"Those who can bear the blessing of the mermaid must be people of great fortune, so my Yin-Yang deck of cards is to compete with you in both intellect and luck."
The statue gatekeeper took out a very thick stack of stone playing cards, still the normal number of 52 cards. Excluding the jokers and face cards, it looked thick because of the thickness of the stone slab.
"This kind of game doesn't need to use these cards."
The statue gatekeeper then drew the J-K cards from the deck of cards and threw them aside, leaving only the number cards in the deck.
"See this yin-yang disc? Each rotation of the disc represents the end of a round. My game rules are very simple; it's just about drawing cards and comparing the points!"
"Each round we will draw four cards and choose one card to compare the points. If the two cards have the same points, we will continue to draw cards until a winner is determined."
"Winning a round earns you one point. Once all the cards are used up, the player with the most points wins. Do you understand?"
After hearing the rules, Jiang Ran turned and smiled at Gwen.
Playing poker? That's her forte!
With Gwen's ability to directly deduce the value of the opponent's cards, Jiang Ran is never afraid to play this kind of poker game. There's no way around it; unless you're incredibly lucky, how can you play against a cheater like Gwen?
"Without further ado, let your test begin."
Jiang Ran sat on the stone chair, holding Gwen in his arms, and tapped his fingers lightly on the table, waiting for the game to start.
"Hey, hey, hey, why are you hugging me?"
"Isn't this more convenient for whispering? So that the guy on the other side won't realize we're cheating."
However, he didn't say in the rules that cheating was forbidden. Cough cough, this isn't cheating, it's called making reasonable use of surrounding resources!
"Isn't this just a simple game of comparing card values?" Gwen looked up at Jiang Ran with some doubt. "Do we really need to peek at his cards? No matter what, he'll play the highest-ranking card out of the four, right?"
"If it were really that simple, then it would all depend on luck." Jiang Ran smiled slightly. "What a pity, what a pity. My intuition tells me that this final trial will definitely not be that simple. Little Gwen, little Gwen, you've been with me for so long, don't you suspect that the other party is hiding some rules?"
"What rules could be hidden by comparing points? Could he possibly change the points?" Gwen said, unable to understand, and simply crossed her arms and started to give up.
The statue gatekeeper manipulated the yin-yang disc, and four playing cards were dealt to Jiang Ran.
6 of spades, 7 of clubs, 2 of spades, 3 of hearts.
"Gwen, tell me what his cards are?"
"Hmm, let me see, Ace of Spades, 2 of Hearts, 5 of Hearts, 4 of Clubs."
Judging by the card values, Jiang Ran should have played the highest-value 7 of clubs in this round. Furthermore, the highest-value card among the four cards of the statue gatekeeper is only 5, so it's impossible for it to be higher than 7.
But to be on the safe side, Jiang Ran played the six of spades.
Firstly, the 6 of spades was high enough to beat the 5 of hearts in the statue gatekeeper's hand. Secondly, Jiang Ran suspected that there were some hidden rules that required the use of the remaining cards in his hand, so he kept the 7 of clubs, which had the highest value, in his hand.
Both sides reveal their cards.
To Jiang Ran's surprise, the card played by the statue gatekeeper was not the expected 5 of hearts, but the Ace of spades, which was the lowest-ranking card in his hand!
“I’m sorry, I won this round.” The statue gatekeeper collected all eight cards from both sides for this round. “You don’t need to be too confused. All I can tell you is that I didn’t break any rules, and I did win this round.”
The statue gatekeeper turned the yin-yang wheel again, signifying the start of the second round.
Clubs Ace, Spade 8, Spade 4, Clubs 6.
These are Jiang Ran's cards for this round.
"His hand consisted of the 6 of hearts, the 2 of clubs, the 4 of diamonds, and the 9 of diamonds."
Before Jiang Ran could even ask, Gwen had already revealed the opponent's hand.
Jiang Ran didn't rush to play his card. The statue gatekeeper didn't mention the thinking time for each round, meaning the thinking time for each round was unlimited. Unlike the [Zodiac], the statue gatekeeper wouldn't deliberately drag out the time. As long as Jiang Ran played a card, he would follow suit.
However, considering that others may be undergoing the same test at this moment, blindly delaying is not advisable, as it will only cause us to fall behind.
Jiang Ran reviewed the previous round, in which his 6 of spades lost to the ace of spades, which had the lowest point value. Since the two cards were of the same suit, excluding the influence of suit, it could only be a problem with the point value itself.
"The rules only state that the two sides compare points, but do not say that they compare card values. So, does having a higher-value card not necessarily mean you can win in terms of points? Is this the hidden rule?"
If we're comparing size, 1 is definitely no match for 6, but if we're comparing ranking, their relative value is reversed!
Jiang Ran played the Ace of Clubs from his hand.
As expected, the statue gatekeeper played the 2 of clubs, the lowest-ranking card in his hand, this turn!
"Congratulations, you've won this round. It seems you've discovered something, haven't you? I hope so."
The score is now tied at 1:1.
Just as Jiang Ran had expected, she did not draw any conclusions but instead continued to ponder the matter.
After removing the Jokers and letter cards, there are only 40 number cards in total. They have to use eight of these cards in one round, which means that this so-called test can only last for a maximum of five rounds.
If you can get into the top three in points, you've practically secured victory!
Because the number of rounds is extremely short, and the statue gatekeeper knows all the rules, he can easily win before his opponent can figure out the real rules. There are three rounds left, and if things go quickly, there might only be two rounds left!
In this situation, a misjudgment would be tantamount to a devastating blow!
Hearts 9, Clubs 8, Clubs 3, Diamonds 5.
This is Jiang Ran's hand in the third round.
"The opponent's hand consists of the 3 of spades, the 10 of clubs, the Ace of hearts, and the 4 of hearts."
Jiang Ran did not hesitate to overturn his conclusion from the previous round. The comparison of points could not be simply from low to high. So, besides suit and points, what else was affecting the cards of both sides?
In this round, Jiang Ran had both high and low cards, red and black cards, but unfortunately, his opponent had both the highest card, the 10 of clubs, and the lowest card, the Ace of hearts. It seemed that Jiang Ran was at a disadvantage whether the cards were played from high to low or from low to high.
His gaze was fixed on the Yin-Yang roulette wheel.
The white yin-yang symbol faces the statue of the gatekeeper, while the black yin-yang symbol faces Jiang Ran!
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