The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu had shrunk into a dark corner and wasn’t making a move. He squinted and very carefully watched the woman, not daring to let down his guard in the least. He maintained his spiral perceptual spring’s vibration frequency all along. That was the only way he could keep from being found out. Chen Mu didn’t look down on his adversary at all because she was a woman; as a matter of fact, he really didn’t feel he could be considered a card artisan. Of course, he was talking about professional card artisans. He had always felt no matter how far his skills had developed, he still didn’t have the psychological qualities of a professional card artisan.

Shrunk into the corner, Chen Mu quietly watched his adversary. The hiding skills he’d learned from the demonic woman—in addition to the advice he’d gotten from Wei-ah—were extremely useful. Even though she was very close, his adversary hadn’t discovered him.

But, what was that small ball?

Chen Mu was a bit puzzled, not understanding why the woman had looked so ecstatic when she took out the small ball. The red light on the ball kept flashing brightly, and Chen Mu could see it clearly vibrating from a distance of 16 meters. What was it?

The red light felt quite familiar to Chen Mu. He would often see such red lights when he was in the underground city base. Red lights like that were generally indicative of an alarm or a reminder.

The time period of the underground city base wasn’t reliably known, though it was something very old. Who knows how much customs would have changed since that time? So, Chen Mu couldn’t be sure.

He could see how far he was from the attitude of a professional card artisan. Or, to put it differently, there was a gap between him and true combat personnel. If it were Wei-ah, he would certainly have made his move without hesitation, and it would have been fatal. Potential danger and actual danger weren’t any different in Wei-ah’s eyes.

Chen Mu couldn’t do that, or at least not now.

Lu Xiaoru lightly swept away her bangs, and her beautiful eyes flowed around. The signal ball in her hand was still flashing in clear indication that her objective hadn’t departed and must be hidden somewhere. How could she find him?

A diameter of 50 meters wouldn’t be called big, but it wasn’t small either. And, the surrounding environment was complex. There were broken remnants of walls and chunks of concrete piled up all over the place. The only thing she was then worried about was that her quarry might have been bashed dead and buried by chunks of concrete falling from the sky. In that case, her reward would be sharply cut.

She then furrowed her brow, and a pained look flashed across her face. She lowered her head to take a look at her right foot, which seemed to have been struck by something. She bent down to examine her foot. Along with that movement, the shredded red evening gown on her body couldn’t take the stress and suddenly slipped off her left shoulder.

Her flesh was like snow at the first sign of spring, and she exclaimed as though she wanted to stop the dress from slipping off, not knowing the movement would cause the strap on her right shoulder to snap. The whole dress just plopped to the ground.

She quickly grabbed the dress to cover her chest, but the red evening gown was basically thin and slinky. Her back was entirely exposed, with her two snow-white, round shoulders laid similarly bare. The most critical thing was that the lower part of her evening gown had ripped apart nearly to her waist.

Chen Mu saw it all from his dark corner. He felt the rush of his youthful blood and caught his breath.

He very quickly contained himself. The woman had her hands over her breasts all along, and none of her recent panic was anywhere to be seen as she looked his way, seeming to smile without smiling.

She’d nailed him!

Chen Mu’s heart sank. Could her objective have been him?

He slid to the side with no indication under his feet about how he’d made the move. Without looking back, he followed along the shadows at the base of the wall, dashing with all his strength. It was the first time Chen Mu had witnessed such a way of being found out.

She hadn’t thought her objective would actually have such skills. Lu Xiaoru calmly straightened her clothes in the midst of all that, even tying a bow on the shoulder strap in a leisurely manner. Those two beautiful eyes never left Chen Mu, her face showing a rather interested expression.

Feeling the gaze from behind him, Chen Mu felt his body go rigid, though he quickly overcame such unfitting feelings. That was because the pressure his adversary was putting him under was a lot less than Wei-ah’s.

Chen Mu’s speed while running full-out was stunning, and he never ran in a straight line. That was a habit he’d picked up while sparring with Wei-ah; he had found that if he were to run in a straight line, then the battle would be over within a second. Therefore, under Wei-ah’s pressure, Chen Mu’s movements became more and more erratic. Sometimes his body would be faster than his mind and nearly instinctual.

Lu Xiaoru’s look turned serious, and a flash of surprise went through her eyes. It was her first time running after such a weird opponent whose body was hidden in the shadows all along, making his figure only faintly discernible. When he made his move, the route was impossible to predict.

Generally speaking, the best thing to do when facing such an adversary would be to cover the area with attacks, but she didn’t have any means to carpet an area.

Moreover, those above her had said they wanted him alive. She suddenly felt the issue had gotten tricky. The strength shown by her opponent surprised her, and her expression became gradually more serious. The more she watched her heart, the cooler she became.

She still hadn’t seen what her objective looked like, with his body so perfectly hidden in shadows all along. She couldn’t help but think about a certain kind of card artisan who moved in the dark and considered it his companion.

Could the quarry in front of her be such a card artisan? Lu Xiaoru found her throat dry.

A long time ago, she had heard of a very small number among card artisans who walked that line. Such card artisans were mostly engaged in assassination and the work of snooping for intelligence. They were good at taking advantage of the dark and moving nimbly to seize opportunities. They were among the scariest of card artisans. Such card artisans had gotten brutal training from the time they were small, so their attitudes were diametrically different from ordinary people’s. Most of them were ruthless and cold-blooded.

In former times, when sects were everywhere, there were some very famous such schools. As the time of the sects was fading toward the verge of the time of the academies, they had all suddenly vanished without a trace. But, Lu Xiaoru knew they had only been hiding in the dark and that quite a few would still cause sensations, often leaving only a shadow of their activities.

The really powerful families or the big firms would all have such card artisans kept in the dark to take on certain special jobs. Very few contemporary card artisan assassins had a simple or solitary existence; they were always in the shadow of the large organization behind them. Some of the card artisan assassins would even report to several powers.

She wasn’t going to have such bad luck herself! Lu Xiaoru hesitated.

However, she had sufficient confidence in her own strength. Although assassin card artisans were powerful, they weren’t without their weaknesses. The content of their training was diametrically different from ordinary card artisans’; the most crucial aspect was the time invested in the area of perception, which was quite a bit less than for ordinary card artisans. That also led to their perception never being strong enough. Therefore, they didn’t have much advantage if confronted head-on.

It was a different factor that made her hesitate though; there might be something behind her adversary.

On the one hand, there was the large reward, while on the other, there might be some kind of terrifying backer. Should she do it or not?

Seeing that her quarry was about to leave the scope of the signal ball’s perception, Lu Xiaoru needed to decide! She would punch her ticket, take the money and then beat it. Heaven was big and the earth broad, and it wouldn’t be so easy to find her.

After thinking it through, she didn’t have any hesitation and immediately flew up and away, chasing after Chen Mu.

Without turning around, Chen Mu knew the woman was chasing him. He was now certain he was the woman’s objective. Although Chen Mu didn’t know why, he’d already stopped wondering about that.

There was only one thing in his mind—to escape or to kill his adversary.

Chen Mu hadn’t made a move before because he still hadn’t determined whether his counterpart was the enemy, but he now knew she indeed was. Although he had no way to be as ruthless as Wei-ah, he wasn’t any more hesitant with enemies.

The big mud fish card was great at changing direction. When added to his own physical strength, he was full of explosive power within short distances.

Once he entered into battle, Chen Mu became very focused. His gaze was firm and resolute; he was a different person from a moment ago. He shuttled among the buildings and the busted walls at high speed carrying the communications apparatus in his left hand as a tailless shuttle was taking shape in his right. The perception he sent out had accurately captured his adversary’s image.

Lu Xiaoru’s expression shifted in midair.

Damn! I’ve been tricked! That guy’s perception is about the same as mine!

Once she thought about a seeming assassin card artisan with perceptual strength like hers, she got scared. Perception was the card artisan assassin’s weak suit. Wouldn’t it mean her adversary was more powerful than she was if his weakest aspect was about the same as hers?

As though drenched in ice water, Lu Xiaoru’s heated greed quickly disappeared without a trace. No matter how much more money she could get, she would need to be alive to spend it.

She was just thinking of leaving when her expression suddenly changed. She deployed he energy cloak almost unconsciously.

The bright purple energy cloak was like a glowing egg floating in the air, which attracted a lot of attention.

Ping! There was a sound like breaking glass. Her energy cloak was blown apart in an instant as the undiminished momentum of the tailless shuttle shot into her left shoulder.

Yikes! It just missed her head. In the dark, Chen Mu looked on with regret at Lu Xiaoru flying behind him, noting to himself that it seemed training and real combat were two different things in the end.

Lu Xiaoru was panicked, and her face was drained of blood. She had just raised her energy cloak and didn’t think it wouldn’t be able to block her adversary’s attack. That blow had utterly erased any thoughts beyond getting far away from that damned place.

Their roles had been swapped so quickly! Quickly enough to make Chen Mu incredulous. He was a little surprised to be so successful.

He didn’t turn about to leave but instead chased after Lu Xiaoru. He wanted to understand why his adversary would make such moves toward him and especially what the little ball was used for. If he wasn’t able to clarify that, Chen Mu felt he would never be able to sleep. To become a target for no reason was a really messed up feeling.

Chen Mu moved along the shadows at the base of the wall, never leaving them. Against those shadows, Chen Mu’s body became more and more strange and erratic, as though he were a chilling ghost whose feet weren’t touching the ground. Chen Mu wasn’t aware of any of that with his attention so focused. That was a habit also developed by training with Wei-ah. Once he entered into a battle posture, he could arouse 120 percent of his spirit. Every time he sparred with Wei-ah, he would be vanquished in an instant if he were distracted in the slightest.

At the beginning of his training, Chen Mu would be defeated within ten seconds much of the time. Wei-ah really understood the composition of the human body, and every time he would attack Chen Mu, Chen Mu would go numb and fall on his back. Only after five or six minutes would he be back to normal.

At first, they would spar for an hour, but the actual sparring time wasn’t more than a minute. The remaining 59 minutes were all him watching the ceiling. He’d gotten used to that sort of numbness and paralysis.

That made for some terrifying pressure, and the feeling he got from Wei-ah was like being submerged in the ocean to an unfathomable depth. To face such pressure over a long time meant when he would see other card artisans, all the panic and helplessness he had felt at the outset would quickly change to a showing of how well he could adapt.

Chen Mu’s feet seemed a lot lighter without Wei-ah’s omnipresent pressure. A refreshing feeling arose like he had never had. Although there was still some distance between him and the female card artisan, Chen Mu was full of confidence in that instant.

His mind was exceptionally clear, and everything around him seemed to be within his grasp, which was a wonderful feeling. The switch between the big mud fish card and his footsteps was utterly fluid. With his empty hand, Chen Mu took out the fruit of the ghost-faced flower and crammed it into his mouth. He felt the fruit quickly expanding in his mouth as his face had a chilled feeling. Several seconds later, the ghost-faced flower had already tightly covered his face. Only the ghost-faced flower and the elastic shoes remained in his hands among the things he had gotten from the demonic woman. The rest were already lost.

A strange, twisted, natural mask now accompanied his equally strange and erratic pacing. Chen Mu appeared like some ghostly apparition flitting through the dark, spreading an oppressive chill.

Chen Mu wasn’t feeling any chill, though. His mind was calm, and his perception, energy, environment and pace were all similarly clear and in sync. Apart from the state of breath control, that was his first time to have such a wonderful feeling. He much preferred his current state than the state of breath control.

The second tailless shuttle was quickly taking shape on his right index finger. In the next second, he would be able to deliver a fatal blow. He knew he wouldn’t miss this time. His adversary’s vitals were locked in with the same feeling as though he were training.

Suddenly, there were two card artisans flying toward Lu Xiaoru. Their speed was extremely fast, and in the blink of an eye they entered Lu Xiaoru’s scope of attack.

That unforeseen event broke off Chen Mu’s firing rhythm, and he abruptly stopped his impulse to fire the tailless shuttle that had already formed in his hand.

He hid behind the broken-down walls and carefully watched the situation in front of him. He wasn’t so inflated as to think he could take on three against one. He needed to understand the situation before planning his next move.

Should he leave, or should he continue on? Chen Mu was in some doubt. If he were to leave, of course he could easily escape. But, if he didn’t determine what was going on, who knew what the situation might be the next time?

Just then, the three engaged in battle.

Lu Xiaoru’s strength surprised Chen Mu, and he couldn’t tell what kind of card she had been using. That astonished him. He was no longer just a rookie. He may have been far from being a professional card artisan, but he still had the right to talk about cards.

No one understood cards better than a card master. While he’d only used a handful of cards, and while the number of cards he had researched would not be considered incalculable, he had still basically covered most of the common types.

However, the card Lu Xiaoru was using and the energy body it emitted were something he’d never seen. That made him quite excited.

Every time Lu Xiaoru made a move, Chen Mu never saw any energy body, but those other two card artisans’ energy shields would shake violently at the same time. It was a powerful, fierce shaking to the point that it interfered with the ability of the card artisan within to make any attacks.

Then, a strange thing happened while he was watching Lu Xiaoru standing there in leisurely fashion while her enemies were trapped inside of their energy cloaks. Chen Mu could even see the painful suffering and dazed expressions of the two card artisans. But, the bloody wound on her snow-white left shoulder was the only shocking thing; it was the evidence of the attack Chen Mu had just made.

Lu Xiaoru had taken the overwhelming advantage in a flash. Her two adversaries didn’t have any more power to fight back.

Chen Mu was certain Lu Xiaoru had actually made a move since he had felt the energy fluctuations. The issue was with the energy bodies! Could it be some kind of formless, intangible energy body? Chen Mu was thinking while he kept up his alarm. His brain was churning, but he didn’t have any way to calculate what kind of card she had actually used.

Most puzzling was that Lu Xiaoru had clearly already gotten the complete advantage, so why didn’t she just kill them? Judging from her recent performance, she wasn’t any soft-hearted woman.

How could he know the reason Lu Xiaoru didn’t immediately kill them was because of his existence?

Chen Mu had kept himself hiding in the shadows, and it would be very hard to see him with bare eyes. Chen Mu’s bogus borderline breath control prevented her from determining his position. On top of that, the energy fluctuations from the tailless shuttle card were extremely small; in that area, there were countless powerful energy fluctuations to provide him good cover.

Lu Xiaoru was paying Chen Mu nearly half of her attention.

The signal ball in her pack was vibrating all along, which showed that her adversary was still hidden in her vicinity. She didn’t stop what she was doing while her two beautiful eyes endlessly swept around, with every dark, shadowy place making her so nervous the chill in her heart kept swelling up.

She was full of regret about provoking such a terrifying enemy.

* * *

Howie was being tightly protected by his comrades. Seeing no opportunity, Butchie simply strolled around them. She had a lot more power than the supporting card artisans in front of her, and she wore an easy expression. She was like a wily fox as she patrolled along the edges. Every time someone wasn’t paying attention, she would take the opportunity to take a nip out of them.

Her flight skills were outstanding, and she had a much richer battle experience than those card artisans. She quickly held up nearly 20 card artisans by herself, sometimes making a move. Every time she did make a move, one or two of them would be killed.

She found out those card artisans were generally quite young, as though they’d just gotten out of school. They were complete novices. Ordinarily, she wouldn’t have bothered with such novice card artisans. But, this time her moves were ruthless.

Her gaze was always fixed on Howie, who was near blacking out. So, it was that guy! If it hadn’t been for him, her comrades wouldn’t have had to die, and this huge battle wouldn’t have happened. The comrades alongside her kept dying, and she had no power to stop it. That was her simple feeling. Anyone’s power was limited in a large-scale, chaotic battle.

In her eyes, Howie was the main culprit of the battle. She fixed her gaze on him, wanting to finish the hateful guy off.

A girl was holding Howie, sobbing through her tears, “Wake up, Howie, wake up!”

Whether or not it was the result of her efforts, Howie did finally wake up and slowly opened his eyes. After a while, his eyesight cleared up. The terrible shape he was in with blood dripping off his whole body made him look like he was made of blood. His whimpering mouth seemed about to smile, but the pain on his face forced him to keep his stiff expression.

He would inevitably feel the disfigurement that time.

He craned about with difficulty to scan the whole battle scene and immediately found they were descending into danger. His adversary alone had actually held up nearly everyone.

Having experienced life and death, Howie seemed to have matured quite a bit in that instant. His voice was dry and hoarse, and he spoke with difficulty. “Young troopers, organize together, and synchronize your attacks!”

One person in the crowd immediately responded, “Ok! Why didn’t I think of that?” He then raised his voice. “Everyone pay attention. We need a precisely synchronized attack!” Because he was a little older, the trooper had a little more prestige among the group.

The so-called synchronized attack was everyone making their moves at once. That kind of attack wasn’t about accuracy but was about unity and frequency of attack. Such a battle style was only used by teams, and they had all studied it. But, no one had thought to use it.

Butchie heard what Howie said at the same time, and she knew her tactics would become ineffective. She suddenly made her move, and without even watching what happened, she immediately sped off without any reluctance. Bloody holes appeared on the throats of each of the two card artisans on the periphery, and they fell headlong from the air.

His adversary’s ruthlessness seemed to have aroused a chill in Howie. The distance between the two sides had really gotten too great.

That distance didn’t actually manifest itself in the power of each individual, but rather in tactical attainment. Surveying his comrades, Howie smiled bitterly that his side, including himself, would normally never experience such a scene. They were all out-and-out novices. He counted to himself; in that moment, 12 comrades had died, which made up nearly a quarter of their total.

That had been caused by the adversary, which deepened the bitter smile on Howie’s face.

The chief uncle was in a frenzied fight with the card master wearing the black windbreaker. Given his ability, it was difficult to tell who was superior. He sighed to himself and reminded everyone, “Keep your spirits up. Once anyone gets near, use the synchronized attack, and don’t worry about your energy cards. Everyone take instructions from the trooper.”

“Ok!””No problem!””You are all right, Howie!”

All of the scattered sounds came together, though Howie didn’t feel the least joy. He knew very well they didn’t have good chances of being able to survive. They were the weakest among the three sides, and the reason so many were still alive was only that the other two powers hadn’t sorted out the winners from the losers. Once the battle scene cleared up, they’d be in danger.

Looking at the card artisans fighting fiercely in the air, Howie felt horrified. The strength of those card artisans was beyond anything he’d expected.

Everyone was attacking without any misgivings, turning it into a real battlefield in the sky. Where they had been below was already in ruins. He was afraid he didn’t know how many people had been killed, which chilled Howie’s heart.

But, he quickly calmed down. The reason they had been so passive was because they hadn’t been sufficiently prepared. Looking at the entire federation, those who could compare in battle strength with them could be counted on the fingers. Such a battle would certainly be noticed by those above.

You’ll know better by then! Howie’s gaze sank, and his face twisted.

After that, Butchie left Howie and those card artisans and saw Lu Xiaoru and her own two companions.

Lu Xiaoru’s skill surprised her, but her two eyes turned fiery very quickly. Seeing Lu Xiaoru seeming to play cat and mouse and ravaging her comrades, Butchie’s expression abruptly darkened. For her comrades to be killed wasn’t so odd. That was a difference in power. But, the insult of such toying by the adversary enraged Butchie.

She didn’t lose her reason because of her rage. She powerfully curbed her urge to attack and quietly moved toward the vicinity of Lu Xiaoru.

Yikes! Who is this person? Her gaze suddenly fell onto the shadows of a broken wall where she could vaguely glimpse an indistinct figure.