In a dimly lit room, the only sources of light were a small lamp and a crystal ball glowing faintly.

  A woman in her thirties sat elegantly at the table, her face hidden behind a veil that revealed only her gentle eyes and brows.

  Tarot cards lay spread in an arc before her, all face down. She casually drew one.

  “The World,” she murmured. “Just as I foresaw. How boring.”

  She placed the card back and lifted her gaze toward the door.

  “Five. Four. Three. Two. One.”

  The door opened exactly as she finished counting.

  “Lady Sibelyna,” said the black-haired, purple-eyed girl standing in the doorway.

  Sylvina nodded. “Let me guess—Wei Zhiheng told you where I was.”

  “Yes.”

  Mo Ying walked over and sat on the sofa.

  “So the Jokers attending the meeting on Poker’s behalf are the two of you?” she asked.

  Poker was the most powerful assassin organization in the world.

  Every member was an Affinity User. They only killed those they deemed worthy of death—no amount of money could change their minds.

  They operated in the gray zone between black and white, feared by both sides.

  Each member carried a playing card representing their rank: Clubs were the weakest, followed by Diamonds, then Hearts. Spades formed the upper echelon of the organization.

  Above even them were the ten strongest members—the Jokers.

  Sylvina, codenamed , ranked second. A demigod.

  Wei Zhiheng, codename, ranked tenth.

  Among Affinity Users, there was only one true dividing line between mortals and gods: demigodhood.

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  Once someone becomes a demigod, their power undergoes a qualitative transformation. In theory, one of them can take on hundreds of non-demigod Affinity Users.

  In the four years since Mo Ying left, she had traveled the world, first meeting Wei Zhiheng and then, through him, the rest of Poker.

  With the gods gone, demigods were now the most powerful beings in existence.

  “Not just two,” Sylvina said. “Three.”

  Or possibly four, according to the futures she had seen.

  “The Scientist will be there too.”

  Mo Ying’s expression turned slightly complicated at the mention of him. He had once tried to recruit her for experiments, offering all kinds of tempting conditions.

  She refused. But he also couldn’t go after Poker’s number one—another demigod with the same Affinity—so he had been forced to keep searching for other candidates.

  That kind of Affinity was among the rarest of the eighteen types, and even those who shared it did not necessarily possess the same abilities.

  “I understand. I’m just here to say hello,” Mo Ying said.

  “Not here to ask for our help?” Sylvina smiled.

  “Dealing with the Yan family doesn’t require it. And as for the other matter, you’ll intervene anyway. You’ve already seen it, haven’t you?”

  Sibelyna drew another card and sighed, placing it on the table.

  “I have. Every force attending that meeting will be paying attention to this. Since you came by, I’ll give you a little gift.”

  She pushed the face-down card toward Mo Ying.

  “Some guidance regarding your fate.”

  Mo Ying flipped it over.

  A skeletal knight on horseback, holding a banner—Death

  “Death isn’t a bad card, if I remember correctly.”

  “There are no truly bad cards in tarot,” Sibelyna said. “Death can mean the end… but it also carries the meaning of rebirth. ”

  “Sounds impressive, but also vague,” Mo Ying said. “A failing college student passing the final exam and avoiding expulsion is also a kind of ‘rebirth from death.’”

  “College… that’s a distant memory for me,” Sylvina replied. Decades distant. “But you should be used to this by now. I always give half-answers.”

  She could see the future, but her perspective was never complete. Revealing too much could twist fate into something worse.

  “…I see. Thank you.”

  Mo Ying glanced at the tarot cards and the crystal ball.

  “You don’t actually need these to use your power, do you?”

  Sylvina smiled. “It’s about ritual. Makes me feel more like a diviner. Besides, tarot cards are still a kind of medium.”

  Like the Death card she had just drawn?

  “To thank you, I’ll bring you a fine spectacle,” Mo Ying said as she turned to leave.

  Sylvina closed her eyes, then opened them again.

  “I’ll be waiting. The future holds many possibilities… but you—can you truly create the one with the smallest chance of ever happening?”