Chapter 885: Logical Short Circuit

"That's what I'm thinking," I said, gesturing with my hands. "Let me explain. We should start by looking at the game rules of Bai Yang's game. Don't you think it's a bit off?"

Jiang Ruoxue replied, "Off? How so? It sounds like a great way to make money. Whether it's the 'Sheng Xiao' or the 'Can Yu Zhe', everyone has a chance to profit. Sounds good to me."

"Yes... As a 'Qian Zhuang', it's fantastic..." I said. "But as a 'Di Yang Youxi', it's just too strange..."

"I'm a bit confused..." Jiang Ruoxue shook her head. "Maybe my mind is still fuzzy right now..."

"No, no... It's really hard to grasp," I said, carefully sorting through my thoughts. "Jiang Ruoxue, hear me out. We've encountered so many 'Di Ji' games. Not only do we know the difficulty of 'Di Ji' games, but we also know that each 'Sheng Xiao' has its own characteristics. For a 'Di Yang Youxi', the game can't involve 'death', and there's no 'lying'."

"Hmm...?" Jiang Ruoxue thought for a moment and then nodded. "You're right... It does seem that way..."

"'Di Ji Sheng Xiao' needs to advance through killing, so the games they design must center on death. Bai Yang knows these rules better than I do; he wouldn't make that kind of mistake," I said. "So, we need to think about it in reverse..."

"Think in reverse...?"

"Exactly. I'm using your approach, starting from the 'result'. That means this game can involve 'death', and Bai Yang has 'lied' in the game—we just haven't noticed it yet."

"But the core of this game is 'Dao'," Jiang Ruoxue asked, puzzled. "How would he kill anyone? Besides, the logic of these 'Deng' is based on what I set up, and it depends on the nearby 'Sheng Xiao'. So how could Bai Yang lie?"

Yes... That was the hidden truth of this game.

Bai Yang was a monster.

"Do you still remember what Bai Yang said...?" I said, my voice trembling a little. "The twelve statues are built on the logic of the twelve nearby 'Sheng Xiao' games, and the display screen is built on the logic of the statues..."

"Yeah..."

Jiang Ruoxue's eyes widened just three seconds after she spoke.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed. "That sneaky Bai Yang... Does that mean he incorporated the games of all the surrounding 'Sheng Xiao' into his own game using 'Yin Guo', making them part of it?!"

"Yes..." I couldn't stop my voice from shaking. "That's probably the only way to explain it... If any 'Can Yu Zhe' tries to control the 'Deng' by participating in the nearby 'Sheng Xiao' games, their losses or deaths will all count toward Bai Yang's score... After all, it's all part of the game... Those people's 'causes of death' might come from the 'Sheng Xiao' of the moment, but they're also inside a larger game... Their actions are all links in this game, and that game is 'Jile Qian Zhuang'."

"Heavens!!" Jiang Ruoxue shouted. "This... Bai Yang not only schemed against the 'Can Yu Zhe'... but also against the nearby twelve 'Sheng Xiao'?"

"No..." I swallowed hard and said slowly, "He's not scheming against 'twelve', but 'eleven'."

"Eleven...?"

"Jiang Ruoxue... Can you guess which one is the 'closest sheep' to here?"

"Ah..." Jiang Ruoxue broke out in a cold sweat again, whether from weakness or shock, I wasn't sure. "Are you saying... That 'sheep' statue originally represents Bai Yang himself?"

"That's what I mean by 'logic short circuit'," I said. "Jiang Ruoxue, your weakness comes partly from the 'huge game field', and partly from this 'logic short circuit'."

"What exactly is the logic short circuit?" Jiang Ruoxue asked.

"Jiang Ruoxue... Based on your idea, among Bai Yang's three ways of playing—'Bo Cai', 'Cai Quan', and 'Qian Zhuang'—which one makes the most money?"

Jiang Ruoxue thought for a moment and answered, "It should be 'Qian Zhuang', right? If it reaches a certain scale, with big orders every day, earning dozens or hundreds of 'Dao' in a day would be easy."

"Wrong," I said. "Neither 'Bo Cai' nor 'Qian Zhuang' is Bai Yang's most profitable venture. The one where he always comes out ahead is 'Cai Quan'. That idea is just absurd."

"That can't be right?" Jiang Ruoxue said. "According to what you're saying... 'Cai Quan' will eventually have someone win the jackpot, even if the chances are tiny. It's possible, so Bai Yang can't always win without losing."

"Have you noticed a problem?" I asked. "When Bai Yang explains the regular 'Bo Cai' rules, every winner has to pay a 'field fee', but 'Cai Quan' doesn't. If someone wins 'Cai Quan', they take the entire prize pool, making it a break-even for Bai Yang. Why would he set it up that way?"

"So you're saying..."

"Bai Yang's chances of losing are ridiculously low," I said. "Because of your 'Yin Guo', he is the eighth 'Deng'."

"I still don't quite get it..."

"Let me give an example." I held out my hand and gestured to Jiang Ruoxue. "Suppose I'm extremely lucky, and all the other 'Sheng Xiao' have guessed the colors correctly, leaving only the eighth 'Deng' that represents the sheep. How should I guess?"

Jiang Ruoxue didn't say anything; she just looked at me quietly.

"If the eighth 'Deng' for 'Cai Quan' chooses 'red', that means I think 'Di Yang' will win. But if I guess right, then 'Di Yang' won't win. When 'Di Yang' realizes he's going to lose, the display screen will only show a green light."

"Wait a minute..." Jiang Ruoxue put her hand to her forehead. "I'm getting confused..."

"It's okay, take your time. I'll help you sort it out."

"So... In that case, wouldn't choosing 'green' work? Choosing 'green' means we think 'Di Yang' will lose, and he really will lose because we guessed right."

"That's the problem!" I exclaimed. "Because your 'Yin Guo' is determined by the 'Sheng Xiao's win or loss, and the outcome of this game is completely up to him! He could decide that he's just holding all the 'Can Yu Zhe's 'Dao' without taking any, and return it all to them, even counting it as a 'zero-deposit full-withdrawal' in 'Qian Zhuang'. I suspect that even if he lost every bit of 'Dao', your display screen would just see this 'Sheng Xiao' as neither winning nor losing and light up a white light!"

"Ah... So you're saying the income from 'Cai Quan' isn't even counted—it's just sitting out there..." Jiang Ruoxue paused. "That means the 'win or loss' depends entirely on how the 'Sheng Xiao' judges it... Guess red and it lights green... Guess green and it lights white... So if you guess white..."

"If you guess white, Bai Yang can decide he wins and light up red," I said. "No matter how you guess the eighth 'Deng', Bai Yang will always sidestep your choice."

"Doesn't that make it impossible to solve?" Jiang Ruoxue said.

"No... There's one ridiculous solution," I said. "It would require three people, all guessing the other eleven 'Deng' correctly, and then for the eighth 'sheep' 'Deng', they each choose 'red', 'white', and 'green' to block all of Bai Yang's paths. But you'd better hope that doesn't happen, or it would create a massive paradox, and you might faint on the spot."

"This..." Jiang Ruoxue sighed helplessly. "But honestly... Even if someone went to all that trouble to win 'Cai Quan', Bai Yang still wouldn't lose anything..."

"Yes, those people would die countless times just trying to guess the other eleven 'Deng' correctly. That's the massive lie Bai Yang inserted into the game."