Chapter 1 Twenty-Five Rounds

"Twenty-five rounds."

The man in the suit and sunglasses had barely finished speaking when Feng Bujue completed his "round declaration." This number was undoubtedly what he had already decided.

"This kid… he actually only bid twenty-five rounds." Mr. Jing thought to himself, "That's far too few rounds…"

Although Mr. Jing had seen the complete rules just like Jue-ge, he hadn't meticulously calculated the surrender fines for each round. He only generally knew that… as long as he chose to surrender after the thirty-first round, he would definitely profit.

Also, he had just considered how many rounds it would take to guess a "six-digit number with ten possible digits, repetitions allowed."

Unfortunately… speculating about such things out of thin air is very difficult. For a game like guessing numbers, unless you have multiple personalities within you (yes, I'm talking about Yugi Muto), it's impossible to play against yourself.

And given the nature of tonight's banquet, the guests were unlikely to help each other practice. So… Mr. Jing could only infer from the "surrender fines" that it would take at least "around thirty rounds" to guess the correct answer.

"One thousand US dollars." After hesitating for a few seconds, Mr. Jing still called the lowest possible amount.

"Hmph… I see…" As soon as Feng Bujue heard the number, he chuckled softly, "Third-rate, huh…"

"What did you say?" Mr. Jing clearly heard the disdain and mockery in the other party's words. He naturally couldn't remain silent in front of everyone.

"I'll explain it to you later." Feng Bujue replied in a lazy tone, "I don't want to waste too much time on third-rate opponents. Let's make this quick."

Having said that, he didn't give the other party any room to retort and immediately continued, "First round, I bet 1000 US dollars. Do you match the bet or surrender?"

After asking this question, he pressed the timer next to him.

Mr. Jing obviously couldn't surrender in the first round. He replied, "I match." Then, he also reached out and pressed the timer button on his side.

In the same second, Feng Bujue had already bent down and started writing on the paper, and the first set of numbers he guessed was—six "0s."

After writing, he handed the paper to Mr. Jing and pressed the timer. The latter took the paper, glanced at it, quickly wrote the feedback "0A0B" below the row of numbers, and also pressed the timer when handing the paper back.

The above is the standard process for one round.

"0A0B" means that Feng Bujue didn't guess a single digit or its position correctly. In other words… there wasn't a single "0" in the six numbers Mr. Jing wrote. In a sense, such a start was better than guessing some of the numbers correctly, because it was equivalent to reducing the "ten digits" to "nine digits." Moreover, this "0" could also be used as an "auxiliary number" for deduction in the future. For example, Jue-ge could guess "000001." If the feedback at this time was 0A1B or 1A0B, then he could determine whether "1" existed in the answer. If he was lucky, he could directly determine the position of "1."

Of course, after such a standard process, Feng Bujue paid a price of 1000 US dollars…

"Hmm…" After taking the paper back, Jue-ge only glanced at it and said, "Second round, I'm still betting 1000 US dollars."

(In the following text, most descriptions about pressing the timer will be omitted; just assume that they pressed it)

"I match." Mr. Jing matched very decisively this time.

Basically, for at least the first fifteen rounds, as long as the guessing side's bet amount didn't change significantly, the question-setting side could follow along without thinking.

Because in this game, there is no situation where "the guessing side deliberately doesn't increase the bet amount in a round where they are confident they can win." Even if it's known that this behavior will cause the opponent to surrender, the surrender fine is definitely more than the initial bet.

"Referee, I have a question I'd like to confirm here." While Feng Bujue was looking down and writing the second set of numbers, he suddenly started chatting with the man in the suit and sunglasses next to him.

"Please ask." The man in the suit also immediately responded.

"About what you just said… 'If cheating is caught, the person will immediately be judged as losing'…" Then, Feng Bujue asked a surprising question in a calm tone, "Can I understand this as… 'cheating that isn't caught on the spot' is 'tacitly approved'?"

As soon as he said this, the surrounding crowd caused a stir, and Mr. Jing's face under the mask twitched instantly.

However, the man in the suit and sunglasses reacted fairly calmly: "Yes, since it 'wasn't caught on the spot,' then naturally there's no way to punish it."

Obviously, this wasn't the first time he had answered a similar question. The organizers couldn't have missed the nuances of this "cheating" aspect, and his "referees" were all aware of it.

"What a joke!" However, the next second, Mr. Jing refused to let it go, "What's the point of having you referees if you can't guarantee fairness? Are you just here to stand guard?"

"Sir." The man in the suit's attitude remained unchanged, "The 'fairness' on the gambling table is relative in the first place. 'Cheating' is also part of the skill, and the risks and rewards are proportional… Once cheating is caught, tonight's journey will end early." He paused and added, "Besides… I didn't say that I 'don't guarantee the fairness of the duel.' I only said that I can't punish 'cheating that wasn't caught on the spot.' Don't underestimate us 'guards' too much…" At this point, his gaze under the sunglasses quietly shifted to Jue-ge, and his words carried a hint of intimidation, "It's not that easy to cheat under my nose."

"Heh…" Feng Bujue didn't care about the other party's gaze and pressure. He handed a piece of paper with six "1s" written on it to Mr. Jing and let out an unsettling laugh.

"Wait! What if there's… 'cheating that wasn't caught on the spot,' but is only exposed after the duel ends? How does that count?" Mr. Jing was still preoccupied with the topic just now.

"Ha… hahahaha…" Before the man in the suit could reply, Feng Bujue burst out laughing, "Aren't you talking nonsense? Don't even mention gambling tables… let's talk about soccer matches. Have you ever seen a game re-judged after it's over?" He said, taking a sip of champagne through the straw inserted into his mask's eye socket, and added, "For things like cheating, if you can't expose it on the spot, then you can only say… 'the person who gets fooled is an idiot.' If you can overturn the result 'afterward,' then what's the point of this 'victory or defeat'?"

"Yes…" The man in the suit also added, "That's right, the result of each duel is 'absolute.' We don't recognize the act of presenting evidence of the other party cheating after all the settlements are complete."

"Tch…" Mr. Jing spat, but he didn't have time to get angry, because the deadline for feedback was only thirty seconds. He could only resentfully write "0A0B" quickly on the paper and hand it back to Jue-ge.

"Heh… not bad luck." Feng Bujue was quite happy to see that the second number he guessed was also completely excluded from the correct answer. "With this start, I can probably solve the answer within twenty rounds…"

He pretended to be talking to himself and said the second half of the sentence in a not-so-loud voice, deliberately letting Mr. Jing hear it.

And after Mr. Jing heard it, he was also feeling uneasy, "Damn kid… what exactly is he trying to do? What was the point of asking the referee that question? Is he trying to do something… or is he just trying to disrupt me?"

He guessed half of it correctly. One of the purposes of Feng Bujue's exchange with the referee was indeed to disrupt him…

In this game, there are actually very few ways to cheat. If you really want to "cheat," you should do it when the question setter is writing the answer, or directly find a way to deal with the referee who is keeping the answer safe.

Now that the game has already started, even if the guesser wants to cheat, there are no effective and feasible means.

Therefore, Feng Bujue's words didn't mean he wanted to take action. He was just creating a psychological pressure on the other party that "I might really take action."

In addition, Jue-ge's exchange with the referee had another purpose—to provide a "train of thought" for the other guests.

He hoped that through this conversation, he could implant the idea of "cheating is okay as long as you don't get caught" into the minds of the surrounding people, laying the groundwork for the subsequent "setup."

…………

In short, in the first nine rounds, Feng Bujue guessed each of the nine numbers in order from zero to eight (the last one didn't need to be guessed), losing a total of nine thousand dollars.

And so, the tenth round arrived.

At this time, Feng Bujue could confirm that the six numbers Mr. Jing wrote didn't include 0, 1, 4, 6, or 9.

In other words, the answer was composed of the five numbers 2, 3, 5, 7, and 8. As a six-digit number containing five digits, one of the numbers was naturally repeated, and this number had already been tried out in the first ten rounds. When guessing six "8s," Mr. Jing's feedback was 2A0B, which was proof that the six-digit number contained two "8s."

So, from this round onwards, the core of the guess shifted from "guessing numbers" to "guessing positions." Anyway, the answer was definitely these six numbers: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, and 8. Now it was just a matter of seeing how they were arranged.

"Heh… do you suddenly feel that solving the problem within twenty-five rounds doesn't seem impossible?" This round, after calling the bet, Feng Bujue once again used verbal attacks to harass the other party.

At this moment, Mr. Jing's face had become very ugly. Fortunately, he had a mask to cover it, so he wouldn't lose face in front of everyone.

However… his short, fat body had a lot of fat and oil, making him very prone to sweating. The sweat flowing from his head and face all the way to his neck looked shiny and bright under the light, and it had already betrayed him…

"Hmph… so what if you successfully guess it within twenty-five rounds? I only bet a thousand on the initial bet for 'gambling rounds'." Mr. Jing was still unwilling to show weakness in his words, "To take a step back, even if I'm forced to surrender, there's still my guessing round in the next round, hehe…" He forced out two dry laughs and added, "Speaking of which, I have to thank you for giving me a good guessing strategy."

"Sigh…" Feng Bujue shook his head upon hearing this and let out a long sigh of compassion, "After all, he's just third-rate…" He shrugged. "'I only lost so much,' 'there's still the next round'… it's very dangerous to have such thoughts on the gambling table." He paused for half a second. "When you come back to your senses… you've already retreated further and further under the harm of this kind of thinking, standing on the edge of a cliff. At that time, when faced with the pressure of 'another step back means death,' you will usually completely collapse, or you will fight desperately in a strange place due to the extreme reversal… This kind of person…" He snorted, "Hmph… is what we often call a 'sitting duck.'"

"Stop talking nonsense!" Mr. Jing shouted impatiently, "I match! Start guessing! Tenth round!"

He couldn't back down here, but his increasingly tough attitude was actually just to cover up the fact that he had no confidence.

Let's not even mention the huge gap between Mr. Jing and Jue-ge in terms of gambling, which was completely incomparable. Just in terms of calculation… Mr. Jing was also quite terrible.

Don't even talk about the calculation of the guessing game itself. He hadn't even been able to completely calculate the chips and fines… If this kind of person didn't lose, then there would be no justice.

…………

Twelve minutes passed, and the game continued.

Moreover, it had already reached the twenty-first round.

The guessing in the past ten or so rounds had greatly increased Mr. Jing's confidence, because up to this round, the best result Feng Bujue had guessed was only 2A4B…

"Ha! Hahaha…" Looking at Jue-ge's increasingly serious face, Mr. Jing couldn't help but laugh triumphantly, "What's wrong? Where's the arrogant energy from just now?" He raised his head and sneered, "Saying I'm third-rate? What about you? You talk a good game, but after guessing for so long… it seems like you're still far from the answer~"

At the same time, next to the railing on the second floor.

"Hmph… what an idiot." The organizer sneered softly, "He doesn't even know that he's done for…"

At this time, the two men in suits next to the organizer had already brought him a telescope and a tablet device that could connect to all the cameras in the main hall. The organizer could clearly see what the two of them were writing on the paper through the images sent back by the tablet.

"A waste who can't even detect the existence of 'escape rounds' actually chose to 'accept protection'…" The organizer then muttered, "There's really no value to be mined from this kind of person other than his organs."

"Young master." Man in the suit B then reminded him, "I think this 'Mr. Yan' can only choose to 'accept protection' because what he faces outside is not simply debt, but imprisonment."

Man in the suit A also added, "Mr. Yan's superior was a corrupt official who was recently investigated. As one of the people on 'that line,' he also made a lot of money. Now, he urgently needs a large sum of money to bribe people and buy himself a 'transfer punishment.' Otherwise… he'll have to go to jail."

"I see… a bureaucrat." The organizer rested his chin on one hand and put down the tablet in his hand. "Not easy to deal with…" His train of thought had jumped to another place, "Looking at him… his liver and stomach probably don't meet the conditions for transplantation either. That's a six-figure loss…"

Let's not talk about the calculations the organizer was doing up there, and look back at the gambling table.

Faced with Mr. Jing's provocation, Feng Bujue was silent for a few seconds, and then said something that made the other party's jaws drop: "This round, I'm betting everything I have left, eighty thousand."

At this moment, many people in the crowd gasped.

Mr. Jing's triumphant state instantly froze, turning into inexplicable embarrassment and… fear.

"Wh… what?" Two seconds later, Mr. Jing reacted, "You've only guessed 2A at most so far, and you're actually…"

"That's normal." Feng Bujue interrupted the other party, "Taking your number as an example, calculating the total number of permutations and combinations is not too difficult, use the thinking of C16*A55-C26*A44 or the shortcut of A662 to calculate it… anyway, the answer is 360 possibilities. The difficulty lies in… how to eliminate the 359 incorrect combinations. Under such a large base number, even with the hints of 'a few A's and a few B's', it is still difficult to try out the correct answer in ten rounds. To put it bluntly… you still have to rely on a little bit of 'luck'."

He paused for a few seconds: "Of course, if you can understand my guessing strategy, then you should realize that… I was already very close to the answer three rounds ago. At this time, those who understand the 'rules' enough… or… those who see through the meaning of 'those few rounds' still have a chance to recover their losses. However… you are obviously not that kind of person."

"What are you talking about? What 'those few rounds'? Aren't the rules obvious?" Mr. Jing panicked. No matter how dull his senses were, the aura of confidence that Feng Bujue exuded had already strongly conveyed itself.

"When I was gambling on the rounds, I specifically chose the number 'twenty-five rounds,' but your reaction shows that you don't know anything about the significance of this round." Feng Bujue's words continued, "At this time… I have confirmed your level." He spread his hands and chuckled, "Generally speaking… you don't even know how to play this game at all. This is also evident in your completely unaware abandonment of the 'escape' opportunities in 'those few rounds' and your completely ignorant state of my guessing strategy."

Feng Bujue said to this point, finished all the champagne in his glass, paused, and then said: "Alright, stop standing there blankly, a minute is almost up."

"Huh? Ah!" In a panic, Mr. Jing's decision deadline had reached the last five seconds.

When he looked at the timer, his mind was still a mess: "What exactly is this kid talking about… I don't understand! Is he bluffing… If he's bluffing, then I can directly crush him here as long as I grit my teeth, but what if…"

"Three… two…" On the other hand, Feng Bujue had already started counting down loudly with a joking expression.

"I! I…" In the end, Mr. Jing closed his eyes, suddenly pressed the timer, and at the same time, roared, "I surrender!"