The Creatures That We Are

Chapter 24: Big, Big, Big

Wu Dahai confidently ran his hand through his broom head and sauntered toward the slot machine, like he was making a grand entrance into the ring.

“We’ll have ten coins each, so that’s 10 points in total. The match ends after five minutes. You’ll be keeping time, Old Huang. Don’t call the end even a second later.”

“Alright.” Officer Huang took out his phone and opened the timer.

“The rule is simple. Whoever gets the higher score after five minutes wins.” Wu Dahai turned to Gao Yang. “Any question?”

“No.”

“Alright. I’ll do it first!” Wu Dahai sat down before the slot machine and inserted 10 coins quickly before starting the game.

Gao Yang stood behind Wu Dahai and watched over his shoulder, recalling his memory of watching other people play when he was a child and brushing up on his knowledge of the game.

The slot machine was the most commonplace type. There were eight bonuses in total: apple (times 5), orange (times 10), papaya (times 15), bell (times 20), watermelon (times 20), double stars (times 30), double sevens (times 40), and BAR (times 100).

The greater bonuses had a lower chance of appearing with BAR being the rarest. It might not show up even after 100 games. Apples, oranges, and papayas were easier to get, but the bonuses were lower.

Wu Dahai started out with 10 points. He spent 3 points in total, betting 1 on apple, orange, and papaya each.

Five seconds later, he got apple and earned 5 points, accumulating 12 points in total.

For the second round, he bet 2 points each on orange, papaya, and bell.

Five seconds later, he got orange, gaining 20 points with an accumulated score of 26.

...

The first eight rounds or so, Wu Dahai accumulated more than 80 points by betting low on several symbols. He had lost a few rounds in the process, but in general, his score was on an upward trajectory.

Wu Dahai was quite pleased with himself. “Although slot machines are a game of luck, there are patterns to follow. Nothing is ever truly random. I may not be able to put it into words, but after playing tens of thousands of games, you’ll get a sort of intuition for it. Generally, I have a one out of three chance of predicting the right result.”

“What is that called again...” Wu Dahai boasted as he placed bets. “As long as you know the Three Hundred Dang Poems, you’ll be able to recite some, if not write a poem yourself.”

“It’s Tang, not Dang,” Gao Yang couldn’t help but correct him.

Exposed, Wu Dahai turned around to shoot him a glare.

“One minute left,” Officer Huang reminded him.

“That’s more than enough!”

Wu Dahai closed his eyes and muttered, “I can feel double sevens calling out to me!”

He bet 20 points on double seven the moment he opened his eyes.

But he ended up getting papayas.

Surprisingly, Wu Dahai wasn’t fazed by the unexpected result at all and bet 20 points on double sevens again.

He got watermelons.

Now he only had a little more than 40 points left, yet he made the same bet without hesitation.

The result came. He got double sevens!

The slot machine flickered red light in celebration, and an electrifying jingle echoed in the room, along with a monotone robotic voice going, “Congrats! Congrats! Congrats!”

40 times 20 is 800!

His total coin-out counts skyrocketed to 820!

Wu Dahai stood up and stretched. He still had another 30 seconds, but he decided to stop it here.

“Time’s up,” Officer Huang announced.

In the end, Wu Dahai’s score was 820.

After a minute, the slot machine reset. It was now Gao Yang’s turn. Having thought about it for a moment, he took a deep breath and started betting.

In the beginning, he adopted Wu Dahai’s strategy and placed small bets on apple, papaya, and orange. Like a diligent farmer, he focused on tending to his field. In three minutes, he accumulated 61 points, but there was still a great gap between his score and Wu Dahai’s 820.

Then it was time to make bigger bets. However, Gao Yang had no idea what he should do. He was unfamiliar with double stars, double sevens, or BAR.

Finally, he took the risk to bet on BAR!

He had 6 chances to make a 10-point bet. As long as he got it once, he would earn 1000 points!

Isn’t my Talent Lucky? Perhaps I can really get it!

Gao Yang betted 10 points on BAR.

Wu Dahai scoffed. “You’re getting ahead of yourself, buddy! You’ve only played a few rounds, and you want BAR to show up? Most of the time I didn’t get it even when I played through the night!”

Tick, tick, tick, beep—click!

As expected, he didn’t get the result he wanted.

Gao Yang betted another 10 points.

Five seconds later, his bet went down the drain again.

...

Soon, Gao Yang was on his last chance. Something told him that fortune was within his reach, and he pushed the button with full force!

Tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, beep—

Hope rose in Gao Yang’s heart. The result came two seconds later than in the previous round.

Tick!

But yet again, he was far from getting BAR.

“Hahahaha, you missed it... You lost!” Wu Dahai laughed at his failure. “You’ll need ten thousand years to get good enough to beat me at slots, buddy! You have a chance at other games if you put your mind into practicing. Come again next month.”

Gao Yang stared at his current score: 1.

It wasn’t time to give up.

“How long do I have?” Gao Yang turned around and asked.

Officer Huang checked his phone. “30 seconds, 29 seconds...”

Gao Yang scanned the slot machine and zeroed in on the buttons for betting Big and Small.

To hell with it!

Gao Yang closed his eyes and smashed the Big button 10 times.

Ding, ding, ding, ding...

His score jumped from 1 to 2, 2 to 4, 4 to 8, 8 to 16...and finally to 624!

It took less than 10 seconds.

Wu Dahai was stunned. Very few slot players would ever bet on Big or Small. Winning would double your score, but losing even once would clear your score completely.

It might seem like a tempting option, but it was the surest way to lose. When the score was high, in particular, betting on either Big or Small would most likely lose you all your points.

Yet Gao Yang dared to bet on Big for ten times in a row and actually won every time! What kind of luck was that? He should be buying the lottery!

With a pounding heart, Officer Huang called out, “Eight seconds left!”

Gao Yang was shocked himself. Was this his Talent’s doing? Be it so or not, he would do it again!

Suppressing the tremor of his arm, Gao Yang slammed on Big!

Ding!

His score jumped from 624 to 1248!

He did it!

“Time’s up!”

Wu Dahai couldn’t believe his eyes. He had never seen anything like this in his whole life playing slots. Was there something wrong with this machine? He walked up to it and pushed the Big button again.

Ding!

The score dropped back to zero.

Wu Dahai admitted defeat. This was what real luck looked like.

“You’ve won,” he said. “You passed the test.”

Officer Huang couldn’t be happier. “It hasn’t been easy. Finally, I’m able to join the organization after half a year.”

“Hey, wait!” Wu Dahai interjected. “That’s not the case. This is only the first test. There’s a second one.”

“What?” Officer Huang was surprised. “Another?”

Gao Yang wasn’t surprised. What kind of organization recruited awakeners based on their ability in playing games? They weren’t recruiting gamers to compete in e-sport tournaments here.

“You don’t really think winning games is all it takes to join us, do you, Old Huang? The first test is merely the appetizer. Now we’re getting to the main course.”

Wu Dahai snapped his fingers. At once, all the machines in the arcade turned off, along with the ceiling fan.

Gao Yang and Officer Huang exchanged a look in the dark without a word.

Wu Dahai was more than what meeted the eyes—he was most likely someone with a Talent related to electricity, and in most fictional stories, including games, movies, and TV shows, those who manipulated electricity were not to be trifled with.

The man was indeed something else. He had been playing a pig to prey on a tiger with newbies like them. If he fought Qing Ling for real, Qing Ling might not be his match.

“Come on. Let’s move this elsewhere.”

With his hands in his pockets, Wu Dahai sauntered out of the arcade.