The voice sounded so calm and matter-of-fact that Jiang He almost thought she had misheard.
She looked up at Lu Xinyi, only to find Lu Xinyi's expression unchanged, as if she saw nothing wrong with what she had just said.
"Wait, did I get something wrong?
"Aren't we supposed to take turns winning?
"Shouldn't you be folding right now?"
Jiang He looked at Lu Xinyi in disbelief, or rather, she had already realized something was wrong, but was finding it hard to accept.
You can know a person's face but not their heart. Jiang He had considered the possibility of the other party turning hostile, but she never expected them to not even bother pretending for a second.
Lu Xinyi, however, just smiled nonchalantly without offering any explanation, simply pointing to the timer on the poker table.
"Everyone had better make a decision quickly."
Besides the one-hour time limit for the entire game, 'Blood Poker' also imposed a 1-minute thinking time limit for each person at a multi-player table.
There was a small timer on the table, and if the time ran out, it would automatically be treated as a fold.
After all, in each small round, there could be repeated raises, so this was to avoid pointless delays.
The bright red numbers on the timer kept ticking down.
43
42
"Fine, fine, so that's how you want to play, is it?"
Jiang He's face darkened. She hadn't expected that Lu Xinyi, who seemed so amicable, could be so utterly ruthless when she decided to drop the act.
She picked up her hand from the table and looked at it again.
A pair of 9s.
She already knew her hand, but just in case she had misread it earlier, Jiang He checked it one more time.
Unfortunately, this hand wasn't small, but it wasn't very big either. It would be difficult to win the whole pot.
The game was still in progress. To Lu Xinyi's right was another player from Community 3, a thin, middle-aged man with glasses named Lü Mingxuan.
He threw another three 1000-point chips into the betting area: "Raise."
It was Su Xiucen's turn. She was the dealer this round and also the last to act.
Before her, Jiang He, Lu Xinyi, and Lü Mingxuan had all raised, while everyone else had already folded.
Su Xiucen was also panicking. The current situation had completely upended her expectations.
Jiang He frowned: "Auntie Su, call."
Su Xiucen seemed even more flustered: "But, but..."
From Jiang He's perspective, the situation was clear: if Su Xiucen folded, it would be a one-on-two situation, putting her at a great disadvantage; if Su Xiucen called, it would be two-on-two, giving them a better chance of winning.
But Su Xiucen's panicked expression had already completely revealed that her hand was very weak.
During the brief stalemate, Lu Xinyi spoke up.
She seemed to have completely shed her gentle and friendly disguise, her voice full of aggression: "Auntie, don't try to hold on, just fold.
"In this game, from the moment you sat down at the table, you never had any chance of winning.
"Of course, you can choose to defy fate and keep raising. No matter how much you raise, I will choose to raise again."
[Thinking time has expired. Automatic fold.]
As the notification sound rang out, Su Xiucen seemed to collapse, powerlessly placing her hand back on the table.
In just one short minute, it was difficult for her to make a decision.
To call at this point, she would have to throw in another 3000 in chips. With her weak hand, if she lost, she would lose a total of 4000 including the ante, which was completely unbearable for her.
After all, if she lost all ten rounds by only losing the ante, it would only be 10000 in total.
If she lost 4000 in the first round, what would she do later? Even if she got lucky with a strong hand, it would probably be very difficult to make a comeback.
In this state of indecision, one minute passed quickly.
It was Jiang He's turn again.
Since three people had chosen to raise in the previous round, the cards couldn't be revealed yet.
The showdown would only happen when only one person raised and everyone else called.
The bright red countdown started ticking down from 60 again, and Jiang He had only two paths before her.
Either call or raise, or fold.
"I can't fold. If I completely give in in the first round, I'll have no power to fight back later...
"I have to at least see what their hands are.
"My hand is a pair of 9s, at least it's a pair. Against the two of them, I'm not completely without a chance.
"Damn it, the person who breaks the rules should be ganged up on by everyone else, but why are the other three from Community 3 not reacting at all?
"Could it be that they anticipated this situation from the very beginning?
"Why did two of them fold and two of them raise?"
Jiang He's mind was a mess. Too much information made it difficult for her to sort through her thoughts.
The countdown was already down to 20 seconds.
Jiang He decided to call first.
But just then, Lu Xinyi spoke.
"A friendly reminder, even if you choose to call now, there won't be a showdown.
"Because the two of us will keep raising until you've bet all your chips.
"So, if your hand is really strong, you might as well go all-in. It'll save some time."
Jiang He, who had just picked up her chips, froze with her hand in mid-air.
According to the game rules, if two people in a hand kept raising, there would never be a showdown until everyone's chips were exhausted and they were all-in.
All-in, also known as shove or ALL-IN, was the most desperate situation.
Win, and your chips double; lose, and your chips are wiped out.
For Jiang He, she was mentally prepared to lose 4000 chips, but she was not mentally prepared to lose everything in the first round.
"Tick."
[Thinking time has expired. Automatic fold.]
Jiang He felt as if all her strength had been instantly drained, and the hand holding the chips dropped down again.
"Raise."
"Fold."
Lü Mingxuan chose to fold. Without anyone's hand being revealed, Lu Xinyi won all the chips on the table.
Excluding her own bets, she made a net profit of 9000 chips.
The biggest loser here was Lü Mingxuan, who lost a total of 4000 chips including the ante.
But Lü Mingxuan showed no expression, not even thinking about calling to see the cards, and simply handed over all those chips.
This made Jiang He even more certain: these four players from Community 3 must have planned this setup from the very beginning.
But what Jiang He didn't understand was that, according to the Arcade's matching mechanism, Community 3 should have only been formed for a day.
Why could they have such unconditional trust in each other?
As analyzed at the beginning, although they were in the same community, the players were not exactly a community of shared interests. The visa time Lu Xinyi earned shouldn't be tradable with others.
So why would the other three cooperate unconditionally?
Jiang He hadn't figured out this problem yet, and a new round of the game was about to begin.
This time, Lu Xinyi was the dealer, and Lü Mingxuan to her right was the first to act.
Lü Mingxuan looked at his cards and then said: "Fold."
This was somewhat unexpected for Jiang He. She had thought Lü Mingxuan would continue to raise, repeating the double act with Lu Xinyi from the previous round.
When it was Su Xiucen's turn, she was even more at a loss: "I, I have..."
She even subconsciously wanted to show Jiang He her cards, but she held back, because that was against the rules.
Multi-player tables allowed players to make some small moves outside the rules, but actions like looking at each other's cards were absolutely forbidden.
Jiang He comforted her: "It's okay, Auntie Su. If your hand is good, just call for now."
However, she was only halfway through her sentence when Lu Xinyi interrupted her.
"Still haven't figured out the situation?
"In this game, you have no chance of winning. Any form of desperate resistance will only make you lose more."