This voice sounded very calm and matter-of-fact, so much so that Jiang He almost thought she had misheard.
She looked up at Lu Xinyi, only to find that Lu Xinyi's expression was normal, as if she didn't think there was anything wrong with what she had said.
"Wait, is there some mistake?
"Aren't we supposed to take turns winning?
"Shouldn't you be folding right now?"
Jiang He looked at Lu Xinyi in disbelief, or rather, she had already realized certain problems, just finding them hard to accept for the moment.
You can know a person's face but not their heart. Jiang He had indeed considered the possibility of the other side turning against them, but she hadn't expected them to not even bother pretending for a single second.
Lu Xinyi just smiled indifferently and didn't give any explanation, only pointing at the timer on the gambling table.
"Everyone better make their decisions quickly."
There was a small timer on the table, and if time ran out, it would automatically be treated as folding.
After all, each small game could involve repeated raising, so meaningless delays had to be avoided.
The bright red numbers on the timer kept jumping.
43... 42...
"Fine, fine, so this is how you want to play?"
Jiang He's face darkened. She hadn't expected that Lu Xinyi, who seemed so amiable, could really leave no bottom line when tearing off the mask.
She picked up her hand cards from the table and looked at them again.
A pair of 9s.
She already knew what cards she had, but just to be safe and avoid having misread them earlier, Jiang He looked again.
Unfortunately, this hand wasn't small, but it wasn't very big either. It would be difficult to sweep the entire table.
The game continued. To Lu Xinyi's right was another player from Community 3, a thin, bespectacled middle-aged man named Lü Mingxuan.
He threw 3 more chips worth 1000 into the betting area, "Raise."
It was Su Xiucen's turn. This round she was the dealer and also the last person to act.
Before this, Jiang He, Lu Xinyi, and Lü Mingxuan had raised in succession, while everyone else had folded.
Su Xiucen also panicked. The current situation completely disrupted her expectations.
Jiang He frowned, "Aunt Su, call."
Su Xiucen appeared even more flustered, "But, but..."
In Jiang He's view, the current situation was clear: if Su Xiucen folded, it would be one against two on the table, putting herself in a very disadvantageous position; if Su Xiucen called, it would be two against two, giving them better odds.
But Su Xiucen's panicked expression had completely exposed that her cards were very weak.
During the brief standoff, Lu Xinyi spoke up.
She seemed to have completely shed her previous gentle and friendly disguise, her voice full of aggression, "Auntie, don't force yourself. Just fold.
"In this game, you've had no chance of winning from the moment you sat at this table.
"Of course, you can also choose to continue raising if you don't believe it. No matter how much you raise, I will choose to continue raising."
[Thinking time exceeded, automatically folding.]
With the prompt sound, Su Xiucen seemed to collapse all at once, weakly putting her hand cards back on the table.
In just one minute, it was difficult for her to make a decision.
To call now, she would have to throw down another 3000 chips, and with Su Xiucen's weak hand, if she lost, she would lose 4000 including the base bet, which was completely unbearable for her.
After all, if she lost all ten rounds and only lost the base bets, it would only be 10,000.
If she lost 4000 in the first round, what would she do next? Even if she was lucky enough to get good cards later, it would probably be difficult to turn things around.
In such anguish, one minute quickly passed.
It was Jiang He's turn again.
Since three people had chosen to raise in the previous round, the cards couldn't be revealed this round yet.
Cards would only be revealed when only one person raised while everyone else called.
The bright red countdown started jumping from 60 again, and Jiang He faced only two paths.
Either call or raise, or fold.
"Can't fold. If I completely surrender in the first round, then there will be no chance to fight back afterward...
"At least I need to see what their hands actually are.
"My hand is a pair of 9s, at least it's a pair. Against their two people, it's not like I have no chance of winning at all.
"Damn it, people who break the rules should be attacked by everyone else, but why aren't the other three people from Community 3 reacting at all?
"Did they anticipate the current situation from the beginning?
"Why are two people folding and two people raising?"
Jiang He's mind was in chaos, with too much information making it difficult for her to sort through her thoughts.
The countdown was down to only 20 seconds.
Jiang He decided to call first.
But just then, Lu Xinyi spoke up.
"Friendly reminder: even if you choose to call now, the cards won't be revealed.
"Because we two will keep choosing to raise until you put all your chips on the table.
"So if your hand is really strong, you might as well go all-in directly. It can save some time."
Jiang He, who had just picked up her chips, froze with her hand in mid-air.
According to the game rules, if two people in a card game kept raising, the cards would never be revealed until everyone's chips were exhausted and they were in an all-in state.
All-in, also called going all-in, was the most desperate situation.
Win, and your chips double; lose, and your chips become zero.
For Jiang He, she had barely prepared herself mentally to lose 4000 chips, but hadn't prepared herself to lose everything in the first round.
"Tick."
[Thinking time exceeded, automatically folding.]
Jiang He seemed to have all her strength drained instantly, and the hand holding the chips dropped down again.
"Raise."
"Fold."
Lü Mingxuan chose to fold, and without anyone's hand cards being revealed, Lu Xinyi won all the chips on the table.
Excluding what she had bet herself, she earned a net profit of 9000 chips.
Lü Mingxuan lost the most here, losing a total of 4000 chips including the base bet.
But Lü Mingxuan showed no expression, didn't even think about calling to see the cards, and directly handed over all these chips.
This also made Jiang He more certain: these four players from Community 3 should have planned to set up such a scheme from the beginning.
But what Jiang He didn't understand was that according to the Gallery's matching mechanism, Community 3 should have just been formed a day ago as well.
Why could they achieve such unconditional trust among themselves?
As analyzed at the beginning, although they were in the same community, players weren't really a community of shared interests. The visa time that Lu Xinyi earned should have no way to be traded with others.
So why would the other three people cooperate unconditionally?
Before Jiang He could figure out this question, a new round of the game was about to begin.
This time Lu Xinyi was the dealer, with Lü Mingxuan to her right acting first.
Lü Mingxuan looked at his cards and then said, "Fold."
This was somewhat unexpected for Jiang He. She had thought Lü Mingxuan would continue raising, repeating the double act performance with Lu Xinyi from the previous round.
It was Su Xiucen's turn, and she was even more at a loss, "I, I this..."
She even instinctively wanted to show Jiang He her cards, but held back because this would be against the rules.
The multiplayer table allowed players to make some moves outside the rules, but operations like showing each other cards were absolutely not permitted.
Jiang He comforted her, "It's okay, Aunt Su. If your cards are decent, just call first."
However, she was only halfway through her words when she was interrupted by Lu Xinyi.
"Still haven't figured out the situation?
"In this game, you have no chance of winning whatsoever. Any form of desperate resistance will only make you lose more."