Chapter 1040: Not a Trace of Luck
Han Yimo never expected that, in taking the initiative to chat with Wen Qiaoyun and trying to persuade her to surrender, he would end up being the one persuaded after just a few exchanges.
He wanted to argue back, but he had to admit that Wen Qiaoyun’s words made far too much sense.
In this match, the only reasonable outcome was for him to lose. Otherwise, how could he explain winning against Wen Qiaoyun?
People always ask how you won, but rarely how you lost.
"Sister Qiaoyun… I was originally here to show my loyalty," Han Yimo said. "If this is what it takes for you to believe me, I have no objections."
"Good." Wen Qiaoyun nodded. "You know I have the ability to win this match. I'm advising you to concede now because I don't want to take things too far."
"Yes…"
Han Yimo was about to agree when something suddenly occurred to him.
Although Wen Qiaoyun had correctly guessed the coin's side three times in a row, could it be that she was just incredibly lucky?
What if her luck had been so good that she made him lose five consecutive rounds, and then she happened to guess correctly three times?
Could all of this just be a bluff…?
The probability was extremely low… but what if it had actually happened?
"No… I need to verify one more time," Han Yimo thought to himself.
Only by calculating everything clearly could he secure his position as the protagonist.
After all, in many novels, battles of wits were still battles.
"Sister Qiaoyun." Han Yimo picked up the coin from the table and said with a serious expression, "I need to do one final verification. If you can guess correctly this time, I'll give you my 'character' directly."
Wen Qiaoyun paused for a moment, then nodded. "Fine."
Han Yimo clenched the coin in his palm and casually tossed it into the air. The coin barely spun; it just went straight up and straight down back into his hand.
"Guess!"
Wen Qiaoyun's expression went blank as she stared at Han Yimo's hand for a few seconds. Then she spoke, "Han Yimo, what effect do you think tossing it straight up and down like that has?"
"Huh?"
"The coin didn't even flip." Wen Qiaoyun shook her head without a trace of hesitation. "Toss it again. I'll give you another chance."
"Oh, oh!" Han Yimo suddenly realized that Wen Qiaoyun was doing him a favor. He quickly imitated her earlier method, pinching the coin between his thumb and index finger before flicking it high into the air.
The coin spun wildly, tumbling several times in the air before landing back in Han Yimo's hand.
Wen Qiaoyun kept her eyes fixed on the sky the entire time. When the coin fell, a slow smile spread across her face.
"Sister Qiaoyun, if you guess correctly this time, I'll concede without another word," Han Yimo said.
"I guess it's—"
"Wait!" Han Yimo suddenly slammed his hand down, covering the coin on the table. "Guess now."
"It's tails," Wen Qiaoyun said.
Han Yimo paused for a moment, then lifted his hand. The coin indeed showed 'Yi' (tails).
"Incredible…" Han Yimo said. "As expected of an ancient powerhouse."
Wen Qiaoyun also let out a complete sigh of relief.
She couldn't believe that Han Yimo, a writer, could be so foolish.
Where should she start explaining?
Let's start with this specially made coin.
One side of this coin was extremely smooth, while the other was rough. And in the center of the room hung a single lamp.
When the coin was tossed under the light, the smooth side would continuously reflect the lamplight, sending a streak of light sweeping across the room in circles. As long as one kept an eye on that streak of light, it was easy to determine how many times the coin had spun.
But the prerequisite was knowing which side was facing up before the toss. Otherwise, even knowing the number of spins still left it to guesswork.
So when Han Yimo picked up the coin and tossed it, Wen Qiaoyun subtly guided him to toss it again.
Even though the coin had gone straight up and down that time, Wen Qiaoyun still didn't have confidence in her guess. Only when Han Yimo held it between his thumb and index finger could she determine the outcome based on the number of spins.
Such an obvious rule, and Han Yimo hadn't noticed it.
Was it really because he had claustrophobia, making it hard to notice the rapidly flickering light in the darkness?
Wen Qiaoyun knew there was another extremely important reason why she was urging Han Yimo to surrender.
She suspected that if the match continued, there would be no winner.
It was a strange intuition.
This intuition came from the fourth round, when they both guessed wrong.
She had clearly seen the wild boar toss a coin with 'heads' facing up into the air. The coin spun twelve and a half times, which logically should have resulted in 'tails'. So she guessed 'tails', and Han Yimo followed her guess of 'tails'—but they lost.
Even the wild boar hesitated for a few seconds when he opened his hand and saw it was 'heads'.
In the next round, she once again watched the referee's coin closely. Starting with 'heads' facing up, it spun a total of nineteen times, so the answer should have been 'heads'.
But just as Wen Qiaoyun made what she thought was the correct choice, and Han Yimo followed her with 'heads', she suddenly felt something was wrong. So she used her Swap Card to exchange her guess.
She won. The answer was 'tails'.
Sure enough, only by avoiding Han Yimo's choice could she truly win this match.
It was an abstract result: it wasn't that whichever side she guessed would be correct. Instead, whichever side Han Yimo guessed would be wrong.
There seemed to be a strange force emanating from Han Yimo. Even if the answer was correct, the moment he made his choice, the correct answer would instantly twist into the wrong one.
It was as if some supernatural force had intervened in this gambling match.
But why would there be supernatural forces here? Was this what they called an 'Echo'?
Hadn't Chu Tianqiu said that it wasn't easy to obtain an Echo here… Wait.
Wen Qiaoyun suddenly understood. They were no longer inside that bizarre black space. They were now in the outer game area.
In other words… here, anyone's abilities could be freely exerted.
And this supernatural interference was most likely Han Yimo's Echo.
Wen Qiaoyun had figured this out in just two rounds. She knew that from then on, Han Yimo would completely follow her choices in his bets. And since she no longer had a Swap Card, they would only keep heading toward failure. Neither of them could ever reach seven points. In other words, no one could win this game.
If she wanted to take the 'character' from him, she would need another method.
So Wen Qiaoyun made a decisive move. When Han Yimo called for a timeout, she immediately agreed, demonstrated the ability to guess the coin three times in a row, and subtly implied that she had fully grasped the trick to this game. Then, when his mind was shaken, she seized the opportunity to persuade him to surrender. The entire series of actions flowed smoothly, showing no signs of deception.
She had expected Han Yimo to raise some fatal objection. But all he did was choose to toss the coin one more time himself.
So, in this so-called 'coin guessing' game, which part relied on luck?
If it was truly a game of 'luck', why would both players be holding three cards each?
Unfortunately, Han Yimo would never figure out this layer. He just sighed in frustration and handed the 'Horse' character from his pocket to Wen Qiaoyun.
"I admit defeat, Sister Qiaoyun."