"Let's begin!" Alice excitedly said.
The raised insignia opened, splicing the two serpents down the center. This revealed a new and shiny revolver slowly being raised to the center.
Alice's grin grew wider. "The game we play is Russian Roulette! Aren't you excited?"
"Are you insane?!" Silva suddenly covered his mouth. He didn't mean to say it out loud. "I'm-" he meant to apologize.
Alice seemed shocked for a while, they smiled at him. "I might be." She laughed, "Anyway, in Domain Games, you can't refuse, you can't run away, not until the game is over. I believe you have a pen drive with your name on it."
He did, but he tried not to confirm anything. Somehow, he failed.
"Wonderful! What we bet on Domain Games are our information. There's a port on your side, right?"
There was. Silva felt his heart beating faster. "Yes."
"You insert your pen drive in there, like so." She produced a pink pen drive and slotted it in. "Well, it's actually his pen drive," she pointed to the boy she had on a collar, "but I own him. So I'm free to do anything with his information as I please. Isn't that right?" She pulled collar in to pull the boy's face closer to hers.
Silva inserted his pen drive.
The insignia beeped. A bright light emanated from the split middle. Letters appeared in mid-air. The light was a hologram generator. The letters that manifested were the rules for the game, but Silva wondered what the rules were for.
Everyone knows how to play Russian Roulette. There was only ever one rule.
Don't bite the bullet.
Alice whistled to get his attention. "We have interesting rules here."
"Uh... It's Russian Roulette..."
She raised her hands, "Don't ask me, we don't make the rules, we just play by them."
The rules were layed out:
1. The gun must be picked up from the table.
2. After a player has completed his turn, he or she can spin the barrel before he or she places the revolver on the table.
3. A player can only spin the barrel 3 times.
"Spin the barrel... 3 times?" Silva let the confusion squeak out from his voice.
4. Before pulling the trigger, the turn player can spin the barrel.
5. The game ends when only one player remains or when one player concedes.
"I see." He understood.
Alice picked up the revolver with her left hand, pointed it at her head, and fired.
An empty click.
She spun the barrel, waited until it stopped, and placed it on the table. "Nothing too fancy."
There was something frightening about how she was non-chalant about a game that could possibly end in death. He picked up the gun, and felt a shiver run up his arm and down his spine.
He felt liquid dripping down his cheek.
It dripped onto the gun.
Blood.
He touched his head, traced the trail, up, until he felt a hole. A bullet hole.
Alice was looking at him curiously. "What are you doing?"
"Huh?" He realized that there was no blood, and he was massaging his temple. "Uh, nothing." He knew if he pulled the trigger, he was dead.
He spun the barrel.
Alice's eyebrow raised in curiosity.
3.
2.
1.
He pulled the trigger.
Click!
Empty.
Silva put the gun down on the table. "Your turn."
"You're very very interesting, Silver." She picked the gun up. She hesitated, but a quick glance at Silva gave her confidence to pull the trigger and expect an empty barrel.
She was right.
She spun the barrel and set the gun down. "Pass to you."
Once again, the moment he touched it, he felt as if his death was certain.
It should be impossible, but it's exactly what he felt.
He lifted the gun, and spun the barrel. The feeling was gone. He wondered how she could do that.
He then fired the gun, and sighed when it clicked empty.
Silva looked at Alice. She was smiling, but it was a smaller smile than before. It seemed that she was getting less and less confident as the game goes on.
He had to think. There has to be a reason.
'The game basically consists of 3 rounds, divided by the choice of whether or not to spin the barrel. This was the most important part of the game.
The barrel of a revolver has 6 slots, but in Russian Roulette, only one has a bullet. Which means that there's a 1 in 6 chances for you to fire it, and that chance increases the longer the game progresses.
Unless you respin the barrel.
It skews the probabilities, either making the chance 1/6 chance again, or guarantee you will kill yourself.'
In his mind, this means that Alice knew exactly the slot where the bullet was, and spins the barrel so that it lands exactly where it is. Which means he should know where it is as well.
Alice could feel it too. The longer the game goes on, the worse it becomes for her. She is an expert at keeping a poker face, but both of them are now at 2 spins. She had to play safe.
Silva had to hope that the madwoman would gamble.
Alice picked up the gun.
And pulled the trigger.
Empty.
She placed it on the table, and gestured to him. "Your turn."
She gambled, which means that he knew where the bullet was. Which meant she knew as well.
This game of Russian Roulette has become a game of Chicken.
Without hesitation, he pulled the trigger with the muzzle of the gun pressed tight against his skull. As expected, he heard a click.
Empty.
The next chamber had the bullet.
Alice knew it too. So her choice was simple. If she spun the barrel, then Silva can spin it and force her to take the bullet. If she didn't spin the barrel, she will die. She thought Silva couldn't spin it right, but if he found out how she was rigging the gun, then he should know how to rig it himself.
Better to live another day.
She put her hand on the gun, and began laughing. "You're good, new guy. I think we're going to have lots of fun." She used all her strength to spin the barrel, making sure that the location of the bullet is lost to both of them. "Let the Gods make known their will." She put the muzzle in her mouth, and fired.
Empty.
Passed to him was a 1/5 chance.
He took the risk.
Click! An empty chamber. Empty, empty, empty.
A 1/4 chance. Only 1/4 chance. Not for Alice. For her, it was a 100% chance of a win, because she knew.
She knew exactly which barrel it was, all she needed was for Silva to lose track of the bullet. There's more than one way to rig Russian Roulette.
Since the gun is being passed, you only ever need to worry about the 2nd chamber after your turn.
The goal is to make sure you bite empty chambers.
Alice took the gun and aimed it at her head.
Click! Empty.
This was the last empty chamber.
She placed it on the table.
Now Silva had to think. The gun has now gone through 4 empty chambers, so that means the bullet is now decided by a coinflip. If he hears an empty chamber now, he wins, or else, he's dead.
Alice was giving any indication, so he assumed she doesn't know where the bullet is.
He had 1 more spin. He wondered if he should use it. Did he want to risk a possible win? He put his hand on the barrel, and something flashed in Alice's face.
He spun the barrel, then pulled the trigger.
Empty.
At that point, Alice let out a sigh. "I concede."