“Essence” determines the choices a person makes in times of crisis.

In gambling, seeing through the opponent’s “essence” is a shortcut to victory.

Once seen through, one will be disturbed, lured, and even manipulated, ultimately stepping into the abyss of failure.

Mr. Jing’s failure falls into this category.

Feng Bujue’s words and actions… while advancing the game, were also probing the opponent's "essence."

Taking this opponent as an example… Brother Jue quickly discovered that Mr. Jing’s essence was “compromise,” or rather, “concessions made while there is still room.”

Using “a conservative with a strong exterior but weak interior” to describe this kind of person would be quite fitting…

Years of bureaucratic style have cultivated his principle of handling affairs by not seeking merit but avoiding fault; as long as there is still room for maneuver, still a safe space… he will make concessions and deceive himself by telling himself that “this is a rational, unavoidable choice.”

But in reality, due to insufficient ability, he simply cannot judge what is a rational and correct concession…

…………

“Settlement begins now.” The referee, after hearing the “declaration of surrender,” immediately said, “The proposer declared surrender in the twenty-first round, and the fine is… $31,000.”

“Wh…what! So much?” Mr. Jing couldn’t help but exclaim when he heard the amount, “Why do I still lose so much even after surrendering?”

“The fine formula is written in the rules; you can check it yourself,” the referee coldly replied.

Hearing this, Mr. Jing mechanically lowered his head, picked up the printed paper with the rules from the middle layer of the cart, and found the relevant content.

From the twenty-first round onward, the second fine formula is used, namely: [10% of the opponent’s holdings at the beginning of this game * (50 - number of rounds completed) % + 10% of the opponent’s bet in this round + basic fine], and the [basic fine] for rounds 21-30 is [20% of the opponent’s holdings at the beginning of this game].

In summary, Mr. Jing’s fine is: 10000 * (50-20)% + 80000*10% + 20000, which is indeed $31,000…

“Understand?” The referee waited for Mr. Jing for a minute and continued, “In addition, the amount of the ‘bet round’ must be calculated, which is $1000, so… at the end of this game, the proposer should pay the guesser $32,000. Subtracting the $20,000 the guesser lost in the previous 20 rounds, there’s still $12,000. Please pay.”

“Dam… damn it…” Mr. Jing gnashed his teeth and muttered, reluctantly taking out the money from his plastic-sealed bag.

The referee took the banknotes, took out a money counter from the handcart, quickly counted the correct amount, and handed it to Feng Bujue.

“Hehe… thanks.” Feng Bujue smiled as he took the money from the referee and thanked Mr. Jing.

“Hmph…” Mr. Jing snorted coldly, his hands clenched into fists, his whole body trembling with frustration from the failure.

“Then…” At this moment, the referee took out the paper with the correct answer that Mr. Jing had placed with him earlier from his coat pocket, “This answer is now invalid.” As he spoke, he stuffed the paper into the shredder at the bottom of the handcart, “You two… please prepare for the second game.”

…………

Just as they were cleaning the table and settling the accounts…

“Friend, let’s play a game.”

“I challenge you, yes, you.”

“Handsome, would you do me the honor?”

“I want to challenge you, come on.”

Among the surrounding crowd, many people suddenly began to take action.

Those who took the lead… had already seen the danger of this game, so they quickly launched "challenges" to the people around them.

…………

At the same time, on the second floor of the main hall.

“Hehe… they finally realized it.” The organizer watched the people who were starting to duel one after another and smiled as he muttered, “However… no matter how fast they are, they can’t catch up with the man wearing the raven mask; that man is a whole game ahead of them.”

“Young Master,” Suit A stepped forward in a timely manner to remind, “That gentleman… is called Jiang Daode.”

“Jiang Daode?” The organizer responded and immediately operated the tablet in his hand, pulling out Jiang Daode’s information from the database, “Hmm… well-known entrepreneur… Top Ten Outstanding Youth… Gaming industry… The current enterprise is on the verge of bankruptcy… huh…”

…………

On the other hand, the second game between Feng Bujue and Mr. Jing was about to begin.

At this moment, Brother Jue had rapidly scribbled six numbers on a piece of paper and handed it to the referee.

The moment he saw those six numbers, the referee almost knelt…

“You… are you sure these are the six numbers?” The referee looked at the paper with the numbers “123456” written on it, and a painful expression was revealed under his sunglasses.

“Yes,” Brother Jue replied without even thinking.

The referee nodded, “Okay…” He put the paper away and turned to look at Mr. Jing, “Then please, the guesser, say your ‘round declaration’ first.”

“Fifty rounds.” Mr. Jing chose a very safe number; of course… with his ability, he had no capital to gamble.

“$1000.” And Feng Bujue also gave the lowest bet amount.

“Wait!” Mr. Jing immediately said loudly, “This bet amount is wrong, right? Your current holdings are already $112,000. You have to bet at least $1120.”

“Hmph…” Feng Bujue chuckled, “Why don’t you go look at the rules again?”

“Huh?” Mr. Jing was stunned by what he said, and then went to look at the rules again.

As a result, he was dumbfounded again…

The rules stated: When “betting on rounds,” the minimum bet amount for the proposer shall not be less than 1% of the total amount of holdings at the beginning of this duel.

Please note that it says [this duel] here, not [this game].

This concept is undoubtedly different, because one "duel"… has two "games."

“Just as this gentleman said,” the referee also spoke a few seconds later, “The minimum amount for ‘betting on rounds’ is calculated according to the proportion of holdings at the beginning of the duel; otherwise… if the guesser loses to only a few hundred dollars in the first game, wouldn’t he only need to bet a few dollars as the proposer in the second game?”

“Tch…” Mr. Jing spat, “Alright, alright~ one thousand it is.” He took his pen, looking ready to go, “First round, I call 880 dollars, do you follow?”

Mr. Jing’s holdings in this game were $88,000, and the “minimum bet amount per round” was still calculated based on the total amount of his holdings at the beginning of this game, so the amount he called was also reduced accordingly.

“I surrender.” Unexpectedly, in the next second, Feng Bujue replied in a very calm tone…

When he said this, Mr. Jing had already written two zeros on the paper…

“You surr… huh?” Mr. Jing didn’t react until he was about to finish writing the six zeros, “What? You surrender?”

Feng Bujue ignored him and looked directly at the referee, “Referee, settle the account.”

“I see…” The referee thought to himself at this moment, “This kid planned to surrender in the first round, so he can write anything…”

So, the referee calculated for a few seconds and announced, “The proposer declared surrender in the first round, and the fine is… $8888.”

When Mr. Jing heard this number, he didn’t question it again, because he had just reread the rules, so he knew that this number was correct.

Since Feng Bujue surrendered in the first round, he referred to the first set of formulas, namely [10% of the opponent’s holdings at the beginning of this game * (50 + number of rounds completed) % + 10% of the opponent’s bet in this round + basic fine (the basic fine for rounds 1-10 is 5% of the opponent’s holdings at the beginning of this game)], after substituting the numbers, it is 8800 * (50-0)% + 88 + 4400, and the result is that number.

“Including the amount of the ‘bet round,’ the total is $9888.” The referee said this, and looked at Brother Jue, “Please pay.”

Feng Bujue casually took out a stack of money and handed it to the referee, and said, “What about the change?”

“We naturally have preparations.” While responding, the referee had already taken out a small box from the locked part of the cart, and the box was filled with small denominations of banknotes of several specifications.

In short, this number-guessing duel between Feng Bujue and Mr. Jing ended just like that.

In the end, Feng Bujue only won $2112 from the other party.

Although the winnings were not much, seeing this, the guests watching from the sidelines finally realized the importance of “total holdings” in this game.

Because the bet amount of "betting on rounds" depends on how much money you have at the beginning of the duel, and the "surrender fine" depends on how much money the other party has at the beginning of each game…

When the player is the "guesser," the higher the total amount of holdings, the higher the fine the opponent will give, and relatively, the less your holdings, the less the other party will have to pay.

From this point of view, the "challenger" undoubtedly occupies the dominant position, because the challenger can first act as the "guesser." As long as you obtain enough benefits in the guessing game to lower the opponent's capital limit, when you act as the proposer, the surrender fine you need to pay will naturally decrease.

Moreover… this kind of "capital advantage" is basically a snowball effect. The winner will become more and more advantageous, and the loser will find it more and more difficult to turn the tables, so… be fast!

…………

“I challenge you!”

“I challenge you!”

“No, I challenged you first!”

“Nonsense, I said it first!”

For a time, the surrounding crowd was in chaos.

The people who reacted faster had already found someone to start a duel without a word when Brother Jue and Mr. Jing settled the first game.

As for these "slow-reacting" guys, or rather… "the vast majority of people," they watched the settlement of this second game before reacting, and they challenged each other anxiously, and everyone wanted to be the guesser first.

Scenes like this were commonplace for those men in suits and sunglasses, and they were skilled at handling them.

“Everyone, calm down, no need to argue. The two people who need to duel, please come to the table first.”

“Please come to the table, you two.”

“Please be patient and come to me.”

Under the persuasion of the men in suits, those who were in dispute came to the table one after another. Then… the men in suits took out their tablets and retrieved the instant video recordings to determine who had "said" the challenge declaration first.

…………

On the other hand…

“Hmph… consider this your win.” After Mr. Jing took back the $9888, he still said to Brother Jue, “We’ll meet again…” (山水有相逢 - Shan Shui You Xiang Feng, idiom meaning "we'll meet again")

“There won’t be a next time.” Feng Bujue didn’t even let the other party finish his harsh words before interrupting, “People like you… are destined not to leave this ship tonight.”

“What are you sa…” Mr. Jing was a little angry and embarrassed, and he stepped forward, rolling up his sleeves, seemingly wanting to resort to force.

However, when he rushed in front of Brother Jue, a chill ran through his whole body.

At that moment, not only was Mr. Jing unable to speak, but even breathing became very difficult.

He suddenly had a feeling—that under the strange raven mask… it was not a human being, but some kind of more terrifying, unknown creature…

“Whether you agree with what I say or not, I still have to say it.” Seeing that the other party was no longer speaking, Feng Bujue coldly continued, “If you are not convinced by the loss, I don’t mind betting with you again later, even two or three more games, until I win all your money.”

Mr. Jing didn’t reply, but instead retreated…

“But for now…” Feng Bujue said, slowly turning around.

At this moment, a tall man wearing a golden crying face mask was already standing behind Brother Jue.

“Sorry to keep you waiting.” Feng Bujue looked at the other party and said casually.

“Hehe… just a minute or two,” the tall man replied with a smile.

These two sentences of theirs sounded like ordinary polite words to others, and they seemed disjointed.

But in reality, these simple "greetings" were both mutual probing and displays of strength.

Feng Bujue’s “Sorry to keep you waiting” was meant to show “I know you’ve been waiting behind me for a long time, waiting to challenge me.”

And the tall man’s calm response, as well as his act of “challenging the raven mask man” itself, showed that he was by no means an ordinary person.

“Then… let’s begin,” Feng Bujue continued.

“Okay.” As he spoke, the tall man strode towards the position where Mr. Jing had previously stood.

“Referee, I have issued a challenge to this gentleman wearing the raven mask.” As he walked, he turned his head and greeted the referee.

Hearing this, the referee glanced at Brother Jue; although he was wearing sunglasses at this time, one could feel… he was using an inquiring gaze.

“What are you looking at me for?” Feng Bujue replied, “This is my second duel. I can’t refuse a challenge before this one is completed, right?”

“Since that’s the case, then… please be the proposer first,” the referee replied.

Feng Bujue shrugged, took out another piece of white paper from the cart, and spread it on the table; he still didn’t think much about it and wrote a set of numbers.

This time, when the referee took this “answer paper,” he was prepared to see “123456” again, but… Brother Jue’s mystery this time was more normal, which was “953724.”

“Hmm? No repeating numbers…” The referee immediately thought, “However… thinking about it carefully, under the premise that all the numbers can be tested out in the first nine rounds, deliberately not using repeating numbers seems like a good choice. After all, ‘which six numbers’ is no longer a problem from the tenth round onward. Under the premise that the numbers are determined, there are more non-repeating combinations.”

Thinking of this, the referee had already put the answer into his coat pocket, and then said to the tall man, “Please make a round declaration.”

“Hehe…” The man chuckled twice, “Eighteen rounds.”

“What?” Mr. Jing, who was standing aside and hadn’t left, couldn’t help but exclaim when he heard this.

“Hmph… what’s all the fuss about?” The tall man looked at Mr. Jing and found it amusing, “Speaking of which… why are you still here?”

Being asked this, Mr. Jing was unhappy, “What’s wrong? Can’t I just stand here and watch for a while?”

“Don’t you understand?” The tall man replied, “Right now… is a time when every second counts…” He raised his finger and pointed at Feng Bujue, “That ‘Crow Mouth’ (乌鸦嘴 - Wu Ya Zui, a derogatory term meaning jinx or someone who brings bad luck with their words) Mr. was willing to give you a few thousand dollars for nothing in order to save time, why don’t you know how to cherish it?”

“What are you talking about?” Mr. Jing asked suspiciously, “When did he give me a few thousand dollars?”

“Oh?” The tall man laughed again when he heard this, “What? You don’t even know the most basic thing, ‘in which rounds you can escape’?” He shook his head and continued, “Sigh… no wonder people say you won’t be able to leave tonight.”

“What the hell are you guys talking about!” Mr. Jing’s anger was stirred up again, “Just say what you have to say clearly, don’t beat around the bush!”

“Alas…” The tall man sighed and explained, “Then I’ll just give an example… Suppose that gentleman just played with you for a while longer, for example… until the nineteenth round and then suddenly surrendered, you calculate it yourself, what is the difference between the fine at that time and the bet amount you paid.”

Mr. Jing could still complete this kind of calculation that elementary school students could do. He looked down at the formula on the rules and immediately calculated it.

A dozen seconds later, Mr. Jing’s face changed drastically, and he muttered, “18 times 880 dollars is… 15840… and the fine for surrendering in the nineteenth round is 14872… I… not only didn’t win money, but I also lost 968?”

“That’s right.” The tall man replied, “However, you still have the 1000 dollars for betting on the round, so you can still earn 32 dollars (because the bet amount for betting on the round is fixed at 1000, so when Mr. Jing guesses, Feng Bujue is still slightly losing in the nineteenth round, and only in the twentieth round can he profit), but that’s far from 9888, right?” He paused for half a second and then said, “What if… he drags it to the twentieth round and then surrenders? You don’t need to calculate it, I’ll tell you… even if you count the 1000 dollars for betting on the round, you still have to lose 760 dollars…” He said with a smile (although the other party couldn’t see it), “This… is the so-called ‘escape round’; for the party who proposes first, this is very important, but you didn’t grasp it well… when you acted as the proposer, if you surrendered one or two rounds earlier, before the other party increased the bet amount, even if you couldn’t win too much money, you wouldn’t have lost several thousand at least.”

“I… I…” Mr. Jing gnashed his teeth in regret under the mask, and said dejectedly, “If I could have been one round earlier…”

“There’s no such thing as what ifs.” The tall man interrupted him, “I advise you to quickly find a place, first calculate the comparison between the fines and the income in each round… and then take advantage of the fact that everyone still has to accept the challenge, finish your ‘second duel,’ as for what we’re going to play…” He said, looking at Brother Jue again, “It’s not the kind of gambling that people at your level can get involved in…”