Chapter 1

An Rou couldn't understand how she got electrocuted while hiding in a holographic cabin where the power was clearly off.

The electric current made her lose consciousness, then stimulated her to wake up. In the flickering light, the surge of memories made her mind chaotic.

In a flash of black and white, a little girl fell to the ground in a blood-soaked field, crying heart-wrenchingly.

The next second, she squatted at the corner of the old alley, raised her little face to look at the sign opposite, her expression was blurry, and she seemed a little crazy.

"This girl was frightened silly by the ghoul."

"What nonsense! She was born a fool and a burden to her parents. She might as well go with her mother."

…

Gossips drifted from far and near, like the wind blowing by, only blowing up the little girl's messy hair.

A rough and gentle hand grasped hers, and placed her in the other delicate and white hand, accompanied by an honest and sincere voice of flattery: "Boss Hong, please take care of Rourou."

In the black and white light, the red lips of the cheongsam woman appeared strangely black. With a fake smile, she walked away with the little girl. The next second, she brought her back.

After a while, the little girl had grown taller and more graceful, and her oval face had grown into a pretty face. However, her smile was pale and timid, and her eyes flickered, and she didn't dare to look at people.

"Excuse me, Boss Hong."

After the man finished speaking, he put a handful of coins into the cheongsam woman's hand, and finally revealed her face, which was a little dark and a little fat, and as honest as her voice.

He looked over with a smile and offered another handful of coins, but was rejected.

The man still stuffed the money in. There was a fresh burn blister on the back of his hand. He said softly, "It's okay to lose. Daddy has money. Rourou, take it. Rourou is so good."

…

The picture is sometimes complete and sometimes broken, just like shattered glass slowed down a thousand times, slowly spreading out, and after a slight delay, it disappears completely.

An Rou was stunned for a moment, then realized that someone had nudged her with an elbow.

A cheongsam woman with curly hair and black lips was sitting next to her. The color spread in the air, dyeing her lips and cheongsam a bright red at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Sister Hong, Boss Hong.

This recognition did not come from the memory of the confused perspective just now, but was directly displayed on the head of the cheongsam woman - a translucent narrow and long light screen floated on her carefully permed and dyed hair: [Sister Hong, the owner of the hair salon].

While An Rou was stunned, Sister Hong's elbow, which was wrapped in the half-cut cheongsam sleeve, came towards her again.

An Rou instinctively avoided it.

To the three women, this reaction looked like she flinched.

Sister Hong smiled and said, "Sister, play your cards."

"Are you afraid of getting into trouble and don't dare to play? This is just the beginning, there are still so many cards to be touched." said another woman, whose name above her head was [Meiling].

Meiqian also spoke up: "Don't be afraid, sister, the sisters haven't heard the cards yet."

An Rou lowered her eyes and quickly scanned the card table.

The mahjong tiles on the table were in disarray, with only half a row left untouched, hardly a lot. She held a "three bamboo" between her fingers, a Zhangsheng card that would most likely fail.

But the three bamboos are useless to her own cards.

An Rou changed to a safe card that had already been played. When she picked it up, her peripheral vision paused again.

No, each of the three women had one hand pressed on the table, with the back of their hands slightly raised.

——Each of them had a card hidden in their palms.

The fragments of memory suddenly came together, and An Rou understood.

Sister Hong was not taking care of the foolish girl out of kindness. She was clearly taking advantage of this opportunity to make some money from taking care of her and some money from the card table.

The con man is the honest and simple father in my memory who runs a bun shop.

The girl was not really stupid. She had long seen through the fact that Sister Hong and the others were cheating, but she was timid and did not dare to tell her father directly. She also did not dare to offend Sister Hong and end this card game that had lasted for who knows how many years.

Now that the silly girl is gone, for some reason, she is here.

Having a replacement card in hand means that there are too many possibilities for the three players to play, and it is unsafe to play any of them.

An Rou sneered secretly, and suddenly exclaimed: "Why am I missing a card?"

His hand shook, and the mahjong tiles in front of him fell over.

Sister Hong's expression froze. Seeing An Rou's flustered movements, she reached out to help count. An Rou's eyes lit up, and she pointed to her other hand, which was inadvertently raised: "There it is, my three-piece set."

As he said that, he was about to get it.

Sister Hong was startled and held her hand: "This is my card!"

Meiqian chimed in: "Yes, sister, how come your cards are in front of Sister Hong?"

"Really?" An Rou was puzzled. She pointed at the cards in front of Sister Hong with her slender white fingers and counted them out loud deliberately, "...14, so Sister Hong has one extra card. It's Sister Hong's husband."

Sister Hong looked embarrassed, and after a moment of blushing, she forced a smile and said, "Oh, it was my fault, sister. I hadn't even played a card myself, but I urged my younger sister to play."

She secretly glanced at Meiling and Meiqian, and fired the three barrels in her hand.

An Rou followed up with the useless three-tube card.

Just by looking at the flower tiles piled up around each person, she knew what kind of mahjong they were playing. According to the rules, the two sisters couldn't win against Hongjie's three bamboos, so naturally they couldn't win against her three bamboos either.

Meiqian moved her hand unwillingly, but her sister stepped on her secretly, and she gave up the chance to win.

After An Rou finished playing, it was Mei Qian's turn. She looked at the table and then at the others, and played an eight-card hand - a sure win, with a low chance of a setback.

Unexpectedly, An Rou exclaimed in surprise: "I won! I thought I couldn't win. Thank you, Sister Meiqian!"

The three women looked at her in disbelief. The scene was quiet and eerie. An Rou's cards were clearly showing a seven or nine, a true Hu Jia Zhang.

"You won the game by yourself in the last round, why did you wait until now?!" Mei Qian couldn't help but question.

An Rou was timid and confused: "Ah, really? I'm so stupid. I'm sorry, Sister Meiqian."

Her expression was so seamless that there was no sign of acting at all.

Sister Hong had to come out to smooth things over: "Alright, alright, I've been losing for a long time now, and this is a rare chance for me to get lucky. Why are you so angry as a big sister? Keep going."

Meiqian reluctantly pulled out a few gold coins. They sparkled, and Anrou fell in love with them at first sight. The coins disappeared without a trace. Anrou blinked, not knowing whether she saw a balance somewhere in her mind.

——[10 gold].

As expected of a game, this wallet is quite advanced.

If she hadn't cheated and turned the tables, she would have lost everything and gone home by now.

When it comes to cheating, these NPCs are clumsy, so who can compare to An Rou? She's worked on the farm for five years, and most of her time has been spent at the poker table with the boss lady. She doesn't have to work in the fields or tend to the chickens, ducks, pigs, and dogs, simply because she's a good poker player and has the ability to keep the boss lady happy.

"I, I seem to have messed up again, sorry..."

"Sister Hong, can you help me check if I'm masturbating?"

“Is this all the same color?”

"Grab, grab the Ganghu, right?"

An Rou's winning speed was getting faster and faster, and the cards she won were getting more and more exaggerated. However, with a base of 5 gold coins, her biggest hand, "Qingqing Yise Gangshanghua", actually collected 400 gold coins at one time.

The sisters' faces turned pale, and three pairs of eyes stared at An Rou's hands, but they could not find any signs of cheating.

After Sister Hong paid the money, she put her hand on the table and was about to stand up, but An Rou gently pressed the back of her hand.

"Sister Hong, are you angry? I didn't mean to, I just didn't expect to be so lucky today... Maybe my luck will run out soon, and I'll lose all this money to you." An Rou looked at the balance of thousands and said timidly, "It's just like before."

Sister Hong was so angry that she gritted her teeth and her powdered eyebrows were wrinkled into the shape of a "川" character.

The girl in front of me looked no different in expression and tone than usual.

But for some reason, she vaguely saw a hint of cunning in the other person's dark eyes.

But the words "just like before" made Sister Hong unable to bear it anymore. She sat down again and used her eyes to force the two beautiful sisters to sit down as well.

In less than half an hour, the three men stood up again in anger.

Firstly, during this period, An Rou's good luck became even worse, and she even had a clean sweep. Secondly, they were forced to cheat together, but An Rou pointed it out mercilessly.

"You've already noticed?" Sister Hong pointed her big red nails at An Rou's nose. "Are you making fun of us sisters?!"

An Rou sat upright, playing with the ends of her hair with her slender white fingers. Upon hearing this, she raised her eyelids: "It's a trick that my sisters play every day. It's hard not to notice. I, your sister, have two eyes——"

She suddenly grabbed Sister Hong's wrist with both hands, her expression horrified. "It's my fault. Sister Hong, I shouldn't have had eyes. I should have dug them out and pressed them against my heart, learning from the sisters to be more careful."

Somewhat neurotic.

Sister Hong was frightened by her. With the help of the two beautiful sisters, she broke free and hurriedly retreated to the door.

She calmed her breath, pointed her red nails at An Rou, and was about to say something harsh, but when she saw An Rou glance at her with a half-smile, she felt a pang of fear in her heart. In the end, she couldn't utter a word, slammed the door open, and left.

The sound of high heels stepping on the wooden floor was very messy.

The cramped living room fell silent, and An Rou finally had time to survey her surroundings. The house was very old, with wooden furniture everywhere. It was obvious that this was a common residence from hundreds of years ago. Even she, a non-gamer, could tell at a glance that this was the setting for the holographic game Soul-Calling Song.

The Steam Age, or the era shortly after the Industrial Revolution.

This was also illustrated by her clean but shabby cotton cheongsam.

She transformed into an NPC in this world-famous holographic game.

An Rou, wearing white, square-heeled leather shoes, walked to the latticed wooden window. She peered outside. In the pale sunlight, she saw layers of white walls and black tiles, and a small, two-story building lining the water. Below, a narrow alleyway, impervious to sunlight, was dim, making the multicolored screens on the pedestrians' bodies all the more conspicuous.

Some light screens were long and narrow, like Sister Hong's, displaying only their identities. Some names were supplemented with a rank suffix, and several of them had light screens of varying sizes floating in front of them. From their attire, it was clear that the former were NPCs and the latter were players.

Those large light screens are game panels.

An Rou tried to summon the game panel, but there was no movement in the air. She was undoubtedly an NPC. She wondered if the NPC could see everyone's screen?

It is said that players' light screens are only visible to themselves, and some sharing operation is required to show them to others.

Just as I was thinking about it, a voice from downstairs suddenly became louder.

"...I said I'd raise the prices, so I'll raise them. If you can't pay the rent, pack up and get out!"

——It’s Sister Hong.

"Boss Hong, the price just went up last season, why are they going up again?"

An Rou also recognized it. It was the honest and kind voice in her memory, her NPC father.

An Rou couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips. Sister Hong was really good. When she got angry here, she turned around and took it out on her dad.