Selection Mechanism

"Infighting?" Li Renshu was slightly surprised.

Yang Yuting nodded. "That's right. After we left the Chip Exchange Area, we started discussing our strategy too.

"But soon, Brother Wang and Uncle Ding got into an argument.

"Brother Wang didn't agree with our plan. He didn't want to gamble against people from other communities and only wanted to go back and keep studying the Chip Exchange Machine.

"Of course, I don't think either of them was necessarily right or wrong. Both of their ideas made sense.

"Uncle Ding objected mainly because he believed there was no chance of winning against the automatic exchange machine, and it was too dangerous.

"More importantly, if Brother Wang didn't come, then at the multiplayer table against Community No. 1, it would become three against four. That meant the three of us would have to take on extra risk.

"It would be fine if they kept their word, but if they went back on it, we'd be one person short and end up in a very passive position."

Jiang He's ears reddened slightly as she listened.

She had thought her strategy was brilliant, perfect. But now, it seemed it was merely something everyone could have thought of.

And she had stepped into every possible pitfall.

Of course, judging from everyone's descriptions, players from different communities varied greatly in both skill and attitude.

Some communities had very friendly players who could cooperate smoothly, while others showed obvious hostility.

Jiang He had simply been unlucky enough to run into an opponent like Lu Xinyi from the very start.

Fu Chen looked at Wang Yongxin curiously. "Brother Wang, why were you so determined to gamble against the Chip Exchange Machine?

"Did you discover some clue in advance?"

Wang Yongxin spread his hands. "Not really. If I'd actually discovered it that early, wouldn't I have told everyone else already?

"It was just a gut feeling. I felt there had to be some kind of loophole or special shortcut in this game. It couldn't be that everyone spent all that time making only twenty or thirty thousand chips through small plays.

"But finding the exact loophole really took a lot of time."

After the discussion, everyone fully understood the situation of Wang Yongxin's group.

Clearly, the reason Wang Yongxin had managed to obtain as many as 200,000 chips was precisely because he had not participated in Xu Tong's plan.

He had kept playing in the Chip Exchange Area until the game ended and had not shared this secret with the other three.

"So how exactly did you win 200,000 chips from the Chip Exchange Machine?" Cai Zhiyuan still could not make sense of it.

Wang Yongxin silently took a sip of coffee. "It's simple. The Chip Exchange Machine never folds."

Cai Zhiyuan froze. "Huh?"

Then he was left speechless, and somewhat annoyed.

It was such a simple sentence. If he—or anyone even slightly smarter—had known it earlier, the outcome of the game would have been vastly different.

Cai Zhiyuan instantly understood why Wang Yongxin had been able to fleece 200,000 chips from the Chip Exchange Machine.

Some people still did not catch on. "It never folds... and then?"

Cai Zhiyuan sighed. "You still don't get it? Folding is actually a self-protection mechanism.

"When your hand is weak, you can protect yourself by folding and lose only the ante.

"If you can't fold, then the other side can raise without limit and clean out every last one of your chips.

"Conversely, if we can fold while the Chip Exchange Machine can't, then whenever we get a strong hand, we can raise decisively and maximize our profits."

After pondering for a moment, Fu Chen looked at Lin Sizhi and Qin Yao. "Lawyer Lin, did you discover that too?"

Lin Sizhi nodded. "Yes. We found it by chance as well."

Qin Yao added, "Our group's situation was much more complicated. We almost came out with only 8,000 chips.

"Luckily, Lawyer Lin discovered the secret of the automatic exchange machine early on and told us immediately. Otherwise, the three of us would have been finished."

Su Xiucen quickly praised him as well. "Little Lin is such a good boy! He was a tremendous help."

Fu Chen paused. "Why would you have come out with only 8,000 chips?"

After a brief silence, Jiang He said, "Because Community No. 3, which was in the same game as us, set us up."

Everyone's attention was immediately drawn over, and Qin Yao briefly explained what had happened.

Naturally, she did not fully understand the specific details behind the moves she and Lin Sizhi had made at the table afterward. At the time, she had merely cooperated according to Lin Sizhi's looks and signals.

So she only glossed over that part in a few words.

Xu Tong widened her eyes in shock. "Lawyer Lin, you're incredible!

"Not only did you find the Chip Exchange Machine's loophole in the shortest time possible, you even turned things around and won all of Community No. 3's chips, avenging those of us who were deceived.

"My head is already spinning just listening to it. How did you think of that?"

Everyone looked over. Being the center of attention made Lin Sizhi somewhat uncomfortable.

He spread his hands and said frankly, "It's nothing. Qin Yao exaggerated.

"My discovery of the Chip Exchange Machine's loophole involved a great deal of luck.

"In the very first round, I happened to get a strong flush. Then I tested it by raising continuously, and to my surprise, the Chip Exchange Machine never folded.

"When I finally got nervous and chose to reveal the cards, I discovered it only had a random hand.

"That was why I was able to realize the loophole so quickly.

"You could also say it was a low-probability event. If I had drawn a random hand and lost on the first deal, perhaps I wouldn't have thought much of it.

"As for the game against Community No. 3, there was even less skill involved. The only reason I dared gamble against them was this: Qin Yao's and my chip pool completely crushed those four.

"I remember reading a news story before. A famous professional poker player, known for bluffing with weak hands, had won a great deal of money.

"But once, he lost everything because the person gambling against him was an absurdly wealthy tycoon.

"This tycoon had no special skill. He was simply rich, and whenever his hand was decent enough, he would always insist on seeing what the professional player was holding.

"As a result, the professional player was utterly crushed. Once the bluffing he prided himself on stopped working, he became overly cautious and lost more and more.

"That story might not have been true, but it revealed a simple principle: no matter how strategic gambling may look, it is still gambling. When everyone has the same number of chips, it becomes a contest of psychology and skill. But when you have enough chips, it returns entirely to probability.

"I happened to discover the Chip Exchange Machine's secret and obtained an excessive number of chips. That was what gave me the confidence to gamble against Community No. 3."

Qin Yao asked curiously, "But what if you hadn't gotten a strong hand in the seventh round?"

Lin Sizhi asked in return, "Then why don't you ask what would have happened if I had gotten a strong hand earlier in the first six rounds?

"Strong hands have ways to win, and weak hands have ways to win. As long as the chip pool is deep enough, probability will eventually be on your side.

"Whether I had strong or weak hands in the first six rounds, I would have bet at least 4,000 each time. That was because I wanted to quickly drain the chips of the other two people from Community No. 3, aside from Lu Xinyi and Lu Mingxuan, and create a two-versus-two situation.

"Even if that meant losing thirty or forty thousand chips, I could accept it.

"You only need to seize a real opportunity once.

"Of course, if I were really that unlucky and got completely worthless weak hands in all ten rounds, then I'd lose. Nothing at the gambling table is ever one hundred percent certain. You should have that awareness before sitting down at the table."

Everyone nodded, and some of the doubts in their minds were dispelled.

When they had only looked at the game's outcome, they could not help feeling that Lin Sizhi was almost monstrously cunning.

But after hearing his explanation, it seemed understandable enough.

After their amazement and praise, everyone fell into a brief silence.

Clearly, most of them had not expected such a seemingly simple game to produce three entirely different game ecosystems among the three groups.

And the final outcomes had been worlds apart.

Fu Chen clapped softly. "All right, we more or less understand the situations of the three groups now. I think we should put aside those details for the moment and start with the bigger picture, analyzing this game as a whole.

"The result of this game was indeed unexpected in some ways."

Cai Zhiyuan had been thinking with his head lowered the whole time. Now, he seemed to have figured something out and spoke. "I think I understand.

"Clearly, this game was different from Redemption Roulette and every Judgment Game we had been able to investigate before.

"Many people, myself included, instinctively applied the problem-solving approach from Redemption Roulette at the very beginning. That was why we chose the wrong path from the start."

Xu Tong still seemed slow to catch on. "A different way of solving it? What was different?"

Cai Zhiyuan looked at Wang Yongxin. "Brother Wang, you earned the most chips this time, so you explain it.

"I think your understanding should be deeper than mine."

Wang Yongxin looked around, then nodded somewhat smugly. "All right. I'll briefly share what I think.

"First, we need to figure out what Blood Poker is actually meant to do.

"Everyone has analyzed Redemption Roulette. Its purpose was 'judgment.' That is, for a guilty person, it tested whether they truly repented and changed from the bottom of their heart. If they changed, they could survive. If they remained stubborn, they died horribly.

"So when we encounter this kind of 'judgment' game, the first thing we should think about is how to protect ourselves, overcome the weaknesses of human nature, and find the safest way to escape.

"But Blood Poker is completely different.

"It looks frightening at first glance, but it isn't a 'judgment' game.

"In fact, we were given a hint about that before we even entered the game.

"Do you all remember?"

Everyone looked somewhat confused. At the right moment, Cao Haichuan said, "I remember. The big screen said: the goal of the game was 'to complete the allocation of the first Visa Time.'"