Chapter 212: Despair Casino (9)
"Was all of this part of your plan?" Ji Ning looked up and asked Yan Qiao, curious whether her speculation had been correct. She figured it was better to ask than to wrongly accuse someone.
"Yes." Yan Qiao admitted it freely. He then leaned forward across the table, drawing closer to Ji Ning, and stared into her eyes. "What, are you scared now? Or do you find me repulsive?"
Ji Ning nodded. Frankly, she said, "People like you are indeed pretty terrifying. But it also depends on the situation—whether I'm your enemy, or your friend."
He had not expected her to say that. Yan Qiao thought to himself that a woman capable of making the leaderboard was truly different from the rest.
He let out a scoff and said, with profound implication, "I have no friends, and I don't need any."
Ji Ning did not particularly want to get close to someone like Yan Qiao, but she knew she absolutely could not afford to antagonize him.
For that reason, she needed to tame him.
She tidied the cards on the table, separating them into five for each side's faction and placing them between the two of them. In a brisk tone, she said, "Aren't you trying to play me right now? So how are we splitting into factions?" She then opened the box, took out a single black chip, and placed it on the table. As if stating the obvious, she added, "Oh, right, you said I could bet my chips however I want, so of course I'm betting as small as possible. And you also said each round has a one-million bet. Hurry up and bring out those two hundred orange chips."
You cannot clash head-on with a clever person. Ji Ning felt that she had to play dumb, had to pester and argue unreasonably, dragging Yan Qiao down to her level so she would not be led around by the nose by him.
Yan Qiao could not quite keep up with her sudden shift in tempo and looked somewhat stunned.
Livestream comments:
"Ahahahahahahahahaha!"
"Fight magic with magic! That's our Ning-Ning for you."
"Yan Qiao is completely dumbfounded."
"This is what I wanted to see hahahahaha!"
After the initial shock, Yan Qiao's complicated mood settled into calm. He opened the case and genuinely took out two hundred orange chips, placing them on the table. "We'll do rock-paper-scissors. Winner takes the king."
"Okay." Ji Ning raised her hand behind her head.
Yan Qiao, meanwhile, rested his right hand on his forearm as a guard, his posture thoroughly uninteresting.
"Rock, paper, scissors!"
At Ji Ning's command, both struck at the same time. She threw rock; Yan Qiao threw paper.
Ji Ning would have to take the slave side. She scrunched her face and sighed, pulling the sorted cards over in front of her.
In this game, although the slave, by virtue of having nothing, could check the king, the king's side had superior numbers, with four cards all capable of countering the slave. Thus, whoever took the slave side was at a severe disadvantage.
Only if Ji Ning guessed correctly the moment Yan Qiao played his king and played her slave at exactly the same time could she take the round.
"If the slave beats the king, the king's side has to pay double the chips," Yan Qiao added.
"Huh?" Ji Ning was shocked again. Did this mean that as long as she won, she could instantly net four hundred orange chips?
In that instant, Yan Qiao's image in Ji Ning's eyes transformed from "scheming scoundrel" into "a living bodhisattva who delivers from suffering." Truly, he was a regular wealth-scattering deity.
She picked up her five cards and kept shifting their order in her hands, silently plotting her next move.
She had observed that Yan Qiao became highly focused when playing games, so she had to play against him in full earnest. Ji Ning felt that if she slacked off, she might very well anger him.
Having made up her mind, Ji Ning took a deep breath and stopped trying to lighten the mood.
She repeatedly adjusted the slave card's position, pondering how Yan Qiao would play.
First of all, Yan Qiao definitely could not save the king for last. If they mutually exhausted their Villager cards in the early game, the later it went, the less advantageous the king became.
His advantage lay in the first three plays. If he could use the king to knock out Ji Ning's Villager, he could guarantee he would have enough Villager cards left to protect his king.
And Ji Ning's path to victory was to identify the exact moment Yan Qiao played his king and deliver a single decisive strike to beat him.
Having played Werewolf far too many times, Ji Ning was in the habit of working through bilateral logic.
She considered further. Standing in Yan Qiao's shoes and guessing her own play order, he would assume she would be cautious with her slave card—at the very least, she would open with a Villager to test the waters.
So what would he choose? Would he boldly strike with the king? Or would he choose to likewise spend a Villager, taking a slight net-negative exchange?
Yan Qiao watched every subtle shift of Ji Ning's faintly furrowed brow, missing not a single detail.
His move was indeed meant to gift money to Ji Ning, but he had no intention of half-heartedly throwing the game. That would be a desecration of both their abilities.
So seeing Ji Ning this serious made him feel gratified.
Ji Ning thought for a full two minutes before finally producing a card, face down, and setting it on the table.
Yan Qiao played his card simultaneously.
Both cards were flipped over at once. They were Villager cards, identical in content but facing opposite directions.
Ji Ning let out a sigh of relief. She had guessed correctly.
A Villager-for-Villager trade was indeed disadvantageous for Yan Qiao, but had he played the king while Ji Ning played unpredictably by leading with her slave, he would have been met with immediate defeat.
Now the next round of game theory arrived.
Under normal circumstances, the probability of Yan Qiao playing his king this round was very high. Because both players now had only three Villagers left.
Moreover, if he did not consume one of Ji Ning's cards this round, the third round would be his very last opportunity.
If he still failed to win by the third round, both players' odds would level out going into the fourth round.
Therefore, moving forward, the standard play was for Yan Qiao to play the king. Reverse thinking said he would play a Villager. Reverse-reverse thinking said it would still be the king.
And then there was the ultimate strategist, who discarded all the gimmicks and still played the Villager.
Ji Ning drew a card and set it down alongside Yan Qiao's card.
They flipped the cards. Two Villagers canceled each other out.
Ji Ning now saw clearly: Yan Qiao was that ultimate strategist.
And from the outcome of this round, a powerful premonition suddenly surged within Ji Ning. She felt that Yan Qiao wanted to face her in a fifty-fifty showdown in the fourth round.
The subsequent third play: once again, two Villager cards amicably walked off hand in hand, eliminated together.
Both sides now approached match point.
Right now, Yan Qiao held the king and a Villager; Ji Ning held the slave and a Villager.
From Ji Ning's perspective, the two cards played against each other could lead to four possible final outcomes.
Slave versus king: Ji Ning wins. Slave versus Villager: Ji Ning loses.
Villager versus king: Ji Ning loses. Villager versus Villager: Ji Ning wins.
Even after taking several deep breaths to calm herself, Ji Ning's heart could not stop its wild pounding.
Gritting her teeth, she selected her card.
This time, Ji Ning played her card faster than any of the three prior times. Perhaps it was because she had developed an inexplicable understanding of Yan Qiao; she could sense that behind all his schemes and deceptions, there also lay a calculation of pure win probability.
This man maintained a subtle equilibrium between reason and instinct.
Whether her guess was right or not, she would have her answer the moment the cards were flipped.
From start to finish, Yan Qiao's mind was lucid and his card play decisive. He showed no hesitation when turning his card over either.
Ji Ning and he made their moves one after the other but flipped their cards simultaneously.
The king, with its golden, glittering crown, became fragile and broken before the slave clad in tattered rags, hunched and destitute.
Ji Ning was overjoyed. Her blood surged wildly through her veins; even her pores seemed to dilate with excitement.
Which was why the sudden "guuuurgle—" from her stomach was particularly loud.
Yan Qiao produced another stack of chips and pushed them, together with the earlier ones, in front of Ji Ning. "Collect your spoils of war. Let's go have lunch."
Livestream comments:
"No one can walk away from King Yama Qiao with a smile—except Ji Ning."
"Justice shall prevail over evil!"
"Even though he lost, little brother Yan Qiao's stance when handing over the money was so cool."
Get instant access to all chapters now.
Post a Comment