The auction on the big screen is nearing its end, but to Huang Shengjie’s surprise, the amounts shown for the top two bids.
[1.’33,500 minutes of Visa Time’]
[2.’33,000 minutes of Visa Time’]
There must be other players bidding, but the big screen only displays the top two.
At this moment, the auction countdown is in its final 30 seconds, and Huang Shengjie can roughly guess the intensity of the previous bidding.
He is also relieved that he did not participate in the bidding; otherwise, he would definitely have been unsuccessful.
"Over there at the transaction side, it’s 2,000 minutes for 2,300 gold sand.
"On this auction side, it’s 33,500 minutes for 32,000 gold sand, gold sand is more valuable.
"Why is this happening?
"When the game is settled, each community ranks according to total profit, meaning that exchanging 33,500 minutes of Visa Time for 32,000 gold sand would be recorded as a ’-1,500’ profit.
"This is clearly a loss.
"Wait, why are they still bidding?"
Huang Shengjie originally thought it was settled, but surprisingly, just as the countdown was about to end, the figure for the second place suddenly changed from 33,000 minutes of Visa Time to 34,000 minutes, successfully surpassing and becoming first place.
But the auction countdown was also extended by 30 seconds.
According to the game rules, if someone bids and changes the ranking in the final moments of the countdown, the auction time will be extended by 30 seconds, up to three times.
Soon after, the original first place also bid again.
During the last three extensions, these two still each placed bids, and the final deal price was fixed at a rate that made Huang Shengjie unbelievable.
[1.’39,000 minutes of Visa Time’]
[2.’37,300 minutes of Visa Time’]
Huang Shengjie had no doubt that if the game rules allowed further extension, the prices offered by both sides could continue to rise.
"From the conversion ratio, this is too great a loss.
"In the trading area, Visa Time can also be exchanged for Gold Coins, even considering the risk of trading, Visa Time can roughly be exchanged at a ratio of 1:1 or 1:0.8 into Gold Coins.
"Is it because of an information gap? Are the players bidding in the auction area unaware of the situation in the trading area?
"But how could they rashly bid so much Visa Time without knowing the situation?"
Huang Shengjie furrowed his brows, recalling the rules again, then considered from the perspective of the bidding players.
He suddenly understood something.
"Is it because... this auction inherently has a trap from the rules?"
The game rule is: the player with the highest bid gets the item, while the player with the second highest bid gets nothing.
So, when the auction was nearing its end, the first place bid 33,500, winning 32,000 Gold Coins, losing roughly 1,500; the second place bid 33,000, getting nothing, losing 33,000.
At this point, as long as the second place player adds 1,000, becoming 34,000, the result would be losing 2,000 themselves, and the original first place losing 33,500.
In other words, the bidding at this point is no longer about making money but about minimizing losses.
Yet because both have the ’minimizing loss’ mentality, they keep escalating the bids, maximizing losses.
Other bidders have no losses, except those who happened to be in the top two, falling into the trap and becoming the victims.
"So, it seems the auction rules themselves are a trap, but for the auctioneer, it’s actually a good, stable channel for cashing in gold sand.
"So the best choice is to accumulate 30,000 gold sand and directly go for auction.
"But...
"It would also be more likely to be intercepted by the Anti-Smuggling Team, wouldn’t it?
"A suitcase can hold up to 50,000, and if aiming for the auction area, at least 30,000 must be taken. Meaning the quantity of gold sand is certainly between 30,000 and 50,000.
"If the Anti-Smuggling Team confirms someone is aiming for auction, then just guessing around 37,000 can cover the range from 30,000 to around 44,000, making the guessing probability very high.
"Must mislead the Anti-Smuggling Team like Cheng Yu, securing exemption time for oneself.
"Moreover, can this trap continue to take effect afterward?
"Would the later auctioneers still foolishly bid seeing such a situation? Would there really be a scenario where someone benefits?"
While thinking, Huang Shengjie tried searching the auction area with his eyes, wanting to see who the highest bidder was.
The player in second place gained nothing, so it’s unknown, but the first place has to go to the ’Auction Item Pickup Area’ on the stage to collect Gold Coins.
This is an unfamiliar player not seen before, and due to the distance, the nameplate on the chest is also unclear.
However, judging by his expression, he doesn’t seem particularly happy, after all, the price he paid for those Gold Coins was not low.
The game continues, and Huang Shengjie dares not waste too much time, choosing to return to the Gold Panning Area to see if he could earn some more profit.
This time, he didn’t return to Zone C but went to the other side, Zone A, which also allows him to collect more information while panning for gold.
...
The situation in Zone A is similar to Zone C, there are no empty spots; all gold-panning machines are occupied.
But compared to the beginning, the number of queuing players seems to have decreased.
This may be because most players who have experienced the Gold Rush Game and entered a fatigue state would choose to go to the trading area to convert gold sand or to do other things.
Some players also became part of the Anti-Smuggling Team, unable to enter the Gold Panning Area anymore.
As people move around, the utilization rate of gold-panning game tables will improve, and the queuing phenomenon will no longer be as obvious as before.
In Zone A, Huang Shengjie saw Zhang Yan and Geng Yuxia, but as before, he couldn’t directly communicate, not even daring too much eye contact, for fear of triggering violations.
Meanwhile, Huang Shengjie also observed other players’ methods of playing the Gold Rush Game, thinking about strategies.
Currently, the more common strategies are still the two known before: either casually buying land, leaving everything to luck, relying on fate; or as much as possible observing more plots, determining the overall trend of ’Enrichment Effect’, trying to select the plot with larger numbers.
As for how profitable these have been for others, it is unknown, as every time land is bought, shields rise to protect player privacy.
However, Huang Shengjie did notice some players indeed have formed ’pairs’.
Although behind most gold-panning machines there are people lining up, some queuing players stand relatively far, keeping a certain distance from those playing the game, only ensuring they can take over first; some players stand obviously close.
The latter is highly likely because the two players have agreed to take turns playing.
Possibly someone they knew before, or perhaps a temporary team-up in the game.
But for Huang Shengjie, this also means he can exclude these positions and not wait behind, because waiting is wasting time.
Seizing a position is unrealistic; not only are queuing players now standing closer, but even if the distances are equal, such game pairs have various ways to exclude Huang Shengjie.
For example, the player currently playing the game can deliberately stall or directly sell the game session to the waiting partner, achieving a seamless connection.
If other players are unaware of this, waiting behind such a game table will waste a lot of time.