Chapter 53

Zhou Chenhao carefully shuffled the four decks of cards, ensuring each deck was completely randomized to prevent any sequences of numbers.

He was tall with large hands, so he easily gathered the four decks together, fanned them out on the table, and began dealing the cards to the other three according to the rules.

Gong Ting was dealt a K and a 5, for a total of 15 points.

Ling Feng was dealt a J and a 2, for a total of 12 points.

Bai Xuechao was dealt a 7 and a 9, for a total of 16 points.

Zhou Chenhao dealt himself two cards. The top one was a Q. He lifted a corner to peek at his face-down card. Everyone stared at his expression, but he seemed to have instinctively learned what to do at such a moment. His face was blank, making it impossible to judge how good his hand was.

In order, the first player to take a card was Gong Ting.

"Hit," Gong Ting said.

Zhou Chenhao pushed a card over to him.

Gong Ting flipped it over to find it was a 4. His point total was now 19. Hitting again would likely cause him to bust, so he said, "Stand."

It seemed he didn't plan on doing anything special this round and was just playing normally.

His current point total was 19, a number very close to 21. If the other players busted or failed to reach 20 or 21, he would be the winner. The probability of someone getting a score that was exactly higher than his was small, so there was no need for him to risk hitting again.

Next, it was Ling Feng's turn to hit.

Ever since Ling Feng saw Gong Ting's score reach 19, his brow had furrowed slightly, and he began to think.

Bai Xuechao propped his chin on one hand, resting it on the table, and watched Ling Feng's expression with half-closed, lazy eyes. He could guess why Ling Feng had suggested playing Blackjack, and what he was thinking at this moment.

Back at the Kunpeng Marine Floating Island Park, when Bai Xuechao and the protagonist group entered the aquarium to play mini-games, he had discovered that Ling Feng was a smart person with good mental calculation skills.

Perhaps in Ling Feng's eyes, the game of Blackjack was a math problem related to probability.

Moreover, Blackjack was also a relatively player-friendly game. While the dealer has a higher win rate in any game, in Blackjack, one could achieve a win rate of about 49% through calculation, which was close to half. For this reason, people skilled in mathematics had once won millions at casinos by counting cards in Blackjack.

This was why Ling Feng had suggested playing Blackjack.

Bai Xuechao had anticipated this long ago, which was why he had taken out the jokers from the poker deck before Ling Feng even suggested playing Blackjack.

Blackjack was a game of mathematics and psychology.

There was a very classic probability problem, the three-door problem—

Suppose there were three doors in front of you. Behind two of the doors were goats, and behind one door was a car. If you could choose the door with the car, the car would be yours. Now, you chose one door, and one of the other two doors was opened, revealing a goat behind it.

In other words, between the door you chose and the remaining one, one had a car behind it, and one had a goat.

Your goal was to get the car.

Now you had a chance to change your choice of door. Would you change?

Ling Feng was the type of person who would choose to switch doors.

So was Bai Xuechao.

If Zhou Chenhao and Xia Xiaoxi were to choose, they would think it was now a fifty-fifty choice, with a 50% chance of getting the car, so it wouldn't matter whether they switched or not.

But in reality, the probability of getting the car on the first choice was 33.3%. After eliminating one wrong option, if you chose to switch doors, it was equivalent to switching to a 66.7% chance, gaining a 33.3% probability. In terms of probability, one should of course switch.

Therefore, theoretically, Ling Feng's win rate in Blackjack would be higher than Zhou Chenhao's.

Unfortunately, they were now using four decks, and it was only the first round, so it was a bit too early to count cards, otherwise Ling Feng could have calculated even more accurately.

As for what Ling Feng was thinking?

It was simple. He was thinking about whether to take a risk and try to get close to 21.

With Gong Ting currently having the highest score on the table, if he stood, the game would become Zhou Chenhao versus Gong Ting.

According to the rules of Blackjack, if Zhou Chenhao, as the dealer, busted by exceeding 21, then all players who hadn't busted would win the game coins the dealer had bet. If Zhou Chenhao didn't bust, he would have to compare his score with Gong Ting's to see who was closer to 21. Unless Zhou Chenhao could get 20 or 21, Gong Ting would win and take all 50 million.

Their goal was to try and win game coins from Gong Ting to save Xia Xiaoxi, not to give them away.

However, if Zhou Chenhao got 20 or 21, the highest on the table, he could take the 50 million game coins bet by every player with a lower score than him.

So, there were two paths before Ling Feng now.

The first path was to hit and get closer to 21.

Assuming Zhou Chenhao didn't bust but his score was lower than Gong Ting's, in order not to let Gong Ting take all 50 million game coins, he had to try to get a score higher than Gong Ting's.

Assuming Zhou Chenhao not only didn't bust but also got 20 or 21, if he could get the same score as Zhou Chenhao, it would be a draw between them. He would keep his own game coins, while Zhou Chenhao would take Gong Ting's.

Choosing this path would, one, prevent Gong Ting from getting more game coins, and two, protect his own game coins.

He risked busting, but losing to Zhou Chenhao didn't matter; it was better to keep the benefits within their group.

It was just that if he happened to get exactly 21, and Zhou Chenhao got 20 or lower, he would take Zhou Chenhao's game coins, which was something he wanted to avoid.

The second path was to simply stand.

Choosing this path could be said to be supporting Zhou Chenhao, pinning his hopes on Zhou Chenhao being lucky enough to win.

If Zhou Chenhao didn't bust but still lost, losing 50 million game coins, he could also lose to Zhou Chenhao and make it up to him. Therefore, his point total had to be lower than the dealer's minimum of 17, so he couldn't hit.

In his view, his win rate at Blackjack was slightly higher than Zhou Chenhao's, so he could act as a backup for Zhou Chenhao and try his best not to take Zhou Chenhao's game coins.

However, all these considerations did not factor in Bai Xuechao's situation.

Bai Xuechao's score was already 16, an awkward position where hitting was risky, but not hitting gave him little chance of winning. If he got any number higher than 5, he would bust, so it was possible that he would choose to stand directly and wait for Zhou Chenhao to bust.

If Zhou Chenhao busted, all players who hadn't busted would get game coins, and his score wouldn't matter at all.

Just then, as Bai Xuechao was watching Ling Feng, Ling Feng's gaze suddenly shifted and he also looked at him.

Their eyes met.

Bai Xuechao seemed to know what Ling Feng was struggling with and said slowly, "If you don't hit, it'll be my turn, you know."

His words were almost a clear hint to Ling Feng that he would hit. If Ling Feng didn't try for 21, Zhou Chenhao would have to face a one-on-two situation.

If Bai Xuechao was lucky enough to win, it would be even worse than Gong Ting winning.

"...Hit," Ling Feng said.

He couldn't let Bai Xuechao's game coins continue to accumulate.

Ling Feng had a feeling that winning game coins from Bai Xuechao would be much more difficult than winning from Gong Ting.

Bai Xuechao already had over 900 million game coins. If his coins reached 1 billion, trying to get 200 million from him would be equivalent to making him lose four times in a row. Based on the skill Bai Xuechao had shown with the dice, and the mental calculation ability he had displayed at the marine amusement park, Ling Feng admitted that even two of him couldn't manage to win consecutively against him or catch him cheating.

Moreover, Bai Xuechao's current stance and purpose were unclear.

No one knew why he had appeared in Dream Game City, and there was no guarantee that he wouldn't just take his winnings and leave—in which case they wouldn't have enough game coins to save Xia Xiaoxi.

Gong Ting had captured Xia Xiaoxi because she was investigating the special ability energy crystal, and had used her to threaten them into coming to the top floor to play games.

But Bai Xuechao's purpose was unknown. He had joined the game with a full 800 million game coins, seemed completely at ease in this environment, and had even outplayed Gong Ting at dice. Although Bai Xuechao had once hinted for them to bet big on the dice, seemingly cheating Gong Ting once, that didn't mean Bai Xuechao's stance towards them was friendly this time.

Therefore, in Ling Feng's mind, Bai Xuechao's danger level had skyrocketed, even surpassing Gong Ting's.

Zhou Chenhao pushed a card to Ling Feng with a serious expression.

He was also worried about what would happen if he dealt Ling Feng a J, Q, K, or 10, which would cause Ling Feng to bust immediately.

Ling Feng flipped it over, his gaze freezing for a moment.

The card was a 5, putting his score at an awkward 17, not high, not low, even more awkward than Bai Xuechao's score.

Ling Feng raised a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. He knew the probability of busting if he hit again was nearly 70%, but he had to keep hitting. "Hit."

Zhou Chenhao looked even more nervous than Ling Feng. He took a deep breath and pushed another card to him.

Ling Feng couldn't help but hold his breath as he flipped over the poker card.

A 3 of Clubs.

His score surpassed Gong Ting's, reaching 20!

Gong Ting tapped his fingertips on the table, not too disappointed, and chuckled, "Good luck."

The players didn't need to compare scores among themselves. As long as the dealer Zhou Chenhao's score wasn't as high as his, he could get the other's game coins.

Zhou Chenhao and Ling Feng both breathed a sigh of relief. Now it all depended on Bai Xuechao.

Bai Xuechao maintained his pose of propping his chin on one hand, and even tilted his head, looking even more languid. He seemed indifferent to the outcome of this round, his eyes filled with a lazy expression. "Hit."

Zhou Chenhao pushed a card to him.

He didn't flip the card over directly, but lifted a corner to look at it himself. Upon seeing the number, he raised an eyebrow.

Xiao 6 was also surprised, "Host, you've been possessed by the Emperor of Luck!"

Everyone's eyes were fixed on Bai Xuechao's face.

A slight smile tugged at the corner of Bai Xuechao's mouth as he slowly flipped over the poker card. The suit on the card was clearly a 5 of Diamonds, and with his original 16 points—

He got 21.

Gong Ting was certain that Bai Xuechao hadn't cheated just now and had truly gotten 21 by luck. He let out a low snort.

It was just one lucky break, that's all.

The next round, he would be the dealer. He would definitely make Dongfang Bubai lose!

"It's my turn, right?" Zhou Chenhao said, flipping over his face-down card.

His face-down card was a 2. Added to the 10 points from the Q, his total was less than 17, so he had to hit.

He flipped over a card, an Ace of Clubs, counting it as 1, for a total of 13, still less than 17.

He flipped again, a 3 of Hearts, for a total of 16, still less than 17.

Zhou Chenhao scratched his head and said with some surprise, "I've already drawn two cards…"

Ling Feng secretly broke into a cold sweat for Zhou Chenhao.

Zhou Chenhao flipped over another card and let out a stunned sound, "Eh?"

He had flipped over a 5 of Hearts.

He had also gotten 21!

Ling Feng subconsciously looked at Bai Xuechao after seeing the card.

"Ha." Bai Xuechao let out a breathy sound, as if he found the situation interesting, and then chuckled a few more times.

He asked Xiao 6, "Is this the male lead's luck?"

Xiao 6 put on its code glasses, pushed the frame up with a small hand, and said in a deep tone, "Yes."

The male lead couldn't cheat right now, so he had to have some kind of halo.

Gong Ting also seemed to find the situation quite exciting. He raised his hands and began to clap, but his words were a backhanded compliment, "You were really lucky this round, so lucky I'm jealous. I hope you can keep it up, okay?"

He thought to himself that luck was such an ethereal thing, how could it possibly be maintained? The next round he would be the dealer, and he would definitely make them all lose!

Especially Dongfang Bubai!

He would crush the other party with his poker sleight of hand!

Zhou Chenhao, looking completely clueless, pointed at himself and asked, "Did I win?"

"You won, but not completely," Bai Xuechao said. "It's a draw between you and me. You can get their game coins."

As soon as he finished speaking, the big screen updated the game coin counts.

【City Lord: 213,333,3334】

【Player A: 86,666,666】

【Player B: 376,666,665】

【Player C: 903,333,335】

Ling Feng and Gong Ting each lost 50 million game coins, and Zhou Chenhao gained 100 million at once. Not only could he redeem the special ability he had exchanged, but he was also just over 100 million away from being able to rescue Xia Xiaoxi.

But Ling Feng's game coins were now in a dangerous state. He had to win the next round.

Meanwhile, Gong Ting flexed his fingers a few times, then simply cut a portion of the fanned-out poker cards on the table, not picking them all up to shuffle.

He deftly split the poker cards into two halves, bent them upwards in the air, and released them one by one. The two halves of the deck interlaced as the force was released, then he cupped them into an arch and continued to apply pressure, letting the cards fall one by one due to elasticity and gravity until they were completely combined, performing a dovetail shuffle.

The entire process was done in the air without using the table.

After that, Gong Ting split the deck into two again, interlocked their edges, and held the deck up in one hand. He did a Friffle, causing one half to rotate and fall, with only a corner still interlocked, and finally, using a waterfall drop, let all the cards fall into the palm of his other hand.

After shuffling the cards, Gong Ting performed a few more cuts.

Bai Xuechao watched his actions and smiled nonchalantly.

Gong Ting had cheated.

He had used the shuffling motions to memorize every card, and then used the cuts to move several 10-point cards to the top, and most of the other 10-point cards to the bottom.

Gong Ting was planning to make them all bust.

How could Bai Xuechao let him have his way?

Of course, he had to be caught.

Catch him cheating, fine him his game coins, quickly win all his money, and save Xia Xiaoxi.

And—

While waiting for Gong Ting to deal the cards, Bai Xuechao said to Xiao 6 in his mind, "I'm preparing to do the side quest. If nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to complete it by the end of this scenario."

【Side Quest: Establish a relationship with the male lead】

"Yay!" Xiao 6 clapped its hands excitedly and asked with some curiosity, "Host, what are you planning to do? What kind of relationship will you establish?"

"That," Bai Xuechao smiled as he watched Gong Ting deal him a card, and replied to Xiao 6, "is a secret."

What to do?

Of course, it was to win all of Zhou Chenhao's game coins.

Let's see whose luck was better, Zhou Chenhao's or his own sleight of hand.

As for what kind of relationship to establish?

He didn't like the feeling of Bai Guzi controlling him with side quests, so when he first saw the mission, he decided to give Bai Guzi a big gift. The mechanism of this Dream Game City was just right.

He was going to do something big.

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