If it had been an ordinary playing card, she wouldn’t have picked it up either. It was mainly because this card looked unusually pretty.
The back was a silver-white color, while the four small black clubs on the front glittered brightly.
She had casually shoved it into her pocket, thinking she would give it to her daughter to play with once she woke up.
In the end, after a busy day, she had completely forgotten about it.
Song Xu pinched the playing card, her heart pounding in her chest.
“U… Use?” she tried saying out loud.
In the next instant, a semi-transparent virtual screen suddenly lit up before her eyes.
[Player Panel activated. Congratulations on successfully using a K-Rank Skill Card, acquiring skill: (Born Foodie)]
[Active Skill 1: See It as Food (Gaze at any substance for more than 3 seconds, and its attribute information will float into view. Stamina cost per use: 1)]
[Active Skill 2: Butcher Skill (Once per day, perform a perfect butcher breakdown on any creature, stripping away usable materials with 100% efficiency. Stamina cost per use: 100)]
[Passive Skill 1: A Wise Man Recognizes Good Food (Any target who consumes food made by your own hands will gain an incomparable level of goodwill toward you)]
[Passive Skill 2: Mega Stomach (Defies physical laws, storing anything related to food and preserving it in its initial state)]
Before Song Xu could study and understand what all these skills meant, the text on the screen shifted again:
[Novice protection period is 72 hours. Please accept a novice quest as soon as possible.]
[Rule of Silence is in effect. Revealing the existence of the game to non-players is strictly forbidden; violators will be erased by the system.]
[Your life is bound to your game avatar. If you die in the game, your real-world body will lose vitality simultaneously.]
The next second, she sprang up entirely: “72 hours?! No, no! I’m not playing! Send me back quickly!”
Her daughter couldn’t move; she couldn’t stay home alone!
No one answered.
“What game, what system?! You people are robbers, you’re kidnappers!” Song Xu screamed at the empty air like crazy.
In her panic, she stumbled backward until her back slammed into a twisted dry tree. The rough bark dug into her skin, hurting badly.
The sharp pain snapped her to her senses.
No, she couldn’t panic first.
She took a deep breath and forced her eyes wide open.
Dry trees, strange rocks, eyeball moons…
They were all real.
Then had Liang Yan also entered this place?!
It had been over two months since he started playing games!
Back then, as soon as night fell, he would say he was going to start playing games and dive into the small room.
Only when morning arrived would she see him come out, sporting dark circles under his eyes with a face full of exhaustion.
Morning?
Song Xu frowned, recalling carefully.
In the beginning, Liang Yan still went to the shop with her every morning to wrap buns!
Later on, he always woke up late. When Song Xu went to nudge him, he slept like a dead pig.
Unable to wait, she had taken the child and opened the shop first.
By the time Liang Yan woke up and rushed over, it was almost ten o’clock, well past the morning rush hour.
Song Xu had been mad at him and ignored him for several days in a row.
She thought he would show some restraint.
Unexpectedly, he started showing up later and later—sometimes arriving at noon, and in the later stage, simply not coming at all.
Song Xu shuddered, unconsciously wrapping her arms tightly around herself.
If Liang Yan had also been kidnapped into this game…
Then all his secretiveness would make complete sense!
He could go out during the daytime, so she should be able to as well!
Panel…
Song Xu hastily began examining that small box that had suddenly popped up in her head.
The moment her consciousness swept over it, the grand virtual screen reappeared.
[Player ID: Song Xu]
[Health Points: 50/50]
[Stamina Points: 70/70]
[Experience Points: 0/100]
[Basic Attributes]
[Spirit: 5 (Average ordinary human standard)]
[Qi: 7 (Slightly grounded from years of hard labor)]
[Luck: 10 (Good karmic fortune, turning danger into safety)]
Song Xu scanned through it roughly; there were many more stats underneath.
Things like Attack, Defense, Accuracy, Penetration, Critical Strike, and so on.
She rarely played games, so these stats looked completely baffling to her.
Having no time to dwell on it, she checked further down at the quest log.
[Novice Quest: Nights in the canyon are extremely dangerous. You should build a shelter before dark.]
[Quest Objectives: Small Twigs x20, Thatch x15, Moss x10]
[Quest Reward: Novice Gift Bag.]
[Accept quest? Yes/No.]
Song Xu selected ‘Yes.’
She didn’t rush to do the quest, instead quickly browsing through the remaining tabs.
Leaderboards, Auction House, and Recipes were all empty.
Someone was talking in the chat channel.
[Regional Channel (Currently Online: 1000 people)]
[Little Wimp: What kind of fucking prank is this?! I want to go home! I want to call the police, ahhhh!]
[Poop-Scooping Little Fairy: I was still taking a shower when I fainted. Can someone tell me what’s going on?]
[Tonsil Speaking: Help! I was chased for three li by a huge toad! How can it run faster than a dog!]
[Brother Dao: Is this some massive reality show? Who knows how to log out?]
[Heaven Rewards Diligence: My son is taking the college entrance exam soon. Can anyone tell me how to get back?]
[Donut: Sob sob, my hand was scratched by a thorn and keeps bleeding. Will it get infected? Are there any doctors here?]
Song Xu hesitated for a second, created a nickname for herself, and sent a message on it.
[Baobao’s Mom: Liang Yan, are you there?]
Very quickly, her words were pushed away and buried by messages seeking family members, asking for help, and hurling curses.
Song Xu’s throat felt dry with anxiety. She simply closed the system panel and stood up.
Since she couldn’t run away, she had to accept it.
Small twigs, thatch, moss?
This ground was full of moss. Song Xu picked at it with her fingers, scraping off a few sticky scraps.
The quest progress didn’t change at all.
She recalled the first active skill, See It as Food.
Trying to chant it silently in her mind, a line of small white text indeed appeared before her eyes.
[Damp Moss]
[Edibility: Slightly toxic, inedible.]
[Note: Possesses heat-retaining and moisture-proof properties, usable for building shelters. When harvesting, it should be pried up in whole pieces from the edge.]
Song Xu was completely stunned.
Immediately after, her heart thudded wildly.
The description was so detailed!
Looking at the chat channel, no one had mentioned anything about skills.
She immediately squatted down, her gaze sweeping across the ground as more information surged forth:
[Ash-White Gravel: Main component is limestone, inedible. Texture is brittle, easily fractures under pressure to form sharp edges. Can be used as a simple cutting tool.]
[Rotten Dry Wood: Decayed inside, inedible. Dry portions can be used as tinder.]
[Twisted Dry Tree (Living): Hard wood. Bending lower branches yields the material Small Twigs; chopping the trunk yields the material Wooden Planks.]
Information was everywhere.
Isn’t this what novels call a cheat code!
Who on earth was that old man? Why did he come to give her a skill card?
Song Xu recalled the appearance of that begging old man in detail, while her hands didn’t stay idle either.
Picking up a piece of stone with a sharp edge, she wedged it into the seam between the moss and soil, exerting force with her wrist to pry upward.
*Screech.*
A dark-green patch of moss about the size of a washbasin was pried up completely by her.