Eight of Clubs and Nine of Hearts
[Audience Expectation Value -1]
[Current Expectation Value: 34%]
Chen Ling, who was pacing around the room in boredom, saw a line of characters float past his eyes, and his heart imdiately sank.
He knew he absolutely couldn't keep waiting bitterly like this anymore. No matter what, he had to find sothing not so boring, to slow down the rate at which the "Audience's" Expectation Value dropped, and delay as much ti as possible for the Dusk Society.
Chen Ling's gaze swept around. The only thing here that had the potential to create so fun was the Eight of Clubs lying silently on the bed...
He simply grabbed a chair, sat by Eight of Clubs' bed, and looked at him solemnly.
"...What do you want?" Seeing Chen Ling's sudden movent, Eight of Clubs subconsciously dodged backward, his expression sowhat suspicious.
"Let's chat."
"Chat? Chat about what?"
"Anything." Chen Ling thought for a mont, "How did you join the Dusk Society?"
"This... there's nothing much to say."
"Waiting bitterly is still waiting anyway, might as well talk slowly." (If you don't give sothing soon, my Audience is really going to lose their patience.) Chen Ling didn't say the latter half of his sentence out loud, but the look he gave Eight of Clubs was indeed extrely sincere.
Eight of Clubs sized up Chen Ling with a strange expression a few tis. After hesitating for a mont, he still spoke:
"Before joining the Dusk Society, I was the Ninth Hall of the Floating Life Painting, you should know that, right?"
"I know."
"When I was still the Ninth Hall, an extrely arrogant Dusk Society mber snuck into the Red Dust Main City, provoking three Hall Masters to take action simultaneously to capture him... I was one of them.
Although this Dusk Society mber had an arrogant style of doing things, his mind was extrely ticulous. He left almost no clues for us. The three of us split up and investigated in the city for a few days without any harvest. Later, I accidentally caught a trace, followed the clues to find him, and then fought him."
"An arrogant Dusk Society mber..." Chen Ling's expression was sowhat subtle. "Nine of Hearts?"
"...Right." Eight of Clubs seed to rember sothing, gnashing his teeth in anger. "Back then, I had just stepped into the Sixth Stage, while he had already been at the Sixth Stage for a long ti. I fought him, and the result was just a tiny bit short... Just a tiny bit short of winning! In the end, not only did I fail to catch him, but I was also severely mocked by him."
It's really Nine of Hearts' style, Chen Ling thought to himself.
"...And then?"
"Then, he ran away." Eight of Clubs sighed. "After I returned to the Floating Life Painting, I was scolded by the Second Hall... because after I discovered the Dusk Society mber, I didn't imdiately call for teammate support, but chose to fight alone. However, at that ti, I was indeed young and aggressive, fearless, and never thought I needed anyone's support... This was indeed my problem.
It was also during that period that I discovered so problems. I had an argunt with the Second Hall, and then decided to leave the Floating Life Painting."
As for what the "problems" exactly were, Eight of Clubs deliberately avoided them, and Chen Ling didn't pursue the matter, but continued to listen quietly.
"Coincidentally... on the train leaving the Red Dust Domain, I bumped into Nine of Hearts, who was disguised and preparing to escape...
At that ti, I chased him without hesitation. We fought through a section of the train car and fought until the sky was dark and the earth was dim in the Gray World. You chase, I flee, and the result... I still lost."
Eight of Clubs said with deep resentnt, "I lost, and he humiliated again. I was so angry that I attacked him... and was beaten up again. After a few tis, I fainted."
Chen Ling: ...
Chen Ling looked at Eight of Clubs, thinking to himself that you are really stubborn. Knowing clearly that you couldn't beat him, you still kept charging up... But thinking carefully, it made sense.
Who was Eight of Clubs? He was the number one genius of the Path of the Arts in the contemporary era, a young hero known to several major Domains. Chen Ling calculated a bit; when he fought Nine of Hearts, he should have been around fourteen years old, exactly the age when one refused to admit defeat the most. How could he swallow this anger?
"He didn't kill . He just tied up and brought along like a hostage to the next Domain... In the beginning, I wished I could cut him into a thousand pieces, and even had thoughts of suicide. But later I found out, this group of Dusk Society mbers didn't seem as evil as I imagined... if you don't count the personality humiliation."
Eight of Clubs paused for a mont. "Anyway, after spending a long ti together, I also ca into contact with so of the Dusk Society's concepts, and found that this organization seed different from what the outside world rumored...
'Restart' might not be the best answer I'm seeking, but it's the closest option I've seen so far. So, in the end, I chose to join the Dusk Society."
"No wonder." Chen Ling sat on the chair, listening with relish, just short of conjuring a bag of Sunflower Seeds in his hands,
"What about now? Do you still hate him?"
"...Who?"
"Nine of Hearts."
Eight of Clubs opened his mouth, wanting to speak but stopping.
...
"Hahaha, you don't know, I beat that kid so hard back then that his snot ca out!" Nine of Hearts seed to think of a happy thing and described it cheerfully.
Jack of Clubs rolled his eyes. "How old were you then? How old was he? A grown man in his twenties beat a fourteen-year-old child like that, and it was a narrow victory, yet you actually have the face to be complacent."
"Just say if I won or not!"
"..."
Jack of Clubs couldn't be bothered to argue with him. While following Liu Qingyan through the land of the Gray World, he casually took out sparkling powder from his Top Hat and gently scattered it on the road.
"What are you doing?"
"Leaving traces." Jack of Clubs answered calmly. "Leaving marks on the road, so even if we fall at the Red Dust Base, the people behind can follow the marks and find the location of the base."
Jian Changsheng nodded, then asked worriedly:
"Speaking of which, can just the three of us really break into the Red Dust Base and rescue Chen Ling... That's the Floating Life Painting's lair!"
"Not three, only two." Nine of Hearts smiled and looked at Jian Changsheng. "You are too weak, rookie. You don't count."
Jian Changsheng: ...
"I seem to know why Eight of Clubs wanted to beat you up no matter what back then." Jian Changsheng gnashed his teeth.
"If it's an ordinary Seventh Stage, the possibility of breaking into the Red Dust Base to save soone is zero." Jack of Clubs paused for a mont. "But as a Magician, what I lack least are thods to confuse people. The certainty will be a bit higher... but at most, it's only twenty percent."
"Twenty percent, that's too low."
Jian Changsheng furrowed his brows tightly.
"Then what if, we add a Thief?" a familiar voice ca from afar.
Jian Changsheng and the others were startled and simultaneously looked behind them. They saw on the path scattering a faint silver light, two figures directly following them.
One of them was exactly 10 of Diamonds who originally stayed behind at the Jinghong Theater;
The other person was wearing a gray Woolen Overcoat, carrying on his back Bai Ye who was wearing a peaked cap and still unconscious. He was walking over here with a smile... The one who just said that sentence was exactly him.
The mont he saw this person, Jian Changsheng's mouth subconsciously opened wide, and his whole person beca excited!
"Senior Chu!!!"
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