"Lawyer Lin!"
Qin Yao stood up in surprise and went to greet him.
Jiang He, however, frowned and asked with some confusion, "You... why were you in there for so long?"
Lin Sizhi looked at her and said, somewhat baffled, "The game rules don't say you can't stay in there, do they?"
Jiang He was at a loss for words. She wanted to say more, but quickly lost her nerve and looked down without speaking.
Qin Yao hurriedly explained, "Sister Jiang He, Lawyer Lin, neither of you is wrong. There's no need to argue over something like this.
"I'm sorry, Lawyer Lin. We just lost badly in the gamble against Community 3 because we were one person short, so Sister Jiang He probably thought having one more person would give us a better chance of winning.
"But it's not your fault, don't take it to heart."
Jiang He sighed silently, "I didn't say it was his fault."
Lin Sizhi looked at the rules on the big screen; they were no different from what he had written in the proposal.
"How did you lose?"
...
Qin Yao briefly explained the whole story of what happened at the multiplayer gambling table.
Lin Sizhi looked at the chips in his hand and fell into deep thought.
Qin Yao continued, "Lawyer Lin, what do you plan to do next?
"How about we just accept the loss? Whether we play at the multiplayer table or not, it's a loss of ten thousand chips anyway."
Lin Sizhi glanced at the countdown on the big screen, "But it's still early, and it's boring to just sit around.
"Might as well play a few rounds with them."
Hearing Lin Sizhi's tone, Qin Yao couldn't help but be startled.
"Lawyer Lin, are you planning to gamble seriously with them?
"Please don't think that way. They are very skilled, and...
"There are four of them, they have a lot of chips, and they're very good at coordinating. You have no chance of winning one against four."
Lin Sizhi spread his hands, "But you lost 26000 chips, don't you want to win them back?"
The three of them looked at each other.
"Win? How? Hope for a sudden burst of good luck? That's completely unrealistic." Jiang He shook her head repeatedly.
She and Su Xiucen were both dejected, wanting only to stay away from that gambling table.
Qin Yao hesitated for a moment, "I do! But... what should we do?"
Lin Sizhi took out a 2000-value chip from his pocket and flipped it between his fingers, "One person indeed has little chance, but with two people, there's still a shot."
Qin Yao looked at her few remaining chips, "But I only have 7000 chips left."
Lin Sizhi didn't seem to mind, "It's okay, I'll wait fifteen minutes for you to get some more."
Qin Yao was a bit surprised, "Get some more?"
"Yes." Lin Sizhi pointed to the chip exchange area on the side.
Jiang He couldn't stand it anymore and shot to her feet, "Yao Yao, don't get carried away by your losses!
"Drawing blood to get back in the game, that's too dangerous!
"If we leave now, we can at least exchange for a few thousand minutes of visa time, which isn't a total loss. But if you lose too much blood..."
Lin Sizhi remained noncommittal.
Jiang He grew even angrier, "Lawyer Lin, are you a gambling master?"
Lin Sizhi shook his head, "I'm not. In fact, I've never gambled before this. But there's more than one way to win a game."
Jiang He wanted to say more, but Qin Yao stopped her.
"Sister Jiang He, I believe Lawyer Lin must have his reasons for doing this. Don't worry, I won't draw too much."
Jiang He sat back down, somewhat angry. It was clear that the idea of exchanging blood for chips still made her instinctively recoil and resist.
"Once you're inside, do as I say."
Before Qin Yao entered the cubicle, Lin Sizhi lowered his voice and gave her a few simple instructions.
Qin Yao's eyes widened instantly, "Huh? We can do that?"
...
Lu Xinyi continuously flicked a chip into the air with her thumb, letting it land back in her palm.
Lü Mingxuan, on the other hand, leaned back in his chair, looking a bit bored.
He glanced at the time on the big screen again.
46:48
46:47
Time was passing too slowly.
More than ten minutes had passed since they had easily defeated Jiang He. There was nothing to do during this time, and the wait was boring.
"These opponents are a bit too stupid. If all the opponents in the Arcade are only at this level, then..."
Lü Mingxuan was cut off mid-sentence by Lu Xinyi.
"Don't underestimate any opponent."
Although Lü Mingxuan was much older than Lu Xinyi, he could only lower his head and say obediently, "Yes."
Although they had only been in Community 3 for a day, everyone admired Lu Xinyi from the bottom of their hearts.
Both inside and outside the game, Lu Xinyi had established absolute authority.
If Lu Xinyi hadn't devised such a meticulous plan from the start, running circles around those three foolish women from the opposing community, they wouldn't have won so easily.
Suddenly, Lü Mingxuan noticed that Lu Xinyi's gaze had been fixed on the young man from Community 17 who had been the last to emerge from the cubicle.
"Old Lü."
"Hmm?"
"Tell me, what do you think he was doing in the cubicle for so long?"
Clearly, Lu Xinyi was very curious about this.
Lü Mingxuan thought for a moment, "What else could he be doing? It must have been gambling against the chip exchange machine."
This answer obviously didn't satisfy Lu Xinyi, "Would someone be so stubborn as to play many rounds of a game with such a low chance of winning?"
Lü Mingxuan pondered for a moment, "Oh... not necessarily many rounds. Maybe he just took a long time to think? After all, there's no time limit for thinking when you're gambling against the chip exchange machine.
"Besides, if he got lucky and won once, getting a taste of victory, that would be enough to make him stubbornly gamble a few more times against the machine."
Lu Xinyi was still not completely convinced. She turned to look at the chip exchange area on her side and then fell into deep thought.
"I want to go in and take another look," Lu Xinyi said.
Lü Mingxuan thought for a moment, "Is that necessary? You've already drawn 400ML of blood, it's best not to draw any more.
"There are no reliable medical facilities in the community. Losing too much blood isn't worth it.
"The most crucial thing is that the odds of winning this game are just too low."
Unlike the others, Lu Xinyi had directly drawn 400ML from the start and played four rounds against the chip exchange machine.
She had wanted to play a few more rounds, but she lost all four games after the cards were revealed.
This also made her give up the idea of continuing to play.
Just as Lu Xinyi was hesitating, she saw Lin Sizhi and Qin Yao walking over.
"Hello, my name is Lin Sizhi.
"Can we play a round with you?"
Lu Xinyi glanced at the countdown on the big screen.
46:13.
"No problem." After a brief moment of thought, Lu Xinyi agreed with a smile.
In the remaining game time, she actually had two choices.
Either continue to draw blood for chips and gamble against the machine, or gamble against Lin Sizhi and Qin Yao.
Although Lu Xinyi was also curious why Lin Sizhi could stay in the cubicle for so long, no matter how she thought about it, gambling against real people had a higher chance of winning and a greater return.
Lu Xinyi had gambled four rounds against the chip exchange machine and lost them all.
But gambling against Lin Sizhi would be four against two, a much better chance of winning.
And based on the last round, playing ten games wouldn't take too much time, probably about 15 minutes to finish.
After finishing this game, there would still be about half an hour left, which was plenty of time.
There would be more than enough time to go and study the chip exchange machine then.
Comparatively, the chips that were easier to secure should still be a higher priority.
Everyone sat down at the gambling table again.
Lu Xinyi looked Lin Sizhi up and down and asked with some confusion, "You seem very confident, but it's two against four right now. You should know what the probability of winning is, right?"
Lin Sizhi spread his hands, "What can I do? No matter how I tried to persuade them, the other two weren't willing to play again.
"Besides, probabilities at the gambling table are all illusory.
"At the end of the day, it still comes down to luck.
"I've always been confident in my luck. I've built up quite a bit of good karma just now, so it's about time for my luck to turn."