My Level Zero System-Chapter 308: The Trap in Choice

In the end, the gathering of players together for ten minutes did not yield any common agreement.

After all... unless everyone was definitely seeking fairness, someone would inevitably want to benefit more than others, and that benefit would correspond to a proportional reduction in the benefit of everyone else.

Suddenly, Faith stood up and began to speak.

"So, how about this?"

"Because the representative of the Bethel Family and I expended so much in the last bid, in the next turn, we will only bid with 0 gold coins."

"Do you agree?"

Saying that, Faith turned to Cyrus.

Cyrus pulled out the handkerchief from his chest pocket once more, made a show of wiping the sweat from his forehead, and his voice slightly trembled as he spoke.

"This... I think we should still stick to the previous agreement..."

"Hmph, don't you see? Basically, no one will adhere to the agreement. After all, there are no binding rules; any agreement can be broken in the blink of an eye."

"Only bidding 0 gold coins is practical."

"Well then, I'll take my leave."

Faith turned and walked away just like that, leaving the meeting room without regard for anyone else.

Everyone's expression changed.

0 gold coins means being the "freeloader" in this game. Gaining profit without investing anything.

The only way to prevent the freeloader from profiting is to win the bid. The winning player can not only fully utilize their money but also profit from the other losing bidders.

The problem is, this door is only open to one person, and now there are at least eight people competing.

To compete, one needs to spend more gold coins, but if the competition fails, the more gold coins spent, the more the freeloaders profit, and the more the player who spent a lot suffers.

And if one doesn't want to spend many gold coins to bid, they can only spend a few, but spending few means low competitiveness and a near-zero chance of winning.

And if they can't win, why bother spending gold coins to bid? Wouldn't it be better to save them for the next turn?

Thus, the final outcome is still bidding 0 gold coins.

It could be said that Faith had directly exposed one of the most important factors in this resource distribution game.

It wasn't about a balance with a net zero sum, but a dilemma of choice.

If you want to profit but don't want your opponent to profit from you, you must spend more. But when you spend more, your opponent has a greater chance to profit.

If you only want your opponent to stop profiting from you, you can spend less. Ultimately, when you directly cut off your own direct benefit, you will stop being profited from.

That is what Kain thought and predicted.

With just one sentence from Faith, the situation was accelerated dramatically.

"I thought the trend of decreasing bid amounts would only appear after a few turns." Kain thought to himself.

I don't benefit, so you won't benefit either—that is the state of a 0 gold coin bid game.

But...

If someone seizes the perfect moment, directly goes against the trend, and bids 1 gold coin, that person will profit handsomely.

This is similar to turn 1 of the game, just a different variation.

Another loop.

"However, because the amount of money stored in each player's pocket is now different compared to the first turn where everyone was equal, the probability of someone winning the bid is also much higher."

"And the person with the highest probability of winning the bid is me."

In turn 2, Kain possesses 20 gold coins. While the second-place player only possesses 18 gold coins. He only needs to bid 19 gold coins to be sure to win the bid.

However, within this "certainty" is another implicit loop trap.

If they know for sure they can't beat Kain's bid, will the other players directly give up and bid 0 gold coins? That way, they don't have to share the failed bid money, and they reserve money for the next turn.

Kain, after spending 19 gold coins to bid, certainly cannot choose a disadvantageous option, such as using the money from 2 turns to attack, which is a loss; forfeiting half to keep half is a loss; forfeiting the entire amount to steal from others is too much of a loss; and forfeiting the entire amount to withdraw gold coins from the treasury is an even greater loss.

Ultimately, Kain can only put the entire gold coin amount into the treasury.

And Kain, having relied on this "certainty" to deplete his gold coins, will no longer be competitive in the next turn. His treasury will become a fat sheep vulnerable to being carved up by other factions at any time.

And to avoid the above scenario, Kain can only reduce the amount of gold coins spent to win the bid, which carries the risk of being sniffed out by other wolves.

And once he slips up, the advantage from the previous turn will completely vanish.

And to avoid all those bad scenarios, Kain is left with only one choice... bidding 0 gold coins.

That's right, bidding 0 gold coins again.

And the other players will once again fall into the dilemma.

Another peculiar loop of choice and benefit.

Kain was not wrong in his guess.

Now in the meeting room, a few people looked at Kain with a deep meaning in their eyes.

It looked as if Kain was the strongest, but only the moment the bid amount is revealed will tell who is the prey and who is the hunter.

"But... the representative from the Egretta Family is most likely to once again choose to tuck tail and bid 0 gold coins."

"After all, he already demonstrated that in turn 1."

The Zento Family heir thought to himself, then quickly scanned the other players.

His rivals could very well be the players who previously only spent 2 or 3 gold coins to bid. But thinking this, the same old predicament immediately enveloped him.

It was like a curse.

The representative of the Madea Family lightly bit his lip. This person had spent 5 gold coins in the previous turn to bid, so he only had 15 gold coins left in his pocket. Compared to the other players holding 17 or 18 gold coins, his competitiveness was undoubtedly significantly lower.

"Should I give up this bid?"

The representative of the Madea Family thought to himself, then decided to quit.

It was only the second turn of the game.

Finally, all the players dispersed from the meeting room with only ten minutes remaining until the next bid.