Phantasmal Genesis - Chapter 38: Mahjong competiton

Earning 50,000 in 5 days was something unimaginable to the previous Chen Zhou.

But now, through his own efforts, he not only earned that amount, but he even found a job with a monthly pay above 10,000 just by working 3 hours a day.

He had already started to plan for a bachelor’s degree, then he’d work at a big company and climb the ladder to eventually become his own boss.

He had gotten the supergenius operating system, not a cultivating operating system, and knowledge was used to earn money. He wasn’t interested in things like research at all.

That would mean that he would be poor, and his pay would probably be lower than the one that he was drawing now.

This idea had gone through his mind and he continued to develop it.

He had already suffered for three years, and he wasn’t planning on living his entire life like that.

Until now, Chen Zhou had already gotten 6 money-making skills, and today, he was doing his daily reading assignment.

“Proficient in gambling?”

Looking at this new skill, many foreign ideas popped up in his mind. Unable to control himself, he became hesitant.

Every daily assignment had a random skill reward, and proficiency in gambling was basically a cheat.

In the operating system, knowledge was divided into multiple levels. Beginner, proficient, proficient, master, grandmaster, legendary.

Cheating would definitely leave some traces, and just by being proficient in gambling, Chen Zhou didn’t dare to guarantee that he wouldn’t be caught.

And if he was caught cheating……

………

Movie scenes started to flash past in his mind, there were scenes of fingers being cut off, hands being cut off, needles being impaled under fingernails……

A chill travelled up his spine, as Chen Zhen shivered in fear.

“No, no, cheating is basically self-destructing. I’ll have so many opportunities in the future, I can’t risk it all here.”

Shaking his head, he ordered a cab to drive him home.

As an otaku, Chen Zhou would stay at home and play games when he was bored. To him, his meaning in life was to enjoy himself.

He didn’t have the opportunity in the past, but once he had a stable job, he immediately found himself a place to rent. It was at the alley where he stayed for three years, a familiar place he could see every time he opened his window.

It was as if he could see his last three years of misery just like that.

It served as a reminder for Chen Zhou, that he had survived his worst days and that his future would be better!

“Don’t miss out! Tian Hai City’s biggest mahjong competition is happening tomorrow! The first place gets a one million dollar reward! Sign up here now!”

“Don’t miss……”

……

Seated in the cab, Chen Zhou waited for half an hour due to a mysterious traffic jam.

In Chen Zhou’s memories, this road had never been congested even once in the past few years, was he really that unlucky……

Suddenly, the shouting from the roadside entered his ears, and Chen Zhou couldn’t help but turn to look.

“Tian Hai City’s biggest mahjong competition is happening tomorrow……The first place gets a one million dollar reward?!”

“Fuck me! Sir, stop the car!”

If it was an officially hosted mahjong competition, even if he was caught cheating, he would at most be disqualified!

But if he won……

One million!!

Chen Zhou was excited, he was pretty hopeful about the skill that the operating system had rewarded him with, until now, he hadn’t been let down once.

If he wasn’t a coward, he could’ve already gone to some shady corner to earn money.

To him, this mahjong competition was basically giving away free money!

“If I had this million, I don’t even need to study! I can directly start a business and save a few years of time!”

Chen Zhou quickly got off the car and entered himself into the competition, after paying the $100 fee, the employee handed him a participation ticket.

He would be able to enter the competition tomorrow.

Chen Zhou returned to his car, and when he got home, he quickly borrowed a mahjong box from his landlord.

In his 20-plus years of life, he hadn’t even watched mahjong before, he was still a little anxious even with the knowledge from the operating system.

Even the god of gambling would get rusty if he didn’t play for 20 years, and he thought that he should at least practice.

He quickly set up the mahjong tiles and stared at the table, it was familiar, yet foreign at the same time.

He naturally picked up a tile, his smooth movements resembling someone who had played for decades, without even glancing once at the tile.

“Six thousand.” (Tile)

He slapped the tile onto the table, and with a look, he knew he was right.

Feeling the carving of the tiles was the basic skill of mahjong, even old uncles and aunties didn’t look at the tiles once when they played, they would leave the tiles facing downward on the table to prevent the people behind them from peeking.

Then, he continued to touch the tiles.

“Three dots.”

“Six sticks.”

“Three sticks.”

……

After the sun had set, he finally prepared to go and eat downstairs. The moment he opened the door, he was met with a sweat-drenched, fair-skinned and tidy-looking teenager.

After a pause, Chen Zhou greeted him with a smile.

“Did you just come back from training?”

The teen glanced at him with a straight face, a strange light flashing past his eyes. With a nod, he returned back into his room. (The gender of the teen isn’t specified here.)

Going downstairs, Chen Zhou randomly ate a bowl of la mian.

And after he ate, he decided to head back to his home, but as he walked, he suddenly noticed a mahjong room.

Inadvertently, he walked in and noticed a group of senior citizens playing mahjong together.

The room was filled with smoke, yet every single person in this room was laser-focused on the games, it was as if they were on a battlefield, rather than playing mahjong.

“I win!”

An auntie laughed loudly, throwing her hands into the air at three other people.

“Hand over your money! Everyone, 2 dollars!”

“……”

Chen Zhou suddenly remembered that the elderly played mahjong to relieve their loneliness, and they only played for cents, it was hard to even get a hundred in winnings from a day’s worth of playing

With some excitement, he found a seat in the mahjong room.

Most people had finished their dinners at this time, and he was quickly joined at the table by two aunties and an uncle.

“It’s rare to see a young man here! Let’s play mahjong.” The old man grinned as he looked at Chen Zhou.

After a short pause, Chen Zhou smiled back, “That’s right, that’s right!”

The uncle laughed a bit more as he thought contemptuously, a young man playing mahjong? Do young people these days even know how to play mahjong?

After such a brief exchange, the old man had already thought of Chen Zhou as a ‘three-minute passion’ student here to pay his school fees.

Only middle-aged to older people who had nothing better to do came to play at mahjong rooms, and most of the younger generation knew barely anything about mahjong, how could they beat the people who practically lived in these mahjong rooms?

The old man was confident in beating Chen Zhou, and his only concerns were on the two aunties.

As long as he kept watch of their tiles, he wouldn’t lose……

“Oh? I won.”

Chen Zhou had just arranged his tiles, and after taking a careful look, he shouted in joy.

“What?”

“Do you even know how to play mahjong? Did you see wrongly?!”

The three of them were stunned, and seeing that they were in disbelief, Chen Zhou flipped his tiles for them to see.

“I……”

“He actually won?”