The Creators: From Night City

Page 290

Matilda: [Got it.]

Lark: [Very good. Now, wait patiently and act according to the situation.]

While the two were secretly negotiating, the gamblers in the private rooms on the high platform also took their seats.

As some of the most powerful people in the world, the gamblers accompanying the main guests naturally couldn't be any less influential.

Such as Saudi Prince Mohamed bin Faisal, Lidakor Fins, Vice President of Space Operations at Lunar Communications, Pedro, Executive Director of Regenerative Technologies, Thomas Caller, President of Space at World Satellite Communications Networks, and Emily Mehta, an executive at Meta Group, the most successful of the Seven Wanderers.

This beautiful young woman, who is one-third Mexican, was simply brought in to balance the number of men and women at the poker table. As the most successful of the seven wandering tribes in their transformation, she herself did not want to have too much to do with the new US President Miles.

Of course, there are also some social celebrities who try to get into the private rooms by paying money to become more familiar with the place. Although it is difficult to sit at the same table as these important figures, they consider it a success just to get into the high-end private room.

Because of the special nature of gambling, some people will inevitably leave the table due to heavy losses. At this point, lucky gamblers in the outer area can choose to upgrade and have a thrilling battle of wins and losses with these big shots.

Although it is said that there are no big or small stakes at the gambling table, there are not many fools who believe this. Even if a person is qualified to move up to another table, they will still consider whether they are truly qualified.

The three witch sisters have already started playing. They didn't come here with any special mission today; they were just here to have some fun. Anyway, Mr. Blue Eyes is paying the bill, and they can probably lose as much money as they want in the game downstairs.

Moreover, it's still unknown whether these three will win or lose.

In fact, with their formidable strength, the three witches quickly mastered the rules of the game and began to dominate on a table playing the classic game of baccarat.

With their eye-catching looks and the gamblers' even greater desire for good luck, a crowd of onlookers quickly gathered around the three women's gambling table.

Jiang Bing, however, had no intention of joining in the fun.

He carried his cane and strolled around the entire casino like a street urchin, almost walking around the whole 'Golden Crystal' casino before returning to the chip exchange counter at the entrance.

"What is the minimum amount of chips to exchange?" Jiang Bing asked without paying any attention to the disdainful looks from the tourists exchanging chips at the nearby windows.

"100 euros, sir." The service staff behind the window are all professionally trained. No matter how funny the customer's words are, they will not laugh out loud, nor will they show any other disdain or contempt.

Jiang Bing pulled a green 100-euro note from his previously empty pocket and handed it to the service staff member at the window who had undergone a full-body gold-trimmed makeover.

Chapter 574 A Little Bit of Spread Doesn't Count

Although cash is not common in Crystal Palace, the staff still went to great lengths to verify the authenticity of the banknotes and handed back a small, round electronic chip machine.

Jiang Bing turned the chip meter upside down, and the holographic projection on top turned on, projecting a pitiful white chip that floated alone in his palm.

Amidst the light laughter of several gamblers around him, he glanced at the spacious gambling hall, then at the bright red entry threshold of 2000 million displayed on the screen of the central high-level private room, and leisurely strolled into the gambling pool.

As a craftsman, Jiang Bing can say with certainty: "In this situation, 100 yuan is enough."

Even so, he was still upset about the 100 euros he had given away, because based on his assessment of how things were going, there was a very high chance he wouldn't get the money back.

As the old saying goes, gambling will inevitably lead to losses, and gambling addicts will not have a good end. A significant reason for this is that casinos are inherently at an advantage in their games with gamblers.

In most casinos, gamblers only win money from their fellow gamblers. Even then, the casino takes a 5% cut from every bet. Anyone with a basic understanding of probability and economics can easily calculate that if you play a lot, all your bets will eventually end up in the casino's hands through commission.

In other words, casinos are inherently invincible.

This is the essence of "channel is king".

Gambling machines like slot machines and pinball machines have pre-set odds of winning. While some individual machines might allow gamblers to make a small profit, when considering all machines over a sufficiently long period, the casino is still in a position of guaranteed profit.

For example, the 'King of Space' slot machine in front of Jiang Bing has an average winning probability of 37.62%.

This wasn't an answer Jiang Bing obtained using any technical means. These gambling machines are a crucial point that Crystal Palace strictly monitors. If you don't win, it's fine, but if you do win, the entire lottery process will be scrutinized under a magnifying glass to check for any signs of hacking or cheating.

Jiang Bing obtained this answer by asking him directly.

He leaned on his cane, patted the other's colorful shell with his hand, like a familiar greeting between friends, and then extracted all sorts of information from it.

For example, the gateway of this machine is connected in parallel with the two gambling machines next to it in a miniature security box; for example, the pattern of its next wave is a meteorite, an astronaut, and a spaceship, a typical big failure.

So Jiang Bing turned his chip stack, which only had one chance left, said goodbye to his good brother, and went to the other machines.

He wandered around like a slacker, touching this machine, standing in front of that machine, walking past a row of gambling machines, and finally stopping in front of a classic fruit lottery-themed machine.

"I'll win next time, 22 times!" Jiang Bing's good buddy, Fruit Slot Machine, practically jumped up and shouted in his ear.

So this 'craftsman', who wasted his talents, bullied the weak, was shameless, and used a cannon to kill a mosquito, stuck his chip tray on the slot machine's designated betting area, inserted the only white chip, and casually pulled down the game controller.

After a dazzling display of lights, the result was as expected: three rare fruit patterns—strawberry, apple, and kiwi—were arranged side by side. The 22x multiplier quickly transformed Jiang Bing's chips into four 500-euro green chips and two white chips.

He was like a heartless scumbag who had just pulled out his cigarette butt. He picked up the chips and left, swaying back and forth, before finally stopping in front of another gambling machine.

'Golden Channel Chain Frenzy'

A slightly more sophisticated type of slot machine called "multi-line slot machine".

As Jiang Bing sat down and gently operated the machine a few times, in less than half a minute, 2200 euros was successfully transformed into 5300 euros, which was nearly two months' wages for a skilled worker in Night City.

That's the allure of gambling, that's its beautiful, poppy-like appearance.

With the start-up capital in hand, Mr. Jiang leisurely made his way to the high-end gaming machine area, leaning on his cane.

Unlike the somewhat deserted single-player gaming area, this area features larger, more elaborate gaming machines with more complex gameplay, higher betting requirements, and higher multipliers, attracting a greater number of gamblers.

Frog Roulette

Although the name is childish, the appearance is quite extraordinary. In the center of the huge holographic projection screen is a dynamic cyber frog holding a roulette wheel. Its limbs have been replaced with metal prosthetics, and its two eyes have also been changed to one red and one black, making it look like a cyber-spirit frog.

The gameplay is no different from traditional roulette, except that instead of human dealers, robots are used. Compared to traditional table gambling, it has more betting positions. A long row of standing betting positions, similar to a Japanese late-night diner, surrounds the entire gambling machine, with as many as forty or fifty people participating at the same time, which also creates a lively atmosphere for this money-spending game.

It's human nature to like joining in the fun, and even gambling is no exception.

With a large number of people, the unique atmosphere of a casino is instantly created.

Those who gamble in these peripheral venues are either "experience seekers" who are simply looking to broaden their horizons and have some fun, or they are down-on-their-luck individuals who are short of money, or they are socially awkward individuals who are too lazy to play against others. There aren't many big shots, and the quality of the gamblers is quite uneven.

After all, with the casino open to the public, many locals who don't vacation at Crystal Palace will also come to join in the fun.

However, Jiang Bing felt that the other party was a typical gambler, and a red-eyed gambler at that.

Of course, don't get me wrong, he wasn't blinded by defeat, but rather he had a scarlet prosthetic eye installed.

These prosthetic eyes, equipped with enhanced scanning capabilities and virtual tagging, are very popular among professional gamblers. Of course, these prosthetic eyes cannot see through the card-playing equipment used in casinos; they simply possess a more refined scanning and observation ability than ordinary prosthetic eyes. This function is primarily intended for other gamblers.

In many gambling games where players compete against each other, understanding your opponent's micro-expressions and subtle movements, and thus guessing their current psychological state, is a very important influencing factor in gambling competitions.

However, seeing how dejected the opponent was to come here to play against bots, it seems that this prosthetic eye didn't bring him much victory.

That's normal.

The intense competition among professional gamblers in the cyber age.

Gambling techniques like card counting and probability calculation are commonplace ways to increase the odds of winning in this era where almost everyone has a brain.

Another interpretation of "everyone can do it" is that it means "no one can do it," which means that most people are back to the same starting line.

In addition, gambling, an adrenaline-pumping sport, is all about luck; no matter how well-equipped you are, you're bound to lose.

Unless you're cheating.

Or perhaps it's like some higher-dimensional being, opening a small window.

Chapter 575 Each with their own ulterior motives

This seasoned casino veteran skillfully tossed out a few red virtual chips, placing them on the winning position he had calculated after observing several rounds.

While waiting for the bet to be placed, he sneered at Jiang Bing, his neighbor who had just joined the game.

After all, Jiang Bing's behavior practically screamed that I was a novice.

"Friend, is this your first time playing this?" the gambler asked habitually, his prosthetic eye flashing as he began recording Jiang Bing's behavioral patterns.

He's a professional gambler, so winning and losing are common occurrences and nothing unusual for him. Today, however, he's on a losing streak and has already reached his daily limit shortly after the game started.

However, the main reason he didn't leave and stayed at the casino was to collect 'information' there.

Every year, millions of global elites come to Crystal Palace for tourism, vacation, or business trips, and a large majority of them come to the casino to spend money and experience it. Although many of them may never come back in their lifetime, some will become regular casino patrons.

The so-called "headhunters" among these veteran gamblers at Crystal Palace Casino are those who collect behavioral data on these new gamblers, gathering information on their temperament, habits, decision-making methods, and even thought patterns. This data is then summarized, organized, analyzed, and studied so that when they encounter each other again at the gambling table, they can know themselves and their enemy and win every battle.

This can be considered a new type of cyber cheating, except that the cheating methods have changed from tampering with the gambling equipment and methods to infiltrating people and gamblers. The core logic hasn't changed much; it's still about using underhanded tricks.

Jiang Bing stared at the virtual frog surrounded by a group of gamblers, as if he could see something amazing in it.

Seeing that the other party did not reply, the gambler was not annoyed and continued to talk to himself: "If you don't play much, you can try the standard roulette game. Although the odds are lower, it is simpler than the gold roulette next to it, and the probability of winning is much higher."

"Based on my personal experience, the standard European roulette is the best way to gain experience. You can play a few rounds and figure out the special gameplay of the gold roulette wheel next to it before you try it out."

His dedication to sharing his experience here is not out of any helpfulness, but because behavioral pattern detection scanning itself requires the target to demonstrate more of their behavioral habits (including communication habits, facial expressions, body language, etc.) in order to obtain more data and achieve a higher degree of completion.

He rambled on and on, hoping to strike up a conversation with Jiang Bing.

But his hopes were ultimately dashed.

Jiang Bing stared blankly as the roulette wheel spun four or five times. In the next betting round, he suddenly placed all 5000 euros in chips on number 15 in the 2X multiplier zone. Amidst the gambler's rambling persuasion, he won 20 chips (40 euros * 2x), successfully shutting up the other party's incessant chatter.

Like a waterfall, chips of various colors converged on Jiang Bing's chip stack, then compressed and upgraded, transforming into four large gray chips worth 10 euros each.

Jiang Bing glanced at the stunned gamblers, then simply got up and left.

His meaning was very clear: 'What are you all whining about here?'

With 403,000 euros, you've already earned the right to play in the mid-range area.

Jiang Bing turned on the projection of the chip display and showed the amount of his chips to the inspectors. He was very polite, but the inspectors were cold and distant. After verifying his funds, he smoothly entered the middle section of the game.

At this level of venue, everyone undoubtedly appears much more 'refined'.

The lobby was filled with attractive waitresses dressed in sexy clothes, carrying fine wines and snacks. Seats were also set up around the gambling tables, and the gamblers became well-dressed and dashing.

However, this does not change the fact that everyone's original intention is to take money from other people's pockets.

Jiang Bing was an exception, because he knew he would definitely win.

However, some people in the high-level private box didn't care much about winning or losing.

For example, Cardora, the representative of the High Knights, casually tossed his 100,000-coin coin to the discard pile. Although he was chatting with the people at the table, his eyes were always subtly glancing towards the door of the private room.

He is waiting.

While the lark behind the new US President Miles was sitting in the special reception lounge, her attention was not on the teams brought by the other gamblers at the main table, but rather on a plain-looking, ordinary member of her own team.

The other person was dressed in a standard American office worker's black suit, but there was no sign of any prosthetic body on his body.

He is the 'Swordholder,' the 'Swordholder' of the Lark. He doesn't have any cybernetic implants, so it's obvious who he's protecting against.

Although the other party was hidden among the large team of the new US president, he had no intention of doing any work. After all, his only responsibility was to keep an eye on the lark.

Keep a close eye on this cyber nuclear bomb.

However, every human being has weaknesses, and the lark's docile attitude had long since lulled Miles and everyone else into a false sense of security.

The lark moved her mechanical arms, picked up a glass of sparkling wine from the beverage area, and quietly waited for the long-planned opportunity to arrive.

Finally, the 'Swordholder' whom the lark hated to the core raised his hand and gestured for the staff in the private room to come over. The two whispered something in each other's ears.

The lark did not hesitate to initiate communication with Matilda.

Lark: [A Pisco sour cocktail will be brought into the private room in a bit. I need you to handle it and add the ingredients.]

The Lark had already figured out the other person's little hobbies without him even realizing it, and she had analyzed his behavior characteristics thoroughly. As the core figure of the whole plan, this unassuming white man was even more important to the Lark than Miles.

As a South American descendant, this "Swordholder" is a fan of a niche cocktail that is popular in South America. He is also quite meticulous and will definitely not miss the opportunity to take advantage of the free drinks.

Based on his behavioral characteristics, there is a 90% probability that he will order this unconventional cocktail, a symbol of hope for the lark to break free from its cage.

Matilda: [Understood.]

Sure enough, a rationing order was quickly transmitted through the internal employee communication system to the panel of the service personnel waiting outside the private room, and then, quite 'coincidentally', it was assigned to Matilda.

She gritted her teeth and suppressed her inner panic as she went to the bar to get her drink.

Lark: [Find a blind spot and get the job done. Don't worry, I'll take care of the camera for you.]

Now that things have come to this, Matilda has no choice but to comply.

She easily obtained the batch of drinks that needed to be delivered to the private rooms. Among the many different cocktails, the Pisco Sour, a niche cocktail with a creamy foam and a sweet and sour taste with a hint of herbal notes, was very easy to identify.

So Matilda skillfully held the plate with one hand, and as she rounded a corner, she reached into her cleavage with the other, took out a small capsule, and quickly tossed it into the cocktail.

Chapter 576 Torturing Others, Finding Joy in It

Matilda returned to the high-platform box as if nothing had happened and successfully delivered the items inside.

But before her pounding heart could calm down, a figure suddenly appeared in front of her, giving her another blow that almost made her faint.