“Whether this ‘lottery’ can win a prize largely depends on Aries’ whim,” Jiang Ruoxue said, lowering her head.
“Yes…” I replied. “You use logic to control the lights, and he uses logic to control your logic.”
“That damn Aries… He made me impose ’cause and effect’ onto the game’s logic, while his own logic overrides my ’cause and effect.'” Jiang Ruoxue sighed deeply. “After several layers of logic and ’cause and effect’ stacking on each other, this game has become nearly flawless… It can both kill steadily and harvest vast amounts of ‘Dao’… I thought my dizziness was just from lack of sleep… Turns out Aries slept just fine.”
“Well… Aries doesn’t sleep…”
Jiang Ruoxue completely ignored my words. After speaking, she seemed to think of something else and turned to me. “Then doesn’t that mean Aries would never let anyone win the lottery? Wouldn’t people suspect something?”
“Hard to say.” I shook my head. “As Aries himself said, ‘Everything is difficult at the start.’ In the early stages, he might deliberately let ‘participants’ win, especially when the prize is only a few dozen or a hundred ‘Dao.’ That’s the best way for him to build his reputation. And…”
“And what…?” Jiang Ruoxue blinked.
“This place doesn’t allow ‘killing to steal Dao,’ but what if it’s ‘stealing lottery tickets’?” I bit my lip. “If he wants to run this kind of game, Aries would have to give out physical ‘lottery tickets’ as proof. And those can all be stolen.”
“That’s true… But how would Aries prevent lottery tickets from being stolen?” Jiang Ruoxue asked.
“He doesn’t need to prevent it at all,” I said. “Deaths caused by lottery ticket theft would definitely count as part of ‘Paradise Bank’s’ system. Aries would tacitly allow it.”
As I finished speaking, an unsettling image gradually formed in my mind.
Above the heads of all the ‘Zodiacs’ in this area loomed a colossal Aries, towering in the sky, gazing down at them like chess pieces.
Those enormous, ashen pupils hung in midair, coldly observing from above. Whether these twelve ‘Zodiacs’ won, lost, or died, it would all bring profit to Aries.
They were shackled in place by invisible chains. Aries didn’t even need their consent to make them part of his game.
“But even if someone wins… wouldn’t smart people see through this game?” Jiang Ruoxue pressed. “Wouldn’t they realize the lottery is rigged…?”
“Ruoxue…” I shook my head. “Do you think there are many people here who, like you and me, have retained their memories for so long?”
“Ah…” Jiang Ruoxue nodded. “You’re right… Under normal circumstances, keeping memories for even a year or two is already extremely rare…”
“To completely dismantle Aries’ ‘lottery’ game, you’d need to meet a lot of harsh conditions simultaneously,” I said. “First, retaining memories long-term. Second, being intelligent enough. Third, knowing that ’cause and effect’ exists. Fourth, correctly guessing the lights of all the other ‘Zodiacs.’ Fifth, having a team of at least three people, each meeting the above conditions.”
“That’s practically impossible…” Jiang Ruoxue murmured. “Thinking about it that way… no one would dare to gamble their life with him, right?”
“Honestly… If I’m not mistaken, the ‘lottery’ is the only part of this game where you can ‘gamble your life’ with Aries.”
“Only the ‘lottery’?”
“Yes.” I nodded. “If it really comes down to ‘gambling your life,’ Aries’ ‘betting’ wouldn’t work… Because he’s so wealthy, he could just bet on all three outcomes—’win,’ ‘lose,’ and ‘draw’—in every round, ensuring he never loses. And the ‘bank’ doesn’t even have a way to determine wins or losses, so there’s no room for ‘gambling your life’ there.”
“I see… So the ‘lottery’ is the only way to gamble your life, but when you think about it… no one here would dare to target Aries.”
Jiang Ruoxue was right. The brilliance of Aries’ game was that people would make other ‘Zodiacs’ lose, win, or die for his sake—but never Aries himself.
First, Aries held a ‘drawing’ every day. If he died, the game would collapse, and the ‘drawing’ would be canceled. For the uninformed ‘participants,’ that was unacceptable.
Even if someone publicly challenged Aries to a life-or-death gamble, they’d likely be beaten to death by other ‘participants’ first.
After all, infighting among participants wasn’t under the higher-ups’ jurisdiction. If the ‘gambling opponent’ died, Aries would win without lifting a finger.
And in the later stages, when Aries amassed vast ‘wealth,’ the ‘rich’—who were often desperate outlaws, veteran ‘Echoers,’ or mid-sized factions—wouldn’t allow anyone to gamble their lives with Aries, either. These people were more than capable of dealing with ordinary ‘participants,’ and they’d become Aries’ most loyal bodyguards.
Just as Zhang Qiang and I had discovered back then, if ‘Dao’ was hidden away here, certain ‘thieves’ would steal it. Once smart people realized this pattern, they’d naturally bring their ‘Dao’ to Aries. It was like a marketing strategy—capitalizing on the customers’ ‘pain point.’
For those who wanted to store ‘Dao,’ even a 10% risk of loss was better than losing everything.
And if they were shrewd, there was even a 10% chance of profit.
As I lost myself in thoughts about Aries’ game, Jiang Ruoxue suddenly called out to me.
“Zhichun…”
“What…?” I asked.
“I just thought of something… Back when you were with Aries, did you ever tell him I was ’cause and effect’?”
“No,” I replied. “I never mentioned you. He didn’t seem interested in anyone else.”
“Then you really shouldn’t interact with him anymore…” Jiang Ruoxue said gravely. “That man is terrifying…”
“Is he…?”
“It means this entire game was ‘improvised’ after he heard about ’cause and effect’… Do you realize what that implies?” Jiang Ruoxue said. “Without ’cause and effect,’ this game would’ve been full of holes. But now… it’s even more terrifying than games ‘Earthly Zodiacs’ spent years designing. Aries just sits in his room every day, and people willingly bring him ‘Dao,’ willingly offer their lives, happily dying and toiling for him…”
She turned to me, then asked in a hoarse voice, “How is he any different from ‘Heavenly Dragon’?”
Right… Jiang Ruoxue probably forgot—Aries’ ultimate goal was to replace ‘Heavenly Dragon.’ So to me, this was only natural.
After a few deep breaths, Jiang Ruoxue added, “What’s even more concerning is… he can use his game to quickly identify the strong. Like which ‘Zodiacs’ keep winning, or which ‘participants’ consistently bet correctly…”
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