“Xiao Lin, how can you type so fast! It’s truly amazing.” The speaker was Li Mingfang, a cashier from the accounting department. As soon as she spoke, the young men and women nearby nodded in agreement.

People who could work in an office building in downtown Pengcheng were all ambitious, and using a computer for work was the most basic skill here.

But computers were still expensive at this time, and not many people owned them at home. Therefore, their typing speed was acceptable, but definitely not comparable to Lin Shuyue, who had been messing around with computers since elementary school.

Not to brag, but when Lin Shuyue used to battle keyboard warriors online, her keyboard would practically spark. According to input method statistics, Lin Shuyue’s speed could reach over four thousand characters per hour.

The original owner was an intern, and it wasn’t yet certain whether she could stay at the newspaper. Therefore, during her three months of internship at the newspaper, she wasn’t familiar with her colleagues. But Lin Shuyue felt that once this report she wrote was published, staying at the newspaper would no longer be a problem. Although she had no experience in the workplace, she wasn’t stupid. She wouldn’t push away any opportunity to build good relationships with her colleagues.

“As long as you memorize the arrangement of the twenty-six letters on the keyboard, combine it with the proper technique, and practice a lot, your typing speed will increase.” Lin Shuyue didn’t know Wubi (a stroke-based input method) or Quanpin (full pinyin input). She relied solely on Hanyu Pinyin (standard Mandarin Chinese) for typing.

Facing a sea of eyes filled with thirst for knowledge, Lin Shuyue, based on her experience from her previous life, shared her typing techniques with them. At the same time, she sent the report she had just finished to the editor-in-chief, Wang Mingzheng’s, email.

Li Mingfang and the others, having received Lin Shuyue’s tips, immediately turned back to their workstations. Soon, they printed out a keyboard layout diagram and stuck it on the partition of their workstations for easy memorization. Others saw this and followed suit. Soon, most people’s workstations had such a piece of paper stuck on them.

Some who already remembered the 26 letter keys started practicing according to Lin Shuyue’s method, opening blank documents.

For a time, the office was filled with the clatter of keyboards.

Li Weisheng, who was sitting in the break room, looked at the enthusiastic scene in the office, his face extremely unpleasant. Opposite him sat a man about his age, Qian Yongqiang, from the advertising department. “Brother Sheng, look at Lin Shuyue’s smug look, it’s really disgusting.”

Li Weisheng glanced at Qian Yongqiang, his brow furrowing slightly. “Isn’t it a bit harsh to say that about a girl?”

Li Weisheng didn’t want to hear Qian Yongqiang’s complaints anymore and left the break room.

Behind him, Qian Yongqiang’s fawning smile dropped, his eyes filled with gloom. But soon, he perked up again and chased after him, holding the latte he had just gone out to get for Li Weisheng.

Li Weisheng sat down at his workstation. An employee from the distribution department at the opposite workstation stood up and handed over a piece of paper. “Ah Sheng, this is a keyboard layout chart for the twenty-six letters. We had some extra copies, here’s one for you.”

Li Weisheng didn’t speak. Qian Yongqiang, carefully watching his expression, said, “Go, go, go. Our Brother Sheng’s typing speed is so fast, does he need to practice? Who are you looking down on!”

From the moment Li Weisheng joined the newspaper, Qian Yongqiang had been his number one lackey. The distribution department employee, hearing him say this, shrugged and sat back down.

Li Mingfang placed an apple on Lin Shuyue’s desk and whispered to her, “See that? The ‘Crown Prince’ and his lackey.”

Lin Shuyue turned her head to look. Qian Yongqiang was standing behind his workstation, bowing and scraping to Li Weisheng. It was, indeed, quite a fitting description. Lin Shuyue couldn’t help but let out a chuckle.

Li Weisheng heard Lin Shuyue’s laughter and immediately looked over, his eyes widening like copper bells. He looked quite fierce.

Lin Shuyue still remembered what this guy had said this morning when they came out of the editor-in-chief’s office. She rolled her eyes at him and turned back to her work.

Li Weisheng was extremely frustrated. He had carefully prepared a big news story, and the editor-in-chief had already decided to use it as tomorrow’s headline. But now, Lin Shuyue had come in and ruined everything! The more he thought about it, the angrier he got.

Wang Mingzheng came out of the break room, holding a freshly brewed cup of coffee. As he passed the news department’s door, he called out. The heads of the art department and the news department stood up and walked into the editor-in-chief’s office.

Once they were in place, Wang Mingzheng projected Lin Shuyue’s report onto the wall screen and said to the heads of the art and editing departments, “Lao Zhang, this report was written by Xiao Lin. I think it’s exceptionally well-written, sharp, and to the point.”

“Plus, this photo, I can foresee the huge impact this report will have once it’s published!”

“I’ve just called my colleagues at other newspapers to inquire. None of my colleagues have managed to interview the person in charge of this case. You know what this means. So, you must do a good job with this layout, and make it eye-catching so that people see our newspaper first among the many. Work hard! At the end of the month, I’ll give you double your bonus!”

Lao Zhang, the head of the art department, nodded repeatedly. “Lao Wang, don’t worry. I’ll personally handle this layout. I guarantee I won’t disappoint you.”

Wang Mingzheng looked at Lao Zhang with great satisfaction. This Pengcheng Metro Daily, in the beginning, only had a few people. It was Wang Mingzheng, along with Lao Zhang and a few others, who built this business up. They were superiors and subordinates, but also friends. What Wang Mingzheng wanted was Lao Zhang’s assurance.

Wang Mingzheng looked at the director of the news department. “Lao Zhao, you must take the time to have a good chat with Lin Shuyue. Be sure to keep this talent. She’s someone who has connections in the police department. With her here, will we ever have to worry about not getting exclusive stories from the police department in the future?”

Compared to the cheerful Lao Zhang, the expression on Lao Zhao’s face, the head of the news department, was not so good.

Wang Mingzheng saw it, but pretended not to, and simply waved them out.

–

Time flew by, and it was time to get off work. Lin Shuyue was dragged by Li Mingfang to the cafeteria on the fifth floor, at the very end. This was the newspaper’s cafeteria.

The room wasn’t large, less than fifty square meters. Apart from a cooking area, the rest was filled with metal tables and plastic chairs attached to the tables.

Many people had already arrived at the cafeteria. Li Mingfang and the others from the office worked together seamlessly, some getting food, others securing seats.

While queuing to get food, Li Mingfang whispered to Lin Shuyue, “There’s a special dish today.”

Lin Shuyue stood on her tiptoes to look ahead. Today’s menu included braised chicken drumsticks, potatoes stir-fried with pork, and stir-fried caixin with garlic. The soup was kelp and pork bone soup.

“It smells so good.” As they were talking, it was their turn.

After getting their food, the two went to the spot that had been secured for them in advance. As soon as they sat down, Li Mingfang eagerly joined their conversation.

Lin Shuyue ate while listening to them talk, feeling as if she had returned to her previous life, eating in the cafeteria with her classmates.

It had only happened a few days ago, but now it felt like it was separated by two different time and space.

Lin Shuyue was filled with emotion.

“Shuyue, do you know that Li Weisheng is the nephew of Director Li from our newspaper’s advertising department?” Li Mingfang whispered to Lin Shuyue.

Lin Shuyue turned her head to look at her. “I know. What about him?”

Li Mingfang took a sip of soup. “Let me tell you, the day before yesterday, he was still bragging to the people in the advertising department that he had a big news story to publish tomorrow, and it would make the front page. But now, Lao Wang has decided to use yours, so he’s probably fuming.”

“After you left, I even saw him kicking the trash can in the restroom. He got caught by the cleaning lady, and she scolded him for several minutes.” Li Mingfang couldn’t contain the smile on her face as she spoke.

Li Mingfang was from the art department, mainly responsible for the layout and images of advertisements in the newspaper. There had been several times when she was responsible for the layout and images for Li Weisheng’s news stories. The director had already approved them, but Li Weisheng insisted that they weren’t good enough and made her change them. She made the changes according to his instructions, but the result was rejected by the director, and they ended up using the first version.

This made Li Mingfang furious.

Of everyone in the newspaper office, she was the one who most wanted Lin Shuyue to stay. For no other reason than that it would annoy Li Weisheng, and that made her happy.

Lin Shuyue also had a bad impression of Li Weisheng. He was extremely arrogant. From the first day the original owner joined the newspaper, he had looked down on her abilities, often sarcastically suggesting that a woman shouldn’t be trying to compete with men in this field.

If it weren’t for the fear of affecting her internship evaluation, the original owner’s size 36 shoe would have long since slapped Li Weisheng’s size 42 face.

“What kind of headline news could he possibly have?” Lin Shuyue was a little curious.

Some people had already finished eating and gone to return their trays. Now, only she, another colleague, and Li MingFang remained at the table. Li Mingfang glanced at the other colleague and lowered her voice even further. “Isn’t his uncle in the advertising department? He always takes him out to socialize. He took a photo of the CEO of Guangsheng Group going out on a trip with his eighteen-year-old mistress.”

Li Mingfang gave Lin Shuyue a look that said, “You know what I mean.”

Lin Shuyue understood instantly.

Guangsheng Group was the largest electronics company in Pengcheng. It had started as an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) for foreign electronics companies and had only recently started making its own brand. Because of its low prices and good marketing, its sales were quite good.

It wasn’t uncommon for men to go astray once they became wealthy.

Li Mingfang didn’t say anything more. Given their current relationship, it wasn’t appropriate to gossip too deeply.

After lunch, they went back to the office to enjoy the air conditioning and take a nap. At 1:30 PM, the afternoon shift started. Lin Shuyue didn’t have anything to do in the news department, so she slung her bag over her shoulder and went out.

It was normal for reporters from the news department to be out of the office. No one noticed her departure except for Li Weisheng, who also slung his camera bag over his shoulder and went out after her.

Lin Shuyue strolled along the main road. She encountered many people along the way. Lin Shuyue activated the Good and Evil System and scanned each one. She discovered a very interesting pattern. On the Good and Evil Radar, most people’s good and evil values fluctuated around ten percent, and the darkest color wasn’t even as dark as the gray of the sky on a cloudy day.

She walked and observed, and before she knew it, she had reached the back street of the Pinghu District, where internet cafes, milk tea shops, book rental stores, video game arcades, and billiard halls stood side by side.

Lin Shuyue chuckled and chose an internet cafe to enter.

Lin Shuyue was a gaming enthusiast. There were a few games on the market that she hadn’t played. Every week, she would always set aside one evening to play games all night. This habit had started in middle school and had continued without change. She would also always find ten or five minutes during the day to indulge her gaming craving.

Transmigrating to 2004, without a smartphone and without the laptop her grandfather had spent a lot of money on when she started university, she was not used to it.

It seemed she needed to put buying a computer on her agenda as soon as possible.

The internet cafes of this era were very different from the internet cafes of the future. The environment could be said to be practically non-existent.

Upon entering, the cashier counter was on the left, and behind the counter were water, instant noodles, and some snacks. On the right, starting from the door, was a row of simple computer desks, with computers lined up side by side. The space in the middle wasn’t idle either; several groups of computers were set up there.

The room was filled with a strong smell of smoke and instant noodles, mixed with the shouts of people losing at games. It was very noisy.

Lin Shuyue looked around. Almost all the computers in this internet cafe were occupied, mostly by young people, and most of them were around fifteen or sixteen years old. This was something you wouldn’t see in the internet cafes of the future.

Lin Shuyue wasn’t surprised, as at this time, the government’s regulations on the age of people accessing internet cafes weren’t strict.

Lin Shuyue bought a card, found an empty desk in the back, turned on the computer, and entered the card number to log in.

The computer desktop was very clean. Apart from the essential software that every computer had, there was only a penguin icon (QQ, a popular instant messaging software in China) and a game folder. She opened it and saw a music player, a video player, and games.

Lin Shuyue logged into the original owner’s QQ account, and then, among the many games’ software, found Counter-Strike.

Lin Shuyue’s eyes lit up. After all, this was a game Lin Shuyue often played before her transmigration.

She logged into her account, received the system-gifted guns, selected the mode she wanted to play, and entered the game.

This game had two roles: police and terrorists, played by the players.

Each game was divided into two halves, each with 15 rounds. In the first round, Lin Shuyue got the role of a terrorist. As soon as the game started, she controlled her game character, carrying a gun, and rushed out of the base, starting to kill everyone.

Soon, a group of teenagers gathered behind Lin Shuyue. When the game ended, these teenagers also cheered.

Lin Shuyue ignored them, focusing on the game. When one round ended, she took off her headphones and reached for the water on the table.

Just as she took two sips, she heard a voice near her ear: “You’re very good. Want to play a round?”

Lin Shuyue looked in the direction of the voice. The speaker was a teenager, about seventeen or eighteen years old, with a slender build and fair skin. He had long, non-mainstream bangs. His delicate and handsome features did not look tacky by the long bangs; instead, they gave him an air of untamed handsomeness.

He stared at her intently, his eyes burning with fighting spirit.