Huang Shengjie continued:
"The ’Enrichment Effect’ definitely exists, it’s just a matter of probability. So, by trying to exclude the small number plots through the enrichment effect, it’s equivalent to increasing the survival probability of the large number plots.
"The enrichment effect is not 100%, but it’s definitely not 0% either, there will always be a balance point of profit in between.
"Suppose during the elimination process, the probability of large number plots being eliminated is 30%, and small number plots being eliminated is 70%. My ultimate goal is to select 10 out of 16 plots to eliminate, and consider buying land from the remaining 6.
"If these numbers are regarded as 10 small numbers and 6 large numbers, then according to this expectation, 7 small ones would be eliminated, leaving 3, and 2 large ones would be eliminated, leaving 4.
"In such a situation, if I randomly select another number, even considering the difference in refinement, it’s likely to yield a higher expected return than initially forecasted.
"Besides, there’s an issue: Random results are volatile, and the variance in final returns will be considerable.
"The expected return of picking one randomly from there is indeed around 2400, but it’s greatly influenced by luck.
"The first method doesn’t improve this fluctuation.
"But if it’s the second method, targeting and excluding some small number plots using the ’Enrichment Effect’ can reduce return fluctuations.
"This itself is meaningful.
"Because in this game, everyone can only play a limited number of rounds. The smaller the return fluctuation is within these limited rounds, the more stable it is."
Huang Shengjie kept speaking as he continued to flip more plots.
Soon, he had flipped 10 plots with numbers 1, 3, 5, 10, 20, 30, 100, 500, 1000, and 5000.
The remaining 6 unflipped plots were numbered 2, 50, 200, 2000, 10000, 20000.
Huang Shengjie continued: "So now if I randomly draw from the six, the expected return has already exceeded 5300, even without counting refinement, it’s already surpassed the expected return you calculated before."
Huang Shengjie chose not to continue ’observing’ the plots, as it was already hard to determine their size using the ’Enrichment Effect’. They were basically distributed between the small opened numbers and unopened areas.
Moreover, the size ratio of the numbers has also become 3:3, further ’observing’ would essentially be equivalent to a random choice.
Huang Shengjie conducted a total of 10 observations, spending 500 exploration points, with 1300 exploration points remaining.
Obviously, he decided to spend 1000 points to buy land, and then use the remaining 300 points to refine three times, further boosting returns.
Lu Bingjun pondered silently for a moment: "But all your inferences are just assumptions, aren’t they?
"If the Imitator set the probability of the enrichment effect very low, your inferences would no longer hold.
"You indeed excluded some small plots through ’observation’, seemingly increasing expected returns, but it’s essential to clarify: The probability of a single game isn’t reliable, you might just be lucky in this round."
Huang Shengjie nodded: "You’re right about everything, but the only issue is... you should have said it earlier.
"Brother Lu, with your level, you shouldn’t have missed these issues I’m talking about.
"If I used a more accurate method of estimation, I could determine the range where the enrichment effect makes ’observing’ plots profitable, or I could guess the Imitator’s intent to speculate.
"I can’t figure it out either.
"But you deliberately didn’t mention this throughout the process, and very arbitrarily concluded that the ’not observing’ approach is better, which rather made me sure that you are not as benign as you appear."
Huang Shengjie silently sighed.
His stance wasn’t exactly aligned with Qin Cheng’s, or rather, he held a bit of sympathy or illusion toward Lu Bingjun and Yao Yuan.
If Lu Bingjun could really cooperate without holding grudges, he would consider it.
Or perhaps, if Huang Shengjie still couldn’t grasp the rules of the game, he would likely be fooled by Lu Bingjun.
But obviously, Huang Shengjie was no longer at the level Lu Bingjun first met, and now Lu Bingjun could only be an enemy to Community 2.
The expression on Lu Bingjun’s face disappeared.
"Your progress is indeed not small, a bit beyond my expectations, but... you really were the newcomer I was optimistic about.
"Well then... good luck, we’ll rely on our own skills in this game."
Lu Bingjun did not say anything more and turned to leave.
Huang Shengjie also calmed his emotions slightly and continued the game, pressing the ’buy land’ button.
The mechanism sound occurred, and a glass partition about one meter high beside Huang Shengjie began to rise rapidly until it was more than the height of a person, enclosing Huang Shengjie and the machine like a phone booth.
"I see... after pressing the ’buy land’ button, before making the real choice, it blocks the machine to prevent outside players from peeking."
Huang Shengjie could guess what this setup specifically prevents.
Assume a player was lucky to select the plot worth 20000 in one try, and the remaining funds would allow him to gain an additional 40% return through refinement, making the total return 28000 gold sand.
Although this probability is low, only 1/16, with so many players on site, and each player playing more than one game, some lucky ones would emerge.
But at this point, players observing from behind could immediately leave the Gold Panning Area, abandon their Gold Digger status, and join the Anti-Smuggling Team.
Then they could wait at the turnstile in the resting area.
In this way, the player carrying a fortune can’t leave the Gold Panning Area to cash out, just watching helplessly as the large sum of gold sand is seized by the Anti-Smuggling Team.
gold sand can be exchanged 1:1 for visa time, which is already the average return in many games, enough for some players to use such extreme strategies.
So, this mechanism is a form of privacy protection for Gold Diggers.
But Huang Shengjie instinctively thought of a new problem.
"However... why not design a fully enclosed partition from the start? Why go through this extra step."
He wasn’t able to immediately think of the answer, but there was no time to ponder, as the conversation with Lu Bingjun had already wasted quite a bit of time, and the subsequent process still needed to be completed.
He randomly chose one from the 6 unopened plots.
As the plot card turned over, the screen also once again displayed the special effects of gold sand flying, and a large number appeared at the center of the screen.
’10000’.
Soon after, the other plots not chosen also turned over, and Huang Shengjie clearly saw the location of the ’20000’ plot, which was not adjacent to the ’10000’ plot, separated by a ’2000’ plot.
The ’Enrichment Effect’ indeed wasn’t absolutely reliable.
However, Huang Shengjie was very satisfied with this outcome, as it was the second-largest number in the entire game.
He immediately used the remaining funds for ’refinement’, totaling a 15% increase, so the final result was 11500.
A special opening was at the bottom of the machine, with a "click" sound, ejecting a very small golden suitcase.
Opening the suitcase, inside was the ’gold sand’ he had earned in the game this time.