Chapter 5: Ghost Mahjong (Please Support and Add to Your Favorites During the New Release Period)

The next day was Saturday, but Qin Ye still attended classes. For those in their final year of high school, weekends simply didn’t exist.

He had barely finished the first lesson in the morning when two tall figures appeared at his desk. The surrounding students silently made way.

Zhang Yilong and Wang Chenghao.

Normally, when these two stood before someone, it meant trouble for that person. But this time was different.

Their eyes were complicated as they looked at Qin Ye. Qin Ye frowned and looked up. “What is it?”

No one answered. After a few seconds, Wang Chenghao raised his eyebrows and slid his thumb across his palm. “How about we take a walk?”

“Wang Chenghao, what are you doing? We still have class.” Qin Ye’s deskmate, a ponytailed girl, spoke in a low voice, but she didn’t dare meet their eyes.

That “walk” could mean anything.

“Mind your own business!” Zhang Yilong, who had been timid the night before, was now back to his tough act. He glared at the girl, who immediately fell silent.

“It’s alright,” Qin Ye stood up, smiled at the girl, and nodded. “Thank you.”

The three of them walked all the way to the rooftop. The wind was strong. Qingxi County belonged to Xichuan Province, where sunlight was rarely seen. Even in early summer, the sky looked like the bottom of a pot turned upside down.

“Get out.” There were a few people on the rooftop, but Wang Chenghao frowned and barked. The place quieted instantly.

He didn’t speak first. Instead, he opened a pack of Zhonghua cigarettes, offered one to Qin Ye. “Want one?”

Masochist?

Qin Ye cast a skeptical glance at the two. They were typical troublemakers—fighting, smoking, drinking—“bad eggs” in the teachers’ eyes, famous throughout Qingxi High. Yet Wang Chenghao’s family was well-off. His father was said to be the wealthiest man in the county. No one dared interfere.

So… after a night of… not a one-night stand, but a night of emotional exchange, they were now offering him a cigarette?

He took one and lit it. The three smoked in silence. Soon, the bell for the next period rang. Qin Ye got up to leave.

Wang Chenghao finally spoke. “Wait.”

“I have class.”

“It’s PE!” Wang Chenghao took a deep drag, as if he’d matured overnight. His voice was low and subdued. “Before… there were misunderstandings between us. From today on, I’ve got your back. Anyone who messes with you messes with me. I—I have only one question…”

“What happened last night?”

Qin Ye blinked. “What do you remember?”

Wang Chenghao’s whole body trembled. He buried his head in his arms, his voice quivering. “I just remember… the doors and windows suddenly closed… My phone, right! My phone kept ringing! What happened after that?”

Once he started, the words poured out. When he looked up, his eyes were red. “And then? What happened then? Last night… did we see…”

His voice weakened, then drifted, “Did we see… something unclean?”

“How did the school know? Why didn’t they warn students? It’s so dangerous! Damn it!!” Zhang Yilong ground out his cigarette, shivering as he recalled last night’s terror. He took out his phone and showed it to Qin Ye. “Look… I checked other high school forums in different cities today. It’s not just us! That ghost broadcast happens everywhere, every day!”

“It’s not just schools. Factories, offices, stores… neighborhood committees, housing complexes, all are broadcasting!”

“Qin Ye, what really happened? You know, don’t you? You must know! Your family runs a coffin shop!”

Just because my family runs a coffin shop, I should know?

If someone studies finance, should they be the minister of finance?

He had a thousand retorts, but seeing the panic in their eyes, Qin Ye sighed inwardly, took the phone and glanced at it.

“Shocking! At West River City’s First People’s Hospital, all patients heard it last night. Empty corridors, someone sang Huangmei Opera at two in the morning! Sang until five! Someone looked out the window—no one there!”

“Absolutely supernatural! Look at this photo, taken by my aunt yesterday at Lingshi City’s Third Hospital. She’s eight months pregnant, but the photo shows a grown man’s face!”

“Someone died! Last night at midnight, two luxury cars crashed on Yellow River Bridge! But one of them, half an hour later, turned into a paper car! Paper car! My neighbor’s friend’s uncle was there! I saw the video myself!”

There were plenty of posts.

Compared to the whole forum, maybe not many. But—this was China!

Superstition had long been suppressed. In the past, anything like this, especially with video, would be deleted instantly. But now, these posts were published openly.

Not only on forums. He browsed the news and found major outlets—Qiandu News, Dalang News, Penguin News—occasionally reporting such stories.

The world was changing…

He didn’t know why, but he had lived long enough to sense the tides of change sweeping through the world.

Even the media was starting to endorse it… What was happening in China?

“Qin Ye… Qin Ye! Say something!” Wang Chenghao’s anxious voice pulled him from his thoughts. Qin Ye handed the phone back, weighing his words. “I don’t know, either.”

“All I can say is, whatever the state tells us to do, we’d better do it. Some things science still can’t explain. Since everyone’s experienced it… it’s better to believe than not.”

His response wasn’t particularly useful, but the two nodded deeply, as if drowning men had finally found a lifeline.

Often, people don’t want the truth—they just want comfort. Or, to believe in something. Whether real or not.

“I’ll be going now.” Qin Ye patted his pants and stood up. Wang Chenghao suddenly said, “Qin Ye… do you know how to deal with these things?”

“Afraid they’ll come for you again?” Qin Ye looked him up and down. Wang Chenghao actually looked decent, over six feet tall. Even after last night’s fright, he was rosy and full of vitality.

“No.” Wang Chenghao bit his lip, voice low. “It’s not me… Actually… something’s wrong at home lately…”

“I can’t help.” Qin Ye opened the door and walked out. “Professional matters need professionals. I’m just an amateur—I’d only make things worse.”

Senior year was hard and fast. By five in the afternoon, another round of broadcast began. Just as Qin Ye got on his bike, he stopped and listened.

Something was different.

The broadcast was not the same as yesterday.

“…If you are still on campus, please leave before 6:10, no matter what. From today, all abandoned classrooms will be renovated. Do not enter any rooms with sealed doors. If you do, you will be expelled.”

“All staff, starting immediately, must return to their rented rooms at school by evening. No one may go out after seven. If caught on camera, you will be dismissed…”

“If you do not follow the new school rules, the school will not be responsible for anything that happens.”

He waited a long time before riding off, his brow never relaxing.

It really was different…

Only those who’d experienced it could tell—this wasn’t renovation. This was a cover-up!

Something unpredictable was happening across China, spreading to counties and even villages. Incidents like yesterday’s were surely common. The forum posts were just “preludes”—the government was giving people time to adjust, debating whether to reveal the truth or not.

Stability above all. China was a superpower with over a billion people. Any uncontrollable factor could have unimaginable consequences. Yet even so, the government was half-compromising with the facts. This time, the supernatural events hidden behind the mist… were likely a thousand times more serious than he’d imagined!

And… the change in the broadcast meant one more thing.

The situation was escalating, slipping out of control, galloping wildly like a runaway horse!

Just a week ago, broadcasts happened once a day. Three days later, they began looping at six o’clock. Now… the school was evacuating staff!

All signs pointed to the gravity of the matter.

“I wonder if other countries are experiencing this… What’s really happening?” The wind howled around him as he pondered. “I don’t know, but someone must.”

His gaze turned toward the outskirts of the county. “The Gastly in the Pokeball… No, that old ghost definitely knows why!”

“Tonight at midnight…”

Soon he arrived home. As he stepped through the door, his solemn expression melted away, even feeling he’d been too suspicious.

He opened the door. The central coffin was wide open, its lid neatly cut into a square board. Four elderly women sat on the four sides. His grandmother’s fingers lightly gripped her tiles, her expression grave. After a few seconds, she gently pushed a tile. “Two Bamboo.”

Wonderful…

I slave away outside to support the family, and you stay home to look pretty?

Fine… You’ve even mastered blind mahjong skills? Who are these old ladies, anyway? I’ve never seen them before. You can even rope in grannies from other neighborhoods? And playing mahjong on a coffin—doesn’t this take oddness to a new level?

His urge to complain was boiling over, but he forced it down.

There was no help for it… Under this roof, with a wife of such mysterious origins, patience was the only way.

“Pung.” The granny across from him smiled broadly, pushing her tiles forward. “Single waiting.”

“So fast?” “Cheating, right?” “One Bamboo, Two Bamboo—you have to play. Ready hand, cut if you can, but I can’t play games with this fierce old lady. One Bamboo.”

His grandmother took a drag from her cigarette and discarded a One Bamboo. But her smile froze the next second.

“Win. Pung Pung Hu, Pure Suit, Single waiting One Bamboo. You owe me thirty million.” The old lady opposite grinned, her face blooming like a chrysanthemum, and pushed her tiles forward.

Thirty million!?

Are you kidding me! Wait… What are you planning to use to pay this thirty million?

Qin Ye hadn’t even finished his exclamation when his grandmother grandly slapped a hundred million bill onto the coffin lid. “Go buy yourself a coffin.”

It was a hundred million in hell currency.

Wait…

Qin Ye blinked, looked carefully, then took a deep breath and stepped back several paces.

Beside the coffin, except for his grandmother, the others… had no feet!

Below their knees, their legs were nearly transparent, their toes never touched the ground!

This was… ghost mahjong!

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There’s a recommendation for this book on Monday, so there will be extra chapters then. I intended to update more today—but the weekend…