply turned out.

That was the background story she had made up for herself. Fortunately, Zhang Guang was soft-hearted. At the very least, he had not immediately thought of calling the police and throwing off this trouble.

This internet café was not small. It had two floors and close to a thousand computers.

Through their conversation, Shi Lan also learned a little about Zhang Guang. He was twenty-seven this year, unmarried, had a girlfriend, and his family was fairly well-off. He counted as a somewhat wealthy second-generation heir.

This internet café was only one of the businesses under his own name.

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Zhang Guang led Shi Lan up to the second floor and into a small room.

“This is your room. It’s only this good. If you want anything to eat normally, you can contact the kitchen directly and have them make it.”

The room was very small, only five or six square meters, with a single bed set up inside. At the back, a washroom had been partitioned off.

“The sheets and things are all new. The last attendant cleaned everything out before leaving.”

Naturally, Shi Lan had no objections. In her current situation, just having a place to stay was already not easy.

“You’ll start on the day shift. In half a month, there’ll be a rotation with the night shift.”

“If a computer has a problem, you don’t need to deal with it. Just have them switch to another machine.”

Zhang Guang brought Shi Lan back to the counter and roughly explained the process for cashiering and logging customers onto machines.

Once that was done, Zhang Guang hurried out. About half an hour later he came running back and tossed down a phone.

“I might not always be around. Try not to wander off alone at night. It’s not safe lately. If there’s trouble, call me right away, or call the police directly.”

Shi Lan nodded and agreed to each point.

…

The days that followed were very peaceful for Shi Lan.

Because of her arrival, the internet café’s business actually improved quite a bit. Among the customers coming and going, there was no shortage of people who wanted to make a move on her, even though she looked underage.

Shi Lan was not particularly irritated by it. She simply dealt with them one by one. She did not want to cause any trouble for Zhang Guang.

Fortunately, most people who came here were simply here to relax, so overall Shi Lan’s life was fairly tolerable.

“Attendant, one station.”

An ID card was handed over in front of Shi Lan.

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“Would you like a membership? Recharge 100 and get 80, recharge 200 and get 180.”

Without even raising her head, Shi Lan glanced at the computer screen, saw that this was a new customer, and began her habitual sales pitch.

“Put in 1000.”

“Recharge 1000 and get 2000. Enjoy your time online.”

Hearing the payment come through, Shi Lan finished the top-up. As she handed the ID card back, she instinctively glanced at the name.

Xiao Teng…

Shi Lan had never met Xiao Teng, nor did she know Xiao Teng’s name, but Samsara knew it very well. Yet it did not speak to remind her.

In truth, under Shi Lan’s deliberate guidance, Samsara’s existence, as well as certain parts of Shi Lan herself, had already been unconsciously ignored.

What Shi Lan was living through now was a brand-new life.

Deep within Shi Lan’s sea of consciousness, her soul had already completely entered a state of unity between heaven and man, becoming a cold-eyed observer.

Everything she experienced now, and the thoughts reflected in her heart, had been magnified hundreds and thousands of times, turning into an immense flood of distracting thoughts that ceaselessly battered her soul, trying to force her out of that state.

…

Xiao Teng became a regular at the internet café, staying for half a day at a time. Every time he came, he would chat with Shi Lan for a while, no different from an ordinary customer.

Even after getting close to Shi Lan, the system still showed no reaction whatsoever.

But that did not discourage Xiao Teng. The instant he saw Shi Lan, an inexplicable premonition had appeared in his heart.

Shi Lan’s appearance would bring enormous change to his life. That change might be even more frightening than the changes the system had brought him.

It would be a transformation so great that it would overturn common sense itself!