Change of Plans

If the seven of them sat down at the table and relied on their own abilities, the final outcome would be hard to predict.

Those with strong gambling skills and good luck could very well take everything.

Jiang He and the other two had neither much gambling experience nor any particular confidence in their luck, so they were clearly at a great disadvantage.

Jiang He's plan ensured that everyone would take turns winning the antes. No one would suffer too much loss, and everyone would be happy.

Of course, this plan also carried risks.

If someone went back on their word at the table, stopped following the agreement, refused to fold when it was their turn, and instead raised because they had good cards, then the plan would fall apart.

But as Lu Xinyi had said, that possibility was not very high.

According to the rules, the game was fair, and no player could be certain of taking on six others alone.

If the four people from Community No. 3 worked together to rig the game, they would need to solve two problems:

First, even if they rigged the game, only one of the four could take everything. Under the community rules, Visa Time could not be traded freely, meaning they could not split the spoils. That did not serve the interests of the other three.

Second, Jiang He and the other two were not entirely defenseless. If the three of them worked together, one of them would always have relatively better cards, so they would not be completely without a chance of winning.

Even if they tore off all pretenses, they would merely return to the original situation: everyone fighting for themselves and relying entirely on luck. There would be no additional losses.

Most importantly, if they did not use this plan, no one else could come up with a better one for the time being.

Ideally, the other community would send only one person to gamble against the three of them, but the other side was not stupid and would never agree to that condition.

If the standoff continued, no one could get to the table, and in the end, they would all have money deducted.

After a brief consideration, everyone could only acknowledge that this was the best solution they could think of at present.

Qin Yao was still somewhat worried. "One last question. There are three of us and four of you. If we really fall out at the table, we'll be at a disadvantage.

"Could you also send only three people? We can play three against three. That would be fairer."

However, Lu Xinyi shook her head and decisively rejected the suggestion.

"No.

"According to the game rules, every person must play ten rounds against players from another community. Otherwise, ten thousand minutes of Visa Time will be deducted when they leave.

"If it's three against three, what happens to the remaining person?

"If they play you separately, it becomes three against one, which is unfair to our person.

"If we find two more people and hold another three-against-three match, there isn't enough time, and there's no need for it.

"What's more, after the first three-against-three match, what if you refuse to play the next one? Wouldn't our remaining person have no recourse at all?

"The fact that you only have three people is your own problem. It has nothing to do with Community No. 3. We already came into this proposal in good faith, so you should show some sincerity as well.

"Otherwise, we can choose not to cooperate. At worst, we'll all have Visa Time deducted when we leave."

Lu Xinyi paused slightly, and her tone became calmer. "Sorry. Although I prefer cooperation, as a player from Community No. 3, I still have to put protecting our own interests first."

Qin Yao hesitated, looked at the other two, and could only nod in the end. "Fine. Then that's how it'll be."

Time was tight. They found a gambling table and took their seats.

The countdown on the large screen continued ticking down second by second.

1:19:33

1:19:32

This multiplayer gambling table also had mechanical arms for dealing and collecting cards. All the players needed to do was sit in their seats, look at their cards, and place bets.

The mechanical arms extended from the center of the table, and a new deck of cards was used every round, likely to prevent cards from being marked with sweat or other forms of cheating.

Just as the game rules stated, the table ensured absolute fairness.

Qin Yao carefully studied the multiplayer rules and hand rankings for Simplified Golden Flower on the table.

It was similar to when they had played against the Chip Exchange Machine before, with only a few minor differences, such as:

In multiplayer games, the first dealer was randomly selected by the table. After that, the winner of the previous round became the dealer for the next round;

The dealer raised last;

Everyone received three cards. There was no possibility of drawing four cards like with the Chip Exchange Machine;

If only one person chose to raise and everyone else called, the cards were automatically revealed. If two or more people chose to raise, the cards would not be revealed, and another round of betting would begin from the start, with no upper limit on raises.

Qin Yao relaxed slightly. Under these rules, everyone had roughly the same odds of winning. It was purely a matter of luck.

The dealer had a slight advantage by raising last, since they could observe the others' actions and roughly judge their hands, but that advantage was not significant.

Soon, everyone took out chips worth 1,000 and placed them in the betting area before them, while the mechanical arms dealt the shuffled cards into their hands.

Jiang He looked delighted, because her luck was quite good—not card luck, but dealer luck.

The mechanical arm began dealing from Su Xiucen on her left, meaning Su Xiucen was the dealer for the first round.

According to the plan they had agreed upon earlier, after each round began, the player to the dealer's right would call first and choose to raise, while everyone else would fold.

That way, the player to the dealer's right would win everyone else's antes and become the dealer for the second round.

The second round would follow the same pattern. In this way, the seven of them would take turns being dealer in counterclockwise order, each winning the antes of the other six once.

Of course, the game had to last at least ten rounds, which meant three people would be dealer twice and earn an additional 6,000 chips.

The others would lose an additional 3,000 chips.

But there was nothing to be done about that. The ante was 1,000, and ten rounds could not be evenly divided among seven people. They could only leave it to luck.

So everyone agreed to the plan.

At this moment, Jiang He and Qin Yao, seated to her right, were fortunate enough to be guaranteed one ante win each, earning an extra 6,000 chips.

That was no small amount.

"Alright, then I'll raise, just like we agreed earlier."

Jiang He placed a 1,000-value chip into the betting area.

Qin Yao, seated to her right, likewise folded as they had agreed.

"Fold."

"Fold."

The two players from Community No. 3 also folded.

Everything appeared to be going smoothly, unfolding according to the script they had laid out.

Soon, it was Lu Xinyi's turn. She sat opposite Jiang He.

Then something happened that Jiang He could scarcely believe.

Lu Xinyi took out two 1,000-value chips and tossed them into the betting area.

"Raise."