Chapter 1

A small forest that blocked the afterglow of the setting sun appeared eerily quiet under the cover of white fog.

Scattered men and women with different expressions walked out of the grove slowly, each with their own thoughts.

Looking through a layer of hazy fog, Yitu even had a feeling of sleepwalking at midnight. Those people kept an absolute distance from each other, but walked in the same direction towards the same destination.

It seemed like something was waiting for them ahead.

The thing against his chest gave off a slightly cool chill, and Yitu subconsciously reached out and touched the red string around his neck, and a palm-sized card was hooked out.

On the smooth and delicate card stands a woman wearing a gorgeous dress and a heart-shaped ruby crown on her head. Her skin is so white that it is almost sickly.

This was...the gift he received on his 26th birthday, a Queen of Hearts with a strange texture.

I had a lot of fun with my friends that night, and by the end we were all drunk.

When I woke up the next morning, there was a card that looked like it was made of human skin on the bedside table.

He didn't think much about it, just thinking it was someone's unique collection hobby, and Yitu casually threw it into the gap between the desk.

But soon the card appeared in his company again, a thin piece of paper slipped out of the office documents and fell to the ground.

Yitu's expression changed slightly. He had never encountered such a strange thing before, which attracted the attention of his assistant.

"Do you need help, Mr. Yi?"

"No." Yitu responded quickly, "I'm fine, you go out and do your work."

The assistant nodded and left, closing the door quietly.

In the spacious and bright office, Yitu couldn't pick up the cards that fell at his feet.

It was a simple action, but he had to concentrate on it.

This is so strange and creepy.

As if he had touched a dangerous taboo, he trembled inexplicably.

The moment the cards were taken away and he stood up, he was hit by a strong feeling of dizziness.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself in such a strange and eerie place.

Yitu's heart tightened, and sweat broke out on his hand holding the cards.

He frowned and turned the card over, and lines of white ink-like words appeared on the black card surface.

Name: Yitu

Gender: Male

Region: China

Ability level: Q

Spouse: King of Spades

Spouse? Yitu was stunned for a moment, then looked down to see two more lines of strange content.

Joker Points: 3000

Storage bag: None (still empty~)

Yitu couldn't help but frown. The unfamiliar words made him feel very uneasy.

The white words on the card quickly faded away, and a line of glaring red words appeared before his eyes.

[The Queen of Hearts reminds you: You are about to enter the game mode, please be prepared...]

Three seconds after these words appeared, Yitu watched as a large amount of blood flowed out from under his fingertips that were pinching the card, instantly dyeing the entire surface of the card red, but he did not feel any discomfort.

As soon as this weird and even scary game effect appeared, Yitu suddenly had a bad feeling in his heart.

A pale, slender hand suddenly appeared at the edge of the cards, and Yitu's heart trembled slightly.

The Queen of Hearts on the front of the card had appeared on the back of the card at some point, and was now smiling faintly at him.

【Look, what a handsome and unfamiliar face! 】

[As the 27th holder of my Queen of Hearts card, I will unconditionally obey your orders and instructions.]

【Dear Master, my name is Judith. 】

[The data analysis panel for this game will be open soon. Please keep an eye on the player rankings and system prompts!]

Before Yitu could react, the Queen of Hearts' fluffy skirt gradually became transparent until a black panel appeared.

[3 of Hearts Card Game - Village Festival:

Venue ID: 239560

Card game difficulty: low

Number of players: 11

Number of players entered: 11

This card game will last for 3 days (the countdown has been started)

Bonus points for this card game: 16500/11 (currently 11 players are alive)

Player rankings for this card game: None (will be refreshed in 2 hours)

This card game requires you to complete the following tasks: Participate in the village festival (0/1)

Props available in this card game: (/)

Status of the escape door in this card game: Not refreshed (80% of the plot of the card game is completed, and the refresh status is changed)

Servant evaluation of player survival rate: 34%

(Your survival rate is the lowest since Judith's evaluation. Please play the game seriously and try your best to survive~)

When Yi Tu saw the last sentence on the card, he subconsciously looked at the Queen of Hearts.

The woman's beautiful eyes had already turned into crescent moons from smiling, and a feather fan that she had found from somewhere covered her beautiful face.

On the first day of entering the game, he seemed to be disliked by his own servants, and Yitu felt a little weird.

He put the ID card into his pocket. Now he couldn't bring anything else with him except this card.

Yitu still felt uneasy, so he decided to find the remaining ten participating players first.

Walking out of the grove, the scene began to become clear.

The small village embraced by the mountains in the distance looks peaceful and comfortable, but lacks a bit of the worldly atmosphere.

A river several meters wide and unknown length blocked the road leading to the village. It got dark very quickly. I could just see half of the sun hanging over the top of the mountain, but in the blink of an eye, it had completely set.

Now all that remains is a dilapidated wooden boat on the river, lit by a kerosene lamp.

Perhaps driven by human instinct, people gathered towards the light and divided into roughly two waves.

A group of people were gathered very close together, including men, women, young and old, with their families. They were carrying fruits and vegetables on their backs and were dressed simply.

They were villagers from the small mountain village behind the big river, waiting to take a boat across the river to go home.

Yitu looked at the small mountain village opposite. As it was dark, he couldn't see anything clearly, but he just felt that something was missing.

The other group was smaller in number, and they were dressed normally, and it was obvious that they were all players of this game.

They were standing scattered around, two or three people huddled together, or one person was alone, whispering something to each other.

Yi Tu took a quick look and found that he was the only one missing from the eleven people.

"Is this the last player?" asked the man wearing gold-rimmed glasses.

"It should be. I've been waiting for quite some time. Damn, the temperature is a bit touching. My head hurts from the cold."

The speaker was a tall and strong man in a red fitness suit, rubbing his hands together.

He was the only one among these people wearing a short-sleeved shirt and shorts. The mountain was freezing cold at night. Yitu pulled his coat and walked towards them.

The man closest to him habitually raised his gold-rimmed glasses, looked Yi Tu up and down, and asked uncertainly, "Is he new?"

Yitu was stunned for a moment, "Are you all veterans?"

The man smiled and pointed at the man and woman behind him: "Not all of them, except for you three, the others are all veterans."

Yitu followed his gaze and saw a high school girl in a blue school uniform standing behind the man.

Her flat face was covered with freckles, and her small eyes had somehow become red and swollen, as if she had been crying.

Next to the high school girl stood a boy with his hands in his ripped jeans, looking sloppy. He was no more than twenty years old.

Unlike the high school girl, he was not afraid at all. Instead, he had a hint of curiosity and excitement on his face.

"Hello, my name is Zhao Haichuan." The man with the gold frame introduced himself briefly. "What's your name?"

"Yitu."

Zhao Haichuan nodded. The handsome man in front of him was much more adaptable than the other two newcomers.

Most people who enter the card room for unknown reasons will have a brief emotional breakdown, unable to accept the reality in front of them, and many people even hurt themselves trying to go back.

The two newcomers who arrived behind him were clamoring to call the police when the boy first arrived, and the noise lasted for a long time before they calmed down.

The girl didn't say much, but her tears kept flowing silently, like a faucet that was turned on, and now they have dried up.

Zhao Haichuan told Yi Tu that the companion with pigtails next to him was called Duan Zixi.

The high school girl has a name that doesn't match her appearance. Her name is Ruan Mengmeng.

The tall and thin man who looked like a gangster was called Lin Fei, and he didn't have time to ask the names of the others.

"When you first came in, you should have had a card on you." Zhao Haichuan turned around and said:

"That's the ID card you get when you enter the game. It's your invitation to this game."

"We generally call this game the gambler's game."

"That's all I can tell you for now. Just a friendly reminder."

Zhao Haichuan looked at him, not joking at all:

"This game can kill people."

Yi Tu was slightly stunned. Before he could fully react, Duan Zixi, who was standing beside him, suddenly spoke:

"here we go."

Everyone followed his gaze and saw an old man with a limp body walking down from the dilapidated wooden boat. He was holding a kerosene lamp and slapped the edge of the boat hard.

"Alright! Almost everyone has arrived, you can get on board!"

After the boatman finished speaking, the villagers who had gathered together to chat rushed to the shore.

"Let's go." Zhao Haichuan called out.

Everyone followed him and lined up behind the villagers. Standing behind Yitu was a young boy wearing a long gown.

Yitu glanced at him, and the man seemed to sense his gaze and took off his large sunglasses, revealing a very young face.

"Zhangque Mountain." The man pointed at himself and threw a piece of gum into his mouth: "What's your name?"

"Yitu."

Zhang Queshan nodded. "You're a newbie, right? This game isn't friendly to newbies at all."

Yitu frowned slightly after hearing this, "What do you mean?"

"Literally."

Zhang Queshan particularly liked to point his finger at people. He unscrupulously pointed at Zhao Haichuan who was standing in front of him and said:

"He didn't lie to you. This game can really kill people."

He was afraid that Yitu didn't understand, so he added:

"I mean, there are things beyond science, like... ghosts or monsters."

"Is it like in a horror movie?" Yitu didn't show any obvious fear on his face.

Zhang Queshan felt a little bit surprised, but apart from the high school girl, another newcomer in this card game also seemed to be not afraid at all.

It's just that guy just inherited the "good" spirit of the gangsters and has no idea of his own limitations.

Zhang Queshan chewed his gum vigorously:

"Almost. This game will make it easier to die than a horror movie."

"It's just that usually the ones who die are newcomers."

He grinned at Yitu, who frowned and stared at him for a moment with a serious expression.

Zhang Queshan thought he would ask what to do or why, but he just opened his mouth and said:

"Where did you get that chewing gum? It looks like it's stuck to your teeth."

It looked like watermelon-flavored chewing gum, and the red stringy candy stuck to the missing molar was quite disgusting.

Zhang Queshan choked instantly, and it took him a long time to react. He took out a piece of gum wrapper from his pocket, spit out the contents in his mouth, and then said awkwardly:

"It's store-bought, but your focus is... quite unique."

Yitu smiled and didn't explain. In fact, he also wanted to chew gum, but he was just too embarrassed to open his mouth to ask for it.

The villagers began to board the boat. Yitu looked at the crowd and it was obvious that there was not enough space for so many of them in one trip.

Because of this, the villagers squeezed more and more fiercely, and the players trapped in the middle could hardly move and could only follow them step by step.

The muscular man standing closer to the front was the first person to be squeezed onto the boat. He was wearing tight fitness clothes and looked out of place among the colorful fabrics.

At this moment, he was looking at the villagers around him at a loss. However, the villagers carrying large and small bags were still climbing up. Under the pushing and clamor, another player was squeezed up.

He was a fat middle-aged man, his fat belly was stuck between the vegetable baskets on the left and right, unable to move, and his whole face was flushed red.

At this moment, the boatman knocked on the edge of the boat in annoyance, and the next second he easily retracted the pedal.

"It's full! Wait for the next bus!"

Soon the boat sailed away, and only nine of them were left on the shore. The sky had turned completely dark, and everyone looked unhappy. The pitch-black night made the woods behind them look even deeper and more terrifying.

They couldn't help but move closer.

"What's going on? We're just driving such a small, broken boat, and yet there's all this banging and searching!" The little gangster Lin Fei took his hands out of his pockets and scratched his hair impatiently.

"I want to sleep. This damn place is freezing!"

Zhao Haichuan glanced at him and said, "You can sleep when we reach the village ahead. I'm just worried that you won't be able to sleep even if you want to."

Lin Fei snorted, "Who are you looking down on? It's just a ghost, what's there to be afraid of? What if it's a female ghost... hehe."

He laughed twice in an ambiguous way, with a wretched look on his face, pale and thin, and dark circles under his eyes. He usually ruined his body.

"People like you are rare."

A soft voice sounded, and Yitu looked in the direction of the sound.

She was a pretty woman with skin as white as snow. She was wearing a dark purple dress that outlined her delicate figure. She was wearing seven or eight centimeter high-heeled sandals, revealing her round and pearly toes, which were white and tender and cute.

Lin Fei didn't expect her to respond to him. He had already looked up and down at such a beauty countless times, but she just ignored him, not to mention that there was a strong man standing next to her who was very good at fighting.

He instantly became excited, his face full of pride. Before he could speak, he saw the woman smiling and saying:

"Although they are rare, most of them die very quickly. So, it seems there is nothing special about them. Isn't that right, Niu?"

The burly man standing next to her was over 1.9 meters tall and protected the woman like a mountain.

He glanced coldly at Lin Fei, who looked embarrassed, and nodded heavily.

Lin Fei was tactful and kept silent. Zhao Haichuan looked him over and then walked forward.

"What's your name?"

The woman pointed at herself with her scallion-white finger and smiled brightly: "Fu Xue, his name is A Niu."

Zhao Haichuan nodded and introduced the names of the others one by one. Duan Zixi, who was standing next to Yitu, suddenly spoke:

"They should be a pair."

Yitu didn't understand so he asked, "Pair of cards?"

Duan Zixi glanced at him and explained, "Many of those who team up to enter the card room in the game have pairs of cards."

"Paired cards mean that their identity cards have each other's names on their spouse column, so they share the benefits and bear the losses together. To put it in a more fashionable way now, it's..."

"Form a couple."

Duan Zixi said, then hesitated and said, "Is that right? My little niece often yells 'cpdd' in the game hall."

Although Yitu doesn't play games much, he has many female colleagues around him who are fans of celebrities, so he knows a little about it.

"So you and Mr. Zhao also have a pair of cards?" Yi Tu asked without thinking.

Duan Zixi was obviously stunned when he heard this. His fair face turned slightly red and he stammered: "He and I are not..."

"It's definitely not a good match right now," Zhao Haichuan strode over, his voice steady, "but it will be soon."

"You promised me, right?" Zhao Haichuan said with a smile.

Duan Zixi nodded without hesitation. Yi Tu looked back and forth between the two of them. His casual question seemed to indicate that he had discovered something extraordinary.

"Damn, I'm so envious." Zhang Queshan said sourly:

"Are your bond points full? Are your Joker points enough?"

Joker points are a common currency in the gambler game, and for various reasons they have to find ways to earn points.

So the gambler's game named the points joker, clown or fool.

To become a pair in the gambler game, both parties must pass a certain number of card fields together. Under this condition, the two people can be paired up after spending a certain amount of joker points, which is also called a pair.

The joker points on their identity cards are the amount of time they can survive in the real world after they get out.

This is a means of forcing them to enter the game. Those who are still unwilling to enter the game after their joker points are used up will die after a few hours.

Zhang Queshan told Yitu that the points should be redeemed at 10 points per half hour. Yitu roughly calculated his points and got a pitiful number.

150 hours.

Three thousand points were only enough for him to live for another six days and six hours.

In order to survive, they have to bite the bullet and enter the card world to earn points. In a sense, points represent everything.

But joker points are not just about survival, their uses go far beyond that.

Joker points can be exchanged for life-saving props or function cards needed by players in the store, and the upgrade of props and function cards will also consume points.

As a result, the importance of joker points makes many players reluctant to form CPs. After all, upgrading the bond value between players also requires consuming a large amount of points to purchase props.

"I once formed a couple, but she died in another poker game not long after." Zhang Queshan smiled bitterly, "I wasted so many points. It was really a rip-off."

"What are the benefits of playing a pair of cards?" Yitu asked.

Players spend so many points, it shouldn't be just because they want someone to accompany them.

Zhao Haichuan: "Tongsheng, as long as one of the two players can leave the card game alive, the other player can also survive."

Yitu was stunned. He didn't expect the benefits of playing cards would be so great.

"This is just one of the benefits. For example, the points earned by both players in a game will receive an additional bonus."

At this time, Fu Xue's voice sounded from behind. She came over at some point and said with a smile.

"The bonus points marked on our card room are 16,500. If divided equally between everyone, that's 1,500 per person. Spouses will get an additional bonus."

"Based on my and Aniu's spouse level, it can be increased to 5%."

As soon as she finished speaking, Lin Fei couldn't help but curse:

"I really don't know if this game maker has lost his mind. This is so annoying! I run into couples acting silly every day, but I can even see them in this remote place!"

"There are still male-male couples? Isn't that disgusting?"

After a flurry of sarcastic abuse, Lin Fei obediently took two slaps from Aniu. Two bumps instantly appeared on his shriveled face, and he hid aside crying.

With the interruption of this annoying guy, everyone stopped chatting and focused their attention on the river.

The boat had just reached the middle of the river, but the temperature was getting colder.

Yitu fell into deep thought as he looked at the calm river. He had not expected that the rule of this game was that the surviving players would share the bonus points of the joker cards equally.

In this way, the more people die, the more rewards the remaining people can reap.

Especially in cards of low level and low risk, novices are often the first to rush to their deaths.

This game is not friendly to newcomers, and he did not take Zhang Queshan's words seriously.

Everyone was eagerly watching the boat reach the shore as soon as possible. The increasingly low temperature made them shiver as they spoke.

They watched as only a blurry silhouette of the ship remained, but the next moment something no one had expected happened.

The wooden boat capsized right there in the middle of the river.

Yitu only saw the lights on the boat flicker a few times and then go out in an instant, followed by screams and shouts of terror.

At this time, they didn't realize what was happening. It was too dark and they couldn't see anything clearly.

Until a sudden bright ball of light was shot into the air, illuminating the tragic scene on the river surface clearly.

The dilapidated wooden boat overturned in the river, and all the people on board fell into the icy water. Yi Tu noticed the muscular man in red clothes and the fat middle-aged man not far from him.

Neither of them showed much fear on their faces, as they both knew how to swim.

But soon their expressions changed and they began to struggle desperately with ferocious looks on their faces.

But more and more arms wrapped around them, like evil spirits crawling out of hell, dragging them into the water.

Out of fear and panic, those who cannot swim desperately grabbed those who can swim. They pulled at each other's arms and legs, trying to prevent their heavy bodies from sinking.

However, the opposite happened. The more they struggled, the more water they choked on, and all their strength was used on the person who could swim.

This resulted in those who could swim having to watch themselves being dragged into the water, with despair written on everyone's face.

They just watched as their companion was grabbed by the hands by several villagers, and a female villager even strangled the fat man's neck unconsciously.

The middle-aged man was strangled to death in the water.

The flashing ball only kept bright for a few seconds before quickly dimming and darkness returned.

The shore fell into deathly silence, and everyone was so shocked by the scene that they were speechless.