God's imitator

Chapter 210 Advice in the Box
Han Mengying, nicknamed "Rabbit," regretfully put the cards she had already placed away back.

"Not bad, you know how to count the remaining cards in both sides' hands, so you're not too stupid."

"Your 'Fool's Deck' has two rock cards and one scissors left. It's not wise to continue playing cards."

He Xiaojun, nicknamed "Grey Wolf," was somewhat discouraged and said nothing.

"Rabbit" Han Mengying nodded: "So, you really are the 'Fool's Deck'? Thank you for the information."

He Xiaojun, nicknamed "Grey Wolf," was stunned. He was immediately annoyed. Clearly, the other party was not sure what his deck was, but his tacit agreement made the other party certain.

He Xiaojun felt very frustrated. This game seemed to be fair and based on luck, but he was still completely defeated and had no chance to fight back.

Neither of them spoke again.

Five minutes passed quickly. After both players destroyed their remaining cards, they left the battle room.

After a brief return to the lounge, "Rabbit" Han Mengying received another deck of cards and was about to return to the battle room again.

In the first stage, a match is played every 5 minutes, followed by a 5-minute break after three matches, for a total of 9 matches.

The timeframe is still quite tight.

This time, Han Mengying received the "Wise Man's Deck," which consists of 3 Wise Man cards (Paper), 1 Fool card (Rock), and 1 Thief card (Scissors).

Han Mengying played the "Thief" card (scissors) first, winning against her opponent's "Wise Man" card (paper);
Then I played the "Wise Man (Paper)" card, resulting in a tie with my opponent's "Wise Man (Paper)" card.

Finally, play the "Fool (Rock)" card to win against the opponent's "Thief (Scissors)" card.

Neither of them continued playing after that; instead, they each destroyed their cards and left.

……

After three rounds, there is a 5-minute break.

One-third of the total number of games in the first phase has already been played.

He Xiaojun, nicknamed "Grey Wolf," counted his remaining chips; he only had 7000 left.

"Damn it, what's going on?! Isn't this a game with a positive expected return?"

In the process of playing against the previous three players, He Xiaojun played a total of 6 rounds, with 2 rounds against each player.

The final result was more losses than wins; they only won one game but lost five.

This was clearly a positive-sum game, yet He Xiaojun lost 3000 chips, which is simply unacceptable.

What puzzled him most was the second game.

He had clearly obtained the "Sage's Deck" and confidently placed a "Sage's Card (Paper)," but his opponent precisely played a "Thief's Card (Scissors)," which directly caused him to lose his temper.

Why exactly?
"Do all the players I encounter have mind-reading abilities?"

He Xiaojun realized that he couldn't continue like this, because if he wanted to leave the game safely, he would have to earn at least an extra 2 or even 25000 chips.

Judging from the first three matches, the probability of losing is too high, which is very abnormal.

This means he has a completely wrong understanding of the game, and continuing to play will only lead to more losses.

We must find a way to make changes.

Although the game is called "Fool's Game," the copycat who designed the game also said that the game only welcomes "wise fools."

Playing with an already abnormally low win rate is hardly a wise move.

"But what should I do? I can't think of any strategy at all!"

With only a 5-minute break, He Xiaojun was extremely anxious.

Clearly, this game also has certain "information gaps" and "tricks," but in such a fast-paced game, it's difficult for the average player to figure out exactly what the problem is. Suddenly, He Xiaojun noticed the conspicuous red box on the coffee table.

There are still more than 40 minutes left in the countdown, which means that it will automatically turn on in the second stage.

"Wait, why is it a wooden box?"
"If you don't want players to open it, why not just make it a metal box?"
"Moreover, the chips will disappear after they are broken, which seems like a penalty rule, but there is nothing else on the coffee table, so no one would be clumsy enough to knock them away, right?"
"After the countdown ends, there will be a 10% chance of getting a visa, but I don't have much visa time to begin with, so I can choose not to wait!"

"Opening it now means I can see the game advice the copycat gives me before other players, right?"

He Xiaojun suddenly realized that this box seemed to be encouraging players to open it prematurely.

Because the less time a player has left on their visa, the less reward they will receive while waiting for the countdown.

Assuming a player has 20 visa time, waiting for the box to open will grant them 2 chips. Furthermore, the more visa time a player has, the smarter they are, and they naturally don't need to rush to see specific game advice.

Conversely, if a player only has 2 visa time, then waiting for the box to open naturally will only yield 2000 chips, which is not very meaningful.

For them, game advice is more important, and the earlier they get advice, the better.

He Xiaojun is completely clueless and desperately needs this advice.

Time was running out. He gritted his teeth, made up his mind, picked up the wooden box, and smashed it on the ground.

The box was quite sturdy, and He Xiaojun didn't dare to use too much force, so it didn't break on the first try.

I could only pick it up and drop it again.

He Xiaojun rummaged through the fragments and found a small note.

The so-called "game advice" consisted of only eight simple words, but there was a small note below.

"Abandon thinking, play cards randomly."

(This recommendation primarily applies to Phase One.)

It seems like a nonsensical suggestion, somewhat like an April Fool's joke.

"What...what kind of strategy is this?!"

He Xiaojun was stunned. He even felt that the copycat who designed the game was playing a trick on him.

"Haven't I been playing cards randomly all along?!"

"Wait, something's not right... I don't think I played the cards randomly..."

He Xiaojun was initially confused by his consecutive losses, his mind was in a daze, and he fell into a misunderstanding for a time.

But the information on that note actually woke him up.

He thought he had just randomly chosen from the five cards, but that wasn't the case.

For example, when playing against the "Rabbit", he played the "Fool (Rock)" card without much thought. This was not a random choice, but rather a subconscious desire to keep only one copy of the scissors and paper cards so that he could have more options later.

The "rabbit" anticipated this, which is why it played cloth.

In other words, if He Xiaojun really was playing cards randomly, he should have taken a rock-paper-scissors card and shuffled them randomly before playing his cards.

In this case, the probability of losing, winning, and drawing would each be 1/3.

Should we accept this suggestion?

There was no time left, so He Xiaojun picked up a new deck of cards and went back into the battle room.

He ultimately decided to accept the suggestion, abandon thinking, and play in a purely random way as much as possible.

After all, he didn't have many other options at that point.

(End of this chapter)