Phantasmal Genesis
Chapter 23: The method to boost testosterone

After watching the police car drive away with the two, Meng Ke spoke with the troubled Lin Chen Xi for a while.

He knew that Lin Chen Xi didn’t fall in love at first sight for him, it was simply a love that came from her muddled brain, which was overloaded with hormones.

After she had left, Meng Ke returned to the milk tea shop, buying another cup.

Endocrines greatly affected emotions, but they could also help Meng Ke control his.

However, what Meng Ke wanted wasn’t to control his emotions by suppressing his hormones.

If he could hypnotise his own body, why would he bother with training himself to death every day?

Body training was just a way to reconstruct his muscles, and to the average human, it was not only time-consuming but also fucking tiring.

Meng Ke understood that overloading in testosterone would lead to protein synthesis, which supported bone growth and strengthened one’s immunity.

In the bodybuilding world, the importance of testosterone was unparalleled. The more testosterone you had, the higher the quality and quality of your muscles, and vice versa.

There once was someone who thought that if someone’s testosterone production could be maxed, that person would not need to train at all to reach the limit of a human body’s potential.

As such, testosterone was basically described as the human body’s enhancer.

Meng Ke’s thinking was similar, if he could hypnotise his own body, and create large amounts of testosterone.

He had already tested it twice today on other people, and his control over hormones had already gotten some training.

And he did as he thought, he wasn’t worried as an ability user.

Using his spiritual power, he observed the part that was responsible for producing testosterone. After confirming it multiple times, Meng Ke started to use his ability.

In that second, Meng Ke felt a rush of warmth flow through his body from the bottom with his spiritual power. After it had flowed through his entire body, the warmth continued to accumulate.

Shit!

He instantly realised that testosterone needed to be absorbed by the body before it could become muscles. And at this moment, his situation was that he had too much for his body to absorb!

“……”

Meng Ke slowly lowered the testosterone in his body as he allowed it to absorb the accumulated testosterone.

After a while, he finally found a balance. As the testosterone flowed through his body, every single cell absorbed it perfectly. By the time every single cell was full, the testosterone had flowed through his entire body.

“Gu gu gu……”

After two hours, a deep sound came from his stomach, Meng Ke could feel his hunger growing.

“Nothing appears from thin air, the process of strengthening my body is because it’s absorbing nutrients rapidly. If I want to continue this process, I’ll need to eat every hour!”

Meng Ke had no choice but to take out his phone and search for the nearest buffet restaurant. The web novel had already mentioned this simple method, and as a poor man, Meng Ke could only apologise to the buffet restaurant.

Buffets were cheap, and extremely filling despite their poor taste. Meng Ke needed to fuel his body’s growth through food, so the taste wasn’t an issue.

But he couldn’t go to buffets every day, it was not only money-consuming but also inconvenient. As he thought, Meng Ke bought large amounts of nutritional supplements from Tao Bao. (Think of eBay.)

Looking at the 3-digit savings he had, Meng Ke felt a bit sad.

He had been going on a shopping spree for a while now, and he hadn’t earned a cent. Spending without earning was draining his funds quickly.

How did I not think of using my ability to earn money, Meng Ke thought as he mocked himself.

If anyone else had gotten this ability, the first thing they would’ve thought of would be to earn money!

After leaving the buffet restaurant, Meng Ke suddenly thought of a place and immediately called a cab.

Red Leaf Hotel.

These hotels were not law-abiding at all, and that was exactly what Meng Ke was looking for.

On the surface, this was a small three-story building without a single guest, but many people knew that there was a small shop next to this hotel with a steel door inside.

If a guest entered from the main door, the receptionist would tell them that the rooms were full, but they could go upstairs through the steel door.

What?

You’re asking why Meng Ke knew this?

Because that shop didn’t only have that steel door, but also a computer that minors could use to access the internet.

When he was a student, he came here often with his friends to use the internet. After getting close to the boss, he asked about the people entering and leaving through the steel doors and found out its purpose quickly.

It wasn’t exactly a mysterious place, it was just a gambling house.

That’s right, this was a secret gambling house.

Meng Ke came here to earn money.

Entering the shop, he greeted the boss who quickly led him through the steel door. After all, the two of them had been acquainted for 6 years.

Inside those steel doors were two men seated at the elevator’s entrance, smoking as they held their phones. They were guarding the doors of this place.

If the person entering had not been led in by the boss, they would’ve immediately informed the higher-ups and stopped the person, regardless of their identity.

Just by sitting here, these men could earn a few hundred.

“Here to play?” A man squinted his eyes at Meng Ke as he scrutinised him.

“He’s one of us, don’t be so suspicious and let him go up.” The boss spoke with annoyance before he turned and left, closing the doors behind him.

Meng Ke had only known of this place, and he was a bit self-conscious as he entered for the first time.

The man bringing him up asked, “You look unfamiliar, this must be your first time, what are you here to play?”

“Uncapped Fried Golden Flower.” (A popular type of poker in China.)

“Oh? I didn’t expect you to be a rich guy?” The man was surprised.

Fried Golden Flower was also called three cards, the game starts with the players placing their bets before the house dealt their three cards. As the house revealed their cards, every player could choose to fold or call based on the size of the cards in their hands.

Folding would lose their initial bet, and calling would have them place the same amount to follow the bets placed on the table.

Of course, someone could double or triple their bet to open someone’s cards, and during this process, only the two people involved would have to decide to fold if they judged their own cards to be small.

But if someone continued calling without opening their cars, there were two ways to play Fried Golden Flower, capping or uncapping.

Capping was when after a few rounds of calling, everyone had to open their cards, and the biggest cards would win.

Uncapping meant that you could call as much as you wanted until someone revealed their cards.

That was why Fried Golden Flowers were also called the rich man’s game.

After making a call, the man led Meng Ke into a room.

In this smoke-filled room, four men were already playing, their expressions as still as water.

And at this moment, there were already stacks of red bills on the table. (Red bills are $100 bills.)

After entering, Meng Ke quietly sat on an unoccupied seat.

It was etiquette to be silent while watching a chess match, and it was the same for poker.

“Call.”

“Call.”

“Fold.”

……

The game ended quickly, and without asking Meng Ke, the house placed three cards in front of him. It was obvious that he was playing the moment he placed his bet down.

With a $100 bet, Meng Ke scanned the cards in front of him with his spiritual power. 78J, with J being the biggest. Without opening his cards, if they wanted to open his cards, they needed at least $400.

After that.

His spiritual power swept through the room.

This entire place was under his surveillance, and it was as if everyone had opened their cards in front of him.

QK4

367

334

679

Only two people had cards bigger than his, and they were people who had looked at their cards.

After the first round of calls, the cap-wearing man with 387 folded.

“Call.”

“Call.”

“Call.”

“Call.”

When you first enter the table, no one was sure of your tactics. This was a time when you could fight even with small cards.

After the first round, $400 was added to the table.

The second round started, this was the real start of the game.

After the house called, the next person in the clockwise direction, a man who was smoking, stared at the house and spoke, “Open the cards, I don’t believe that you have the same luck from the last round.”

In Fried Golden Flower, the victor was the house.

The man with the cigarette was holding two 3s, it was a pair. Indeed, he had the right to open another person’s cards.

Meng Ke knew that his cards were the biggest in this game, so after the two had checked the cards, the house that was holding Q54 folded.

This was a bit troublesome, this smoker was obviously rich, and it was clear from the moment that he opened the house’s cards.

He didn’t care about losing or winning.

These kinds of people would hold on even with a barely decent hand.

As Meng Ke called, he chose to call.

This time, he only brought $900 with him, just by losing this game, he would have no money to keep playing.

That was why he couldn’t lose this game.

It was the third round.

Unsurprisingly, the smoker and another old man decided to call yet again.

Both of them felt that their cards were big. In their mind, the more money that was placed on the table, the more money they would earn.

And Meng Ke had the same thought, which was why he called.

It’s not like he would lose, so why wouldn’t he call?

And because they were playing uncapping poker, the three of them called for three rounds.

At this point, there was quite a bit of money on the table.

The smoker carefully opened another person’s cards, and after that man had folded, he watched on with a calm expression.

Meng Ke counted $3,900 on the table. If the smoker opened his cards, he would have to add on another $2,800.

But Meng Ke only needed $1,400 to open his cards.

“Open your cards, I didn’t see you check your cards once. With such guts, I don’t believe you’re bigger than me!”

The man confidently puffed out cigarette smoke with a half smile, his expression was as if he was going to eat Meng Ke whole.