Chapter 54.1 (1/2)
The clown turned to reveal a machine behind him.
The moment the three of them saw it, their eyes all widened — Wasn’t that a fucking claw machine?!
That’s right, the “lucky egg machine” mentioned by the clown was clearly a claw machine, and it’s even the most standard type seen in supermarkets. It was just that instead of plushies, it was a variety of colorful eggs.
This last hidden move… was actually to grab plushies?!
It’s simply too disillusioning! Was this for real or a joke?!
Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t help but ask the clown, “How do we play the lucky egg machine? Don’t tell me we’re supposed to grab the eggs inside the egg machine?”
The clown grinned, “Lucky players don’t worry. I’ll announce the rules of this hidden game event now. Your task is to grab the eggs in the lucky egg machine. The conditions I have given you are very relaxed. Everyone has three chances…”
Xiao Tangqiu, “…”
It really was! It really was to grab the colorful eggs!
But this sort of thing wasn’t relaxing at all! Who didn’t know that claw machines were something that relied on luck? Based on his luck, would he really be able to grab an egg in three tries?
Plus, that wasn’t all. The clown continued to speak with a grin, “Of course, if some of those among you aren’t lucky, you can also trade for an egg from your companions…”
Xiao Tangqiu’s heart skipped a beat. What did that mean? They could also trade for an egg from their companions?
“I won’t stop you from giving your egg to someone else.” The clown then spoke the last part ominously, “…Of course, you can also take it by force.”
Xiao Tangqiu instantly understood the clown’s intention. This was a provocation. This was definitely meant to provoke! When the final lucky survivors came to this place after all sorts of life and death trials and hardships, in order to compete for the last bit of hope, naturally, they would make a move against their former companions under the guidance of the clown’s words. Even if they didn’t want to actively steal someone’s egg, they would be fearful of others stealing theirs. They would be filled with doubt and suspicions about each other.
Xiao Tangqiu’s heart slowly sank. But when he put the three of them in this scenario, he felt that something was wrong… Forget about Tang Mianmian and himself; how many times have they sacrificed their lives to save each other? If they were afraid of death, neither of them would be alive now. But even the geek, who was the only unfamiliar person with them — although he did seem to be the kind of person who would steal someone else’s egg in order to live, but the problem was, based on his luck, did he need to grab someone else’s eggs?
Tang Mianmian obviously thought the same. The corners of his lips twitched and he couldn’t help but let out a laugh.
It was actually the geek that looked unsettled. But he settled down again after taking a look at the lucky egg machine. Things like gambling based on luck, wasn’t that his strong point?
Seeing that the reactions of the three of them weren’t as vigilant and suspicious as he expected, the grin on the clown grew even wider, “Alright, the game begins! Everyone gets three chances, the three of you can take turns going. Who wants to go first?”
.
Xiao Tangqiu glanced at Tang Mianmian and the geek, then helplessly said, “I’ll go first.”
The geek immediately breathed a sigh of relief. Although he knew that he was lucky, he didn’t want to be the first to eat crabs. Tang Mianmian made an encouraging gesture towards Xiao Tangqiu.
Before Xiao Tangqiu officially began, Tang Mianmian mysteriously pulled Xiao Tangqiu aside and taught him “the tricks of claw machines”.
“Don’t worry! When it comes to claw machines, I’m an expert! I’ve been grabbing plushies since kindergarten. If it’s not a thousand, I’ve at least gotten nine-hundred! You can’t go wrong listening to me!”
Xiao Tangqiu did know that Tang Mianmian liked to play with claw machines. This guy usually went to play them whenever he had time and often sent him photos of the plushies he grabbed… That’s right! How did he forget that this guy was a claw machine expert?
Xiao Tangqiu’s eyes gleamed, “You finally came across something you’re good at? Looks like our luck isn’t too bad!”
Tang Mianmian gave a few laughs, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing! I’m only passing you a few tricks about claw machines! You can definitely grab it within three tries! The claw machine has a fixed probability, usually a probability of three or four percent. Of course, that’s ruling out the situation of unscrupulous shopkeepers or conscientious shopkeepers who lower or increase the likelihood. The statistics is to try twenty to thirty times to be able to grab one. But this doesn’t mean grabbing it again is absolutely impossible until after twenty or thirty more times or that you’re guaranteed to grab one in twenty or thirty tries. That’s because the distribution of probability isn’t so absolute and even, otherwise it will be too easy to figure out. When the probability hits, you’ll definitely be able to catch one. This is called the strong claw.”
Xiao Tangqui’s mouth twitched, “Twenty, thirty times? Then we should just obediently lie down and wait for death.”
Tang Mianmian continued, “Outside of the strong claws, it’s called a weak claw. The strong claws can grab it a-hundred percent. There’s nothing to say, and there’s nothing to worry about. But we only have three chances per person, so chances are we won’t come across a strong claw. We can only work hard on the weak claws. In the case of weak claws, there are several techniques for grabbing.”
“First it’s the swing claw. The so-called swing claw is simply to calculate the swing of the claw and to lower it when it’s swinging towards the hole. At this point, the claw will swing back in accordance to the pendulum theory to grab the plushie. Then the weak claw setting will successfully swing the plushie towards the hole.”
Xiao Tangqiu felt extremely confused after listening. “The weak claw setting? What’s that?”
“The weak claw setting is that in the case of non-strong claws, when the machine judges that you will grab the plushie, it will weaken its hold when the claw comes up so that the plushie falls. That’s why in many cases, we obviously grabbed the plushie, but because the machine weakened its hold halfway, the plushie doesn’t reach the hole. And some unscrupulous shopkeepers will even set the inner swing.”
Xiao Tangqiu continued to be confused, “Inner swing? And what’s that?”
“That’s when they make use of the angle of the swing while loosening the claw at the same time so it throws the plushie towards the back of the machine, making it even more difficult to grab.” After Tang Mianmian explained, he went back to the previous topic, “But to use the swing claw is too difficult for a newbie. It usually takes hundreds of practice attempts to have some success at it so it’s unlikely you’ll be able to learn it in a short period of time. So there’s two alternatives, trapped claw and hanging claw.”
Xiao Tangqiu’s expression was full of ‘what’s this? What’s that? What about that?’.
“The so-called trapped claw is to find the best angle when lowering the claw so it catches the most ideal section of the plushie. Usually, that would be the smallest part of the plushie, for example the neck, arm, waist or leg areas. If the place is small enough, it can trick the machine into thinking that it didn’t grab the plushie so it doesn’t release the claw strength halfway.”
“The hanging claw also requires you to find the best angle. When the claw lowers, hang the plushie’s tag or some part onto the claws so that even if it loosens, the plushie wouldn’t fall until the claw returns to the hole.”
Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t help the blank look in his eyes, “There’s so much to pay attention to just for grabbing a plushie? …I might as well just lie down and wait for death!”
Tang Mianmian reached out a hand and patted Xiao Tangqiu’s shoulder and sincerely said, “Jiayou!”
Although Xiao Tangqiu listened to Tang Mianmian’s long spiel, his head was still filled with fog and his face full of confusion. Good thing he wasn’t someone who had never played with claw machines. Although his experience couldn’t compare to Tang Mianmian’s, he still knew the basics.
He took a deep breath and moved to stand in front of the lucky egg machine.