Originally, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka and the others wanted to finish the competition in one day on Sunday, but the number of participants who signed up this time far exceeded his initial expectations, making it difficult to determine the final winner within a single day.
Therefore, the competition time was changed to Saturday, and the venue remained the Chemistry Preparation Room.
Although the announcement of the temporary time change was rushed, the participants had a psychological expectation, after all, they had previously said the competition venue was the Second Library.
The rules of Landlord might feel a bit complex when first starting, but once proficient, the game rules would be deeply ingrained in the mind. At that point, one would basically know how to play cards just by glancing at their hand.
But learning how to play cards wasn't complicated; what was complicated was how to cooperate with teammates.
They had prepared for four days, were familiar with the rules, and were full of anticipation for this competition.
After all, holding the competition one day earlier meant getting the results one day earlier.
On Saturday morning, the Dou Di Zhu Competition was held as scheduled.
Today, Meari didn't bother with a disguise. She openly sat in her seat as a contestant, curiously observing her opponents around her.
To Meari's surprise, quite a few classmates from her class also came to participate, and even Aiura Kokoro was not far from Meari.
"Aiura Kokoro, why are you here too? Are you very short on money?" Meari couldn't help but ask.
Aiura Kokoro also noticed Meari. She snorted coldly: "Do you think I'm as short on money as you are? I just feel that the Landlord game is very interesting and want to try playing as the Landlord in the game!"
"Heh, is that so?" Meari was noncommittal and didn't expose her.
When she lost hundreds of thousands to her back then, her face turned ashen and she looked terrible. She was probably attracted by these two million as well.
Indeed, two million was a considerable sum even for her, wasn't it?
Meari didn't consider Aiura Kokoro an enemy. Aiura Kokoro had always been boastful in class, but it was all relying on X-ray glasses and special playing cards.
In a competition that truly relied on skill, Meari really didn't believe she would be very strong.
Her gaze swept through the crowd again. Besides some familiar faces who always played cards in the casino, most of the people were new faces.
Some people might just want to try it out, with no great expectations for the championship. Others might have undergone secret training, just wanting to make a splash in the competition.
livestock, commoners, and second-generation rich sat in the same room, all practicing Landlord to compete for the two million championship prize.
From the perspective of promoting the game, this competition, though not yet started, was already largely successful.
Indeed, if the prize money were only one million, it probably wouldn't attract so many people. Ayanokoji truly had foresight...
Meari subconsciously looked for Ayanokoji Kiyotaka.
He did appear in the casino today, but he wasn't standing in the front row. Instead, he stood quietly in the corner of the room, like an invigilator, arms crossed, leaning against the wall, surveying the participants in front of him.
Ayanokoji seemed to notice Meari's gaze, turned his eyes, and with a smile, nodded slightly towards Meari, seemingly encouraging her.
Is Ayanokoji cheering for me?
Meari excitedly clenched her fists, lowered her head to touch the Luck Rabbit Foot pendant on her chest, and a smile appeared on her lips.
Meari knew that her gambling skills weren't bad; it was just that her luck was always a bit off, which was why she kept losing.
Even if this lucky charm Ayanokoji Kiyotaka gave her couldn't truly bring her luck, she believed that in Landlord, a game where skill and luck were equally important, even if her luck was poor, she still had the strength to contend for the championship and wouldn't betray Ayanokoji's trust in her.
Once she accepted this gift, then she was—invincible!
There were many others like Meari who believed they could win the championship. One by one, they were full of anticipation, sizing up their opponents across from them while waiting for the competition to begin.
Fortunately, they didn't have to wait long before a cheerful female voice rang out in the room.
"The competition is about to begin. Before that, all contestants, please look this way!"
The girl's voice was very lively, and the contestants couldn't help but look up.
Standing on the podium at this moment was a pink-haired girl. Her face was covered by a mask, obscuring half of her face.
"Hello everyone, I am the host of this competition!"
Yumemi Yumemite, the active idol, still had her face covered. She stood on the grandstand and said energetically: "Everyone should already know the rules of this competition, but to avoid some students not reading the announcement, I will say them again."
With that, she began to read from a cue card, introducing the competition schedule and rules.
This competition had over four hundred participants, divided into preliminary and final rounds.
In the preliminary round, participants would be divided into two groups, upper half and lower half, with both matches held in the morning and afternoon respectively.
Each half was further divided into three matches. The first two matches would have 72 participants, while the third match would consist of the remaining participants from each group.
The competition adopted a point system. Each participant would be assigned a numbered card and randomly grouped based on the number on the card.
A total of five rounds would be played. The Landlord winning would get 3 points, and the commoners winning would get 2 points. After each round, new groupings would be made.
After five rounds, the top 45 ranked players by points from each half would advance.
Everyone was given a numbered card. Meari glanced at the card in her hand; it was number 52.
Although she was considered part of the organizing team, she didn't abuse her power. This number was truly drawn randomly by her.
She looked up towards the front, where a row of girls dressed in maid outfits stood.
Besides Togakushi Yukimi, Hanatemari Kazura, and Kurume Laiwei, there were also a few girls she didn't recognize, all uniformly dressed in maid outfits.
These few people were actually Ikishima Midari's club members.
Originally, Ayanokoji Kiyotaka hadn't told Ikishima Midari about the competition, but she proactively sought him out, saying she was very interested in Landlord and wanted to participate in the competition.
These club members were also her idea; she saw that Ayanokoji's staff was too few and offered to have them help.
Ayanokoji Kiyotaka naturally wouldn't refuse her kindness.
Originally, Ayanokoji had even thought about temporarily hiring some Dealers. Now, that money was saved. He didn't charge her a participation fee and arranged for her to be in the competition venue.
At this moment, Ikishima Midari was sitting behind Meari, watching Meari with great interest.
Meari didn't have Ayanokoji's keen intuition for "surveillance." She was completely unaware of Ikishima Midari's gaze, merely looking forward curiously like the other participants.
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