Chapter 14 He Just Guessed

"Think about it... When challenging Mr. Jing, he chose the table himself, but when dealing with that third-rate guy... he shouldn't have needed to cheat," Jin Mianchou mused to himself, "And when I challenged him, I didn't consider changing tables either... But looking at it now, including this match... he has had three duels on the same table."

He glanced at the referee's meticulous, almost expressionless face, half-hidden by sunglasses, and then looked at Brother Jue.

"When he made the initial challenge, although he seemed to randomly pick the closest table, 'where he stood' was ultimately his decision, wasn't it? In other words... the actual situation is likely that he found the referee he bribed among the many, then deliberately wandered near the table where that referee was stationed before issuing the challenge." Jin Mianchou felt more confident in his reasoning as he thought, "His dramatic way of selecting the challenger with the 'spinning straw' was also to cover up this fact; in that situation where no one wanted to step forward to duel, his actions would undoubtedly make the people around him marvel at his ability to 'randomly pick an opponent,' thus overlooking the fact that 'he also chose the table' and 'this table was likely not randomly chosen by him.'"

Di-di-di—

Just as Jin Mianchou was contemplating, a burst of urgent beeping interrupted his thoughts.

"The feedback time limit has expired, sir," the referee's cold voice followed, "The penalty for overtime is 1% of the maximum gold held at the start of the game. Also, the next thirty-second countdown starts immediately..." As he spoke, he looked at Jin Mianchou and pointed to the timer, "Next time, the penalty will be 2%, please be aware."

"This..." Only then did Jin Mianchou belatedly realize that he had wasted too much time thinking this and that. For the first time in his life, he felt... that there wasn't enough time to think.

This was a situation he had never encountered before...

Jin Mianchou was a very excellent person, a true "elite" in every sense of the word.

His family wasn't exactly wealthy, but it was quite well-off. Having never attended public schools, he was an outstanding presence in any group.

Top grades, top athletic ability, and even a natural advantage in appearance.

During his student days, he was always associated with words like cadre, representative, and gifted student. Or, to put it more directly, he was the legendary "kid from someone else's family."

Before graduating from university, he had already received an offer from a well-known company, and in the sixth year after joining the company, he became the youngest senior manager in the company's history.

He was a standard winner in life. He hardly knew what setbacks were because he never failed.

Receiving praise, winning victories... was a matter of course for him; he was also happy to bask in the envious and admiring gazes of others.

In his eyes, the ordinary people who appeared in his life were just inconspicuous "extras," while he... was like the "protagonist" of this world.

Until... this year when he was thirty-two years old...

A month ago, Jin Mianchou had a disagreement with his superior on a certain project. Being so arrogant as to be headstrong, he chose to ignore the other party's dissuasion and forcibly implemented his own choice.

As a result... he was utterly defeated, causing a huge loss.

He couldn't make up for this shortfall on his own... even if he bankrupted himself. However, if he could get an eight-figure sum of liquid funds, then he would still have a way to mediate and remedy the situation, at least for a long time, no one would discover his actions.

So, he appeared on this ship today...

Today, he still believed, as always, that he was the "protagonist" here.

However... the nightmarish reality gradually awakened this person who had little experience with life's ups and downs.

And that "reality" was named—Feng Bujue.

...

"Hurry up and write," Brother Jue said with a smile, putting pressure on the other party as he saw him hesitating, "What's wrong? Do you think sending me $1,000 isn't enough? Another overtime and it'll be 2,000."

"I... I protest!" Jin Mianchou suddenly turned around and shouted at the organizer on the second-floor railing.

His shout not only attracted the organizer's attention but also caused many people in the main hall to look over at him.

"Ha..." The organizer opened his mouth, exhaled, and then stood up, looking at the other party and saying, "What are you protesting?"

"Your people have been bribed by him! They're cheating together!" Jin Mianchou shouted at the organizer while pointing at the man in the suit and sunglasses beside him and Brother Jue.

Hearing this, the referee was also stunned, not knowing how to react.

"Hehe..." Feng Bujue, upon hearing this, spread his hands and laughed, "Look at your little 'telling on the teacher' act... tsk tsk tsk~"

This taunt had no real meaning, but... he just liked it...

"My people... have been bribed by him?" After two seconds, the organizer also responded with a smile, "Why do you say that? Do you have any evidence?"

"The evidence is this!" Jin Mianchou shouted with certainty, raising the paper in his hand.

"What's wrong with this paper?" the organizer asked.

"He guessed 1A5B in the first round!" Jin Mianchou replied.

"Oh..." The organizer responded weakly, "So what?"

"So what?" Jin Mianchou's tone changed, "So they must be colluding to cheat!"

"Heh... hehe..." After hearing this, the organizer shook his head and laughed dryly.

Almost in the same second, Feng Bujue laughed in the same way.

"What are you laughing at?" Jin Mianchou had already sensed that the atmosphere was not right, and his voice lowered.

"Who says... you can't guess 1A5B in the first round?" the organizer asked.

"Who decided... that guessing 1A5B in the first round must be cheating?" Feng Bujue also asked.

"Absurd!" Jin Mianchou shouted, "If it's not cheating, how could he guess all six numbers in the first round?"

"Then... did you see or recognize his technique?" the organizer asked.

"I..." Jin Mianchou did not answer the question directly, "The technique is to cooperate with the referee! The referee must have told that crow man the numbers through gestures or signals in a place I couldn't see... like a blind spot!"

Upon hearing this, the referee instinctively wanted to speak up for himself, but after looking up at the organizer, he swallowed his words.

He knew... that arguing in front of the organizer was unnecessary; the act of "arguing" itself was a kind of questioning of the organizer.

"No, he didn't." The organizer said, operating his tablet a few times, pulling up the surveillance footage of Feng Bujue and Jin Mianchou's table from the last few minutes, and showing it in fast forward, "As you can see from the images captured by this camera, he hardly made any movements, his hands, feet, shoulders... were all very steady, he didn't even tremble his lips or fingers."

"This..." Seeing this, Jin Mianchou said again, "That crow man cheated through other means! The referee either didn't see it or was bribed by him... and pretended not to see it!"

"Hoo—" The organizer exhaled again, picked up his mysterious drink, took a small sip, and then continued, "Let me sort out my thoughts..." He paused, "You accuse my subordinates of helping others cheat, but you can't provide any evidence at all, and you can't say for sure how he did it; and your only basis is... the answer given by the other party in the first round."

Even Jin Mianchou himself could hear that he was at a disadvantage from these words, he quickly continued, "No! There are many other signs..." He pointed to Feng Bujue again, "He... he said, 'I see, it's these numbers' just as I finished writing the answer! And he only declared seven rounds! These are all signs of cheating!"

"Signs..." The organizer sneered, "Hmph... that's an interesting way to put it." He looked at Brother Jue and asked, "Mr. Crow, how do you explain this?"

"Psychological warfare." Feng Bujue replied succinctly.

"Did you hear that?" the organizer said to Jin Mianchou again.

"He... this..." Jin Mianchou didn't know what else to say, after all, he had no evidence, and that was a fatal flaw.

However, Jin Mianchou was unwilling to let the duel continue... because he had already decided in his heart that Brother Jue was cheating; to put it another way, even if Brother Jue wasn't cheating, he already had 1A5B in one round, so the probability of guessing the answer within seven rounds was extremely high, which meant... that Jin Mianchou couldn't hold out until the eighth round to surrender; and once he lost the 100,000 ante, he would be directly eliminated.

"Then... this game doesn't count!" Jin Mianchou continued, "I demand to start over! And change the referee." He said to the organizer, "Heh... how about it? To prove the fairness of the duel, I think you won't refu..."

"Alright~ Alright~ I got it." The organizer interrupted the other party and said to Suit B beside him, "Do it."

"Yes, sir." Suit B responded.

Before the words could fade, this burly man, nearly two meters tall, leaped from the several-meter-high railing on the second floor.

His momentum was like a fierce tiger descending the mountain, a wicked dragon pouncing into the sea.

After landing with a bang, the big man advanced to the cart where Brother Jue was in five steps, grabbing Jin Mianchou's shoulder with one hand.

"Ah—" Jin Mianchou cried out in pain.

But before he could shout out a second syllable, he was pinned to the ground by the other party with a set of extremely skilled and powerful grappling skills.

"You... what are you doing!" Jin Mianchou shouted loudly, his mask pressed against the ground. He tried to resist, but found himself as if he was being stepped on by an elephant, completely unable to move.

"You have already 'completely lost'," Suit B continued, "Leave here with me."

"What! What are you talking about?" Jin Mianchou shouted even louder, "Organizer! What's going on? Please explain!"

"Are you an idiot?" At this time, the organizer had already sat down again, leisurely playing with his tablet, "Are you still asking me what's going on? Don't you understand the rules of the gambling table?"

"Wh... what rules?" Jin Mianchou said with difficulty.

"The rules are..." At this time, Feng Bujue replaced the organizer and said to Jin Mianchou, "Cheaters, at best, have their hands and feet chopped off, at worst, they fill the hole with their lives."

Jin Mianchou was truly exasperated when he heard this: "I... I didn't cheat! It was clearly you..."

"The same goes for falsely accusing the other party of cheating without providing any evidence," the organizer said in the next second, "You might as well think about it, if what you said was true, what kind of treatment would my subordinates receive?" He raised his finger and pointed at the referee, "The world of gambling isn't the kind of place where you can point your finger at someone and shout that they're cheating while being able to stay out of it..." He shook his head, "Without any solid evidence, or the ability to catch someone in the act, or the awareness to bear the consequences... you dare to presumptuously say that the other party 'must be cheating'..."

Bang—

The organizer immediately slammed the railing in front of him, shouting out loud for the first time in a stern tone, "Do you think this is a kindergarten playroom? You dare to ask to restart the game? And want me to 'prove the fairness of the duel'?" He waved his arm and pointed, "If there weren't ladies present, I would have had someone beat the shit out of you two minutes ago!" He paused for half a second and shouted to Suit B, "He signed a 'protection contract,' right? Drag him out of here immediately!"

"Yes!" Suit B received the order, moved his knee off Jin Mianchou's spine, picked him up, and left.

"No... don't!" At this moment, Jin Mianchou finally knew fear, but begging for mercy... was undoubtedly too late.

"Wait a minute." Unexpectedly, at this moment, Feng Bujue suddenly spoke, trying to stop Suit B.

However... Suit B ignored Brother Jue. The guy acted as if he hadn't heard anything, dragging Jin Mianchou out with his steel-like arms around his neck.

"Hold on." Two seconds later, the organizer spoke again. This time, Suit B stopped.

"Mr. Crow, do you have any other opinions?" the organizer asked.

"No, no, I just... still have a few words I want to say to Jin Mianchou." Feng Bujue said, stepping forward to Jin Mianchou.

The latter's expression at the moment was basically the same as the mask he was wearing.

"Mr... Mr. Crow..." Jin Mianchou said to Brother Jue with a crying voice, "Help me say a few words! I'll give you three... no... fifty thousand!"

Brother Jue ignored the other party's pleading and said to himself, "Do you want to know why I was able to guess 1A5B in the first round?"

Jin Mianchou was stunned by the question and replied woodenly, "Wh... why?"

"It's actually very simple..." Feng Bujue said, "I guessed it."

"That's impossible!" Jin Mianchou replied almost instinctively.

"No, it's very easy." Brother Jue said, "First of all, you must have written 1, which I 'saw' because the movement of the pen was very obvious when writing the number 1. I can be sure that there must be a '1' in the answer.

"Secondly, you must have also written 8 and 9, because you know that my guessing habit is to start from six 0s and extend backward. If the answer does not contain 8 and 9, it can help me save a round; at least before I made the 'seven rounds' declaration, your idea was reasonable.

"And then, it was just a simple guess...

"Due to my work, I have studied many things related to puzzle-solving. I once saw in a document from the 1990s... that the three numbers that people write most often when writing numbers randomly are 3, 5, and 8; although I am not sure about the reliability of that document, but anyway, it's just guessing, I don't need to 'believe' anything; moreover, in my previous duel with Mr. Jing, the numbers he wrote also contained these three numbers, which can be regarded as a kind of corroboration in a sense.

"In short, up to this point, I have these five numbers: 1, 3, 5, 8, and 9.

"Next... I considered 'repeated numbers'. Adding a repeated number will increase the deceptiveness of the answer, and you know this very well. I don't think you would let it go, but which one would this repeated number be? If you refer to my guessing order... then choosing 9 would be the best, which can ensure that I won't try out all six numbers until the ninth round.

"So, I wrote—135899, that's the origin of this answer."

"No..." Jin Mianchou stammered, "... No! You're lying to me! It's impossible to be so coincidental! The reasons for guessing 1, 8, 9, and 9 are still valid, but 3 and 5..." He swallowed a mouthful of saliva, "With your way of guessing, the probability of guessing more than four is very high, but guessing all of them..."

"I didn't plan to guess all of them." Feng Bujue said, "My original plan was to 'guess four to five numbers correctly in the first round'. As long as I could do this, my plan would already be successful."

These words, like a sharp arrow, pierced through Jin Mianchou's heart, causing the blood flow in his whole body to stagnate.

"You... you didn't intend to complete this duel at all..." After a few moments of thought, Jin Mianchou muttered.

"You finally understand." Feng Bujue responded calmly, "As I said before, you are a 'second-rate'. The difference between third-rate and second-rate is... the former is too incompetent, while the latter is self-righteous. Therefore, compared with third-rate, second-rate is easier to be 'implanted with ideas'." He shrugged, "To tell you the truth, I... never intended to cheat. I just gave you the perception that 'I must have cheated' through 'various performances'. And in a moment of desperation, you made the reaction of 'seeking your own death'."

When Jin Mianchou heard this, he realized something again: "Could... could it be! When you were playing against Mr. Jing, you were already..."

"Yes." Brother Jue smiled, "At that time, I had already completed the 'layout'; asking the referee about 'cheating' in public was considering... that in future duels, I might encounter some opponents who are very good at 'calculation', at this time, the shadow that I buried in the opponent's heart... 'as long as you don't get caught cheating, you can pass safely' became my invincible weapon in psychological warfare."

Astonishment, despair, fear, unwillingness...

Feng Bujue's philosophy flowed quietly in the air. He made Jin Mianchou experience a complex, indescribable sense of frustration.

After a moment of silence, Jin Mianchou opened his mouth again: "One day, I will come back... five years, ten years... I will pay off my debts and make a comeback! At that time, I will still be on the gambling table... to take my rev..."

"Hmph... how naive." Feng Bujue sneered, interrupting him, "'One day'? 'Make a comeback'? Heh... people who say these words when they fail will probably gradually get used to failure..."

As he spoke, he put his hands in his pockets and backed away two steps: "Just like the mentality you had when you came to challenge me... 'because you are not sure whether you can still have an advantage in the next game, so you want to get rid of potential strong enemies in this game', which sounds reasonable at first; but the world of gambling has never been reasonable. People lose everything, and even die, for inexplicable reasons... that is gambling. Your level of calculation—this kind of plan to 'put yourself in a safe place as soon as possible'... doesn't work here. Not only doesn't it work, but it will also lead you to your own destruction."

At this point, Feng Bujue had already turned around and walked away slowly: "People who have not really sat on the gambling table are full of confidence and want to win... It's ridiculous. You should go back to your familiar field and pay for the other wrong decisions in your life."