Chapter 169 – City of Lei Feng (Part 3)

At 23:17 Beijing time, a megaphone message of historic significance resounded through the wailing hellscape of Las Vegas—

[Megaphone] Rain Through the Woods: Little Lucky Charm, are you there?

Your Uncle, crouching among the lifeboat piles, didn’t see this message and continued drawing circles on the ground with a tiny stick.

The other players, who had given up gambling to focus on complaining, noticed it immediately, their gossipy hearts instantly set ablaze.

[Casino City] Six Immortals of Peach Valley: Whoa, what’s going on? Isn’t the Great Luck God usually part of the silent, low-key point-farming faction? Why’s he suddenly using megaphones?

[Casino City] Shovel Roams the World: Cheating dogs stick together, can’t help but sympathize with each other.

[Casino City] Long-Time Loser: Damn, did you never brush your teeth in your life? If you suck at life, just stay quiet. Stop being jealous and spewing shit at others!

[Casino City] Chen Wangfeng: As a non-faction player from Holy Light Sanctuary, I don’t have much love for the Dutch Chamber of Commerce, but to be fair, Rain Through the Woods is their mascot. They bring him to every dungeon, every open-world map—basically anything that relies on luck. So he’s got a nickname: Dutch Keychain. ╮(╯_╰)╭

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: No need to spread such detailed insider knowledge, thanks.

[Casino City] Blue Phoenix: But Great Luck God, why are you looking for him?

[Casino City] Dead Demon Refiner: You’re not actually planning to study hacks, are you? Greed knows no bounds—leave some room for the rest of us, okay?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Little Lucky Charm didn’t hack, and I’m not here to discuss hacking feasibility. I just want to cheer him up and dispel the negative energy currently suffocating Las Vegas.

[Casino City] White Rhino: Brother, do you always talk like this in such formal language? =_=

[Casino City] Wings of Light: Major student council president vibes, lol.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: If you want to keep screwing around, end up with negative points, and get laughed at by everyone—known or unknown—in Lover’s Constellation, then by all means, keep yapping. If you want to turn things around and strut into Lover’s Constellation with god-tier scores, then shut the hell up.

[Casino City] White Rhino: ……

[Casino City] Wings of Light: ……

[Casino City] Blue Phoenix: Damn, the sudden switch to domineering is kinda hot. God-tier husbando, please adopt me!!! >_<

[Casino City] Lonely Alien: Rain Through the Woods, I still don’t get it. Are you saying we’re failing at everything and losing every bet because of Little Lucky Charm?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Yes. He’s unhappy, upset, and miserable, so his negative energy is affecting the entire luck system of Las Vegas. It’s like playing poker and always feeding others winning hands, or playing Landlord and never getting good cards. Luck has bottomed out and refuses to cycle back.

[Casino City] Xiamen U QR Code: Oh man, I’ve had nights like that—just couldn’t catch a break. Every card was a dud, nothing worked, and whatever I played, the next player would snatch it up. Out of ten plays, eight were feeding wins, and the other two got intercepted!

[Casino City] Former Dynasty Scholar: I still feel like I’m listening to gibberish. My IQ and EQ both refuse to accept this explanation.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Then don’t bother keeping them. It’s not like you use them anyway.

[Casino City] Former Dynasty Scholar: Who the hell said he was like a student council president?! Show yourself!! What kind of president has zero camaraderie?! [Crying][Crying]

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Sorry, but I never considered us classmates.

[Casino City] Former Dynasty Scholar: This is Lover’s Constellation’s preschool edition! We’re in the same section—that means we’re in the same class!

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Oh, fine, then I apologize.

[Casino City] Former Dynasty Scholar: That’s more like it.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Now you apologize to Little Lucky Charm too.

[Casino City] Former Dynasty Scholar: Huh?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: The report post’s results are out. Backend data shows no issues—Little Lucky Charm didn’t hack.

The results had only been out for a few minutes, and most players were unaware. Hearing Rain Through the Woods’ words, aside from a few skeptics who switched tabs to check the post themselves, the rest were stunned.

Because they had genuinely believed Little Lucky Charm was hacking.

But over the years, Huaxia Online had never had any wrongful bans or missed cheaters.

Yet, strangely, while Rain Through the Woods’ luck was god-tier, no one questioned him. Little Lucky Charm’s “luck” wasn’t luck at all—it was just everyone else’s misfortune. But yesterday, everyone had gone insane, swearing up and down that he was hacking, as if they’d cut themselves to sign a blood oath testifying to it.

As the saying goes, bad news spreads faster than good. Maybe humans really are more sensitive to negativity, remembering and reacting to it more intensely.

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Tch. Took you long enough.

Spring Field Blossom’s disdainful snort stood out starkly in the silence.

Rain Through the Woods immediately recognized his close relationship with Little Lucky Charm and quickly asked—

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Do you know where he is?

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Somewhere you’ll never find.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: What’s he doing right now?

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Contemplating life.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: And?

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Drawing circles to curse you all.

[Casino City] White Rhino: Damn, I just got chills…

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Can you get him to check the world chat? He’s not replying to my whispers.

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Can you guarantee no more toxic jerks will show up in world chat?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: No.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: But I believe most won’t dare to act up anymore.

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: What exactly are you trying to do?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Cheer Little Lucky Charm up.

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Are you… trying to hit on him?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: =_=

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: On a macro level, I want to lift the gloom over Las Vegas. On a micro level, I want my own luck to improve.

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: You’re already invincible, though.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: A thousand points to enter Lover’s Constellation is my baseline. I didn’t want to stand out either—just wanted to quietly coast through these three days and slip into Lover’s Constellation unnoticed. But life is full of surprises.

[Casino City] Qiao Feng: A. THOUSAND. POINTS?!

[Casino City] Azure Sky Waves: Why do I feel like this guy is flexing + taunting + showing off + aggroing everyone?

[Casino City] Fat Leopard: You’re not alone =_=

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Great, now the whole world knows how “low-key” you are…

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Can you call him for me? You don’t want him to stay unhappy, right?

Spring Field Blossom didn’t reply because no matter how he worded it, it felt weird! Damn it!!

[Whisper] Spring Field Blossom: You there?

[Whisper] Little Lucky Charm: Yeah, what’s up?

[Whisper] Spring Field Blossom: Someone’s calling for you in world chat.

[Whisper] Little Lucky Charm: Let them die.

[Whisper] Spring Field Blossom: Seems like they want to apologize.

[Whisper] Little Lucky Charm: (⊙o⊙)!

[Whisper] Spring Field Blossom: Your anger is way too short-lived!!

Whether Rain Through the Woods had a spectator mode or not, as soon as Spring Field Blossom finished talking to Your Uncle, he continued calling out—

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Little Lucky Charm, are you there?

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Nope.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Hello.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Not hello.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: The officials have cleared your name.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: I was innocent all along!

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: So stop being upset, okay?

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: ……

Why does it feel like I’m being patronized? =_=

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: All night, Las Vegas has been drowning in negative energy. Everyone loses no matter what they play, or games don’t even start because no one calls. You know why.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: You’re saying I cursed everyone?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: What do you think?

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: I haven’t said a word all night!

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: But now that you mention it… that does sound pretty satisfying!

[Casino City] Lonely Alien: Damn, was it really you? You can’t win, so you ruin it for everyone else? Do you realize how selfish that is?

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Harming others without benefiting myself.

[Casino City] Wandering Miracle Doctor: His logic is disturbingly clear. =_=

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Just like what you all did in that post.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Yeah, I’m unlucky. Yeah, eight out of ten of my curses come true. You can hate me, but to swear I was hacking and demand my account be banned without a shred of proof—put yourselves in my shoes. If your hard-earned account got banned for no reason, wouldn’t you cry yourself to sleep?

[Casino City] Eight Hundred Miles Express: Thinking about it… the fact that he managed to max-level his account and gear like this really does seem like a struggle…

[Casino City] Lonely Alien: Then put yourself in our shoes. If you met someone whose badmouthing always came true and who brought bad luck to every game, wouldn’t you avoid them?

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: You didn’t avoid me. You clung to me—just to bet against me.

[Casino City] Lonely Alien: That’s—that’s just human nature. Seeking gain, avoiding harm.

[Casino City] Glucose: Alright, this is going nowhere. I upvoted the post and mindlessly bashed you. I still have reservations about whether you hacked, but if even Rain Through the Woods—with his god-tier luck—says your negative energy is affecting everyone, then I believe it. I apologize here, so can you give us a break and just enter Lover’s Constellation already? Stop torturing us, okay?

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: You think I don’t want to leave?! You think I don’t want to forget you jerks and rush into my warm legion’s embrace?! I’d take negative points at this point! But you can’t enter early without 500 points!

[Casino City] Glucose: Shit, forgot about that!

[Casino City] White Rhino: Easier to invite the gods than to send them away. [Sighs]

[Casino City] Bao Daren: Why did I ever step into Las Vegas… TAT

[Casino City] Ancient Praise: Maybe I’m focusing on the wrong thing, but… you actually have a legion you belong to??

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Of course! The Ghost Server Legion from Huaxia Summit—never heard of it? Our commander is amazing. Back in the ghost server, he never looked down on me, always brought me to dungeons. After the server merge, when my account got wiped and I had to start over, he, the deputy, and the whole team helped me again. I’ve screwed them over countless times, but everyone in the legion treats me like their first love! Oh, and we have a Demon Refiner whose luck rivals Rain Through the Woods’, but our commander never exploits him for gains—just treats him like any other member! Ugh, I can’t keep talking. The more I talk, the more I miss them… TAT

[Casino City] Vast Starry Sky: This guy’s gone full emotional monologue mode. What do we do?

[Casino City] Miss Zhao: I’m kinda curious about this “warm legion” he’s describing.

[Casino City] Suave Not Sleazy: Trust me, you don’t want to meet their commander.

[Casino City] Glucose: So what now?! We’ve apologized, talked it out, truth or not—none of that matters. I just want to play some Stud Poker properly. Can someone give me a solution?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Little Lucky Charm, if you had 500 points right now, would you enter Lover’s Constellation immediately?

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Yes! I don’t want to stay here a second longer!

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: We’ll help you.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Huh? How?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Tonight, we’ll all help you farm¹Written in pinyin to 500 points.

[Casino City] Wings of Light: Switching keywords to pinyin to avoid system detection—true pro move.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: How do we farm?

[Casino City] Qiao Feng: Even with the pinyin example right above, how dense do you have to be to still type it out in Chinese?!

[Casino City] Officer Big Bear: Cut him some slack. At this point, anything scientifically unexplainable happening to him feels perfectly normal. What I care about is Rain Through the Woods’ “we’ll all help.” Does that mean we’re all pitching in?

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: One person losing to another is farming. Everyone losing to one person is called luck and skill.

[Casino City] Bao Daren: With his constitution, there’s no way he can win. Big or Small? Guaranteed bust. Slot machines? Impossible to land two matching symbols, let alone a jackpot. Russian Roulette? First shot’s a headshot.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Then we’ll play mahjong and Landlord. Anything that doesn’t rely on the system can be manipulated by us.

A long silence.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Any other questions? If no one speaks up, I’ll assume we’re all in agreement.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Uh, I have a question.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: You’re the god here. Speak freely.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: I want to enter Lover’s Constellation with my good friend Spring Field Blossom >_<

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: You know how it is—anyone who gets close to me suffers. Ever since we met in Las Vegas, aside from his initial wins, he’s been losing nonstop. He only manages to win a little when I’m offline during the day, but he’s still in the negatives. I’m sure he’d bounce back without me, but, well, you know…

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Let me summarize. You met a stranger in the casino, went through some drama, became friends, and now this friend is stuck losing because of your bad luck. You want us to help him farm to 500 so he can enter Lover’s Constellation with you?

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Rain, you truly are a man blessed by the gods. You read my mind >_<

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: =_=

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: =_=

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: I’m good. Just focus on yourself.

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: You don’t want to enter Lover’s Constellation with me? You’re ditching me too? TAT

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Haven’t you figured it out yet? What goes around comes around. They wronged you in that post, so now they’re helping you farm. But they owe me nothing. If I take their help for free, who knows what I’ll have to pay later? Whether it’s you or Rain Through the Woods, your bizarre world is beyond me. I’ll stick to being normal. ╮(╯_╰)╭

[Casino City] Little Lucky Charm: Fine [Crying], I’ll wait for you in Lover’s Constellation [Heart]

[Casino City] Spring Field Blossom: Just go already [Facepalm]

[Casino City] Miss Zhao: Suddenly, I totally get Spring Field Blossom. If he stays any longer, he’s gonna turn gay…

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Looks like we’ve reached a conclusion. We’ll just help you then.

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: Any other objections? If no one speaks up, I’ll take that as unanimous agreement.

[Casino City] Long-Time Loser: Friendly reminder—based on our daily interactions, our mascot has a habit of naming every operation. Brace yourselves…

[Casino City] Rain Through the Woods: I hereby declare: Operation Retrieve Little Lucky Charm’s Lost Teardrop, commence!

[Beijing Time 23:40, Landlord Zone]

[Combat] Little Lucky Charm plays a card.

[Combat] Wandering Miracle Doctor passes.

[Combat] Wings of Light passes.

[Combat] Little Lucky Charm plays a card.

[Combat] Wandering Miracle Doctor passes.

[Combat] Wings of Light passes.

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: At least play something, you two. This looks so fake, it’s breaking my immersion, wahhh.

[Combat] Little Lucky Charm plays a card.

[Combat] Wandering Miracle Doctor plays a card.

[Combat] Wings of Light plays a card.

[Combat] Little Lucky Charm passes.

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: I told you to play, not to play such high cards, wahhh.

[Local] Wings of Light: Damn it, wah my ass! Are you this hard to please?!

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: You’re bullying me! You bullied me in the post, and now you’re still bullying me TAT

[Local] Wings of Light: Your uncle! Sorry, my bad!

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: I’m Your Uncle. There isn’t another.

[Local] Wandering Miracle Doctor: [Faints]

[Casino City] Wings of Light: Requesting substitutes. We’re exhausted. TAT

……

[Beijing Time 00:57, Stud Poker Zone]

[Local] Shovel Roams the World: This is insane, I had a straight flush!!

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: ^_^

[Combat] Shovel Roams the World folds and forfeits.

[Combat] Little Lucky Charm wins.

[Casino City] Shovel Roams the World: Can’t do this anymore. Someone take over!

[Casino City] White Rhino: I’ll go. Also, the southwest corner of the deck is empty. Go cry your heart out there.

……

[Beijing Time 01:22, Mahjong Zone]

[Combat] Little Lucky Charm plays a tile.

[Combat] Officer Big Bear declares a kong!

[Local] Young Master Xue: What the hell are you doing?!

[Local] Officer Big Bear: Ah, sorry, sorry! Too tired, zoned out. Can I undo the kong?

[Local] Young Master Xue: ……

[Local] Officer Big Bear: Then, oh great god, what do you need?

[Local] Little Lucky Charm: Three Bamboo.

[Combat] Officer Big Bear plays a tile.

[Combat] Little Lucky Charm wins!

[Local] Officer Big Bear: I used to think playing cards with the chief was the most humiliating thing in the world…

[Local] Officer Big Bear: Chief, I wronged you! TAT

[Beijing Time 02:18, Huaxia Online Technical Monitoring Department]

“Xiao Wang, why are you still here?”

“Ah, Team Leader Li, you’re still here too!”

“You don’t understand. Nighttime is the golden period for leadership to lecture me.”

“Pfft. Has the boss left yet?”

“Just left. I’m heading out too. Don’t stay up too late—get some rest.”

“But with the Valentine’s event, all these different sections keep having issues. We need to keep up with management and maintenance, right?”

“Young people, so responsible. Good.”

“Team Leader, you’re only twenty-six…”

“In this line of work, twenty-six is already old.”

“But the manager is thirty-five.”

“Let’s skip this topic.”

“Then can I bring up a new issue?”

“Go ahead.”

“I think something’s off in the Las Vegas section. There’s someone who keeps winning—I suspect they’re farming points…”

“Using hacks?”

“No, just normal matches, but everyone’s letting him win. He’s climbing nonstop.”

“See, point farming is hard to define, especially in Las Vegas. If he claims he’s just lucky, there’s nothing we can do. Accounts are players’ lifelines—we have to be extremely careful with every action…”

“Team Leader, you’re starting to sound like the boss…”

“But don’t we have that consecutive win limit random activation mechanism? If you really think it’s suspicious, activate the limit. Then he can’t keep playing the same person.”

“I did, and he just switched to someone else.”

“So you’re saying multiple people are helping him farm?”

“I’m saying… it seems like the entire Las Vegas is helping him…”

“So you’re telling me every player in the casino is a living Lei Feng?”

“You think it’s unscientific too, right? I mean, players from all servers are there—they can’t all know each other. But from their chats to their in-game behavior, it’s all suspicious.”

“Without data, player chats mean nothing. If they say they’re just joking, what can we do?”

“Ah, he’s entered Lover’s Constellation!”

“How many points?”

“Entered with 1,000. After deducting 500 for entry, he has 500 left.”

“Just hitting the threshold isn’t that high. If he were really farming, wouldn’t he aim higher?”

“Now I’m not so sure either. But it’s so weird—the entire Las Vegas seems to be celebrating…”

“Xiao Wang, everything needs logic. Put yourself in their shoes—if you were playing, would you help a stranger from another server for no reason? What’s in it for you?”

“Uh… if he paid me?”

“You’re saying he bribed the entire Las Vegas to help him farm?”

“Theoretically possible, but… yeah, that does sound ridiculous…”

“Look, even if something seems off, without solid evidence, we assume innocence. Players pour their hearts into their accounts. Banning one wrongly is just a keystroke for us, but it could devastate them. We’d lose a loyal fan, and everyone loses. Try thinking differently—maybe he’s just playing normally.”

“Then how do you explain the nonstop wins?”

“We’ve encountered the God of Gamblers.”

“Team Leader, you should go catch the No. 2 bus…”

• 1
  Written in pinyin