Chapter 23: High Stakes Gamble

"Gulp."

Lu Mingxuan swallowed hard in shock.

As of now, the total amount bet by the three players in this single round had already exceeded the sum of all previous games combined.

On the gambling table, the chips were piled like mountains; a rough glance suggested there were no fewer than sixty thousand.

What shocked Lu Mingxuan even more was that from the start of this game until now, Lin Sizhi had already accumulated nearly seventy thousand in chips.

These chips were ones he had carried with him from the very beginning.

Where did he get so many chips??

Even more terrifying was that this round was still not over. All three players had already thrown too many chips onto the table; under these circumstances, no one would fold before the cards were revealed.

If they didn't see the result, they feared they wouldn't be able to die in peace.

Time passed minute by minute.

Lu Xinyi looked at the chips in front of her. In the final second of the countdown, she pushed out a stack of 2,000-point chips.

"Raise, 20,000!"

By now, the mountain of chips in front of Lu Xinyi had been almost entirely depleted.

Previously, Lu Xinyi had obtained 36,000 chips through bloodletting, won 32,000 chips in her game against Jiang He and the others, and won approximately 13,000 chips during her duel with Lin Sizhi.

But in this round alone, she had already thrown out 43,000.

Lu Mingxuan felt somewhat worried; he had already folded in this round, so he was powerless to help.

However, looking at Lu Xinyi's expression, she had not lost her rationality.

The reason she raised 20,000 was that this was her calculated maximum limit for Lin Sizhi's chip pool.

Even if he risked his life to draw blood and was extremely lucky to win a few rounds at the chip exchange machine, that was the most he could possibly get.

At this moment, if Lin Sizhi's remaining chips were less than 20,000, they would reveal the cards.

If Lin Sizhi's remaining chips were more than 20,000, it would mean something beyond common sense was happening, and she would have to consider folding to cut her losses.

Lu Mingxuan turned to look at Lin Sizhi, and his heart suddenly sank.

Because Lin Sizhi truly pulled another 20,000 chips from his pocket.

Not just him—Qin Yao actually pulled 20,000 from her pocket as well.

"Raise."

"Raise."

Lu Xinyi felt as if all her strength had been instantly drained; her entire body froze.

She looked at her remaining chips; she only had 38,000 left.

Lu Mingxuan opened his mouth, but hesitated to speak.

If it were him, he would continue to raise; after all, more than sixty thousand chips had already been thrown in, there was no reason to stop now.

However, in the final second of the countdown, Lu Xinyi squeezed two words through her teeth.

"Fold."

Lin Sizhi was somewhat surprised: "Oh?"

He smiled: "Not bad. A rational choice."

He pulled another 2,000-point chip from his pocket: "Raise."

Lu Xinyi turned her gaze to Qin Yao.

Because she knew that after her fold, Qin Yao had no reason to continue raising. And as long as Qin Yao chose to call, the cards would definitely be revealed.

When that time came, she would be able to see exactly what Lin Sizhi's hand was.

Even if she was truly bluffed by a small hand, she could at least accept the loss with a clear mind.

And Qin Yao would definitely call, because the chips on the table had already piled up like mountains, exceeding one hundred thousand!

Whoever won would take all the chips.

In the game against Jiang He, Lu Xinyi had already learned that District 17 was different from them; it had not formed a very tight organization. They called it cooperation, but in reality, everyone fought their own battles.

Therefore, faced with over one hundred thousand in chips, it was highly probable that Qin Yao would choose to call and gamble.

However, Qin Yao simply tossed her hand onto the table.

"Fold."

*Clatter.*

The mechanical arm moved, sweeping the mountain of chips toward Lin Sizhi.

Lu Xinyi's heart sank completely; her hope of seeing the hole cards had vanished.

The mechanical arm collected all the playing cards, discarded them into the recycling slot within the table, and then brought out a new deck to continue the shuffling and dealing process.

Lu Mingxuan looked at the chips in front of him.

Because he hadn't participated in the previous "battle of the gods," most of his chips had been preserved; he still had over forty thousand.

He began to understand why Lu Xinyi had folded.

If Lu Xinyi hadn't folded but had instead chosen to go all-in with her remaining 38,000, once she lost, she would be immediately eliminated with zero chips.

That would leave only Lu Mingxuan, and his chances of winning the remaining two rounds would drop significantly, leaving him to lose only the ante before being forced out.

By keeping her final 38,000 chips, if she drew a big hand, she could still cooperate with Lu Mingxuan to recover as much as possible.

After all, at a gambling table, heaven and hell are separated by only a single thought.

Beyond that, there was another point: Lu Xinyi had judged that Qin Yao would definitely call to see the cards.

Thus, even if Lu Xinyi folded, she should have been able to see what Lin Sizhi's hand was.

It was just that Lu Xinyi hadn't expected Qin Yao to give up those hundred thousand chips so decisively, to the point where they didn't even see Lin Sizhi's hand.

It was hard to say whether such a decision was right or wrong, because it was indeed very likely that Lin Sizhi held a very strong hand.

Lu Mingxuan looked at Lu Xinyi and saw her head bowed, lost in thought.

Looking back at Lin Sizhi, despite having won so many chips, he showed no special expression. He didn't even stack his chips like the others, leaving them in a messy pile in front of him.

"There are two rounds left. We still have a chance to win it back," Lu Mingxuan comforted her.

The mechanical arm had finished dealing, but Lin Sizhi did not flip his cards to look.

He glanced at the countdown on the large screen: "You don't seem to understand the current situation yet.

"The most important thing for you right now isn't thinking about how to win, but thinking about how to quickly give us the rest of your chips."

Lu Mingxuan's eye twitched: "There's no point in talking such trash."

Lin Sizhi shook his head: "No, this isn't trash talk; it's a reminder.

"Lu Xinyi, if you are truly a smart person, you should know what I'm talking about by now.

"Of course, if you are fools, then I don't mind continuing to waste time with you."

Lu Xinyi slowly raised her head, her gaze becoming even more bewildered.

She already had many questions she couldn't resolve, and now, after hearing Lin Sizhi's "trash talk," she was even more confused.

"Raise."

Lin Sizhi was the dealer this time; he merely waited until the countdown was almost over before sluggishly tossing down a 1,000-point chip.

Suddenly, something seemed to occur to Lu Xinyi. Her gaze bypassed Lin Sizhi and looked toward the District 17 players' lounge area, where Jiang He and Su Xiucen had been sitting on the sofa.

However, at some unknown point, the two of them had disappeared.

At that moment, the questions that had been bothering Lu Xinyi suddenly connected, roaring in her mind!

The game was not over. Jiang He and Su Xiucen had nowhere to go. The only explanation was that they had re-entered the cubicles of the chip exchange area.

Where did Lin Sizhi and Qin Yao's chips come from?

They could only have been won from the chip exchange machine.

Originally, Qin Yao only had 8,000 chips left, but in this game, she had nearly as many as Lin Sizhi. This could only be because, during the ten-odd minutes in the middle of the games, she had entered the chip exchange area again.

The problem that had been haunting Lu Xinyi finally had an answer.

"The chip exchange machine... there's something wrong with it!

"Lin Sizhi found some kind of loophole in the chip exchange machine, so he obtained a massive amount of chips!"

Lu Xinyi hurriedly looked at the large screen. The countdown showed 17 minutes remaining.

"So much time has passed!"

Lu Xinyi was shocked, because before this round began, there were 46 minutes left.

In a six-player game, according to normal progression, it should end in about 15 minutes.

But now, nearly half an hour had passed, and the game had only reached the eighth round.

This was not only because the previous high-stakes gamble had consumed a lot of time through repeated thinking and raising, but also because Lin Sizhi had been deliberately stalling from the very beginning.

Looking back now, almost every time it was his turn, he would use up nearly the full minute of thinking time, which greatly increased the duration of the game.

"Is this also part of your plan?" Lu Xinyi's heart sank.

She had originally planned to spend the last half hour researching the chip exchange machine, but now there were only fifteen minutes left.

Qin Yao had already chosen to raise, still only adding one thousand on top of Lin Sizhi's bet.

Lu Xinyi immediately said, "Fold!"

She then looked at Lu Mingxuan: "You fold too!"

Lu Mingxuan froze for a moment, as he had a pair and his hand was decent.

But Lu Xinyi's attitude was resolute: "Fold. Now."

Lu Mingxuan didn't understand why, but he chose to fold anyway.

Lu Xinyi then waved to the other two players from District 3 sitting in the lounge area.

"There might be a loophole in the chip exchange machine that allows you to get a large amount of chips. Go try it immediately!"

The two were shocked, but they didn't ask questions and quickly entered the cubicles.

Lu Xinyi looked at the large screen again, her brain working at high speed.

"If everything goes smoothly, the gambling game will end within one minute, leaving 15 minutes to find the loophole in the chip exchange machine..."

She had already guessed roughly what the loophole was.

Since the probability of winning was low, the only way to win a large and stable amount of chips from the machine was one possibility.

That was to use some method to earn chips limitlessly whenever one held a big hand.

In 10 minutes—no, if lucky, only 5 minutes—one could multiply the chips in hand several times over.

However, when the one-minute countdown on the table ended, Lin Sizhi only then sluggishly picked up another 2,000 chip and placed it in the betting area.

"Raise."

"You..." Lu Xinyi was stunned.

She suddenly realized she had returned to the original problem: as long as Lin Sizhi and Qin Yao continued to raise so slowly, they would consume all the time.

If Lu Xinyi had truly gone all-in in the previous round and lost, she would actually be a free agent right now.

She could go to the chip exchange machine, sell 200ml of blood, and use the loophole she had discovered to earn a massive amount of chips.

But now, these remaining thirty-odd thousand chips had instead become her stumbling block.

Because the rules of the game were written clearly: after a multi-player game begins, you must either complete ten rounds or run out of chips; otherwise, you cannot leave.

Lin Sizhi looked at the countdown on the large screen: "Time is running out. Shall we talk about the ransom?"