Darkstone Code

At this moment, for Harry, choosing which card to give to the next player became very important.

He had previously discarded the "sunshine," and now he still held two color descriptors and one "medical" card. At this point, Harry had a very clear understanding: the colors in his hands were actually very important!

Harry found that most of the clues were very abstract. These clues could not directly form the shape of a specific product; at least, he couldn’t conjure up an exact item in his mind, but rather, a myriad of possibilities.

At this point, some detailed clues became extremely important, such as the soil in the community cards, and the colors in his hand.

He guessed that the other three were most likely guessing it was either fruit or juice, but they lacked confirmation on the color, so they couldn’t focus further.

The medical card had broad applicability and also carried strong misleading potential, so Harry didn’t hesitate to flip the "medical" card over and placed it in the exchange zone.

He glanced at his next player, then at the previous player. Everyone’s expression management was very adept; he couldn’t see any subtle changes on their faces. Everyone was restraining their emotional expressions.

Under the host’s direction, another round of cards was exchanged, and Harry, with some anticipation and some apprehension, unveiled his card, and he was stunned.

A "granule" card.

If it was granule, it formed a strong combination with the card Harry had just exchanged away, the medical card. Medical, granule—wasn’t that a pill?

But this conflicted with sunshine and soil.

The Federation had very strict management and control in its laws regarding herbal preparations, because people in the Federation, or rather, people in this world might have certain genetic deficiencies.

They often have mild to severe allergies to all kinds of things. If, during spring and summer, a classroom doesn’t have a few students turning into a "pig’s head" due to invisible pollen in the air from passing by flowerbeds on their way to school, then it must be a fake school.

Because no one knows if someone has some hidden allergens, people in the Federation are very strict in handling natural plant preparations. They don’t want their medication to not save lives but rather become killers.

As for the sunshine and such...

Harry’s palms were sweating again. He was not sure if this was a misleading card. He looked up to observe the other players, and at this moment, everyone’s attention was on their newly received hand cards, each with a frown.

It was clear that the monthly champions were beginning to adapt to the competition and find the correct way to play the game.

The host sneaked a glance at the next community card and let out a "Wow," immediately drawing everyone’s attention to him.

This made the players realize that the community card about to be revealed might be quite special.

After participating in so many competitions, they deeply understood that they couldn’t completely trust the host. If anyone really thought the host wouldn’t lie, then they surely hadn’t experienced the host’s maliciousness!

Those people were eliminated early!

The host often engaged in misleading behaviors, such as when someone answered a question, and the host would kindly remind them, saying in a gentle tone, "I’m kindly reminding you, don’t be ungrateful," repeatedly asking the contestant to confirm!

Asking them if they were sure of their current answer, firmly believing this was the answer, because once they confirmed it, they couldn’t change it!

At first, people didn’t realize this was also a trap, a form of misleading. Lured by the host’s tone, they made wrong decisions, changing a correct answer to an incorrect one, ultimately losing points.

From that time onward, contestants realized that their opponents weren’t just the contestants competing alongside them, but also the host, who constantly misled and tried to make them lose opportunities!

Harry also became tense; he couldn’t figure out what the host actually meant.

Amid everyone’s anticipation, the host slowly revealed the community card, which read "project."

Esperanto, due to its development, sometimes had words that meant many different things in different contexts and pairings, just like this "project" card in front of them.

Harry quickly filtered through all its meanings in his mind. It wasn’t like the word "box," which, when confined to the environment of a "supermarket" clue, simply meant a package!

But "project"... the specific factors that determined the meaning of this word hadn’t appeared yet or, if they had, they weren’t in his hand.

He immediately began observing the other contestants, hoping to glean some extra clues from their faces. But unfortunately, just like before,

the first skill every contestant from the preliminary to the monthly champion learned was to control their expressions and emotions. They wouldn’t let anyone see their answers from their faces!

Harry wiped his sweaty palms again; the situation was becoming tricky, and his brain began to operate quickly, gaining a deeper understanding of the game.

"In fact, by the time everyone plays to the final round, they will have seen at least five community cards and their initial three hand cards, and potentially more clues from four rounds of exchanges..."

"Every round, they logically see eleven to twelve cards if the very first card they exchanged hadn’t circled back."

At this moment, Lynch was explaining the actual gameplay to Catherine, "So when the game is halfway, and you cannot lock in a final target, the best approach is..."

Lynch’s words were not finished when Catherine suddenly answered, "Prevent others from scoring!"

Lynch was slightly surprised, "Why do you think that?"

He didn’t give Catherine a definite and correct response, making Catherine instantly realize she might have answered incorrectly, which was simply incredible!

She hesitated, "If everyone can’t answer correctly, then for ’me,’ it would be a tie..."

Lynch’s viewpoint was different, "This is something you can’t control, and you should also understand one thing, there are only seventeen cards; there are only five cards you can’t see."

"After half a round, you have already seen most of the clue cards. If you can’t determine the answer, maybe it’s because your starting hand was a misleading card, which also means others might have already locked onto the target."

"Rather than betting everyone won’t guess correctly, consider what might happen if someone already has locked onto the answer!"

Lynch looked at the TV screen, "They should now also start to realize that the further it goes, the fiercer the competition among contestants gets. If someone’s points are far higher than others..."

He shook his head, "That would upset the fairness of the competition."

"If I were a contestant, what I would do now is, on the premise that I might not win, try to let more people win as much as possible."

"Split the bonus three ways, I would only be behind by a few thousand points, which I could make up for with a single win."

"But if someone bets correctly and wins, they would be ahead by 20,000 points!"

Lynch said with a smile, "Of course, this is just my opinion as a designer; perhaps they can find a more mature way to play from the game."

Catherine shook her head, "Ugh, I can’t understand at all!"

It was clearly just a simple trivia game, but Lynch’s explanation made the show become increasingly complex.

Actually, Catherine still didn’t realize, or rather, she hadn’t yet discovered the program’s change in direction.

At first, everyone gained points by getting them from the host.

But as it progressed, the competition among players instead became more intense, and their scores no longer came from the host but rather from other contestants!

In capital markets, there is a tactic called "hurting with capital," where someone with great power can always push a far weaker opponent to the brink.

They just need one win to push the opponent into the abyss, leading to bankruptcy.

However, even if the opponent wins several times, ten times, or dozens of times, it’s just a slightly stronger bug to someone like them!

This tactic is equally applicable in gambling; each round, no matter what cards your opponent holds, you directly bet all the chips on your table. Will you match it?

If you do, and you lose, you lose everything!

If not, they take a minimum bet from you and continue pressing in the next round!

Even if you win, in the next round, they bet everything against you again, leaving you no choice!

Therefore, before competition between players begins, ensuring the gap between "yourself" and other players doesn’t become too large is the top priority when facing a single-round failure!

Only when everyone stays on roughly the same level—here, referring to points—

will people be in awe of the upcoming competition results, reserving something for the process!

On the TV screen, everyone chose to continue exchanging cards. In the first round, they were very conservative, perhaps still deepening their understanding of the game itself.

This time, Harry directly took out a "yellow" color clue card and put it in the exchange zone.

Of course, he couldn’t read minds, much less intercept the thoughts of Lynch far away through the camera and television signal lines.

His thinking was simple: if the color card was a misleading card, for instance, if there was yellow or green on the packaging, then he would definitely take a fall.

He wanted to pass the color card and then observe through the reaction of the next player.

His fingers gently scratched the edge of the card, moistening it with the sweat from his palm.

If you didn’t look carefully, you wouldn’t notice that tiny trace of dampness.

Harry’s vision was good. He intended to use this method to ascertain its importance to the next player, thereby determining whether his thinking was correct.