I'm just an internet cafe owner

He discovered that sunflowers were very important. You can't just plant one sunflower and blindly plant pea shooters; you need to plant a lot of sunflowers so that you have an abundance of sun to plant pea shooters.

While playing, he discovered the TT forum, where he found the game Plants vs. Zombies.

Ikoma started getting hooked after reading the strategy guide above.

The game is very short. Even the realistic mode only involves planting plants and experiencing some illogical game modes, such as potato bowling or hitting zombies on the head with a hammer like whack-a-mole.

"How interesting!"

Ikoma is an ordinary young man. Although he was traumatized by his sister's death a few years ago, his curiosity about new and interesting things has made him obsessed with them.

In the morning, he completed the entire game mode. After spending a few hours playing the mini-games, he began to explore the endless mode.

As the name suggests, endless mode features a constant stream of zombies, requiring him to withstand wave after wave of relentless hordes. It is during this time that he truly experiences the terror of zombies.

When there are few zombies, they seem weak, but when there are many zombies, he needs to use his wisdom to adjust the plants to eliminate them.

Corn cannon, giant mushroom, sunflower...

Unlike the game mode which requires balancing, the real mode is about using plants to resist the zombie invasion. All plants are useful and all plants can be used.

Time always flies when you play a game. When he reached level 100 following the walkthrough, a notice of store closure appeared in Ikoma's field of vision.

"Huh? It's closed?"

Ikoma paused for a moment, while Kaneki Ken, who had just finished saving his game, saw the newbie Ikoma shouting at him, "Newbie, save your game quickly, we're closing soon. You have to leave when we close, otherwise the boss will blacklist you and you'll never be able to come back."

"I understand, thank you, senior."

"No need to thank me, we're just helping each other out. Here! Have a Coke!"

Kaneki Ken tossed a glass of iced cola to Ikoma, who instinctively caught it and asked curiously, "Excuse me, what is this?"

"Cola, pull the tab and drink that black, bubbly stuff. It'll be so refreshing!"

"Is this so good it's killing me?"

Ikoma curiously opened the Coke, and the moment the cool, sparkling water entered his mouth, he felt like he was ascending to heaven.

"Is it good?"

"Delicious."

"Then work hard to make money! In this internet cafe, if you work hard to make money, you can drink such delicious things every day."

That's how internet cafes are.

After a brief chat, it was closing time. Each row of customers walked orderly towards the door; some were making plans to meet again tomorrow, while others, having been defeated in a solo match, were looking to get revenge the following day.

Ikoma returned to his own world, where he lived in a relatively remote place because he needed to conduct experiments. Looking at the seeds he had obtained, he fell into deep thought.

Sunflower seeds, Peashooter seeds.

These two basic plants accompanied him throughout the entire game. Since it was daytime, Ikoma planted the seeds he had obtained in the ground.

He was curious whether this plant would be as magical in his world as it was in the game.

He also turned his attention to TT groups. Although cross-platform chatting required payment, the emergence of player-run shops and resellers allowed many players to become self-sufficient. While they couldn't become rich overnight in their own world, enjoying the internet every day was still quite satisfying.

"I see. I need to make money; I can't go online without money. Looks like I need to work harder to make money... but how?"

As he pondered, a sunflower sprouted from the ground under the sun's rays. Looking at this suddenly grown sunflower, Ikoma fell into deep thought.

He had thought that real sunflowers wouldn't sway like in the game, but in reality, when this sunflower appeared, it looked at him and swayed left and right rhythmically.

Chapter 382 A Spark of Hope in the Iron Fortress

As Ikoma looked at the swaying sunflowers, the background music from the game involuntarily echoed in his mind.

The catchy background music and the infectious swaying made his body move involuntarily. Moving wasn't the end of it; he looked down at the seed in his hand. A bold idea suddenly occurred to him.

That means planting all the seeds!

In the game, it's necessary for him to keep planting plants to fight off zombies, but Kabane hasn't appeared in reality, so why is he in such a hurry?

"How is that possible? The people in charge of the Iron Fortress are very experienced; they would never allow the Kabane to enter the Golden Station."

Ikoma was speechless at his sudden idea; at first, dealing with the Kabane was quite troublesome for everyone. But as time went on, fortresses were established in various regions, and they communicated with each other through the Kabaneri Fortress.

Although he had heard that some areas had fallen, it was precisely because of these fallen areas that the samurai there were even more focused on defense, determined not to allow any problems to occur.

"Well, since we're already here, let's plant some plants."

He has quite a few sunflowers. Similar to the game, he can collect the sunlight produced by the sunflowers. However, the sunlight he collects cannot be seen or touched by others; only he can use it.

Fortunately, there is a large open space in this area.

He started planting sunflowers and peas on this empty, unused plot of land.

Meanwhile, the Peashooter from the Plants vs. Zombies game is also very powerful. According to his tests, the peas he shoots within 50 meters have a greater impact force than firearms.

It's hard to imagine how terrifying a zombie in the game must be to withstand such an impact. Why not say fifty meters away? Because peas will disappear at fifty meters.

Isn't that amazing? Even Ikoma couldn't figure it out.

It wasn't until the next day, when the internet cafe reopened, that Ikoma found Liu Yuan.

"You're the owner here, right?"

Yes, is there anything I can do to help you?

At that moment, Ikoma took a deep breath: "Boss! How can I save my world?"

After discovering the magic of the plants, he became certain of one thing: this was no ordinary place, but a paradise where gods resided. The gods had granted him some of their power, but he hoped to gain the power to save even more people.

He didn't want anyone to continue becoming a Kabane, or even...

Faced with the boy's request, Liu Yuan smiled and said, "I'm sorry, no one can directly change your world, but you can change your own world."

"Can I change my world?"

"Yes! Young man, I can feel your anger, I can feel your fear of the Kabane. The Kabane is strong, but the plants in Plants vs. Zombies are even stronger. They can help you fight the Kabane, but have you ever thought about this? In your world, the most terrifying thing is not necessarily the Kabane, but the human heart."

"Human...heart?"

Liu Yuan got up and brought Ikoma a stool: "Yes, power is something that only needs to be enough. For you, the power of plants is enough to deal with any enemy. You could even walk around the world like a pro if you just bought the beginner survival kit sold by the Machine Seed. But that's not important. Power without matching thought is useless no matter how strong it is. And you lack thought. You are too impulsive. Impulsiveness will lead to mistakes."

"Boss...please help me..."

At this moment, Ikoma looked up at Liu Yuan like a devout Protestant, while Liu Yuan looked at Sherry: "Ah! Sherry, take this guest to Red Alert. Remember, it has to be Yuri from Mental Omega Epsilon, not Yuri from Yuri's Revenge."

Sherry had a minor mishap. As a veteran, she knew that when recommending Yuri, you should definitely recommend the Mental Omega version, because he's the political commissar. But because Sherry hadn't encountered him before, she mistakenly recommended Yuri's Revenge, almost leading people astray.

But it's okay, Shirley is already very skilled at it.

So, in a daze, Ikoma was seated. Just as Liu Yuan had said, what he needed wasn't power. Plants vs. Zombies may seem weak, but against a world only inhabited by Kabane and combined Kabane, this power seemed a bit too much.

Therefore, the most important thing is to improve his thinking and make him understand what he wants to do and what effect he wants to achieve.

However, Liu Yuan is currently considering one thing: if Yuri really comes to the internet cafe in the future, what expression will he make when he sees the cultists all over the street?

Yes, as it stands, all the customers in internet cafes are being recommended by various channels to see Yuri, the real psychologist.

Ikoma was the same; upon entering the game, Yuri looked at the new heretic and asked him a question.

"Oh! My dear heretic, what troubles have you encountered this time?"

Ikoma looked in the direction of the sound, and seeing the kind-looking bald man, he instinctively said, "I don't know what I should do..."

He was also asking himself what he should do. But when he got the answer—to eliminate the Kabane—he was lost. He had once thought of using special weapons to directly destroy the Kabane's heart.

But when he gained this power, and even when he could use internet cafes to acquire various technologies to eliminate his enemies, he became even more confused. He didn't know what to do next, and because he was so young, he was prone to impulsiveness.

He had never heard the saying "Impulsiveness is the devil," nor had anyone taught him the harm of impulsiveness, because he had no family.

In Liu Yuan's eyes, this was simply a born protagonist: both parents were dead, but he had a sister and a house. Although his sister was also dead, he still had some things.

Yuri heard Ikoma's question and smiled brightly: "My dear heretic, I sense your confusion. You don't believe in your abilities, that's alright. We can take it one step at a time. Let's start by conquering this small country of America. I will teach you the meaning of life in this world little by little."

During the game, with Yuri's constant guidance, he understood.

He realized how superficial he had been, but he also realized that he seemed to be too impulsive.

"It's heartbreaking to see you, my dear heretic, have forgotten my teachings. I feel terrible for a student like you who doesn't study hard. But it's alright, I'll teach you again, teach you how to control your emotions. Our brains are amazing. Most people's brains can only receive information, but ours can send information..."

Ikoma's eyes widened as he immersed himself in the ocean of learning.

When time jumped back to the moment the internet cafe closed, he stood up from his seat.

Games never change a person's mind; even the Yuri's Rift games only teach players how to master power. Ikoma has now mastered that power.

And then I finally understood what I wanted to do.

"Boss! Thank you, I've found my direction in life."

Liu Yuan waved his hand: "You're welcome. It's what I can do. In this vast world, countless people fall into confusion. Meeting is fate. Since we've met here, it's my duty to help you find your way. What do you plan to do?"

Ikoma pondered, “After being taught by Commissar Yuri, I realized that in my world, there are still boring classes that don’t have the ability to change the whole world. There are even people who take advantage of other people’s resources to live a life of debauchery in this difficult environment. I can’t stand it.”

He was captivated by Epsilon's ideas after just one day of contact.

Yuri didn't claim to be righteous; he simply wanted to establish a unified global government. He explained the benefits of doing so and what he should do if a world were to experience an apocalyptic crisis while living in a single city.

“My dear heretics, you need to centralize power, you need to make everyone obey you. You need to allocate every resource fairly, and if necessary, use our power to maintain your rule. This is inhumane, but it will allow more people to survive. When the race faces extinction, all freedom is meaningless.”

Some people might disagree with this statement, but Ikoma believes Yuri is right because in his area, those high-ranking people use vast resources to indulge in extravagance.

He lives in a post-apocalyptic world; he can't control other cities, but he can control his own...

He confidently walked out of the internet cafe. He had only been with Yuri for a day, but he had learned a lot.

He understood the meaning behind Liu Yuan's words and was ready to make a big splash.

Chapter 383 Opening Champagne for the New Year

Kisara asked curiously.

"Boss, what's wrong with him?"

Liu Yuan stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "Maybe... I've figured it out?"

"I see."

"By the way, Kisaragi, I have something to take care of. How about we go out together tonight?"

Kisara asked hesitantly, "Where to?"

"Want to go to my world?"