For 10 years they thought their daughter was dead.
But Xiao Yun (a pseudonym) who ran away from home following an argument with her mom at age 14, was alive — and immersed in video games.
Police found the 24-year-old using a fake ID at an internet cafe in Hangzhou, Chinese media reported.
During questioning, she admitted that she had run away from home a decade ago. Police fined her about $200 CDN for using fake identification.
She spent most of that time eating and sleeping in various internet cafes in various towns in her home province, playing the first-person shooter game “CrossFire” for hours on end, the Star Online reports.
She said she would occasionally work as a cashier, but mostly lived off of handouts from other cafe patrons.
Xiao Yun has not been formally diagnosed with internet addiction, but in China, it has been a widely documented issue for several years.
In 2008, China was the first country to declare internet addiction a psychological disorder. Since then, there have been several reports of rehab programs that take extreme measures to treat addicts, ranging from electro-convulsion therapy to military-style discipline which has led to death.
After their tearful reunion, Xiao Yun’s mother told reporters she would never scold her daughter again.
Comments