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Chapter 71: “The format of this game will lead to a very bad mechanism.”
Toudou Sakura finally realized that Shen Ti had indeed failed to capture An Wujiu.
With Shen Ti’s intervention, An Wujiu temporarily set aside the idea of a welcoming handshake and began to look for other players.
In the hall, many players were entangled in forming teams, unable to make a decision for a moment.
Suddenly, the voice of the rabbit once again echoed in the hall.
“Hey, why aren’t you all in a hurry? It’s already been three minutes, you know.”
An Wujiu looked up at the time.
“Or how about this? I’ll just tell you all the other rewards for the winners of the warm-up match, I was thinking of waiting until after the team formation.”
As soon as the words fell, Yang Erci suddenly noticed a golden crown symbol appearing above An Wujiu’s head, shining brightly, suspended right above him, very conspicuous.
Not only him, but above the heads of several others in the hall, a total of nine.
“Did everyone see that? These nine people are the winners just now. Not only did they hold 1.5 votes during the voting, but they also have a very significant advantage, which is that these people have higher chips.”
This was a gambling game, and chips were undoubtedly one of the most important parts.
Therefore, after the rabbit finished speaking, the people in the hall immediately scattered like startled ants, moving around with clear goals, aiming to follow these nine people with the small crowns.
Many people ran toward An Wujiu and the others, but An Wujiu knew clearly that they only needed two people.
What surprised him was that Maguire, who lost to him, also tried to join their team.
“Let me in. What do you say?” Maguire’s words were enticing with every sentence, “Gambling, at its lowest, is about luck; a bit better relies on skill, but the highest success rate comes from cheating. Think about it; with me on board, you’ll surely have an edge in the upcoming games, and we’ll definitely become the top team.”
An Wujiu remained silent.
He certainly knew Maguire would be a weapon to win the gambling games, but the crucial point was that once they didn’t become the top-scoring team, Maguire would surely betray the whole team and prioritize his own interests.
Such a person was very dangerous.
Shen Ti, on the other hand, reached out, tugging at the front of Maguire’s shirt, and upon seeing his name, Shen Ti’s lips curled up.
“Sorry, I feel like you don’t quite fit with our group,” he said with a smile, appearing very friendly.
“Don’t fit?” This reason seemed utterly absurd to Maguire, “What do you mean?”
Shen Ti couldn’t be bothered and directly gestured to him that it wasn’t possible, indicating he should look for another team.
“Your opinion doesn’t matter alone!” Maguire persisted, even grabbing An Wujiu’s arm, “You say!”
“Let go.” An Wujiu approached with a cold expression.
Shen Ti was about to directly pull Maguire’s hand away, but to his surprise, An Wujiu took action himself.
In the hall, a cry rang out, and everyone turned their gaze toward them.
“You’ll fu*king regret this!”
An Wujiu stared at Maguire, a hint of disgust evident on his face.
It seemed like things were really different from before.
The music in the hall was gradually coming to an end. Watching Maguire’s departing figure, Zhong Yirou raised her eyebrows in confusion and asked, “Why not him?”
“This guy is hard to handle,” Yang Erci also knew Maguire, recalling how he betrayed his teammates back then.
An Wujiu shook his hand lightly and exchanged a glance with Shen Ti. They both tacitly avoided mentioning what happened in the real world.
“What should we do then?” Toudou Sakura glanced around and said, “Hey, why don’t we go find Zhou Yijue? He’s quite skilled too.”
“Let’s wait for a moment.”
An Wujiu stopped her.
Wu You looked at him and said, “Wujiu-ge, do you think he’s unreliable?”
“There are reasons in that aspect, but not entirely because of that.”
Toudou Sakura couldn’t understand, “But people from other teams are almost ready to go. If we don’t move quickly, we’ll only be left with whoever’s left.”
Zhong Yirou glanced around, and indeed, the other five teams were busy selecting members, but their side remained deserted due to repeatedly turning down several candidates.
An Wujiu looked around and found the little girl Noah, who was engulfed by the adults milling around. She was squeezed against the wall of the hall, her eyes darting around anxiously.
“I want to choose a teammate,” An Wujiu said to everyone, “I wonder what your opinions are.”
Shen Ti had been observing An Wujiu all along and had already guessed his target, “That little girl, right?”
Zhong Yirou walked up to him and whispered in his ear, “Are you sure about this?”
An Wujiu nodded, “There’s no other way. She’s so young, if we don’t bring her along, she’ll end up being left behind anyway.”
“But…” Toudou Sakura felt An Wujiu was overly concerned, “Such a young child, she won’t know anything about gambling, won’t she just be a burden to everyone…”
Wu You remained silent; he himself was just a child.
Nan Shan smiled and expressed his opinion, “I agree. Doing good deeds and accumulating virtue, it’s only right.”
Yang Erci and Zhong Yirou didn’t directly express their opinions but tacitly agreed.
With his decision made, An Wujiu made his way through the crowd toward Noah and eventually squatted in front of her.
“Noah, did you successfully form a team?”
Noah shook her head.
“If you don’t have a specific team to join for now,” An Wujiu extended his left hand toward her, palm open, giving her the choice, “then join gege’s team.”
Noah looked into An Wujiu’s innocent and clear eyes, almost without hesitation, and placed her hand in An Wujiu’s.
“Thank you, gege.”
“You’re welcome.” An Wujiu smiled at her, then took her hand and led her back to the team.
Seeing him bring the little girl back, the others in the team also welcomed her arrival. Although becoming teammates with a child under ten was essentially suicidal in the game, this was An Wujiu’s style. No matter what, he couldn’t stand by and watch someone in trouble.
“Maguire joined that team,” Yang Erci nodded toward a team not far away. They seemed much more lively, all congratulating each other on acquiring Maguire, the skilled player.
No matter how Toudou Sakura looked at it, she felt their team was too dull. When she turned her head, she found An Wujiu simply looking up at the countdown timer.
“Aren’t you all worried?” she couldn’t help but ask.
“Don’t worry, Wujiu has a plan,” Zhong Yirou said, producing a small comb from nowhere and cheerfully combing her long curly hair. Meanwhile, Nan Shan began practicing Tai Chi on the spot. The whole team seemed quite peculiar to outsiders.
Shen Ti knew what was going on and approached An Wujiu, whispering, “You’re waiting for the last spot to be filled by the remaining person, aren’t you?”
An Wujiu turned his head, his expression as composed as ever. He noticed Shen Ti had a lollipop in his mouth again, puffing up one cheek, but he couldn’t tell when he’d taken it out.
“You’re eating candy again.”
“Want some?” Shen Ti deliberately took it out of his mouth and offered it to him teasingly.
“No thanks,” An Wujiu pushed away his hand and looked up at the time.
Thirty seconds left.
Almost there.
As he expected, the other five teams in the hall had basically completed their formation, with only the last team hesitating between two candidates.
“Why not try to persuade them?” Toudou Sakura pointed at the two individuals and said, “Let’s try to get the young one over to our side.”
An Wujiu shook his head, his gaze fixed on the timer, with twenty seconds left. “Actually, I think the people in our team are already quite good.”
Toudou Sakura thought he was too confident. “But we still need to form a team of nine people after all. If we don’t actively find the last person, we’ll just have to settle for whoever’s left.”
An Wujiu understood Toudou Sakura’s point, so he looked at her and calmly spoke up.
“The format of this game will lead to a very bad mechanism.”
“A bad mechanism?” Toudou Sakura was a bit confused. “What do you mean?”
Shen Ti chuckled, “It means there will be a lot of underdogs. Do you see it? The more people who seem to have potential in gambling games, the more competitive they are here. Many teams will choose them. Once a team reaches some kind of secret agreement with these hot commodities, and then lets them go to another team, what do you think the result will be?”
Shen Ti’s words opened up a whole new perspective on the game.
Toudou Sakura fell into thought. “If there really is such a person… then he will definitely betray the team he’s on, but how can he betray them? It would only mean letting the other side win and ours lose. But in doing so, he won’t gain many points himself, so wouldn’t it be more harm than good?”
“You’ve forgotten one thing,” An Wujiu glanced at the middle-aged fat man not far away who had been repeatedly rejected, “Points.”
With that, he turned to Toudou Sakura. “If this game is essentially gambling, why set up a point exchange system deliberately with relatively complex exchange rules?”
After finishing his words, he ran toward the fat man, who had repeatedly hit walls and ended up alone.
Toudou Sakura suddenly realized that she had been trapped in a blind spot of the game rules all along.
She thought this game was just a team-based gambling battle, but in fact, it was much more than that. The exchange area could very well be another battlefield, and if there were indeed underdogs, then who would get credit for the exchanged points was uncertain.
For them, the current team formation situation was not bad. The last person must be chosen carefully. It was better to watch and wait than to risk being planted with an informant.
Those left behind obviously weren’t wanted by any other team, making them safer options.
“But what if this uncle is deliberately placed somewhere, pretending to be unwanted?” Toudou Sakura turned to Shen Ti and asked.
As the time ended, the music also stopped, and the hall suddenly became exceptionally quiet.
Shen Ti crossed his arms and smiled, watching An Wujiu return.
“He has been observing from the beginning. If there’s too much interaction with other teams, An Wujiu won’t choose them.”
In the final moments, An Wujiu brought over the unwanted uncle. The man was grateful, repeatedly thanking An Wujiu for taking him in.
“It’s not just taking you in,” An Wujiu said seriously, “We really need you as a teammate.”
The man paused for a moment, wiped the sweat from his palms on his pants, shook An Wujiu’s hand vigorously for a few times, then moved on to shake hands with another person, “I will do my best, and I will absolutely not drag everyone down!”
The holy voice echoed in the hall.
“Team formation is complete; updating now.”
Suddenly, a red band appeared on their foreheads, wrapping around and tying itself automatically at the back of their heads.
Zhong Yirou was afraid the automatic tie might not look good, so she raised her hand to adjust it, “Can’t it be tied around the neck?”
An Wujiu looked at the other teams and noticed that each team had a different color. They were red, Zhou Yijue’s team was purple, and Maguire’s team had yellow bands.
“Do you like the decorations for each team?”
The voice of the rabbit appeared again.
“These are specially prepared gifts for you all. There are six teams in total, so we chose red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple to represent you.”
The rabbit’s voice always carried a tone of superiority and sarcasm, as if looking down on all living beings. “Now, you can elect a team leader. You only have one vote, so make good use of it before I call a halt.”
There was almost no suspense in the vote for the team An Wujiu was in. Except for An Wujiu himself, who voted for Yang Erci, everyone else voted for An Wujiu.
“Why vote for me?” Yang Erci looked at An Wujiu, noticing a small wing badge appearing on his chest.
An Wujiu glanced down and then back up, “I think, if I want to participate in as many gambling games as possible, it means I won’t have much time to exchange points. But if I’m the team leader, I must participate in every point exchange.”
That was indeed true.
But now the situation was settled.
Zhong Yirou reassured everyone, “It’s okay, with the team leader badge in Wujiu’s hands, we can all feel the most assured, right?”
Everyone nodded.
Apart from An Wujiu, they couldn’t think of anyone else who would protect everyone’s interests selflessly.
Assuming this An Wujiu hasn’t changed.
An Wujiu observed the other teams.
As he expected, unlike their team, the other teams relied on persuasive speeches to sway voters and gain votes during the elections.
And as anticipated, Maguire and Zhou Yijue, who were with him in the warm-up matches, also became the captains of their respective teams.
Now they were going to face each other head-on.
“We have less than six hours left.” After all teams had chosen their captains, the rabbit smiled, “If you’re ready, we can begin.”
After he finished speaking, almost everyone rushed to occupy the tables for the gambling games.
Zhong Yirou stretched lazily and glanced at her teammates, “Which games do you guys know how to play? Poker?”
Wu You nodded, “I do.”
Nan Shan shook his head, “But I can learn. Once I know the rules, it should be easy.”
Zhong Yirou nodded and grabbed Yang Erci’s hand, leaning on her shoulder, “Jie, come take a walk with me and see what others are up to.”
Yang Erci pushed Zhong Yirou’s head away, her hair resembling a blooming lotus emitting a fragrant aroma.
Despite pushing her away, Yang Erci was persuaded halfheartedly and followed Zhong Yirou to other tables to gather information.
“I know most of them,” Toudou Sakura said, placing her hand near her mouth, “Let me tell you a little secret. I used to work as a dealer in an underground casino for a while.”
“Was it one of those sexy dealers, or the ones dealing cards online?” Wu You asked with the coldest expression, asking a rather unserious question.
“No, it wasn’t like that,” Toudou Sakura explained, “I was just doing it part-time, only on small tables. They never let me work on the big ones. But I did learn some shuffling and cutting techniques.”
Shen Ti raised his chin at her and said, “Teach me.”
“Are you sure you’ll learn? It takes a lot of practice.”
“I actually know a bit…” The man wiped his sweat and joined Wu You and the others in discussing how they should divide tasks and what kind of gambling games they should choose.
Shen Ti didn’t continue; he looked at An Wujiu and noticed that he had been silent ever since he was elected captain, maintaining this state for quite some time.
“What’s wrong?” Shen Ti asked.
“We’re about to gamble, right?” An Wujiu’s expression seemed somewhat uneasy as he looked up at the countdown and the rabbit that had yet to announce new content.
“Yeah.”
An Wujiu turned his face calmly towards Shen Ti. “But don’t you think we’re missing the most important thing?”
The most important…
Shen Ti was immediately struck by An Wujiu’s insight.
Right.
He placed both palms near his mouth and shouted loudly at the ceiling, “Hey, Altar!”
The voice of the rabbit appeared, “What’s up? My lovely players.”
Shen Ti lowered his arms and shrugged, “You didn’t even give us the initial chips. How are we supposed to gamble? What will we use to compensate if we lose?”
“Chips…”
Suddenly, the rabbit burst into giggles, laughing louder and louder.
“You finally remembered.”
Players who were eagerly preparing to start gambling in the hall, and even those who were ready to go upstairs to see what was happening in the exchange area, all stopped and waited for the rabbit’s next words.
Not far away, Maguire joined the conversation. “What do you mean? How can we gamble without chips?”
“Of course, we have them,” the rabbit replied in a matter-of-fact tone. “Don’t worry. Do you know why there are team competitions in gambling? Even though some teammates don’t participate in the gambling.”
An Wujiu suddenly had a bad feeling.
“The chips we prepared for you are the most natural and valuable.”
The rabbit’s tone became serious. “And that is each and every one of you here.”
“You were born with different values, high or low. As I hinted before, the winners of the warm-up rounds have more chips because they have won before; they have a higher value. So in this round of the game, each of your lives can be used as chips.”
So this was the meaning of “higher chips.”
After speaking, a conspicuous string of continuously scrolling numbers appeared above each player’s head.
The numbers didn’t stop, meaning the specific chip counts of the players hadn’t been disclosed yet.
“Players participating in the gambling, please take note. As long as you join the game, anyone on your team can be taken by others, as long as your team leader agrees and authorizes it. But you better be cautious, very cautious, extremely cautious. If you lose, you might really lose your lives. After all, what you’re losing isn’t money, but your teammates’ life points.”
“Such good chips; to use or not to use, it’s all up to you.”
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Thank you for the translation!