Jack looked at all of the people around him before laughing.
"I'm really happy that I was able to meet so many different cool people!"
Jessica couldn't help but pick him up and hug him tightly, swinging him to the left and right.
"Aww, I'm so glad to have met you too, Jack!"
She looked incredibly happy.
While his face was being partially smushed by her affection, Jack raised one hand in the air.
"If everyone is here, then does that mean we're done exploring? If so, then we can go out to play!"
Mia had a small smile on her face.
"I'm ready to go if everyone else is. When we get back and I'm tired though, I'd definitely like it if one of you showed me the way to the rooms."
Lilith scratched her face.
"I-I don't have any opinions!"
Lily crossed her arms and averted her gaze. She constantly shifted her expression uncomfortably.
"I've already seen everything I needed to. If we happen to be leaving, then I'll be ok with that."
Kenji simply nodded, despite the fact it wasn't a yes or no question, and didn't bother elaborating any further. Jessica lifted up Jack and put him in her lap.
"Then it's settled. Everybody, get ready to go outside!"
With that, all of them returned to the elevator and headed back out. Once the doors opened once more, quite a crowd had formed. Many murmurs rose up the moment the doors opened and the people inside left.
There were a variety of questions and assumptions thrown around, but the main ones centered around a certain kind.
"Who do you think has the pass? There's no way that all of them do, right?"
"It must be that girl that's clearly a diamonds! Diamonds always have all the good things."
"No way, I haven't seen most of them around here, that must mean they're new! One of them must be accepting people... I deserve to be accepted more!"
While the conversation was going on, a man with ragged hair and a wide smile ran up to them while rubbing his hands together. He had several scars on his body which were wrapped with bandages.
"H-Hey, could I perhaps join you guys? I swear I'm super useful. As you can probably tell, I've been surviving on this floor for a long time and know many different tricks to survive!"
Jack tilted his head to the side and let out a laugh.
"Sorry, I don't think we're accepting anybody right now."
The man froze in place, taking some time to process what exactly he just heard. He looked at Jack before looking at the rest.
"W-What?"
Jessica clicked her tongue and put a hand on Jack's shoulder, bringing him closer.
"You heard what he said. We're not accepting anybody right now."
The man opened and closed his mouth a few times before raising his hand.
"T-Then how about later? I'll just join whenever you're available for it!"
Lilith rather aggressively shouted at him.
"We aren't looking for people! Stop bothering us!"
Lily had a small frown on her face. She didn't look directly at the man.
"We're kind of having a moment... though I don't particularly care. You should take the hint."
It left the man appalled, though another woman wearing a rather child-like colorful dress wasn't discouraged by this cold rejection and raised her hand, hopping on forth.
"I'm willing to wait! I won't bother you at all!"
She appeared to be unaware of how her actions contradicted the words coming out of her mouth. Jack looked at her briefly.
"Then stop talking to us and stay away."
The woman opened her mouth but stopped herself. She tilted her head to the side curiously before scratching her head.
While she was still confused, they headed on out, ignoring the others.
In the end, the crowd began dispersing after the subjects of discussion left and people decided to listen for one reason or another. Jack and the others didn't see anyone blatantly following them.
They walked down the long road and left the main hub, entering the ruined city once more.
Lilith was the first one to speak up.
"I-I know a lot of the games on the first floors for the nearby buildings. They tend to be more reasonable compared to the other ones."
Lily spoke up shortly after.
"But the rewards are pretty standard and it's practically impossible to get a special reward."
Lilith was rather freaked out by that suggestion.
"E-Eh? But they're so dangerous!"
Lily shook her head before slowly reaching towards her hollow eye socket, touching the very edge of it.
"It is... but that's the only way to make anything happen. To even have a chance at advancing and getting out of this place. It's either stay on this floor for the rest of your life or take a chance, however miniscule it is, to escape."
Jack raised an eyebrow after hearing what she had to say.
"...Escape? Escape what? Do you mean to go to the next floor?"
Just about everyone turned to look at him with a confused look, with the exception of Kenji. Jessica spoke up, trying to give a proper explanation.
"From what I know, going up in the floors does let us get closer to escaping. Though now that I think about it, there was no guarantee that it would definitely lead to that."
This only prompted him to furrow his brows and tilt his head to the side.
"But what are we escaping from? Is there someone chasing us?"
Mia narrowed her eyes slightly. She seemed to catch on to what he really meant. However, she didn't voice it out immediately. Instead, she pondered over it, to double-check her thinking.
From how Jack was acting, it was as though he was completely unaware there was a separate place outside The House of Cards. When that thought first popped up, she dismissed it from common sense.
For the others, they didn't even come to think of that as an option for similar reasons.
Yet, from how much Mia had to question and rethink the functions of the previous cubes, it led her to rethink what was common sense. But for him to be completely unaware of the existence meant he either has no memories of anything but this place, or had never been there in the first place.
In hindsight, it would explain the more peculiar traits of Jack, from how he didn't view anything as frightening or how he could find fun in various kinds of things. Along with... the Joker card that appeared to be able to infinitely regenerate his body.
If by chance he was actually somehow related to people who have been here for a long time, then everything would line up.
However, the theory quickly falls apart once she considers that he had been on the first floor not long before she had. Not to mention, he was as clueless and curious as she was in terms of what the floors had on them.
Not to mention, she wasn't aware of how anybody could become significantly strong on the first floor when the main goal there was just survival and the resources provided only supported that.
When she thought about it further, with either possibility she thought of, Jack would've had to have been raised on the first floor for years. Ignoring how difficult the act would've been in such a dangerous place, even being able to provide food was a whole other thing. Although the Solitaire game in the hub wasn't the only way to acquire 2's, there were very few other ways to do so, especially while on the first floor.
In the end, Mia couldn't come up with a plausible explanation and let it rest, deciding not to voice out concerns she had no real grounds for.
"Well, I don't think anyone is chasing us. We are trying to get to the next level, but the idea of escaping is getting out of this whole construct and back into the outside world."
Jack blinked a few times before letting out a hum.
"Mm... I remember Dad did say anything about that. Then let's go far! I wanna try and escape too! Maybe Dad will be waiting for me there."
Without waiting for anyone to agree he rushed on ahead rather happily. Everyone else simply followed along, keeping pace with him. He wasn't really thinking as he continued further going beyond already the furthest he had ever been. Granted, he hadn't gone too far in the first place, but he also didn't intend on stopping anytime soon.
Although the ruined city still looked quite similar, there were several things that were a bit off. The more subtle things that were a bit harder to notice were the slightly different tints in color, or how one side of a street was ever so slightly crooked.
Then there were more blatant changes, such a piece of rubble broken off from a building casually hovering in the air, caring little for conventional logic. Along with other buildings with different architecture or just not being decrepit at all.
Though Jack didn't seem to notice a thing.