300: Chapter 303 Jiang Chen: Stop with the sentimentality, let's play mahjong.

The system's alarm was blaring in his mind like a rave.

Listening to System Girl's fate-laden words, "If I were always just cold commands, that would be the real tragedy," Jiang Chen felt a rare ripple in his heart.

But he quickly returned to his usual punchable expression.

He swept the high-tech data pad off the table, instantly dispelling the profound atmosphere that had just filled the air.

"Give it a rest, you're just code, are you really trying to pull that on me?"

Jiang Chen glanced sideways at the holographic projection in the air, a cynical smirk on his lips. "Secretly in love? I think you've just been poisoned by my charm... or should I say, data-poisoned?"

"Stop being sentimental."

He pulled the heavy mahjong set, crafted from an unknown alien alloy, out of his system inventory and dumped it with a clatter onto a makeshift folding round table.

"Flying all this way, aside from looking at stars and cannonballs, my mouth has been so bored I could die."

"Perfect, Zhao Gang! Stop cleaning your gun and come over to join the game!"

"Also, make that delegation from the so-called 'Deep Space Trade Group' wait outside; I have some questions for them."

Zhao Gang was just grabbing ammunition from the locker; upon hearing this, his foot slipped, and he nearly fell to his knees.

"Boss... we're on an interstellar expedition mission."

He looked at the mahjong tiles, which shimmered with a cold, metallic luster under the lights, then glanced at the dark, dangerous universe outside. The veins on his forehead throbbed. "You want me to play mahjong with you at the edge of the galaxy? If this gets back to the military headquarters, those old commanders will definitely strip me of my military status!"

"If they strip it, let them. If they do, I'll support you."

Jiang Chen pushed the mahjong tiles and began stacking them with practiced ease, his eyes flashing with a worldly detachment:

"Old Qin and the others don't know a damn thing about war."

"They think war is just about risking lives and sacrifice. But look at this universe—when is it ever not about profit? Since the profits are already in our pockets, why be in such a hurry to kill?"

"Besides, mahjong is great."

He picked up a "Three of Bamboos" and casually placed it on the table, his tone as profound as if he had seen through the ultimate truth of the universe:

"Mahjong is the crystallization of our Earth civilization's highest wisdom."

"By observing the game, you can train your dynamic vision, predict your opponent's logical path, and even exercise your psychological resilience under extreme pressure."

"Tell me, isn't this better than practicing your drill formations?"

Zhao Gang had no choice but to bite the bullet and sit down.

Although Academician Chen Shuyin was still secretly despising this man's lack of seriousness, she pulled up a chair and sat down, somewhat stiffly arranging the tiles in front of her.

As for Pikachu.

This yellow mouse, wearing a spacesuit, was actually more eager than anyone else right now.

It didn't even need a chair; it leaped straight into the middle of the round table and anchored itself with its fluffy tail. Its beady little eyes were keenly fixed on Jiang Chen's hand, letting out occasional squeaks.

"Pika? Pika!" (Jiang Chen, your hand is terrible, hurry up and concede!)

Jiang Chen slapped its pointy ears: "A real gentleman doesn't comment while watching a game, understand?"

"Do you believe I'll throw you into the engine room and make you run the generator wheel?"

"Pika..." The little guy shrank its neck in grievance, but its claws still tightly gripped an interstellar energy ore used as a chip, its eyes filled with a stubborn "I want to win it back" look.

The game soon began.

This was probably the most absurd card game in the history of the entire universe.

The participants were a "Universal Village Chief" who held the fate of the galaxy, a top genius scientist from the Dragon Kingdom, a special forces king who had killed countless mutated beasts, and a mutated creature with nothing but ham sausages on its mind.

And the stakes they were playing for weren't cash, but...

"Five spirit stones."

Jiang Chen pushed five spirit stones, which emitted a blue light and were worth enough to buy half a country, into the center and shouted without batting an eyelid, "Self-drawn! Flush!"

Academician Chen Shuyin looked at her own terrible hand, then at Jiang Chen's bizarre hand—one that should have been awful, yet somehow always managed to draw the exact winning tile at the critical moment—and couldn't help but grit her teeth.

"Jiang Chen, are you cheating again?"

"What do you mean by cheating?" Jiang Chen looked aggrieved. "This is... good luck, plus I applied a little bit of probability theory."

"Probability theory? That Two of Circles you just drew was clearly the one Zhao Gang just discarded. Did you pull that out of your sleeve?"

Zhao Gang nodded in agreement from the side: "Boss, although I really want to win, your methods are indeed a bit too... lacking in martial virtue."

Jiang Chen's smile became even brighter.

Cheating? He had just secretly modified the time flow in this small area!

He had adjusted his own timeline forward by 0.1 seconds, just enough for his hand to reach that tile before Academician Chen Shuyin!

Is this lacking martial virtue? This is called "Logic Correction."

In this territory where he called the shots, as long as he wanted to, never mind mahjong, even making that Slime delegation leader learn to sing Errenzhuan on the spot would just be a matter of one line of code.

"Alright, stop dwelling on it." Jiang Chen glanced at the spirit stones he had won, feeling quite pleased.

Taking these back, he reckoned he could completely "feed" those laborers on Mars.

"Next round, let's continue."

"We need to practice faster."

"The Milky Way Galaxy is so big, there's a lot more mahjong to play in the future."

Just as he was about to draw another tile, the personal terminal on the table suddenly flickered with an urgent shadow.

It was a signal from Earth.

It wasn't some top-secret mission, but a down-to-earth reminder:

[Chenxing Technology — New office building inauguration ceremony (actually the Space Elevator headquarters), scheduled for the day after tomorrow.]

[Your old classmate Class Monitor Zhang Wei has sent an invitation.]

Jiang Chen picked up the encrypted email.

Inside the envelope, there was not only the invitation but also a video call request.

He tapped accept.

On the screen, the oily, sweaty face of fatty Class Monitor Zhang Wei appeared.

That guy was now a big shot in the Tianhai City tech circle. Although he was busy running off his feet every day, the moment he saw Jiang Chen, he still revealed that classic, sycophantic yet sincere smile.

"Brother Chen! My dear Brother Chen!"

The fatty was so excited on the other end he almost jumped up. "Didn't you say that after returning to Earth, you would drop by our alma mater?"

"That bunch of your 'old classmates' from back then are all like wolves that have caught the scent of meat."

"They've organized a massive class reunion and specifically asked me to pass a message to you."

"They said... they want to hold a 'Confession of the Century' ceremony for our former 'school beauty' Lin Yao, and they insisted on inviting you to be the 'witness'."

Jiang Chen looked at the fatty's expression, which was clearly waiting for a show, and couldn't help but chuckle.

"A witness?"

He looked at the stars retreating outside the window, his eyes filled with a bored indifference.

The Jiang Chen of back then might have been angry at such humiliation.

But now?

He looked at this group of alien envoys who would break the mothership's power valve to snatch a box of spicy strips, then looked at Class Monitor Zhang Wei, who remained obsessed with class reunions even in the interstellar era.

He just felt that life was truly full of... a wonderful sense of absurdity.

"Fine."

Jiang Chen casually tossed the remote control symbolizing the "Causality Weapon" to Zhao Gang for safekeeping, a playful smirk curling on his lips.

"Tell them."

"I'll go."

"I want to see which 'school beauty' has the confidence to perform a confession right in front of me."

"And by the way."

Jiang Chen looked down at the table full of chips radiating alluring spiritual energy, then looked at the trembling fatty on the communication screen.

"Tell Class Monitor Zhang Wei to book the venue."

"I'll treat this meal."

"Just so happens, I still have some 'alien specialties' brought back from Centaurus."

"Let them have a good taste."

"Of what — true delicacy is."

Jiang Chen hung up the communication, watching the group of alien ships shivering in the vacuum of space, waiting for their next "reward."

He tapped the table lightly, his gaze cast toward the deeper reaches of the starry sky.

That was the direction leading to where the "true gods" resided.

"The mahjong game is over."

"It's time to go meet those... true 'opponents'."

"I hope they won't be like that bunch of useless The Sweepers, who only know how to get diarrhea."

After saying this, the luan bird behind him roared again, shattering the void.

This was destined to be a moment remembered by the Milky Way Galaxy.

Because that legendary "Village Chief Jiang" was finally going to bring his unreasonableness to meet that so-called... myth.

And at this very moment.

Behind him, Academician Chen Shuyin was holding that spirit stone, feeling the energy contained within it, the confusion in her eyes gone.

She looked at Jiang Chen's back.

Only one thought remained.

Regardless of whether it's gods or ghosts ahead.

As long as he turns back.

I will be there.