Balatro

Joker had exhausted his two decks of playing cards.

His hands hung limply at his sides.

"Heh, hehehe."

He slowly raised his lowered head, the clown makeup on his face looking incredibly fierce and distorted.

Knowing he couldn't kill Bishop Jing, nor could he stop him from speaking, Joker silently walked a few meters away, turning his back to the two of them.

Bishop Jing didn't show the posture of a victor; he merely offered a concluding remark:

"If he can even lay his hands on someone he grew up depending on, who in this world can truly trust him?"

Joker ignored him, and Bishop Jing didn't elaborate.

Chen Miemie didn't know what kind of story lay behind that, but since neither of them spoke, it wasn't his place to dig.

For a moment, a cold silence fell among the three of them for the first time.

After a long while.

Joker, with his back to them, finally spoke.

He was talking to Chen Miemie.

"He's right. I was the one who did it."

Seeing that he was willing to talk, Chen Miemie quickly moved over and crouched side by side with him.

"Can you... talk about it?"

"There's nothing I can't say.

We encountered a formidable enemy and were no match for them.

I could escape, but she couldn't.

We were both from the Fog Church, and falling into the enemy's hands would be a fate worse than death.

In the end, I killed her."

Joker's account was too brief, clearly omitting key information.

Chen Miemie failed to obtain any useful intelligence. He felt it was a bit tricky. Between choosing Joker or Bishop Jing, he originally could have made a split-second decision.

The problem was, he wasn't facing a simple choice of personnel right now.

To put it abstractly, this was a question of life philosophy:

When a person confidently makes a decision, and then new conditions constantly emerge that contradict that decision, should they stick to the choice without changing, or constantly adjust according to the changes?

Chen Miemie remembered the ever-dreaded multiple-choice questions from the past.

He had eliminated two out of four options. Of the remaining two, one looked like the answer at first glance, and the other felt more in line with the question's requirements.

Facts proved that in such moments, whether you change or not, it's easy to make a mistake.

"Joker, I don't care about your private affairs. I'm only asking you this: going to repair the seal will result in death. Will you go or not?"

"Hehe, I'm not afraid of death, but I will destroy it."

Chen Miemie stood up: "[Trial], I request two new people to choose from."

"Rejected. This request does not conform to the [Trial] process. New candidates can only be selected if the chosen person refuses to accept."

Chen Miemie looked at the two madmen in front of him and felt very uncomfortable.

If he chose the one deceiving him, that person would definitely not refuse;

If he chose the one not deceiving him, then there would be no need for that person to refuse; they could just accept it directly.

Joker slowly stood up.

"Chen Miemie, I know many things about you, and I also know that you will have monstrous power in the future. I'll only ask you one question: are you confident that in the future, you can resurrect someone who has been dead for two years?"

Resurrection was just a legend, a myth even among Mystics.

Even in his [Yellow King] state under the Eternal Moon, Chen Miemie didn't have this ability, let alone for someone who had already been dead for two years.

"I have no confidence in that."

Joker suddenly jumped up, getting right in Chen Miemie's face and screaming wildly:

"Why didn't you just lie to me? Lie to me!"

"I can't deceive you. Having tasted all the warmth and coldness of this world, you should know better than anyone that it's better to rely on yourself than on others."

Once his emotions had calmed slightly, Joker whispered through gritted teeth, "If you choose me, I will definitely destroy the seal."

Father Jing silently chimed in:

"Do you know why Joker hates me?

The formidable enemy they encountered back then was brought upon them by me; they were merely implicated in the grand investigation.

Your Holiness Chen Miemie, you might be very familiar with the powerhouse who prevented their escape.

The Third Seat of the Witches' Tea Party, Great Witch Chen Miaomiao."

At this moment, ten thousand alpacas stampeded through Chen Miemie's heart.

Good going, Joker. You really hide your depths well.

After all this time, could Joker possibly not know that Chen Miemie was Chen Miaomiao's child?

Joker would fight to the death upon seeing Father Jing, whom he blamed for the incident. Wouldn't he hate Chen Miaomiao's son to the bone?

Yet every time they met, Joker acted slightly fearful, playing the role of a pure clown.

Looking at it now, it was highly likely an act. So who was the real clown?

Chen Miemie flipped over a dozen tables in his mind:

Was this Joker playing the long game of enduring hardships for revenge? Come to think of it, he was a madman who feared neither death nor torture, couldn't be bought with benefits, and hurt even himself in his madness. How could he simply bow down just because his neighbor was powerful?

"Father Jing, if I ask you to repair the seal, will you do it?"

"Your Holiness's will is my lifelong pursuit. I once acted recklessly and tried to assassinate Your Holiness. I will give this life to the seal here as atonement."

Chen Miemie took a deep breath and called out to the air.

"[Trial], I choose Joker to repair the seal."

Father Jing sighed: "Your Holiness ultimately did not believe in my loyalty to the Eternal Moon."

Chen Miemie denied his statement.

"No, I believe it.

Everything you have done has cost you your strength, reputation, status, and absolutely everything else, leaving you with no place among your own race, all for a return of practically zero.

This level of sacrifice cannot be achieved without absolute faith.

However, devout zealots are rarely docile.

The priest robe you wear, devoid of a moon, betrayed your true heart.

After finding a priest robe identical to yours in room 1802, I did some investigating.

It turns out that even within the Moon Church, there are subtle differences in the moons on the robes. This is because the three moons have minor differences in their outlines and textures.

During the first seven epochs, only the Frost Moon and the Rainbow Moon were active, and only they were granting [Blessings]. Thus, imperceptibly, the standard priest robes only bore the patterns of the Frost Moon or the Rainbow Moon, without the Eternal Moon.

And you, fancying yourself the first person to unveil the Epoch of the Eternal Moon, probably want to wear the very first Eternal Moon priest robe.

Until then, you'd rather leave the space on your clothes blank.

Father Jing, you are a man with very strong opinions.

I believe you will pledge your loyalty to the Eternal Moon, but I'm afraid it will be in the way you deem correct."

Father Jing listened silently, then bowed slightly in a salute: "I have been educated."

The voice of the [Trial] rang out.

"Joker, you have been selected by the challenger Chen Miemie. Are you willing to accept the choice?"

"I accept," Joker shouted his answer in a split second.

The pillar of red blood on Joker's body grew brighter and thicker.

Then, Joker tilted his head almost 45 degrees, smiling eerily at Chen Miemie.

"You chose me? Haha, hahaha, you know everything, and you still chose me?"

Chen Miemie looked at him calmly.

"Today was indeed not bad; I heard quite a few interesting stories, including yours.

I once extended an invitation to you, asking if you were willing to work for me, and you nodded and accepted.

From then on, it was your rebirth.

In my organization, there is no shortage of deeply malicious individuals with blood on their hands.

I will not hold past deeds against you; I will sever all previous karma and consequences. That is my attitude.

As for what you think and what you do, that is your own business."

Joker put away his exaggerated smile.

"The leader of anomalies truly has great audacity. Chen Miemie, let's play a game. You win, the seal is repaired. You lose, the seal is shattered."

Joker activated his ability, and a card table along with two high stools appeared out of thin air.

"You still remember the rules of the game, right?"

Chen Miemie thought for a moment: "14 cards. 1 is the smallest, King is the second largest, and the Joker is the largest but can be beaten by a 1?"

"Exactly. One round decides the winner, and you draw first. You with the surname Jing, shuffle the cards."

Father Jing, with a gloomy face, temporarily acted as the dealer.

He carefully inspected the 14 cards to ensure there were no issues, shuffled them, and spread them out on the table.

The Joker ignored Father Jing; he just stared at Chen Miemie:

"I'll tell you straight up, the card closest to your right hand is a King. Are you still going to pick that one, betting that I won't draw the Joker?"

Chen Miemie didn't answer and instead made his move directly.

He turned over the cards on the table one by one, checking the numbers underneath.

This kind of blatant, arrogant cheating right in front of the opponent made Father Jing's eyebrows twitch slightly.

Chen Miemie noticed Father Jing's micro-reaction: "The rules of the game didn't say I couldn't flip them over to look. I pick first, and he can target me based on that. This is a small privilege I ought to have."

The Joker nodded, indicating that Chen Miemie's behavior was completely reasonable.

Chen Miemie found the 1.

He took the 1 into his hand, and before the Joker even made his choice, he flipped it over.

"Mine, a 1."

The Joker was expressionless: "I remember you saying that I am just a clown in life, and in a game of cards, I could never draw the Joker."

"After the night you met me, and when I acknowledged you as the Joker, you became able to draw it."

The Joker remained silent for two seconds: "Not bad, it really was because of you. However, just because I can draw it doesn't mean I will draw it this time."

"Is that so?"

Chen Miemie gathered the remaining 13 cards on the table into his hands and tore them all to shreds in a few swift motions.

Then, with a wave of his hand, 13 cards woven from moonlight appeared.

The moonlight cards were transparent, allowing the faces of the cards to be seen directly.

All 13 moonlight cards were Jokers.

Father Jing's understanding of cheating reached a whole new level; he couldn't believe it could be played like this.

Not only did he flip the cards over to look at them, but he also swapped out all the remaining ones. Who could possibly win against that?

"This is going a bit too far," the Joker said, not reaching out to draw a card.

"It is indeed going too far. But isn't playing games in this world always like this? The rules are made by the strong."

The Joker stood up silently. Without any more nonsense, he was about to walk toward the seal.

"Wait, take your Joker card with you."

The Joker turned around, and as he waved away the card table, he pinched a moonlight Joker card between his fingers.

"How about taking a few more as a souvenir?" Chen Miemie smiled and handed over another handful, about five or six cards.

The Joker stuffed them into his coat and walked toward the seal with a frantic, eccentric gait.

Bishop Jing also began to move: "It's a pity I wasn't chosen by His Holiness this time, but in the future, I will prove my loyalty to the moon through my actions. I'll be taking my leave now."

Chen Miemie waved his hand at Father Jing.

Regardless of whether he wanted to let him go or not, he couldn't attack Father Jing right now anyway, as he was enveloped by a pillar of blood.

Father Jing stepped right out of the bloody curtain and rushed outward.

He was still in an invincible state, so the various Mystics didn't attack, but a few who were skilled at tracking followed him.

Half a minute later.

The voice of the Trial sounded: "The third seal, restoration complete."

The bloody curtain dissipated, and the crowd saw a strange Joker card frozen on the Magic Mirror.

The Joker on the card looked like he was both crying and laughing, making it hard to tell if he was good or evil. He held a knife in his left hand, and his right arm was wrapped in an empty embrace, as if someone was supposed to be there.