God's Imitator

Gao Teng did not place the playing cards in the card receptacle, hence the next round of the game couldn't start.

His statement was very abrupt, causing the atmosphere in the venue to suddenly chill.

Everyone was stunned.

Zheng Qingyun quickly reacted, becoming immediately enraged: "What nonsense are you talking? Don't make baseless accusations!

"The shuffling and dealing are all done by the machine, and every game has a new deck. Do you think I have supernatural powers?

"A person's luck is always up and down. Did I say anything when you were ahead?

"We've just won 3 more games now, and you can't stand it? Can't you accept losing the bet?

"Besides, I already agreed to let you start drawing cards to catch up, didn't I?"

He looked towards Wei Changfeng: "Control your people! Are you the one in charge here or not?"

Gao Teng's voice was low, seemingly trying hard to suppress his anger: "This machine doesn't shuffle cards at all.

"Or rather, while it appears to execute shuffling operations, shuffling for a full minute before each game, it's actually performing a 'fake shuffle' or repeatedly 'perfect shuffle', ultimately resetting the cards to a specific unshuffled state.

"Even after a deck switch, it rearranges the new cards to the old deck state.

"This is a backdoor left intentionally by the Imitator.

"Because I've specifically observed that there haven't been any duplicate cards for a long time in previous games.

"If it were a true shuffle, this situation would never occur.

"From what I know, professional cheaters and players instinctively practice card counting, so you definitely noticed it before I did.

"Was it during the 5th round? The 4th round? Or even earlier?

"If you'd pointed it out earlier, we could find other ways to avoid this issue.

"But you didn't.

"You chose to exploit this to cheat, didn't you?"

Zheng Qingyun kept a stern face: "I'll say it again, I didn't cheat!

"Even if the cards weren't perfectly shuffled like you said, so what?

"The order of dealing rotates and it's done by the machine. How could I cheat?"

Gao Teng instead gave a contemptuous smile, shot through with intense anger.

"You truly are a professional cheat. Even when caught red-handed, you habitually deny it, not weeping until seeing the coffin.

"The shuffling of this machine is just an illusion. The dealing pattern is actually fixed, with certain cards from an earlier round appearing later.

"Although the sequence of dealing among the six of us changes, it rotates clockwise in a fixed pattern.

"True, you can't tamper with the shuffle or deal steps.

"But, this game also has a card collection phase.

"You can use very discreet methods to place two high cards together during this phase.

"For instance, in this round, your three players hold J5, Q3, 42—not high cards. But during the card collection, you can put J and Q together.

"After several rounds, this batch of cards will be dealt again, and you can predict the dealing sequence.

"Then, you can adjust the placement of JQ, at the top, at the bottom, before we exchange cards or after.

"In any case, you don't need to ensure these cards end up with you. As long as they get to any of your three players, you can win the game.

"Similarly, when you know your cards will be dealt to us, you can use the same method to diminish their value.

"Your original plan was probably to deceive us out of 6 to 8 wins, right?

"In the first six rounds, you couldn't cheat due to luck, and we gained 2 extra wins.

"You realized this was a great chance and pretended to be generous by suggesting that we start drawing cards once we were over four wins behind.

"This way, when we were trailing, we'd feel embarrassed to draw cards early.

"Moreover, if we didn't catch onto these tricks, even when we began drawing, you could win more games.

"Because picking two cards out of six, the chance of getting high cards is very likely, often above 18 points.

"While we drawing extra won't guarantee a win, as we might bust, or not hit enough points.

"Even though drawing an extra card disrupts the card order, you can still manipulate.

"For example, putting three high cards together in the deal.

"If we draw and still lose, it's hard to figure out the trick, and we might mistakenly think it's just bad luck, allowing you to rack up another three or four wins.

"When our win count falls seven or eight behind, especially if we've lost consecutive rounds while drawing cards, even the dumbest player would realize something's off.

"But by then it's too late, since even playing normally, you'd already have a pronounced advantage."

Zheng Qingyun was stunned, then laughed quietly: "Absurd! What do you take me for? A magical being who can predict and calculate everything?

"With such complex calculations, if I make even a slight error, the high cards could be dealt to you. I'd have to be crazy to try it."

Gao Teng stared at him: "I've seen more than one cheater like you.

"You all look the same, and make me feel genuinely disgusted.

"But I also clearly know the extent of your card counting, memory, and swapping abilities.

"More exaggerated tricks than these, you can certainly pull off.

"You might want to argue you're not a cheater.

"Okay, then tell me why you waste time every single round?

"True, this game has no time limit. Each game can last as long as you want.

"Yet you always pretend to be nervous, acting like a novice, checking your hole cards repeatedly before revealing cards, or getting distracted, or staring blankly, or casually chatting.

"Every round you delay isn't long, mere seconds, but it's still unusual.

"Because you were chosen as a Sinner for this game, you can't be an amateur.

"You're either an expert gambler or an experienced cheat.

"Moreover, our cooperative strategy doesn't need much thinking, nor does card checking.

"Besides card counting, is there any other explanation?

"I'm giving you time to think of how to defend yourself."

Silence engulfed the venue; no one said a word.

Gao Peng still hadn't placed his cards into the machine, so the game couldn't continue.

This game had no time limit, but all players' wounds were continuously bleeding.

This was another kind of time constraint.