After the internet was disconnected, I connected to the magic world.

At 6:30 p.m., Lin Ze carried a cardboard box with the e-commerce company's logo on it and stepped onto the bumpy asphalt road in the old alley.

The summer breeze carries the aroma of fried skewers from the roadside, mixed with the earthy scent after the rain.

He let out a long breath, and the pent-up frustration that had been weighing on his chest for three years finally dissipated with that breath.

At twenty-three, I started venturing into society right after graduating from high school.

Express sorting stations work through the night, telephone customer service representatives are yelled at to the point of tears, and e-commerce operations staff are constantly battling against backend data.

For the last three years at that outsourcing company, they treated people like animals.

The client sent their revision suggestions at 3 a.m., and the boss needed a solution by 7 a.m.

Last month's physical exam results came back, showing irregular heartbeat and cervical spondylosis. The doctor stared at him and said...

"If this young man keeps pushing himself like this, he might just collapse at his workstation one day."

He figured it out on the spot.

With 100,000 yuan in savings, I can live comfortably for a year if I live frugally.

Screw KPIs, screw clients, screw "young people should work harder," I'm done.

There was no elevator in the sixth-floor rental apartment, and he was panting heavily as he climbed it. He pushed open the door and threw the cardboard box into the corner.

The single room, which is only a dozen square meters, has a 1.5-meter bed and an old computer desk, leaving little open space.

The paint on the walls was peeling off, but this was the only little place he owned in the city.

The desktop computer on the table was something he painstakingly built up last year, and the graphics card was a second-hand 1660 he bought online.

I'm usually so tired after get off work that I don't even have the energy to play a ranked game, but tonight I can finally play all night long.

"Let's play a ranked game first, then order some fried chicken and beer to treat ourselves."

Lin Ze smiled and pressed the power button. The computer case started spinning, and the moment the screen lit up, a bright purple-red light flashed outside the window.

Boom—

A thunderclap followed, shaking the windows slightly.

He instinctively looked up, thinking that Xia Lei had struck a nearby transformer.

Just as I was about to complain about this awful weather, the next second, that purple light shot straight toward the window.

Like a miniature shooting star, trailing a faint tail of flame, it silently pierced through the glass.

It pierced through without leaving a single crack and landed precisely on the computer case.

"Holy shit!"

Lin Ze was so startled that he jumped up from his chair, took two steps back and bumped into the edge of the bed, frantically reaching for the socket to unplug the power cord.

Images of the computer exploding, the wires catching fire, and the rented house burning down flashed through his mind. He even decided which friend's house he would stay at tonight.

The expected explosion did not occur.

The host emitted only a wisp of almost invisible blue smoke, the screen went black for a second, and then steadily lit up again.

Even the desktop that was just loading didn't lag at all, and the icons loaded even faster than usual.

It's as if the meteor didn't just hit it, but rather charged it up.

"...What's going on?"

Lin Ze stood there stunned for a long time before cautiously approaching.

The chassis was intact and not hot to the touch; in fact, it was even cooler than when the computer was normally turned on.

He refused to believe it and ran a benchmark test using Master Lu. All the hardware scores were green, and the performance score had increased by almost 10,000 points compared to the test last month.

This is weird.

He was wondering what was going on when he caught a glimpse of an icon on the right side of his desktop.

The background is pure black, with intricate pale purple runes engraved on it, like some kind of ancient pattern, swirling and glowing slightly, with four characters marked below.

The Voice of the Magic Network.

"Malware?"

Lin Ze frowned. He hadn't downloaded anything, and his computer even had antivirus software running.

He right-clicked and clicked delete, and a pop-up message appeared: "Unable to delete file, access denied."

I used antivirus software to completely wipe the hard drive, and a scan showed that the system was safe and there were no abnormalities.

Even after opening the Control Panel and searching through the list of programs, I couldn't find this thing anywhere.

"Wow, the virus's getting this rampant these days?"

He scoffed, but instead became interested.

I want to see what it is. It's all so mysterious, like it's the real thing.

Double-click the icon.

No pop-up warnings, no loading animations, not even a startup screen; the interface opens instantly.

A deep purple forum page spread across the screen, its borders adorned with flowing rune patterns that seemed to rotate slowly, as if they were alive.

The top navigation bar is divided into several sections: spellcasting discussion, magic material trading, adventurer recruitment, magic network government affairs, casual chat, and in the far corner there is an inconspicuous "online school".

The page refreshes extremely quickly, with several new posts appearing every second, each with an increasingly outrageous title.

[Help Needed] My first-tier fireball keeps exploding, what should I do? I've already burned three apprentice robes.

[Science Popularization] Twelve new universal spell models have been added to the 36th level of the Magic Net; low-level mages can download them for free.

[Comment] New players these days can't even build their own spell models; they're useless without the Magic Network.

[Trade] Looking to buy three Blue Flame Grass plants that are at least ten years old. Magic Coin transfers accepted. Highest bidder wins.

[Casual Chat] Just came out of the Abyss dungeon. A Tier 3 warrior leading the team was really reliable, but the magic crystals distributed were too few.

Lin Ze found it amusing.

I thought it was some kind of high-tech virus, but it turns out it's just a promotional forum for some fantasy private server?

It's quite realistic, with a complete set of settings, including magic networks and spell models. It's much more meticulously crafted than those poorly made web games.

He casually clicked on the post about the fireball spell exploding, and found all sorts of replies.

"You made a mistake with the gesture, didn't you? The standard model downloaded from the magic network won't explode. You must have messed up the rune nodes yourself."

"How much mental strength do you have, OP? If it's below 0.5, don't bother with fire magic. Why not stick to shimmering light spells?"

"I suggest you go to the Magic Network Government Affairs Hall to have your talent tested. Don't force it if your magic affinity is too low; be careful of backlash."

"It actually looks quite plausible."

Lin Ze smiled and shook his head, then reached out and unplugged the network cable from the host computer.

Playing with this kind of rogue software, let's see how you run around after we disconnect your internet.

He even turned off the router, so this computer is now a complete standalone machine. Let's see how you load content now.

After unplugging the network cable, he casually refreshed the forum page.

The next second, the smile on his face froze.

The page refreshes instantly, and new posts keep popping up. The post about the fireball spell even got more than a dozen more replies, and some people are still arguing.

"Is it a mistake in the gestures or a lack of talent?"

There is no internet.

He was still holding the network cable plug in his hand, and the router's indicator lights were all off.

But this forum called "Voice of the Magic Network" is still running normally and updating in real time, even more smoothly than when he usually browses Tieba via broadband.

Lin Ze's heart skipped a beat.

He slowly sat back in his chair, staring at the scrolling posts on the screen, his fingertips feeling a little cold.

The thunder was still rumbling outside the window, and the rain was pattering against the glass. Inside, only the purple light from the computer screen reflected on his face, flickering on and off.

This is not a virus.

It's not some kind of private clothing advertisement.

An absurd idea popped up uncontrollably from the bottom of his mind, and he couldn't suppress it.

He swallowed hard, his fingers trembling, and clicked on the "Online Classroom" section in the far corner.

The pinned post was marked with a striking red "Featured" label, and its title, in gold foil, floated at the very top.

"Magic Network Basic Meditation Method for All - Official Revised Edition"

Posted by: Magic Goddess Temple - Popularization Division.