The dice are resting on the table with five points facing up.
Chen Hao grinned. "I'll go first."
"Snakes and Ladders requires four players to roll dice to determine the order." Nana stood in front of the console, tapping the screen lightly. "Activate virtual players V1, V2, and V3."
Three code names appeared and rolled the dice in turn. V1 rolled a two, V2 rolled a six, and V3 rolled a three. In the end, Nana came in first with a six, and Chen Hao came in fifth.
"Why make it so complicated?" Chen Hao scratched the back of his head. "Can't we just start driving?"
“The rules must be followed in full.” She spread out the waterproof sheet, revealing a clearly visible hundred-grid spiral path, with a smiley face sticker he had drawn at the starting point. “Otherwise, the simulation will be invalid.”
Chen Hao sighed, took out two small iron boxes from his toolbox, one with the character "墨" (ink) written on it in black and the other with the character "雪" (snow) written on it in white. He shook the dice in his hand. "Alright, best two out of three. Go, Gomoku, Monopoly, whoever wins two games is the champion."
“The scoring system has been activated.” Nana brought up the panel. “Current score: 0-0.”
The first game was Go.
Chen Hao insisted on playing black and attacking first. He remembered a few moves he had seen on a broken tablet before, such as "Tengen opening" and "star point suppression", which involved immediately smashing the pieces into the center.
"Your layout is illogical." Nana's moves were swift and precise, landing in the corners and extending along the sides, as steady as a machine-written program.
"I just like to mess around." Chen Hao pointed to two threes in a row. "Look, I've taken a corner!"
“Inefficient.” She gently placed a piece, severing his connection. “The black pieces in the upper left corner are surrounded and cannot make a living group.”
Chen Hao stared at the chessboard for ten seconds, then slammed his hand on the table: "I'm not playing anymore! Let's start over!"
"The result of the first game has been recorded: Black resigns." Nana began to clear the pieces.
"Let's play one more game, this time I'll defend!" He picked up another handful of black pieces.
In the second game, he learned his lesson, first occupying the corner, then moving to the side, and tentatively setting up a framework in the middle. Although he was still being gradually chipped away at, he managed to hold on until the endgame.
“You took an average of eighteen seconds to think this time,” Nana said, “an improvement of eleven seconds compared to the last game.”
"So you still won?" Chen Hao scoffed.
"The outcome is determined by the score, not by subjective judgment."
"You just won't let me win a single game."
"If you want to reduce the difficulty, you can turn on the handicap mode."
"No need!" He jumped up. "Next round, Monopoly! Let's see who has the last laugh!"
The chessboard was replaced with a grid pattern on a waterproof cloth, and the two players each chose a small metal piece as a chess piece. Nana used a disassembled sensor cover, while Chen Hao found a rusty screw cap.
In the first round of dice rolling, Nana rolled a four, which landed on "Newly Harvested Potatoes." She moved forward five steps and directly took over a fertile plot of land.
Chen Hao rolled a two, which landed on "drip irrigation failure," so he paused for one round.
"Damn it." He rolled his eyes.
In the third round, he drew "sudden power outage" again, and was fined one basic material. The money from his newly purchased "old battery factory" was gone before he could even collect rent once.
“There’s something wrong with this card.” He pointed to the event card pile. “Did you tamper with it? Can the backend change the card drawing order?”
Nana opened the log interface. "The card draw is triggered by physical dice. The vibration frequency is different each time it lands, and the randomness has been verified. The main reason for your current asset loss is that you purchased too much land in the early stage, which led to a break in your cash flow."
"You even analyzed my playing style?" Chen Hao sneered. "I want a trade."
"Player negotiation is allowed."
“I’ll trade your ‘old battery factory’ for your ‘solar panel warehouse’, plus a screw.”
Nana paused for two seconds, then said, "The deal is done."
After acquiring the warehouse, he immediately tripled the price, and in the next round, a virtual player (V2) stepped in and obediently paid the rent. Then, he himself rolled double sixes and bought three streets in one go.
"Isn't this a complete turnaround?" He slammed his fist on the table triumphantly. "Do you even know what economic manipulation is?"
“You exploited a loophole in the rules,” Nana nodded, “but it’s in line with the spirit of the game.”
The last game was Gomoku (Five in a Row).
"I'll remember this time." Chen Hao rubbed his hands together. "No rush, no charge, surround them slowly."
The chessboard was changed to a 15x15 board, with black and white round pieces neatly arranged. He played black and moved first, placing his piece on the center point.
The first half of the game was a steady affair, with neither player making any rash moves. Chen Hao considered forcing a series of consecutive moves several times, but restrained himself, learning the patience he had shown in the previous game of Go.
In the middle game, he secretly set up a "double three" trap, thinking it was foolproof. As long as Nana didn't notice the diagonal connection, the next move would make a five.
He placed his fourth black stone, waiting for her to fall into his trap.
Nana glanced at it, then placed a white piece, sealing the board.
Chen Hao was stunned. "How did you know?"
"Two potential lines are formed at this location simultaneously, with the highest probability priority. The system takes 0.3 seconds to identify them."
“No… this is not something a human being would do.” He leaned back in his chair, “You won two out of three games, so the championship is yours.”
"The score is accurate." She brought up the display screen. "Your decision-making accuracy in the third game improved by 47% compared to the first game. Your mistakes were concentrated in the first seven moves when you were too aggressive."
“I don’t listen to the data.” Chen Hao waved his hand. “Who wins or loses today is not important. What’s important is that I’m finally not just thinking about how to survive.”
He reached out and picked up the dice, spun them between his fingers, and then tossed them gently into the air.
The dice spun as they fell, hit the edge of the game box, bounced, and rolled to a stop at the corner of the table.
five.
Nana stared at the number, and the optical lens flickered slightly.
Chen Hao laughed, "So, what do you say, shall we play again tomorrow?"
She didn't answer, but instead reached out, picked up the dice, put them back in the designated slot, and closed the toolbox lid.
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