HM Chapter 27

After revealing his ability, Andre became increasingly brazen.

He often drew the joker card to answer questions, but no question seemed to stump him.

On the contrary, Andre's questions grew more challenging when he drew the joker—

"Which servant do I find the most useful?"

"In which room do I usually sleep in the villa?"

...

"Please write down the name of my favorite pet," Andre lazily added, "I'll give you a hint; it's my 'dog.'"

Players: "..." That thing has a name?

Through countless rounds of questioning, they had roughly grasped Andre's question pattern. He seemed confined by the rules to ask questions only related to himself.

But as the game progressed, Andre's restrictions loosened, making his questions increasingly difficult to answer by mere guessing—

For the players, their knowledge about Andre was too limited. They had been in the villa for less than twenty-four hours, what could they possibly know about him?

Just the name of Andre’s pet eliminated both Curly and Blackie. As for Glasses, who wasn't eliminated, he had listed several common dog names statistically likely to be correct, and by sheer luck, he stayed in the game.

Curly filled his sheet with “XX · Andre,” which was likely a veiled insult. After being eliminated, he scoffed loudly, kicked the door open, and prepared to find his leader.

Just before leaving, Curly hesitated, his rarely used brain spinning rapidly. He glanced at Yuan Yuxue with a hint of worry.

Curly suddenly remembered... the newbie's body might not withstand the punishment.

He looked frail and thin, like someone who could get sick from just a breeze.

The more Curly thought about it, the more concerned he became. He lost his earlier decisiveness, looking back at each step, trying to catch Rabbit's attention to urge him to look after the newbie. Unfortunately, Rabbit hadn’t noticed him. Only after Andre's sarcastic remark about why he hadn’t left yet did Curly reluctantly close the door behind him.

Soon, only five remained, increasing each player's chances of being drawn.

The girl in the dress, not eliminated by Andre but by Glasses' question, sighed regretfully and left the banquet hall for her punishment.

Now only three players and Andre were left, eliminating the need for selecting three cards, allowing the joker to directly ask questions.

Rabbit drew the joker card again. She pressed her lips slightly, controlling her expression well to reveal no extra emotion. She asked a standard question, while quickly emptying her mind—she had undergone special training for counter-espionage, filling her mind with meaningless concepts and numbers. She then heard Andre's cold laugh.

“Useless, darling,” Andre's voice, laced with mockery, lazily lifted his gaze to her, “Humans can deceive their brains, but how can they fool their hearts?”

Rabbit gritted her teeth, almost laughing in anger.

Surprisingly, Glasses was eliminated this round.

His face remained impassive as he adjusted his glasses, saying, “This game is pointless. It’s better to end it sooner.”

He then gave Yuan Yuxue a deep look, mouthed something, and left the hall voluntarily.

Now only three people remained, two players.

The players' side still had no chance of winning. Rabbit, slightly swayed by Glasses’ words, faced inevitable defeat and wondered if it was better to end it early to shorten her teammates' punishment time—

Though her emotions resisted conceding, her rationality told her that no matter what, the outcome would be the same.

Her wavering heart grew hollow, prompting her to look at Yuan Yuxue, seeking an ally.

Yuan Yuxue probably thought the same.

However, seeing his profile, Rabbit was slightly taken aback. Her surprise wasn't due to his handsome face but his unusually calm demeanor.

His eyes were downcast, his long, thick eyelashes like crow feathers, gently drooping. He focused intently on the three remaining cards at the round table, as if contemplating the questions that might come his way, unaffected by Glasses’ earlier remarks. Watching him, Rabbit felt as if a cold breeze had cleared her mind, dispelling some of her restlessness.

Yuan Yuxue was indeed unaffected.

As a robot, he was immune to the emotional turmoil and the urge to cut losses that humans experience in adversity.

The odds of winning were low.

But Yuan Yuxue’s first mission had a survival probability of one in a billion.

His existence was already a low-probability miracle.

To Yuan Yuxue, probability was just another piece of data supporting task completion. As long as success was possible, he would exhaust his last drop of energy to complete the mission—there were no half-measures.

This mechanical obsession, unique to robots, was beyond human comprehension. Yet, Rabbit indirectly felt it, her mind, tired from countless rounds of struggle, deciding to surrender.

So be it. Continuing to fight Andre would change nothing.

The next few rounds remained tense.

Yuan Yuxue’s luck was extreme—he was chosen to answer many times but never drew the joker.

He hadn’t hit even a 1/3 chance.

Again, he missed the joker.

Yuan Yuxue looked at the Spade A in front of him, paused, and flipped his card.

The joker was with Andre.

Andre set the joker upright, kissed the card, and smiled maliciously, as if releasing some shackle.

His cold golden eyes fixed on Yuan Yuxue and Rabbit.

This time, he didn’t ask his usual, mundane questions about likes or dislikes. Instead, he laughed excitedly, “As my good friends, you should know me well. So, this question is simple—”

“Write about a memorable moment from my past.”

Andre pushed the joker card forward lightly, like blowing a kiss, his face full of malicious glee.

“You haven't been ignoring my past, have you?”

“...” Rabbit wanted to say she had no interest in his past but remained silent, forced to answer by the rules.

Yuan Yuxue slightly tilted his head thoughtfully. After sorting through scattered clues in his mind, he began writing his answer.

Before the hundred-second countdown ended, both had submitted their answers.

This time, Rabbit wrote only a few words on her paper.

“Killed players.”

Clearly, as the dungeon boss, Andre must have killed countless players.

Even though Rabbit abhorred such actions, it was the safest answer.

But Andre’s smile widened unnervingly.

“Incorrect answer.”

Rabbit’s eyebrows twitched in surprise.

Andre complained, half-jokingly, “Miss Rabbit, you really don’t understand me. Is this what you call being a good friend?”

Andre wasn’t punished by the rules, proving his judgment was correct. Rabbit paused before asking, “You haven’t killed players?”

“Of course I have,” Andre emphasized, seemingly offended, “I said ‘memorable’—such trivial matters aren’t something I remember.”

“If you hadn’t mentioned it, I’d have forgotten,” Andre coldly mocked.

To him, players' lives were insignificant. Rabbit seldom felt anger at the bosses' cruelty, but her face grew cold, palms clenching.

Whether she accepted his answer or not, Rabbit was eliminated. Andre cheerfully opened the next answer, pausing as he read it.

Andre’s mocking smile vanished, staring blankly at the text, his expression frighteningly blank.

“Your friend, or a guest, once threw away your birthday cake.”

The sentence was simple, lacking dramatic revelations, more like an ordinary diary entry. But Andre crumpled the paper, his gaze fixed on Yuan Yuxue.

Andre’s lips moved as if to speak but he swallowed it, smirking sarcastically, “Congratulations... Correct answer, brilliantly done.”

Rabbit blinked, also looking at the text, finding nothing special.

This was what impressed Andre, this monster?

The only cake-related information she recalled was when they first entered the banquet hall, and Andre had the butler serve birthday cake.

She and a few players had found ways to discard the food, then the lights went out. After a brief darkness, nothing unusual happened... except Andre stood next to Yuan Yuxue.

Was it their act of discarding the cake that impressed Andre?

Or something from before?

Rabbit felt a fleeting realization, but the thought escaped too quickly. The information was too fragmented to form a coherent picture. As she tried to ask Yuan Yuxue for more details, Andre turned, rudely urging her to leave.

“Miss Rabbit, you’ve been eliminated, right?” Andre spoke politely, his eyes impatient, “Why are you still here?”

Rabbit: “...”

Bound by the rules, Rabbit reluctantly left the hall. As she headed outside the villa, she realized Yuan Yuxue would now face the boss alone—

...And he was their only newbie.