Tianmen woman Sun Guoxiang and her son Wang Gang, who fell seriously ill due to his addiction to online games. The photo was taken by reporter Ge Haoyi. Wang Gang when he was seriously ill, and ten years ago. This photo was also taken by reporter Ge Haoyi.
Chutian Metropolis Daily reports: Our chief reporter Zhong Nan, reporter Chen Qian, special reporter Liu Chunbin, and correspondent Wei Wenjun report that the woman Sun Guoxiang from Tuoshi Town in Tianmen City always remembers that day - August 28, 2001, the day her son Wang Gang left home to "work" after dropping out of university.
After Wang Gang left, there was no news for 10 years. On the eve of Mother's Day, May 7th evening, Sun Guoxiang suddenly received a call from the village security chief: "Your son has been found! He collapsed in an internet cafe in Wuhan, was seriously ill, and was sent to the rescue station by the police!"
Why did the wandering son ignore his elderly parents at home for 10 years? Yesterday, our reporter went to the intensive care unit of the First People's Hospital of Tianmen City where Wang Gang was hospitalized, and listened to the 32-year-old recount his 10-year online gaming career.
Addicted to games in high school but still managed to enter university
From elementary school to junior high and high school, Wang Gang was the smartest child in the village, with excellent grades and active intelligence. His father, Wang Daohong, who had always worked as a private teacher at the elementary school, strictly disciplined and closely supervised his child's studies, and Wang Gang smoothly entered the provincial key school, Tianmen Middle School, in the local area.
Wang Daohong recalled that the first time the child had academic problems was around the second year of high school, when he suddenly became addicted to video game machines and gradually developed into truancy and absence from class. After efforts from both the school teachers and parents, Wang Gang focused on preparing for the college entrance exam before the exam and finally entered the Wuhan Institute of Chemical Technology's fine chemical engineering major.
Addiction to online games in university eventually led to dropping out and returning home
Wang Daohong is an ordinary rural elementary school private teacher with meager income. His wife farmed at home, and Wang Gang had a younger sister. The family's economic situation had always been strained.
In the second year of university, the teacher informed the parents that Wang Gang was addicted to online games, which had developed to the point of long-term truancy, with many failing grades. If this continued, it would be difficult to continue his studies.
The anxious Wang Daohong immediately rushed from Tianmen to the university in Wuhan. Wang Gang personally promised the teachers and parents: he would definitely reform and study hard. However, he remained immersed in the network thereafter.
Returning home after graduation without a degree
In July 2001, after four years of university education, Wang Gang returned home. Due to failing multiple courses, Wang Gang could not obtain a bachelor's degree or diploma. Wang Gang recalled that at the time, he could have taken a certificate of attendance, but "I didn't have the face to go to the school to pick it up, so I never did."
Ten years of searching broke the hearts of his parents
Not long after returning home, Wang Gang proposed to his parents that he wanted to return to Wuhan to find work and make a living.
On August 28, 2001, Wang Gang called his mother Sun Guoxiang: "I've arrived in Wuhan, everything is fine, mom, please don't worry." For the next ten years, he disappeared like he had vanished from the world, with no information.
Sun Guoxiang recalled that during these ten years, she had asked herself countless times: "Where has my son gone? Are you dead or alive? What exactly happened?"
Wang Daohong couldn't remember how many times he had run to Wuhan during the winter and summer holidays, secretly posting countless missing person notices on the streets of Wuhan late at night.
Reunion on Mother's Day, holding hands and shedding tears
On the evening of May 7, 2011, after receiving information from Wuhan, Sun Guoxiang was sleepless all night and decided to hire a car early the next morning to go to Wuhan to pick up her son.
On May 8, Mother's Day, at around 4:30 in the morning, Sun Guoxiang set off from Tianmen, and at around 10:30 in the morning, she finally saw her son she hadn't seen for ten years at the Daijiashan Hospital in Wuhan. The mother and son hugged and cried bitterly.
That afternoon, Sun Guoxiang hired an ambulance for 1300 yuan and took her son back to the First People's Hospital of Tianmen City.
Critical condition notice issued, urgent need for transfer to another hospital
Not long after being admitted, the First People's Hospital of Tianmen issued a "Critical Condition Notice" to the family.
Deputy Chief Physician Sun Xiufeng of the Respiratory Department of the First People's Hospital of Tianmen introduced that Wang Gang was preliminarily diagnosed with: left-sided spontaneous pneumothorax, secondary pulmonary tuberculosis, bilateral lung destruction, tuberculous meningitis, perianal cold abscess, etc., and his condition was extremely critical, with life-threatening danger at any time, requiring urgent transfer to another hospital for treatment.
Yesterday afternoon, Wang Gang's mother Sun Guoxiang tearfully told reporters that after ten years, her child had returned, but she just couldn't feel happy. She didn't know how much money it would take to treat him, and after spending all their savings looking for her son for ten years, they really couldn't afford the huge medical expenses. Would they have to watch helplessly as their child came back and then left again?
[If any kind-hearted readers are willing to offer help, please contact Wang Gang's mother Sun Guoxiang: 13277678875]
He had more than 20 "Warrior" accounts
Playing games earned him over 2000 yuan per month
On the silver-white pillow of the hospital bed lay a pale face, with hair about a foot long scattered around, and a gaunt body...
Between bouts of rapid coughing, the 32-year-old Tianmen youth Wang Gang struggled to speak each sentence, but only he himself knew clearly how he had spent the past ten years.
Wang Gang told this reporter that for the entire ten years, he never left Wuhan, either in the internet cafes or in the game arcades.
Wang Gang recalled: On August 28, 2001, soon after arriving in Wuhan, unable to find a job, the few hundred yuan cash he had quickly ran out, and he had to borrow money from classmates to survive. During the Spring Festival of 2002, he spent it alone in a dormitory at his alma mater.
Between 2002 and 2005, he usually made a living by helping people collect old books around some universities in Wuchang, playing games in the game arcades and internet cafes whenever he had free time, enjoying playing games like "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" using emulators to pass the time.
In 2006, he found a job at an internet cafe near Huquan that provided meals and accommodation, earning about a thousand yuan per month.
Wang Gang recalled that in June 2008, an online game called "Dungeon and Fighter" began to appear. He focused on this game, earning money by practicing equipment and selling through a game trading platform called 5173. He clearly remembered the first amount of money he earned in this game: selling a "sword" for 320 yuan.
In the second half of 2008, he completely became immersed in this game. Playing well, he could earn more than 700 yuan per month by selling equipment, and more than 1000 yuan by selling coins, with a monthly income reaching over 2000 yuan.
Around November last year, he suddenly started coughing non-stop, and he only "found time" to see a doctor once at Huquan Hospital. At this point, he already owned and had to "take care of" more than 20 "Dungeon and Fighter" accounts, five of which were level 55 or above (the highest level being 60), showing his deep expertise.
Wang Gang said that these years he basically never rented a house, and in the last six months, he mainly stayed in the same internet cafe. The sofa was wide enough to sleep on.
Wang Gang's mother, Sun Guoxiang, told reporters that when Wang Gang was handed over from the rescue station, the staff gave her a small clip containing two bank cards and about 700 yuan in cash, which were the only valuable items on her son, and this 700 yuan was also the "remaining balance" he earned from online games.
Lying in the hospital bed, Wang Gang told reporters that at the beginning of these 10 years, he felt ashamed and didn't want to go home, but later gradually got used to this life of moving between different internet cafes. It wasn't until the night of May 7th when he was rescued that he realized he was really very sick, wanting to end this kind of life and go home.
Responsible person of the involved internet cafe:
Admitted that he had stayed there for half a year
According to Wang Gang's recollection, from October last year until he was sent to the rescue station, he had stayed in an internet cafe in Huquan, Wuhan, rarely going out, and even having his three meals a day bought and delivered by the internet cafe staff. But when reporters visited this internet cafe yesterday, they heard a different story.
A responsible person surnamed Li from the internet cafe introduced that at around 5 p.m. on May 6th, when he came to the internet cafe, he found a young man lying on the sofa at the back of the computer room, dressed sloppily, looking emaciated, and in poor mental state. Out of concern, he asked if the young man needed help and whether he needed to contact his family, but the young man said he had run away from home, was just feeling unwell temporarily, and would be fine after lying down for a while, and did not need to contact his family. Around 8 p.m., he found that the young man was still lying down without getting up. Since the young man did not have an ID card and was also unwilling to reveal his name, they had no choice but to notify the police officers from Zhuodaquan Police Station to take him away.
When interviewed by reporters, the responsible person emphasized repeatedly that the young man had never been to this internet cafe before, and did not surf the Internet that night. However, after the reporter left, the responsible person contacted this reporter by phone and admitted that the young man had surfed the Internet here using someone else's ID card.
Police officer involved in the case:
His arms were thin like firewood sticks
Yesterday, the reporter contacted the Wuhan Rescue Management Station that helped Wang Gang. The head of the station introduced that at around 8 p.m. on May 6th, Wang Gang was escorted by the police officers from Zhuodaquan Police Station to the Wuchang rescue point and then transferred to the rescue station. His first impression on the staff was poor mental state, a sickly appearance, accompanied by asthma symptoms. Because he had not bathed for a long time, there was a strong unpleasant smell on his body.
The staff sent him to the nearby Daijiashan Hospital for treatment. After the situation stabilized, Wang Gang proposed to go home. The staff then contacted his family.
An officer from Zhuodaquan Police Station gestured with his hand to indicate that Wang Gang's arms were thin like firewood sticks.
Nearby shop assistants:
His skin was white as if it had not been exposed to the sun
The owner of a store downstairs from the internet cafe said that he personally witnessed the scene when the young man was taken away on the evening of May 6th. The young man left a deep impression on him because he was very pale, "a kind of pale that hasn't been exposed to the sun for a long time."
At a cold drink shop near the internet cafe, when the reporter asked the employee about Wang Gang's situation, the employee immediately recognized him. "His appearance was distorted, he was very thin, with long hair, and his body was also very dirty."
She said that she encountered him several times while surfing the internet. Although she did not know his name, neighboring customers said that this person almost stayed in this internet cafe every day.
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