Off the Plan

The Aberration Joker actually wanted to move, but inside his suit, several Joker cards made of moonlight pinned him in place.

The moonlight cards were continuously being consumed. Originally there were five or six cards, but now only the last two remained.

In just a moment, another one disappeared, leaving only the very last one.

Eternal Moon's Blessing arrived.

Obviously, the Blessing arrived too late.

Joker's mutation seemed to have already completed. He had mutated from a human Joker into the Aberration Joker.

When breaking through from Mystery 5 to Mystery 6, if one did not receive a Blessing and mutated into an Aberration, they would not inherit their previous memories.

This was why many failures chose to commit suicide, because failing meant their original self completely died, leaving behind a monster wearing their skin.

Joker should have ended up like this too.

When he accepted the choice in the third round of the trial, rushed into the mirror, and repaired the seal, he had initiated his advancement journey.

High-level advancements could not be interrupted.

In the rules of this world, it seemed that high-level advancers could only die from lacking a Blessing, and no other power was allowed to harm them during this time.

Joker repaired the seal. According to the trial rules, even with his Immortality, he was doomed to die.

But the trial rules were not greater than the rules of the world.

Joker, who had entered the advancement state, could not be killed by the trial.

Joker was not the target of the trial. Since it could not kill him for the time being, it no longer wasted time on him.

Though the trial could not kill Joker, it still carried out a punishment to make things difficult for him, ultimately spitting Joker out from the mirror world into this incredibly dangerous eerie forest.

Joker continued his advancement.

He failed to wait for the Blessing.

His entire body began to mutate. The clown makeup on his face turned into a real plaster face, and the scars extending from the corners of his mouth to the roots of his ears could truly split wide open.

The mutation quickly reached 99.9999 percent completion.

Then, it got stuck at the very core of his heart.

In the pocket over his heart, there were several Joker cards made of moonlight.

Of course, the Joker cards were far from achieving the effect of a Blessing, but these were Joker cards condensed with the will of Eternal Moon's mortal walker, representing an acknowledgment of Joker's essence.

The Joker cards became a part of Joker. The original Joker made up that 99.9999 percent, and this remaining tiny fraction was the Joker cards. Until the Joker cards were completely consumed, the mutation would not be thoroughly finished.

On the other hand, all of Joker's original body had indeed completed its mutation. Relying on an external organ like the Joker cards to sustain himself was ultimately an illusion and a cheat.

Amidst the struggle of various contradictions, the consciousness of Eternal Moon released boundless mighty power.

The brightness of the yellow moonlight in the eerie forest reached a dazzling level.

Finally, Joker's special advancement yielded a result.

This was the first time in history.

Under the interference of Eternal Moon, he became the Joker, an Aberration Joker retaining human memories.

Joker opened his eyes.

The yellow moonlight filling the world was fading away.

"Hehehe." Joker dusted off his suit and, with a manic stride, walked out of the eerie forest.

Sixiang City.

Chen Miemie got up from the Slumber Embracer.

Checking the time, it was already 4:40 in the morning.

"Hmm, I still have a little time. I can go farm some materials for my advancement."

Although he said this, he didn't immediately set off.

In truth, he was quite shocked inwardly.

Joker becoming the Joker was not part of his original plan.

In the original plan, through this series of methods, Joker was supposed to advance to Mystery 6, rather than turn into an Aberration with human memories.

Chen Miemie took a deep breath.

Although tonight was the result of an accident, where there was one, there could be two.

When an Aberration could freely control its passives, it was no different from existing intelligent races.

Take Loop for example. As long as she hid her needle legs well, she could walk into a crowd and be indistinguishable from an ordinary mystic.

This meant something significant.

Previously, Chen Miemie could only transform Aberrations into humans.

Now, he seemed to have found a way to transform humans into Aberrations.

"I'll research this slowly later. There isn't much time left. I need to head out of the city first. Origami, let's go." Chen Miemie transformed into Huangyi.

"Coming." The paper figure opened a spatial door.

Among the currently recorded coordinates, a relatively distant one was Qinghua's home, Porcelain Pool.

Chen Miemie took Origami and set off from Porcelain Pool, hunting for prey along the way.

Soon, they successfully encountered a bad guy.

It was a flying ear.

It instinctively flew toward Chen Miemie's ear, wanting to attach itself.

Chen Miemie did not dodge, but in his Huangyi state, he was composed of pure specks of light, so the flying ear failed to attach.

Chen Miemie pinched the ear that tried to fly away after failing.

"What kind of Aberration are you? What were you trying to do just now?"

"Light speck man, I am the Echo Earworm. I like to hide in people's ears."

"What do you do hiding in people's ears?"

"Hmph hmph, I can collect the vicious words spoken by the ear's owner, and then play them repeatedly in their ears late at night, letting them be corrupted by their own malice and fall ill from depression."

"You wicked ear Aberration, how evil!"

"I'm not evil. I'm not the one saying the words that attack the ear's owner; it's them. The malicious thoughts directed at others will eventually burn themselves."

Chen Miemie was quite displeased. "Don't quibble with me. In this world, there are many unintentional slips of the tongue, quick words spoken in the heat of the moment, or emotional outbursts. Although they are faults, you take them out of context and magnify people's malice."

Echo Earworm replied, "Evil is evil. How can it be so easily distinguished by size? There are so many judging criteria, I can't tell them apart. Anyway, I just make people reap what they sow."

Chen Miemie sneered coldly. "Fine, since your punishment of others doesn't distinguish the severity of the crime, and you actively attacked me just now, I will also make you reap what you sow."

Snap.

Echo Earworm was crushed barehanded by Chen Miemie.

The material it dropped was a pair of earplugs.

Chen Miemie was speechless.

Excuse me, but how exactly does one use up a pair of earplugs?

The timing was just right. Chen Miemie completed his two set tasks for the night and went home to sleep, fully satisfied.

The next day.

After Chen Miemie woke up, he found that the Aberrations in the house were speaking without making any sound.

Qinghua pointed to his ears.

He then remembered that he had tried wearing the earplugs before going to sleep.

"I have to say, the effect of these earplugs is absolutely incredible. I can't hear a single sound."

After taking off the earplugs, Chen Miemie seemed to feel something. He spread his fingers and stretched them toward the wall.

The slightly backlit wall instantly lit up astonishingly bright.

"My moonlight is brighter and stronger. I feel the advancement has been completed."

With this, the house became lively again. The Aberrations offered varying levels of flattery, making Chen Miemie glow with pride.

After Chen Miemie finished eating, Bobo immediately made a fuss, demanding that Loop take it downstairs.

"What's wrong with it?" Chen Miemie asked.

Qinghua couldn't help but laugh, "With the whole city going back to work, business at the roast chicken shop downstairs is booming again. Bobo is busy restocking."

Chen Miemie looked pleased. "Good on Bobo. She knows how to earn time for the family."

Daidai waited until Bobo left before protesting in a low voice, "Bobo doesn't have to pay for ingredients, she enjoys the process herself, and she still collects people's time. The roast chicken shop's transactions are unfair."

Faced with a major matter of principle like earning time, Chen Miemie quickly stepped in to unify the household's mindset.

"Daidai, the customers gain the enjoyment of their taste buds and a joyful mood. These are priceless treasures. This transaction is perfectly fair."

"Oh." Completely defenseless against Chen Miemie, Daidai was instantly fooled.

"Alright, everyone get ready. We're heading to the Jiang residence this afternoon. They've been inviting me for days, so we really must go pay them a visit."