"It was noisy at night when people came in and out, but you get used to that after a while," he said.
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During these years, Jin never contacted his family. He had their numbers memorized but could never bring himself to call.
"For all those years I had a knot in my heart. I didn't know what I'd say to my family when I saw them again, and I was in denial."
Instead, he occupied his mind with gaming.
For a long time, he refused to acknowledge the hold that gaming had on his life, further distancing himself from the reality of the course his life had taken.
"At first I was very addicted," he said. "After I left school in 2008, I played for a living."
Meanwhile, his family was worried sick, imagining all kinds of horrific scenarios, from him being run over by a car to getting trapped in a pyramid scheme.
After a local media outlet did a piece on him, everything changed.
A psychologist from the university talked with him and tried to convince him to go home. His family also sought him out. His cousin went to Changchun and found him at the cafe. There, through the phone, Jin talked to his father for the first time in four and a half years.
"He called me by my nickname, Lizi. He sounded excited," Jin said. "I just told him there was too much to say, and that I'd talk to him when I saw him."
Without even packing his things, Jin went back home. At first, he was afraid of people gossiping behind his back, but all his fears went out the window when he saw the joyful faces of his family.
Several of his peers, as well as his brother, are now married with children, but Jin says that right now, what he wants to do most is to pick up where he left off: finding a job.
"I'm resisting the idea of going back to school now," he said. "I just want to get a job and put this whole thing behind me."
Thanks to the media reports, some companies have been trying to help him. He is also trying to hook up with online gaming giant Netease, hoping to work as a game tester.
WWII TV dramas border on the ridiculous
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