Xu Zifan slept in the void for a while, and after waking up and adjusting to his best state, he entered a new world.
He felt terrible when he transmigrated this time. He was strapped to the bed, unable to move, and his whole body ached so much that he was delirious. He opened his eyes and looked around. It was a small place, like a hospital room. Besides his bed, there was only an electroshock device and a cart full of syringes. The windows were reinforced with welded steel bars and covered with privacy film, clearly not a proper place.
Xu Zifan raised his neck and looked down at himself, seeing that he was bound by eight wide, thick straps from his shoulders to his ankles. He tried to struggle, but the straps were too tight, making it impossible for him to move and only causing him more pain. He quickly lowered his head and breathed softly, trying to alleviate the pain, while simultaneously trying to understand the situation in this world.
Just then, the door opened, and a middle-aged man in a white coat and glasses walked in, along with a young man in a guard's uniform carrying an electric baton. The young man chuckled as soon as he saw Xu Zifan was awake, "Go ahead and yell, yell some more! Your parents paid 20,000 yuan to get you cured of your internet addiction. If they don't make you behave, you're not leaving here!"
The words "internet addiction treatment" instantly made Xu Zifan realize his predicament. He was still processing the memories and understanding the situation, so he just stared at the ceiling without saying a word. The man, probably unable to bear being ignored like this, angrily slammed his stun gun on the bed, walked over, patted Xu Zifan's face, and warned, "You still dare to be stubborn with me? You're just a kid who hasn't even grown a beard yet, and you think this is your home? You think everyone will indulge you?"
He turned to the man in the white coat and gestured with his chin: "Dr. Yang, this kid isn't quite ready yet. Give him the strongest setting, and I don't believe we can't subdue him."
Dr. Yang pushed up his glasses and said worriedly, "Instructor Li, he has been unconscious for more than seven hours. When I came to see him this morning, his breathing was very weak and he hadn't eaten. I'm afraid he won't be able to withstand the electric shock now."
"Impossible! Look at him! He'll definitely beg for mercy if he can't take it. Every troublemaker has to go through this. He even bit my brother. My brother can't even hold chopsticks yet. We have to shock him until he behaves."
"Alright, I'll give him an injection first." Dr. Yang reached for the medicine on the trolley, not paying much attention. After all, he had shocked countless people. Although there were a few incidents, they were all eventually resolved, so it wasn't worth worrying about.
Xu Zifan had by then figured out the situation in this world, and seeing this, he said, "I was wrong, I will listen and reform myself."
His voice was extremely weak. The original owner had lost his voice from being tortured and electrocuted the night before. After saying just a few words, Xu Zifan felt as if his throat was being pierced by shards of glass, a piercing pain. Upon hearing this, Dr. Yang said, "Instructor Li, take him away now that he's alright. I have something to do and need to go out for a bit, so I'll be leaving now."
Instructor Li snorted coldly, quickly untied the straps, grabbed Xu Zifan by the collar and pulled him up. "You got off easy! Get up! Let's go!"
Xu Zifan was weak and unable to retaliate. He lowered his head to hide his sharp gaze, gritted his teeth, and forced himself to stand firm. A wise man submits to circumstances; his first priority now was to recover, otherwise he couldn't do anything. As he left, he glanced back at the doorplate, which read "Room Three."
Instructor Li strode ahead, constantly scolding him, and he could only grit his teeth and follow behind.
"I've seen plenty of little bastards like you. Your parents raised you with so much hardship, and instead of studying, you spend their money online wasting it all. Don't you think you deserve to die? Your parents sent you here to reform you, it's for your own good, and you dare to argue with them? Do you even know who gave you birth? You ungrateful wretch! You even dared to bite my brother and attack and insult the instructors. That's an even bigger offense. You're not getting any dinner tonight. It's a waste to give you any. Let the good students each have a bite more…"
Xu Zifan kept his head down and didn't say a word. He admitted that there were brats, ingrates, and unfilial children in this world, but the original owner of this body was not one of them. The original owner was just bad at studying and could not pass no matter how hard he tried. In his memory, his parents stopped showing him any love after he started school. Every time they saw his report card, they would beat him severely, call him a good-for-nothing, an idiot, and say he had a brain puncture. Their favorite saying was, "How could I have given birth to such a good-for-nothing?"
Every time they went to a gathering and heard others praising their children, they felt ashamed and would beat the original owner of this body when they got home, making him stand in the corner for hours as punishment. Even as the original owner grew up, they would beat him with clothes hangers and sticks, saying they were just disappointed in him and that they were beating him for his own good, to prevent him from becoming a good-for-nothing. They claimed that if he weren't so stupid, they wouldn't have become increasingly irritable.
The original owner stumbled upon e-sports in his first year of high school and discovered he had an extraordinary talent for it, even earning money through boosting and coaching. He suddenly saw hope and wanted to prove himself on this path. However, his parents completely rejected the idea and resolutely forbade him from playing games. He tried explaining that he couldn't learn it and wanted to drop out of school to work, but his parents treated him like a monster, scolding him for not taking the right path.
However, the original owner of this body attended a boarding school for high school, sometimes not returning home for ten days or half a month at a time. That year, his parents also had a younger son, and all their attention was focused on the younger son, leaving even less time for him. He was much freer than before. In addition, since he could earn his own money and didn't need to ask for pocket money, he skipped classes every day to go online. Even when teachers contacted his parents, he didn't change his ways. He just wanted to earn a lot of money as soon as possible to become independent and prove that he wasn't a good-for-nothing.
The original owner of this body is eighteen years old this year, a high school sophomore. He always ranks last in his exams, but he has already made a name for himself in the e-sports world, receiving an invitation from the best team in the country to play in the national competition. Before he could even happily accept the invitation, he was suddenly grabbed by the Li brothers while surfing the internet one day, shoved into their car, and struggled desperately, biting the younger brother's hand.
Instructor Li kneed him in the shoulder, and he was instantly tied up.
Then he saw his parents and cried out for help. His parents, however, looked at him with disgust and told Instructor Li to discipline him properly, saying their parenting was a complete failure, producing such a wretch. Instructor Li assured them he would raise an obedient child. The original owner, knowing about the internet addiction treatment center, finally broke down, cursing them and tearfully questioning why they had given birth to him. But his parents said he was being unfilial and needed to be disciplined, and simply had Instructor Li take him away.
The original owner, filled with despair, struggled and cursed all the way to school, only to be immediately locked in a small dark room and severely beaten. The next day, when he disobeyed, he was sent to the third room for electric shocks. This time, he never opened his eyes again, remaining unconscious for seven hours before finally stopping breathing. A gaming prodigy was tortured to death like this, with his own parents sending him to the execution ground. Those who haven't experienced such despair cannot understand. No wonder the original owner refused to submit even in death; he had lost all will to live.
Xu Zifan's mission in this world is to crack down on all internet addiction treatment schools and make these executioners reap what they sow.
As a top hacker, Xu Zifan understood the allure of the online world better than anyone. The original owner of this body was not idle; he simply adapted to the times and found the path best suited to him. Unfortunately, his parents were incredibly foolish and didn't care about him at all, abandoning him here like a discarded piece of trash. Perhaps they didn't expect the original owner to die, but their actions had already sentenced him to death.
From what Xu Zifan understood, most of the "students" here didn't have any real problems; they were mostly sent here because their parents didn't understand or dislike them. There are indeed good-for-nothing, lazy bums in this world who sponge off their parents, making them work like slaves while they spend their days playing online games. But nine out of ten of these people are spoiled by their parents; even if they turned out this way, their parents wouldn't be willing to send them to an internet addiction treatment center.
"Internet addiction" is a completely fabricated term. Xu Zifan, having studied psychology extensively in his past life, knows that if someone is truly addicted to the internet, neglecting food and sleep, then they have a psychological problem and should see a qualified psychologist, just like shopaholics, obsessive-compulsive disorder, and other similar psychological issues. It shouldn't be singled out and given the term "internet addiction." "Internet addiction" is merely a term invented by internet addiction treatment schools to make money, and it's infuriating that so many people fall for it, believing they've found a good option for their children.
Things that shouldn't exist should be eliminated. One person's power may be small, but Xu Zifan felt he needed to find his fellow travelers, and this internet addiction treatment school was the best place to find companions.
The trainees lived in very poor conditions, in simple bungalows with barbed wire windows and heavy steel doors secured with bolts and locks. It looked oppressive, like a prison. As Instructor Li led Xu Zifan through the rooms, someone stood by the window in each room, their expressions blank, devoid of curiosity or sympathy, seemingly just wanting to get to know the new student.
Upon reaching the innermost dormitory room, Xu Zifan went in before Instructor Li could even gesture for him to enter. Instructor Li pointed to an empty bed, "You'll sleep here from now on. The number 1018 engraved on it is your school number. You're not called by name at school, just by your number. Got it?"
"I've got it." Xu Zifan walked to bed number 1018 and stood there, his head bowed the whole time.
Instructor Li snorted coldly and said to the other students, "He's new here and doesn't know anything. You all teach him properly. If he makes a mistake, you'll all be punished along with him, understand?"
"Yes, Instructor!" The six students stood in a straight line as Instructor Li entered, all dressed in camouflage uniforms. Their voices boomed in response, sounding just like soldiers, though their arms, with their sleeves rolled up, bore various scars, revealing the terrible ordeal they had endured.
Instructor Li left satisfied, locking the door from the outside. Xu Zifan slowly lay down on the bed, letting out a sigh of relief. He needed to seize every moment to recover; there was still so much to do.
The boy sleeping opposite him sat on the bed and said, "1018, I'm the dorm leader. You can ask me if you don't understand anything. It's lunch break now, so you're not allowed to go out. If you need to go to the toilet, remember to do so between 2 PM and 8 PM. After 8 PM, the door will be locked, and you're not allowed to go to the bathroom."
Another boy next to him said, "Don't you dare drag us down, or we won't let you off the hook!"