Chapter 123 The Sound of Suonas Brings Joy and Sorrow to the Mountains "Now, the dealer rolls the dice,..."

“The terrain of Xibei Mountain is strange and mysterious. It is said that there are red and white mountain gods who are very effective. You came here because of its reputation, but you were caught in a heavy snow and were trapped in the mountains. Fortunately, you found a village called ‘White Head Village’. You came here to stay and also wanted to explore it.”

Xue Chao composed an opening speech.

A male voice, with a professional background and a low, melodious tone, narrated the story, like unfolding a long-forgotten tale amidst a blizzard.

Zhuo Yi blinked his fox-like eyes. For the first time, he felt like a "character in a story."

However, the next second, a man's casual voice, full of storytelling, ruined the atmosphere: "Because of the uncontrollable forces brought by Mr. Ham, we don't have regular dice. When in Rome, do as the Romans do, let's play mahjong, in case you get bored."

Zhuo Yi took a moment to process what was going on before realizing who "Mr. Ham" was. He chuckled and said, "Stubborn illness strikes! It really is Old Man Huo's faction. It's true what they say, 'rivals in the same trade are enemies'!"

Xue Chao didn't leave them out: "I also want to thank the Stubborn Disease Guild for their surprise visit. Without you guys, we wouldn't have been able to get a mahjong game together."

The peacemaker uncle, recalling Xue Chao's post on the forum, couldn't help but laugh: "So it's not 1 missing n, it's 3 missing 1?"

[Room Avatar: (A chubby, gray-blue pixelated bird)]

Room Name: Playing Mahjong at Xibeishan

Room ID: 4902

[Host: Xue Chao]

[Currently Opening Dungeon: Joy and Sorrow Mountain]

"【Zhuo Yi】Ahhh, I knew it! My brother is like a zombie; every time you think he's dead, he comes back to life!"

"[Zhuo Yi] is the first person to do sit-ups on the verge of death (praise)."

"【Naga】The people upstairs are right to praise it, but don't praise it next time (doge)."

"[Zhuo Yi] It was indeed the neighbor who framed him... I was wondering why two top-tier games were held on Wednesday, they were trying to compete!"

"The timing of the Naga card was perfect; it must have been planned for a long time."

"【Naga】Brother just said it so sweetly, hahaha! Just thinking about him using his big boss face and voice to make sarcastic remarks makes me want to laugh!"

"【Zhuo Yi】So you're using mahjong instead of dice? You passed that easily? No, why?! Does this mean everyone will play like this from now on?"

"What is Zhuo Yi playing at? Is he trying to frame other hosts?"

"[Zhuo Yi] Stop arguing! Doesn't anyone know how to play this mahjong? There must be a new way to play. The host must have signed a life-or-death contract to guarantee popularity, otherwise, why would they be replacing dice?"

People who came to join the fun in the comments section not only didn't find it funny, but were actually attracted and stayed. More and more viewers flocked in, and the popularity soared.

"The luck is over. The best draw is the prediction machine position, and the worst draw is the card holder, that is, the person with the feng shui compass. The compass is tied to the card holder's 'dice' and also represents your team's hand."

"It's hard to understand just by talking, let's play and talk at the same time, and first decide who the banker is."

"East, the cardholder rolls the dice... This is your only chance to roll the real dice."

The dice are merely the key to unlocking the dice system. Once a player obtains a dice, it disappears and merges into the player's interface.

After the game started, the Red Dragon Mahjong tile disappeared.

Pu Fengchun was one of the unlucky ones in the eastern group who drew the "worst" lot. She was studying her unique compass when, the moment she picked it up, the magnetic needle of Tianchi turned and pointed to "east".

As Xue Chao finished speaking, her compass began to spin, producing a die. She rolled a "3".

"The score is '3'. Counting counterclockwise from the east, '3' is the west. The dealer for this round is the team that entered through the west gate."

The dejected uncle, afflicted with a chronic illness, heard the keeper whisper in his ear, "At the start of the game, each player receives a bonus dice; save them for now."

"Now, the dealer rolls the dice to determine which wall of cards will be revealed."

The dejected middle-aged man's compass also spun out dice. He linked arms with his teammate and cautiously threw the dice.

"The score is '4', which means it's north. Teams entering from the north gate will start with a 'dangerous' situation."

"The first game begins."

Xue Chao fell silent, leaving the players confused, but it certainly piqued their interest, especially the North Gate team, the Five Poisons group, who served as the "wall of cards".

What is a "dangerous" start? They were on high alert, but there were no traps or ambushes, so they had no choice but to move forward.

The villagers were used to the group of strangely dressed people; they glanced at them and then looked away. However, the players dressed as charlatans observed them discreetly.

Indeed, every household had a divination stick container, which served as a separate "lucky check" from the mahjong set.

There was a house that looked like a dye shop, with its door open and rows of white cloths draped in the yard, while the dyed red cloths were placed in bamboo baskets.

Naga stopped, her eyes behind the black veil fixed on the cloth in the courtyard.

The homespun cloth is white, which is considered unlucky, so it is dyed. Why is the white cloth being hung in the yard to dry?

Even if it really was dyed, with the snow still falling and no sun in sight, how long would it take for it to dry if it were left outside?

The vast expanse of white cloth and snow were both a stark, cold white. The snow fell on the cloth, melted, and blended into one with it... as if the cloth had been dyed by the snow.

She walked into the courtyard and touched the cloth; it felt like snow, and the cold air seeped into her skin, causing her fingertips to twitch.

There were two large vats in the courtyard, filled with dark red water. One of them was thin, so the dark red color appeared lighter, as if something else had been added to the water to dye it.

The other one was thick and oily, like a liquid other than water, like something melting.

In rural areas, red and black sorghum husks or pomegranate flowers are often used to dye red cloth. When the man wrapping the cloth gets close, he smells a fishy smell, but he can't quite put his finger on what it is.

The boy wrapped in cloth also came closer, his nose twitching beneath the black cloth: "Earthy smell."

"Red soil under the snow-capped mountains? The red cloth in the basket must have been dyed with soil."

Another man wrapped in cloth stood by the basket, pulling up a corner of the red cloth: "It's soaked through and smells earthy."

The man wrapped in cloth went to check another vat; the smell of red clay was even stronger there. One vat was used to dye the soil darker, and the other to dye it lighter.

"To make it darker, you need to dye it more times." The boy seemed to have the ability to read minds.

Yes, the number of times you dye your hair will naturally result in different shades of color. It seems like you don't need to use two dyeing vats for the same color.

He found nothing in the thin water, but the liquid in the other tank was completely opaque. He moved closer, staring at the ceramic-like surface of the water, and pondered for a moment. Just as the thought "ra detect..." crossed his mind, the Keeper of the Secret spoke.

Xue Chao pressed his throbbing head: "Pass on your inspiration."

The man wrapped in cloth then heard a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar.

He was familiar with it because he had played the survey book before. When he rolled the dice, there was a screen showing the dice being shaken, and he could also hear the sound of the dice being shaken.

But now all he could hear was the sound of mahjong tiles being rubbed together.

The panel was also a pile of mahjong tiles that had been randomly rubbed together. He then drew two more tiles from it, while his compass also drew two mahjong tiles from the Heavenly Pool and rolled them in the inner plate.

One "five of a kind" and one "two of a kind".

[Inspiration check result: 52/70, successful]

The part before the slash is the "out result," which is the result of the player rolling the dice. The part after the slash is the player's "skill attribute." If the out result is less than or equal to the player's "skill attribute," the check succeeds; otherwise, it fails.

The red water in the jar was blown by the wind, causing it to ripple like a piece of flowing red silk. Snowflakes fell into the water, as if corroding tiny holes in the silk, from which wafted the faint scent of a woman's perfume, making his mind wander.

He lowered his head even further, as if to plunge into the water, searching for the source of the fragrance.

The moment his nose touched the water, a woman's shrill scream suddenly erupted from those "holes," the pain almost piercing his eardrums.

Xue Chao: "Passing a sancheck results in a deduction of 0 for success and a deduction of 1D3 for failure." (1D3 is equivalent to rolling a three-sided die once.)

The compass turned out to show a four of bamboo and a four of coins.

[The "Rationality" check result was 44/65, successful]

The man wrapped in cloth was grabbed by the back of the head by his teammate, who pulled him away from the edge of the vat, and he quickly regained consciousness.

He lowered his head, panting, and the man wrapped in cloth supported him: "Did you pass the inspection? What did they find?"

"The woman's scent...and screams."

A black veil adorned with silver flowers entered his vision. He looked up and saw Naga standing before him, her fingertips lifting the compass strapped to his chest—four mahjong tiles already positioned on the outermost ring of the inner plate.

Based on this distribution, this circle can hold approximately... 14 cards.

"【Naga】is really using mahjong tiles as dice."

"【Naga】I think I understand now..."

"【Naga】+1, the number on the card represents the points, tens place and units place."

"【Naga】This is just a simple replacement for the dice, the system won't agree to it. The cards must have other uses... Really playing mahjong? How?"

"[Naga] I don't know, but we don't even have a deck of cards yet... Is it the stage where we draw cards before the game starts?"

The boy wrapped in cloth turned his head slightly. The door of the main house opened, and the eldest sister was using a stick to beat the white cloth in the snow, as if she hadn't seen them. Snowflakes fell from the cloth like threads coming loose.

The man wrapped in cloth approached, but the woman didn't react. He was about to briefly introduce themselves as strangers trapped by the snow and ask more about the red water in the jar when the woman spoke first: "An ethnic minority?"

The man wrapped in cloth paused for a moment, then nodded in agreement.

After receiving an affirmative answer, the older sister looked him over a few more times and became much warmer: "You seem capable! Stuck in the snow? We have an empty room at home, so stay here if you have nowhere else to go."

She pointed to the house on the left with her stick and warmly told them they could make do for a while. Then she turned to the house on the right and said, "There's a couple staying there too. They used to live on the east side... Oh, poor thing, their daughter is missing and they can't find her... If you run into them, please be kind to them."

Living in the east and coming to the north to ask for lodging? Strange things often lead to clues, and the teammates, working in unison, stepped forward to inquire about the couple's situation. The older woman asked first, "Do you know how to interpret dreams?"

“This one will do it.” The man in the cloth-wrapped robe respectfully pointed to the woman in black gauze by the vat. She was the only one who didn’t follow. She lowered her head slightly, as if looking at the surface of the water.

Naga's pale silver lips opened and closed, her words as precious as gold: "Outside."

The translator immediately responded: "Their daughter was lost outside the village?"

The eldest sister's eyes lit up, knowing they had real skills, so she explained in detail and led them to knock on the door of the right room.

They walked up the steps, and just as they reached the door, it opened first. A disheveled woman stood in the dark room, her eyes red and shrouded in wrinkles, like two stubborn rocks stuck in cracked earth, all moisture drained from her, looking at them lifelessly.

"...Are you corpse-transporters?" she asked in a hoarse voice.

The two men turned to look at Naga, but Naga did not react, so they agreed.

[The "dangerous situation" has been triggered]

Side Quest 1 is now available.

Side Quest 1-1 "Dying Far From Home": Death remains unknown, body cannot return, soul cannot find peace.

[Mission Details: A-Yun has disappeared. Her parents can't find her. One night, in the dead of night, they saw her dead in a strange place, her body abandoned in the wilderness. Please find A-Yun's body.]