The Cycle Continues: Alice in Borderland Novel

60) King of Clubs [5]

"So the question remains... How do I make my game merciful? How do I make my game trivial to clear, without violating the Joker's principles? Could I possibly outsmart a god?"

===Karamu Toshiaki===

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7th Day of Exhibitions, previous immigration cycle

Jack of Spades: Zombie Apocalypse

"Rose, play the sound now!" Hideo's voice boomed through the intercom.

I was hiding under the desk, and as the toner sounded through the hallways, the zombies turned their heads at the noise.

The school is filled with life-like "zombie" humanoids, down to their smell, flesh, and blood. They'll chase down both players and the citizen. If one manages to bite you, it's Game Over.

The Jack of Spades is roaming the school, controlling the hive mind through his means.

If the Jack of Spades dies, it's Game Clear to all players. If all players die, it's Game Over.

Their grumbling thundered, as they began clambering over each other, running towards the source of the noise. Our plan was working; we were cornering the Jack of Spades.

The players had managed to discover that the "zombies" are controlled through high-frequency noise.

I flinched, covering my ears, as the shrieking beep kept streaming out the speakers. The classroom I was in cleared, and I stood up, exiting my hiding spot and peeking my head out the door, where the hallways were emptying.

"Hanna, N, you two play corners two and three!" Hideo blasted.

Some of the zombies reversed in directions, and I hid back in my room, as they split up, sprinting towards every source of noise.

"Everyone, now!" He shouted again.

I burst from my classroom, as did Rose from down the hall. I caught up to her, the two of us high-fiving in the process, as we sprinted up the stairs to the roof.

The girl in dreads was waiting in a fighting stance, the Jack of Spades opposite of her, wielding two knives.

Hideo, Hanna, and N emerged from the other door, and N charged in with a baseball bat, but the girl stopped her.

"No!" She smirked, turning back to the Jack of Spades. "He's mine."

In the end, the fight was quick. And like that, the Jack of Spades was dethroned, the second game we had cleared, other than the Jack of Clubs, where we helped a girl clear the game to extend the Visa of a child even younger than us.

After the kind girl with the dreads waved us goodbye, who was the only other survivor, Hideo turned to us as the blimp came crashing down below.

"Only three games remain now." He said. "It's time we discuss something important." In the horizon, something exploded. We craned our heads; it was the Queen of Clubs.

"Two games. I stand corrected." Hideo said. "But I digress. The key matter at hand is a certain theory circulating the Borderlands. I'm sure you have all heard of it: after clearing every card, we get the option of choosing whether to accept citizenship."

Hanna raised her eyebrow. "Where have you heard that?"

"Don't question my judgment. If you must know, it's a theory that supposedly came from two victors of the Jack of Hearts, who tortured the information out of the Jack."