God's Imitator

'Rabbit' Han Mengying somewhat regretfully retracted the cards she had already laid out.

"Not bad, you know how to calculate the remaining cards in both hands, not too stupid.

"Your 'Fool's Card Set' has two rocks and one scissor left, continuing to play is not a wise choice."

'Gray Wolf' He Xiaojun was a bit deflated and said nothing.

'Rabbit' Han Mengying nodded: "So, you're indeed the 'Fool's Card Set', huh? Thanks for the information."

'Gray Wolf' He Xiaojun was stunned, then a bit annoyed. Clearly, the opponent hadn't been sure about his card set, but his admission confirmed it for her.

He Xiaojun felt very frustrated. This was obviously supposed to be a fair game, a game of luck, yet he still had no power to resist.

Neither side spoke further.

The 5-minute period passed quickly. After both destroyed their remaining cards, they exited the battle room.

Briefly returning to the lounge, 'Rabbit' Han Mengying took another deck and was about to return to the battle room.

In the first phase, a battle takes place every 5 minutes, with a 5-minute break after three battles, totaling nine battles.

The pace was quite tight.

This time, Han Mengying got the 'Wise Man Card Set', consisting of 3 Wise Man Cards (paper), 1 Fool Card (rock), and 1 Thief Card (scissor).

Han Mengying first played 'The Thief Card (scissor)', winning against the opponent's 'Wise Man Card (paper)';

then played 'The Wise Man Card (paper)', tying with the opponent's 'Wise Man Card (paper)'.

Finally, she played 'The Fool Card (rock)', winning against the opponent's 'Thief Card (scissor)'.

Afterwards, neither side continued playing and chose instead to destroy their cards and leave.

...

After three battles, there was a 5-minute break.

The first phase's total number of rounds was already one-third completed.

'Gray Wolf' He Xiaojun counted his remaining chips, with only 7,000 left.

"Damn, what the hell is going on! Isn't this supposed to be a game with a positive expected return?"

During battles with the previous three players, He Xiaojun played a total of 6 small matches, 2 small matches per player.

The end result was a loss in most cases, winning only 1 small match but losing 5 small matches.

This was supposed to be a zero-sum game, yet He Xiaojun was down by 3,000 chips, which was completely unacceptable.

What puzzled him the most was the second match.

He clearly had the 'Wise Man Card Set' and confidently placed a 'Wise Man Card (paper)', but the opponent precisely played a 'Thief Card (scissor)', causing his mindset to somewhat collapse.

"Why on earth?

"Could it be that all the players I've met have mind reading abilities?"

He Xiaojun realized he couldn't go on like this, because to safely exit the game, he needed to earn at least an additional 20,000, even 25,000 chips.

From the previous three battles, the probability of losing was too high, which was abnormal.

This meant he had completely misunderstood the game, and continuing would only result in more losses.

He had to find a way to change.

Even though the game was called 'Fool's Game', the game designer, the Imitator, said the game only welcomed 'wise fools'.

Insisting on playing when the win rate was already abnormally low couldn't be called wise in any light.

"But what should I do? I can't think of any strategy at all!"

The break was only 5 minutes, and He Xiaojun was anxiously pacing.

Clearly, this game also had some 'information gap' and 'tricks', but in such a fast-paced game, it's hard for the average player to pinpoint the problem.

Suddenly, He Xiaojun noticed the conspicuous red box on the coffee table.

The countdown had over 40 minutes left, meaning it wouldn't automatically open until the second phase.

"Wait, why is it a wooden box?

"If they didn't want players to open it, why not make it a metal box?

"Moreover, chips disappearing after damage seems like a penalty rule, but there's nothing else on the coffee table, nobody would carelessly knock it over, right?

"After the countdown ends, there would be 10% visa time as chips, but my visa time isn't much, I could not wait!

"Opening it now means I could see the Imitator's game advice earlier than other players, right?"

He Xiaojun suddenly realized that perhaps this box was meant to encourage Foolish Players to open it early.

Because the less remaining visa time a player has, the less worthwhile the reward from waiting for the countdown.

Suppose a player has 200,000 visa time, waiting for the box to open naturally grants 20,000 chips. More visa time also implies the player is smarter and naturally less rushed to check the game's detailed advice.

Conversely, if a player only has 20,000 visa time, waiting yields just 2,000 chips, which isn't significant.

For them, game advice is more important, and the sooner they get it, the better.

He Xiaojun was clueless and urgently needed this advice.

Time was running out, he gritted his teeth, made a decision, and slammed the wooden box onto the ground.

The box was quite sturdy, and He Xiaojun didn't dare use too much force, so it didn't break on the first attempt.

He had to pick it up and smash it again.

He Xiaojun fumbled through the debris and indeed found a small slip of paper.

The so-called 'game advice' was just eight simple words, though there was a small line of notes below.

'Stop thinking, play random cards.'

'(This advice is mainly for the first phase.)'

It seemed like a nonsensical suggestion, almost like an April Fool's joke.

"This… what kind of strategy is this!"

He Xiaojun was stunned, even feeling like the game designer, the Imitator, was messing with him.

"Wasn't I always playing random cards!

"Wait, no, I wasn't really playing random cards…"

He Xiaojun, previously bewildered by continuous losses, was in a mental fog, falling into a misconception.

But the information on this slip of paper actually enlightened him.

He thought he was randomly picking from five cards before, but that wasn't the case.

For example, during the battle with 'Rabbit', he subconsciously played 'The Fool Card (rock)' without much thought. This was not a result of random choice, but rather a subconscious desire to reserve the sole scissor and paper for more options later.

'Rabbit' anticipated this and played paper accordingly.

In other words, if He Xiaojun truly played randomly, he should shuffle a rock, scissor, and paper in hand and play one at random.

That would ensure the probabilities of losing, winning, or drawing were each one-third.

"Should I follow this advice?"

He was out of time, so He Xiaojun picked up a new card set and re-entered the battle room.

He ultimately decided to accept the advice, stop thinking, and play as randomly as possible.

After all, at this point, he didn't have many other options.