The sky slowly turned from dark to light as the sun started to rise. Roosters crowed, dogs barked, and the village came to life. Farmers stretched and yawned as they stepped outside. Some went straight to their fields, while others checked their traps, opening wooden cages with rough hands.
The lucky ones found fat rabbits. Some only had chewed-up bait. And the unlucky ones? Their faces turned pale when they saw a snake curled up inside instead.
Three days in a row. Nothing but damn snakes.
Not enough meat for breakfast.
Life in the village moved on as it always did. But in one particular yard, something was happening.
A notification popped before Chunhe's eyes.
[ New Function: Roulette Unlocked ]
His brows twitched.
"...What kind of scam is this?"
A creaking sound echoed. Chunhe turned his head, and there it was—standing right in the middle of his yard like some junkyard relic.
A giant, wooden roulette wheel.
But this wasn't some mystical artifact bathed in divine radiance. Oh no. This shit looked like it had been dug out of a gambling den's junkyard. The once-bright paint was faded, peeling off in ugly flakes. The bulbs lining its edges flickered weakly, some outright dead. The wood creaked and groaned, leaning to one side as if on its last legs.
Chunhe stared at it in silence.
"...This looks like absolute dogshit."
But then, his eyes wandered over the rewards. His annoyance froze.
[Divine Body], [Spirit Root], [Bloodline], [Supreme Bone], [Weapon Spirit], [Pill Cloud], [Beast Souls], [Spirit Vein], [Soul Jade], [Condensed Purple Clouds], [Tyrant Physique], [Frozen Heart Meditation Scroll], [Immortal Gu Encyclopedia], [Alchemy Notes (Early Grade)], [Sun and Moon Arrow], [Chaos String], [Mountain Pushing Palm], [Astra Bow], [Immortal Herbs Encyclopedia], [Talisman Packs (Beginner Grade)], [EXP Boost], [Mystery Seeds], [Luck Incense]
His lips twitched.
Well, this works.
Some of these sounded godlike. Supreme Bone? Divine Body? That was straight-up protagonist-tier power. But then there was weird shit like Luck Incense and Mystery Seeds. And Immortal Gu Encyclopedia? What the hell was I supposed to do with that?
Whatever. He cracked his knuckles. Time to spin.
He grabbed the handle and yanked.
Nothing.
"...Huh?"
He pulled harder.
The wheel barely budged, creaking like a dying beast.
"You gotta be fucking kidding me."
Gritting his teeth, Chunhe planted his feet and pulled with all his strength.
CREEEEEEAK—
The entire wheel tipped forward and fell with a deafening THUD.
For a second, everything was still.
Then—
"WOOF WOOF!"
Big D, his mutt of a dog, yelped in excitement as the wheel started rolling.
Chunhe's brain froze.
"...Oh, shit."
The wheel picked up speed, bouncing across the dirt path like a runaway boulder. Big D barked and immediately took off after it, his tail wagging like this was the greatest game ever invented.
"STOP! STOP, YOU STUPID PIECE OF WOOD!" Chunhe yelled, sprinting after them.
To the outside world, it looked like Chunhe was running in circles chasing absolutely nothing while his dog barked like a lunatic.
Farmers, already tending to their fields, turned their heads at the commotion.
"Eh? What's he doing?"
"Is he... playing with his dog?"
"That idiot's definitely lost his mind. What is he trying to catch? Air?"
"Maybe they ate a bad mushroom."
The wheel barreled through a patch of crops, barely missing an elderly farmer. Big D, overexcited, leapt at it, trying to bite the spinning wood, only to get knocked on his ass and fall over the crops.
"AHHHH!"
"MY CROPS!"
Hong Xian had seen a lot of weird shit in his long life.
But this?
This was on a whole different level.
Chunhe had always been a bit off—talking to himself, cursing at the wind, doing stupid shit for no goddamn reason. People just chalked it up to him being him.
But this time, Big D was in on it too.
The oversized mutt, who usually had the energy of a dead log, was now barking like a maniac, chasing after absolutely nothing but air. They both looked like ghosts who lost their gold.
Hong Xian rubbed his eyes.
Nope. Still there.
Chunhe and Big D were both running in circles, kicking up dust, like they were fighting some invisible enemy.
At one point, Chunhe dived forward, arms outstretched, but missed whatever he was trying to grab.
Big D, caught in the chaos, lunged after it too.
The two idiots tumbled together, rolling through the mud.
A moment later, Chunhe shot up, scrambling to his feet.
The mystical wheel of fate—which no one else could see—was rolling down the hill like a broken wagon wheel, headed straight for a tree.
Big D, caught in the moment, chased after it like his life depended on it.
"Big D, no! That's mine, you dumbass!" Chunhe shouted, sprinting after him.
Hong Xian and the other villagers just stared.
"...Yup," Hong Xian muttered. "This kid's crazy."
He glanced at his daughter, who had been eyeing Chunhe for marriage last year.
Thank the ancestors.
I must have been out of his damn mind to even consider letting that fool into his family.
The wheel SLAMMED into a tree with a loud BANG!, finally coming to a stop.
Big D wagged his tail, panting happily as if he'd won a prize.
Chunhe, meanwhile, collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath.
"...Fucking... bullshit... fucking... cheap-ass system..."
The villagers mumbled amongst themselves but ultimately shook their heads and went back to work.
Chunhe dragged the wheel back, scowling at it like it had personally insulted his ancestors.
"This time... no more accidents."
He fixed it in place, carefully securing the damn thing so it wouldn't roll off again. Then, wiping the sweat from his brow, he slowly—very, very slowly—spun the handle.
The wheel moved barely, the rusted mechanism barely functioning.
Click. Click. Click.
Chunhe held his breath.
This better be worth all the damn trouble.