Free Web NovelChapter 392: Chapter 9: The Little Swindler and the Master Swindler
(Wishing all examinees superhuman performance. I was supposed to release a barrage of updates, but very unfortunately, I’ve been extremely stuck with writer’s block these past few days. It’s a genuine case of writer’s block, with each day spent in a Schrödinger-like state of absence.)
"Ah, this accusation really smears my name, doesn’t it? Such disrespect from the young, showing no reverence for his elders. ’Honor the dead;’ how can he make such wild accusations? How could I possibly deceive you?"
Bai Yuan’s voice emerged alongside Cain’s.
Bai Wu sorted through the information and roughly understood.
Spades K, due to a suggestion from Bai Yuan, had become Spades 10, and Spades K actually felt inferior to Bai Yuan.
Although he was constantly scheming to surpass Bai Yuan, he never managed to do so because of the mental shackles hindering him.
However, this wasn’t entirely due to self-imposed limitations, Bai Wu thought:
"Being deceived is simply a sign of one’s own lack of ability; I won’t be fooled, I can be utterly indifferent towards him."
Cain hadn’t met Hearts K, but he had clashed with Clubs K, even though he was no match for Clubs K and was thwarted again and again.
But Clubs K, that masked fellow, also repeatedly let him go each time.
For someone who could manipulate time, Cain found him intriguing, guessing that the other must have foreseen something.
"Before lies are exposed, the deceived always think they haven’t been fooled. Hearts K could be called an out-and-out liar. According to the teacher, the reason Clubs K fights alone is due to Hearts K’s weakness."
Cain was very curious about the specifics, but Spades 10 hadn’t provided much detail when sharing this information.
In the last era, those who escaped the farm were individuals who could influence the world profoundly.
Unfortunately, due to Hearts K, not only was Spades K’s potential suppressed, but Clubs K was left to struggle alone because of Hearts K’s choice to flee.
In the end, the legend of the Masked Strange Person came to a close, and the mask was passed on to a youngster from Food City.
Cain held his teacher in high esteem, and was deeply influenced by Spades 10. His sequence and personality were extensions of Spades 10.
This was also why Cain was extraordinarily interested in Bai Wu. As soon as Bai Wu admitted to a connection with Hearts K, Cain had already considered Bai Wu as a fated rival.
"Looking at it this way, your Hearts K sounds like a thoroughly rotten person. So the suits—Hearts, Clubs, Diamonds, and Spades—are they simply indicative of... personality?" Bai Wu asked.
As for these less significant topics, there was no need for Cain to hide anything:
"This I happen to know; the numbers, from 1 to K, represent potential ratings. It’s a quite peculiar thing. In a twisted world, it’s difficult to define how far each person can go, yet those with higher numbers tend to reach certain levels faster."
"As for suits, the four suits represent four different types of people, but that is only one aspect. The true meaning lies in categorizing the types of abilities people will develop in the future."
Bai Wu furrowed his brow, and Cain continued:
"In this twisted world, it’s hard to predict what kind of acquired abilities one might gain, but once humans undergo an Evil Fallen Transformation, they acquire innate Evil Fallen traits. These traits are often related to one’s character and desires. My teacher once told me that, in a sense... that organization is an incubator for the Evil Fallen, where only a very few with special constitutions can remain. Most are considered potential seeds for the Evil Fallen and are dispersed to the world beyond the walls."
Cain had never found where the wall lay, to the point where he’d once doubted whether his teacher was addicted to lying, including lying to him.
But later, he came to the realization... the world beyond the wall was none other than the lands outside Sheng Country.
A barrier had severed people’s memories and awareness of the world beyond the wall!
Bai Wu thought to himself that it really was so.
His guess was right, one of the farm owner’s plans was to pre-arrange so that at the first sign of any issue with the constraints of Hei Wu, when distortion spread beyond the Hei Wu, he would obtain the Doomsday Fragment immediately.
But there certainly wasn’t just this one explanation, and perhaps the farm’s graduation involved another even more cruel situation, which is why both Ks, or rather, all three Ks wanted to leave.
Although... the departure of the Ten of Spades was, to some extent, his own doing.
Bai Wu still remembered his experience of almost dying when he was sent to the farm by Jing Liu through the Causal Phone Booth.
"Why did Jing Liu want me to get in touch with the Ten of Spades?"
This thought popped up instantly, but Bai Wu couldn’t think of an answer.
Cain said: frёeωebɳovel.com
"Be it the Club K or Spades K, my teacher, as well as the person I once thought of as my destined enemy, they are all dead. One died in solitary battle, whereabouts unknown, and the other... pursued the King of Hearts to a place I do not know. By the time I found out, my teacher, such a great person... had contracted a disease that is incurable."
"He called it ’cage’, saying that a person cannot go to a world that doesn’t belong to them. That world might be wonderful, but it will reject him. The cage is such rejection, whether it’s a wild beast or a monster, they will ultimately return to the cage."
Cage...
Could it be that Bai Yuan also died from the ’cage’?
"Anyway, the King of Hearts is no trifling matter. Perhaps the three of them could have changed the destiny of mankind if they had worked together back in the day, but because he fled, everything changed. I can feel that my teacher, though he hated him, yet believed that this world, only the King of Hearts could understand him. Destined enemies often have the potential to become the best of friends."
"We will not become good friends," Bai Wu corrected.
"Hahahaha... It’s all about possibilities, who knows? Just like you want to kill me, but you can’t, and I want to devour you but also can’t. Our relationship is that closely intertwined," Cain declared, clearly delighted.
The deception was uncovered, and yet he unexpectedly discovered that the King of Hearts, who the teacher once thought about incessantly, actually had a successor.
Although Bai Wu’s tone seemed quite disdainful of this King of Hearts.
Bai Wu didn’t look at Bai Yuan, but in his heart, he truly scorned Bai Yuan.
Lin Rui had been working hard for this world all along.
Even though he didn’t know what Bai Yuan’s ability was, it was evident that Bai Yuan had a potential that surpassed both the King of Spades and Lin Rui, yet such a person... had actually run away.
It might have been Cain trying to sow discord, and he was also trying to deceive him at this moment, but Bai Wu couldn’t help feeling distressed by the tragic struggle of the First Generation Masked Strange Person.
He reminisced about his own act of saving Lin Rui and the attitudes of those around him toward the Masked Strange Person...
Actually, it was Lin Rui’s attitude that was abnormal.
Lin Rui’s obsession and fanaticism with the Masked Strange Person were already very strange.
The doubts of those around them toward the Masked Strange Person were the most real.
But that is the world, a world shrouded in distorted fog, where heroes may be misunderstood after death.
The most evil may become Eternal Beings, living lives above tens of thousands.
Sensing a strange emotion from Bai Wu, Bai Yuan revealed a charming smile:
"You’re not angry now, are you? The guy is just a petty swindler in your eyes, and I am your tender-hearted father after all!"
Bai Yuan showed no sign of displeasure, and even at the death of K, he felt no guilt whatsoever.
Cain was still babbling on about the bad things about the King of Hearts, of course, Cain’s lies were also quite clever. He was also praising the King of Hearts.
He believed that the King of Hearts had the highest potential among the three kings, and that the so-called Hearts were just a front put on by the real swindler. Clubs, Diamonds, Spades, Hearts, which one did he truly belong to—who knows? Perhaps even the leader of that organization, the farmer himself, had been duped.
However, Bai Wu clearly was not focusing on Cain but rather listening to Bai Yuan talk about some even less substantial topics.
The reason he was listening to something so insubstantial was that, for the first time... Bai Yuan was sharing some of his own thoughts.
"I’m not running away, I’ve just seen through it all, our resistance is meaningless, of course, this world is filled with many people who will do meaningless things, desperately fighting for the next generation’s chance."
"Like many of the little people in the era, remember the nurse from the little town? Li Xiaorui. Her husband was never going to be promoted to department head in his lifetime because he wasn’t connected, yet he still did his job diligently. No matter how hard he tried, he was never going to be the first choice, not even the second."
"Once, while having tea with him, he told me that although he knew there was no possibility, that his efforts could not surpass the thick valves built up by those people’s generations, he had to try anyway. It would be hard to accept otherwise, even if it just gave the younger ones he nurtured a slightly better chance once they took over."
As Bai Yuan said this, he shook his head, his eyes filled with mockery, and a kind of... emotion that Bai Wu couldn’t quite put his finger on.
Because this emotion did not belong to Bai Yuan... or at least he had never seen it in Bai Yuan before.
But it was also possible... that he was really just showing off his acting skills. Who knows?
"K must have thought the same, hahahahaha... didn’t he say before he died? Don’t dwell on the past, choose the future... in the end, it’s just like Li Xiaorui’s husband, stubborn to the death. Unrepentant... when he could’ve just gone to another world like I did."
Coward!
Bai Wu had figured out that Bai Yuan’s words were just an excuse for himself. How could one possibly know the outcomes if they never tried?
The Masked Man at least tried; what right did you, who didn’t dare to try, have to utter such mocking words?
Bai Yuan seemed to sense his son’s true feelings beneath the calm exterior:
"The unrest in your heart really hurts your old father... I just saw through one thing, no matter how hard we try, we can’t change the status quo. I don’t think I did anything wrong."
"Rather than die fighting against those monsters, I’d rather go to another world and live out my life in comfort, marry an average woman, have an imperfect son, and stop holding any expectations for the other side."
Bai Wu was startled.
Marry an average woman... have an imperfect son.
To some, it might seem like Bai Yuan was being ironic, but in Bai Yuan’s view, it was indeed like that.
His wife was just average looking, even a bit heavier when compared to many young girls obsessed with being slender these days. Frankly, she had not a single remarkable feature, none of the attributes that modern-day men obsessed over in women stood out in her.
Even her personality was somewhat introverted.
And his child? Such a big person still liked to count monsters in corners. Other people’s children were much cuter, although other people’s kids were stupid and fragile, overwhelmed with unnecessary emotions, with practically no potential, but that’s just how other people’s children were.
Bai Yuan said:
"If it wasn’t for the illness, I certainly would have lived comfortably. Maybe in a few years, I would have completely forgotten all the bad things about the previous world. Oh, by the way, I was actually the one who encouraged him to rebel, does that raise your blood pressure?"
"Ah, someone has to resist this world, right? Someone has to draw the monsters’ attention. Otherwise, it would be quite the mood killer if I was disturbed while enjoying life, wouldn’t it?"
Bai Yuan was indeed Bai Yuan, quickly steering the conversation towards the very aspect Bai Wu detested the most.
But Bai Wu, devoid of anger, didn’t have his blood pressure rise; he merely grew more disgusted with Bai Yuan.
Perhaps in front of the Masked Strange Person, Bai Yuan also put on a facade of wanting to save the world. But when the Masked Strange Person actually rebelled, Bai Yuan hid in another world.
This man had deceived the farmer, duped Club K, fooled Spade K, and tricked every person he had ever lived with.
Of course, in Bai Wu’s view, he was the only one who hadn’t been fooled.
Bai Yuan might have deceived many, but he certainly didn’t include himself, for only he knew the essence of this charming individual was that of a demon.
It was like now, Bai Yuan didn’t bother to disguise his actions, he confessed them outright, boldly and without a shred of guilt.
However, in many situations, the involved are blind.
If Bai Yuan also had the attributes of a Spade, maybe all these words that Bai Wu found repulsive were also part of a deception.
Who knows.
Bai Wu’s attention returned to Cain.
"About my teacher, I have told you almost everything. He is dead, of that I am certain."
"Your abilities, did they also come from your teacher?"
"Sort of, but all these things are irrelevant to what we need to study now. You know more about this Poker Card Organization than I do."
Cain didn’t even know about the so-called farm. Bai Wu thought it over; being able to get Bai Yuan to show up and say so much was some progress on this topic.
Next, it was time for the second question.
Cain looked at Bai Wu and said:
"I can feel it, you really wish me dead, heh, but both of us are clear that there are things I’m better at handling than you, like killing Yan Zhao. Although you exploited me, I also enjoyed being used in such a way. See, we can cooperate quite well, can’t we?"
Bai Wu furrowed his brow, "What are you trying to say?"
"Your second question pertains to what’s on the sixth floor of High Tower. Do you know why I’ve always been in search of a powerful vessel?"
"Why?"
"Because I want to visit the sixth floor of High Tower once more."
Bai Wu was startled, and Cain’s smile grew more insane, his expression filled with a certain obsession:
"I know what kind of person you are. If you and those people had lived in the same era, the same organization, perhaps you would become the Club K that never emerged."
"People like you, as your strength grows, your team and influence strengthen, your exploration of this world would dig ever deeper into the origin, perhaps even... investigating the Origin."
Bai Wu had to admit, Cain’s analysis of him was spot on. In that moment, Cain was like a demon tempting a human to surrender their soul:
"Want to know what’s on the sixth floor of High Tower? Then why not... come and see it for yourself with me?"
