Chapter 1884

Schiller, who had just pushed the brazier onto Kitty—or rather, Clayface—remained completely calm, as if he had just done nothing at all.

Captain Marvel, Carol, looked at Schiller with suspicion and uncertainty. Schiller sighed softly and put his hands back into the pockets of his white coat. He saw the brazier on the table disappear, replaced by diamond-shaped patterns facing each of them. This was a hint that, just like during registration, they could leave the game by placing their hands on them.

Schiller turned his head to look at Carol and said, "Ma'am, aren't you leaving yet?"

"No, but I just want to know, what on earth..."

The Joker, however, roared with impatience, "Your acting is terrible! Stop messing around with that stupid face of yours!"

He suddenly twitched the muscle on the side of his nose and looked coldly at Carol, saying, "Otherwise, I'll slice it open to see what's inside."

Carol was startled. Just as she was about to roar in anger, Schiller sighed softly again. For some reason, this doctor's voice always seemed very abrupt in this room because it was too calm, which didn't fit the atmosphere of a competitive game at all.

"Ma'am, the game is already over. Let's talk about you seriously. If you don't want to know the truth, why don't you leave the game?"

Carol looked at Schiller with shock and suspicion, staring into his earnest and focused eyes. After a few dozen seconds, all the shock, fear, and panic on her face vanished, like a melting mask.

Then, starting from her forehead, Carol's skin began to turn blue. Her fair skin instantly faded away, revealing the face of Mystique, Raven.

"At what step did Kitty give herself away? And what about me?" she asked, clearly wanting to seek confirmation of her flaws from the two of them.

Unexpectedly, Schiller and the Joker sighed in unison.

The Joker leaned against the table on his right side, propping himself up with his elbow, pulled back the hem of his suit jacket to put his hands on his hips, and waved at Mystique, Raven, saying, "You 'natural-born' types are all the same. I'm starting to wonder if you all graduated from the same school."

Raven frowned deeply. Although she wasn't Carol, she also felt that the Joker opposite her was crazy, so she could only turn her gaze to Schiller.

"Ma'am, what he said is not without reason. You and Clayface share a common trait: because of your innate talent for mimicry, you have neglected the essence of acting."

Just as Mystique was about to say something, Schiller held up a finger, pressed the base of his wrist against the table, and said as if at an academic seminar, "Please listen to me first, ma'am. The biggest difference between you and ordinary human actors is that you can become exactly like the person you want to be, with no difference in appearance."

"Undoubtedly, this is enough to fool the vast majority of people. Your opponents are also just ordinary people; they won't memorize someone's daily little habits, they don't know if there's anything special about the tone they use for a certain word, and they don't care which foot they put more pressure on when they walk."

"Of course, dealing with agents is more troublesome, but because your external disguise is too seamless, people cannot continue this chain of suspicion. Because in a situation where they know there is a perfect mimic, anyone around them could be you. If they suspected everyone, they wouldn't be able to get any work done."

"Over time, the greatest suspicion you have ever faced has been nothing more than some slightly probing gazes that were quickly rationalized and moved away."

"Before mimicking a person, you don't need to understand their background, lifestyle, personality traits, emotional characteristics, psychological activities, and everything else that constitutes the spiritual level of that person."

"Because physical mimicry is too impeccable, over time, you have relaxed your honing of your acting skills and stopped trying to fathom the character's personality and psychology, leading to stereotypical and flat performances."

Schiller brought his fingers together and pinched them, saying, "You and Clayface give me the feeling of two walking pieces of paper: one is a timid, shy, and slightly clever little girl; the other is a beautiful, brainless, and highly emotional neurotic woman. But are they really like that?"

"Everyone has a comfort zone, and your comfort zone lies in the fact that you only mimic the personality they show in front of you, but you don't care what kind of personality constitutes that character."

"More importantly, when you mimic these characters, you don't control your own emotions well and mix too much of your own prejudice into them."

"If I'm not mistaken, your relationship with Captain Marvel is not good, but that's understandable. Mutants and S. H. I. E. L. D. have never gotten along, and Captain Marvel can be called S. H. I. E. L. D.'s firefighter."

"It's even possible that when you first met Captain Marvel, Carol, the two of you might have had a subtle hostile relationship. Because of your different stances, she couldn't have left a good impression on you."

"Mostly beautiful, stupid, reckless, emotional, and unreasonable—but is she really like that?"

Mystique Raven's lips moved. She wanted to give a positive answer, but Schiller shook his head and said, "I don't deny that part of her personality is like that, especially when dealing with the Brotherhood of Mutants. She might indeed not be that patient and even often uses force to warn and expel them."

"But if you had understood her life story before mimicking her, you would know that this is the common attitude of an agent when dealing with enemies during a mission. Even if she didn't have such powerful strength, she couldn't possibly speak to enemies in a gentle whisper."

"But you took this as her entirety, thinking she should be like this, so you mimicked her that way."

"But didn't you only expose me because you happened to know Captain Marvel's life story?" Mystique Raven retorted.

"Hahahahaha!" The Joker let out a burst of laughter. He laughed until he bent over and slapped the table. Schiller also sighed with a hint of helplessness.

Mystique Raven looked at the two of them with some confusion, not knowing what kind of riddle they were playing.

"Ma'am, I have to say, you should probably strengthen your ability to think independently. Haven't you noticed that your train of thought has been led by the nose by me from the very beginning?"

"Did you really start to doubt your acting skills? Or did you really want to spend a lot of time understanding the life story of every target you mimic?"

"Actually, your flaw didn't lie there at all." Schiller smiled and said, "Why would Captain Marvel, Carol, choose a logic game?"

Mystique Raven was stunned.

"Your behavior is very contradictory. You know yourself that you are actually a logic-type character and should participate in logic games, but you are unwilling to give up your greatest asset and insist on finding someone to mimic."

"Perhaps you also wanted to kill two birds with one stone. Knowing there might be bystanders, you played Captain Marvel as a stupid, emotionally unstable woman. That way, when the real Captain Marvel is matched with other teammates, they might worry that she would get them killed because she is too emotional, and thus instinctively reject her."

"Have you had a falling out recently? Ma'am."

Mystique Raven's face darkened. She rolled her eyes to the side, covered her mouth with her hand, and said vaguely, "She had an argument with Rogue."

Schiller raised his chin slightly to show he understood. Rogue is Mystique's foster daughter and can be said to be the person Mystique Raven cares about most in this world.

At the same time, Rogue and Captain Marvel are not strangers. Some of Rogue's superpowers were absorbed from Captain Marvel, so the cause and effect of this matter became obvious.

It is very likely that before coming to this universe, Rogue had an argument with Captain Marvel, Carol, for some reason. She was so angry that she ran back to Mystique and complained to her.

Mystique Raven is quite protective of her own, but before she could go to settle the score with Captain Marvel, Carol, she was pulled into this universe. Once she heard that there were various superheroes from various parallel universes in this game, she naturally wanted to set Captain Marvel up.

Any excessive love carries possessiveness. Mystique Raven's love for Rogue is probably no exception. She had probably long been unhappy that her foster daughter was staying with Captain Marvel, which is why she subconsciously felt that Carol was just a big-breasted, brainless woman who only knew how to charge forward recklessly.

Sure enough, Mystique Raven curled her lips and said, "I just wanted to find a typical stupid white woman image so that people would take my performance for granted. After all, not everyone knows Carol."

After speaking, Mystique Raven turned her head to look at the puddle of mud on the ground and said, "Then what about him?"

"Similar to your train of thought." The Joker curled his lips hard to one side and said, "You must have both participated in the first round of the game, right?"

Mystique Raven nodded, and without anyone pointing it out, the few people present knew that such a contestant with perfect mimicry ability would naturally want to participate in the game as quickly as possible. The earlier they obtained information, the greater their advantage would be.

"This fool is the same, and he picked out a persona he thought was perfect from the teammates he was matched with in the first round—a little girl who could make the vast majority of people lower their guard. But he played it even worse than you."

"What went wrong with him?"

"You are all the same. You want to highly mimic the character you are playing, but you don't want to give up your own advantages."

"He was clearly playing an innocent and simple little girl, but as soon as he opened the door, he called out your name. The sinister intention of exposing your identity was already written on his face," Schiller explained.

"Of course, he could have brushed it off by saying it was just a slip of the tongue, but his subsequent movements and expressions—cautiously observing the surroundings, estimating the distance to the ceiling, and silently calculating the temperature of the brazier in his heart—were clearly not actions a little girl without any schemes could make."

"His biggest flaw is the same as yours. Shadowcat Kitty's mutant ability is quite advantageous; teleporting at any time is a god-tier skill. She clearly should have leaned towards participating in courage or unity-type events where abilities are less likely to be restricted, rather than logic games."

Mystique Raven nodded. She knew Shadowcat Kitty, who was also a mutant, better, but that was limited to knowing more than other groups. After all, she was a member of the Brotherhood of Mutants, not the X-Men, so she hadn't noticed it just now either.

"Then ma'am, please leave first. Mr. Joker and I still have something to discuss."

"Why should I..."

A pitch-black gun barrel appeared in the center of Mystique Raven's field of vision. Behind the barrel was the Joker's gaping, bloody mouth.

Mystique Raven remembered the system's previous prompt: after the game ends, all offensive props and abilities will be returned, and this Joker said he was robbing a bank with a gun before coming here.

Mystique Raven had no choice but to place her hand on the tabletop. With a "swish," her figure disappeared.

The Joker, however, looked at Schiller with a half-smile, wanting to know what he wanted to say to him. Schiller said nothing, just clenched one hand into a fist and held it out in front of the Joker as if presenting a treasure.

The Joker also curiously leaned in to look. Schiller "swished" and opened his hand. There was nothing in his hand, but there was a burn scar that had taken off the outer layer of skin, occupying half of his palm.

This was the price of pushing the brazier hard.

The Joker's eyes widened, his mouth opened into an "O" shape, and he looked up at him with a pleasantly surprised gaze, saying, "Your human skin!"

Schiller revealed a brilliant smile and said, "... tore a corner."