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With three players remaining at the table, after everyone had placed their bets, the final showdown began.
The first to reveal his cards was the other man besides Jacob and Fukuyama. He flipped over his hole cards first—the 6 and 7 Jacob had initially seen—and his hand formed a 3-4-5-6-7 straight with the community cards.
This hand made Fukuyama breathe a sigh of relief. His full house was stronger, and now all he needed was for his hand to be better than Jacob's to win all the chips.
Fukuyama nervously looked at Jacob, and Jacob, seemingly sensing Fukuyama's gaze, suddenly turned to meet his eyes. The corner of his mouth beneath the mask curved upward slightly.
He was smiling?
Fukuyama's heart jolted, instinctively feeling uneasy. He nervously stared at Jacob, only to hear Jacob suddenly speak. "Are you praying that my hand is just a straight?"
How did he know?
However, under Fukuyama's shocked gaze, Jacob revealed his hole cards.
A pair of 5s!
The moment those two cards appeared, both Fukuyama and the other man's faces turned ashen. The most crushing moment for any gambler is the instant the cards are revealed.
This result instantly caused exclamations to erupt from the crowd, and Fukuyama, enraged, directly threw his hole cards away, stood up, and left.
Seeing this scene, everyone knew that Jacob had won this hand!
After claiming the other two players' chips and Gimmighoul coins, Jacob had already qualified for the second round of gambling, and there was no need for him to continue.
The other two also left the table.
Jacob stood up as well. There was about one hour remaining until the second round began, so he could rest for a while.
Jacob stretched lazily. Unlike the excitement others might feel, after knowing he would win beforehand, the gambling game had lost much of its appeal, and five consecutive hours of play had also made Jacob somewhat tired, causing him to yawn.
However, just then, a fragrant breeze swept over, and Helen quickly walked to Jacob's side, giving him a big hug and kissing him on the cheek.
"You're amazing! We're rich!" Seeing Jacob win so many chips at once, Helen was extremely excited. She had become instantly wealthy with just that one Gimmighoul coin!
"What are you doing?" Jacob, coming to his senses, pushed Helen away. At the same time, he furtively glanced toward the organizers' area. Seeing that Raya wasn't there, he breathed a sigh of relief.
"This is your reward. You're simply incredible," Helen's voice rang out. "We can split the money now. You can give me my ten million."
"I'm warning you, don't do that to me again, or your share will be halved."
"But... that's not fair. This is to celebrate our overnight fortune. Quickly, give me my chips."
"Take them and don't bother me." Jacob naturally kept his promise and handed Helen the chips she was owed.
"Bye-bye! See you again if fate allows." After receiving the chips, Helen smiled and waved at Jacob, then turned and walked toward the staff. "I'll come to China to find you when I have time!"
She excitedly exchanged the chips for money and chose to withdraw from the gamble.
Next, she only needed to enjoy her time on the cruise ship, wait for it to dock, and then she could take this large sum of money and go far away to enjoy a wonderful life.
Helen, in a joyful mood, walked out of the top-floor gambling hall with a spring in her step.
After Helen left, Jacob also sat on a sofa, eating from the buffet provided by the gambling hall and reading a newspaper, patiently waiting for the first round of gambling to end.
However, Jacob didn't rest for long before he was interrupted by a voice.
"Hey."
Jacob frowned and looked up. What met his eyes was a flower mask.
This familiar mask belonged to Elise, who had gone all-in at the very beginning and lost all her bets. Obviously, she was unwilling to leave things as they were, so she had specifically sought out Jacob, wanting to win back her money.
"What is it?" Jacob frowned at Elise. He really disliked her tone.
"One more gamble." Elise looked at Jacob, her eyes filled with the greed characteristic of gamblers. "I'll bet with this."
As Elise spoke, she removed the necklace from around her neck and handed it to Jacob. "This is an S-rank Sun Stone."
Jacob's gaze swept over Elise's necklace.
Sun Stone: S-rank. A type of Evolution Stone that can be used on certain Grass-type Pokémon to evolve them and improve their potential.
It really was an S-rank Sun Stone, which could evolve five types of Pokémon.
Used on Gloom, it evolves into Bellossom.
Used on Sunkern, it evolves into Sunflora.
Used on Cottonee, it evolves into Whimsicott.
Used on Petilil, it evolves into Lilligant.
Used on Helioptile, it evolves into Heliolisk.
"Alright. How do we gamble?" Jacob naturally wouldn't refuse such a good opportunity that had come to him.
"Continue playing Texas Hold'em?" Elise looked at Jacob and asked.
"Of course." Jacob smiled. It didn't matter to him what they played.
Ten minutes later.
Jacob satisfactorily took Elise's necklace—an S-rank Sun Stone—into his possession.
"Still gambling?" Jacob smiled at Elise. At this moment, she had clearly lost her composure, her eyes red. She only came to her senses after losing the necklace. "You have no more chips."
Looking at the necklace in Jacob's hand, Elise finally regained her awareness. She had unknowingly lost so many chips.
The chips lost earlier were one thing, but this necklace held unique meaning for her. Now that even this necklace was gone, she naturally felt immense regret.
"There are only ten minutes left until the first round ends. It seems you have no more chips. I have to go." Jacob smiled at Elise. "Thank you for your Sun Stone. I like it very much."
"I..." Jacob's words undoubtedly added fuel to the fire, making Elise, who had already lost her head, feel even worse.
She looked at Jacob with reddened eyes, gritted her teeth, and said, "I don't have anything else on me. Lend me some chips for one more game. I'll have someone pay you back when we get off the ship."
"Lend?" Jacob shook his head. He wouldn't be foolish enough to agree.
Who knew if Elise's identity was even real? What if she borrowed the money and disappeared?
"Sorry, no." Jacob shook his head and stood up to leave.
"You..."
Chi Hanxiao wanted to say more, but found that Jacob had already turned and left.
"Hey! Leave me your contact information. I'll pay to buy my necklace back!"
Soon, the first round of gambling ended, and the twelve people with the most Gimmighoul coins successfully entered the second round, while other losers who still had surplus Gimmighoul coins would have them forcibly redeemed by the organizers at a one-to-one chip ratio.
Therefore, almost everyone with Gimmighoul coins chose to sell them at a high price to other participants at a ratio of one-to-two or one-to-three before the end of the first round.
After entering the second round, the remaining twelve participants could choose whether to continue the competition or directly exchange their Gimmighoul coins and chips for cash and withdraw.
After a round of inquiries, eight people directly chose to withdraw, which meant only four people actually participated in the gambling—a common occurrence.
After all, only one person could ultimately win 999 Gimmighoul coins, and the others were just participants. It was better to make some money and leave directly.
The eight people who voluntarily forfeited had one more privilege than those eliminated in the first round: they could be ranked according to the number of Gimmighoul coins they held, from highest to lowest, and in order, they could use their chips and Gimmighoul coins to redeem the collateral of other participants.
It was precisely because of this privilege that these people fought tooth and nail to rank among the top twelve.
However, they would have to wait until the end of the second round, after the final winner was decided, before they could redeem the collateral.
Jacob naturally chose to continue participating. His purpose for coming here was to win that Quasi-Heavenly King-level Ditto mask, and only the person who won the final gamble had priority to redeem participants' collateral with chips.
The second round of gambling also adopted a random format, with random draws to determine opponents and random selections for the gambling method.
Jacob looked at the last three opponents—all foreigners.
One of them was the tall white man who had initially introduced the Pokémon Gholdengo to Jacob. When Jacob looked at him, the man seemed to sense it and also turned to look at Jacob.
He nodded slightly, seemingly greeting Jacob.
Aside from this white man, Jacob didn't recognize either of the other two.
The final draw result was Jacob against a pot-bellied white man.
After randomly assigning opponents, they began to randomly select the gambling method.
The other group drew the dice area—guessing high or low.
As for Jacob's group, the gambling method drawn was beyond everyone's expectations.
Free Zone—Russian Roulette.
When this result was drawn, both the white man and Jacob frowned deeply.
Russian Roulette was one of the most classic and also most cruel games.
Russian Roulette required a revolver, with one bullet placed in its six chambers. After arbitrarily spinning the cylinder, the cylinder would be closed. Participants in the game would take turns pointing the gun at their own heads and pulling the trigger. Those shot would, of course, be automatically eliminated, and the last one standing would be the winner. Onlookers would bet on the lives of the participants.
However, although this gambling method was cruel, Jacob didn't need to participate himself—they would bet as spectators!
The bloody and violent gameplay made Jacob frown, while the pot-bellied white man across from him seemed somewhat excited.
Under the two men's vastly different emotions, two men were quickly brought forward—one Black, one Chinese. Both were visibly nervous, their foreheads already covered in sweat, but their faces revealed a hint of determination.
Also stepping forward was a host wearing a smiling mask, carrying a tray containing a revolver, a bullet, and two agreements.
"These two participants are both voluntarily participating in Russian Roulette. These are the commitment agreements they signed."
The host first showed everyone the commitment agreements signed by the two participants, then picked up the bullet, exchanged it behind his back, extended both hands, and asked the two participants, "You can guess whether the bullet is in my left or right hand. If you guess correctly, you can choose whether your opponent shoots first or last."
"Left hand." The Black man spoke first. His luck was good—he guessed which hand held the bullet, gaining the initiative.
"You guessed correctly." The masked host smiled, then placed the bullet into the chamber, quickly spun the cylinder, then suddenly closed it, and placed the gun on the table. "Alright, you can choose who shoots first."
The Black man was clearly nervous. The decision he made at this moment would determine both their lives and deaths.
After closing his eyes and praying for a moment, he resolutely made his choice, pointing at the person across from him and saying, "He shoots first."
The person across from him, hearing the Black man's words, tensed up, sweat constantly dripping from his forehead.
"Hoo. Hoo."
He swallowed hard, looking extremely nervous, constantly taking deep breaths to adjust his anxious emotions.
"Both of you can place your bets now." The host's voice rang out, addressing the two men.
"I definitely support the Chinese man. I choose him to win." Jacob pointed to the Asian man who would shoot first. "I'm betting all my Gimmighoul coins."
He had already seen the bullet's position at the fourth chamber through his ability, so this match was another guaranteed win for him, making it lose its excitement.
In the second round of gambling, everyone could only bet with Gimmighoul coins.
Seeing Jacob's decisiveness, the pot-bellied man frowned deeply.
He hadn't expected that with such high stakes, Jacob wouldn't even hesitate, directly putting all his Gimmighoul coins on the line.
The white man thought for a long time, hesitated for a long time, and finally said, "Then I'll go all-in too."
"Okay." The host's voice rang out. "It seems you two want to settle it in one go, so let's begin."
The Chinese man holding the revolver nervously raised the gun, slowly aimed it at his temple, slowly closed his eyes, and his hand trembled violently due to extreme nervousness.
"Shoot!"
The pot-bellied white man, smoking a cigar, roared at him.
"Hurry up! Don't dawdle!"
"Click!"
After a crisp sound, the Chinese man seemed completely drained, letting out a long breath, and placed the revolver on the tray.
"Your turn!"
Seeing this, the Black man steeled himself, picked up the revolver, aimed it at his head, closed his eyes, and pulled the trigger.
"Click!"
It was another misfire, and the pressure once again fell on the Chinese man.
The Chinese man picked up the revolver again, slowly aimed it at his temple, then took a deep breath and pressed the trigger.
"Click!"
"Oh!"
Exclamations erupted from the scene, clearly surprised by this result. At this point, this round of gambling had reached a fever pitch.
The Black man was also visibly nervous at this moment, but he picked up the revolver very decisively, not hesitating like the Chinese man. Instead, he aimed at his temple and pulled the trigger with extreme speed.
The consequence of doing so was a quicker death. Almost the instant the gun fired, blood mixed with brain matter exploded outward.
Such a cruel scene made Jacob frown deeply.
"Damn it!"
The pot-bellied white man slammed his hand on the table, roaring in anger. He didn't care about the death of the man before him, but rather that he had lost this gamble!