Chapter 1 "The Raven Masked Man"

"Hey~ hey~ Mr. Raven Mask." Just as the suit man was getting Brother Jue the money, the man in the white opera mask who had spoken to the organizer earlier walked over to him and said, "A hundred thousand U.S. dollars isn't a small sum, is it? To borrow the maximum amount without even thinking about it, is that really okay?"

"Heh..." Feng Bujue laughed immediately upon hearing this. "Is this a question of 'okay' or 'not okay'?"

The other party was stunned by his question, unsure how to respond for a moment.

Seeing this, Brother Jue chuckled again and continued, "Although I don't know the specifics of the upcoming game, one thing is certain... 'chips' are like 'lives' in the game."

His analogy instantly enlightened many of those around him.

"Since the organizer is so 'kind' as to provide us with this interest-free loan," Feng Bujue paused for two seconds, then added, "then why should I be timid and restrict myself?"

He was right... the amount of this loan directly determined the degree of freedom players could obtain in the subsequent game, so naturally, one should borrow as much as possible.

"This..." The opera mask man stood there thinking for a few seconds, then replied, "Hmph... you're saying that because you chose to accept the organizer's protection after failure, right? So you don't care about the extra hundred thousand in debt."

"No, I chose to get off the boat." As Feng Bujue said this, the suit man had already prepared the cash. Brother Jue took the sealed plastic bag filled with U.S. dollars and continued, "Choosing 'accept protection' is like gambling your entire life here; in comparison... choosing to get off the boat at least gives you a month to think of another way."

Having said that, he took the bag of money and walked towards a sofa by the wall in the main hall.

"Of course... the above are just my personal understandings." Before leaving, Feng Bujue specifically left a sentence for the opera mask man, "You can borrow the minimum amount in a gamble that may involve the rest of your life; maybe that's the right thing to do."

His tone was full of sarcasm, and even though his face could not be seen, the other party could feel the strong force of mockery...

"Tch..." Although the opera mask man was a little annoyed, he also understood that the guy with the raven mask was actually helping him, so he didn't say anything more. He just stepped forward, picked up a "get off the boat after failure" contract, filled in the amount of one hundred thousand, and signed his name.

...

To make a long story short...

In less than fifteen minutes, all the guests in the main hall had filled out their contracts.

Due to Feng Bujue's previous performance, more than 60% of the people ended up borrowing the maximum amount of one hundred thousand U.S. dollars.

However, there were still many people who chose more moderate amounts; most borrowed seventy or eighty thousand, but the minimum was no less than fifty thousand.

After all... everyone has their own ideas; whether it's irrational stubbornness or rational analysis, not everyone will agree with Brother Jue's views based on a few words.

And beyond the amount, in the choice of "where to go after failure," even fewer people agreed with Feng Bujue...

Clearly, these desperate and all-in guests today were more inclined towards the "luck" and "hope" offered by the organizer, rather than the so-called "spend another month thinking of a solution."

This was also normal, because... if they had a solution, they would have thought of it already.

Another ten minutes passed.

After confirming that all the magnetic cards and contracts had been collected, the suit-wearing, sunglasses-wearing men left the main hall together, pushing their carts.

About two minutes later, the organizer appeared once again by the railing on the second floor.

This time, he didn't even bother with greetings and went straight to the point: "Now that you've all completed your loans, let's get to the main event."

Feng Bujue could feel that the organizer was impatient.

And Brother Jue himself... was essentially looking forward to what was about to happen.

"Aside from those who lost their qualifications before even boarding the ship... at this moment, there are a total of two hundred and thirty-seven guests in this main hall." After a slight pause, the organizer began to explain, "The 'first game' I have prepared for you is—Guess the Number."

...

Guess the Number, also known as Bulls and Cows, is an ancient code-breaking game.

It is usually suitable for two or more people to play.

Taking a two-person game as an example: one side first sets a number, and the other side guesses.

The person setting the number should think of a four-digit decimal number (i.e., four number places, ten numerals, without repeating numbers) that does not have repeating digits, and should not let the guesser know. Then, the guesser can start "guessing the number."

Each time the guesser guesses a number, the setter must give a response of "xA yB"; where the number before A indicates the number of digits that are correct in both position and number, and the number before B indicates the number of digits that are correct in number but incorrect in position.

For example—if the correct answer set by the setter is 2358, and the guesser guesses 2485, then the situation is 1A2B; where the first 2 is correct in both number and position, recorded as 1A, and the numbers 5 and 8 are correct, but the positions are incorrect, so they are recorded as 2B.

Similarly—if the correct answer set by the setter is 1234, and the guesser guesses 4321, then the result is 0A4B, all the numbers are correct, but all the positions are wrong.

And so on...

After guessing a round, the guesser can continue reasoning based on the "xA yB" situation obtained from the previous guess, until the correct answer is guessed (i.e., 4A0B).

...

This is not a particularly complicated game, but it involves many factors such as memory, reasoning, calculation, and luck. Playing it... is not that simple.

Therefore, when the organizer said the three words "Guess the Number," the people below were also making calculations in their hearts.

And their reactions were naturally within the organizer's expectations...

The organizer didn't pause for too long before continuing, "Of course, it can't be an ordinary Guess the Number, because that's too easy... whether using standard rules (four digits, ten numerals, no repeating numbers) or mastermind rules (four digits, six numerals, with repeating numbers), as long as you master the correct solution, you can definitely guess it in about seven times, and with good luck, within five times..." He paused, "So... I've slightly increased the difficulty and changed it to—six digits, ten numerals, with repeating numbers."

As soon as he said this, many people downstairs started to get a headache...

Interestingly... it wasn't the people who were bad at math who had a headache, but the people who were extremely good at math.

As the organizer said, the standard rules and mastermind rules of Guess the Number both have solutions. Even people who don't know the solution can completely guess the answer within ten times as long as they have enough reasoning ability and a little bit of luck (Feng Bujue is one of these; he can complete it within eight times).

And for ordinary people, even if their reasoning ability is relatively poor... they can basically guess it within twenty times.

However, if the number of digits in Guess the Number is increased to six, and the premise of "repeatable" is added, then... the difficulty will increase geometrically...

"Alright, I don't want to waste too much of your time..."

As the organizer said this, a large group of suit-wearing, sunglasses-wearing men surged in from various entrances of the first-floor main hall again; this time, there were as many as a hundred people, and each one was pushing a relatively small cart.

This kind of cart was different from the one that previously held the mountain of banknotes; the length and width of the top were only about 100*50 centimeters, so it couldn't hold too many things, but the height of this cart was quite high, about one meter and two.

"What you see now is the table for your 'duel.'" As the organizer explained, the suit men pushed the carts to various places in the main hall, fixed them, and arranged them, "Your duels will be conducted under the notarization of the staff, who will be responsible for recording and implementing the results of your duels, and supervising cheating behavior."

"Wait a minute!" At this time, a slightly bloated woman wearing a raccoon mask on the first floor said loudly to the organizer, "What if you don't understand the rules of 'Guess the Number'? Isn't that very unfair?"

"Heh..." The organizer laughed at the time, "Hehehe... hahahaha..." His laughter was filled with contempt.

"What? Is it strange not to know this game?" The woman was a little annoyed, and she questioned loudly again.

"Hehe... sorry, I think you misunderstood." The organizer laughed, "I'm not laughing at the first half of your sentence, but the second half..." He shook his head, "Fair? Fair... fair! Hahahahahaha..."

He repeated those two words repeatedly in three different tones, then laughed loudly again.

At this moment, many people in the venue also laughed—there were sneers, taunts, and bitter smiles...

In those laughter, the woman's body trembled slightly, and finally... she lowered her head in dismay and stopped speaking.

Although the organizer did not answer her question directly, the answer to this question had been conveyed to everyone here.

"Okay, okay... I'll continue." After laughing for a while, the organizer finally stopped and continued, "Regarding the fact that some guests may not understand the rules of the 'Guess the Number' game, I did consider it, so..." He raised an arm and gestured towards the suit men, "On each 'table,' in addition to the paper and pens necessary for the game, I also printed two copies of the detailed rules of 'Guess the Number' with pictures and text; whether you know the rules or not, you can pick them up and take a look to confirm again."

At this point, the organizer paused for a few seconds, then said again, "I won't explain those details one by one, but there are a few key rules that I think it's better for me to tell you in person..." He cleared his throat and continued, "Ahem... first, everyone must play Guess the Number at least once with four different opponents. Of course, those who cannot duel due to running out of chips are an exception.

"Second, in the duel, the amount bid by the 'bidding party' each time must not be less than 1% of the total amount of money they have at the beginning of the game. If, during the duel, one party runs out of chips to bid in their bidding round, it will be considered a failure. But if, in the opponent's bidding round, they do not have enough funds to match the bet, they can still use all of their current money to complete the current round with the opponent.

"Third, in order to avoid the situation of someone deliberately avoiding duels, all players must accept the 'first two' 'challenges' from others, regardless of who the opponent is. Only those who have already participated in two duels can refuse another's challenge.

"Fourth, at the end of this game, which is twelve o'clock midnight... except for the sixty-four people with the most chips, everyone else, whether they are penniless or have tens of thousands... or even hundreds of thousands left, will all be considered failures."

As he finished these four points, two particularly tall suit-wearing, sunglasses-wearing men carried a sofa chair that looked extremely expensive to death, and came behind him.

The organizer glanced back and nodded, and then the two big men put the sofa chair down.

"Well... that's all for now, read the other details yourselves."

As the organizer said this, he sat down leisurely.

He leaned his back against the back of the chair, placed his hands on the two armrests, and crossed his legs in an elegant and flirtatious pose...

Before long, the two suit-wearing, sunglasses-wearing big men next to him brought over a small round table that looked like it was made of diamonds from somewhere (if it was really made of diamonds, it might be more expensive than today's eight prizes), and on the table were several plates of melon, fruit snacks, truffles (that's right, this is not a random addition, he used good truffles with the other snacks), and phoenix claws.

Looking at his appearance, it was as if he was using a textbook-like way to perform what is called "sitting back and watching the show."

"Young master, this is your red wine cooked sweet sauce with wasabi..." After the organizer was seated, one of the two suit-wearing, sunglasses-wearing big men went and got a cup of beverage with a color that didn't look very good, placed it on a tray, and handed it to the former, "The head chef said that this is made with 1982 Lafite, Lao Gan Ma's exquisite sauce, and Japanese..."

"The umbrella?" The organizer interrupted the other party with a somewhat inexplicable question before he could finish speaking.

"Eh?" The big man was stunned, "Umbrella... umbrella?" It seemed he didn't understand the meaning of the "young master's" question.

"Didn't I say?" The organizer shrugged, "After it's done, put it in a tall glass, put a small umbrella on it, and bring it up."

"Yes... Yes, sir!" Facing this nonsensical request, the big man replied very seriously, "I'll go pour it out now and have them redo it!"

"Ah~ forget it, forget it." The organizer stopped the big man, took the bizarre drink, held it in his hand... and then, recited in a melancholy tone, "Regret, is sometimes a beauty~"