122: Silver Chips

“Guest, congratulations.”

The waiter waved his hand, signaling others to come and carry away the bodies from the table.

The first two were already eliminated, and the remaining one didn't need much explanation. He didn't resist for too long before joining the others on their journey.

An entire table's worth of coins was thus piled in front of Buster.

Cheng Zhen walked over and helped Buster collect the coins.

“Guest, would you like me to exchange your coins for silver chips?” the waiter asked with a smile.

Silver chips?

Cheng Zhen wasn't sure what those were, so he didn't respond immediately.

Seemingly noticing their confusion, the waiter immediately explained, “Some guests are wealthy and have excellent luck with cards. Carrying too many coins can be inconvenient, so exchanging them for chips is more practical. One hundred coins can be exchanged for one silver chip, and ten silver chips can be exchanged for one gold chip.”

“Alright, exchange them,” Cheng Zhen nodded. The waiter then counted out one hundred coins in front of him and handed him a silver chip.

【Item: Silver Chip】

【Quality: Common】

【100 ‘Deception Tavern’ coins can be exchanged for 1 silver chip, 10 silver chips can be exchanged for 1 gold chip.】

【Note: This thing isn't even silver-plated, it's just painted white!】

Cheng Zhen: “...” Given it’s the Deception Tavern, he didn't expect it to give him real gold and silver.

“Lord, what should we do next?” Buster asked.

“Just keep sitting here and wait for people to come,” Cheng Zhen calmly patted his shoulder, showing full approval of his work.

Buster, an honest man who had chopped trees his entire life, hadn't cheated much. This first time colluding to cheat made him a bit awkward. He couldn't help but shift his foot, covering a gap in the wooden floor.

Just like the No. 1 who was eliminated earlier, a cheater wouldn't prepare only one method of cheating.

Besides the survivors hiding in the crowd sending emoji packs, Cheng Zhen naturally had other ways to win—card switching!

Buster squatting under the table wasn't entirely to prevent card peeking; more importantly, it was to facilitate card switching from under the floor.

Much information could be gleaned from the firearms used in the tavern, for example… the era's background.

The pistols they used were similar to the Colt revolvers of the mid-19th century, which were widely popular at the time due to their simple structure, flexible operation, and powerful capabilities.

And tavern buildings from this period didn't use concrete foundations but rather natural foundations or wooden pile foundations to support the building's stability, thus giving Cheng Zhen an opportunity.

Utilizing the space under the floor, the small Digging Hand easily completed the cheating with Buster from his position below.

After all, that thing could not only dig but also interact with items.

30 of the 35 coins were placed on the card table, and the remaining 5 were taken by Cheng Zhen to exchange for several decks of cards from other NPCs.

A cheater without several decks of cards in hand? Could he even be called a cheater?

Other NPCs were naturally happy to exchange cards without the risk of being shot.

By collecting all the cards after winning, the waiter wouldn't have a chance to discover any problems, or perhaps he wouldn't care if there were any issues with the cards.

After all, it wasn't the waiter who would get shot.

After getting the silver chip, Cheng Zhen keenly felt that more people were paying attention to them.

After all, for some, small fry were uninteresting, earning only a few coins after playing for a long time. If they capsized in the gutter, it would be an even greater loss. Naturally, they preferred to chew on fat meat to make it worthwhile.

“One silver chip, anyone in?”

Cheng Zhen raised the silver chip high and called out.

He didn't have to wait long before several people gathered around.

Perhaps because he now had a bit of wealth, the people who gathered this time seemed to be no match for the cannon fodder from before.

And this time, the opponents, as he expected, were indeed more troublesome than the previous ones.

Especially the last guy, Cheng Zhen was certain he had also switched cards, just like himself. It felt like that guy and Buster had played tens of thousands of Kings together.

Because it took too long, Cheng Zhen was so dragged out that he was ready to stand at attention and recover his mana.

But what he hadn't expected was that when the NPC saw the situation was unfavorable, he actually proposed running away to the waiter, which allowed Cheng Zhen to witness a new rule.

“Guest, this gentleman is willing to pay three times the chips to leave this table. Do you agree?”

The waiter asked Cheng Zhen.

Not playing anymore?

“If I refuse? Will the game continue?” Cheng Zhen looked at the waiter.

“Of course, everything is based on the guests' wishes,” the waiter replied, but also added, “However, this gentleman's bet is only one silver chip. If he fails, you can only get one silver chip from him.”

“But if you agree to let him leave, then you can get three silver chips from him. Plus the chips from the other two guests (who have already left after being shot), you can win a total of five silver chips this time.”

Three chips become five? Not a loss!

Cheng Zhen didn't care about the life or death of the NPC, but more chips would definitely be more beneficial to him.

Perhaps this mechanism could also help strategists survive more card games, but the premise was having enough chips.

But Cheng Zhen chose to go all-in.

Because all-in is a kind of wisdom!

However, after Cheng Zhen called out the price of five silver chips, although the greedy gazes around them increased, few people came forward.

After all, anyone who could accumulate five silver chips at this point was definitely not a rookie. So many silver chips actually scared away all the true rookies.

Some experts were even weighing the pros and cons; losing meant a huge loss, running away meant losing three times the amount, so they had to be cautious.

“I didn't expect NPCs to get scared too,” Cheng Zhen said with a bit of helplessness.

“Uh, Lord…” Buster hesitated before speaking, “That last opponent was already very difficult to deal with. If we encounter another expert, we might have a hard time winning.”

“Don't worry, I won't let you die!” Cheng Zhen patted his shoulder to reassure him.

Buster's heart instantly warmed.

Who said the Lord doesn't care about our lives? He clearly…

Before he could finish his touching thoughts, he heard Cheng Zhen add, “If you die, all the wealth I've accumulated over several rounds will be gone, so you absolutely cannot lose!”

Buster: “...”

I thought too much, you always say that. But you don't truly care about me...