Chapter 59: One Hundred Percent

"Oh?" Ren Zhu looked puzzled. "I don't understand what you mean."

Lao Lv was also confused. "Kid, what are you talking about? Does this game have a 'sure-win method'?"

"I wouldn't call it a sure-win method," Qi Xia shook his head. "But the 'Zhu Lei You Xi' is absolutely not a luck-based game; it's purely about probability theory."

"What do you mean?" Lao Lv was baffled. "No matter how you distribute them, there are still fifty black pieces and fifty white pieces, so the probability of drawing any piece is always one in two."

"Is that so?" Qi Xia shook his head noncommittally. "That's exactly why the game seems like it's based on luck."

"Let me tell you the truth, kid," Lao Lv leaned in close to Qi Xia's ear and whispered, "The first time, I separated the black and white pieces into different bowls, so as long as I picked the one with the black pieces, I would win. But I lost. The second time, I evenly distributed the black and white pieces between the two bowls, but I still didn't draw a black piece. My luck was just terrible."

Lao Lv stroked his chin and continued, "Thinking about it, if I break the ratio and put more or fewer black and white pieces in each bowl, that would actually make it even harder for me to draw a black piece. So, no matter what, there can't be a sure-win method."

Qi Xia nodded. "This game can't be won for sure; I can only try to increase my chances of winning as much as possible."

"Hmm? You have a way?"

Qi Xia didn't answer. Instead, he turned to Ren Zhu and said, "I'm ready; let's begin."

Ren Zhu chuckled awkwardly, then extended his hand in a welcoming gesture. "Go ahead and distribute them."

Qi Xia glanced at the two identical bowls and the black and white pieces, which felt the same in texture. He silently grabbed a handful of pieces and dropped them into one of the bowls.

Lao Lv watched Qi Xia quietly, wondering how he would arrange the hundred pieces.

Qi Xia kept grabbing pieces and tossing them into the bowl without counting the black or white ones.

"Hey... will this work?" Lao Lv asked hesitantly. "Do you want to keep track of how many you've put in?"

Qi Xia didn't speak; he just continued dropping pieces into the same bowl.

Lao Lv and Lin Qin exchanged glances, both unsure of what Qi Xia was up to.

It wasn't until Qi Xia had dumped all the pieces into one bowl that he finally stopped.

Ren Zhu grew angry at the sight. "Hey, hey! That's against the rules! You have to distribute them into both bowls!"

"I know," Qi Xia nodded. "The distribution isn't finished yet."

With that, he picked up a single black piece from the bowl and dropped it into the other one.

"My distribution is done," Qi Xia said, looking calmly at Ren Zhu.

"What?!"

Everyone present was stunned.

What kind of distribution was this?

One bowl had a single black piece, and the other had the remaining ninety-nine pieces?

Lao Lv stared at the two bowls on the table, his eyes widening. After a long pause, he said, "Clever... oh, so clever..."

He understood Qi Xia's strategy.

Originally, no matter how Lao Lv distributed them, the optimal setup for the two bowls was to make each one half black and half white.

That way, he would have a fifty percent chance of drawing a black piece.

But Qi Xia had disrupted that balance.

He made it so that the probability of drawing a black piece from one bowl was one hundred percent, while in the other bowl, it was as close as possible to fifty percent.

Since he had to choose a bowl at random first, Qi Xia had a good chance of picking the one with the black piece right away and winning without drawing further.

Even if he got unlucky and picked the other bowl, the chance of drawing a black piece would still be nearly fifty percent—specifically, forty-nine percent.

It was like adding a hidden safety net to his odds of winning.

Ren Zhu's expression darkened visibly under his mask.

"Are you trying to outsmart me?" Ren Zhu's tone changed, no longer sounding childish but laced with cunning.

"Outsmart you?" Qi Xia found it amusing and raised an eyebrow. "Everything I've done follows the rules, so how is that outsmarting?"

Ren Zhu pulled an eye mask from his pocket and slowly handed it to Qi Xia. "I've known a lot of smart people, and most of them have terrible luck."

Qi Xia nodded and took the eye mask. "I can't argue with that; smart people rarely rely on luck."

"But in the end, this is gambling," Ren Zhu said in a low voice. "And gambling is all about 'strong luck.' You're smart, but what about your luck?"

"I don't know," Qi Xia replied. "But we're about to find out."

Qi Xia slowly put on the eye mask and placed his hands on the table, motionless.

Ren Zhu picked up the two bowls and shook them to mix the pieces inside.

This rule was originally meant to counter cheaters who might stack the black pieces on top.

But for Qi Xia's strategy, it made no difference.

Ren Zhu knew that no matter how he shook them, the man in front of him would pick without hesitation.

After all, Qi Xia had already done his part; now, he was leaving everything to fate.

Thinking of this, Ren Zhu shook the bowls casually, swapped their positions, and set them down one on the left and one on the right.

"Hey, which bowl do you choose?" Ren Zhu asked. "The one on your left... or your right?"

"I..." Qi Xia bowed his head in silence for a moment before saying, "The left one; I choose the left."

Lin Qin and Lao Lv both froze, a sense of unease washing over them.

Because the bowl on Qi Xia's left was the one with the ninety-nine pieces!

A glimmer appeared in Ren Zhu's eyes. "Very well; now, please draw a piece from it."

He pushed the bowl toward Qi Xia with a hint of mockery, as if watching a joke unfold.

Qi Xia's lips curved into a slight smile. "Aren't you trying to test my luck? This bowl is perfect for that."

"Wha—" Ren Zhu was stunned. "You... you know this is the 'wrong' one?!"

"More or less," Qi Xia said as he slowly reached into the bowl. "Choosing between 'left and right' is like rock-paper-scissors; it seems balanced, but human thinking creates biases."

"What do you mean?" Lao Lv asked, confused.

"Just like how most people throw scissors first in rock-paper-scissors, the probabilities aren't truly equal," Qi Xia explained. "Paper leaves your hand open and vulnerable, while rock feels too clenched and restrictive, so scissors becomes the neutral choice. The same goes for left and right; people subconsciously think 'left is safer' because most are right-handed. They use their right hand more, so it's more prone to injury, making left feel like the safer option when choosing a direction."

"You're... not an ordinary person," Ren Zhu said.

"There's no need to flatter me; you understand these principles too," Qi Xia replied. "You placed the ninety-nine pieces on my left on purpose, didn't you?"