Chapter 2377: High Risk, High Reward
The young man was behind Screen No. 6. He was the second to call. On top of Xu Huo's added items, he would add another item, so at least two A-grade items plus one other item.
He also added two A-grade items. Including the base bet, this round's total bet was five A-grade items.
"Whether I can take them out or not is none of your concern!" the young man from No. 6 retorted. "Just say whether you dare to follow or not!"
No. 7 chuckled softly. "What's there not to dare? I'll add two as well—one A-grade item and one A-grade device."
He added six A-grade items (including devices).
"Getting so worked up in the second round, can't hold your nerve," No. 1 remarked with a sigh. "I fold."
"Afraid to lose is afraid to lose, no need to dress it up so grandly!" the young man from No. 6 said with a hint of mockery, then asked the opposite No. 2 and No. 4, "What about you two?"
No. 4 was a woman. Her voice was slightly cold, with a hint of dissatisfaction toward No. 1. "Old age makes one susceptible to stimulation; might as well drop out early."
"I'll add three A-grade items."
A handful of items flew out, scattering haphazardly onto the carpet.
"A-grade items! Those are A-grade items, just tossed on the floor like that!" The round-faced player was so excited his face turned red, marveling at the spectacle while lamenting his own poverty, then couldn't help worrying, "Won't this make others target you?"
After all, Xu Huo was the first to raise the stakes. The other players, to save face, didn't use B-grade or C-grade items to pad the numbers—they all used A-grade items. The accumulation was enough to tempt anyone.
The round-faced player used a silencing item when he spoke, but Xu Huo didn't say much to him, only replying, "Since we're gambling, let's gamble big. Otherwise, why sit here for an hour over something trivial?"
The round-faced player wanted to say something, opened his mouth, but swallowed his words back, finally forcing out, "As long as you win, it's fine."
In the first game of the second round, only No. 1 folded. The others, whether adding one, two, or three items, all stacked items or devices of the same grade.
"Wow!" The puppet let out a laugh. "I didn't expect the first game of the second round to accumulate 48 A-grade chips! So let's look forward to this game's winner!"
Next came the call to stop the dice numbers, following the order of the raises.
The number No. 5 chose on the roulette wheel was also 5.
Perhaps because the chips had increased, the mindset of those at the table subtly shifted. Of the six who followed the raise, only three called the correct multiplier number.
"48 A-grade items! The three winners, besides getting back their own chips, still have 28 left. Split three ways, that's at least nine each! Jackpot! Jackpot!" the round-faced player exclaimed excitedly. "You earned nine items! Money falling from the sky!"
"Lucky indeed." No. 8, as the last to follow the raise, had put in a total of 12 A-grade items.
"Haha!" No. 6 laughed too. "Not bad!"
Xu Huo from No. 3, the young man from No. 6, and No. 8 were the winners of this round.
No. 5, the caller; No. 1, the old man who folded; No. 2; No. 4, the woman; and No. 7, the middle-aged man, all lost their chips.
The biggest losers were No. 4 and No. 2, who lost 10 and 11 A-grade chips respectively.
"Who would have thought before the game started that a single round could have such huge wins and losses?" the round-faced player said, both excited and shaken. "They say winning over a dozen A-grade items in one go is nothing special, but if it were me, I'd probably be trembling and leaving the table after one round."
Then the second game began.
As before, only with high accuracy could one win big. If accuracy was low and one was unwilling to give up following the raise, they would only lose more and more.
Given how high the starting point was in the first game of the second round, it somewhat raised expectations for what followed. The participating players, on one hand, hoped for high stakes, but on the other, feared losing. So when high-stakes games appeared, more people chose to fold. If the stakes were smaller, everyone was more willing to follow along.
But even so, by the end of the second round, the wins and losses were already significant. No. 4 and No. 7, in particular, were weak players with big appetites, suffering the worst losses.
The biggest winners were Xu Huo and No. 5. Aside from calling the bets, they never once missed the correct multiplier number when following a raise.
No. 1, the old man, folded quite often, seemingly taking selective breaks.
The young man from No. 6 remained highly agitated throughout. No. 2 spoke little and kept a steady mood, his tone as flat as No. 5's regardless of winning or losing. No. 8 only spoke when he won.
The Mermaid Game lasted one hour. Halfway through, Xu Huo had already won nearly fifty items and devices. No. 4 and No. 7, frustrated by their losses, left the table one after another, leaving only six people.
As time went on, everyone's concentration waned, and their accuracy dropped. So the time for calling bets and stopping the dice lengthened, and they would chat in between.
"Gambling with items in the second half is boring. How about we bet on something more interesting?" the young man from No. 6 suggested.
Xu Huo, leaning back in his chair, shifted his posture and played along. "What's interesting?"
No. 6 chuckled, then tossed a box from behind his screen. When it hit the ground, the lid opened automatically, revealing a rolled-up piece of paper inside.
Xu Huo remained expressionless, waiting for him to continue.
"An authorization letter for a D-grade random instance."
Most instances in the game zones were born and completed on their own. The instance boss rarely left anything for players to pick up. Only when suitable players entered during the instance's formation could they possibly obtain an authorization letter.
Instance authorization letters could be traded directly with the game, but since instances involving player participation during formation were more closely tied to the individual, such instances seemed harder to sell.
Of course, most players who obtained instance authorization letters were unwilling to waste time guarding the instance.
"An instance authorization letter—that chip is not just interesting, it's a bit big," No. 2 said. "I don't have an instance authorization letter to follow with."
"I'm not interested in instance authorization letters," No. 1 said with a hint of amusement. "As far as I know, authorization letters put up for sale are never anything good. Naturally, what ends up on a gambling table is only worth less."
This time, No. 6 didn't retort. He just grinned and said, "Whether it's valuable depends on who you ask. This instance might not be easy to upgrade, but it's still an instance. For players trying to escape the game, it's a great choice. Those of us here might not need it, but we could give it away or trade it."
"An instance authorization letter that ordinary players like us can't even touch is actually being looked down upon here as not good enough for the table," the round-faced player muttered to himself. "I shouldn't have come in."
"So, No. 3 and No. 5, are you interested?" No. 6 called them out.
No. 5 remained silent, while Xu Huo let out a laugh. "Something interesting—I have one too."
He tossed out a perfect evolution potion sealed in an item box.
My math isn't great, and those numbers had me dizzy. I got the chip count wrong in the first game of yesterday's update, so I've corrected it today. ^_^