The other roommates each opened their laptops.

"No classes this afternoon, come on, want to team up for a game?"

"Yeah, hurry up. Brian Carter, where are you?"

"Wait a sec, I haven't finished eating yet."

"Hurry up, stop dawdling. Who's going to the other dorm to call people?"

The others in the dorm had already set up their small tables on their beds and opened their laptops.

The living conditions at the school were just that tough—there weren't even loft beds with desks underneath, so everyone could only sit cross-legged on their beds to play games.

Eric Bennett always suspected that his back problems started during this period.

So, to get the best gaming experience, even though he had his own computer and it was convenient to play with his roommates, many students still preferred to go to internet cafes.

Brian Carter held a stainless steel food bowl, with his meal wrapped in a plastic bag on top. He shoveled a few quick bites, then lifted the plastic bag and tossed the whole thing into the trash.

Today was fine—there were classes in the morning, so everyone bought food from the cafeteria to eat.

If there were no classes in the morning, everyone would just lie around in bed.

Whenever the first person decided to go to the cafeteria, the others would immediately start asking to be brought along.

Of course, later on, food delivery became available, but back then there were no delivery apps. Orders were made by phone, and some poor students with difficult family situations would run errands as a part-time job to earn some living expenses.

Brian Carter shouted from outside, and the game room quickly filled up with players.

Eric Bennett glanced at the computer screen. It was a 5v5 competitive game called "Divine Revelation," with gameplay similar to DOTA, just packaged differently.

In terms of timing, "League of Legends" only started to get popular in 2011. It existed in 2009, but it was still very rough.

Besides, that was the situation in Eric Bennett's previous memories. Now, with the world having changed so much, whether "League of Legends" would even appear was uncertain.

At this time, MMORPGs still dominated the internet cafes, with the most popular game being "Fantasy World."

Games like "Divine Revelation" were also popular, but clearly more so in the dorms, since it wasn't a pure online game.

You could play it in internet cafes, and there were competitive platforms, but it still couldn't match the popularity of MMORPGs.

"Qian-ge, why do you seem so out of it today? Didn't get enough sleep?"

Brian Carter was a bit puzzled by Eric Bennett's state. "We're waiting for one more, you in?"

Eric Bennett shook his head. "No, you guys find someone else first."

"Alright, then I'll pull in Mr. Harris from next door." Brian Carter didn't ask further.

Soon, both the dorm and the neighboring dorm were getting rowdy.

"Hey, mid's missing, watch out for a gank!"

"Damn, how did he kill me?"

"Hahaha, three against one and you still got counter-killed, noob!"

Eric Bennett stood behind Brian Carter, watching him rapidly click the mouse and type on the keyboard, making the laptop's keyboard clatter loudly—he really looked like a pro.

But then, looking at the stats, after 10 minutes the team score was 10-9, and Brian Carter's score was 0-0.

While his teammates were fighting hard, he was missing last hits under the tower.

Eric Bennett couldn't help but sigh—back in 2009, everyone was still young and could enjoy the fun of gaming. It was great.

After he started working, he bought a ton of games, all of them good, but after buying them, they just gathered dust. He never even thought to open them.

Every day, work was exhausting, and after work, all he wanted to do was browse the web or watch livestreams on the couch. He was too lazy to even play mobile games, let alone games that required constant actions like these.

Fortunately, now everything was different.

As long as he lost all the system funds, he could make money lying down, with no need to struggle—he could happily be a couch potato!

Eric Bennett lay on his bed, happily imagining his future life.

So, how should he spend this first fifty thousand yuan...

He should at least get a high-end computer first, right?

Then rent an apartment and live a shameless, carefree life.

Hehehehe... Eric Bennett couldn't help but laugh out loud.

……

……

"That's it for this episode of 'Trash Game Rant.' If you, dear viewers, enjoyed this video, please don't forget to favorite, share, and subscribe!"

In a rented apartment in the capital, a young man with thick eyebrows, big but lifeless eyes, and a listless expression sat in front of his computer, recording a video.

He was a well-known content creator in the gaming section of Fanshu.com. His real name was William Clark, online name Mr. Clark, and fans affectionately called him the "Godfather of the Gaming Channel," because at the end of every episode, he would always call out "dad."

As a full-time content creator, William Clark was somewhat famous and had quite a few fans, but after all, this was 2009. In this environment, he was basically living hand to mouth.

If he got a sponsored video, he could splurge and eat out.

If he didn't get a sponsored video, he had to make do with a bowl of plain noodles—weight loss depended on enduring hunger.

William Clark had tried many directions, but in the end, his "Trash Game Rant" series was the most popular, with higher view counts and a group of gaming fans.

William Clark also had another series called "This Month's New Game Recommendations," which was specifically for sponsored content.