Unfair Game

Qin Yao was still nervous, but after the blood draw was completed, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Before, Qin Yao had been worried whether this rudimentary blood-drawing device could accurately find her blood vessels. If it poked her muscle or punctured a blood vessel, it wouldn't be a laughing matter.

But from the current situation, no matter how intimidating the various instruments in the "Gallery" looked, they were absolutely reliable in terms of function.

Although the loss of 200ML of blood didn't make her feel too uncomfortable, she still didn't want to go through it a second time.

Because the device drew blood very quickly, it hurt much more than the usual blood draw at a hospital, and watching the bright red blood continuously drain away felt very unpleasant.

Furthermore, whether it was an illusion or not, Qin Yao felt a bit dizzy and lethargic, and was afraid that if they drew any more, she would faint.

After the blood draw was completed, the mechanism did not unlock. According to the game rules, the entire exchange process would only be considered complete after a gamble with the "Chip Exchange Machine."

For every 10,000 chips, at least one round had to be played.

A small cover on the right side of the table opened, and a stack of smooth, round chips was pushed by the mechanism to Qin Yao's right side.

This was a total of 20,000 in chips.

Although these chips were all round, their size, thickness, color, and the numbers on them varied according to their face value, making them easy to distinguish.

The mechanical arm in front of her moved. It picked up the deck of cards, began to shuffle them skillfully, and then dealt three cards to itself and Qin Yao.

"Golden Flower... Fu Chen mentioned it before, but I didn't remember all the details..."

"Good thing there are detailed rules and a hand ranking chart here."

Qin Yao looked at the hand ranking chart on the right wall while using her only mobile right hand to pick up the three cards dealt to her and examine them.

The three cards were the 7 of Hearts, the 9 of Clubs, and the King of Hearts.

"This... doesn't seem to form any hand, does it?" Qin Yao compared the cards in her hand with the hand ranking chart multiple times and had to admit this with some disappointment.

Golden Flower is a very simple and straightforward poker game. Each player gets three cards, and then the hands are ranked based on the hand type formed by these three cards.

The ranking is: Leopard (three identical number cards) > Straight Flush > Flush > Straight > Pair > Single Card. An Ace is the highest single card, and a 2 is the lowest. However, a 235 with different suits is higher than a Leopard.

However, what was being played in this game of "Blood Poker" was actually a "Simplified Golden Flower." The original rules regarding ante bets, blind bets, comparing hands, and betting limits were all removed.

According to these new rules, after the cards are dealt, everyone can see their cards. There is no distinction between betting with an open hand or a blind bet (betting without looking at your cards), nor is there a round for selecting players to compare hands.

Everyone simply needs to follow the order to perform actions such as raising, calling, or folding.

When only one player chooses to raise, and all other players choose to call and do not raise further, the cards are automatically revealed, and the player with the highest hand wins everything.

When a 235 and a Leopard appear simultaneously, the 235 wins exclusively; in all other situations, the 235 is the lowest.

It must be said that this set of rules is much more user-friendly for people who don't play cards often compared to the general rules.

Qin Yao looked at the mechanical arm opposite her. According to the game rules, both parties had to place the ante bet at this point.

However, a shocking scene occurred: the mechanical arm actually drew another card from the deck!

At this point, the mechanical arm had four cards. It selected three of them as its hand, and then a muffled electronic voice came from the speaker again.

[Please place your ante bet, and follow the sequence to choose to raise, call, or fold.]

"Wait, why do you have an extra card?"

Qin Yao's question received no response.

She looked at the game rules again and found that they did indeed explain this situation, but it was in small print, easily overlooked.

[When gambling against the "Chip Exchange Machine," the "Chip Exchange Machine" will always be the dealer, always act first, and can draw an extra card, choosing three out of four cards to form a hand.]

"This is unfair!"

Qin Yao clenched the cards in her hand. Although she wasn't good at calculating specific probabilities, even a primary school student could guess that under these game rules, her chances of winning would be significantly reduced.

This was definitely not a game of luck with a fifty-fifty win rate!

But Qin Yao had no other choice. She could only continue this almost certain-to-lose game.

For the "Chip Exchange Machine," its chips were infinite. The mechanical arm took the smallest chip from the mountain of chips on the other side and placed it in the betting area on the table.

500, this was the smallest denomination among all the chips, and also the default ante bet when gambling against the Chip Exchange Machine.

Qin Yao had no choice but to take out a 500 chip from her own meager stack and place it in the betting area.

[Dealer chooses to raise.]

As the prompt sounded again, the mechanical arm placed another 500 denomination chip in the betting area.

If it were according to the general rules, the dealer should be the last to bet, but in the rules of this game, the "Chip Exchange Machine" was always the dealer and always acted first.

It was now Qin Yao's turn. Her only options were to raise, call, or fold.

Raising required at least a 500 increment.

Qin Yao had already placed the 500 ante, and the opponent had raised the bet to 1000.

Therefore, if Qin Yao chose to raise, she would have to put in another 1000 chips; to call, she would put in 500; if she folded, she would directly forfeit the game.

"I choose... to call and reveal."

Qin Yao finally made up her mind, putting another 500 chips into the betting area carefully.

Raising was by no means a wise choice. The "Chip Exchange Machine" could draw an extra card, and with the option to choose three out of four cards, its winning probability was much higher than the player's.

Folding the cards would minimize her losses to just 500, but it also meant both hands would be immediately collected without being revealed, leaving her completely unaware of whether her cards were good or bad.

So, Qin Yao ultimately chose to call. Although it cost an additional 500 chips, at least she would lose with clarity.

And what if she won?

The opponent could draw one more card, greatly increasing their chances of winning, but it wouldn't be a 100% chance, right?

Qin Yao subconsciously felt that gambling these 500 chips on that probability wasn't too much of a loss.

However, as both hands were revealed, Qin Yao's heart sank halfway.

The opponent's hand was a pair of 6s. Her own hand, a high-K杂牌 (miscellaneous cards), had undoubtedly lost.

Watching her two 500-chip bets being collected by the mechanical arm, Qin Yao felt a pang of heartache.

That was equivalent to a full thousand yuan, enough to buy at least two weeks' worth of food from the community's vending machines.

The mechanical arm collected the cards and chips.

Then, it retrieved a brand new deck of cards from within the gambling table, opened it, shuffled, and dealt again.

Qin Yao had exchanged a total of 20,000 chips, so she needed to play at least two rounds.

Just like the previous game, the mechanical arm dealt the cards and was the first to bet.

Qin Yao was once again faced with the same problem as before: should she call or fold?

Qin Yao looked at her hand and was disappointed. It was another low-quality rare card, slightly weaker than the low-quality rare card from last time.

But after a moment of consideration, Qin Yao took out another 500-chip chip and placed it on the bet.

"Call, reveal."

Admitting defeat without seeing the cards was something she was unwilling to do; she wanted to go down knowing why.

However, this time she lost even more miserably. The Chip Exchange Machine's hand was a pair of Jacks.

Qin Yao deflated instantly. Losing both rounds without any suspense completely crushed her fighting spirit.

"Beep."

A green button on her right lit up, displaying two characters: [Exit].

This button would light up after completing the minimum required number of games.

Of course, Qin Yao could choose not to press it and continue gambling. According to the game rules, with 20,000 chips exchanged, she could play up to 40 rounds with the Chip Exchange Machine.

But clearly, Qin Yao didn't want to stay there for another second.

She almost impatiently pressed the button. The next second, a series of "click" sounds echoed as the mechanisms restraining her were all unlocked.

Qin Yao quickly stood up from the iron chair and turned to push open the door of the cramped booth.

The door was locked, but Qin Yao quickly found the latch and opened it.

Then, she suddenly remembered something and hurried back to grab the remaining chips in her hand.