2025-01-15 16:57:39For a moment, Peter couldn’t even process what had just happened. The world around him erupted in cheers, gasps, and groans, but the sounds felt distant, muffled like he was underwater. The reality slowly sank in:
He had made It. His number—his number—had gone green. Peter slumped back into his chair, his breath escaping him in a rush he hadn’t realized he was holding. Relief crashed over him like a tidal wave, leaving him lightheaded and shaky. His entire body felt like it had been strung tight, and now the tension was releasing all at once. ….. [SYSTEM REPORT: QUEST COMPLETED] REWARD: 5exp acquired, new skill unlocked. SKILL UNLOCKED: Pattern Recognition Detector level 1 Explanation: Spot patterns or predict trends in an opponent’s gameplay ….. “Congratulations to the lucky 200,” the host’s voice boomed, pulling Peter back to reality. “You’ve made it past the first round! For the rest of you…” He gestured toward the exit, a sly grin on his face. “…better luck next time.” Peter barely registered the host’s words. As the defeated shuffled out, many with tears in their eyes and shoulders slumped in defeat, he glanced around the room. The air was heavy with mixed emotions—triumph from some, despair from others. Peter couldn’t help but notice the crushed looks on some faces, as if their lifelong dreams had been shattered by something as fickle as luck. A light grin spread across his face, surprising even himself. For the first time in his life, he felt like he had been given a chance—a spark ignited in his chest. But that spark dimmed almost instantly when his gaze landed on someone in the room. It was a face he wished he’d never see again. Sitting confidently among the other successful applicants, his posture relaxed, with a wide grin on his face, was the guy who had stolen Peter’s girlfriend. Peter’s fists clenched, his knuckles turning white as his eyes burned with malice. What the hell is he doing here? “Viktor Salvatore,” a voice said behind him. Peter spun around in surprise. Standing there was a boy with spiky white hair, his pale locks catching the light. He exuded an aura of carefree confidence, a smile tugging at the corner of his lips as if luck itself had blessed him. “Excuse me?” Peter said cautiously. “The guy you’re trying to murder with your eyes,” the boy said, nodding toward Viktor. “That’s Viktor Salvatore. Most people call him the Beast Gambit.” Peter’s eyes narrowed. “You know him?” The boy grinned, shaking his head. “Not personally, but who hasn’t heard of him? He’s practically famous. I just hope I get lucky enough to face him first.” “Too bad the odds of that are ridiculously low,” a feminine voice chimed in, approaching them from the side. Peter turned to see a young woman with dark hair tied neatly back, sharp glasses, and a curvaceous figure that drew attention even beneath her modest clothing. Her eyes sparkled with intellect, and her entire presence screamed precision and calculation. The boy groaned, running a hand through his spiky hair. “Here she goes again.” The girl adjusted her glasses, her tone matter-of-fact. “The odds of you being the first to gamble against the Beast Gambit are approximately 0.093% based on the number of participants, random pairings, and gambling zones. Hardly favorable.” Peter blinked, taken aback. Did she just calculate that in her head? The boy sighed dramatically. “Sorry about her. She’s like a walking calculator.” “And he’s like a walking brain-dead slot machine,” the girl retorted, giving her brother a look. Peter couldn’t help but chuckle at their bickering. “Sorry, who are you guys?” “I’m Ace,” the boy said, extending a hand with an easy grin. “And this is my twin sister, Chloe. Trust me—it wasn’t by choice.” “Right back at you,” Chloe muttered, adjusting her glasses. Peter shook Ace’s hand, smiling. “Nice to meet you both. I’m Peter.” “Nice to meet you too, Peter,” Ace said. “I see you went green.” “Yeah, I got lucky,” Peter said with a sheepish shrug. “Didn’t we all?” Ace said, chuckling. “Well, except Chloe. She nerded her way through.” Peter wasn’t sure if he was joking or serious. The murmurs in the room quieted again as the host returned to the stage. “Once again, congratulations to the 200 of you who made it through the first round,” he said, his voice cutting through the crowd. “Luck is no small feat, but it won’t carry you much further. The second round begins now.” The room buzzed with anticipation. “The next round will be a two-player card game. The game and your opponents have been randomly assigned, and this information has already been sent to your smart watches along with your designated gambling rooms. Good luck.” Peter’s wrist buzzed, and he looked down at his watch. ROOM: E52. GAME: BLACKJACK. OPPONENT: ZACK LYNNE. Peter furrowed his brow. Blackjack. So far, so good. But who the hell was Zack Lynne? “Well,” Ace said, breaking Peter’s thoughts, “looks like it’s time to split up. I hope we run into each other again—assuming we are lucky enough to make it through.” “Yeah, me too,” Peter said with a nod. As they walked off, Peter overheard Chloe muttering to her brother, “Luck has nothing to do with it. It’s all about skill and calculation—” “Zip it, Chloe,” Ace interrupted with a grin. “Considering who Peter’s going up against next, he’s going to need all the luck he can get.”
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The Gambling System Chapter 11: Zack Lynne
Without wasting another moment, Peter slipped out of the auditorium and made his way to Room E52. His footsteps echoed in the quiet hallways, his heart pounding harder with every step. The faint hum of slot machines and the occasional clinking of chips drifted faintly from somewhere in the building, but it was all background noise compared to the storm raging in his mind.Stay calm. Focus. One round at a time.He reached the room and pushed open the door. At the center was a sleek blackjack table, its felt surface glowing under the overhead lights. Two chairs sat on either side of the table, and behind it stood a dealer in a crisp uniform. She radiated an air of professionalism, her expression unreadable.One of the chairs was already occupied.The man sitting there wore a loud Hawaiian shirt splashed with neon flowers, clashing spectacularly with the solemn atmosphere of the room. He lounged casually, his grin wide and carefree as if he were on vacation.“Hey, pal!” the man call
The Gambling System Chapter 12: Card Counting
Zack wasn’t relying on luck at all. His loud personality, his flashy shirt, and all the jokes—every bit of it was a carefully crafted distraction. Beneath the surface, Zack’s mind was a well-oiled machine, calculating every move, tracking every card, and silently stacking the odds in his favor.Card counting.Peter’s jaw tightened as he realized what was happening. Card counting wasn’t illegal, but it was heavily frowned upon, and for good reason—it gave players a significant advantage over the house or their opponents.For those unfamiliar, card counting was the art of keeping track of the cards that had been played to predict the ones that remained in the deck. It wasn’t about memorizing every single card—that was impossible. Instead, players assigned values to the cards and used basic math to maintain a running count in their heads.For example:Cards 2 through 6 were “low cards” and assigned a value of +1.Cards 7 through 9 were “neutral” and given a value of 0.Cards 10, f
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[SYSTEM REPORT: QUEST COMPLETED] REWARD: 5 EXP acquired. New skill unlocked. SKILL UNLOCKED: Tactical Vision (Level 1) Explanation: Spots the best possible move within a few seconds. --- Peter stared at the notification on his smartwatch, his mind racing. Tactical Vision? What kind of skill was that? The name sounded useful, but in gambling? Would it really help? He had no time to figure it out. The moment he stepped out of Room E52, searching for his next match, a loud voice called out. "I’ll be damned—you actually made it!" Peter turned toward the sound, spotting Ace walking toward him with a smirk stretched across his face. "Oh hey, Ace. How’d your game go?" Peter asked, shaking off his lingering tension. "A joke. My opponent was some unlucky chump with no skill. It was over in minutes. But you? You went up against Zack Lynne and won. Never saw that coming." Peter frowned. Zack Lynne? "Wait—you know him?" Ace scoffed. "The infamous card counter? Of course, I do. That
The Gambling System Chapter 14: The First Round
Peter hesitated outside Room E52, his hand lingering on the doorknob. His heartbeat pounded in his ears, an insistent drumbeat of doubt.This is it.He exhaled.No turning back now.He had to try.With a deep breath, he pushed the door open and stepped inside.The air inside was thick with sterile silence, the kind that suffocated sound. A single, dim overhead light illuminated the sleek black-and-white chessboard at the center of the room. A mahogany table stood in sharp contrast to the gleaming, polished pieces set neatly on either side.The arbiter, a stiff-looking man in a pressed suit, stood at attention near the board, his hands clasped behind his back. His eyes flicked toward Peter but revealed no emotion.And then—Jonathan.Even after all these years, he hadn’t changed much.He sat with his back straight, arms folded, exuding an aura of quiet superiority. His thick-rimmed glasses still perched on his nose, reflecting the overhead light in a way that hid his eyes. A
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The Gambling System Chapter 17: A Second Chance?
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The Gambling System Chapter 18: Six Years Ago
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The crowd exploded again.If Peter’s bet had been a bomb, Viktor’s was a nuclear strike.People screamed.Chairs clattered against the floor.Someone in the back actually fainted."TWO HUNDRED BILLION?!""IS THIS EVEN LEGAL?!""WHO ARE THESE PEOPLE?!""THIS IS MADNESS!"It wasn’t just a gamble anymore.It was warfare on a scale none of them had ever witnessed.---And in the center of it all —amid the chaos and disbelief —Peter and Viktor locked eyes.No words.No smiles.Just two forces of nature colliding —and only one of them would walk away.The second Viktor’s voice cut through the air —"Two hundred billion." —the reaction was cataclysmic.The arena didn't just erupt — it detonated.It was as if the very walls trembled from the shockwave of noise.A thousand voices screamed at once, the sound bouncing off the ceilings and hammering into the floor.Some people laughed hysterically, others yelled in disbelief, and still more sat frozen, mouths gaping like broken machines."TWO
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Chapter 95: Choosing Fire Over Safety
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CHAPTER 93– THE SECOND ROUND: PETER'S GAMBIT
Peter remained composed, outwardly calm, but inside his mind was a roaring storm of calculations and possibilities.He ran through the most plausible reasons Naomi might have for discarding two Tens—a strong starting hand in almost any version of poker.First possibility:She could simply be aiming for a deliberately weak hand. Something like:> 10-Heart, 10-Diamond, 7-Clover, 4-Diamond, 3-Spade.If she were betting on weaker hands winning, that would make sense. But not entirely.Showing your weakness openly is suicidal, Peter thought. Especially when victory depends on betting more aggressively than your opponent.Second possibility:A more dangerous one.> A-Clover, 2-Diamond, 2-Heart, 10-Heart, 10-Diamond.Maybe she originally had two pairs—Tens and Twos—and was throwing away the Tens to trick him. Or worse:> 7-Heart, 7-Spade, 7-Diamond, 10-Heart, 10-Diamond.Maybe she had a full house and was bluffing to bait him into choosing "Stronger."In that case, if Peter misread the situa
CHAPTER 92 – THE SECOND ROUND BEGINS
The dealer methodically shuffled the cards, the clean snap of the deck cutting through the thick, charged air of the auditorium. With careful precision, she dealt five cards to each player, her movements smooth, mechanical, and utterly without emotion.Another round.Another battle.Peter kept his gaze trained on Naomi, not missing even the slightest twitch of her face, the faintest flicker of her fingertips.“Playing with unfamiliar rules is quite the challenge,” Naomi said lightly, her tone almost playful.Peter narrowed his eyes.Don’t let her fool you, he thought grimly. She’s not nervous. She’s enjoying this.And now… now Peter understood her.Unlike standard poker, Choice Poker wasn't about bluffing your way to a fold.In this game, the real power came from winning the right to choose: stronger or weaker.Because of that, a rational player should only raise by the minimum—just enough to steal the choice without risking too many chips.Anything more was reckless. Stupid, even.Bi
CHAPTER 91 — The First Hand of Choice Poker
The silence in the theatre-like hall was pierced by the sound of ceramic clinking against polished wood.The dealer—a poised woman with a professional grace and a face carved from calm—raised a single custom poker chip into the air. The chip gleamed under the lights, etched with the gold-trimmed insignia of Monte Carlo Gambling University. Its edges shimmered in hues of midnight blue and crimson velvet.“One chip will be worth ten million euros,” she declared, her voice smooth and clear, amplified just enough to be heard throughout the auditorium. “Now then…, how many would you like to start with?”Naomi didn’t hesitate. She smiled sweetly, folding her hands atop the table like a noble lady in court.“I currently have 310 million euros,” she said in a polite, almost too-innocent voice. “So, I’ll take 31 chips, please.”The dealer nodded, motioning to her assistants. A sleek black tray was brought forward, stacked neatly with thirty-one chips, each one glinting like treasure.Then the
Chapter 90 – The Odds
“The odds are against Peter? How so?” Grant asked, narrowing his eyes at Logan, trying to hide the worry creeping up his spine.Logan leaned back in his seat, crossing his arms, his voice calm but serious. “In ordinary poker, the player with more money has the upper hand. That's just a fact. Whoever controls the chips controls the pace of the game. If you have the larger stack, you can keep raising—over and over—until your opponent either folds or bleeds out.”Grant frowned. “Right, but that’s just normal poker. Isn’t this game a little different? You don’t lose automatically just because you have less money, right? You still get to play. You just don’t get to choose between stronger or weaker. That’s it.”“That’s it?” Logan repeated, chuckling darkly. “That one thing—that’s the whole game, Grant.”Grant blinked.Logan leaned forward now, speaking low but sharp, like he was trying to cut through the tension with every word. “The right to choose between stronger or weaker? That’s every
Chapter 89: The Rules of the Game
The stage lights dimmed as Peter and Naomi were ushered to their seats at the center of the circular platform. Two chairs faced each other beneath a low-hanging spotlight. Between them was a sleek, velvet-covered poker table. A hush fell over the crowd as the audience filled in around them, seated in rising tiers of deep crimson seats. It reminded Peter of a gladiator pit—only tonight, the weapons weren’t swords or spears. They were cards. And cash. Peter glanced out at the crowd. It was bigger than he expected—rows and rows of students, professors, spectators, and even masked officials from the gambling committee. Most of the faces were unfamiliar, but all wore the same expression: eager anticipation. Why the hell are they all here? Before Peter could gather his thoughts, a chime echoed across the hall. 9:00 p.m. Right on cue, the dealer walked onto the stage. She was a woman in her late thirties, with shoulder-length silver hair tied neatly in a braid that swung gently wi
