<h4>Chapter 54.1</h4>
Trantor: EBells
Editor: darlingv
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 w machine?!
That’s right, the “lucky egg machine” mentioned by the clown was clearly a w 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.
Thisst 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 y the lucky egg machine? Don’t tell me we’re supposed to grab the eggs inside the egg machine?”
The clown grinned, “Lucky yers 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 rxed. Everyone has three chances...”
Xiao Tangqiu, “...”
It really was! It really was to grab the colorful eggs!
But this sort of thing wasn’t rxing at all! Who didn’t know that w 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 yourpanions...”
Xiao Tangqiu’s heart skipped a beat. What did that mean? They could also trade for an egg from theirpanions?
“I won’t stop you from giving your egg to someone else.” The clown then spoke thest 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 ce after all sorts of life and death trials and hardships, in order topete for thest bit of hope, naturally, they would make a move against their formerpanions 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 augh.
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 vignt 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 nced 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 w machines”.
“Don’t worry! When ites to w 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 y with w machines. This guy usually went to y 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 w 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 fewughs, “It’s nothing, it’s nothing! I’m only passing you a few tricks about w machines! You can definitely grab it within three tries! The w 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 w.”
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 ws, it’s called a weak w. The strong ws 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’te across a strong w. We can only work hard on the weak ws. In the case of weak ws, there are several techniques for grabbing.”
“First it’s the swing w. The so-called swing w is simply to calcte the swing of the w and to lower it when it’s swinging towards the hole. At this point, the w will swing back in ordance to the pendulum theory to grab the plushie. Then the weak w setting will sessfully swing the plushie towards the hole.”
Xiao Tangqiu felt extremely confused after listening. “The weak w setting? What’s that?”
“The weak w setting is that in the case of non-strong ws, when the machine judges that you will grab the plushie, it will weaken its hold when the wes 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 w 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 exined, he went back to the previous topic, “But to use the swing w is too difficult for a newbie. It usually takes hundreds of practice attempts to have some sess 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 w and hanging w.”
Xiao Tangqiu’s expression was full of ‘what’s this? What’s that? What about that?’.
“The so-called trapped w is to find the best angle when lowering the w 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 ce is small enough, it can trick the machine into thinking that it didn’t grab the plushie so it doesn’t release the w strength halfway.”
“The hanging w also requires you to find the best angle. When the w lowers, hang the plushie’s tag or some part onto the ws so that even if it loosens, the plushie wouldn’t fall until the w returns to the hole.”
Xiao Tangqiu couldn’t help the nk 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 yed with w machines. Although his experience couldn’tpare 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.
This lucky egg machine looked no different from the usual w machine. Whether it’s the buttons or the joystick, it’s all exactly the same as the w machines in supermarkets. The only difference was that the usual plushies were reced with colorful eggs.
Looking into the egg machine through the ss, the colorful eggs inside were about the size of a grown man’s hand. But though the eggs were fairly big, because they were elliptical, you could tell at a nce that it would easily slip through the ws.
Fortunately, there were a ton of eggs inside the machine and a lot were also near the hole. Since something closer should be easier to grab, Xiao Tangqiu stared at the green egg near the hole for a while before deciding on it.
Xiao Tangqiu desperately recalled the tricks Tang Mianmian taught him. But when he started the w machine, his mind went nk from nerves. In the end, he dropped the w during this confusion and the ws came up empty.
...He didn’t catch anything.
“Alright, next person!” The clown said as he stood on the side, grinning.
Xiao Tangqiu sighed. Although he hadn’t expected to be able to grab it on his first try, but he still should’ve touched the edge of the egg! At this rate, he wouldn’t be able to grab an egg within three tries!
Tang Mianmian reached out and patted Xiao Tangqui’s shoulder before rolling up his sleeves, full of confidence. “Just watch me!”
He walked self-assuredly towards the lucky egg machine, and it was obvious how familiar and skillful he was when manipting the w’s direction back and forth. His target was a red colored egg. He confidently lowered the w — the ws sessfully grabbed the egg. But when the w starteding up, it suddenly rxed. The egg fell.
Tang Mianmian also didn’t manage to get it. But his situation was much better than Xiao Tangqiu’s. At least he managed to grab the egg.
“Alright, next person!” The clown spoke with a grin.
Thest person in the first round was the geek. He took a deep breath and walked in front of the lucky egg machine. His skills couldn’tpareto Tang Mianmian’s at all, it could even be considered clumsy. It’s obvious he rarely or even never yed with w machines before.
The geek’s expression wasplicated. Although he was full of confidence in his luck, he was also filled with doubt since he had never yed this sort of game before. Especially after hearing all the tricks and advice about w machines that Tang Mianmian told Xiao Tangqiu... his expression was part confident, part self-doubting — it was extremely conflicting.
He roughly manipted the joystick of the egg machine, letting the w stop above a blue egg.
On the side, Tang Mianmian whispered in Xiao Tangqiu’s ear, “This angle is definitely impossible! Unless he...”
The geek hesitantly lowered the w. The w dropped, grabbed that blue egg without dropping it, and steadily delivered the blue egg to the hole.
The body of the lucky egg machine immediately lit up with all sorts of colorful lights and began sting a celebratory BGM at the same time, “Congrattions on the sessful grab! Congrattions on the sessful grab!”
Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian were shocked, the geek was also frozen in shock for a few seconds before finally reacting. He quickly squatted down and took the blue egg out of the hole.
He stared at the blue egg in disbelief, and it took a few more seconds before he got excited, “I got it! I actually got it!”
At this point, Tang Mianmian dumbly finished his sentence, “...Unless he gets a strong w.”
“Fuck! He really actually got a strong w! This guy must’ve been the illegitimate son of the king of luck in hisst life! He could even run into the strong w!”
Tang Mianmian could practically wash his face with his tears. He had bitterly studied the w machine for over ten years, but in the end he still couldn’tpare to a first-timer geek. Where was he not good enough? Isn’t it just he wasn’t as lucky! The point was that they hadpletely different starting points!
Xiao Tangqiu was once again shocked by the geek’s luck. Tang Mianmian and he hadn’t gotten it yet but the geek got one in one go. And it happened to be the strong w. What was the probability? What kind of luck was this?
“Congrattions to our first lucky yer to get the lucky egg!”
The clown spoke with a grin, “You can choose to give up the next two chances, or you can choose to continue!”
The geek who was caught up in the joy of getting the colorful egg in one try, finally focused again, immediately asking the clown, “What happens if I get a few more? Are there any benefits?”
The clown spoke with a smile, “Perhaps, perhaps not.”
It was clear that he wasn’t going to tell him. The geek hesitated before finally being tempted by the thought of ??possibly having benefits with more eggs. He gritted his teeth and made up his mind, “Try! I want to try two more times!”
The clown nodded with a smile, “Alright, next person please!”
Xiao Tangqiu and Tang Mianmian exchanged a look and couldn’t help butugh bitterly, especially Xiao Tangqiu. If he hadn’t learned about the probability from Tang Mianmian, he could’ve still held onto the attitude of ignorance and fearlessness. But after learning about it, he knew that since the geek came across the strong w, the chances of theming across the strong w was basically none.
They could only rely on skill.
Xiao Tangqiu sighed deeply and decided to try the “trapped w” Tang Mianmian mentioned.
He tried to get the ws stuck at an angle and the ws actually grabbed an egg. But it still loosened midair.
Xiao Tangqiu’s second attempt was another failure.
“Next person!”
Tang Mianmian patted Xiao Tangqiu’s shoulder, and then he took a deep breath. Let’s go!
This time, Tang Mianmian seemed to be using the “swing w”. He toggled the joystick like crazy when he dropped the w, making it swing. The w actually grabbed the egg when it dropped down and then swung forward!
The w released! The colorful egg fell into the hole!
“Congrattions on the sessful grab! Congrattions on the sessful grab!”
Apanied by the joyful BGM, Tang Mianmian also finally got a colorful egg!
T/N: Hello, hello! I am Ebells and I will be taking over as the new trantor for Game, Live Stream. Darlingv, our previous hard-working trantor, has passed the baton on but she will continue to work with me as an editor for a few chapters to ensure consistency in our trantions. I currently don’t have a set schedule as the opening of recruitment was unexpected, but there will be at least one (1) full chapter updated every week and I will try to do more as time allows.
I’m very happy to be on this project and hope that my trantions can do it justice ??