[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world":3,"chapter-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-318":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Survival Guide in a Mysterious World",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2299287,4497,"Chapter 318: The Lucky Gambler","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-318",318,"\u003Cp>「Ah, this...」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Looking at the two cards tossed onto the center of the table, Xia Yubing felt she had already understood the rules of this game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Poker has many variations—some emphasize strategy, others rely purely on luck—but in this game, the ratio of luck to strategy was roughly seven to three: seven parts luck, three parts strategy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Drawing one card from another player’s hand and discarding it together with a matching suit from one’s own hand was a highly distinctive move; Xia Yubing knew only one game like this.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「It’s called Draw the Ghost, or Draw the Turtle, Draw the Tortoise, Draw the Lion-Tiger... names vary by region, but the meaning is the same.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Yubing glanced again at her own cards, her gaze lingering on the 「Big King.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The rules of Draw the Ghost were simple:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After dealing, players took turns in a set order to randomly draw one card from another player’s hand and compare it with their own. If they held a card with the same number and color, they could discard both onto the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>If not, they added the drawn card to their hand, and play passed to the next player. This continued until all cards were discarded, allowing the player to safely exit.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Among the 54 playing cards, one was the 「Ghost Card」—in some parts of China called the Turtle or the Tortoise, in Japan known as the Lion-Tiger.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The player who drew the Ghost Card must shout 「Ghost!」 or 「Lion-Tiger!」 or 「Tortoise!」 to declare it was in their hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the drawing progressed, players emptied their hands one by one and exited safely; the last player still holding the Ghost Card lost the game.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Based on the outcomes of previous gambling rounds, the loser’s fate would be—death.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pah—!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The crisp sound of cards striking the glass table jolted Xia Yubing from her thoughts; she looked down to see two more cards thrown onto the center of the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Pair of 3s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was I Kesi , who hadn’t drawn from anyone else’s hand—he simply pulled two cards from his own and slammed them down decisively.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The two cards were: Heart 3, Diamond 3.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「This guy figured it out too.」 Xia Yubing murmured inwardly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>This was the rule of Draw the Ghost—to prevent odd-numbered cards from being unmatchable, before the drawing phase began, if a player held a matching pair, they could immediately discard it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alun, seated beside I Kesi , quickly reacted, checking his own hand. Xia Yubing saw a flicker of delight cross his face, then vanish instantly—she understood at once:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Alun must have two cards with the same number but different colors, so he can’t discard them.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Trapped in this bizarre event, she had to constantly observe her surroundings and others’ movements and expressions—something she’d learned from Ning Zhe, and it had proven unexpectedly useful.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Yubing nudged the Persian girl beside her, who jolted awake and hurriedly checked her hand, discarding two cards: two red 6s.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Heart 6, Diamond 6.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The gambler, having just drawn, had returned to his seat; opposite him, the God of Wealth remained motionless—clearly, neither held a matching pair to discard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Yubing glanced at her own cards—no pairs there either.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So the next question was—who held the Ghost Card?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Yubing’s gaze fixed on the Big King in her hand; a shadow of worry crossed her brow. Draw the Ghost was a simple game, played worldwide, with regional rule variations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>In some places, a card was randomly removed during shuffling, leaving one unmatched card as the Ghost Card. In others, the Small King and one 8 were removed from the full 54-card deck, and the Big King paired with the extra 8 became the 「King-Turtle」—the holder of the 「King-Turtle」 lost. This was why the game was called 「Draw the Turtle」 or 「Draw the Tortoise」 in China.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「The gambler didn’t remove any card during shuffling—he used the full 54-card deck, so this isn’t the Chinese Turtle rule, nor the common ‘unmatched card as Ghost’ rule.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Yubing held her fan-shaped cards in both hands, biting her lower lip: 「Neither rule applies... then which card is the Ghost?」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she pondered, the next round of drawing began.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alun, seated to the gambler’s left and just having been drawn from, turned to the player on his left—I Kesi —and drew one card:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Club 2.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Alun let out a barely audible hiss, adding the Club 2 to his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He had no card to pair with it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next was I Kesi —he would draw from the God of Wealth.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The six players seated around the table, clockwise, were: the Gambler, Alun, I Kesi , the God of Wealth, Sally Sally, Xia Yubing.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Following this order, I’ll draw from the Gambler next...」 Xia Yubing thought silently.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As she pondered, I Kesi  reached out and drew a card from the face-down pile before the God of Wealth:\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Diamond A\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Yubing looked down—she held the Heart A. That meant I Kesi  had no card to pair with the Diamond A—the rule required both number and color to match. A red Heart A could not pair with a black Spade A or Club A.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected, I Kesi  added the Diamond A to his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「If I want to discard my Heart A, I must draw the Diamond A from I Kesi ...」 Xia Yubing silently noted: 「Diamond A is in I Kesi ’s hand.」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Draw the Ghost relied seven parts on luck, three on strategy. The strategy lay right here.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The game continued.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Next, the God of Wealth drew from Sally Sally—a Heart 5—and added it to his hand.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Sally Sally drew from Xia Yubing—a Club 8—and paired it with her own Spade 8, discarding both to the table’s center.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>「Heart 5 is with the God of Wealth, and He has no Diamond 5...」 Xia Yubing strained to memorize every detail from the drawing phase, then reached toward the Gambler on her left.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was her turn to draw.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Yubing was lucky—she drew a Diamond J from the Gambler’s hand and paired it with her own Heart J, discarding both to the table.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then she reconsidered—if her luck were truly this good, why had the Gambler pulled her into this game at all?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Meanwhile, the Gambler drew a Spade 5 from Alun’s hand and paired it with his own Club 5, discarding both.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Two successful pairs in a row?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Xia Yubing froze: 「The Gambler’s luck seems pretty good too...」\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of Chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1085,"2026-06-20T06:29:22.815Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","3fa29280bbaafa2a5a80b2b210415af5efad12462c31383d7a8f83249b938b8d","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-319","survival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-chapter-317",353,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsurvival-guide-in-a-mysterious-world-cover.jpg"]