When Hua Qiong came to his senses, he found that the environment he was in had changed.
What came into view was a magnificent palace. In the center of the palace stood a round table made of gold. On each side of the round table stood a chair decorated with pearls and agates, which looked extremely luxurious.
And the most eye-catching thing.
There are financial reports covering the ground around the golden round table and chairs. From gems to gold, to various famous paintings and antiques, almost everything that humans can imagine and related to "wealth" can be seen here, which is enough to arouse the deepest greed and desire in people's hearts.
The most important thing.
All these treasures were lying defenseless on the ground.
As if waiting for someone to take it.
"... ..."
Unfortunately, Hua Qiong was not only calm inside, she even felt like laughing.
"how?"
"Don't you want to try to get some?"
Looking up, on the opposite side of the golden round table, there was a woman with long hair, a crystal crown on her head, and a face so beautiful that one could not look away. She was looking at Hua Qiong with a smile. The woman's lips were slightly raised, and her proud temperament was hardly concealed at all.
"I'll give you permission to take a little."
"... No."
Hua Qiong curled her lips: "I'm not interested in money."
Woman: “… .”
You've made me lose face.
The atmosphere was awkward for a moment, and then the woman slowly spoke: "My name is Rowena, Rowena Ravenclaw, nice to meet you."
"Young wizard."
"Rowena?"
Hua Qiong had already put away her mace, and narrowed her eyes slightly, looking suspiciously at the woman who called herself Rowena Ravenclaw. However, she did not choose to ask, but changed the subject: "... Then Miss Rowena, how can I leave this place now?"
“You got to the point exactly.”
Rowena snapped her fingers and said, "It's actually very simple to leave. You just need to play a little game with me, and you can leave if you win."
"... real?"
"certainly."
Rowena smiled and said, "The content of the game is very simple. You know, in the distant past when magic was far from popular and Hogwarts was not yet established, there was a man who was gifted with wisdom and became the greatest wizard of that era."
"His name is Solomon."
“So I call this game Solomon’s Gamble.”
When Solomon was mentioned, the smile on Rowena's face looked quite strange, and on the golden round table in front of her, ten golden rings had appeared without her noticing.
"The legend of the ten rings is very famous in the wizarding world."
"Some wizards believe that it is a medium for summoning, while others believe that it is comparable to the three Deathly Hallows. In our time, the understanding of the ten rings has basically been unified. We all agree that Solomon's ring symbolizes Solomon's authority."
“And that’s our game.”
Rowena laid out the ten rings in a row and picked up a ring at random: "There are ten in total. You and I can take at least one and at most two rings at a time. We must follow the order. The player who gets the ring at the end will be the winner of this bet."
"certainly."
"I'll start picking first."
As soon as the words fell.
Hua Qiong couldn't help but curse.
Ten objects and two players. Each player can only take two objects at most and must take at least one object. Isn't this a typical stone game, and the simplest one at that? Even someone with only an elementary school diploma can figure out the rules.
That's right.
This game has a winning formula.
in short.
The first to strike wins!
"This isn't fair! If you come first, I'm bound to lose!"
“… … .”
Facing Hua Qiong's questioning, Rowena didn't respond, but just grinned, her smile becoming more and more evil, as if to say that she did it on purpose. To be honest, Hua Qiong almost took out the caltrop bone and hit Rowena with it, but in the end... .
... She gave up the idea.
"... .Huh, calm down, calm down. The boss said that things that seem complicated may actually be surprisingly simple."
“Just calm down… ..”
After slapping herself twice in her mind, Hua Qiong slowly sat back down without getting angry with Rowena. Instead, her action surprised Rowena.
"... I didn't expect the young wizard from Gryffindor to not act on impulse."
"You went to the wrong college."
"Don't worry about it."
Hua Qiong sat in his seat, looking at the ten rings on the golden round table, and quickly recalled what Rowena had said in his mind. Finally, he said in a deep voice: "Aren't we going to play a game? Let's start."
"Then let's get started."
Rowena smiled slightly, and then, as expected, she picked up the first ring on the far right.
"Well, now it's your turn, my friend."
Rowena put the ring on the little finger of her left hand, then looked at Hua Qiong with a smile on her face and made a "please" gesture. To be honest, that malicious smile made Hua Qiong want to rush up and punch Rowena on the head instead of taking the ring.
“Hu… ..”
Taking a deep breath, Hua Qiong didn't rush to get it.
Without a doubt.
Can't follow Rowena's pace.
If this trend continues, no matter how hard I struggle, I will never be able to get the last ring. By the way, is there any way to counter this game
Hua Qiong couldn't figure it out.
No matter how you look at it, it's a dead end.
"There are ten rings in total. You can take two at most and one at least. If you want to win, you must take the seventh and fourth. But if the tenth is taken, you can either take the ninth or the ninth and eighth. No matter which one, the seventh will be given up..."
If she took the ninth, then Rowena only had to take the eighth and seventh.
It would be even better if they took the ninth and eighth, and Rowena could just take the seventh.
You lose no matter what.
The hopeless game made Hua Qiong a little anxious again, but then she seemed to remember something and suddenly reached out and pinched her thigh hard.
Stay calm, you must stay calm. If you panic when you encounter trouble, then what kind of detective are you
At this moment, Hua Qiong couldn't help but flash the figure of Gu Moli in his mind. During the Twin Towers incident, Gu Moli was in danger of the entire building being blown up, but he still made a calm judgment. Now that he is just a game, is there no way for him to remain calm
What a joke.
I am the world's number one detective in the future!
... .calm!
Hua Qiong took a deep breath, thinking about what Rowena had said before, looking at the ring on Rowena's little finger, and constantly thinking of countermeasures.
Premise: There is no way to crack the game itself, and you are bound to lose.
Corollary: We cannot start from the game itself, but from things outside the game.
Premise: What did Rowena say and do outside of the game
Inference: The story of the ten rings is told. The rings are placed on the little fingers of the king. The rings symbolize the authority of King Solomon. The rings and the little fingers... ..
... ... !!!
In an instant, Hua Qiong's pupils shrank suddenly, and a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.
"What's wrong? What did you think of?"
Seeing Hua Qiong's reaction, Rowena said leisurely: "No matter what you think, I suggest you make your choice as soon as possible. Although I don't limit the time, the longer you delay, the more dangerous your other friend will be. His condition is not very good now."
"... .snort."
Hua Qiong said nothing, but slowly reached out and picked up the ninth ring on the round table.
"Hmm."
Rowena's expression remained unchanged as she directly picked up the eighth and seventh rings from the round table and put them on her middle and index fingers respectively. After seeing this, Hua Qiong, who had just looked heavy,...
... .suddenly laughed.
Then she picked up the sixth ring and the fifth ring and put them on the thumbs of her right and left hands respectively.
"Ms. Rowena, I should have won, right?"
"What are you talking about?"
"If I still can't win, then I really have no other options."
Hua Qiong is not stupid, she is actually very smart, especially now that she has a qualified role model.
"The boss said that we should collect clues first, and then infer the truth from the clues. When we can't infer the truth, we should review the clues we got before. We should do it step by step, just like playing a jigsaw puzzle. Putting together the inferences drawn from different clues will reveal the truth."
"Think carefully about the rules of the game you mentioned. You said this at the time: There are ten rings in total. You and I can take at least one and at most two at a time. And the player who gets the ring in the end is the winner of this bet, right?"
Rowena raised her eyebrows: "Is there anything strange about this?"
"If you think about it for a moment, you will find that there are several places in your sentence that seem quite awkward and a little strange, including the total of ten rings and the number that can be taken at one time. You seem to have intentionally or unintentionally omitted the word "rings", and at the end, you said you got the ring in the end instead of getting the last ring. Different wording leads to completely different meanings. Isn't it strange?"
"In your words, you only mentioned the word ring twice. Once, the ring symbolizes Solomon's authority, and once, the player who got the ring at the end was the winner of the bet. You deliberately omitted the other places where the ring should have been mentioned."
"Then can I think so?"
"The real prize of this bet should be the ring, and not the last one, but one of them. The modifiers in front are actually not important at all. The key point is the ring that meets the characteristics of the ring, that is, the one that symbolizes Solomon's authority."
Rowena couldn't help but narrow her eyes when she heard this: "Then why is it the sixth one?"
"It's a simple piece of knowledge. Rings have different symbolic meanings when placed in different positions. Most rings placed on the right thumb symbolize authority and wealth. The tenth ring, the eighth ring, and the seventh ring you took were placed on the little finger, index finger, and middle finger of your right hand respectively. In this way, the sixth ring will naturally be placed on the right thumb, so I chose it."
"Of course, I took the fifth one just in case. I guess it should be on the thumb of my left hand. So if I still can't win, then I have no choice. As for this stone game that looks like the first move will win, it's actually all a trick of yours."
"... ..This is just your guess, right?"
"That's right."
Hua Qiong did not deny it, but nodded: "This is just a guess, but the boss said that since it is a game, it cannot be a sure defeat. A seemingly perfect dilemma must have a way out, and the game you gave is a must-win game, so the way to win must be outside the game."
"So I'm pretty confident in my guess."
"In fact, if you change the game and give me a game with a slight chance of winning, I may not think so, because my attention will definitely be completely attracted by that little chance of winning. But when you use this kind of game that is sure to win, aren't you forcing me to think about ways to win outside of the game?"
"But what I don't understand is that you don't actually need to take the ninth and eighth. If you only take the ninth, I can only take the eighth or the eighth and seventh. In this way, you can at least lock on to the sixth, which will completely block my chances, right? This is my only concern."
"... That's not the case."
After listening to Hua Qiong's explanation, Rowena was silent for a moment, then shook her head: "Although I gave you a chance, only the little wizard who finds the truth and seizes the opportunity will be recognized. If you only get the ring but don't realize the truth, it will be useless."
"I see."
Looking at Hua Qiong who seemed to be deep in thought, Rowena smiled and said, "So, clever little wizard, you win the game this time."
"As a reward, you will get a simple hint from me. What do you want to know?"
"... ..."
After a moment's silence, Hua Qiong spoke up: "I want to know whether Voldemort will be resurrected after the seven Horcruxes are gathered."