San Tian Liang Jue

Chapter 1180 The Realm of Calculation

Jing Xian Sheng quickly left in disgrace, snatching a pen and paper as he went… it seemed the tall man's advice was effective.

"Referee, how is the lowest bet I can make calculated now?" As soon as the other man left, Feng Bujue turned to the suited, sunglasses-wearing man and asked.

"Round to the nearest tenth after the decimal point," the referee replied. "For example… if you currently have 102,112, 1% of that is 1021.12. The trailing digits can be dropped, so your minimum bet when 'wagering on rounds' is 1021 dollars."

"Okay, I'll bet that amount," Feng Bujue replied immediately.

"Oh?" The tall man heard this and immediately retorted in a provocative tone, "Hey, hey… Mr. 'Raven', I only declared eighteen rounds, is it really necessary to be so conservative?"

Jue-ge didn't respond to his words but instead replied, "I haven't had the pleasure. What is your esteemed name?"

"Heh… easy to say." The tall man raised his hand and pointed to his golden crying face mask. "You can call me 'Jin Mian Chou' (Golden Mask of Sorrow)."

"Jin Mian Chou." The next second, Feng Bujue continued, "With your abilities, you should have already figured out the strategy for this game during my first match against Jing Xian Sheng; at that time, you could have just picked someone at random to challenge, and after two rounds, you could have won at least ten or twenty thousand in funds…" He paused for half a second, "But… why did you choose to challenge me?"

"Hmph…" Jin Mian Chou sneered, "It's very simple…" As he said this, he raised his eyes and glanced at the organizer's location on the second floor. "Tonight's banquet will only have eight final victors; indeed, I am very confident that I can enter the top sixty-four in this first game, but… there will obviously be other games after this, and I have to consider things ahead of time…"

"Heh…" Feng Bujue smiled upon hearing this, "So… you are extremely confident in this first game, so… you want to eliminate those 'potential strong enemies' 'before this game ends', is that it?"

"Ah… that's right." Jin Mian Chou didn't hide anything, he knew very well that it was futile to hide anything from this "Raven." "It's not to say that I think I will lose in the subsequent new games, but after all, the content of the new games is still unknown… wouldn't it be a waste not to make good use of one's absolute advantage?"

"Hmph… seeking your own death, that's exactly what people like you are doing." Feng Bujue laughed, still with that extremely unsettling laughter.

"Heh…" Jin Mian Chou was also laughing, "You haven't answered my initial question yet, Mr. Raven…" He steered the topic back, "You and I both know… that the game's 'escape rounds' are in the nineteenth and twentieth rounds; and in order to win, I don't hesitate to bet my round declaration on the number eighteen. Faced with my 'sincerity', are you only going to bet 1021 dollars?"

"Yes, your sincerity is only worth that much." Feng Bujue remained unmoved and replied calmly, "Time is precious, you should start guessing quickly…" He glanced at the timer, "Don't forget, the time we spend talking now… is part of your 'forty-five minutes' of decryption time."

"Alright~ alright~ then I'll start…" Jin Mian Chou put on a very disappointed look and immediately began guessing…

…………

The two of them moved very quickly, whether it was betting, calling, guessing numbers, or giving feedback… it was all basically without thinking.

In just four minutes, the first nine rounds were completed.

In these initial nine rounds, Jin Mian Chou's guessing method was the same as Feng Bujue's earlier.

So, by the tenth round, he had already probed six numbers written by Jue-ge, namely—2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 9.

And the money he lost had reached 9,000 US dollars.

"Hmm… so he really used six 'non-repeating' numbers?" Jin Mian Chou muttered when placing his bet for the tenth round, "Just as I expected…" He looked up at Jue-ge, "You have already thoroughly understood how to crack this game—you know very well how to increase the opponent's decryption steps, and relatively… you also know the 'most efficient' decryption method."

Speaking of this, Jin Mian Chou tilted his head slightly, "Hmph… when you were playing against Jing Xian Sheng just now, you deliberately didn't use the best solution, but instead used another tangential elimination approach to solve it. This was to create an illusion for your opponent… as if you were still some distance away from the answer." He spread his hands and continued in a helpless tone, "As a result… that 'third-rate' guy who didn't know anything really fell for it, and even in the twentieth round, he still thought that you, who had only guessed '2A' at most, were at least five or six steps away from the answer; as a result… he missed the 'escape round'."

"Are you done rambling?" Feng Bujue said, "The betting time is almost up."

"Heh… this round, I'll still bet a thousand dollars." Jin Mian Chou deliberately waited until the timer reached the last second before reporting his chips and pressing the switch.

"Very good." The moment the other party shouted out the chips, Jue-ge immediately replied, "I surrender."

"Hmm?" This time, Jin Mian Chou was obviously stunned.

"Referee, settle the score." A second later, Feng Bujue called out to the referee, who was also somewhat stunned.

"Uh… ah." The referee had been hosting this kind of gambling game for more than just a day or two, and his speed in calculating accounts was very fast. "That… the questioner declared surrender in the tenth round, the fine is 11,000 US dollars; plus the 'bet on rounds' of 1021, and minus the initial bet of 9,000 lost by the guesser in the previous nine rounds, the final amount is… 3021, questioner, please pay."

Before he finished speaking, Jue-ge had already started taking out money very nimbly.

"This guy…" Jin Mian Chou, who was supposed to be receiving the money, actually seemed a little annoyed at this moment. "You really don't leave any loopholes…"

"Hmph…" Feng Bujue shrugged and snorted coldly, "If Jing Xian Sheng is 'third-rate', then you are 'second-rate'."

"You…" Jin Mian Chou stopped speaking, paused for two seconds, and then said with a ferocious tone, "Are you trying to provoke me… I won't fall for it."

"The characteristic of second-rate… is being self-smart." Feng Bujue ignored his words and continued, "For example, just now… you deliberately babbled a lot before the tenth round, and you had to wait until the last second to press the timer… did you think you were playing basketball and making a buzzer beater?" He mocked, "On the surface, you tried your best to put on a look of 'I'm not in a hurry', while simultaneously using words to distract your opponent and try to make them anxious." He also imitated the other party's posture and spread his hands, "The more you behave like this… the easier it is to expose your true intentions."

"Stop pointing fingers at me so arrogantly." Jin Mian Chou replied unhappily, "Anyone who calculates it will know… the tenth round is a 'second-best escape round', although compared to the nineteenth and twentieth rounds… surrendering here will lose a little more money; but before entering the 11-20 round interval, if you already feel that the situation is not good, this is the last chance to escape." As he spoke, he raised his voice, "In my opinion… you are just afraid that I will guess the answer in the teens of rounds and suddenly increase the bet, so you thought about escaping in the tenth round from the beginning of this game!"

While the two of them were talking, the referee had already calculated the money, destroyed Jue-ge's answer sheet, and cleaned the table.

In this way, the preparations for the second match were ready, and at the start of this round, the financial comparison between the two sides was—

Feng Bujue: 99091 US dollars.

Jin Mian Chou: 103021 US dollars.

"You can think that way if you want." Feng Bujue continued, "In short… set the question."

"Hmph…" Jin Mian Chou grunted gloomily, wrote six numbers on the paper, and handed it to the referee.

"Is this six okay?" The referee still had to confirm with him as usual.

"Okay." Jin Mian Chou replied.

"Okay." The referee looked at Jue-ge again, "Then… for the second round, the guesser, please make a round declaration now."

"One million." Feng Bujue didn't even think about it and blurted out an unusually exaggerated number.

Hearing this number of rounds… the corners of the referee's mouth twitched twice, but he didn't say anything. Anyway, the decryption time was only 45 minutes, and no matter which round it reached, the guesser would be completely defeated when the time was up.

"Tch… I'll bet 1000 US dollars." Seeing this kind of round number, Jin Mian Chou naturally didn't have anything to consider, and gave the minimum bet…

…………

Jin Mian Chou was a very excellent person in mathematics, that is, the "fish that slipped through the net" mentioned in the previous article; not long after reading the rules, he had already calculated the "optimal solution" of this game in his mind. And according to this optimal solution, as long as his luck wasn't too bad, there was a more than 90% probability of getting the answer within eighteen rounds.

The organizers, as the game designers, were naturally very clear about this.

The calculation formula for the fine, as well as the base bet for betting on rounds, etc., were all designed on this basis.

Jin Mian Chou saw through all of this… and thought that he had completely grasped the strategy of the entire "guessing number duel," which is why he challenged Jue-ge.

However… he still underestimated Feng Bujue, and he didn't expect that the other party would decisively choose to surrender in the tenth round.

Jue-ge's choice was equivalent to declaring that he didn't intend to win money in this duel.

However, even if he lost money, he had to choose this way. This was a rational retreat—to minimize losses, survive, and then… counterattack.

…………

The subsequent development was basically the same as the first game.

Feng Bujue used nine rounds to probe the six numbers written by the other party.

And Jin Mian Chou also chose to surrender in the tenth round, because he also understood that the opponent had a high chance of guessing the answer before the nineteenth round, and dragging it into the 11-20 round interval was very unfavorable.

As a result, the settlement amount for this round was… Jin Mian Chou returned another 2981 dollars to Jue-ge.

Back and forth, Jin Mian Chou found that he had only won 40 US dollars after working so hard… and he had also helped Feng Bujue consume the "second duel."

From this moment on, Feng Bujue had the right to refuse others' "challenges."

"Tch—" After the second game, Jin Mian Chou said to Jue-ge with a contemptuous tone, "What a boring man, but… it's also a good experiment." He said pretentiously, "At least it proves that two people with comparable calculation abilities who have both thoroughly understood the game rules will generally have this kind of result after a duel as long as the total amount of funds is not much different…"

After saying that, he waved his hand and turned around smartly, "That's it… Mr. Raven, it seems that we have to wait until the next game to determine the winner…"

"Don't go." Unexpectedly, at this moment, Feng Bujue interrupted him, "Let's have another round."

These words froze Jin Mian Chou in place.

"Heh…" The next second, Feng Bujue's unsettling laughter rang out again, "I've already gone through two duels, but you've only experienced one, right?" He paused, "So, I'm challenging you now, and you can only accept it."

Jin Mian Chou swallowed and slowly turned around, continuing to pretend to be calm, "Hmph… then I really have to thank you, are you specially here to help me consume that 'second duel' so that I can avoid being challenged next?"

"No, I'm here to win your money." Feng Bujue replied calmly.

"Ha!" Jin Mian Chou chuckled dryly, "Absurd!" He suddenly shouted, "Is there any difference between this round and the one just now?"

"Yes…" Feng Bujue replied in a deep voice, "I just played with you in the 'field of calculation' and learned about your second-rate nature… hehe…" He chuckled strangely, "And now… it's time to invite you to play in the 'field of gambling'."