N-A-A Chapter 179 Deadly Strike
Chapter 179 Deadly Strike
Chapter 189 Deadly Strike
The community card on the table is about to be turned over.
The dealer, standing inside the banknotes, was trembling with fear. This member of the Plasma Team, who originally knew nothing about Double Dragon Poker, had now developed a certain understanding of the game after so many rounds.
However, knowledge also means a heavy burden. While understanding the meaning of each card in this round of the game, this unfortunate guy also loses the right to be ignorant and fearless.
The hand raised halfway in the air trembled involuntarily, and the dealer's eyes kept sneaking glances at the purple-robed sage, as if afraid that he might flip the wrong card because of him.
Vio wore a conflicted expression, a mixture of confidence and worry, his brow furrowed, his half-open eyes still fixed on the cards on the table.
The old man was worried that someone might switch his cards when he wasn't looking, so he maintained this staring posture from before he called.
Whether deciding to place a bet, emailing the cult, ordering his men outside the secret room to deliver documents, or signing his name on a check, he maintained this watchful gaze.
If there is any unusual activity, Vio will abandon the bet without hesitation, regardless of what others think.
However, no one cheated.
The cards on the table remained untouched. Lingju had already placed her two bottom cards face down on the table and, as if to avoid suspicion, changed her posture, sitting cross-legged on the pile of banknotes behind the gambling table.
Now, this gambling king sits comfortably with his arms crossed, his face utterly calm, and his breathing steady and relaxed.
There was absolutely no unusual tremor between his lips and brows; this overly calm demeanor made it impossible to fathom his feelings at that moment.
Is victory assured?
No, unlike Pokémon moves, human "bluffing" is much more subtle. Maybe he's deliberately putting on this act, creating a false impression in front of Vio, secretly hoping the old man will call a halt and fold his cards halfway through.
That being said, now that the betting game has progressed to this point, whether Yueju is impatient or composed, calm or crazy, whatever his reaction is, it will probably be seen as a performance with ulterior motives.
Gambling is something that can distort the rules of mathematics—
No matter how many probability calculations you've done beforehand, once you see your opponent's expression, the outcome of the game seems to instantly become a 50/50 match again.
Beside Vio were five newly signed checks, three stock drafts, seven corporate bonds, and a note with two lines of handwritten text faintly visible on the back—it was a private account with a large sum of money in a legitimate bank run by the alliance, and the two lines of numbers were the card number and password.
These various financial instruments, when combined, allow for the withdrawal of a total of 16 billion in cash from fifteen different financial institutions.
On various certificates, the seals representing the credibility of the plasma group were not yet dry, reflecting a bright red light like blood under the indoor lighting.
There are very few people in the world who can raise such a large amount of capital in half an hour, but Vio happens to be one of these remarkable figures.
Of the two sages in charge of the Plasma Clan's finances, Vio has always controlled more cash flow. He not only maintains ample funds for short-term investments, but also manages dozens of shell companies used to conceal illicit funds, as he oversees the Clan's money laundering operations. Recently, he also received a substantial amount of additional funding from the Clan for undertaking a classified mission related to the Giant's Cave.
Even for Vio, this high-stakes gamble nearly drained all the assets at his disposal just to barely raise enough money to call the bet.
The live broadcast of the betting was temporarily interrupted when Vio raised funds by phone. The wait always fueled anticipation, so when it resumed half an hour later, the floating casino became exceptionally lively.
But inside the transparent gaming room, there was complete silence.
.
The dealer turned over the second community card.
Blueberry whistled.
Vio's eyebrows twitched.
His predicted hand still has 10 possible single-card combinations that match the current face-up hand, while there are three face-down cards on the table, and one of the blueberry's hole cards is still unknown.
Looking only at the cards, if we disregard the solitary wave theory and clock face algorithm and only use the enumeration method for analysis, out of 52 to the power of 4, or 7.3 million possibilities, Vio's hand has a greater advantage, with a winning probability of 70%, far exceeding the less than 30% winning probability of Lanju.
Both precise and crude algorithms, applied simultaneously, lead to the same conclusion.
We can definitely win.
Vio was worried that Lingju might continue betting to break the game, but it seemed they didn't intend to. If the casino could produce more money, he would seriously suspect that there might be counterfeit currency mixed in.
Seeing that no one continued to bet, the dealer then revealed the community cards in the center of the table one after another.
The remaining option has a 87% win rate, which meets expectations.
The remaining option has a 92% win rate, which meets expectations.
The remaining option has a 99.9% win rate, which meets expectations.
With each card revealed, Vio would repeat the probability calculation in his mind. The former was to verify the accuracy of the clock face algorithm, while the latter was to examine the cards from the perspective of pure probability events.
At this point, there's no need to even consider probability algorithms, because the situation is clear: only one card remains unrevealed for Yueju.
Only a handful of possibilities remained on the desktop.
Vio's hand consists of a pair of Kings, which, along with the two Kings on the board, can form a four-of-a-kind, second only to a straight flush. Meanwhile, Cranberry's hand, which she inadvertently revealed earlier, is a pathetic 4 of spades, offering no chance of forming more than two pairs. Unless she completes a full straight flush, Cranberry cannot beat Vio.
However, this is impossible because the 8 of spades, which is necessary to form a big dragon, has already been used up in previous hands.
Blueberries cannot win.
However, after the community cards were revealed, the one-hundred-year-old loser gave an exaggerated smirk and reached out to reveal his own hole cards.
"Wait a minute," Vio quickly stopped him.
"I want the dealer to reveal both sides' cards," he said matter-of-factly.
This is a true checkmate, sealing off the opponent's last escape route, like checkmate in chess.
The gambler king's face instantly turned ugly; he must have lost his last chance to cheat.
"I accept."
A sullen voice came from Yueju's throat, and his leather shoes tapped against the torrent of banknotes beneath him.
Although somewhat uneasy, Vio instinctively felt this was not the behavior of a desperate person.
Hasn't he realized he's in a desperate situation? Even without using probability calculations, shouldn't he know that his hand can't form any high-scoring combinations?
Despite the doubts, the old man's actions remained unchanged.
At his superior's signal, the dealer first turned over Vio's hole cards. After seeing Vio's hole cards, the dealer visibly breathed a sigh of relief.
But his opponent remained unfazed; even the slightly uneasy foot-tapping stopped. This terrified Vio.
The gambler, dressed in a dark blue suit, gave an ambiguous smile and gestured for the Plasma Group's dealer to handle the cards on the table.
Seeing his opponent's composure and the aura of victory emanating from him, the old man felt an inexplicable urge—to overturn the gambling table.
It might still be possible to do this before the cards are revealed—although it violates the casino's rules, there's still room for cheating.
He has staked all the funds he has at his disposal as the treasurer of the Plasma Group. If he loses this gamble, he could even be stripped of his status as one of the Seven Sages of the Order...
Whenever Vio thought of this, the vulnerable part of his heart would scream incessantly, begging him to stop the betting.
Although he was a seasoned casino gambler, the total amount he had gambled in his entire life didn't equal the amount wagered in this single round. Why was that man, Lanju, able to remain so composed despite betting twice as much as him? Wasn't he afraid of doubling his debt after the inflation bubble burst?
Are you going to surrender? Are you going to abandon all the wisdom and dignity you've accumulated so far and surrender to this confident-looking man?
No, I'm the one who will win.
Being intimidated by the enemy's expression is not the style of a mathematician.
The old man's rationality reminded him of this.
Data and theories—these quantifiable things—are the only trustworthy evidence in this world. Everything else is nothing but unfounded fear, a complete illusion.
People can deceive, intuition can betray, and the five senses can produce illusions, but numbers cannot. Especially numbers that have been verified by multiple methods.
Vio nodded to his subordinate. The latter reached out and revealed the trump card of the blueberry.
……
……
……
Huh?
No way?
Vio's eyes widened.
The two cards the dealer turned over were completely unexpected for the old man.
The 4 was not visible in the mirror reflection, nor was the other predicted card. Instead, there was an Ace and a 10, both in jet black.
Both cards are cards that did not appear in the clock face algorithm!
These two cards, along with the high-ranking spade cards in the community cards, form a beautiful royal flush.
It beat Vio's four Kings.
"What a pity, Mr. Vio."
"Ivy said with a smile, as she reached out and picked up the black Ace of Spades on the table with her fingertips, changing the angle in front of the mirror behind her.
When the card was almost perpendicular to the mirror, Vio turned pale and nearly screamed.
"Although you brought the Double Dragon playing cards yourself, it seems you don't know them very well." The opponent's smile was incredibly sincere, but in Vio's eyes, it was like a deadly dagger flashing with a cold light.
"Two-dimensional graphics change shape depending on the viewing angle. At such an extreme tilt angle, the shape of the number 4 and the A is almost exactly the same, which will cause many people to misjudge. This is a very basic information manipulation for gamblers."
Extremely simple geometric patterns.
Vio slumped back in his chair, looking older than ever before. Banknotes that didn't belong to him were piled up in front of him, almost burying him.
The blow of misreading the cards wasn't enough to plunge him into such despair; what truly devastated the old man was—
His clock face algorithm is wrong.
There are no lone waves on the sea surface.
He lost completely.
.
At the same time, a loud and clear whistle reached the ears of everyone in the room.
The Royal United Ship has set sail.