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Chapter 76: You really think you are a saint!
When An Wujiu and Shen Ti walked to the “Bao Huang” table, as per his request, Toudou Sakura found individuals from several separate groups and paid them a considerable amount of points, conducting a small transaction.
Unable to check if they were following her instructions, Toudou Sakura went straight to the first floor. The sign at the entrance of the first floor read: [Exchange area is in the compartment behind the restaurant on the first floor].
Since Toudou Sakura wasn’t there to find the exchange area, she didn’t linger and headed straight toward the giant champagne tower in the hall.
There was no one next to the champagne tower, so she looked around. She spotted an NPC dressed as a waiter in front of a small booth in the restaurant, wearing a half-face mask that covered only the upper half of his face.
Toudou Sakura walked up to the NPC and said, “Hey handsome, can the champagne tower be sold?”
In the Holy Altar, a universal translation system was used, allowing the initiator of the conversation to hear the response translated into their native language in real-time.
However, Toudou Sakura was accustomed to reading lips, so she was pleasantly surprised to discover that the NPC in front of her was also Japanese, just like her.
The other person said, “As long as you have enough points, everything here can be sold.”
Toudou Sakura grabbed his arm, looking surprised, “Wow, we’re compatriots.”
She began to shake his arm, coquettishly asking for his help, “Then I want to buy your champagne tower.”
The NPC brother pointed to the champagne tower not far away, which had two glasses stolen by someone, “That one?”
“Yes.” Toudou Sakura nodded, “But I want more than just one, I want four.”
“Four champagne towers?” The NPC knew it wasn’t his business to intervene, but still asked, “Are you sure?”
“Sure, how much?” Toudou Sakura opened her game panel and found the payment interface.
“A lot.” The NPC reminded her.
“You tell me, I’m not the one paying.”
The NPC had to compromise, “2000 points.”
“So much? It’s expensive.” Toudou Sakura felt a bit heartbroken, as some games only rewarded three thousand points when they just entered the Holy Altar.
Shen Ti, you’d better reimburse me for everything, including the money I just spent on bribing the extras.
Toudou Sakura inwardly complained, paid for the champagne tower, and when she looked up, she accidentally glanced at the earpiece on the NPC brother’s ear, so she reached out to touch it, “Can this be used to talk to other staff?”
Players shouldn’t be this intimate with NPCs.
But the NPC couldn’t bring himself to directly refuse, so he took a step back, his back against the door, “Yes.”
“Then come with me.” Toudou Sakura once again grabbed his arm, because she suddenly thought of how to get them to bring the champagne at the right time.
The NPC tried to stop her, “No, I can’t leave my designated area.”
“You said everything here can be bought, right?” Toudou Sakura smiled, “I’m buying half an hour of your time, no resistance allowed.”
And so, Toudou Sakura forcefully purchased an NPC waiter who was originally stationed on the first floor restaurant and took him to the second floor.
“Your uniform is too conspicuous.” Toudou Sakura didn’t hesitate to take off his tailcoat, folded it once, and placed it in his arms.
“And this.” She reached out and unceremoniously removed the mask from the NPC’s face.
Under the mask was a clean and handsome face, with a hint of panic in his eyes, and a red mole at the end of his right eyebrow.
“You’re quite good-looking, why hide it.” Toudou Sakura held the mask in her hand, dismissing any thought of him putting it back on, “Just half an hour, I paid for it, so you have to listen to me.”
“What exactly do you want to do?” the NPC asked.
“I’m waiting for a signal. When it comes, you immediately use the earpiece to tell your colleagues to bring up the champagne tower. Say it’s prepared by the Holy Altar for the players. Remember, make it grand, the more lively, the better.”
To attract attention, it seems.
The NPC understood.
“Understood.”
And so, Toudou Sakura stood beside a secluded gambling table with the NPC disguised as a player, pretending to watch the game while discreetly glancing at An Wujiu and Shen Ti’s table.
Why hasn’t the signal come yet?
She muttered to herself in her mind.
The “Da Vinci Code” being played at this table was so poorly executed that Toudou Sakura couldn’t bear to watch anymore. She turned around, ready to change positions and check out the other table.
Her mind was filled with what An Wujiu had told her.
[I have three tasks for you.
First, bribe some players around Maguire, discussing the Emperor card, implying psychologically to him, making him afraid to take the Emperor card.
Second, buy four champagne towers in the first-floor restaurant, and when Shen Ti raises his hand to signal four, have the champagne towers enter the hall together. Once players start to get chaotic, grabbing champagne, find Zhong Yiruo, Yang Erci, Nan Shan, and Wu You, tell them Noah has been captured.
Third, observe the field. If any players standing at the third-floor railing don’t come down to get the champagne towers but instead turn and go elsewhere on the third floor, follow them. Noah might be there.]
Toudou Sakura didn’t know why An Wujiu wanted to implant psychological suggestions in Maguire, let alone how he could come up with such a plan in such a short time—misleading Maguire, stirring up the casino, and even figuring out how to locate Noah’s kidnappers.
He’s truly a terrifying person.
Luckily, he’s also kind-hearted. If he were a villain, he would be difficult to deal with.
Just as she was thinking this, she lifted her eyelids and happened to see Shen Ti sitting not far away, raising his hand lazily, signaling four.
“The signal, it’s here!” Toudou Sakura didn’t even look back, grabbing the NPC brother’s arm and shaking it vigorously, “Quick, quick, it’s happening now.”
Though Toudou Sakura didn’t understand why the signal was necessary, it was probably to prevent Maguire from finding out first and threatening Noah’s life.
“What else do you need?” the NPC brother asked her.
Toudou Sakura waited for the champagne towers to be brought up. “I’m going to find my teammates.”
As desired, Maguire fell into the trap laid by An Wujiu due to the psychological suggestions and the unusual behavior of several people.
Shen Ti was well aware that Maguire, after the extreme tension caused by the psychological suggestions, was now in a state of relaxation where it was difficult to concentrate.
So, at this moment, he took the opportunity, under the guise of negotiating terms with Zhou Yijue, to signal to Toudou Sakura not far away.
“Four times…” Zhou Yijue repeated softly.
He felt things were slipping out of his control.
Although it seemed now that Maguire voluntarily abandoned the Emperor card and passed it to the next player, Shen Ti, everything seemed to flow naturally, in accordance with the rules.
But intuition told Zhou Yijue that something was amiss.
Shen Ti was now the visible Emperor, and according to the previous plan, the Guard card would be dealt to Amy by the dealer he bribed. But now, whether the Guard card was still in her hands, Zhou Yijue had no way of knowing.
She performed magic tricks of swapping and changing cards with everyone, so could she have switched the card to someone else’s hand at that moment?
Zhou Yijue initially found An Wujiu suspicious, but An Wujiu was sitting honestly at the table, not doing anything.
Could it be Maguire?
“Hey, pay attention.” Shen Ti tapped the table with his knuckles, reminding him that time was running out, “Speak.”
Amy teased, “How can you call someone like that? At least he’s a handsome guy.”
“Just four times!” Maguire was decisive, thinking he had at least gotten rid of the Emperor card. Although he couldn’t fully trust what those people said, no matter what, with three revolutionaries, getting rid of the Emperor card was easy.
Suddenly, there was quite a commotion in the hall, and many people around stood up from the gambling tables and looked towards the entrance of the hall.
The game hadn’t even started yet, but Maguire also looked in that direction, with many people blocking the view. Through the gaps in the crowd, you could barely see some stacked champagne being pushed over.
Unlike the many waiters carrying punishment drinks to the tables, this was a towering champagne tower being pushed into the hall and stopping in front of the gambling tables.
There were quite a few of them, about four towers judging from the crowd’s gathering.
In the bustling hall, many people were talking, arguing, and scrambling. The hall, which had been immersed in a symphony, suddenly became extremely lively and noisy.
Shen Ti also craned his neck to look over, his eyes brightening. “Someone’s still sending champagne?”
An Wujiu also turned his head, and the attention of most players within his field of vision was drawn to the huge champagne towers being pushed over. As he expected, people would feel thirsty when nervous, but the only thing they could drink here was the punishment drink provided by the sanctuary. Everyone knew that drinking it would have side effects and affect their thinking, so even if they were being promoted, no one dared to drink it.
Now, a new drink suddenly appeared, and it was champagne, of good quality. While it couldn’t be guaranteed that everyone would want it, at least few people wouldn’t be curious.
“Is this being sent to us for free or are they charging for it?” Shen Ti was still pretending.
Amy got up from her seat, tightened her hand of cards, put on her fur coat, and looked around in the crowd. She heard someone say, “This wine is really good,” and someone else say, “This is the best treatment I’ve had at the Holy Altar.”
She turned around and waved to the four people at the table, gesturing for them to come over. “It seems to be free for the players.”
Maguire was a gambler, and most gamblers were heavy drinkers, addicted to alcohol. It had been a long time since he had drunk real alcohol, and he was feeling a bit greedy.
When he was in the lobby on the first floor earlier, he had seen such a large champagne tower and had wondered about it. He hadn’t expected it to be meant for them to drink.
He first looked at his teammates and saw that some were still standing in their original positions, so he relaxed his vigilance and also went over. He rudely pushed aside the people blocking his way and squeezed forward, taking a cup from the champagne tower and drinking it all in one go.
The taste was even better than he had imagined, and unlike the punishment drink, there were no immediate side effects after drinking it.
So Maguire reached out his hand again and took four cups from the champagne tower, holding the slender stems of the glasses clinking together as he brought them back, then clattered them onto the gambling table.
Shen Ti also followed suit, taking two cups and placing one in front of An Wujiu. Although An Wujiu didn’t like to drink and didn’t intend to, he was willing to taste what Shen Ti gave him.
“This is valuable,” Shen Ti said to him, “Earlier, Nan Shan and I sneaked two cups. We thought no one saw, but when we checked our panels, we found that the system had automatically logged it for me.”
Only then did An Wujiu smile, his first smile since sitting at the gambling table.
Amy took a sip and joked, “Since it’s free now, you should drink more.”
Maguire sat back in his seat and saw that Zhou Yijue had not moved. “Indeed, Young Master Zhou, you wouldn’t appreciate this kind of champagne.”
This sarcastic remark didn’t faze Zhou Yijue at all, but it made An Wujiu suspicious. Did these two know each other from before?
This would explain how the two of them had secretly colluded in the liar’s dice game earlier without anyone noticing.
The dealer was still standing by the table. Seeing that everyone had returned to their seats, he spoke up, “The game will continue.” He clicked the paused countdown timer, and time resumed counting down.
An Wujiu glanced at the second floor and caught sight of Yang Erci, Nan Shan and Wu You hurrying away.
His heart sank.
Shen Ti smiled, “Where were we just now?”
“Just now, everyone agreed on the fourfold increase in chips,” Zhou Yijue’s face always had a faint smile, as if nothing could hinder his victory.
“Just four times then, the losers will pay four times the chips to the winning camp.”
“OK,” Shen Ti took over, “How about betting 1000 chips?”
“Wouldn’t 1000 be too much?” Amy said, “I’d feel guilty if my teammates lost their lives because of me.”
Shen Ti shrugged, “Then let’s go with 888, more auspicious.”
Amy looked at him. He didn’t look like a Chinese person, but his way of speaking was very similar.
What she didn’t know was that Shen Ti was just mimicking.
“Let’s go with 500,” Zhou Yijue smiled, “It’s easier to calculate that way.”
Maguire stared at An Wujiu, who had not participated in the chip discussion as if he didn’t care about it.
With everyone remaining silent, it was essentially agreed upon the chip value.
“Okay,” the dealer agreed to their fourfold chip principle, and the countdown timer on the table disappeared.
But he still explained the rules of payout for wins and losses.
“The emperor card in the Bao Huang game is different from other cards. When it wins, it will get the most chips, but it also has to pay out more chips when it loses, which is very risky.
The entire game is considered to have five sets of chips. If the royalists win, they will receive four times the chips from the opposing three sets, to be paid out by the three revolutionaries collectively and evenly. The Emperor receives two-thirds, which is 4000 chip value, and the Guard receives one-third, which is 2000 chip value. Each revolutionary pays 2000 chips.
Conversely, if the royalists lose, then the revolutionaries will win four times the chips of those two sets, divided evenly, each receiving 1333 chip value, while the royalist Emperor must pay two-thirds of the compensation amount, 2666, and the Guard pays 1333. And if the Emperor is the last one, then the Emperor needs to pay an additional 500 chips to each of the three revolutionaries.
If it’s a tie, then everyone neither wins nor loses, and the chips are returned.”
In summary, the Emperor carries high risks but high profits, and likewise, the royalists have a hard time winning, but once they do, they will receive greater rewards. Once they lose, especially if the Emperor is the last one standing, the Emperor will have to pay a hefty price of 4166 chips.
4000…
An Wujiu looked at Shen Ti.
If they lost the bet, they would be in big trouble.
The dealer stood with his hands behind his back. “Now, if the Guard wishes to declare protection, please raise your hand.”
After a moment’s wait, no one raised their hand on the table.
“Usually, they would declare protection secretly,” Amy said.
“That’s not necessarily true,” Shen Ti smiled. “If it were me, I would come out and declare openly. What’s there to be afraid of? That’s more exciting.”
Amy also smiled. “Are you so skilled at this? What if you’re the Emperor and the Guard as well?”
Shen Ti remained unfazed, his seemingly affectionate green eyes gazing at Amy. “Guess?”
“Just by looking at you, you seem like someone who’s good at self-preservation.”
Amy changed the subject and looked up at the dealer. “Do you have anything else to say, little dealer?”
The dealer nodded. “Before dealing the cards, please note that the King, the Queen, including the Emperor card and the Guard card, can all be used as wildcards. However, please be aware that if a player uses these wildcards in their hand, subsequent players who want to play higher cards must use wildcards that are higher than the ones used by the previous player.”
In the game rules: Emperor card > King card > Guard card > Queen card. Any combination of cards with these wildcards is equivalent to having an additional set of cards of the same number.
“This game doesn’t differentiate between the size of suits, only numbers matter, and there’s no flush.”
After explaining the rules, the dealer raised his hand and gently slid it through the air. A virtual panel appeared in front of each player, showing the options for the players in the group.
“Players, the game is about to begin. Please designate your chip targets.”
An Wujiu had already opened up the decision-making authority for chip allocation to all members of the group.
Seemingly without hesitation, he directly selected his own name on the virtual panel in front of him.
The panel emitted a sound:
[Player An Wujiu has selected himself as the target for chips.]
Upon hearing this, Maguire burst into laughter. “Hahaha, there’s actually someone noble enough to choose themselves as chips? Do they really think they’re a saint?”
An Wujiu smirked, tilting back into the soft chair where he had been seated. A smile played at the corners of his mouth.
Amy felt something odd. It was just a change in expression, a gesture, yet the An Wujiu before her seemed like a completely different person.
“What’s wrong? Is there a rule against using oneself as a chip?”
An Wujiu lazily glanced at Maguire, his ink-black eyes locking onto him, a hint of mischief in his smile.
“Maguire, don’t you enjoy watching me?”
As he spoke, he slowly blinked, his upper and lower eyelashes gently touching before parting.
“Shouldn’t you like it more?”
Author’s note:
The payout rules for the Bao Huang poker cards are a bit more complex, involving score calculations, so I made some adjustments here.
But in reality, it’s quite simple to play. You just play higher than what’s on the table. For example, if Player A plays three Jacks, Player B plays three Queens, and Player C plays three Aces, and no one wants to play, then Player C continues to play. This continues until someone runs out of cards.
In addition to this, there are factions: two players on the royalist side, and three players on the revolutionary side. The Revolutionaries aim to corner the Emperor, while the Knights protect the Emperor (either by not cornering him or by feeding him cards).
The fun of this game lies in the fact that, besides the Emperor being known, everything else is a guessing game, filled with intrigue and subterfuge.
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