"D Prize!"
Just as Mutou Yugi was contemplating, the second male player to take the stage completed his draw. Boss Huang announced his result: a D Prize.
While not one of the grand prizes, it was still one of the "Small Generals," with only five cards, the best among all prizes, guaranteeing at least half of the cost back.
The player happily went to retrieve a D Prize box and quickly opened it. Within seconds, he let out another cry of surprise.
The surrounding audience looked on with curiosity, and he, being sensible, displayed a card in his hand. Upon seeing it, everyone exclaimed, "Good heavens, it's the Left Hand of God!"
At that time, collecting five of these cards could summon the Great Demon God. Many Yu-Gi-Oh! players today might have one, but that was limited to the booster packs from 2003.
It was said that in the 1999 release, there were only 999 copies of each Great Demon God's body card in total, and the Great Demon God himself had even fewer, with only 555 cards. These were absolutely rare, with a market price of around 5000 Japanese Yen.
This meant that the player, having drawn a card worth 5000 Yen from the hidden cards, plus a 1000 Yen card displayed openly, had tripled his investment, making the players below stare with envy.
So, the extra cards were indeed hidden within the secret pulls, and even if he only drew a G Prize, he had a high chance of recouping his costs.
Consequently, when the beautiful witch began her draw, five or six players successively rushed onto the stage and lined up behind her.
"Can I buy two?" the beautiful witch asked curiously.
"Yes!" Boss Huang smiled and said, "Our rule is that as long as no one is queuing, you can buy any quantity you wish. However, if there is a queue, you are allowed to purchase a maximum of five cards. If you wish to buy more, you can rejoin the queue. This is to ensure the interests of other players!"
"Furthermore, once the prize tickets in the box are depleted of A, B, and C prizes, you may choose to purchase all the remaining cards at once!"
Boss Huang took the opportunity to elaborate on the purchasing rules.
These rules were quite effective. Firstly, both drawing and opening tickets took considerable time. Moreover, based on past experience, many people would "hog" the entire box until they drew their desired prize, causing others to wait in line indefinitely.
Therefore, when there was a queue, a limit of five draws at a time was the norm. As for the rule allowing bulk purchase only when the grand prizes were gone, it was designed with the last buyers in mind.
After all, the "Last Prize" didn't require luck; it simply required being the last person to buy out the entire pool of cards. With the grand prizes A, B, and C gone, continuing to buy would offer no value unless one directly obtained the Last Prize.
If the limit of five cards per person remained, then after exceeding five purchases, the person before would essentially be doing the work for the next person. This was a massive blow to the buyer's morale, as no one wanted to be the second-to-last.
Hence, the special provision stipulated that once the three grand prizes were completely depleted, one could disregard the quantity limit and purchase everything to secure the Last Prize.
To get back to the story, after receiving Boss Huang's affirmative reply, the beautiful witch decisively drew two more cards. To her dismay, they were both G Prizes.
This meant she could acquire the two G Prizes she didn't have. But was she really this unlucky?
All the prizes had a limited quantity, displayed on the rack behind. Buying one reduced the count. Under the watchful eyes of everyone, the number of prize tickets couldn't be faked. Could she really be so unlucky as to draw G Prizes for three consecutive weeks?
After all, statistically, the probability of a G Prize was only 1/3. The chance of drawing three G Prizes consecutively was 1/27, which was indeed incredibly unlucky.
Even more unfortunately, after opening the hidden cards from the two theater boxes, the best she found was a card worth only 150 Yen. Her 6000 Yen was now reduced to 450 Yen, a complete and utter loss.
"No, I can't keep losing. I need to draw at least one grand prize to break even!" the beautiful witch gritted her teeth, then unhesitatingly rejoined the end of the queue. By then, over ten players were already ahead of her.
As it happened, the players ahead of her drew E Prizes or F Prizes, and one D Prize. Not a single G Prize was drawn, which made the beautiful witch feel deeply hurt. Wasn't this mocking her?
What was even more mocking came later. When the player directly in front of the beautiful witch tore open his prize ticket, paused for a moment, and handed it to Boss Huang, Boss Huang suddenly gestured behind him. A staff member then brought out a large gong. Boss Huang took the mallet, struck the gong forcefully, and a clear, resounding clang echoed through the venue. Boss Huang excitedly announced in a loud voice, "Congratulations to this gentleman for winning the B Prize!!"
Good heavens, the B Prize was finally out!
And was this B Prize so grand that it warranted such fanfare? That gong strike had shaken the entire venue and heavily impacted the hearts of all the audience members and potential players present. The B Prize had truly arrived!
The players at the scene stirred, and the player who drew the B Prize was so excited his legs trembled. Boss Huang then personally helped him retrieve the B Prize from the rack.
Well, since there was only one B Prize, there wasn't much choice.
"You can check what's inside the B Prize!" The buyer was about to leave directly but heeded Boss Huang's reminder. He then flipped open the other 15 hidden cards and began to jump excitedly again. It turned out that among them was a "Left Hand of God" card, another card worth 5000 Yen. This directly pushed the total value of the B Prize to around 15,000 Yen. It was a truly profitable haul!
The scene erupted in cheers. The beautiful witch behind him twitched her eyebrows. When Boss Huang asked her how many draws she wanted, she decisively said, "I want five!"
"Come, please draw!" Boss Huang said enthusiastically. This was the first person to draw five times, indicating everyone was getting into the spirit.
Unfortunately, the beautiful witch's luck was still not great. Although she hadn't drawn a single G Prize before, when she started drawing, four out of the five were G Prizes, and the remaining one was merely an E Prize.
If not for the fact that she managed to draw a card worth 500 Yen from the hidden cards of that E Prize, the beautiful witch's heart would have shattered.
However, before her heart could break, the beautiful witch again stood at the end of the queue. There were already over 10 players in line. The player in front of her, holding a camera, quietly asked if she was a plant.
What a joke! Had anyone ever seen a plant that consecutively drew 7 G Prizes?
The beautiful witch had originally hoped to win back her losses by drawing five more cards. But perhaps stimulated by her previous purchase of five cards, several of the players behind her also bought five cards at a time, spending 10,000 Yen without batting an eye.
By the time the player in front of the beautiful witch began his draw, only 13 prize tickets remained in the entire box. However, the C Prize and all the D Prizes had already been drawn.
The only remaining items on the cabinet were the A Prize and an L Prize.
"Let's make a deal. You buy 5, and I'll take the rest!" The beautiful witch calculated. There were still 13 tickets left, including an A Prize and an L Prize. Therefore, these 13 prize tickets were of considerable value. If she could secure both the A Prize and the L Prize, even buying all 13 wouldn't be a loss.
Even if the person ahead took the A Prize, she could, by rule, buy the remaining 8 cards at once and was guaranteed to get the Last Prize. This would still be profitable.
Therefore, the beautiful witch said to the person in front of her.
"Furthermore..." the other party said something that made the beautiful witch want to spit blood. He then walked forward and excitedly asked Boss Huang, "Mr. Huang, do you remember me?"
"Of course, I do!" Boss Huang smiled and nodded. "You are the reporter friend from yesterday."
"It's me, Mr. Huang. I have some questions I'd like to ask you. Can you..."
"Shush, I'm working right now and not accepting any private interviews. But if you're interested, you can come find me at this address tomorrow!" Boss Huang handed a business card to Mutou Yugi, who excitedly collected it.
"Oh, right, do you still want to buy a prize?" Boss Huang asked.
"Of course... I'll buy... I'll buy... one!" Mutou Yugi said excitedly, then took out 2000 Yen and bought a prize ticket. Upon drawing, it was an E Prize, a very unremarkable outcome.
Then, the purchasing right fell into the beautiful witch's hands. She was stumped, finding herself in a very awkward predicament.
Currently, there were 12 prize tickets remaining, including an A Prize. According to the rules, this meant she couldn't buy all 12 tickets at once, with a maximum purchase of five.
This meant she only had a 5/12 chance of securing the A Prize. However, there was a greater chance that she wouldn't get the A Prize, and the next person would be able to continue purchasing tickets. At that point, that person would have a 5/7 chance of winning.
This was incredibly thrilling!
With this in mind, both the beautiful witch and the audience below felt their hearts pounding. Everyone wanted to know what the beautiful witch would decide.
How would she gamble this time!
"I'll buy five!" the beautiful witch finally said.