“That’s easy to explain.”

Earth-Monkey held his cigarette crooked in his mouth with an indifferent look. “You can start by playing some pinball machines, slot machines, and the like. Once customers start arriving, you can open tables for direct gambling—mahjong, pai gow, dice—you can set the rules yourselves for various games. The establishment only provides the equipment and doesn’t interfere with the process.”

“What the hell…” Xiao Cheng was stunned. “Your venue is for ‘Participants’ to gamble against each other?”

“You can also choose to gamble with me,” Earth-Monkey said indifferently. “But I play big, so I’m afraid you won’t be able to handle it.”

“You…”

Xiao Cheng naturally knew that Earth-Monkey had been running this establishment for years and was definitely an old gambling hand. Rashly gambling against him directly could lead to complete defeat.

“Sister Tiantian…” Xiao Cheng turned his head and said, “I’m afraid this matter needs to be discussed with you all…”

“We’ve both already ‘Echoed,'” Tiantian said. “Rather than possibly dying at any time over the next few days, it’s better to die with more meaning now.”

After hearing this, Zheng Yingxiong nodded. “Besides, we won’t necessarily die.”

After thinking in silence for a few seconds, Xiao Cheng decided not to hesitate any longer. He nodded and counted out six “Dao” to hand over to Earth-Monkey.

Earth-Monkey accepted them without courtesy, then said, “You folks are really lucky. The original ticket price is four pieces, but since you’re new faces, I’m giving you a discount—two pieces.”

“Stop talking nonsense,” Xiao Cheng retorted with a frown. “Your wall over there clearly says the entry ticket is two pieces.”

“Oh? It does.” Earth-Monkey nodded. “Can’t help it. Please forgive me, everyone—a casino owner can’t survive without lying.”

The three people stopped conversing with Earth-Monkey and turned to walk into the casino.

There were indeed some single-player equipment here. If the group had good luck, they should be able to earn a few more “Dao” before other participants arrived.

Xiao Cheng took out nine “Dao” from the bag and handed three to Tiantian.

Tiantian accepted the “Dao” with a puzzled expression, then saw Xiao Cheng hand three “Dao” to Zheng Yingxiong as well.

“We each get three pieces and split up,” Xiao Cheng said. “I see that those single-player devices are all luck games. It wouldn’t make sense for just me to play. If the three of us split up and play separately, we have a better chance of winning ‘Dao.'”

“But will this work?” Tiantian asked somewhat worriedly. “I don’t know anything about these things…”

“I’m not much better off than you,” Xiao Cheng also shook his head. “Let’s each rely on our luck.”

Zheng Yingxiong looked down at the three “Dao” in his hand, his expression showing he was honored.

“But I can’t…” His childish voice came out. “These things, I…”

“We’re a team, little brother,” Xiao Cheng reached out to pat Zheng Yingxiong’s head. “This is an ‘Earth-level game,’ and you can participate too.”

After hearing this, Zheng Yingxiong raised his head and looked at Xiao Cheng very seriously, then asked, “Can I really?”

“Why do you always like to ask ‘can I or can’t I’?” Xiao Cheng was somewhat puzzled. “Didn’t we already agree when we brought you along?”

“But… but I’ve never participated in a game before…” Zheng Yingxiong said in a small voice. “I’ve been very happy just that you’ve been willing to take me to participate in games these past two days.”

“Never… participated in a game?”

Xiao Cheng and Tiantian exchanged glances, finding it somewhat difficult to understand.

His memories seemed to have been preserved for a very long time, yet he’d never participated in a game?

“It’s okay…” After thinking for a moment, Xiao Cheng said, “Regardless of whether you’ve participated in games before, we’ve all come in together now, so you can do anything you want to do.”

After hearing this, Zheng Yingxiong clutched the three “Dao” tightly in his hand, then nodded seriously.

After the three people confirmed the nearby facilities, they split up and scattered in different directions.

Xiao Cheng walked for a while and came to a “coin pusher” machine.

Calling it a “coin pusher” wasn’t quite accurate—it was more like a “Dao pusher.”

After all, this machine was fully loaded with quite a few “Dao” inside. Those “Dao” were crowded together in round balls, looking like they were about to slide out from the exit at any moment—very tempting.

There was an input slot at the top of the machine, just right for tossing in the “Dao” from one’s hand.

Xiao Cheng had played “coin pushers” in arcades. This type of equipment had little to do with “luck”—what was needed more was “financial power.”

When you only had two or three coins, choosing a “coin pusher” was naturally like drawing water with a bamboo basket. But if you had two or three hundred coins, this machine could potentially create greater wealth for you.

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Cheng still moved his feet away.

Although those “Dao” looked like they were about to fall, “Dao” could also stack on top of each other. If he didn’t choose the right timing to insert them, he could potentially lose all his chips within ten seconds. He had to give up on this.

After walking a few more steps, he saw a long table.

At the far end of this table were six small holes arranged in a triangular formation—one at the top, two in the second row, and three in the third row.

The hole at the very top was extremely small, seemingly about the same size as a “Dao,” with “8x Great General” written outside the hole.

The second row had two slightly larger holes with “3x Left and Right Vanguards” written outside.

The third row had the largest holes, with “2x Infantry” written on them.

On the side of this rectangular table closest to Xiao Cheng, there was a cylindrical launching device equipped with a spring that could fit a “Dao” inside. Next to the device was written “Charging the Formation.”

The distance between the launcher and the holes exceeded three meters—quite a large variable.

This machine seemed to compare the “Dao” to a soldier preparing to charge into formation. Once it charged forward, if it could enter the “8x Great General” hole, it would be considered that the charger had killed the enemy general and would receive an eight-fold reward—one “Dao” becoming eight “Dao.”

Overall, this machine didn’t seem too difficult and involved a certain degree of skill—it wasn’t a pure luck game.

However, the “Great General” was completely surrounded by his own “soldiers”—not only the “Infantry” in the first row, but also the “Left and Right Vanguards” in the second row.

The area of these holes was not small, making it very difficult to win the eight-fold reward.

Xiao Cheng glanced over and saw that on both the left and right sides of this table were grooves, and in these grooves were piled quite a few “Dao” from failed attempts. These soldiers who had failed to charge the formation lay quietly on both sides like corpses that had died in battle.

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Cheng ultimately decided to use this game to test the overall difficulty of the “Earth-Monkey game.”

If he continued to be timid and hesitant, not only would he fail to win enough “Dao” to get out, but when other participants arrived, he probably wouldn’t even have the capital to gamble against them.