Taoyuan Village

Ding! System notification: Main quest completed. What? In disbelief, Ding Shi pulled up his system interface. Only after reading through it did he realize that the main quest was to attend the sacrifice, not to complete it. In a good mood, Ding Shi lit a cigarette along with the village chief, and they chatted idly. Most of the time, it was the village chief talking, rambling about the villagers, the past, and Pan'er. Just like that, the time reached 7:55. A minibus drove in from the distance, pulling up two meters from the waiting pavilion, and the doors opened. The rain was still falling. Ding Shi looked at the ground. Would it be fine if his shoes got wet? Either he tried it himself, or the village chief tried it. Respectful of his elders, Ding Shi supported the village chief over to the edge of the pavilion and helped him open his automatic umbrella. Leaning on his walking stick with the umbrella in one hand, the village chief stepped onto the wet ground, boarded the minibus, and took a seat in the front row. The village chief was unharmed, yet Ding Shi still felt uneasy. From the moment he woke up until now, he had felt as though thorns were pricking his back. Time ticked by, moving from 7:56 to 7:59. The driver had already restarted the vehicle. Watching the seconds on his system clock, Ding Shi opened his large black umbrella and stepped onto the wet ground. Was there any problem with this action? Definitely not. The village chief had already demonstrated it, and Ghost San Niang would be reported if she treated them differently. However, Ding Shi's heart sank halfway. The umbrella the village chief used was an automatic one made of plastic sheeting. Ding Shi's umbrella was cloth—the kind where heavy rain fell outside and a light drizzle leaked inside. Without hesitation, Ding Shi threw the umbrella aside and dashed into the minibus. A streak of red pursued him right behind. Eight o'clock arrived. The driver closed the door, but a step too late—Ghost San Niang had also entered the vehicle, lunging straight for Ding Shi. "Three Short of One!" Cheery, jingling music rang out. The village chief, the driver, Ghost San Niang, and Ding Shi were all frozen in place as their surroundings transformed rapidly. A bright beam of light appeared overhead. Outside the light was endless darkness; inside was a mahjong table and four chairs. A mysterious force deposited the frozen Ding Shi and the others into the chairs. The automatic mahjong table spat out tiles, swiftly arranging four neat rows. The mahjong rules for Three Short of One appeared on the table, easy to understand. A minute later, the mahjong game began. Ding Shi swiftly drew and discarded tiles. To his right sat Ghost San Niang. Her cute face was a complete blank. She possessed intelligence and could understand the rules of Three Short of One, but the problem was, she didn't know how to play mahjong. After ten seconds, the number above Ghost San Niang's head ticked from 0 to -1. Failing to draw a tile within ten seconds deducted one point. Ghost San Niang looked toward Ding Shi and the others for help. Ding Shi had already exchanged glances with the village chief and the driver, so all of them ignored her pleading gaze. -2, -3, -4. Nobody bullies a ghost like this! Ghost San Niang could only watch the score keep ticking down. Once one hundred points were deducted, the hand ended in an exhaustive draw. In the second hand, Ding Shi retained the dealer seat, and Ghost San Niang lost another one hundred points. In the third hand, Ghost San Niang flew into a rage, but bound by the mysterious force, she could not lash out. In the tenth hand, Ding Shi finally spoke up to instruct her: "Draw one tile, discard one tile." Ghost San Niang picked up a tile and looked at Ding Shi. Ding Shi said, "Place it up there." Ghost San Niang placed the Two of Bamboo on the table. Seeing the village chief draw a tile, she breathed a huge sigh of relief. "Thank you." Ding Shi: "You're welcome. You have a very nice voice." Ghost San Niang turned slightly shy. "Really?" "Yeah." Ding Shi slid out a five-dao bill and passed it over. "Brother Driver, got a Four of Bamboo?" This wasn't cheating, right? He was just asking a question; he hadn't told the driver to play the Four of Bamboo. The driver took the bill and discarded a Four of Bamboo. Ding Shi: "Pung. San Niang, your turn." Ghost San Niang picked up a tile and set it on the table. As the village chief went to draw, Ding Shi held out a banknote and asked, "Brother Village Chief, got a Two of Dots?" Goosebumps broke out across the village chief's skin. Taking the bill, he discarded a Two of Dots. Ding Shi called pung and was now waiting to win. The others discarded whatever tile they drew, allowing Ding Shi to smoothly achieve a self-draw. With the village chief and driver cooperating, Ding Shi won five hands in a row before going easy on the village chief, passing the dealer seat. When Ghost San Niang took the dealer seat, Ding Shi enthusiastically guided her. Ghost San Niang was immensely grateful; without Ding Shi, she wouldn't have even been able to keep playing. The village chief won with all simples and pinfu. The driver won with all simples and pinfu. Ding Shi won with all simples and pinfu. With one round completed, the points were tallied. Since Ding Shi had the highest score, he received no punishment. The three humans and one ghost were frozen once more. The scenery around them shifted rapidly, and they returned to the bus. After this battle, Ghost San Niang's opinion of Ding Shi had improved considerably, but not enough to stop her from killing him. Just as she was about to make her move, Ding Shi—whose instance time had already expired—turned into a beam of light and vanished the instant he exited the Three Short of One scene. ... Stepping out of the island's teleportation array, Ding Shi scanned around and spotted the little angel on the beach, using a fairy wand to fence with a crab. With no time to pay it any mind, Ding Shi began sorting through his instance gains. Congratulations on clearing the Taoyuan Village instance. Your overall rating for this instance is A-rank. Below are your instance rewards: One friend card: allows you to add one friend, who may take the teleportation array to visit your island. Five random logistics cards. The most important reward: money. Based on his overall rating, side quest completion, and role compatibility, Ding Shi received a 250% money reward. The base clear reward was 50 dao, giving Ding Shi 125 dao. Adding the instance quest rewards and what he extorted from the village chief, his bank account balance now stood at 150 dao. Random logistics cards: upon use, one could obtain an island life card, with the lowest tier being white and the highest crimson-gold. The color represented the card's rarity and the probability of drawing it, not necessarily its power. A representative example was a white mosquito net—only those in need of it knew how powerful it truly was. Ding Shi glanced at his Luck: 7 points, not bad. He first went to wash his hands, then placed the five random cards face down on the table. Ding Shi bowed to the east, south, west, and north, covered the first random card with his palm, and selected to use it. A streak of light flashed beneath his hand. Ding Shi slowly moved his palm aside, revealing just a sliver of the random card's edge. Only after confirming it was a green card did he remove his hand entirely. Next, pinching a corner of the card between index finger and thumb, he peeled it back slowly. There was a picture, there was a picture! It was white. Growing excited, Ding Shi flipped the card over in one go. Ding Shi knew his behavior was not only greasy but also tacky. The joy of that moment when revealing a card gave him a deep sense of guilt. Still, he couldn't entirely be blamed. Having managed gambling dens for Wang Meng for two years, he had inevitably picked up a few bad habits. Fortunately, he merely enjoyed playing around and had no actual interest in gambling itself. After seeing so many ruined families and knowing the secrets of cheating techniques, he understood all too well what became of gamblers. (The gambling cheats depicted in this book have not undergone fictional embellishment; not only can people truly reach such a level, it is not even particularly rare.) Air-energy kettle: as long as there is water inside the kettle and air outside, it can rapidly heat until the water boils. The second card: green card, wooden bed. Can replace a stone bed. The third card: white card, small bamboo chair. Roughly the same height as a stool, but with an added backrest. Seeing a white card, Ding Shi washed his hands once more. After going through a whole ritual, he used the fourth random card. Instantly, golden radiance blazed in all directions, nearly blinding his dog eyes.