After being subjected to Caroline's 'silent treatment,' Tendo ultimately chose not to pry and ask Caroline for her basis of judgment. Instead, he asked her to make the choice for him.
"Caroline, just pick one for me. I trust you."
Caroline was momentarily stunned, not expecting Tendo to say that.
Looking at Tendo's smiling expression, Caroline knew he wasn't joking.
After a brief thought, Caroline looked up at the floating playing cards nearby and made her decision.
"Choose the 13th card from the right."
"And the reason?"
Tendo asked with interest.
"No reason. Simply because this guy's ranking happens to be 13."
Caroline's answer was simple and direct, with no superfluous explanation, as if this was sufficient to be the entire basis for the choice.
"Interesting."
Tendo turned to look at Mi Yao and said with a smile, "Did you hear that, Mi Yao? Choose that card."
Mi Yao's expression was grim, but he finally raised his hand and waved.
Shortly after, a playing card wrapped in faint purple Star Energy slowly floated towards Tendo.
Its face was still down, like an unsolved riddle, hiding its true answer.
But before the mystery was revealed, Tendo walked toward the passage exit without even looking at the playing card in front of him.
The hem of his black trench coat brushed against the gravel on the ground, making a slight sound.
Tendo spoke with his back to Mi Yao, waving his hand, "Remember to find me in two days. I have something to arrange for you."
At the same time, the ninety-nine Martial Path Emblems that Tendo had previously scattered across the practice arena suddenly lifted into the air, as if pulled by an invisible gravitational force, and vanished into an subspace rift.
Seeing this, Caroline silently followed Tendo.
Leaving only Gon, Mi Yao, and Chen Kong in the practice arena.
What was strange was that Mi Yao stood rooted to the spot, staring intensely at the playing card floating in mid-air, showing no intention of flipping it over.
It was as if he didn't need to see what the card was to know he had already lost.
"Are you just conceding like that?"
Chen Kong propped himself up against the wall. Although the pain in his chest still lingered,
His curiosity about Mi Yao's behavior outweighed his physical pain.
The card hadn't been flipped yet, so why did Mi Yao look like he had already lost?
The dimensional viewers on Site 13 were also confused by this.
They thought that since Tendo had drawn the card randomly,
It could be any card, so a win wasn't guaranteed.
Furthermore, Mi Yao managed the entire drawing process, and Tendo had stated he wouldn't interfere.
For someone like Tendo, he would never go back on his word.
Therefore, by all accounts, Mi Yao had the greater chance of winning.
Yet, the one who conceded was Mi Yao, which was undoubtedly inconsistent with reality.
'Why isn't Mi Yao flipping the card? What if Lord Tendo didn't draw the Joker King?'
'He left without even looking at the card? Lord Tendo is too confident.'
'Come on, guys, stop being so cryptic.'
Just as the dimensional viewers were curious about the result, Gon, who had been standing in the corner, finally spoke.
"Kong, there's no need to flip it. It must be the Joker King."
Gon paused, then raised his chin toward the playing card.
"If you don't believe it, you can flip it yourself and see."
Chen Kong hesitated for a moment but eventually raised his hand and gently touched the card with Star Energy.
As the card slowly flipped over, a golden pattern shone brightly before their eyes.
[Playing Card: Joker King]
This result left Chen Kong utterly stunned.
"It must be the Star Eclipse Eye's Future Sight,"
Chen Kong thought he had figured out the reason for Tendo's victory.
That is, he used Future Sight to see the result of every card and then chose the 'Joker King.'
But his explanation was once again met with Mi Yao's sarcasm.
"Hilarious."
Mi Yao's voice was hoarse, tinged with self-mockery.
He waved his hand, and the remaining playing cards instantly fanned out.
To everyone's shock, the remaining cards were all Joker Kings!
"Ah?!"
Ignoring Chen Kong's astonishment, Mi Yao stared intently at his 'Joker,' saying in a deep voice, "These are the custom game cards I specially made. The card face changes according to the confidence of the two players."
"I thought that after I revealed the Joker, Tendo's confidence would waver slightly."
"And if his confidence faltered even for a moment, he wouldn't draw the Joker King. At most, he would draw the Joker."
"Therefore, the result of this game, in my mind, was either a win or a draw. A loss was impossible."
"But I overestimated myself and underestimated him..."
At this point, Mi Yao looked up at the ceiling, sighing with emotion: "...because the moment I entertained the thought that 'a draw is acceptable,' the outcome of this game was already decided."
Mi Yao looked in the direction Tendo had left, his eyes very complicated.
"Tendo was confident he would win from beginning to end."
"Because for him, his world has no 'possibilities,' only 'certainties.'"
"So no matter which card he chose, that card would become the Joker King."
Hearing this, Chen Kong and the dimensional viewers on Site 13 finally understood.
It turned out that this game was never about the 'rank of the card' but about the 'confidence' of the two players.
However—
"What if he had used ordinary playing cards? Would the result have changed?"
Hearing Chen Kong's naive question, Gon couldn't help but speak.
"Kong, do you still not understand?"
"Understand what?"
Looking at Chen Kong, who still hadn't grasped the essence, Gon sighed, "Understand that it wasn't that Tendo chose the 'Joker King,' but that anything Tendo chose... was the Joker King."
"So even if they had used ordinary playing cards, the result would be the same."
"This is Tendo Simei (Heaven's Mandate). Others hope to become that one-in-a-million lucky person, but he doesn't believe in such so-called miracles."
"Because the only thing he believes in... is himself."
Hearing these words, Chen Kong was completely dumbfounded.
He looked at the Joker King floating in the air nearby, then recalled Tendo's indifferent figure as he left, and suddenly felt his heart struck by something.
Yes, Tendo's power was never about the crushing force of his Star Source or Future Sight, but that absolute belief of 'I am the world.'
He didn't need to cheat, didn't need to predict, because he believed he would win, and thus the world would operate according to his conviction.
As if to verify Gon's words, the camera shifted to Caroline and Tendo, who were leaving.
"Tendo, did you calculate from the start that Mi Yao would take out those custom game cards?"
Hearing Caroline's question, Tendo said indifferently, "More or less, because he was afraid—afraid that if he used any other method, he wouldn't even achieve a one-in-ten-thousand chance of a draw."
"Then what if he had chosen ordinary playing cards instead?"
At this, Tendo slowly stopped.
In the style of a movie, Tendo stood bathed in the sunlight of the passage exit, using the most casual tone to utter the most arrogant words.
"...That wouldn't matter. Because only the world chosen by me is the true world."
"So, no matter what Mi Yao chose, the person who won in the end would definitely be me."
"..."
Caroline was momentarily taken aback by this answer, then shook her head helplessly.
Because the intelligent woman sensed a special meaning in Tendo's words.
But she chose not to expose it.
Only the world chosen by Tendo is the true world...?
That certainly sounded like something he would say.
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