My Level Zero System-Chapter 314: Recreating the Game

The proposal that could not be refused was to bid 0 gold coins.

If Cyrus still insisted on participating in the bidding, it would be highly suspicious, affecting his own plan.

But why did Faith have to do that? With only 10 gold coins in hand, wouldn't Cyrus naturally fail the bid anyway? Why did he need to stop this?

But this "naturally" only refers to numerical calculation, not the instinct on the chessboard.

Cyrus could completely repeat his old trick, which is to explicitly request that everyone bid 10 gold coins to divide the money evenly.

In the mindset of the other players, this is just a cheap trick Cyrus set up to retaliate for the other players breaking the agreement to bid 10 gold coins in bidding turn 1.

Cyrus would wait until they all bid 10 gold coins, and then he would bid 0 gold coins to reclaim the lost profit from turn 1, in other words, becoming a freeloader.

And to prevent this from happening, the players would automatically lower their bid amount, ideally bidding 0 gold coins, preventing Cyrus from gaining any profit.

The reason the other players would deduce the above and arrive at the solution is also due to the following reasons.

First, when competing in bid amounts, as long as all players are mindful to bid over 10 gold coins, Cyrus is guaranteed to lose; his competitive chance is very low. Thus, Cyrus said he would bid 10 gold coins, intending for the other players to raise their bid amount above 10 gold coins, allowing him, who actually bids 0 gold coins, to make a large profit.

That is why the other players would also lower their bid amount to 0 gold coins.

But what if Cyrus thought deeper, raised the amount to 10 gold coins, and won the bid?

The other players, of course, had considered this level, but this is exactly how Cyrus intentionally demonstrated that he only knows how to "play the game superficially."

Because the core of this game is not about putting as much money as possible into the treasury, but about what percentage of the total gold coins one's own treasury holds.

Pouring money into the treasury early without protective measures, the player can only continuously lose competitiveness and lose protection for their own treasury.

Therefore, if Cyrus wins, it may seem like he successfully manipulated and outperformed the other players. But at the deeper level of implicit understanding, the other players would see Cyrus as a golden goose waiting to be fattened up over time.

Just as Cyrus planned.

But once again, Faith spoiled this plan.

While the players were gathering, he preempted the discussion, bluntly exposed the nature of the game, and then dragged Cyrus along to bid 0 gold coins.

Cyrus could do nothing more when Faith was so explicit; if he acted stubbornly, it would be highly suspicious.

At the same time, this also provided cover for Kain's concealment.

Cyrus probably thought his plan was very secretive and unknown to anyone, but Kain guessed that Faith had deduced it, perhaps even before he did.

He couldn't help but admit that the blond-haired person still possessed frighteningly sharp intellect, just as in Kain's impression.

The reconstruction of events in turn 1 and turn 2 was complete, but in turn 3, Kain encountered a problem.

In both turns, both Cyrus and Faith were quiet, whereas the two prominent players were the Zento Family representative and the Acer Family representative.

One bid 18 gold coins, and the other bid 17 gold coins.

Kain thought he had thoroughly explored the root cause and consequence of this turn, but upon reviewing his memory, Kain noticed a segment. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

It was the scene where the Flamed Family representative discontentedly questioned the Zento Family representative for being attacked.

The focus of Kain's attention was no longer the words, but the Flamed Family representative's expression.

When expressing dissatisfaction, the area around the eyes, especially the furrowed brows, is the clearest indicator. But facial features always form a whole when expressing emotion, to varying degrees. Taking anger or dissatisfaction as an example again, besides the expression around the eyes, the discontented subject's nose might slightly flare, the lips might be pursed with the lower lip pushing up the upper lip causing the chin to jut out slightly, or the jaws would unconsciously clench tighter making the muscles around the cheeks appear due to stiffness...

However, the Flamed Family representative's "dissatisfied" expression severely lacked such details, with only a clear expression around the eyes.

This could very likely be a fake expression!

So why would he need to fake an expression of dissatisfaction when attacked? Was the Flamed Family representative not angry?

Of course, it's because there was no attack, so where would true anger come from?

That means, the two had cooperated to conceal the fact that the Zento Family representative had truly put money into the treasury, something everyone previously thought he hadn't done.

Once this premise is established, many things became clear to Kain.

Looking back at the bidding list for turn 2, he saw that out of the four individuals who possessed 18 gold coins at that time, only the Zento Family representative bid 18 gold coins.

If the Flamed Family representative had cooperated with the Zento Family representative, the Flamed Family representative bidding 0 gold coins is understandable. But what about the other two?

What basis did the Zento Family representative have to risk spending his entire pocket when there were two other players with the same basis?

The answer is only one: all four of them cooperated.

One more piece of evidence: if the Zento Family representative truly wanted to risk making a profit, he should have lowered the bid amount, not maximized it. If he was truly cautious enough to bid 18 gold coins to prevent a player with 17 gold coins from undercutting him, he should have been even more wary of the other players who also possessed 18 gold coins.

And once this premise is clear, the Zento Family representative's plan, the trap he set for his allies that he then dismantled himself, their plan to reduce costs in turn 3... everything was revealed to Kain, transparent and clear.