Chapter 903: The Grand Prize
After some time had passed, I found myself once again in Aries' gaming grounds.
That day, I was delayed by a game and only arrived at the Paradise Bank close to evening.
I nearly collided with a gentle-looking young man wearing glasses. Before I could even make out his face, he softly murmured, "Sorry," and hurried away.
I never liked talking to people anyway, so I didn't linger. Pushing open the revolving door, I immediately noticed the place was unusually noisy.
Normally, by this time, the daily grand prize drawing would have already taken place, and the Paradise Bank would be entering its closing hours. Yet, here in the bank's main hall, there were at least fifty or sixty people standing around.
They were gathered in small groups, loudly discussing something.
Some looked excited, others anxious. The entire hall was in chaos, as if the bank were about to go under.
I tried my best to avoid everyone's line of sight and made my way straight to Aries' office.
"Brother Sheep..." I said, somewhat puzzled, closing the door behind me before asking with a hint of nervousness, "Did something happen?"
Although I knew that with Aries' ability and the games he designed, nothing could truly go wrong here, the crowd outside was still clamoring with no sign of leaving. Yet, no one had come to confront Aries so far.
"It's nothing." Aries picked up his water cup and took a gentle sip before saying, "Someone won the grand prize."
"Won... the grand prize...?"
I paused briefly, then cracked the door open to peek outside. Sure enough, the crowd was pointing at the display screen. Some were clutching their lottery tickets in frustration.
Their behavior was quite interesting. It seemed they were analyzing the winner's thought process.
They believed that if they could figure out how the previous winner thought, then sooner or later, they too would win.
Some were even pointing at the "red" and "green" options on the screen, explaining to others why the winner might have chosen them. But this was, after all, a matter of probability. Studying past data wouldn't do any good.
Moreover... this was probability theory governed by Aries.
So someone actually managed to win the grand prize here...?
Had that person seen through Aries' game?
"How much did they win?" I asked.
"Two thousand nine hundred," Aries replied.
"Two thousand nine hundred!" I exclaimed in shock. "That much?!"
"Yes. The prize pool had been accumulating for a long time. It's not surprising it reached nearly three thousand." Aries' tone was indifferent, as if he were talking about something unrelated to him.
Right... when you think about it, a pool of three thousand isn't strange at all...
That doesn't mean three thousand people bought lottery tickets. Because of the special nature of these tickets, if you wanted to "win," you had to buy a new ticket every single day. This meant the same person could keep contributing to the prize pool repeatedly.
This rule also made people mistakenly think buying lottery tickets was a form of investment.
Since I never participated in this game myself, I hadn't paid attention to how much "Tao" had accumulated in the pool. I never imagined it had grown so huge...
Using one "Tao" to exchange for two thousand nine hundred "Tao."
What did that even mean?
But wouldn't this severely impact the Paradise Bank's revenue?
"Who won the grand prize?" I asked again.
"An interesting person," Aries said. "He's well-suited for the grand prize."
I frowned slightly. The word "suited" was worth pondering.
So Aries had deliberately let this person win.
"But why...?" I voiced my doubt. "Brother Sheep, now that someone has won the grand prize, will the others keep buying lottery tickets...?"
"It doesn't matter," Aries said. "The Paradise Bank's wealth is no longer concerned with such petty business of a single 'Tao'."
I see... I had nearly forgotten about that.
I suddenly understood Aries' reasoning.
Since collecting three thousand six hundred "Tao" here would trigger a reshuffle, Aries had to avoid giving out three thousand six hundred "Tao" all at once. Otherwise, I would be reshuffled, the "Extreme Path" would be reshuffled, and even the reputation the Paradise Bank had built would vanish.
So he needed to cash out when the "Tao" had accumulated to a certain amount, but he had to choose the right "winner."
This "winner" had to meet many conditions... He had to be intelligent enough to protect that massive amount of "Tao," and he had to promise Aries not to trigger a reshuffle here.
Or... that "winner" himself might be another pawn, tasked with destroying all that "Tao" and starting everything over.
Tianlong had his reshuffle, and Aries had his.
Now, the person most affected wasn't Aries or the "winner" but the "participants" outside clutching their lottery tickets.
Aries used bait to catch a fish, then took the bait out of the fish's stomach.
He had been playing a zero-sum game from the very beginning—using the participants' stakes to attract more participants, then taking the stakes away.
"But how did he take away all that 'Tao'?" I suddenly thought of this question. "Two thousand nine hundred... that's at least two or three big sacks, right?"
"He brought a capable young man," Aries said. "That young man could make the 'Tao' disappear from everyone's sight in an instant. This not only prevented robbery but also demonstrated their strength to the crowd."
I nodded, thinking that person must be meticulous as well.
People who try to get something for nothing through lottery tickets are never formidable to begin with. As long as you show a little strength in front of them, you can walk away unscathed.
After witnessing the winner's power, the remaining crowd would only lament their own incompetence and complain that luck hadn't favored them, but they wouldn't dare entertain any improper thoughts.
Otherwise, they'd lose both the bait and the fish—the cost was too high.
Fortunately, Aries still had the bank business. As long as the bank didn't fall, Aries would remain the strongest Zodiac here.
"Then, Brother Sheep... will you keep selling lottery tickets in the future?" I asked again.
"Hard to say," Aries said, his eyes narrowing slightly. "I'm not just talking about lottery tickets. Maybe I'll even stop the bank business."
"Ah...?!"
That feeling...
That feeling of thinking I had finally figured out what Aries was thinking, only to have him suddenly overturn everything—
I had experienced it too many times!
"Wh-why?"
As soon as the words left my mouth, I felt my voice twist.
Because I realized that from start to finish, I had never once correctly predicted Aries' next move.
Yet every day, I thought I was the one who understood him best in all of the End...
Thinking about it now, what did I really know about him?
"Because the bank has become too famous," Aries said. "It will hinder my future plans. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, I intend to rapidly lower the bank's profile in the coming days."
"This..." Countless questions flooded my mind, but I didn't even know where to start.
(Note to leaders: I'm currently on a business trip in Beijing for training. There's a chance I'll only post one chapter per day. But if I don't end up doing that, just pretend I never said anything... I'll come back and silently delete this paragraph later. Please forgive me...)