Infinite spooky game

April 4th afternoon, Eagle County, Nevada.

A carnival mecca named "Redemption" is located here. It was formerly an underground casino operated in the gray area. After the establishment of the Federation, it was successfully turned into a transparent place, integrating various entertainment facilities, with wine and women, and a life of drunkenness and dreams.

In the hall on the basement floor, celebrities and politicians were toasting each other and playing charades, the second generation and the nouveau riche were talking loudly, and beautiful boys and girls were moving gracefully among the neon lights. The atmosphere was heated and a gambling game that would attract everyone's attention was about to begin.

At exactly two o'clock, the large screen in the center of the hall that was originally showing the winning and losing situation went dark, and a deep male voice sounded on time: "Ladies and gentlemen! The gambling game that is about to begin is called 'Crazy Black Jack'. We have selected four players to participate in this gambling game, and you can watch the gambling game live on the screen and bet on their victory or defeat."

When the screen lit up again, it showed a small room with walls painted black with white patterns. The camera focused on a black round table. The four equal points of the round table were marked with numbers from 1 to 4 in white with a gouache texture. There was a person sitting next to each number.

The male voice in the loudspeaker spoke in a high tone: "Our four players come from different places, but they all appear on our 'Death List' without exception. Only fate can save them. Whoever wins this 'Crazy Black Jack', we will cross his name off the 'Death List', write off the debt, and provide a certain degree of protection.

"I'm sure you all understand that this gamble is different from the previous ones. The loser will not face a huge debt, but a painful death. Therefore, what you are betting on is not only the victory or defeat, but also the life and death of these four players!"

The young man sitting in seat No. 2 was wearing a black suit and had a gentle appearance. He was Dong Xiwen, who was arrested for accidentally entering a gambling boat not long ago.

After listening to the introduction on the loudspeaker, he couldn't help but grumble, "It's 'Crazy Black Jack' again. I didn't expect that I have a connection with this game... Is this going to be a reality show?"

Shortly before the game started, Dong Xiwen finally received a response from Qi Si, who calmly said that he would take care of everything and let him play freely without worrying about the consequences.

He was just beginning to wonder, when did this humanoid become so easy to talk to? Then he received an order to take care of a player who was captured from Jiangcheng.

The words were still not finished, and it was not known to what extent "in passing" would be, but the rhythm of the conversation undoubtedly returned to Dong Xiwen's familiar territory: it was nothing more than giving a sweet date and then a blow, and if things were not done well, the one who would be "dealt with" would probably be his body.

Dong Xiwen turned to look at Player No. 1 beside him, who was the only East Asian face among the four people present.

He had inquired before the game started and found out that this man was called Yang Yao, from Jiangcheng. He was brought here because he owed too many gambling debts and was caught cheating in a recent gambling game.

This man seems to be hopeless. His mind is filled with thoughts of winning the bet if he is given a few more chances. There is nothing else in his current life and plans for the future except gambling.

Dong Xiwen learned that this guy had a mother who worked hard to sell breakfast from dawn to dusk to make money, and all her income was used to pay off his debts, which made him feel even more contemptuous of him.

He didn't understand why Qi Si wanted him to take care of this scum, and even suspected that the so-called "care" was a sarcasm.

In his opinion, such a person living in the world would only bring disaster to the family, and it would be better for everyone if he died early; however, perhaps as a scumbag, Qis was happy to see the suffering of others?

"The game begins!" the organizer announced loudly, interrupting Dong Xiwen's thoughts.

I saw a groove in the middle of the round table, with a stack of poker cards with black bottoms placed in it.

The other three players did not move. Dong Xiwen took out the playing cards and laid them out in front of him. He looked at Yang Yao, whose eyes were bloodshot, and said, "Number 1, according to the rules of the game, you draw two cards first."

The gamblers in front of the screens in the hall watched Dong Xiwen's movements with bated breath. The surveillance covered 360° without blind spots, so there was no possibility of cheating.

He was just using this to put psychological pressure on other players and at the same time give some hints to Yang Yao, the "mission target".

Yang Yao was completely useless. It was unknown whether he understood his hint or not. After glancing at him twice, he took the two cards on the far right and turned one of them face up. It was [A].

"Dude, you're lucky. If the other card was 10 or K, Q, or J, it would be Black Jack." Dong Xiwen smiled and used two fingers to pick up two consecutive cards from the deck. The exposed card was [10].

……

In the hall, many gamblers began to increase their bets, betting on Dong Xiwen to win.

After all, compared with the other three guys who were silent and stunned, Dong Xiwen's calm and relaxed performance was really eye-catching.

A middle-aged white man with a slightly bald head pushed through the crowd, walked to the counter behind the market, and slapped a gold card on the table: "Miss, I want to see your person in charge."

Without waiting for a reply, he added: "By the way, they all call me 'Bob the Pig Farmer'. Your person in charge should know who I am."

Soon, a man wearing a silver mask and a silver suit came out and held out his hand to Bob. "Hello, I'm the general manager of the Redanshan Casino. You can call me 'Jack'. I wonder if you have any advice for me?"

Bob shook the man's hand and said with a smile, "An old client asked me to do something for him. He hopes to save the two Long County people. Mr. Jack, why don't you name a price?"

"No, no, no." Jack shook his head repeatedly. "I'm afraid you don't understand the rules of the Redanshan Casino. The Survivor Game is the most important program in our casino. The winner lives and the loser dies. No one can change that. You should have come earlier, before the selection was made."

Bob also shook his head. "That client had no intention of breaking Redan's rules. He just wanted the game to be as fair as possible to ensure that the winner would survive."

"Do you suspect we will go back on our word?" Jack asked back, as if he had thought of something, his tone became unfriendly, "There is usually only one winner in Crazy Black Jack, but you want to save two people. You are putting too much faith in a very small probability of a specific outcome."

Bob looked straight at him, his expression unchanged. "You should have heard about the 'Insomnia Strange Stories' near the Mississippi River, and the recent actions of the Libra Church. If you are in awe of the unknown power, I suggest you don't be too hostile to him."

"Are you threatening me?"

"No, I'm just here to tell you something. And to show my sincerity, I won't bet on a tie."

……

In the room, "Crazy Black Jack" went on for twenty rounds. Dong Xiwen didn't know whether it was because of his good luck or excellent calculation ability, but he won more than he lost, and it seemed that he had accumulated most of the chips on the field.

The other three people only have a small pile of chips in front of them. When the chips are cleared, a miserable death will be waiting for them.

The middle-aged man with stubble on his face at position 3 covered his face and was about to cry. If he was not fixed to the chair, he would probably show even more ugliness.

The blonde woman at position 4 looked pale, staring blankly at the poker cards on the table, resignedly waiting for death to come.

Dong Xiwen's eyes also fell on the thin stack of cards on the table. He tapped his chin and asked seriously, "If no one has used up all their chips after the cards are drawn, how do we determine the winner?"

The male voice on the speaker said: "If this happens, the one with more chips wins."

The woman smiled miserably: "Even though I know I will definitely lose, I still want to give it a try."

"Let's give it a try. The game is about to end anyway. And I think based on the routine, since you said so, ma'am, there is a high probability that you can survive." Dong Xiwen's tone was very casual, as if he was saying "just play around."

Blackjack's deck consists of eight decks of cards without the jokers, so there are less than fifty cards left in the deck.

Dong Xiwen was good at math, so remembering and counting cards was no problem for him. In addition, he had played "Crazy Black Jack" once in the "Grand Performance" copy, so he was very familiar with the rules and routines.

——It was not difficult for him to control the whole situation.

The game will be over within five rounds, and Dong Xiwen's victory and the deaths of the others are certain.

But what puzzled people outside the venue was that Dong Xiwen seemed to have lost all his gambling skills and abilities in an instant, and soon lost the game.

In the next two rounds, his total points were always smaller than everyone else's, and his chips were about to catch up.

In the last round, after the last card was drawn, Dong Xiwen smiled brightly at the camera in the room: "All of us have 10,000 chips in our hands. It's a tie."

The whole hall was in uproar. No one could have expected this extremely low probability result.

How can a tie be possible in "Crazy Black Jack"? How can a tie be possible in such a life-and-death game?

No one bet on the outcome correctly, and all the gamblers lost all their money. Curses and protests rose one after another, and someone shouted loudly: "Cheating! It's definitely cheating! I demand a thorough investigation!"

A group of people even responded in unison: "Either check the surveillance, or have another match! Do it again!"

The large screen in the center of the hall went black again. When it lit up again, Jack's figure appeared on the gray background, and his voice was calm: "Please believe that in the survivor game of the Redan Shen Organization, it is impossible for anyone to cheat..."

At the same time, Yang Yao sat slumped in the backstage, his face full of joy at having survived a disaster: "Haha, I told you I'm lucky, this is a blessing in disguise!"

Dong Xiwen squatted beside him, holding his forehead helplessly: "Brother, listen to my advice, if you don't want to die in the future, don't gamble. Ruidanshen is not a generous legal organization..."

"What do you mean?" Yang Yao glared at him suspiciously. "Are you jealous of my good luck, little bastard? I'm the only one holding Blackjack in the last round!"

Dong Xiwen sighed in his heart, knowing that this man was completely hopeless.

In the last round, he saw that Yang Yaoming had a [K], so he deliberately fed an [A] to him and even took the card he passed to him...

With a "creak", the tightly locked iron door in the backstage was opened from the outside. A ray of light leaked into the dim corner, illuminating the floating dust.

Dong Xiwen subconsciously tensed his back, ready to take action at any time, but he saw the man smiling kindly.

"Hello, I'm Bob. I'm here at the request of my old friend Qi Si." The middle-aged white man nodded at Dong Xiwen and took out a card with a red background and black lines from his arms. "Qi Si asked me to give this to you."

The card shows a magic show. The magician in red on the stage bows deeply, and the audience, simplified into black shadows, cheers around him. There is a scarlet block on the chest of one person, which looks like a bleeding heart at first glance.

Dong Xiwen intuitively felt that this card looked familiar. Although his physical body had been controlled by Rui Danshen recently, he also found time to enter the strange game once.

Combining the revelation monument in Sunset Ruins and the players' discussion about the final copy, the answer is obvious.

“Ha, as expected, in the final copy, I still can’t escape the fate of working illegally for others…” Dong Xiwen smiled self-deprecatingly, raised his hand to take the card, and silver-white words suddenly appeared in the void in front of him.

[Blood is a sacrifice to reward deception, applause is a sacrament for lies]

[Let’s have fun in this feast of illusions carefully prepared by the fraudster]

[After all, even death is just a rehearsal prop for the final curtain call]

[Congratulations on unlocking the identity card "Audience" (belonging to the "Fool Trickster" set)]

Seeing that he took the card, Bob stopped looking at him and turned to walk to Yang Yao: "Friend, before I take you away, I need you to sign a contract..."

……

At the morning market in Jiangcheng's Xiacheng District, Qiu Lihua put egg-filled pancakes into a plastic bag and handed it to a young man standing in front of the stall.

Half a month ago, she gave her son some money and returned to the countryside. Before she had finished dealing with the trivial matters, she received the news that her son was caught for cheating.

She didn't expect that her son not only did not reform, but instead gambled more and more, and owed a debt that she had never seen in her life.

She didn't understand what "Redan Shen" was, nor did she understand the relationship between the casino and the federal government. She only heard that if she couldn't pay the money back in a short period of time, her son would really die.

She took out all her savings, paying back whatever she could, and continued to set up a stall to make money, intending to use all her earnings to pay off her debts.

But it was still not enough. The hole was too big and the time was too tight... Those people said that her son would definitely die.

Just when she was in despair, the young man appeared.

At six o'clock yesterday evening, Qiu Lihua was preparing to close her stall and go to the night shift when a young man in red suit and trousers appeared at the entrance of the alley like a ghost and reached out to her.

"You seem to be in some trouble? Maybe I can help you." The young man paused and asked with a smile, "You can try to make a wish to me, maybe it will come true."

Qiu Lihua always felt that the man's expression was indescribably strange, but when she got closer she found that this man was none other than an old customer who often came to her to buy egg-filled pancakes.

——But after changing his clothes, he no longer looks like the same person.

She had negative emotions pent up in her heart that needed to be vented, and the person in front of her seemed to have good intentions, so Qiu Lihua, desperate to find a cure, told her son's story.

She murmured, "It's my fault for not teaching him well, but it's not my fault at all. After all, he is my child... I just want him to come back safely, and I can pay back the money I owe him bit by bit..."

The young man listened patiently, and at last he smiled and placed a piece of flower stem in her hand: "This wish is not difficult to realize. Plant this rose, and when it blooms, everything will be as you wish."

Although Qiu Lihua felt strange, she somehow found a small flowerpot, planted the rose in it, and took it with her.

Just now, she saw that the originally bare flower stems had grown buds, petals, and stamens at a speed visible to the naked eye...

Yes, the rose that was nowhere to be seen last night suddenly bloomed without any warning, as gorgeous and sudden as a dream.

The young man in front of the stall raised his lips and smiled as gently as ever: "It seems that your wish has come true."

The next second, the phone rang. Qiu Lihua took out her cell phone and answered it. A hoarse "Mom" came from the other end.

She covered her eyes and burst into tears.

The young man turned and left, pausing slightly as he passed a trash can at the end of the alley.

A black dog looked up at him and suddenly started barking loudly, its cloudy eyes flashing with obvious fear.

He didn't care and threw the egg-filled pancake in his hand over and continued walking.

Behind me, dogs were barking incessantly.

……

At the corner of the morning market, Qiu Lihua stood behind the stall, wiped away her tears, picked up the brush and applied another layer of oil on the pot.

Her son was saved, but she had to go on with her life. She had to sell more stuffed pancakes to pay off her debts, and hopefully save some money...

She was thinking in a mess, and her already hunched body became even more hunched.

"I want an egg-filled pancake." A low and cold voice sounded suddenly.

Qiu Lihua raised her head and saw a young man in black clothes and golden eyes standing in front of the stall. He had a strange face and his eyes were as gloomy as a ghost crawling out of hell.

Qiu Lihua was stunned for a moment, but quickly came to her senses. She deftly put a piece of dough into the pot, beat an egg on it, and added a sausage.

"okay!"

(End of this chapter)