Qin Yao was still very nervous, but after the blood drawing was completed, she breathed a sigh of relief to some extent.
Previously, Qin Yao had been somewhat worried about whether this crude blood-drawing device could accurately locate her blood vessel. If it punctured muscle or pierced through the blood vessel, that would be no joke.
But from the current situation, it seemed that no matter how frightening the various machines in the "Gallery" looked, they were absolutely reliable functionally.
Although the loss of 200ML of blood didn't make her feel too uncomfortable, she still didn't want to go through it a second time.
Because this device's blood-drawing speed was very fast, much more painful than blood drawing in regular hospitals, and watching the crimson blood continuously flowing away felt very unpleasant.
Additionally, she didn't know if it was her imagination, but Qin Yao always felt somewhat dizzy and mentally sluggish, very afraid that if more blood was drawn, she would pass out.
After the blood drawing was completed, the mechanisms didn't unlock, because according to the game rules, she had to complete the gambling with the "Chip Exchange Machine" before the entire exchange process would be thoroughly finished.
For every 10,000 chips, at least one round of gambling was required.
A small cover on the right side of the table opened, and a stack of smooth, round chips was pushed by the mechanism to Qin Yao's right side.
Although these chips were all round, based on different denominations, their specific sizes, thicknesses, colors, and the numbers on the chips were all different, making them easy to distinguish.
The mechanical arm in front moved. It picked up the deck of cards and began skillfully shuffling, then dealt three cards each to itself and Qin Yao.
"Golden Flower... Fu Chen explained it before, but I didn't remember so many details...
"Fortunately, there are detailed rules and card type diagrams here."
Qin Yao used her only movable right hand to pick up the three cards dealt to her while looking at the card type diagram on the right wall.
The three cards were the 7 of hearts, 9 of clubs, and K of hearts.
"This... seems like it can't form any card type?" Qin Yao compared the cards in her hand with the card type diagram repeatedly, and had to somewhat disappointedly acknowledge this fact.
Golden Flower was a quite simple and brutal poker gameplay. Each person got three cards, then compared sizes based on the card types formed by these three cards.
Among them: Leopard (three cards of the same number) > Straight Flush > Flush > Straight > Pair > High Card. Single A is highest, 2 is lowest. But 2-3-5 of different suits > Leopard.
However, what was actually being played in the "Blood Poker" game at this time was "Simplified Golden Flower." The original rules' concepts of open bets, hidden bets, card comparison, and hand limits were all canceled.
According to these new rules, after dealing, everyone could look at their cards. There was no distinction between open card betting and hidden card betting (betting without looking at cards), and there was no phase for selecting players to compare cards.
Everyone only needed to perform raising, calling, or folding operations in order.
When only one player chose to raise while all other players chose to call without further raising, cards would automatically be revealed, and the player with the highest card type would take all.
When 2-3-5 and Leopard appeared simultaneously, 2-3-5 would win alone; in all other situations, 2-3-5 was the smallest.
It had to be said that this set of rules was much more friendly to people who didn't often play cards compared to general rules.
Qin Yao looked at the mechanical arm across from her. According to the game rules, both sides should now place ante bets.
However, a shocking scene occurred: the mechanical arm actually drew another card from the deck!
At this time, the mechanical arm held four cards. It selected three from them as its hand, then the muffled electronic voice came from the speaker again.
[Please place ante bets and choose to raise, call, or fold in order.]
"Wait, why do you have an extra card?"
Qin Yao's question received no response.
She looked at the game rules again and found that there was indeed an explanation for this situation, but it was just a small line of text that was easily overlooked.
[When gambling with the "Chip Exchange Machine," the "Chip Exchange Machine" will always be the dealer, always act first, and can draw an additional card, selecting any three from four cards to form a card type.]
"This isn't fair!"
Qin Yao gripped the cards in her hand tightly. Although she wasn't good at calculating specific probabilities, even an elementary school student could guess that under these game rules, her chances of winning would be greatly reduced.
This was definitely not some fifty-fifty luck game!
But Qin Yao still had no choice. She could only continue this almost certainly losing game.
For the "Chip Exchange Machine," its chips were unlimited. The mechanical arm took the smallest chip from the mountain of chips on the other side and placed it in the betting area on the gambling table.
500, this was the smallest denomination among all chips, and also the default ante when gambling with the chip exchange machine.
Qin Yao had no choice but to also take a 500 chip from her pitifully small pile and place it in the betting area.
[Dealer chooses to raise.]
As the prompt sounded again, the mechanical arm took another 500-denomination chip and placed it in the betting area.
If following general rules, the dealer should bet last, but in this game's rules, the "Chip Exchange Machine" was always the dealer and always acted first.
Now it was Qin Yao's turn. She had only three choices: raise, call, or fold.
Raising had to be in units of at least 500.
Qin Yao had already thrown down 500 as ante, and the opponent had raised the chips to 1,000.
So, if Qin Yao raised, she would have to throw in another 1,000 chips; calling would cost 500; folding would mean directly admitting defeat.
"I choose... to call and reveal cards."
Qin Yao finally made up her mind, taking out another 500 chips and carefully placing them in the betting area.
Raising was definitely not a wise choice. The "Chip Exchange Machine" could draw an extra card, and with four-choose-three, its winning chances were much greater than the player's.
Folding could minimize her losses, only losing 500, but it would also mean both hands would be directly collected without being revealed, with no way to know whether her hand was actually big or small.
So Qin Yao ultimately chose to call. Although she had to pay an additional 500 chips, at least she could lose with clarity.
And what if she won?
The opponent could draw an extra card, which greatly increased their winning probability, but it shouldn't become 100%, right?
Qin Yao instinctively felt that gambling on this probability with 500 chips wasn't too much of a loss.
However, as both hands were revealed, Qin Yao's heart sank halfway.
The opponent's cards were a pair of 6's, and her hand of K-high mixed cards undoubtedly lost.
Watching her two 500 chips being collected by the mechanical arm, Qin Yao felt a pang of pain.
This was equivalent to a full thousand yuan, enough to buy at least two weeks' worth of food from the community's vending machines.
The mechanical arm collected the cards and chips.
Then, it took out a brand new deck of cards from the gambling table, unwrapped it, shuffled, and dealt again.
Qin Yao had exchanged a total of 20,000 chips, so she needed to gamble at least two rounds.
Just like the previous game, the mechanical arm dealt cards and raised first.
Qin Yao began facing the same problem as before: should she call or fold?
Qin Yao looked at her hand and felt disappointed, because this was again a hand of Q-high mixed cards, slightly smaller than the previous K-high mixed cards.
But after considering for a moment, Qin Yao still took out another 500 chip and bet it.
"Call, reveal cards."
Not revealing cards and admitting defeat still made her very unwilling. Even if she had to die, she wanted to die understanding why.
However, this time she lost even worse. The chip exchange machine's hand was a pair of J's.
Qin Yao instantly deflated. Losing two consecutive rounds without any suspense made her completely lose fighting spirit.
"Beep."
A green button on her right side lit up, with two words written on it: [Exit].
After completing the minimum required gambling rounds, this button would light up.
Of course, Qin Yao could also choose not to press it and continue gambling. According to the game rules, exchanging 20,000 chips allowed her to play up to 40 rounds with the visa exchange machine.
But obviously, Qin Yao didn't want to stay here for even one more second.
She almost impatiently pressed it. The next second, a series of "click" sounds rang out as all the mechanisms restraining her unlocked.
Qin Yao hurriedly stood up from the iron chair and turned to push the door of this cramped compartment.
The door was locked from the outside, but Qin Yao quickly found the latch and opened it.
Then she suddenly remembered something, turned back, and grabbed her remaining chips in her hand.