Suddenly, his face darkened again as he said, "Do you think I would say that? What a terrible idea!"
Shiller interrupted him before he could say anything else, continuing, "Alright, then I take back that suggestion. I only have one question. Can I tell a lie?"
The Joker stared straight at him, his mouth twitching downward bitterly as he murmured under his breath, "I told you, I hate that name."
"Why not let this gentleman make a decision - to accept my one request and receive a genuine clue, or do nothing and face the possibility of receiving a lie?"
"Agree to it! Haru!" A sharp female voice shouted, coming from a woman hanging high above them, "Accept his demand! Do you want us to all receive false answers? We'll die that way!"
Another male voice joined in, "Yes, let's pick the first one!"
Shiller tapped on the back of the chair in front of him to make some noise and said, "I'm letting this gentleman choose."
"He's just a low-ranking councilor, he doesn't represent anything…"
"Yes, exactly!"
"How can such an important decision be made by a low-ranking councilor?"
"We should vote, and distribute the votes according to rank…"
"Only a senior councilor can make the decision, don't forget…"
"You old immortals! Even at this point, you're still considering…"
The Joker's shoulders suddenly began to shake as his laughter transitioned from a low chuckle to a loud guffaw. After a while, as if tired from laughing, he wiped his eyes and said, "This is...quite interesting."
Haru trembled, his fat lips writhing as he stuttered out a few words, "I… I choose the first one. I can agree to his one request. Please give me the real answer!"
Before the Joker could host it, Shiller had already initiated the next step. He said, "Alright, my request is - take off your mask, sir."
"No! No...I can't…" Haru cried out in horror, constantly darting glances towards Falcone.
"I regret it!!! I choose the second one..."
"You don't have another chance." The Joker spoke cheerfully, "You've already said that you will accept his request."
With that, he ripped off the chubby man's mask, revealing his large head and prominent ears underneath.
"Wild Boar Harris." Falcone chuckled, evidently recognizing him. He said, "Didn't your father, Bruno, teach you? If you wear a mask, never take it off."
Haru looked ashen, his real identity revealed. Not just him, but his family, his influence, his wealth, none of them would see tomorrow's sun.
A mask may not be afraid of the Godfather, but the man beneath the mask is. A mask cannot die, but the man beneath it surely can.
The people on the stage who had been arguing non-stop fell silent. The Joker ran back to the center of the stage, opened his arms, tilted his head, and asked them, "Why are you guys so serious? He made the choice you wanted. Why aren't you joyfully laughing about it?"
"Mr. Jack, can I go ahead and announce the answer?" Shiller was like an unsympathetically efficient NPC.
The Joker wore a disappointed expression like a child. He said, "What a pity. I should've designed an interview segment here. I wanted to play a little longer."
Unfazed by his reaction, Shiller picked up the crumpled piece of paper and read from it after unfolding it, "Artemis is more beautiful than Athena…"
Clearly, the group of people hanging on the stage were stupefied for a moment, then fell silent as if each had their own thoughts.
The Joker tapped his triangle iron and loudly declared, "Alright, that scene is over. Next one! Next one! You can sit down now, it doesn't concern you anymore…"
Obediently, Shiller sat down. Batman said to him, "You're quite a devil."
"Ditto."
Next, the Joker moved over to another tall and lean man, harshly beat his triangle iron near the man's ear, causing him to desperately swing his body to avoid the madman.
"Your turn, who do you choose?"
"I choose...I choose young Falcone!"
The Joker first grimaced bitterly, then moved the muscles around his nose, showing an unusually ferocious expression before bursting into laughter again.
"Well then! Let's welcome Evans Falcone!"
With a wave of his arm, a spotlight landed on Evans. Shiller loudly protested from the side of his chair, "I object! Why does his appearance have an introduction by the host? And a spotlight too? This is discrimination! We all bought tickets! We paid the same money!"
"Objection denied."
The Joker once again focused his attention on Evans, who paused, seemingly not expecting anyone to choose him. When the drama started three minutes ago, he was already at lost as to what was going on. Now, he was busy breaking open the paper balls from his popcorn bucket, trying to piece together a complete sheet of paper...
Suddenly, his face twitched and a gloomy expression crawled up his face. He stood up and stated, "First of all, my name isn't Evans."
With a chilling smile, he told the tall, skinny man, "Secondly, you can make a choice again. One or two?"
"I choose two, I choose two! It's his turn to provide the answer!"
Alberto's cold voice echoed, "The answer is, the button in your hand corresponds to the fat man."
As the answer fell from Alberto's mouth to the ground, the whole audience fell silent. No one expected this answer.
The answer read out by Shiller earlier seemed like a mythical riddle, filled with puzzling metaphors that even the Gothamites thought was a bit too much. But Alberto's blunt response was starkly straightforward.
It's as if in a question paper, the first sub-question asked you to solve the general solution for a differential equation while the second one asked what you ate this morning.
"Wait!" The tall, skinny man being hung shouted, "You're lying. This doesn't match the first answer at all…"
"Because you chose two, so this might indeed be a lie." Alberto shrugged.
But the skinny man heard whispers from his colleagues around him.
"Haru is too heavy, he's close to the ground. Even if the rope descends slowly, his belly will definitely hit the ground earlier than the others…"
"Yes, and this madman may have written multiple answers in different styles. Maybe that guy didn't lie…"
"Anyway, Haru won't live much longer. Now that Falcone knows his real identity, he's a goner!"
"Whether he dies sooner or later, he's destined to die…"
"So hit it…""
"Press it…""
"Why not?"