Secret World: I Became a God Through Lies

Chapter 454 Lies and Algorithms: The Gambler's Ball

The cruelest thing about slot machines isn't losing money.
But it gives you hope in the last second—

Then I'll tell you that it's just a probability illusion.

—From *The Gambler's Notes: A Tale of Sinking into the Abyss of Gambling*

"Clap."

The lever was pulled down hard, and Hack's palms were covered in sweat, his thick knuckles trembling.

This was his 500th attempt on this machine.

The series of failures nearly drove him to madness.

If this doesn't work, I'll have to get a new machine immediately.

The spinning wheel roared, and fruits and numbers flashed by rapidly.

The first one, 7.

The second one is still 7.

Huck held his breath, his eyelids tightly shut, unable to look.

Si Ming narrowed his eyes, a cold light shining behind his glasses.

He knew that slot machines loved to play out this "just one step away" scenario.

It causes gamblers to fall between hope and despair time and time again.

—The third wheel gradually slows down.

Numbers flashing. Grapes. Bells. 7 again.

"...It's done!"

Hack suddenly opened his eyes, his chest heaving violently, like a drowning person finally breathing air.

"777"—the power light came on, and the machine roared furiously.

The chips poured out.

It's not 1000, and it's not a small prize!
The coins, like gold coins, poured down from the coin dispenser, clanging and clattering against the tray, creating a sound like a downpour.

Soon, the tray overflowed, and the chips spread down the ground, reaching over the tips of the two men's shoes.

The fountain-like gushing forth lasted for a full ten minutes.

"--fifty thousand."

Si Ming spoke in a low voice, his gaze fixed on the ever-churning pile of chips.

"Hark, you've won a medium prize."

Huck threw his head back and laughed, his fat face turning bright red with excitement.

He raised his hand and slammed it hard against the machine's casing.

"Hahaha! Did you see that? I drove it out!"

The central screen then flickered:
Charlotte: 104,000
Carlos: 10,500
Hack: 30,200
Hark stared intently at the numbers, his smile growing increasingly arrogant:

"I've surpassed Carlos! This is a good omen!"

However, Si Ming simply shook his head, his glasses reflecting a cold light.

“…Damn it, Hack.”

"Ok?"

Si Ming raised his hand and pointed to another line on the screen.

Hack's heart sank, and he abruptly looked up.

Charlotte: 71,000.

They were a head taller than them.

Hack's breathing suddenly stopped, and the smile on his face froze.

"……How can it be?"

Si Ming merely smiled faintly, his eyes holding a profound meaning:

"Her luck is even better than yours."

Harker was basking in the soaring profits when suddenly a strong smell of tobacco wafted towards him.

Carlos, with a half-smoked cigar in his mouth, walked over with Riddle, his shoulders as broad as a wall.

He glanced coldly at the screen and sneered, "Fatty, don't be too happy yet."

Hack looked up: "What do you mean?"

Carlos exhaled a puff of smoke, his voice rough:

"We worked for almost two hours and only won three small prizes."

But what about Charlotte? She wins prizes almost every time she sits down. Just now, she won a jackpot of 50,000 with a single bet.

Hack's face stiffened. Siming pushed up his thick glasses and continued to pretend to be dull.

Suddenly, Carlos slammed his large hand heavily on Siming's shoulder with astonishing force.

"Forget it, kid, stop pretending."

He grinned coldly, revealing his gleaming white teeth: "You think your pathetic autistic genius act is any good?"
I've seen all those low-level thugs under Fatty's command. But you? —Si Ming, the newly promoted Star Calamity, I have several files on you.

Hark's lips twitched, and he spread his hands with a wry smile: "I can't hide it from you, Carlos."

He turned to Si Ming and sighed helplessly, "Alright, stop pretending." Si Ming shrugged, returning to normal, a cold glint flashing in his eyes.

"Now that you've seen through me, can you tell me what you're up to? Form an alliance?"

Or are you saying you have absolutely no confidence in defeating that 'incredibly lucky' Charlotte?

Riddle spoke, his tone icy: "That's right. We suspect she cheated."

He paused for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Moreover, it was with the tacit approval of the patriarch."

Si Ming's eyes sharpened, and he abruptly turned his head.

In the distance, Charlotte sat down gently, her tulle skirt billowing out, her smile sweet and charming, like a princess about to begin a ball.

She casually placed her bets and pulled the lever.

Beside her, her black-haired maid, Nanako Uesugi, wearing an in-ear monitor, reported to her in a low voice with a stern expression.

—In another dimly lit room in the main house, several computer screens flickered, and a group of top mathematicians were frantically typing on their keyboards, inputting data.

The machine simulates a pseudo-random algorithm of the spinning reel to calculate the RNG value and payout range of this slot machine.

The result was quickly transmitted back to the earphones and relayed to Charlotte by Nanako in a cold voice.

"The tenth time, it will definitely be a hit."

Charlotte smiled, but her eyes beneath her pink eyelashes were cold.

"At the princess's ball, even the machines bow down to me."

The machines roared, and gold coins gushed out.

Si Ming's gaze was sharp, fixed intently on her.

At that moment, he understood: this was not luck, but the dominance of the algorithm.

What's even more terrifying is that the patriarch was watching the battle from upstairs, but he just quietly stroked the armrest of his chair and made no attempt to stop it.

The crisis came crashing down like a giant wave.

Charlotte still remembers that when she was a child, rows of slot machines stood in the dimly lit, mysterious trial hall, their cold lights flashing.

Ten-year-old Charlotte, wearing a pink dress, tiptoed and pulled down the first lever.

The rollers spun, the lights shone brightly, and gold coins gushed forth.

She smiled innocently and ran to the platform: "Grandpa, the princess won!"

Old Harrens sat in his wheelchair, yet a rare smile appeared on his aged face.

"Heh, Charlotte, you are the most perfect bloodline of Harrens. The future of Gambling Abyss is your toy."

From then on, old Harrens tacitly allowed her to repeatedly enter the derivative realms of gambling.

Charlotte soon discovered that although these slot machines looked different, they were all essentially old models—using pseudo-random algorithms.

She was gifted and intelligent, but what made her even smarter was that she knew how to "borrow" from others.

So, mathematicians from St. Petersburg and algorithm engineers from the land of cherry blossoms were secretly invited.

After countless experiments, they refined the pseudo-random formula for these slot machines.

Combined with a small supercomputing model, the winning range can be accurately calculated for each bet.

From that moment on, the princess was destined to be the star of the ball.

This is the harsh reality of the Harrens Succession.

Charlotte walked gracefully past Carlos and Hack, her tutu swaying and her crown gleaming.

She casually sat down on a machine and gently pulled the lever.

"Ding--!"

Gold coins gushed out like a waterfall, and 50,000 chips shimmered in the light screen.

Charlotte stood up, a sweet smile on her face, and walked to the golden chair to sit down, crossing her legs and twirling a delicate little knife in her hand.

"You're looking too high."

She tilted her head, as if scolding a disobedient pet dog.

“The princess doesn’t like it. No problem, after the game, I’ll keep all these unpleasant eyes in my exhibition hall to keep with me.”

Carlos's eyes were cold, and Hack's forehead was sweating.

Si Ming shook his head with a wry smile.

Charlotte clapped her hands lightly, her smile radiant, but her voice was as cold as a knife:
"In this graveyard of slot machines, there's only one machine that can beat me."

"But its pseudo-random threshold requires at least 100,000 chips to pay out the grand prize."

She pointed to the screen:

"One only has 50,000, the other a little over 20,000. Hehe..."

Her smile was innocent, but her voice was like a judge's:

"I've won this game. You can keep struggling. The princess enjoys watching your stubborn, desperate eyes."

The lights in the hall reflected on her pink dress, like a ball in a fairy tale, yet it chilled one to the bone.

Fairy tales are never beautiful dreams.
It was a ball woven from blood and tears.

—The Dark Gospel: Charlotte Chapter

(End of this chapter)