A 24-year-old woman who left home 10 years ago after a fight with her mother has been taken into custody by the police after she was found living and playing games in Internet cafes for a decade.

The woman, reportedly known as Xiao Yun, left her home in Hengdian in the eastern province of Zhejiang at the age of 14 after a quarrel with her mother.

Her parents, who have been searching their daughter, presumed her to be dead.

Yun used to live in Internet cafes, playing her favourite game "CrossFire", and sometimes in bath houses, too.

Yun mostly depended on handouts provided by Internet cafes' customers who pitied her, and occasionally worked as a cashier at cafes to earn extra cash.

Yun was finally found in the early hours of 20 November during a usual check on an Internet café by police officers.

The police found she was using a fake identity card, for which she was fined 1,000 Yuan and taken to the police station for questioning. It was there that she revealed about fleeing home a decade ago and living and eating in Internet cafes.

Owing to her long absence, Yun's household registration number was terminated by local authorities, reported South China Morning Post.

Yun's mother said she had not changed her phone number for the past decade hoping Yun would contact her and return home,

"I have a stubborn personality and a short temper, so I used to scold her, But, it's been 10 years and now she's an adult. I will never scold her again," The Star Online quoted Yun's mother as saying.