Pranks and the King's Game

Could it be that...

"Teacher..."

Su stood on the tarmac, a thousand words welling up in his heart, yet he didn't know how to express them.

Spasi smiled nonchalantly, sipping his drink and letting the sea breeze ruffle his bare sleeves as he stood against the wind.

"You should stay at headquarters. Flame-Chaser aren't really suited to continue doing research at the Fifth Branch." He tasted the sweet and bitter flavor of the liquor with his tongue, tilted his head back and blew out a breath. "I've made many wrong decisions in my life, such as agreeing to let Doctor Mobius perform the Hypervariable Surgery on you, but the only one I don't think was wrong is taking you on as my student."

After his wife and daughter left, Spasi tried to find solace in other things, such as drinking and research, but he later discovered that emotions cannot be transferred; scars left on the soul cannot be healed in any other way.

All we can do is ignore it.

It wasn't until Sue became his student that he had another family member in the true sense.

Now that his student has grown up, it seems he no longer needs Su to stay by his side.

And the other person he cared about... he can finally put his mind at ease now.

"I hope there will be a day when we can sit under a sky that hasn't Honkai and reunite for a drink." Spasi placed his unfinished bottle of wine in Su's hand. "I probably won't be coming to headquarters for a long time. You should learn more from Kevin and Lin. Although Lin isn't Flame-Chaser, he should have plenty of experience to share."

"... I will."

Spasi breathed a sigh of relief and was about to turn around and board the transport plane when he suddenly widened his eyes and looked behind Sue.

Su didn't turn his head, but he could already sense the person's arrival.

"You actually came to deliver someone?"

"... Is there anything surprising about that?"

Lin touched his neck; his vocal cords had not fully healed, and he could only make a faint sound.

"That's true, there's no need to be surprised now." Spasi smiled. "You can't drink like this, I'm afraid it will leak from your neck, so let's say goodbye here."

"Are you interested in doing me a favor?"

"What?"

Lin tossed a storage device to Spasi.

Spasi looked at the storage device in his hand with a puzzled expression, not quite understanding what Lin meant.

"You'll find out when you get back," Lin said calmly.

After watching Spasi's transport plane disappear into the distance, Lin turned and walked back into the base, ready to get back into his usual routine.

Think about what to do next...

"Hey Lin, Su, we're throwing an awesome party! Guess who's getting invited?"

The moment Lin saw Elysia, he turned and walked away expressionlessly.

She had only taken two steps when her hand was grabbed. "Hey, don't rush, I won't hurt you."

"I think we've had enough parties already," Lin Moran said, turning around. "You guys go have fun, I'm going to exercise."

What a joke! Elysia throws small parties every two days and big parties every three days, it's like a festival every day. Lin Ke doesn't want to follow his captain's unrestrained partying. He has a lot more things to deal with.

Elysia leaned closer and whispered, "There are lots of girls there~"

Lin's desire to leave intensified.

"No, no! You can't leave! Some people said they won't participate without you!"

"... Then let's not participate. It's fine for everyone to do their own thing."

Even though Lin was still clueless about certain aspects, he had a bad feeling at this moment. His intuition told him that he had to get away from this so-called party immediately. The "girl" that Elysia mentioned was definitely not a good person.

"Alright then, I'll agree to deduct ten times from the hundred times I obeyed Elysia's orders."

"I don't recall ever making any such agreement with you."

"Huh? Didn't you say you could grant any wish?"

"What you should be looking for is the Holy Grail."

"But there's someone who really needs you. If she didn't have you, she might completely fall apart," Elysia said in a pitiful tone.

"..." Lin turned around upon hearing this and asked in a nonchalant tone, "Who?"

Lin felt that she must have lost her mind to agree to such an absurd thing Elysia.

He sat on a beach chair on the deck of the ship, wearing sunglasses and enjoying the sea breeze and sunshine, but he was in a bad mood at all.

Currently, the ship he is on is located in a sea area southeast of the Mu Continent, heading towards an uninhabited island. According to Elysia, they are going to spend a seven-day vacation on that uninhabited island belonging to the Fire Moth.

It wasn't a holiday arranged by headquarters, nor was it a group event; it was a small party organized by Elysia with only a few people.

Of course, that's not the key point. The key point is that Lin is curious about how Elysia managed to get certain people to attend this party, and he can't figure it out at all.

Besides Lin and Elysia, the remaining members of the list are: Mei, Kevin, Mobius, Vill-V, Su, Eden, Pardo, Hua, Aponia, and Sakura.

Especially May and Kevin. It's true that Kevin will be with May, but why would May agree to come out on vacation? Shouldn't she be fully focused on her research on the Eighth Herrscher? And Mobius, she's a typical research geek, why is she out here too?

How did Elysia manage to get them to agree?

"Well..."

Lin sighed, shook his head, and went inside the ship, deciding to take a nap first. He knew Elysia would keep causing trouble, so he should conserve his energy.

However, what he didn't expect was that strange things would begin to happen on the very night the ship was still en route to shore...

Chapter 140 Pranks and the King's Game

"Kosma, where did Daddy and Mommy go?"

The blue-haired girl, painting in the dim light, asked Kosma, who was sitting next to her playing the harmonica.

"..." Kosma quickly exchanged a glance with Dessidobia.

"Little Griseo, your mom and dad are busy right now. You can go out to see them when you feel a little better~" Dessidobia explained to Griseo with a kind smile.

"Oh..."

Griseo didn't say anything; she nodded and turned back to drawing.

Dessidobia and Kosma breathed a sigh of relief.

Neither of them were very good at taking care of children; they had no experience in this area, nor did they have the affability of Lin and Aponia. Fortunately, although Griseo was a blank slate, she was very obedient, only liked to draw, and wouldn't run around or ask endless questions.

Since Aponia left, they, along with Chrono and Immer, took turns looking after Griseo. Chrono was Aponia's chosen one. Although they all thought Chrono was dangerous, Aponia said there was no problem.

Can that grumpy guy really take good care of Griseo? He seems like the type that kids don't like at all.

"Speaking of which, where did Kevin and the others go?"

"It seems to be... a deserted island, right? It should be fine, right?"

Lin was in a light sleep as the ship rocked. Since this ship was not produced by the Fire Moth R& Research and Development Department, it would still sway somewhat unsteadily when it encountered larger waves.

He pretended not to hear any of the activities Elysia was organizing next door, hoping only that this vacation would be peaceful and allow him to recuperate, ideally sleeping in the sun every day and reading a couple of books with the sea breeze at night, and the seven days would pass by in no time.

However, he felt like he was dreaming.

In his hazy state, he wasn't sure if he had fallen asleep. In his dream, someone approached him, walked up to him, and bent down in the darkness...

Lin suddenly opened his eyes, rolled over and sat up, warily scanning his surroundings.

The room was as quiet as a morgue.

"... Kevin, it's your turn to play!"

The joyful noise from next door Elysia, continued. Light peeked out from under the door. He touched the cold sweat on his forehead; it seemed he was having a nightmare.

Lin took a sip of water, then lay down again to continue sleeping.

I vaguely sensed someone approaching again...

"Get up! Wake up right now!"

Lin was jolted awake by a violent shaking. When he opened his eyes, he saw Mobius's pretty face, which was filled with shock and anger.

"...arrive?"

"What the hell! Wake up! Look at your face!"

Lin regained some of his senses from Mobius's angry shouts and discovered that not only Mobius, but others had also come to his room, crowding the entire small house, and all of them were looking at him with strange eyes that he couldn't understand.

After listening to Mobius's words, Lin walked to the mirror and looked at his still sleepy reflection.

"..."

Lip print.

Lin could clearly see a faint pink lip print on the right side of her face, below the sunglasses she was wearing.

Judging from the wrinkles on this lip print, it couldn't have been drawn on.

He understood why everyone else looked at him that way.

Mobius crossed his arms and sneered, "Do you have anything to explain?"

Lin touched the lip print, then glanced expressionlessly at everyone present. He first looked at the girls other than Mei with suspicion, but they all remained calm and composed. He then turned his gaze suspiciously to the remaining men.

Finally, he identified Elysia as the suspect.

"Hmm? Are you doubting me?" Elysia said with a smile. "Too bad, Lin, I've been playing games with them next door the whole time."

"Elysia definitely didn't leave the room." Mei said, observing everyone with amusement, while also defending Elysia.

"..."

After the most likely person was ruled out, a dilemma arose.

Of the remaining people, who would be the one to play such a prank?

"... It doesn't matter," Lin said, shrugging.

Mobius froze on the spot.

"It... doesn't matter?" She stared at Lin's sunglasses and repeated the word carefully.

"It was just a prank," Lin said calmly, wiping the lipstick mark off his face. "And it didn't have any impact."

"You..."

Mobius, who was about to speak, suddenly stopped.

Lin seems to be right. What impact does this have? He was the one who was pranked, and he doesn't care at all, so why should others care?

Ultimately, what is she to Lin? Even if they are friends, it seems like she has no right to interfere, right?

"If everything's alright, I'll go back to sleep..."

Just as Lin was about to lie down, he was grabbed and saw Mobius's extremely gloomy expression.

"Come here, let's play together."

"..."

Lin wanted to refuse, but Mobius's unquestionable tone and gaze clearly indicated that he had no intention of giving him a choice.

At that moment, the culprit was in the crowd, smiling.

"Very good, welcome Lin and Mobius to our game! Let's continue the game!"

Everyone sat on the cushions, forming a circle, creating a warm and cozy feeling, like being around a fireplace.

After listening to Elysia's welcoming speech, Lin glanced at Mobius beside him, only to be met with a glare from her. "I was watching them play the research game earlier, and now that I understand it, I've joined in."

"..."

That being said, Lin didn't know what game they were playing. The cards in Elysia's hand were just ordinary playing cards, but with so many people, it was impossible for them to be playing an ordinary card game.

"It's actually very simple, Lin, you've definitely heard of it before." Elysia smiled and showed the twelve cards in her hand. "It's just ' The King's Game '~"

King's Game is indeed a very well-known game, and it's almost impossible to learn.