Chapter 148 Reading the Rules

While the host was upstairs sipping his bizarre beverage, the guests on the first floor were already gathering at the "desks" to pick up the printed rules and start reading.

Feng Bujue… was no exception.

Although he understood the rules and gameplay of number guessing, and was clear about the meaning of "six digits, ten numbers, repeatable," as a thorough and cautious person, as well as a bibliophile, he was still interested in reading the rules.

Brother Jue was someone who could read ten lines at a glance and possessed excellent memory and comprehension skills. His trained mind was undoubtedly very suitable for this kind of game duel.

Soon, he had mastered the rules… and began formulating strategies in his mind.

"Hmm… If Xiao Ling or Ouyang Jian were playing this game, their advantage would probably be greater…" Feng Bujue thought to himself as he stood there. "Both of them are skilled in mathematics, know how to apply it, and have excellent memories. Even against me, their chances of winning are over 70%…"

Brother Jue's mathematical ability was actually quite average.

If he put his mind to it… he could come up with a number guessing formula under standard rules, but he had never considered using a formula when playing this game before, because he believed that using reasoning to solve it would achieve the effect of exercising the brain. If he used a formula to guess… it wouldn't be "reasoning," but simply "calculation."

But now, under the premise of involving "victory or defeat," the situation was different. There was no doubt… that in this game, those who mastered the "formula" would be very advantageous.

However… coming up with the best guessing formula under the "six digits, ten numbers, repeatable" rule was by no means an easy task.

It wasn't that the formula itself was difficult. Given the mathematical level of most people with higher education, as long as they saw the correct formula, even if they didn't understand it, they would at least know how to use it.

However… it would be difficult for them to "derive" the formula from scratch.

It was like many of us have learned advanced mathematics, but few people can apply it to their lives (at the appropriate time); it was also like many of us have studied English for many years and obtained many certificates, but still find it difficult to watch English movies without subtitles and have difficulty communicating with people from English-speaking countries…

Perhaps, in student days, when we were learning and getting in touch with this knowledge, if we took this "number guessing" problem as a topic, some people could still solve it—it's just hard to say how much time it would take.

Or, people with considerable mathematical attainments could think of the optimal solution after a little consideration when faced with this problem.

Unfortunately… it would be difficult to find people in the audience who met these two conditions.

The host's subordinates had naturally investigated and confirmed this when collecting information about these people.

Because the content of the games was all thought out by the host himself and had already been decided, his subordinates would definitely avoid inviting people who "would have a huge advantage in a certain game" on board.

For example—if the host came up with a game based on Go, his subordinates would naturally not invite someone with a professional Go player background when deciding on the guest list.

But… then again, when there are hundreds of guests, there will eventually… be a few who slip through the net.

Of course, Brother Jue certainly didn't count; the reason why he was able to impersonate Jiang Daode was not only due to the "Gambling Emperor Zhai's" behind-the-scenes operation, but also because Woody helped with a "hypnosis"-like ability; otherwise, it would have been impossible for him to impersonate a figure like Jiang Daode, who had been in newspapers and magazines several times.

However, among the other guests, there were still one or two true "fish that slipped through the net."

And how did these people appear on the guest list? In fact, the reason was not complicated…

When the host's subordinates investigated a person's background, they definitely looked at the information; for example, "served in the army," from which it could be inferred that the person at least knew how to shoot a gun and drive a car; and for example, "graduated from a music academy," it could be basically determined that the person's knowledge of music was far richer than the average person's.

The above is the general situation; however, things that are not in the "information" are not easy to infer…

Still taking Go as an example: Suppose there is a guest whose personal file has never had a formal record of learning Go, nor has he taken the amateur dan test, nor has he participated in related competitions or any groups; however, he learned Go through other methods, such as self-study by reading books, online self-practice, finding reclusive experts to learn from, or being possessed by a ghost… In similar situations, the host's subordinates would naturally not be able to find out.

Today, there was someone on this ship who was quite good at mathematics, and everyone, including the host… didn't know this.

"Fortunately… the passing list for this round of the game has as many as sixty-four people." Feng Bujue quickly formulated several strategies in his mind, and then began to daydream, "To say that a few people out of these two hundred people can come up with the optimal guessing formula in a short period of time, that is still possible; but if you want to say that more than sixty people can do it… that's too outrageous. Besides… this is not a game that is guaranteed to win by mastering the formula. Psychological games, gambling skills, luck… are also very important, and in these points…"

Thinking of this, Brother Jue couldn't help but reveal an evil smile under his mask, and thought to himself, "This bunch of suckers are just a bunch of ATMs…"

…………

Ten minutes passed quickly.

By this time, most of the guests had finished reading the rules.

Originally, it wasn't anything long-winded, and most people could read and understand it in a few minutes.

However, no one went to duel…

Everyone stood still, no one dared to communicate with others, and no one invited others to duel.

Obviously… they were all "watching," everyone wanted to let others act as guinea pigs first, and they stood aside to accumulate "experience" by observing other people's duels.

"Heh… the scene is similar to those of past games…" The host, who was watching the play from a high place, had already drunk most of his "red wine boiled sweet sauce with wasabi," and muttered in a low voice that the people below could not hear.

"Young master." Suit A (i.e. the one who brought the drink just now) then took a few steps forward, bent down, and said to the host, "Do you want… your subordinates to put some pressure on them…"

"No need." The host replied, "I just want to see how long it will take for someone to notice the value of 'time' in this game…" He paused, "Oh, by the way…" He said, raising his neck and drinking the remaining drink in the cup, and then said, "Go get me another cup of 'yellow peach jam with duck mousse and mashed potatoes', make it warm and a little thinner… and this time remember to put a small umbrella on it."

"Uh…" Although Suit A was used to preparing all kinds of strange diets for the "young master," he couldn't help but be stunned every time he heard similar bizarre combinations.

"Okay… your subordinate will go and prepare it!" Two seconds later, he responded, took the empty cup handed over by the host, and left with the tray.

On the other hand, on the first floor…

At this time, the atmosphere in the main hall had become more and more tense.

Although everyone was trying their best to pretend to be "very natural," in fact, they were all anxiously waiting… waiting for someone to break the deadlock.

…………

"Damn… sure enough, no one is willing to go first…"

"Everyone is cunning and treacherous…"

"Anyone is fine, go duel quickly, just don't challenge me… I don't want to be the first one."

"Tch… it's so uncomfortable, I really want to take off my mask, but if I get seen in this kind of occasion…"

"I really want to get a drink of water, but if I accidentally do something noticeable at this time, I might be targeted…"

"Please, anything, anything, even if someone breaks a plate… make some noise, break this uncomfortable atmosphere!"

…………

At this extremely depressing moment.

Bang—

The door at the entrance of the first floor passage was pushed open, and a suit-and-sunglasses man ran in panting.

Because he came in a hurry, he didn't notice the unusual atmosphere in the main hall for a while; after entering the door, he quickly found Brother Jue from the crowd (after all, Feng Bujue was the only male guest dressed casually, so it wasn't difficult to find), and walked quickly towards him.

"Sir." When he was about to come to Brother Jue, the suit-and-sunglasses man had already reached into his pocket to take something out. "This is the bendable straw you wanted." With that said, he took out a whole package of unopened straws and handed it to Brother Jue, "Please take as much as you need."

"Heh…" Brother Jue smiled at him, "I want all of these…"

After saying that, he directly took the whole package of straws from the other party's hand.

The suit-and-sunglasses man hesitated for a moment, but since straws were not something valuable or important, he didn't stop him.

"Okay, thank you, big brother." After Feng Bujue took the package of straws, he politely thanked the other party, and then he opened the seal of the package and took out one.

This straw looked like the better (expensive) kind. After opening the outer packaging, each of them had a separate paper packaging.

Feng Bujue put the rest of the package of straws into his coat pocket, and opened the paper packaging of the one in his hand, and then… went to a round table with champagne, took a glass, and inserted the straw into it.

During this whole process… everyone in the audience was watching him, even if some people pretended not to watch, their attention was on him.

"So… who should I start with?" A few seconds later, Feng Bujue picked up the champagne, raised it to the same level as his sight, and then… held the cup still.

At this moment, the expressions of some people in the crowd suddenly changed… obviously, this part of the people immediately realized what Brother Jue was going to do.

"Hmm… this side?" Feng Bujue watched the bending straw float a few times in the champagne-filled glass, and finally leaned against the wall of the glass and hung to one side.

The next second, he looked in the direction "pointed" by the straw… and fixed his gaze on the person standing on that straight line, the closest to him.

As luck would have it, that person… was the short, fat man wearing a Peking opera mask who had spoken to the host earlier.

"Okay, you're the one." Feng Bujue muttered casually, and pointed at the man with a flick of his arm.

"You… what are you going to do?" The short, fat man was shocked at the time, and couldn't help but take half a step back.

"What are you going to do?" Feng Bujue repeated the other party's question, and then responded with a smile, "Heh… of course I'm here to challenge you—number guessing duel."

"You… you little brat…" The short, fat man came back to his senses, and then became a little annoyed, "Actually using such a casual method to decide…"

"Consider yourself unlucky." Feng Bujue interrupted him and continued, "Okay, stop talking nonsense, you shouldn't meet the condition of 'having had two duels', right? So you can't refuse my challenge." He raised his hand and gestured to a "desk" beside him, "Come on, don't waste time."

"Hmph…" Two seconds later, the short, fat man snorted coldly. Then, he raised his hand and straightened the collar of his evening dress, and then raised his head, and with a step that he thought was "dignified and steady," he came to the cart pointed by Brother Jue.

"I hope you won't regret this rash decision." He looked at Feng Bujue and said in a rather loud voice.

This sentence was not only said to Brother Jue, but also to everyone around him and to the host.

The short, fat man also knew very well… at this moment, he and the man with the crow mask in front of him had become the focus of the audience. Their duel process and results were likely to affect the entire game that followed.

"Oh, oh…" Feng Bujue responded to the short, fat man's verbal deterrence perfunctorily, and then continued, "This gentleman, in view of the fact that we will have a lot of communication next, I wonder… what should I call you?"

"Whatever." The short, fat man replied unhappily.

"Are you sure? Slowpoke." Feng Bujue's next sentence immediately made the other party change his mind.

"What did you call me?" He didn't know why, at this time, the phrase "you're the one" that Brother Jue had said not long ago flashed through the short, fat man's mind again…

"Don't like it? You said whatever I want, Slowbro." Feng Bujue said again.

When he said this, several people with low sense of humor in the crowd couldn't help but laugh, but they all covered their faces and laughed softly, without making a sound… after all, they didn't want to attract attention.

"Okay, okay…" The short, fat man compromised before Brother Jue called out the names of other Pokémon, "Just call me 'Mr. Jing'."