So far, the Kings had been Su, Mobius, Vil-V, Aponia, and Elysia—all different. If someone was intentionally trying to mess with him, Lin suspected he might never draw the King. The next one would likely be...
Mei displayed the King card with a meaningful smile.
"I ask all of you... to tell the person to your right a 'shameful little secret'."
The first... and likely only collective command of this King's Game. Even though it was for everyone, Lin felt it was still targeted at him. Because Aponia had allowed him to skip the next order, and this order was a minor "joke" for everyone, it felt like he had been strategically played in a game of "Tian Ji's Horse Racing."
And sitting to Lin left... was Mobius.
Her expression had been particularly resentful since her "forced confession," and it became even more pronounced upon realizing she had to tell Lin a shameful secret.
"What are you looking at? Are you looking forward to it?"
"Yes, very much," Lin answered honestly. The lie detector didn't even beep.
"..."
Mobius gritted her teeth and glared at him, lowering her voice: "If you dare tell anyone, I'll remodel your head into a Parvati's head."
........
In the darkness, Lin felt a chill, like needles made of ice stabbing into his spine. Was he opening his eyes or closing them? It seemed irrelevant. After being imprisoned, his physical senses had lost their original purpose.
"You're quite pathetic, getting locked up by the shadows of a bunch of losers you already defeated."
After an unknown amount of time, a cold voice drifted from the depths of the darkness.
"..." The voice felt distant. Even Lin took a long time to recall it. He twitched the corner of his mouth. "You...?"
"Surprised?" There was a hint of mockery in the voice. "True. While you're here day after day, year after year, reminiscing about old memories, you probably didn't think someone would be fulfilling your old ideals. And that person is me."
"..."
"I'm only here as a detour to see how pathetic the once-confident you looks now. I have no interest in helping you out."
"...Can you find Raiden Mei?"
"What if I can? What if I can't?"
"Watch over her for me. I can... barely hold on anymore." Lin strained his consciousness to resist the deep darkness, making a sincere plea.
"..." She hesitated for a moment. "I see. Your memory construct is nearly dissipated... To think you'd place your hopes on a Herrscher from ten thousand years in the future. Incredible. Have you given up?"
"You're wrong about one thing... I haven't given up on my ideal. And you won't be the one to complete it..."
"We are the pioneers moving through the night. Those who come after us will follow our path and cross the finish line where we stalled..."
Perhaps provoked by these words, she fell silent and said no more.
The next to draw the King was Pardo, who had been acting quite timid today. She was exceptionally quiet, perhaps using the observational skills she honed in the Sundown Alley, sensing that the people around her weren't to be trifled with.
"Can I order Big Brother Lin to stop nagging me about what I eat—"
"No."
Pardo could only dejectedly order everyone not to stop her from eating her fill during this vacation.
Next were Eden and Hua in sequence. Unsurprisingly, not a single King repeated. This confirmed to Lin that the order of Kings had been pre-arranged. The fact that he hadn't drawn it yet... meant this was a game targeted at him. And the only one capable of manipulating the order of the King...
"This time, Sakura is the King~"
Lin watched the two pink-haired girls. Elysia was to Sakura right. Sakura silently flipped her card. From the start, he felt something was off between these two.
Elysia had likely planned this with Sakura in advance, letting Sakura—who had faster hands—shuffle and deal. This way, no one, including Lin, could see any traces of cheating. Meanwhile, Elysia arranged the order of Kings and called everyone to play.
So, Sakura purpose was...
Sakura fox ears twitched. She glanced at the headphones Lin had gifted her, which were hanging around her neck. A flash of complexity passed through her eyes as she looked at Lin.
"Number 1... may I ask, do you hate me?"
...What did that mean?
Lin had said before that he found it hard to understand what Sakura was trying to express. She gave him a sense of being both close and distant. Thus, when she asked this, Lin didn't rush to answer, but thought about her goal.
Did she want him to hate her, or not?
Lin searched his soul; he didn't feel there was anything worth hating about Sakura, but there wasn't necessarily anything to love either. Furthermore, Lin didn't hate her. Her status as an assassin was indeed contrary to his own, but the world held too many circumstances beyond one's control. Lin was no longer the person who only measured others by his own values.
Sakura ambiguous attitude led Lin to give an ambiguous answer: "I don't know if I hate you or not."
Beep—
The lie detector rang.
The once-lively atmosphere grim. Sakura stared silently at the beeping device. The complexity in her eyes turned into self-blame and disappointment. Even Elysia, who had been smiling at the scene, froze. She looked at Lin in confusion, as if asking why he would say such a thing.
"Keep going, keep going! It's my turn to draw the King!" Only Mobius demanded they continue without a care. Everyone present saw the trickery in the game, but they tacitly chose not to expose it. Mobius was still trying to force "that person" out through a Truth.
This time, even the Extra Joker didn't flip their card before moving to the next round.
Lin reached out toward Sakura as she prepared to shuffle. Under her bewildered gaze, he said: "I'll deal."
"Wait—"
Before Elysia could stop him, Lin took the cards from Sakura hand. He gave Elysia a flat glance—a look that made her realize she was in for a bad time.
Lin fingers moved with a dizzying blur, cutting, shuffling, and swapping cards as if performing magic. The twelve cards in his hand seemed like an entire deck.
"Lin... you're quite skilled at shuffling..." Elysia gave a dry laugh, trying to change the subject.
Lin calmly gathered the cards and dealt them. "Back in high school, Kevin once wanted to learn magic to perform for Mei. I spent a night learning it first, then taught him."
...Was he saying that messing with her was child's play? But Elysia was overthinking; Lin wasn't out to target her specifically. He was taking revenge on everyone who had targeted him just now.