Chapter 307: Citywide Madness! What's It Like to Win a $2.04 Billion Jackpot?
"Are you okay?"
Little Leonard, holding a photo of himself and Chuck, had driven back the bullies before turning to Maria, who was sitting on the ground gathering her books. Looking at Maria's beautiful face, his earlier confidence and pride instantly transformed into awkwardness and a goofy grin.
"I'm fine, thank you."
Maria stood up and forced a smile at Little Leonard.
Although she seemed to have been rescued by a hero, the hero was just a kid, which still didn't make her feel much better. Her gaze, however, fell on the photo in Little Leonard's hand.
"Actually, you don't need to thank me—it's mainly Chuck."
Little Leonard noticed Maria's gaze and very modestly scratched the back of his head: "They're afraid of him."
"Are you really good friends with him?"
Maria looked at the grinning Little Leonard and the expressionless Chuck in the photo, somewhat skeptical.
"That's just how Chuck is,"
Leonard explained, already used to everyone's doubts. "He looks like this in photos with everyone. Look how close we are!"
"…"
Maria watched Leonard pointing at the photo, constantly analyzing and explaining how close he and Chuck were, and didn't know what to say. She glanced at Chuck in the photo again, then quickly looked away and hurried off.
"…My name is Leonard. You can reach out to me if you need anything."
Leonard looked up and saw Maria was gone, so he could only call out to her retreating figure with a sense of loss.
In the women's restroom.
Maria sat in a stall, took out a compact mirror, and looked at her reflection. "Maybe I should contact Detective Chuck through him."
"Don't contact him!"
The Maria in the mirror no longer seemed insecure; her eyes were filled with domineering fierceness.
"He should know what's going on with us,"
Maria said anxiously.
"You know what's going on with us!"
The Maria in the mirror sneered.
"I don't know… Are you my alternate personality?"
Maria asked weakly.
Because of the Esther case, concepts like mental illness, dissociative identity disorder, and evil alter egos had spread widely.
"Wrong!"
Maria in the mirror glared hatefully. "I am the dominant personality, and you are a weak, pathetic victim completely controlled by him!"
"Dad..."
Maria knew without explanation who her reflection was referring to.
"We are so beautiful and perfect—we should be living at the center of the world, admired by everyone! But look at you now, so insecure and weak, being bullied like this. It's pathetic!"
Maria in the mirror berated her.
"Professor Harper and Lisa are the truly beautiful and perfect ones,"
Maria couldn't help but retort.
Maria's fierce and proud expression faltered, and she glared at herself for citing those two examples: "That's what you think! If you listen to me, you'll be even more perfect than them..."
Seeing her reflection's disbelief, Maria added, "At least you won't be weaker than them. You'll see, I'll prove it to you! Confidence is what makes us truly beautiful!"
"What should I do?"
Maria was tempted.
"You know what to do! Look at me, do as I do! Place your palm against mine."
Maria's expression in the mirror softened considerably. She extended her hand to the mirror, gesturing for Maria to do the same.
Maria hesitated.
"What are you still hesitating about? I am you, and you are me. Let me take control of our body and show you the real way to live, so you can experience it all firsthand."
Maria stared at herself in the mirror: "Do you really want us to keep enduring this pathetic and humiliating life?"
Maria lowered her head, slowly raising her palm toward the mirror.
Just as she was about to place it, a loud knock sounded at the door: "Who's mumbling in there? Are you on the phone?! Hurry up!"
Maria snapped out of her trance, put away the mirror, opened the stall door, and hurried out with her head down.
New York.
Monica's apartment.
"Chuck, I can't get in touch with Ross,"
Monica said worriedly. "It's been two days, and I don't know what he's doing. I can't reach him on his phone, no one's at his apartment, and I went to the museum—they said he took time off."
"Don't worry,"
Chuck said bluntly. "Nobody would commit a crime for him."
"Don't say that,"
Chandler, who was reading the newspaper nearby, put it down and laughed. "Maybe he's got some dinosaur DNA, and Jurassic Park kidnapped him."
"Don't joke around!"
Monica glared at him.
"I'm not joking."
Chandler shrugged, then pointed to the front page headline and said seriously, "It can't be because he's the lucky guy who won the biggest Powerball jackpot in history a couple of days ago, and then got kidnapped, right?"
"The timing matches up,"
Monica retorted. "Besides, Ross buys lottery tickets sometimes."
"The winning ticket was sold at a gas station on Long Island,"
Chandler quipped. "Don't tell me Ross drove all the way there just to buy lottery tickets. Does he even have a car?"
"…"
Monica was speechless.
"I'm out of here!"
Chandler jumped up and headed for the door.
"Where are you going?"
Monica said irritably. "We're talking about Ross! Aren't you worried about him at all?"
"Chuck said no one would commit a crime for him!"
Chandler joked. "I bet he's at some wild party somewhere. Instead of looking for him, we should go buy lottery tickets!
Speaking of which, this year's Powerball jackpot is insane—a whopping $2.04 billion! Whoever wins it will be a legit billionaire.
If I win, maybe I can run for president this year."
"Keep dreaming!"
Monica retorted. "You don't have Chuck's genius brain, and even if you were as brilliant as Chuck, Powerball, with its well-established system, isn't like those regional lotteries where you can exploit loopholes.
You'd be more likely to get struck by lightning than win the jackpot.
Besides, who's always complaining about their bad luck?
Does someone that unlucky really have the odds to win such a massive prize?"
"Okay, okay, okay,"
Chandler raised his hands in surrender. "I was just saying—no need to destroy me."
"What are you guys talking about?"
Rachel and Phoebe pushed open the door and asked with smiles.
"We're talking about winning the lottery and becoming billionaires,"
Chandler laughed.
"Did you buy tickets today?"
Rachel immediately pulled out a stack of tickets from her purse, excitedly saying, "I bought some—I wonder if I'll win!"
"Seriously?"
Monica looked at Rachel in disbelief, "You're really obsessed!"
"$2.04 billion!"
Rachel's eyes lit up, "Why can other people win, but not me!"
"Don't talk about her."
Phoebe chimed in, "All of New York is crazy—there are lines around the block to buy lottery tickets."
"You didn't buy any?"
Rachel shot back immediately.
"I..."
Phoebe was speechless.
"You're telling me you didn't buy any?"
Rachel scoffed.
"Phoebe?"
Monica looked at Phoebe in surprise.
When Phoebe's bank account suddenly had a large sum of money, she didn't keep it. Instead, she immediately notified the bank and received even more compensation. She didn't want the money, so she gave it all to a homeless man. The homeless man looked at her like she was crazy and was actually a little scared. He insisted on buying her a soda before he felt okay about it, so she accepted.
When she opened the can, she found a human thumb inside. The beverage company paid her $7,000 for emotional distress.
This was a huge sum for an average American.
But Phoebe disliked this kind of "dirty money" and didn't want it, which ended up benefiting Chandler.
At that time, Chandler had relapsed into smoking, which upset all his friends. Phoebe used the money to successfully bribe the stubborn Chandler to quit smoking.
And now, this same Phoebe was buying lottery tickets?
Facing Monica's gaze, Phoebe wanted to stick to her story, but ultimately looked away, which was basically an admission.
"Oh, Phoebe,"
Monica shook her head.
"What's wrong?"
Phoebe, seeing that she'd been busted, stopped pretending. "This isn't $7,000, or $70,000, or $7 million, or even $700 million—it's $2.04 billion!!!"
"Yeah! $2.04 billion!"
Rachel clutched her lottery ticket, her eyes filled with longing. "If I won, I could buy whatever I wanted, without having to rely on my dad anymore. I could even pay his credit card bills—that would be so satisfying..."
She trailed off, clearly fantasizing about giving her wealthy, prominent cardiologist father a supplementary credit card, and then cutting off his credit if he didn't listen to her.
"Chuck, I remember you're a consultant to the National Lottery Association?"
Rachel suddenly remembered something and looked at Chuck. "Do you know who won this jackpot and became a new billionaire?"
"Ha! I see now—you think buying lottery tickets is too slow, so you want to go straight for the super lucky winner, right?"
Chandler pointed at Rachel and laughed.
"So what?"
Rachel shot back with a smile. "What, you want to compete with me?"
"…"
Chandler's lips twitched. "What if this person is Ross?"
"Ross?"
Rachel was stunned, then exclaimed incredulously, "It can't really be Ross, can it?"
"Do you feel like you just lost out on $1.02 billion?"
Chandler mocked. "You should've given him a chance, right?"
"Is it really him?"
Rachel's expression was extremely conflicted.
In the original timeline, she and Ross would have already had their first romance, and probably even broken up for the first time.
But because of Chuck's appearance, the butterfly effect exposed Ross's various unsavory and ugly traits prematurely.
In addition, their fundamental incompatibility had led to a point where they barely saw each other.
People tend to gravitate toward the center of their social circle, especially when one person is Ross and the other is Chuck.
So Rachel, who had understood this social dynamic since childhood, still remained friendly with Ross, but had no subconscious desire to pursue anything further.
Until now, no romantic sparks had ever ignited.
"Monica thinks so—what do you think?"
Chandler teased.
"I haven't been able to reach Ross for two days—I'm a little worried,"
Monica said irritably. "I was just thinking of asking Chuck to check it out for me."
"Oh, so it's not true."
Rachel said, somewhat disappointed.
"What if it were true?"
Chandler pressed.
Rachel didn't speak, but her eyes said it all. That's $2.04 billion! She thought she could make it work.
Yep.
Phoebe, standing beside her, had the same expression.
Compared to Rachel, who subconsciously didn't feel any attraction to Ross, Phoebe and Ross had shared a passionate moment.
Although they were interrupted before they even got started by friends who suddenly walked into the bar, if Ross really won the $2.04 billion jackpot, Phoebe felt she could reconsider Ross.
After all, money beyond a certain point is just a number.
And while Phoebe didn't like money, she could like numbers.
"I'll have someone look into it,"
Chuck nodded, seeing the continued worry in Monica's eyes.
"Okay!"
Monica smiled instantly.
She wasn't actually that worried, but it had been two days, and with Chuck, a detective, by her side, and the two being so close, asking him for help was a kind of intimate game and foreplay.
"Monica, aren't you even a little tempted?"
Rachel looked at Monica, puzzled.
"Tempted by what?"
Monica was pondering which challenge to attempt tonight when Rachel's question caught her off guard.
"The lottery! Billionaire-level wealth!"
Rachel reminded her with exasperation, "I remember you used to buy lottery tickets—I don't believe you're not tempted at all?"
"I don't care, and that was before. I don't know if it's appropriate for me to buy now..."
Monica said, her eyes smiling as she looked at Chuck.
"Why wouldn't it be appropriate?"
Rachel complained. "Let's buy together, pool our money, buy more tickets, and our chances of winning are higher."
"You're so greedy,"
Chandler mocked. "Didn't you notice they're being all lovey-dovey?"
"Lovey-dovey?"
Rachel was stunned, then followed Chandler's gaze to Chuck, and then looked between Chuck and Monica. After Chandler's hint, she finally caught on and said in exasperation, "Really? What does that have to do with anything?"
Monica smiled without saying a word.
"Chuck, tell me this has nothing to do with anything!"
Rachel looked at Chuck. "Don't tell me that because you're a consultant to the National Lottery Association and get paid every year, not only can you not buy tickets, but even your girlfriend can't buy them?"
"You don't understand?"
Chuck looked at her.
"…"
Rachel's lips twitched, and she complained, "Good thing I didn't become your girlfriend, or I wouldn't even have the freedom to buy lottery tickets."
"In your dreams!"
Monica threatened, clenching her fist.
"Am I not good enough?"
Rachel puffed out her chest, showing off her face and figure, and looked proudly at Chuck. "Chuck, tell me!"
"Meets the scientific baseline."
Chuck nodded honestly.
"See?"
Rachel looked at Monica triumphantly, only to be tackled by Monica. The two women playfully wrestled for a bit before separating. Rachel then fixed her hair and laughed.
"Don't worry, I wouldn't avoid being his girlfriend just because I can't buy lottery tickets. If I ever win $2.04 billion, I can do whatever I want!"
After a few more laughs, Chuck took Monica away from the apartment and drove toward his hillside villa.
"Huh, why are we stopping here?"
Monica was wondering why Chuck had stopped on a deserted side street when a police car pulled up and blocked the car behind Chuck.
"Someone's following us?"
Having been with Chuck for so long, Monica was quite experienced and immediately realized what was happening, her expression changing.
"Stay in the car and don't move,"
Chuck instructed, getting out of the car, nodding to the police officer who greeted him, and walking toward the following vehicle.
"Don't misunderstand, Dr. Wolfe—we're on the same side."
The person in the car raised his hands to indicate he meant no harm, then followed standard police procedure, getting out and allowing Chuck to confirm he was unarmed.
"Dr. Wolfe, let me introduce myself. I'm a private investigator hired by the National Lottery Association."
"The National Lottery Association?"
Seeing the situation under control, Monica also got out of the car. Hearing this, she asked in surprise, "If we're on the same side, why were you following us?"
"Because of Ross Geller!"
The private investigator gave Monica a meaningful look: "Dr. Wolfe, you should understand what happened, right?"
"Ross won the jackpot,"
Chuck said calmly. "You were hired to investigate whether I'm connected to his win."
Monica: "..."
(End of Chapter)
[Reader Event Active]
500 Power Stones = +1 Extra Chapter
10 Reviews = +1 Extra Chapter
Thanks for reading!
40+advance chapters on P1treon Soulforger