With a crisp “click,” the spring drove the striking pin with a slight tremor, pushing Xiao Cheng’s “Dao” straight out.

Xiao Cheng felt something was off—he felt the direction of this “Dao” was too straight.

At this rate, it would first enter the holes in the third row, which meant “2x Infantry.”

But thinking it over carefully, even “double” wasn’t really a loss overall. If he could win this opening success here, it would be excellent news for the team.

After traveling about a meter, the “Dao’s” angle suddenly began to slightly deviate, then quickly veered off its predetermined trajectory. Just as it was about to reach the third row, it happened to pass through the space between the middle and left holes.

Xiao Cheng also stared wide-eyed at this scene. As long as it could reach the second or first row, the reward would multiply exponentially.

But what Xiao Cheng hadn’t expected at all was that despite it being a flat table and the “Dao” being pushed out in a straight line, this “Dao” traced a bizarre arc across the flat tabletop.

It didn’t stop at the second row at all. Instead, after a few seconds, it rushed toward the “8x Great General” hole in the third row.

Although the situation was somewhat unexpected, for now it seemed to be developing in a good direction.

At this moment, Xiao Cheng had a fleeting thought—they say that people gambling for the first time usually have excellent luck. Could he really exchange one “Dao” for eight “Dao”?

That way, the chips in the three people’s hands would increase from nine “Dao” to sixteen. If Tiantian and Zheng Yingxiong could earn a bit more, they could gather enough money to buy two people’s lives.

This naive thought lasted less than a second. The “Dao” had already approached the “8x Great General” in the first row.

It seemed the spring force of this table was designed so that all “Dao” would gradually lose kinetic energy when approaching the “8x Great General.” Moreover, the spring and striking pin were triggered by a button, meaning the “Participant” had no way to control the distance the “Dao” traveled by controlling the spring’s force—they could only let it roll on its own.

As the “Dao” got closer to “8x,” its speed became slower and slower, until finally, as if attracted by something, it slowly rolled toward the hole.

Xiao Cheng’s heart also hung suspended at this moment. He stared with wide eyes, his hands gripping the table edge tightly.

The “Dao” was about to enter the hole, but at the very last moment, it actually changed direction, heading toward the right side of the hole opening.

“Ah, that’s bad…”

Xiao Cheng’s momentarily excited mood instantly plummeted to the depths. His emotions swung back and forth with that small sphere, as if that “Dao” was all his hope.

Just when the “Dao” was about to go out of bounds from the right edge, it inexplicably slowed down again, then reversed direction and headed toward “8x” for a second attempt.

What Xiao Cheng hadn’t expected at all was that this “Dao,” which had originally departed in a straight line, after several seconds of movement time, actually began circling around “8x.”

Unfortunately, the opening of “8x” was really too small. The “Dao” circled from the left side to the right side, then swung back from the right side to the left, continuously circling around the hole opening.

Although its speed was getting slower and slower, there was no sign at all that it would enter the hole.

Xiao Cheng’s mood continuously fluctuated with the small ball’s rolling. From a physics standpoint, without external interference, when a small ball continuously rotates around a hole, the probability of entering is extremely high.

But this game never seemed to develop in the direction Xiao Cheng had predetermined.

After the “Dao” circled the hole seven or eight times, its speed finally slowed down and ultimately stagnated for a few seconds beside the small hole. Just when Xiao Cheng thought this “Dao” wouldn’t move anymore, it began slowly accelerating toward the edge on one side.

Finally, without any suspense, it left the table and fell into the groove on the side, becoming one of the many “chargers” who had died in battle.

In a short time, Xiao Cheng’s mood had fluctuated dramatically. The sudden failure left him feeling somewhat empty for a moment.

It felt like before it even began, it had already completely ended. It was clearly just one “Dao” invested and a button pressed casually, yet he seemed to have experienced a heart-wrenching gambling game.

It had been so close.

This “Dao’s” distance from “8x Great General” was even closer than one step away.

Perhaps just a difference of one centimeter turned the reward of eight “Dao” into total loss.

“No… this difference is even smaller than one centimeter…” Xiao Cheng shook his head, then pulled out the second “Dao” from his pocket. “Perhaps just a few millimeters off…”

He felt this game facility should be easier to obtain rewards from than other games. At least the spring and striking pin weren’t cheating, and the “Dao” shot out straight. But because the shape of “Dao” couldn’t be considered a perfect sphere and had some elasticity, it might slightly change direction while advancing.

After thinking for a moment, Xiao Cheng decided that rather than going to other game equipment to learn from scratch, he might as well try to win back his capital here first.

Just as he was about to throw in the second “Dao” from his hand, a cheeky voice suddenly rang out from behind him.

“Hey, gambler,” that person called out. “Why do you think the scattered ‘Dao’ are only in the grooves on both sides and not stopped on the table?”

“What…?”

Xiao Cheng had been so engrossed in the game that he hadn’t noticed that at some point, two spectators were standing behind him.

The person speaking had delicate features and a roguish air, but he clearly looked like he hadn’t woken up yet. At this moment, he was reaching up to scratch his somewhat messy hair, and his eyes were still a bit swollen.

After snapping back to reality, Xiao Cheng quickly thought over what the other person had said and suddenly felt it made some sense.

Why weren’t the scattered “Dao” on the table?

The grooves on both sides already had so many “failures.” Logically, the “Dao” should scatter in various places and might even stop on the tabletop. So why wasn’t there a single one?

Xiao Cheng frowned and slowly crouched down, looking at this table from a horizontal angle. He quickly discovered something fishy.

This table wasn’t flat at all. The cross-section of the tabletop was almost approaching an “M” shape.

All the hole positions had imperceptibly protruded upward. Because the slope was very gradual and the lighting wasn’t particularly bright, it was nearly impossible for the naked eye to see the mystery of this oddly-shaped table.

This was precisely why his “Dao” kept meandering forward on the table and even continuously circled around “8x Great General,” yet showed no sign of entering the hole.

Xiao Cheng felt a wave of fear. If it weren’t for this person behind him speaking up to warn him, he probably would have thrown all his remaining three “Dao” into this game.

He turned around to look at the person before him, then looked at the other person behind him. He wanted to say something to thank them, but these two people in front of him really didn’t look like good people.

One had a roguish air with a contemptuous gaze, while the person behind him had two full sleeve tattoos showing and scars all over his body—clearly not someone to mess with.