God's Imitator-Chapter 439: The Magician

He Xiaojun quickly thought of several methods for placement, such as making the number of Wealth Vouchers in each box a multiple of 3 or 5, or having the number of Wealth Vouchers in the 22 boxes form an arithmetic sequence, and so on.

But in the end, he still chose something related to prime numbers.

After all, the first two methods were a bit too simple and wouldn't be difficult to guess even for ordinary people, while 'prime numbers,' although also quite basic knowledge, were difficult for most people to quickly identify which specific numbers they were when not commonly used.

"If I choose the first 22 prime numbers, they would be 2, 3, 5, 7, 11...

"Adding up the first 22 prime numbers, the final result is... 791.

"If I withdraw using the 1000 denomination, I'd have to withdraw 791,000... isn't that a bit too much?

"Using the 100 denomination, it's 79,100, which doesn't meet the minimum value of 100,000, but I can multiply it by a specific factor overall, either 2 or 3 would work.

"Let's multiply by 3, carrying a bit more.

"That way, the total is 237,300, which is double the minimum value of '100,000' allowed in the rules. That should be about right. I'll try playing one round first.

"After that, I'll see how other players are doing and then decide whether to carry more."

He Xiaojun didn't have time to think too much. He quickly calculated again to confirm there were no errors, input this number into the vending machine, selected the 'One Hundred (100)' option, and clicked confirm.

The sound of 'pat-a-pat-a' continuously rang out as many bundled Wealth Vouchers fell onto the platform below the vending machine.

There were 23 bundles in total, plus 73 loose individual vouchers.

He Xiaojun picked them up to look. These Wealth Vouchers were quite different in size from real-world cash, with changes in dimensions, being slightly wider. Each one was made of a metal-like material, much thicker than ordinary paper currency, and felt quite substantial in hand.

The texture was good, and there was almost no possibility of accidental damage.

He Xiaojun hurriedly took these Wealth Vouchers into the game room and began arranging them.

...

Since the game hadn't officially started yet, only He Xiaojun as the 'Sage' could enter the game room, while the 'Thief's' door on the other side hadn't opened.

He approached the long table and opened the 22 small boxes in sequence.

Only now did He Xiaojun notice that there were actually grooves on the table surface, and these small wooden boxes fit snugly into the grooves on the table.

Not only that, each of the four sides of the small wooden boxes had a thin pale gold chain, firmly locking them to the table surface.

Although the chains weren't in a taut state, the slack was quite limited.

This meant that players couldn't remove these small wooden boxes, only open and close them.

The opening of the wooden boxes faced the 'Thief's' side.

He Xiaojun tried and confirmed that roughly 5 bundles of Wealth Vouchers could fit snugly inside, with 4 bundles stacked normally and another bundle squeezed into the gap from the side.

Of course, if one really wanted to squeeze in an extra one or two vouchers, it might be possible, but overall it was about right.

"5 bundles, if it's the 100 denomination, that's 50,000. 22 boxes can hold a total of 1.1 million. If it's the 1000 denomination, 22 boxes could hold... 11 million Wealth Vouchers!

"But if when withdrawing, it exceeds 110 bundles, there would be no way to fit all the Wealth Vouchers into these boxes, which would cause a violation, and they'd all have to be compensated to the 'Thief.'

"No one would make such a stupid mistake, right?

"Theoretically speaking, the total amount of Wealth Vouchers each player obtains this time will definitely be an astronomical number, right? Tens of millions, even hundreds of millions are possible."

The 5 minutes was too short. He Xiaojun placed the corresponding Wealth Vouchers into these wooden boxes in the fastest way possible.

The game rules said that 'Sage' players must 'clearly know' the specific amount of Wealth Vouchers placed in each wooden box, but didn't say they had to remember it.

In other words, this rule was mainly to avoid situations where players would take a pile of Wealth Vouchers and then randomly grab a stack to put in a box, and also to ensure that the Wealth Vouchers in these boxes conformed to 'a certain rule.'

He Xiaojun divided these Wealth Vouchers into 22 piles according to the values he had calculated earlier, with each pile being an amount of 'prime number × 300,' for example, the first pile was 600, the second pile was 900, and so on sequentially.

The last pile was 23,700.

Some bundled Wealth Vouchers were broken up to balance the quantities.

After dividing them, he randomly placed each pile into different wooden boxes.

The game rules prohibited 'complete randomness,' meaning one couldn't just randomly grab a stack of Wealth Vouchers and put them in, but after dividing them, they could be placed however one wanted.

Finally, he wrote down the placement rule on the notice board.

'The number of Wealth Vouchers in the wooden boxes divided by 3 are all prime numbers.'

Soon, a '√' appeared below the notice board, indicating that the rule was true and valid, having passed the Gallery's lie detection mechanism.

['Sage' has completed the arrangement according to game rules.]

[The first round of the game will begin in 30 seconds. Please prepare.]

He Xiaojun breathed a sigh of relief. For a player like him, being able to correctly complete the arrangement according to the game rules at the start was already quite difficult.

After confirming one last time that all the wooden boxes were tightly closed, He Xiaojun sat down in the seat at the long table.

After all, this looked more imposing.

He had already made up his mind that no matter who came, he would minimize communication with them as much as possible to avoid showing weakness.

Then, He Xiaojun placed his gloved hands on the table with fingers interlaced, assuming a contemplative posture.

He had been assigned to the 'Reversed' camp and had chosen the reversed 'Justice' costume dress. In the original tarot card image, it was the goddess of justice sitting on a stone throne, holding a sword of justice in one hand and scales in the other.

Although the costume dress didn't have obvious gender characteristics, overall the clothing was quite dignified and looked very imposing.

By remaining still, He Xiaojun could project his presence as much as possible, and with the mask covering his face, it was even less likely he would show weakness.

...

A moment later, the door on the other side of the game room opened.

This player's nameplate on their chest was the upright 'The Magician,' and the red robe of the costume dress looked very striking.

He sat down in the position opposite the long table, examining the 22 wooden boxes on the long table with great interest, then looked at He Xiaojun, who remained motionless across from him.

"Hello."

Players could speak and communicate freely in the game room, but as spectators in the spectator room, they couldn't speak.

The mask naturally had a voice-changing function, making it impossible to determine the other party's gender or age, but their general tone could still be discerned.

He Xiaojun also spoke in a deliberately low voice, "Hello."

'The Magician' looked at the notice board nearby, "It seems you're very confident in your strategy?

"But unfortunately, I am a genuine magician, and moreover, I'm very skilled at tarot cards and divination.

"I can try to establish a resonance with the tarot cards. All mysteries will have nowhere to hide before my spiritual intuition. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝚠𝕖𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝕖𝚕.𝚌𝗼𝗺

"Do you believe me?"