David Carter's ears were exceptionally sharp. When he heard a sound, he turned his head and saw, by the roadside, a storefront with no signboard and colored paper pasted on the windows. Inside, it turned out to be a game arcade, and it was quite large—there were at least ten slot machines, plus several smaller ones. These kinds of places exist all over the country, each with its own name. In Haicheng, people usually call these slot machines "three-seven machines." They have three glass panels with different patterns inside. After inserting a coin and pulling the lever, the reels start spinning. If a specific pattern appears (like three of the same), the machine spits out coins (game tokens). In foreign casinos, people gamble directly with money, but here you buy game tokens, and if you win a lot of tokens, you can exchange them for cash. When the authorities crack down, these small arcades disappear without a trace, but as soon as things cool down, they spring up again like weeds after a spring breeze.

The door was open. For one, it was too hot inside; for another, it was to attract people to come in. Further inside, there were more than a dozen arcade machines and some mahjong machines, all of which used money to buy game tokens for gambling. David Carter's family conditions had been average before, so he hadn't played much, but he had gone in with classmates before and knew how it worked.

At that moment, a young man with a buzz cut was sitting at a machine by the door. After glancing at someone nearby who had just hit the jackpot on a three-seven machine, he continued to insert coins and gamble.

The machine spun, and he stared at the screen, watching the reels spin rapidly, then slapped his hand down hard.

"Mm..." David Carter, who had just glanced over and was about to walk past, suddenly stopped in his tracks, because in his eyes, the spinning machine seemed very slow. The moment that guy slapped the machine, David Carter's first reaction was: don't slap it. But the buzz cut guy did, and ended up missing the timing, then slapped it a second time.

"Slap..." In David Carter's eyes, the spinning machine seemed especially slow. As he thought about slapping it, the buzz cut guy also slapped. But by the time he did, the machine had already reacted, and he missed again. The third time was the same, causing him to miss the opportunity for nothing, so he got nothing and could only insert more coins to start a new round.

David Carter stood there watching for two minutes. Sure enough, as long as he focused his attention, the three-seven machine's spinning would become very slow, and his reactions could keep up. For most people, by the time they saw the right moment and slapped, they had already missed it. Even if they won a small prize, it was just a lucky mistake.

"Dammit, lost over five hundred yesterday, won back more than three hundred this morning. Let's go get something to eat first, then come back this afternoon." At this moment, a few people came out from inside, arms around each other's shoulders, talking about what had just happened.

A thought flashed through David Carter's mind—this was actually a pretty good way to make money. With that in mind, David Carter walked in. He bought a hundred yuan worth of game tokens. The tokens here were more expensive than in most places, which matched Haicheng's cost of living—always higher than other cities.

David Carter found a place to sit down. He wanted to test whether what he had just seen and thought would work the same in practice.

Chapter 6: Slot Machine

In gambling arcades like this, every place is a bit different. In Haicheng, small-scale ones are mainly focused on slot machines. After inserting game tokens, the machine starts spinning, and pressing the button stops the reels. If a row of identical patterns appears, you win. Different patterns have different payout rates. The arcade also has some arcade machines, mahjong machines, and other devices.

David Carter inserted three tokens, gently pulled the lever beside him, and the machine immediately started spinning. In other people's eyes, you could only vaguely see the reels, and by the time you saw them, the positions had already changed—especially since there was also the process of slapping the machine. But in David Carter's eyes, the three-seven machine spun incredibly slowly. The more he focused, the clearer this feeling became. If he stared at the machine intently, he gradually felt as if he was running at high speed, and everything around him began to slow down.

Now, David Carter already knew—it wasn't that everything around him was slowing down, but that his own speed was increasing, that he was getting faster. His eyes' ability to capture movement, and his overall physical reaction speed, were improving and accelerating.

Having once again confirmed the changes in his body, David Carter was filled with excitement, though he tried his best to suppress it.

"Ding... ding... ding..." The machine had a time limit for spinning. Even if you didn't slap it, it would automatically stop after a certain time, like a kind of randomness. Of course, this randomness was like the randomness of buying a lottery ticket—not that there was no chance, just that the odds were very low.

As David Carter was observing and experiencing this feeling, the machine had already completed its first spin and stopped on its own. David Carter then inserted more game tokens. For most people, putting tokens in was a hassle—even regulars had to work at it. After all, this wasn't a real casino.