In the bustling Konoha Village, the main thoroughfare was a hive of activity, with people coming and going. With such a high volume of foot traffic, the surrounding shops naturally thrived.
However, where there's prosperity, there are naturally also 'desolate' places.
Walking straight along the main road, past Konoha's famous weapon shop, "Wai Wai Wai," and then turning right for several li, one could find a secluded alleyway.
And in this sparsely populated alley, there was a strange shop called an internet cafe.
"Sigh, it's been three days, and not a single customer. If this keeps up, I'm afraid I'll be the first transmigrator to starve to death."
At the shop's entrance, a seemingly ordinary young man sat on a chair, sighing.
This person was the owner of this internet cafe, and he was also a transmigrator.
Ge Liang, male, eighteen years old, was originally a slacker otaku on Earth, who, after staying up for two days and two nights straight to finally beat Mount and Blade II: Bannerlord, transmigrated to the Naruto world and immediately activated his cheat, the Internet Cafe System.
But honestly, Ge Liang, familiar with various web novel tropes, couldn't help but think he should have transmigrated to the Mount and Blade II world. Even if he transmigrated to the Naruto world, what was with this internet cafe system? Shouldn't he have activated some cheat like 'get stronger by killing people'?
After casually complaining, Ge Liang resigned himself to his fate. After activating the Internet Cafe System, he was given this small internet cafe.
This internet cafe was truly small, with only three computers and a cashier's desk inside.
It was so small that calling it a computer room would be an insult to the term; the entire environment was quite rudimentary.
But Ge Liang had no choice. He didn't dare go out to solicit customers and earn money to improve the environment. He had read the Naruto manga and watched the anime and knew that this world was not a safe one.
Fortunately, this simple internet cafe was built by the system, and he was considered the owner of the internet cafe. As long as he was inside, he was invincible, the kind where even Kaguya Otsutsuki would have to kneel and sing 'Conquer'.
However, his invincibility was limited to the internet cafe. Outside the internet cafe, he was just an ordinary person.
To become stronger, he could only rely on his cheat.
System Task: Recruit one customer to use a computer.
Task Reward: One computer game, "Jinyong Qunxia Zhuan" (Heroes of Jin Yong).
Task Time: Unlimited.
According to the usual tropes, this beginner task was indeed very simple: just recruit one customer, and then he could unlock the game "Jinyong Qunxia Zhuan."
Ge Liang was quite familiar with this game. It was a Chinese wuxia RPG developed by Heluo Studio, released in 1996.
This game was adapted from fourteen wuxia novels by Mr. Jin Yong, allowing players to adventure with some of Jin Yong's characters.
The game had a very high degree of freedom, and most of the characters, martial arts, items, and plot developments were very faithful to Jin Yong's original works.
For a wuxia enthusiast, this game was absolutely not to be missed.
If he could unlock the game, Ge Liang could 'enter the game' and obtain those cultivation methods and secret manuals for his own practice.
That's right, playing games in this internet cafe could make him stronger.
"Three days! You damn system, do you know what I've been through these three days?"
In these three days, it wasn't that no one came to inquire what this internet cafe was for. For these people who came to his door, Ge Liang naturally used all his persuasive power.
However, whenever a customer was persuaded by him to try it out, they would be scared off by the price of using a computer at the internet cafe.
The system stipulated that one hour of use cost ten thousand ryo.
"You're practically robbing people!"
Not only did passersby think so, but even Ge Liang believed the system was robbing people.
According to Ge Liang's knowledge, a D-rank mission in the Naruto world cost between five thousand and twenty thousand ryo, and that had to be split among a team of four. The captain took half, and the remaining half was divided among the three genin, leaving very little reward.
Not to mention that the people who came in these three days were all ordinary people, who didn't have as much money as ninjas. Even a genin probably wouldn't spend ten thousand ryo to try out a so-called game.
Therefore, in three days, the internet cafe had not hosted a single true customer.
It was a good thing the internet cafe came with a week's worth of food, which kept Ge Liang from starving to death.
But if he couldn't attract customers soon, Ge Liang starving to death was only a matter of time.
As for finding a job in Konoha Village and relying on himself instead of the system, Ge Liang had considered it, but he gave up after thinking about it.
Who told him he wasn't from this world?
In some small daily habits, he would definitely be different from the ordinary people here.
Aside from anything else, his fair skin was not something ordinary people would have.
In the Naruto world, only those who lived a life of luxury or ninjas had such fair skin; as for other ordinary people, well, hehe.
Think about it, a person with fair skin, wandering around Konoha looking for work like an ordinary person, it just seemed suspicious.
Such obvious suspiciousness would surely attract inquiries from the Konoha Military Police Force.
Ge Liang's identity was granted by the system, so it would definitely stand up to scrutiny.
But he himself couldn't stand up to scrutiny. As an ordinary person, Ge Liang didn't think he could endure an interrogation.
Therefore, to avoid meeting his end so quickly, he could only hide in the internet cafe and solicit customers at the door.
But just thinking about the price of ten thousand ryo per hour and some other rules made him feel quite vexed.
"I wonder when I'll be able to complete my beginner task."
As Ge Liang looked up at the sky, he didn't notice a young beauty approaching from not far away, dressed in a purple jumpsuit, with a ponytail reaching her waist, a fringe covering her right eye, fair skin, and golden hair and blue eyes.
"Huh, when did such a strange shop open here?"
Hearing someone speak, Ge Liang immediately stood up from his chair and habitually said, "This is the first internet cafe in the entire ninja world, primarily for playing games."
After speaking, Ge Liang felt that the girl in front of him looked a bit familiar.
There was no helping it; two-dimensional characters transforming into three-dimensional real people would always have some slight adjustments in appearance, so it was normal for Ge Liang not to recognize her immediately.
"The first internet cafe in the entire ninja world? Although I don't know what an internet cafe is, it sounds very impressive."
"That's right, it's very impressive."
Hearing the young beauty's words, Ge Liang seized the opportunity and echoed her.
"Little beauty, would you like to come in and play some games? You're our first customer, you know."
"The first? That sounds pretty good."
She nodded, thinking that since she had nothing else to do anyway, trying out the games here wouldn't hurt.
But when she entered the internet cafe and saw the small blackboard hanging on the wall, she angrily exclaimed, "Boss, are you trying to trick me because I'm a child?"
As she spoke, she pointed at the blackboard and continued, "Ten thousand ryo for an hour? What kind of crappy game is this expensive? Let me tell you, I, Yamanaka Ino, wasn't scared as a child, so don't think you can fool me."
After saying that, she stomped out, intending to leave this unreliable place.