Mingqiao understood what Shi Xin meant without even thinking. Three or four playing cards means that two of them have the same pattern, but different colors, and the difference cannot be seen from the mechanism. The other cards in a deck can be distinguished by pattern and number, but the big and small jokers have the same pattern, but one is colored and the other is black and white.
"What are the other two?"
"The Ace of Hearts and the King of Clubs."
"Okay, got it. Wait for me." Mingqiao ran out immediately after getting the information - there was an 80% chance that he had to go to the casino to find these two cards.
Mingqiao thought as he ran. He had never noticed the "tacit understanding" between him and Shi Xin before. In short, when something happened, Shi Xin would always be the first one to understand what he meant, and would act without any doubt. The same was true for him. Just now, Shi Xin only said half a sentence vaguely, but he could complete the whole sentence in his mind.
The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was indeed some tacit understanding between the two of them, and they could match up in everything, which made Mingqiao feel a little sweet and happy.
It's also a subtle kind of fate.
He chuckled softly, and even though he was dragging his limp body, he ran faster and faster. He returned the same way, and after running for a few more minutes after going out of the door, he felt that the corridor was getting narrower and narrower. When he reached the turning point and saw Qin Xue, Ming Qiao was already having trouble breathing.
The moment Qin Xue saw him, he jumped up from the position he was leaning against the door and stood up straight, with an excited look on his face: "Teacher Ming, have you found the mechanism? Can we get out now?"
"Not yet. Open the door. I want to go out." Ming Qiao's voice was almost inaudible. His lungs were about to explode and he didn't have the energy to argue and explain with Qin Xue.
Fortunately, Qin Xue just calmed down and quickly made way for the door.
The second before Mingqiao opened the door, he turned back and warned worriedly: "Don't open the door to anyone except me."
"Know."
"If I can't come back," Ming Qiao paused and continued, "If I can't come back, you go find Shi Xin. There's no danger in that basement for now, so go there without worry. Then you can discuss and find other ways to escape."
"Teacher Ming..." Qin Xue's voice was full of bewilderment. Ming Qiao's tone of entrusting him with his will made him feel uneasy, as if he would never return from this trip.
Mingqiao realized that he had said the wrong thing, but he didn't want to explain. He didn't know what he would face next, but at least he had made arrangements for the others, which made him feel more at ease. When Qin Xue called him again, he didn't listen, he just opened the door and entered the casino.
Mingqiao thought he would be able to see the brightly lit casino again after opening the door, but the darkness in front of him made his brain skip a beat.
This familiar scene forced him to think of those disgusting biting monsters, and the lack of vision itself could bring people endless fear.
Mingqiao stood there for a moment.
Having been through so many things, and having done "solo missions" more than once, he is no longer as scared as he was at the beginning when he encountered these messes and was afraid to move forward.
Similar to the last time in the maze, Mingqiao followed his memory and walked into the casino in the dark. The further he walked, the more noises he heard. At first, there were only some people whispering in his ears, and then it gradually became louder, adding the sound of mahjong tiles colliding, the sound of playing cards falling on the table, and the sound of dice shaking.
If the lights were on, the casino would still look prosperous.
Just when Mingqiao was thinking about where to make the next breakthrough, a stage light suddenly came on from top to bottom in a corner on the right. It was so bright that it almost hurt his eyes.
All the miscellaneous noises stopped, Mingqiao held his breath and looked over there.
A masked man dressed in waiter's clothes walked out of the darkness into the light and slowly raised the microphone in his hand.
"Welcome everyone to Carnival Night!"
As soon as the man opened his mouth, the surroundings became excited. The invisible gamblers seemed to raise their hands, clench their fists upwards, and wave them non-stop. They shouted, whistled, and some kept banging on the table. For a moment, the noise was so loud that it was hard to get used to.
Mingqiao had no idea what was going on, so he just waved as well. At least he wouldn't stand out in the crowd.
"Okay, everyone." The man made a downward motion with his other hand, signaling for silence. "When I came here, the boss told me a good news. Before the carnival night begins, we will have a little game - pick a lucky friend to come up and recite the carnival night rules. If he recites it, then today, as long as it is within the casino, any wins will be his, and any losses will be the boss's."
As soon as he finished speaking, there was another deafening cheer from all around. Mingqiao had an inexplicable bad feeling, just like in class, the less you want to raise your hand, the more likely you are to be called upon by the teacher to answer a question. He was about to lower his head and get out of the crowd when a beam of white light hit his face.
Now he can't run away even if he wants to.
Mingqiao had to raise his arms to block it. When he opened his eyes again, he felt countless eyes focused on his face. Those eyes were filled with naked jealousy and greed, just like the biting monster.
"Young gentleman, please come here."
There were rustling sounds all around and the sound of footsteps continued, and soon a passage was cleared in front of Mingqiao for him to pass through.
Mingqiao walked over with gritted teeth and stood in the light with the man.
"You are very lucky, sir."
"Yeah." Mingqiao answered cautiously.
"Then let's not waste any more time and get started!" The man handed the microphone to Ming Qiao: "Carnival Night Rules Recitation Game, I wish you good luck again, sir."
He was about to leave after he finished speaking, but Mingqiao stopped him in time.
Ming Qiao said calmly, "Can I take a look at the rules? I kind of forgot a little bit."
The man still had his usual stiff smile on his face, and asked back as if he hadn't heard: "One glance?"
"Yes." Mingqiao nodded.
"Sir, we have no such precedent here."
"Now we have it," Mingqiao said.
The man's expression seemed to be about to crack. The corners of his mouth twitched, and he managed to maintain a smile: "Okay, just one glance."
"Um."
He reached into his vest pocket, took out a small piece of paper the size of a palm, and handed it to Mingqiao.
Originally Mingqiao had prepared to memorize a dozen or twenty rules at a glance, but to his surprise, there were only two very short rules this time. No wonder this person was reluctant to show them to him.
The paper was taken back before it was even fully unfolded in the man's palm. He said impatiently, "Sir, you can start now."
"Rule number one for carnival night: Once carnival night begins, you must say 'I want XXX' every ten minutes.
Carnival Night Rule 2: After the Carnival Night begins, one prize must be exchanged for another prize, but if the winner allows, other items can be used to exchange the prize.
Follow the rules or risk the consequences.”
After a brief silence, the man held Mingqiao's hand high above his head and shouted, "Let us congratulate this young gentleman for winning the biggest prize of this carnival night!"
"Prize?" Mingqiao suddenly interrupted him, turned his head, and said indifferently: "You only said that this is a small game before, and you didn't explicitly say that this is a prize."
If Mingqiao didn't know the rules, he might not have been so picky about the details, but now that he knew, he had to be careful with these things. After all, the second rule clearly stated that the prize had to be exchanged for prizes or other items. Once he accepted the prize, he had to take out another item to exchange it. And even if he got the prize successfully, he would have to win poker cards later, and other gamblers would also covet the prize, which would not be a good thing for him.
The man laughed and said, "Didn't I say that? Oops, maybe I made a slip of the tongue, but this is indeed a prize! So what prize do you plan to exchange it for?"
Mingqiao responded quickly: "There is a prerequisite for executing Rule 2 - after the carnival night begins. You said before that this little game was played before the carnival night began, so this condition is fundamentally not true."
After being refuted twice by Mingqiao with good reasons, the man could no longer laugh. His face was about to fall to the ground. He could only hastily announce the start of the carnival night with a forced mouth and hurriedly disappeared into the darkness.
Mingqiao couldn't stand under the lights alone, so he followed them out. The lights were turned off and the surroundings fell into darkness again, but the sound of people talking did not stop. Mingqiao walked to the poker area at the edge of the casino in the dark, intending to start from there.
Mingqiao moved to the first table and listened quietly.
There are five gamblers at this table, four of them sitting on the four sides of the table, and the other one acts as a dealer, standing at the opposite corner of the bridge.
They were playing Texas Hold'em.
Mingqiao was not very familiar with the rules of Texas Hold'em, but he had heard of it - his former graduate school supervisor loved to play it and occasionally mentioned that he wanted to teach him how to play, but he refused at the time.
But Mingqiao has a strong learning ability. After listening to several rounds, he had roughly figured out the routines, so he stopped the dealer from dealing cards before the next round began: "I want to join in, too."
"Oh, it's the lucky gentleman, of course, you can just stay in that corner."
"OK."
Mingqiao found a stool and sat down.
"Please place your bets first," said the dealer.
Mingqiao touched the two small piles of chips beside him and asked, "How much should I bet?"
"The big blind puts in ten, and you're half of his."
"Okay." Mingqiao pushed out five chips.
"Young man, is this your first time playing?" asked a man sitting next to Ming Qiao.
"Yes, I'm not very good at it yet." Mingqiao said.
"So how much money do you have to gamble?" the man asked again.
"It depends on what you want."
"Show us your qualification of 'free meals from the casino'."
Mingqiao thought about it for a while before he realized what he meant by the free meals provided by the casino. He kept it as a trump card as he didn't want to gamble it away in the first round of the game.
"Change it."
"You have beautiful eyes," said another.
"Thank you." Mingqiao understood what he meant.
This is to make him use his eyeballs as a bet.
After a few people at the table laughed teasingly, they asked Ming Qiao: "Come to the casino just to win money or prizes, what do you want?"
"I want a playing card."
Ten minutes was just the right time, and Mingqiao hit the mark and did not violate the first rule.
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