At this time, the chips that the "Chip Exchange Machine" had won were already neatly stacked inside by the mechanical arm and covered with heavy transparent glass.

In that instant, Qin Yao had some thoughts, such as what would happen if she directly snatched the chips from the mechanical arm while gambling?

But she quickly dismissed this idea, because during the entire exchange process she was firmly locked in her seat and couldn't reach those chips at all. Moreover, the "Gallery" had made it very clear that any rule-breaking behavior would inevitably result in punishment of "visa time deduction" or even "deportation."

Don't court death by touching red lines.

Leaving the small compartment for chip exchange, Qin Yao felt her eyes brighten as she greedily breathed the fresh air.

Compared to that dark, cramped, somewhat oxygen-deprived narrow compartment, the area outside was simply like heaven.

This place was somewhat like the lounge area of an upscale tavern or café, with spacious sofas and exquisite coffee tables. An old record player was playing vinyl records, its melodious sound inexplicably adding several touches of literary atmosphere to the entire scene.

In the most spacious area were two huge gambling tables, each with 8 seats.

The "Chip Exchange Area" compartments were located at the edge of the entire scene. They looked dilapidated and crude, with rough, uneven concrete walls stained with considerable dirt, presenting a completely different aesthetic.

At this time, the doors of other compartments also opened one after another.

What somewhat surprised Qin Yao was that the people coming out were actually two familiar faces.

"Sister Jiang He? Aunt Su! We're actually in the same game?"

Qin Yao's joy was evident, because the people coming out of the adjacent compartments were exactly the acquaintances she already knew from Community 17: Player No. 2 Jiang He and Player No. 8 Su Xiucen.

"Yao Yao! I'm so happy to see you!" Jiang He also looked very happy, even giving her an excited hug.

"But... what's this situation?" Jiang He frowned as she looked at the only compartment that hadn't opened its door.

Su Xiucen pointed across the way, "Hey, look quickly! There are people over there too!"

Qin Yao followed Su Xiucen's gesture to look toward the other side of the game venue and discovered that there were also four "Chip Exchange Area" compartments there, with four completely unfamiliar faces emerging from them one after another.

On their side, there were also four compartments, but one had never opened.

"Is there actually someone inside there? Could it also be someone from our community? Why haven't they come out?"

Jiang He went forward to look. The compartment door was still tightly locked, with red indicators meaning the internal lock hadn't been opened, naturally making it impossible to enter.

"Hello, is anyone there?"

Jiang He gently knocked on the compartment door but received no response.

Although these compartments looked very crude, they actually had very good soundproofing. When everyone was inside earlier, they had completely not heard any sounds from outside.

"They couldn't have died inside, could they..."

Jiang He's expression changed as this speculation suddenly flashed through her mind.

To exchange chips required blood drawing. And if too much blood was drawn, it was entirely possible to faint or even die.

Su Xiucen instinctively stepped several paces away from the compartment.

Qin Yao quickly said, "Sister Jiang He, don't worry about those irrelevant things for now. The game isn't over yet.

"Look, the screen says we still have to play at least one game with players from other communities before we can leave here."

Jiang He looked toward the two multiplayer gambling tables in the center of the venue. On the wall directly in front of the multiplayer tables was a large screen with the corresponding game rules clearly written on it.

[Players from Community 3 and Community 17, hello, welcome to "Blood Poker."]

[Players who have finished exchanging chips may proceed to the automatic gambling tables in the center of the venue to play.]

[The game rules remain "Simplified Golden Flower." The specific rules for multiplayer games are slightly different. See the explanations on the gambling tables for detailed rules and card type diagrams.]

[The gambling tables can automatically shuffle, deal, and collect cards according to the rules, helping everyone complete games absolutely fairly and justly.]

[The multiplayer gambling tables have a limit of 2 to 8 people. Each gambling table must have "at least 1 player from another community" when starting.]

[The default ante for multiplayer tables is 1,000 chips.]

[After a gambling table game begins, you must complete 10 games or exhaust all chips before you can leave.]

[This game strictly prohibits any violent or rule-breaking behavior, or you will face instant death punishment.]

[Game time is 90 minutes.]

[At the end of the game, the Gallery will tally players' chip counts. After players return to their communities, chips will be converted to corresponding visa time.]

[If at the end of the game you haven't played with other players, 10,000 minutes of visa time will be deducted.]

[Will you return loaded with profits, or lose everything?]

[The game has begun. Good luck to you all!]

The large screen already had a countdown, but the current time was 1:25:33, which meant the time spent in the chip exchange area was also counted within this hour and a half.

The bright red numbers kept jumping, and although the "tick-tock" sound wasn't loud, it gave people an extremely urgent feeling.

Jiang He immediately realized something and asked, "Yao Yao, Aunt Su, how many chips do you have left? I have 19,000 remaining."

Qin Yao counted the chips in her hand, "18,000."

Su Xiucen gripped her chips tightly, "I also have 18,000."

Obviously, this visa time was very precious to Su Xiucen.

She currently had only 16 days of visa time remaining. If she could take these chips out when leaving, her remaining visa time could double.

"You all also exchanged 200ML of blood, right? And... called?" Jiang He asked.

Qin Yao and Su Xiucen looked at each other, then nodded.

Since everyone's process when gambling with the "Chip Exchange Machine" was the same, it was easy to guess the specific situation at that time based on remaining chips.

The 1,000 chips these two had less than Jiang He were obviously losses from calling to see cards twice.

Jiang He sighed, "How could you call? This kind of wishful thinking is unacceptable.

"This game is obviously unfair at first glance. Running away decisively is the right choice.

"Having even a little curiosity or disbelief results in a real loss of 500 yuan.

"But this loss is still acceptable. There shouldn't be anyone stupid enough to raise or continue gambling in this situation, right?"

After speaking, she looked at the compartment that still hadn't opened, wondering what was actually happening inside.

Su Xiucen sighed, "I understand. Consider this money a lesson learned..."

As someone who lived frugally, losing a thousand yuan for no reason made her feel very pained.

Qin Yao wasn't as uncomfortable, just felt the game rules were unfair, "This chip exchange machine could obviously just rob us directly, yet it puts on an act of playing two games with us."

According to the current winning and losing probabilities, gambling with the "Chip Exchange Machine" was absolutely the worst choice.

The chip exchange machine drawing an extra card greatly increased its probability of forming better card types, giving it too great an advantage in the "Simplified Golden Flower" game.

"So what should we do now? Should we gamble with those people?" Su Xiucen was somewhat at a loss.

Qin Yao thought for a moment and said, "We probably still have to gamble, right?

"If we don't gamble, we'll be directly deducted 10,000 minutes of visa time. But if we gamble, even if we lose all the antes for ten games, it's only 10,000.

"During this time, as long as we get relatively big cards in any game, we can earn back quite a bit."

Jiang He shook her head slightly, "Things aren't that simple.

"Situations at gambling tables change rapidly. How can you be sure what you're getting are 'relatively big cards'?

"There's a situation called 'enemy cards,' meaning you get pretty good big cards, but someone happens to have even bigger cards.

"In this situation, you confidently raise, only to be completely devoured in the end. In that case, the loss probably won't just be 10,000, but everything."

Qin Yao had some doubts, "But this is a low-probability event after all, right? If we keep folding because we're afraid of this, then we'll never be able to win, will we?"

Jiang He thought seriously for a moment, "I think we still need to go to the gambling table, but we don't necessarily have to gamble completely according to the game rules.

"This game actually has a 'perfect solution.'"