Daily life of a teacher in the martial arts department

Ying Qin Guan had always assumed that the Undying Worm was a mythical creature. After all, everything about it resembled something mythical, especially its inability to reproduce—a characteristic of mythical creatures. Mythical creatures cannot increase their numbers artificially; if they do, it's mostly from zero to one, or from zero to any other number. And, regardless of the method, this number cannot be increased through normal means such as reproduction or cloning.

"If the Undead Worm is a magical beast, then..."

-

"We're one short for three... Little Shenxin, wanna play a couple of rounds?"

Inside the board game arcade, Nocturne, the owner, and Ahe sat around a mahjong table, extending an invitation to Shenxin.

—A board game arcade will naturally have more than just Time Warp; it's just that Time Warp is the most popular board game and has the most players.

It's summer vacation now, a time of great leisure for students and teachers. Thanks to the previous trip with Sakura, Yorozuya now has both time and money. So, they've got a lot of entertainment options. Nocturne just made a phone call and invited the two from Yorozuya to a board game arcade.

"Oh! I'm here!"

Shenxin didn't hesitate and sat down.

The boss didn't stand on ceremony and said to Ahe, "Go and get busy at the front desk. It's not good to leave Mr. Yu standing there."

"Ah..." Yu Xietian felt a little embarrassed upon hearing this and was about to refuse when Ahe had already readily left the table.

"Yes... Mr. Yu, please. You are a guest, and we can't let the guest stand there waiting."

Having said that, Yu Xietian stopped refusing and sat down at the card table.

Shenxin held up the small blackboard and asked.

"Where are you playing mahjong?"

"A little gambling is harmless fun," Nocturne said. "Let's play Xuanzhou Mahjong from Nanqin."

Mahjong has different rules and gameplay in different places. People have different opinions on whether it's a big or small game, easy or difficult to win. In Xuanzhou Mahjong in Nanqin, it's a game for fun, with a small stake. The base bet is one coin, and the chips are fifty coins, which can't be counted in an afternoon.

However, the current Shenxin is not the same Shenxin as before; she is currently experiencing an unprecedented surge in wealth.

"Xuanzhou Mahjong is too small-scale, it's not fun! Let's play Seven Stars Mahjong!"

Seven Stars Mahjong... is a high-stakes game. It's the first mahjong game in the world to combine riichi and chaise longue gameplay. It allows for winning without yaku, and you can eat, pong, and kong. It's very easy to win and the winnings can be huge, making it a type of mahjong that can bankrupt someone.

—Furthermore, the Seven Stars Mahjong game allows interception of winning hands, which has led to countless bloodshed incidents. Because it's so easy to win with the same tile, everyone is prone to winning with the same tile, and the existence of this interception mechanism has caused countless bloodshed incidents, resulting in broken families and deaths.

The boss shrugged and said, "I don't care."

Nocturne smiled and said, "It's good that you know what's going on, little god."

Shen Xin was filled with fighting spirit and planned to wreak havoc on all sides.

"Let me show you what I'm capable of!"

Chapter Fourteen: Who knows?

"Seven Stars Mahjong...it brings back so many memories, I haven't played this in ages."

The game begins, and Nocturne is the East player – in Seven Luminaries Mahjong, there is no concept of a dealer; there are only four players: East, South, West, and North.

Shenxin was somewhat afraid of Ye Qu, fearing that she might just glance at the table and instantly win with a single move. Fortunately, Ye Qu didn't go that far and played a card properly.

The boss sighed softly and played a West Wind card. Shenxin, who was to his left, had a pair in his hand, which meant he had caught the boss. He immediately ponged the card and was in a great mood. As he played the card, he raised the small blackboard.

"How so, it's been a long time since you've played?"

"Ah..." The boss nodded and smiled, "It's been a long time. I remember the last time I played Seven Stars Mahjong was when I graduated from university. My father gave me five hundred pounds and told me to start my own business. Back then, I was arrogant and didn't want to take things slowly. I thought I could achieve success overnight, so I went to Silver Sea..."

Silver Sea, which Shenxin had heard of, was a spectacular building in the capital of the Morgan Kingdom. Its structure resembled a pyramid, with seventy-two floors, and it encompassed industries such as clothing, food, housing, transportation, and gambling. Naturally, it housed the world's largest casino.

She picked up the small blackboard and made a joke.

"What, you've lost all your money?"

Then it was the boss's turn again. He paused for a moment, then adjusted his monocle, drew a card, played one, and threw out his chips.

“Upright…no, quite the opposite, that’s where I completed my primitive accumulation of capital.”

A strange feeling welled up in Shen Xin's heart. The boss was carrying a terrifying aura of a powerful figure, and he was already in a winning hand on the second hand... It was a bit of an exaggeration.

She thought for a moment, then played an East wind card. The shop owner reacted, and Shen Xin felt a chill run down her spine, as if she could sense countless dollars leaving her. But the shop owner didn't win; he simply tidied his hair slightly.

"What?! I thought you were going to play it safe! You scared me to death!"

The boss smiled slightly. At this moment, Nocturne finished playing cards. The boss reached out and touched the card, without looking at it. He felt it briefly and knew what was going on.

"Self-draw, win, unparalleled thirteen-sided hand."

He pushed out the tiles, and it was indeed a peerless hero. The winning tile he drew was also the East Wind – he could have won when Shenxin played the tile earlier!

【“!!】】

Shen Xin was extremely shocked and hurriedly looked... It was indeed the peerless thirteen-sided card, waiting for thirteen cards, and still no God of Wealth!

The "God of Wealth" refers to a wild card that is flipped over after everyone has drawn their tiles. This wild card can be used to transform into any other tile. In the rules of Seven Luminaries Mahjong, if someone wins with over 10,000 points without the God of Wealth, or if the God of Wealth doesn't function (i.e., it's counted according to the original card and doesn't transform into anything else), then the final score is doubled. This flip is called the "Reversal Flip," rewarding those brave enough to make a big hand without the wild card.

...and those incredibly lucky bastards.

—In addition, the points for winning with two Gods of Wealth are reduced to one-half, and for three Gods of Wealth it is one-quarter, but the minimum cannot be lower than one thousand points.

Nocturne snapped the door open, still smiling.

"What, boss? You're so kind to Xiao Shenxin? You're not going to seduce her? That's so gentle—"

—If you win by drawing the winning tile, the winning tile is paid by one person, meaning only the player with the winning hand is the "god" (or "heart"). If you win by drawing the winning tile yourself, the winning tile is split equally among the other three players.

"Gentle?" The shopkeeper chuckled and tapped his tiles. "I'm waiting for thirteen tiles, and I'll get more points if I win by drawing the winning tile myself. Why would I want to win with this one?"

"How greedy!"

Shen Xin criticized the boss, seemingly feigning innocence after getting a good deal. But inwardly, he was terrified, beginning to realize that playing mahjong with the boss was a mistake; this guy was a monster...

"You're the one who benefited, it's really unfair of me to say that." The shopkeeper chuckled and began calculating the points, "A thirteen-sided winning tile, self-draw, no wild card, treasure tile 1, the points are..."

His words successfully made Shen Xin and Yu Xietian's faces turn ugly. At this rate, no amount of money could possibly be enough for the boss to win.

"No need to calculate." Just as the boss was racking his brains, Nocturne spoke up with a smile.

"Miss Nocturne has already calculated it for me?" The boss immediately perked up.

"No." Nocturne pushed the cards and smiled, "Double God of Wealth, intercept that East Wind to win, Double God of Wealth becomes East Wind, East player's three East Winds doubles, Double God of Wealth doubles, no Treasure Cards, no Servants, no Pongs, no Kongs, a lousy win, 1000 points, Little God, please pay."

boss:"..?"

He stumbled back three steps, his blood pressure soaring higher than Shen Xin's height.

The absurdity of the story of "Hu Jie Guoshi Wushuang Shisanmian" is roughly as follows: It's like this: an extremely successful person casually eats some packaged food on the roadside, a gust of wind suddenly blows the packaging away, the person instinctively tries to grab the packaging, and then a big truck comes head-on, killing him and ending his legendary life.

It's just that outrageous... But to be fair, while novels might not dare to write things like this, such things often happen in reality. As Ye Jiaofang said, not all stories have happy endings.

After being interrupted by Nocturne, the boss's Dao heart collapsed. In a fantasy novel, this would mean his meridians were destroyed and he lost all his cultivation. His true life was lost, and he was powerless to fight anymore. He could only leave the scene in despair. Ah He returned to the mahjong table.

Shenxin and Yu Xietian breathed a sigh of relief, having avoided being thoroughly ripped off. They finally realized how foolish it was for the two of them to challenge Seven Luminaries Mahjong with their current abilities. Besides, there was a final boss like Ye Qu above the boss... So, taking advantage of the change of players, they quickly switched to Xuanzhou Mahjong of Southern Qin. The atmosphere relaxed, and Shenxin began chatting and laughing with Ye Qu again.

Both she and Nocturne possess exceptional memory and thinking speed, even able to chat during breaks from playing mahjong—which may seem insignificant, but Shenxin needs to write, which requires considerable effort. It's generally impossible for an average person to maintain a high level of competitive performance while doing another task.

The two could switch topics at will, and Shen was always on her own, only Nocturne could keep up with her wildly imaginative thought process.

During the conversation, the topic turned to the immortal worm.

Shenxin was also quite surprised by this magical beast, because the Undying Worm was indeed a magical beast, not a special alien race, yet this magical beast was incapable of reproduction.

"So, in the very beginning, what did the earliest batch of immortal insects look like? How did they appear in this world? If they evolved from animals, then why didn't the animals that followed change? Were they extinct? But if that's the case, why haven't the remaining immortal insects degenerated into ordinary animals over the years...?"

"This..." Nocturne lowered her gaze and chuckled softly, "Who knows?"

Regarding the patch for the mahjong game in the previous chapter.

—My mind was a mess when I was writing the previous chapter. I had already written up to the part where the boss won by drawing the winning tile himself, but my brain was still stuck on the part where Shenxin discarded the winning tile. If the boss had won with Shenxin's East Wind tile, then Nocturne would have won with East Wind, the boss with South Wind, and Shenxin with West Wind. That's what I wrote in the end, Nocturne would have given Shenxin the winning tile... But my brain couldn't keep up with my thoughts, and the boss had already chosen to win by drawing the winning tile himself.

So this is a bug, I got it mixed up, but it's okay, I'll just patch it.

In Seven Luminaries Mahjong, a "self-drawn" tile is also considered a "discarded" tile and cannot be eaten, ponged, or konged because its priority is lower than winning. However, it can be intercepted, and the order of the players before and after it is determined. But you are the last player to win. That is to say, if the boss self-draws an East Wind tile, it is considered a discarded tile. Shenxin, Yuxietian, and Yequ have the opportunity to win in that order, and the boss is the last to win.

That should make sense. I'll go back and revise the previous chapter; it was the boss who provided the bargaining chips, not the divine heart.

Speaking of which, I originally planned to update like crazy in February, posting one or two chapters a day, but I forgot that this period is so special, with visiting relatives and drinking every day. I even slept at 7 am and woke up at 10 am for two consecutive days... Fortunately, this bug only occurred in the daily life chapters where I can manipulate things at will.

that's all.

-

Chapter Fifteen: Black Dragon Ruins

"One good news, one bad news."

In an empty classroom at the Imperial Academy, two men stood: one was Mu Nandong, and the other was a middle-aged man who had seen him a few days earlier.

Mu Nandong, holding a stack of documents, uttered the aforementioned classic line, but unfortunately, he lacked the charm of asking "which one do you want to hear first?" and directly revealed the answer.

"The good news is that, with Nocturne's help, I've completed the information here. The bad news is that one of the ingredients is endangered, or rather, practically extinct. It was over two years ago, and as far as I know, the last known fossil of it is kept in the Byrd Museum in Byrd City..."

Bird City, the capital of the Ang Empire, was struck by mutated undead worms last winter, triggering a horrific tragedy that claimed millions of lives. In terms of death toll, it even surpassed the number killed by the Black Dragon.

Later, the military burned the entire city... and the last, only plant fossil naturally disappeared in the fire.

"This is a troublesome matter..." The middle-aged man didn't ask what kind of plant it was; it wasn't his area of ​​expertise, and even if he did ask and find out, it wouldn't change anything. He simply said, "Did you write it all down in this document?"

"Of course." Mu Nandong said indifferently, handing the document to the middle-aged man. "My task ends here. Don't bother me anymore. Everything is written here. If you can't read, go back to kindergarten and repeat the lessons."

That's really quite impolite...

The middle-aged man took the document, nodded slightly, and said nothing.

He left with the document and soon arrived at the Seven Stars Embassy, ​​handing it to an envoy. The envoy briefly checked the document and uploaded the data to military researchers—like mobile phones and televisions, this world already possessed computers. However, they weren't used for civilian purposes, and their functions were very basic, also relying on the magic network system.

"An extinct plant, even its fossils have been destroyed..."

"So, how exactly do we obtain this?"

The middle-aged man, pondering these matters, carefully scanned the document and discovered that Mu Nandong was truly meticulous in his work. If certain plants were endangered or rare, he would thoughtfully mark their growth habits and possible habitats, even including a world map with different colored dots representing the possible locations of different plants.

For example, the "Bailian" only has three dots, and the color of the one in Nanqin Wuyang City is still very light, indicating that it is basically impossible for it to exist there.

The plant that Mu Nandong deliberately marked as extinct, with no plant fossils remaining, appears as a very faint dot on the entire map.

And that place was...