"The Doctor left again? Doesn't that mean... hehehe..."
"..."
"Hey, Fuxi, why do you look so unhappy? We get to slack off again!"
Fuxi sighed, her eyelids drooping as she looked at Nuwa. "I'm tired of having these dialogue exchanges with you that fit the 'idiot' persona every single time. If our world were a novel, we'd act like a pair of bumbling stand-up comedians every time we appeared. Honestly, Nuwa, you could handle being the only fool perfectly well on your own."
"What! You're talking like you aren't a fool too!"
"In saying that, you've already admitted you're one."
Hearing the two "treasures" bickering as usual, Klein couldn't help but palm her forehead. These two remained dedicated to slacking off during work, decades as if they were a single day.
"But it's truly rare for the Doctor to go on vacation. She usually never leaves her room, yet this time she's gone so far away," Nuwa remarked on Mobius shut-in tendencies. Klein, however, interjected flatly:
"Do you really think the Doctor would travel that far just for a vacation?"
"She wouldn't?" Nuwa asked curiously.
"Why do you think the Doctor would want to go on vacation in the first place?"
"Who doesn't want a vacation?"
"..."
Alright, Klein had overestimated Nuwa. Nuwa uttered those words with such righteous conviction that there wasn't even a hint of hesitation.
Klein sighed. "When the Doctor left this time, she took several pieces of equipment with her."
"That just means the Doctor wants to balance work and rest even while on holiday."
"..."
Klein stared at Nuwa in shock. What she said... surprisingly had no flaws; it was entirely self-consistent.
"Wait a minute."
Kevin suddenly interjected, calmly flipping over the card in his hand.
Extra Joker.
"Oh dear..." Vil-V looked at Elysia with some trouble. "Can I give orders to two people separately?"
"No!" Elysia said decisively.
In that moment, Lin understood the purpose of the Extra Joker. If an order was given, the target and the Extra Joker had to execute it together. Thus, for certain orders that sat right on the line between "acceptable" and "excessive," the King would have to consider whether they wanted the Extra Joker involved as well.
Aponia nodded. "Which means... if you want Lin to kiss you... you must also have Kevin..."
"Forget it then."
"..." Although there was no logical issue, Kevin expression was even more silent than usual.
"Alright, let's change the order then... Lin, have you ever felt powerless and wanted to rely on someone else?"
A Truth?
It was a relatively ordinary topic, but it caught most people's attention. Lin would usually be categorized as a "lone wolf" hero. Though he had been in many squads, he spent most of his time fighting solo. Logically, such a person wouldn't have moments where they relied on others to solve their problems.
However, hearing this question, Elysia remained silent for a long while; she already knew the answer.
Vil-V watched the contemplating Lin with great interest. After a moment of thought, he nodded and said: "Yes... and more than once."
The lie detector remained silent. It was the truth. Everyone fell quiet, their thoughts drifting.
Lin himself didn't dwell on it much; instead, he looked at Kevin. "What about you?"
"I haven't."
Beep—
"..."
Now everyone's expressions were quite colorful. Especially Mei; she lowered her head to stifle a laugh, finding her boyfriend's attempt to act cool and stubborn absolutely adorable. Indeed, no matter how much age, appearance, or mindset changed, some things about a person remained constant.
"Elysia, don't you dare go telling everyone..."
Elysia clapped her hands with a radiant smile. "Let's continue then~"
Even as they began shuffling, Kevin was still muttering, "The equipment must be malfunctioning," and "A 1% probability is still a probability." A cheerful atmosphere filled the room.
In this round, Lin... still didn't draw the King. He could understand that a 1-in-12 chance wasn't easy to hit, but he couldn't understand why everyone was targeting him.
"Number 10..." Before Aponia warm voice could finish, she had already fixed her gaze on Lin.
Unsurprisingly, Lin expressionlessly flipped over his Number 10 card. He just wanted to go back to sleep.
"You..."
Just as everyone looked at this relatively unfamiliar MANTIS, curious about what kind of command she would give, she smiled slightly. "I command that you may skip executing the next order."
"..."
That... was it?
Even Sakura, who had drawn the Extra Joker, benefited. However, one person's expression was exceptionally stiff. She blinked and looked at Aponia; Aponia met her gaze with a faint, calm smile.
In the next round, the person who drew the King was Elysia, but she didn't seem particularly happy. She frequently cast ambiguous glances toward Lin and Aponia.
By now, Lin had noticed the problem.
Su, Mobius, Vil-V, Aponia, Elysia...
Wasn't this a bit too coincidental? Five rounds had passed, yet no one had drawn the King twice? Not only the King—even the Extra Joker hadn't repeated.
"Then, let Number 4 execute King Ellie's command~" This time, Elysia didn't fixate on Lin. She looked toward Aponia with a smile. The latter, having expected this, flipped her card and waited calmly.
"Hmm... it's quite a dilemma. Aponia, what kind of order should I give?" Elysia narrowed her eyes with a smile. "We don't know each other well enough yet, so let's start with getting to know each other—"
"You are a nun, so... is there a boy you like?"
This was a fairly aggressive personal question, though in a typical King's Game, it would be considered amateur level. The nun glanced at the lie detector with her clear eyes, then closed them as if contemplating the answer.
Just as others thought she would choose a Dare, she spoke softly: "I... do not."
"..."
Silence. The lie detector remained perfectly still, without even a hint of a warning.
"Hmm..." Elysia expression turned slightly strange, but since the device didn't trigger, she couldn't say anything.
"Wait, then who is the Extra Joker?"
Everyone looked at each other until they noticed one person keeping their head down, silent.
"Mobius?" Vil-V noticed the anomaly and tilted her head. "You drew the Extra Joker?"
"I did not."
The lie detector shrieked: Beep—
"..."
She could only flip her card with a stiff face. "How could I possibly like—"
Beep—
"..."
As the others' attention was drawn to Mobius, Aponia quietly opened her eyes, a flash of crimson passing through them.