HM Chapter 24

When all the players' names were meticulously matched with the list, even the players themselves showed slightly surprised expressions.

They wrote their names with pure intent, just meeting their own requirements, not expecting others to be so conscientious, even excessively so.

Someone glanced at Yuan Yuxue.

A player's brow furrowed, showing a moment of frustration and anxiety.

Essentially, to increase the chances of passing the game and end this death instance early, every player should conscientiously participate. Although avoiding participation wouldn't result in punishment, it would invite moral condemnation. However, there was one exception among them.

...Yuan Yuxue.

His situation was unique. He had been targeted by the boss since the first stage. Among all the players, only he had continuously cleared three games, leading to severe physical and mental exhaustion. With his participation being so active, it’s hard to say that other players didn’t have the intention of taking more responsibility to let him rest.

After all, Yuan Yuxue must be truly exhausted. He appeared very quiet, spoke little, and his dark, dense eyelashes drooped down. Sitting in the chair, though his back was still straight, his figure looked graceful and upright, yet there was an undeniable sense of languid fatigue, as if he could fall asleep in the next moment. It was hard not to feel a ripple of sympathy for him.

Among all the players, only Yuan Yuxue could justifiably choose to rest this round without facing any criticism, which was reasonable from every perspective.

But Yuan Yuxue didn’t.

When the butler announced his name, someone involuntarily tapped the table lightly.

Rabbit looked like she wanted to ask the butler, "Did you read that wrong?" but when she saw Yuan Yuxue’s natural expression, without any objections, she realized it was indeed he who had written down his own name. She pressed her lips together tightly.

...this was too obedient.

When Rabbit volunteered to sign up, she thought it might allow Yuan Yuxue to take a break. But who would have thought that Yuan Yuxue didn't exclude himself from the list of players for the game.

She sighed slightly.

Curly's face darkened, unable to describe how agitated and frustrated he felt. Subconsciously, he wanted to challenge Yuan Yuxue like before, telling him not to always think about stepping up, that the game didn't need him alone. But when his gaze landed on Yuan Yuxue’s face, he hesitated, his expression stiff and conflicted, his earlobes reddening slightly.

...Ridiculous, he couldn’t even open his mouth.

He even began to reconsider his previous attitude, wondering how he could have been so irritable.

The die was cast; it was pointless to withdraw Yuan Yuxue now. On the bright side, as long as they cleared the instance, there wouldn't be another game. Curly rubbed his fingertips slightly, thinking that with so many people, they shouldn’t have to overwork a newcomer player.

In fact, Andre proved he could.

His sinister gaze swept over every player, and it was hard to say he wasn’t secretly keeping tabs on everyone. It wasn’t until he narrowed his eyes to cover up that hint of malice his malice that he said arrogantly and reservedly, "For this round, we will play a truth-telling question game."

The players were quite surprised.

"Truth or Dare," but without the "Dare," just a question game. It sounded incredibly safe, like a newbie benefit, making them suspicious—could Andre really be that kind-hearted?

Wouldn't it just be an excuse for a murder game under the guise of questions?

Andre didn’t care about the players’ skeptical looks. He raised his chin slightly, and the butler brought him a deck of cards. The cards were made of mithril, edged with gold, with intricate patterns. Each card was valuable and heavy. Andre picked out the Ace to Eight of Spades in front of them and added a Joker to the deck.

"The game rules are simple," Andre spread the cards and interlaced his fingers under his chin, looking innocent as if preparing for a pleasant game with friends, "The person who draws the Joker can randomly name three other cards, and the drawn people will answer a question on paper."

"Within 100 seconds, those who can’t give the correct answer will be eliminated and face a minor punishment."

Rabbit quickly raised the most deadly and critical question in the game rules.

"How do we know if the answer is 'correct' or 'incorrect'?" Rabbit asked, "Will the Joker act as the judge?"

"Yes," Andre said, "the person who draws the Joker is the judge."

Rabbit's expression was filled with doubt, almost certain Andre intended to cheat. If he asked the questions, he could eliminate three players at once.

But if it were her, she would do the same.

Even if she asked a question as simple as "What is 1 + 1?" and Andre answered "2", she could spend five minutes proving that 1 + 1 equals 3. (1)

Andre clearly saw through her thoughts, shrugging lightly with a smirk, "Of course, the judge is also subject to the rules. If they ask a question they don’t know the answer to, or can’t fairly judge the answer's correctness...they will face the most severe punishment from the rules."

Andre’s voice dragged at the end, softly, like a lover’s whisper, yet it evoked a chilling sense of danger.

—They didn’t want to know what that punishment was.

Everyone had the same thought simultaneously.

So, proposing world-unsolved mysteries to eliminate the respondents was out, and trying to cheat to eliminate a specific target was also off the table.

Andre lazily said, "When only one person is left, the game ends."

Of course, if that person is Andre, all players will be punished.

If it's a player, the game is won, and they pass.

No wonder he said that as long as one player stood till the end, they would win.

The long table the players were sitting around wasn’t suitable for drawing cards. To prevent any unfairness from the butler or servants touching the cards, everyone tacitly moved to a small round table, sitting close together, with the cards in the middle, within everyone's reach.

After changing positions, Curly looked at Yuan Yuxue sitting between Skirt and Gold. His face darkened, and he sullenly sat in the empty seat next to Andre.

Andre seemed in a good mood, giving him a gracious smile.

Curly: "..." Disgusting.

Nine cards were spread in the center, with Andre drawing first, proceeding clockwise. In the next round, Curly would start drawing cards from Andre's right, ensuring fair initial drawing rights for everyone, a very fair sequence.

This game, from the surface rules, was eight players against Andre. But actually, from the details, players couldn’t gain much advantage; their numbers became a restriction.

The randomness of card designation meant that even if a player drew the Joker, they couldn’t precisely target Andre, only a one-in-three chance.

This also added another layer of restriction for the questioning player:

Not too easy, or Andre wouldn't be eliminated.

Not too hard, or it might harm teammates.

If Andre wasn’t eliminated, but teammates were...they’d be team killers in the truest sense.

Unlike ordinary games, where "selling out teammates" for victory was normal and wouldn’t bother the teammates. In this game, eliminating teammates could lead to real punishments with death possibilities, making it impossible to simply use teammates as victory tools.

Compared to this, Andre had it much easier. If he got the Joker, any three he drew would be his opponents.

He could just ask to eliminate, and eliminating players would be too easy—there had to be some restriction on Andre. But he wouldn’t reveal it to the players; they had to discover it themselves.

The cold, heavy cards had been dealt to everyone, and the first round of the question game began.

Yuan Yuxue lowered his eyes, his gaze falling on his card.

The card had some thickness, the edges sharp enough to be used as blades. The embossed pattern on it was exquisite, slightly raised.

It depicted a vivid monster.

Yuan Yuxue had seen it.

A monster with human limbs, long and thin, but with a dog's face.

Andre's "dog."

It seemed alive, baring its teeth at Yuan Yuxue, as if it could leap out and bite his finger.

But Yuan Yuxue didn’t mind the eerily realistic card pattern; his gaze was fixed on the number in the top left corner.

"Spade Three."

Meanwhile, Andre smiled and revealed his card—

Self-indulgently, the card depicted him in a black suit, sitting by a mirror. Andre’s face was pale, elegant, and reserved, a little noble surrounded by admirers.

Curly scoffed.

But that wasn’t the point. The key was the "joker" marked in the top left corner, the Joker card.

The first round of questions began with Andre.

The players’ expressions grew serious, preparing for Andre's tricks.

Andre smiled, "Spade Ace, Spade Six, Spade Three...answer my question."

"What color do I like?"

"..."

The three chosen players silently revealed their cards.

They were Captain, Skirt, and Yuan Yuxue.

Curly’s brow furrowed deeply. This question wasn’t particularly difficult but very tricky...who knew what color Andre liked.

The butler handed paper and pens to the three players.

What color did Andre like? Where to look for clues?

As the owner of the villa, his preferences might be reflected in the interior decor. The banquet hall’s colors were simple, warm yellow lights, a blue fireplace, red carpet, white and gray statues, mostly light gray tones in large areas, and similar outside.

As a dangerous NPC and likely a ghostly boss, liking dark colors made sense.

With 100 seconds to answer, while others were still pondering, Captain almost immediately wrote down an answer without hesitation.

(1)     If it wasn’t clear, she’s saying that because the joker can decide who is right or wrong, they could arbitrarily call objectively right answers wrong to punish the other