Chapter 247: Four Emotions Fans
At the end of the stairway was an extremely spacious underground casino.
Looking out, rows of identical machines that looked like slot machines were lined up against the walls of the casino. The screens were currently flashing, displaying who knows what content.
Meanwhile, almost all the tables and chairs in the casino had been removed, leaving only a long table in the center.
Diyang slowly walked to the center of the room, stood in front of the table, and said in a calm tone, "Please come over and stand here."
The crowd gradually gathered around the table, the atmosphere somewhat oppressive.
"Now I will explain the rules." Diyang scanned the crowd and said calmly, "My game is called 'Four Emotions Fans,' and it's an extremely simple game."
Qi Xia almost laughed at Diyang's words.
Fifty participants, and an extremely simple fraud game?
Diyang pulled out a huge tote bag from under the table. It was stuffed full of items.
He tossed the bag onto the table. The crowd looked and saw that the bag was filled with folding fans of a uniform style.
Diyang took out four folding fans and opened them one by one in front of the group.
On each of the four fans were written, in regular script, the characters "Joy," "Anger," "Sorrow," and "Happiness."
"This is what we call the 'Four Emotions Fans,'" Diyang said. "In my bag are equal numbers of these four types of fans. At the start of the game, each person will randomly receive three fans. Of course, the content of the fans is also random. The rules for winning this game are equally simple..."
Holding a fan, he walked to one of the slot-machine-like machines against the wall, and the crowd followed.
"This machine is called the 'Matching Machine.'"
The crowd carefully examined the "Matching Machine." It had a button on each side and four slots in the middle.
"When 'matching,' you need to find a teammate. Each of you presses one of the two buttons, and that counts as 'starting the match.'" Diyang reached out and pressed the button on the right.
The screen displayed a photo of Diyang, with three smiley faces below it. The text read: "Waiting for teammate."
"Those three smiley faces represent that I have three matching attempts left in total. Next..." Diyang looked at the crowd, his gaze settling on a tall woman. "Hello, please come and demonstrate with me."
The woman nodded and walked over.
"Please press the button on the other side," Diyang said.
The woman hesitated, then reached out and slowly pressed the button. The screen lit up with her photo.
The text then changed, reading: "Both players in position, starting match."
Diyang took out two folding fans and handed them to the woman. He said, "So-called 'matching' means that both parties each insert two folding fans into the slots. As long as the two of you together can make up the four emotions 'Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Happiness,' you can both leave immediately, considered a victory."
After speaking, Diyang inserted two of his own folding fans into two of the machine's slots. The tall woman beside him followed suit, inserting her two fans as well.
The machine swallowed the fans, and the screen displayed "Identifying..."
After a short while, the text changed to show "Match Successful."
Diyang nodded and turned around, saying, "If the game has started and a pair successfully matches, they can leave."
After hearing this, Qi Xia slowly furrowed his brow.
This rule was indeed very simple. If you could find a trustworthy teammate, everyone could leave safely. But if that was the case, what was the point of a fraud game?
"Let me be clear first." Diyang looked at the crowd again. "Each person only has three 'matching' opportunities. Moreover, whether successful or not, the folding fans used for 'matching' will be consumed. If you fail to match after three attempts, you can only stay here and wait to die. Two hours later, I will sanction everyone who remains here."
"Three times...?" The square-faced man beside Qi Xia felt something was off. "We only have three folding fans in total. Each 'matching' consumes two fans. How are we supposed to do three matches?!"
"Good question." Diyang nodded. "Half an hour from now, I will start distributing new folding fans to everyone. Everyone here will have a chance to replenish their fans. After that, replenishment will occur every half hour, three times in total over two hours."
"I see...?" The square-faced man seemed to understand something. "So that means the number of folding fans we have will increase?"
"Exactly." Diyang confirmed. "Does anyone else have a question?"
"How is the reward calculated?" Qi Xia spoke up.
"Reward..." Diyang looked at Qi Xia and then said, "All successful 'escapees,' please wait quietly upstairs for the game to end. After the game ends, every survivor can exchange their rewards. For each extra folding fan you still hold, you can exchange for five 'Dao.'"
Qi Xia thought for a moment.
For each extra folding fan in hand, you could exchange for five 'Dao'...
That meant if you found someone to match with right from the start, even if the match succeeded, each person would only have one fan left.
Taking that one fan to exchange for five 'Dao' would barely cover the entry fee.
It was a break-even deal, not particularly worthwhile.
If you wanted to 'win' in the game and gain something, you needed to accumulate a large number of folding fans. If fans were replenished every half hour, it would force people to time their 'matching' close to the end of the game.
"You... you mean..." An auntie raised her hand and asked, "If we don't find a partner in the end, we'll die here?!"
"That's right." Diyang nodded. "I give you returns that exceed those for other 'Zodiacs,' so you naturally have to face corresponding dangers."
These words changed the expressions of some people. This game was a stark trade of life for 'Dao,' but thankfully, the rules sounded simple. You could leave anytime you wanted.
Qi Xia still had a grim expression. He felt something was off.
As the host of a 'fraud game,' this rule didn't involve deception at all. It sounded more like a game that encouraged cooperation.
"If everyone understands the rules, the game will begin in ten minutes." Diyang said. "Please line up in front of me to draw your initial three folding fans."
Qi Xia followed at the back of the line, watching everyone receive their fans one by one and then step aside. Everyone seemed to deliberately keep their distance from others. A few people had already impatiently opened their fans to look.
These people were too naive.
Since the fans were double-sided, when they opened them, the people nearby would almost certainly see the characters written on their fans.
No matter the situation, revealing your hand is always dangerous. This time was no exception.
Just as it was almost Qi Xia's turn, the square-faced man who had already gotten his fans came back to the line and said to Qi Xia, "Buddy, remember me? We said we'd cooperate!"
Qi Xia didn't say anything, just gave a fake smile, and then took three fans from the bag.
He moved away from the crowd to a corner, turned his back, and after making sure no one was nearby, opened his fans to look.
All three fans had the character "Sorrow."