Chapter 18: Pressure

The voice sounded so calm and matter-of-fact that Jiang He almost thought she had misheard.

She looked up at Lu Xinyi, only to find her expression unchanged, as if she didn't think there was anything wrong with what she had said at all.

"Wait, is something wrong here?

"Aren't we supposed to take turns winning?

"Shouldn't you be folding right now?"

Jiang He stared at Lu Xinyi in disbelief. Or rather, she had realized something was wrong, but she simply couldn't accept it in the moment.

You can know a person's face but not their heart. Jiang He had considered the possibility of the other woman dropping the facade, but she hadn't expected her to not even bother to pretend for a single second.

Lu Xinyi merely gave a nonchalant smile without offering any explanation, simply pointing to the timer on the gambling table.

"You all had better make a decision quickly."

In "Blood Poker," besides the one-hour limit for the entire game, there was also a one-minute thinking limit for each player at a multi-player table.

There was a small timer on the table; if the time ran out, the player would be automatically treated as having folded.

After all, in every small round, there was a possibility of repeated re-raising, so meaningless stalling had to be avoided.

The bright red numbers on the timer flickered continuously.

43

42

"Fine, fine. So that's how you want to play, huh?"

Jiang He's expression darkened. She hadn't expected that Lu Xinyi, who looked so amiable, could truly be so ruthless when dropping the act, leaving no bottom line whatsoever.

She picked up her hand to take another look.

A pair of 9s.

She already knew her cards, but just to be safe and to ensure she hadn't misread them earlier, Jiang He checked them once more.

Unfortunately, while the hand wasn't small, it wasn't large either. It would be difficult to sweep the entire table with it.

The game was still ongoing. To the right of Lu Xinyi was another player from the 3rd Community, a thin middle-aged man wearing glasses named Lyu Mingxuan.

He tossed three 1,000 chips into the betting area again: "Raise."

It was Su Xiucen's turn. She was the dealer this round and also the last person to act.

Before her, Jiang He, Lu Xinyi, and Lyu Mingxuan had all raised in succession; everyone else had already folded.

Su Xiucen was panicking; the current situation had completely disrupted her expectations.

Jiang He frowned: "Auntie Su, call."

Su Xiucen appeared even more flustered: "B-but..."

In Jiang He's view, the situation was clear: if Su Xiucen folded, it would become a one-on-two situation, leaving Jiang He in a very disadvantageous position; if Su Xiucen called, it would be two-on-two, giving her a better chance of winning.

But Su Xiucen's panicked expression completely exposed it—her hand was very weak.

During the brief standoff, Lu Xinyi spoke up.

She seemed to have completely shed her previous gentle and friendly disguise, her voice filled with aggression: "Auntie, don't try to hold on. Just fold.

"In this game, from the moment you sat down at this table, you had zero chance of winning.

"Of course, you can choose to defy fate and keep raising. No matter how much you raise, I will always choose to raise more."

【Thinking time expired. Automatic fold.】

As the prompt sounded, Su Xiucen seemed to collapse instantly, weakly placing her cards back on the table.

It was difficult to make a decision in just one minute.

To call now, she would have to throw down another 3,000 in chips. Since Su Xiucen's hand was very weak, if she lost, she would lose 4,000 including the blinds, which was something she simply could not afford.

After all, even if she lost all ten rounds by only losing the blinds, it would only be 10,000.

If she lost 4,000 in the very first round, what would she do for the rest? Even if she were lucky enough to get a big hand later, it would be hard to make a comeback.

Amidst this hesitation, the minute passed quickly.

It was Jiang He's turn again.

Since three people had chosen to raise in the previous round, the cards could not be revealed yet.

The cards would only be revealed when only one person was raising and everyone else had called.

The bright red countdown began ticking again from 60, and Jiang He was faced with only two paths.

Either call or raise, or fold.

"I can't fold. If I completely surrender in the first round, I'll have no strength left to fight back later...

"I have to at least see what their hands are.

"My hand is a pair of 9s. At least it's a pair. Against the two of them, I shouldn't be completely without a chance.

"Damn it, people who break the rules should be attacked by the others, but why aren't the other three players from the 3rd Community reacting at all?

"Could they have anticipated this situation from the very beginning?

"Why are two people folding and two people raising?"

Jiang He's mind was a mess; too much information made it difficult to untangle her thoughts.

There were only 20 seconds left on the countdown.

Jiang He decided to call first.

However, just then, Lu Xinyi spoke.

"Just a friendly reminder: even if you choose to call now, the cards won't be revealed.

"Because the two of us will keep choosing to raise until you have bet all of your chips.

"So, if your hand is truly that strong, you might as well just go All-In now to save some time."

Jiang He, who had just picked up her chips, froze with her hand mid-air.

According to the rules, if two people in a hand keep raising, the cards will never be revealed until everyone's chips are exhausted and they are all in an All-In state.

All-In is the ultimate gamble.

If you win, your chips double; if you lose, your chips go to zero.

For Jiang He, she had barely prepared herself mentally to lose 4,000 chips, but she was not prepared to lose everything in the very first round.

*Tick.*

【Thinking time expired. Automatic fold.】

Jiang He felt as if all her strength had been drained in an instant, and her hand holding the chips dropped once more.

"Raise."

"Fold."

Lyu Mingxuan chose to fold. Without any hands being revealed, Lu Xinyi won all the chips on the table.

Subtracting her own bets, she made a net profit of 9,000 chips.

The biggest loser here was Lyu Mingxuan, who lost a total of 4,000 chips including the blinds.

But Lyu Mingxuan showed no expression at all; he didn't even think about calling to see the cards, simply handing the chips over.

This made Jiang He even more certain: the four players from the 3rd Community must have planned this setup from the very beginning.

But what Jiang He didn't understand was that, according to the Corridor's matching mechanism, the 3rd Community should have only been formed a day ago.

Why could they achieve such unconditional trust?

As she had analyzed at the start, although they were in the same community, players were not exactly a community of interest; the visa time Lu Xinyi earned should not be tradable with others.

So why were the other three cooperating unconditionally?

Before Jiang He could figure this out, a new round was about to begin.

This time, Lu Xinyi was the dealer. To her right, Lyu Mingxuan was the first to act.

Lyu Mingxuan looked at his cards and then said, "Fold."

This actually took Jiang He by surprise; she had thought Lyu Mingxuan would continue to raise, repeating the coordinated performance with Lu Xinyi from the previous round.

It was Su Xiucen's turn, and she was even more at a loss: "I, I..."

She even instinctively wanted to show Jiang He her cards, but she held back, because that was a violation.

Multi-player tables allowed players to engage in some minor sleight of hand outside the rules, but operations like looking at each other's cards were strictly forbidden.

Jiang He comforted her: "It's okay, Auntie Su. If your hand is decent, just call for now."

However, she was interrupted halfway through her sentence by Lu Xinyi.

"Still haven't realized the situation?

"In this game, you have no chance of winning. Any form of futile resistance will only cause you to lose more."