The Card Apprentice

The traps Wei-ah was placing weren’t as elegant as Chen Mu’s. He was casually splitting apart a heavy pomelo-wood chair by hand.

Off to the side, Lu Xiaoru’s heart was bleeding since that chair sold on the market for 50,000 Oudi.

Of course, Wei-ah didn’t know anything about its value. Even if he had, that wouldn’t have changed his behavior at all. He took the top of the longest piece of the dense pomelo-wood and nailed it onto a short, sharp stick. He then bent it and hooked a rope onto it, looping the other end onto a mechanism that could be activated. He put the trap behind an outside window with the trigger underneath the window. Anyone coming in through the window would step on the trigger mechanism. Then, the dense strip of pomelo-wood would be released in an instant and sprung straight. Such sudden, explosive power could kill some powerful beasts in the jungle.

Wei-ah hadn’t actually thought there could be chairs made of dense pomelo wood in that place. It had excellent springiness and was very suited for making such traps. If it were to strike a person, that sharpened stick would instantly penetrate his chest and nail him to the window frame.

The simple and crude trap was full of enough explosive power to evoke fear on sight. Chen Mu’s traps looked a lot more civilized.

Within a very short time, the house didn’t look anything like before; there was danger lurking everywhere. Seeing the changes with her own eyes, Lu Xiaoru didn’t dare to complain, though her calves were pumping. She may have previously had some doubts about the two of them, but now she was utterly certain they were card artisan assassins.

Apart from the kind of guys who liked to move around in the dark, who else would do such things?

“Heaven’s Wings is destroyed, and we should consider where we go next.” Chen Mu said resignedly. He hadn’t spent too much of his ambition on Heaven’s Wings, so its destruction wasn’t so distressing. But, the card making lab was near to his heart and was suddenly gone. That had been hard to take. On top of that was the Central Island Firm coveting the communications array he had with him. He felt more and more like it wouldn’t be good to dwell there for long.

“Whatever you say.” Wei-ah didn’t have any input.

Noticing that Lu Xiaoru seemed to have something to say, Chen Mu turned his gaze to her. “What do you think?”

She hesitated and then said, “If I haven’t guessed wrong, the city will certainly respond to such a large action. According to prior practice, when something like this happens, the government will provide an appropriate subsidy. We should be able to get quite a bit since that was a pretty large building, after all.”

“Subsidy?” The government pays?” Chen Mu found that ridiculous and couldn’t believe the federation government would be so generous.

Lu Xiaoru shook her head. “That’s not it. I’d say this time the Central Island Firm will lay out most of it with the government putting in only a small portion. Among all the people, the people from the Central Island Firm were the easiest to spot. They’ll have to bleed this time. They are considered the instigators.” Although Lu Xiaoru wasn’t gloating, she didn’t have the greatest feelings about her former club.

“Oh, that really happens?” Chen Mu had gotten rather interested.

* * *

Ren Wenzhou’s hair had turned white within a few days, and his visage had suddenly aged quite a bit. Beside him, Qian Mingyi looked pretty morose himself. Neither of them had thought the affair would get as messed up as it had. They had just received the government’s demand that they pay out the benefits.

If it were ordinary times, those government officials would never have dared to use the tone they did, but the firm had to submit to the humiliation this time. Although the Central Island Firm was among only a handful of large firms in Pomelo, what had happened was just too much.

The rest of the firms were all furious with the Central Island Firm about its utterly unbridled actions. The Central Island Firm had impacted everyone’s profits, and while there weren’t many powers in Pomelo, none of them wanted to see the city turned to ruins.

There was no way to make any profits among ruins.

Within a short time, the other powers in Pomelo had all clearly expressed their attitudes. Ren Wenzhou was facing unprecedented pressure, and the firm was in the greatest danger it had ever experienced. They were cornered.

“Only Machida is still alive. There’s no sign of Lu Xiaoru, and Kai was sacrificed,” Qian Mingyi said morosely.

Ren Wenzhou’s expression dropped, and he said hoarsely, “Have you found out where those people came from?”

“According to the description from Machida, the adversaries weren’t all from the same place. We’ve determined where one among them came from. They were the ones who had been negotiating with us—the Central Repository of the Classics.” Qian Mingyi’s tone was full of contempt for the Central Repository of the Classics. “But, they also suffered disastrous losses. I’ve heard there were only seven or eight survivors. That old guy Yu Guozheng has already led them back, though I imagine the Central Repository of the Classics will certainly not let the matter drop there. They’ll soon dispatch more people.”

“The Central Repository of the Classics!” Ren Wenzhou growled. They were the ones who had been negotiating with them before. He believed the reason the other powers had been so quick to express their attitudes now was very possibly because the Central Repository of the Classics had been secretly adding fuel to the fire. They were one of the Big Six, with immense power far beyond what the Central Island Firm could oppose. If it weren’t for his resistance those last few days, he believed the Central Island Firm would already have become a dependency of the Central Repository of the Classics.

For the ambitious Ren Wenzhou, that was something he doubtlessly never wanted to see, so he had stood his ground and stuck to his own point of view.

But, there was a lot at stake for the Central Island Firm by then, and if they were the least bit careless, all would be lost. The Central Repository of the Classics had very cleverly used every aspect of its power, relentlessly backing Ren Wenzhou into a corner.

“We’re still not clear about the other power, though I imagine it’s another great power. They also suffered large losses with only a scant few remaining.

“Oh!” Ren Wenzhou’s spirits were aroused, and his expression became enraged. “Which is to say we have a little breathing space?”

Qian Mingyi was taken aback, though he quickly recovered. The boss must have had an idea. He nodded to say, “We should. It’s not only us this time; both sides have suffered serious losses. Although that mysterious power might be a little better off, they still only have a few left. I believe they will certainly wait for reinforcements before they make any moves with such a serious personnel shortfall.”

“Good.” Ren Wenzhou stood up from his chair and walked to the window, looking off into the distance. His voice became abruptly cold. “Not to fight back when we’ve taken a beating wouldn’t be Ren Wenzhou’s style, now would it?”

Qian Mingyi’s spirits were aroused as he awaited his boss’s orders. He’d been with Ren Wenzhou for over 20 years and could be called loyal and devoted. He had plenty of confidence in his boss.

Ren Wenzhou turned around with a hint of a sneer to his mouth and said coldly, “Since the Central Repository of the Classics is so anxious, I think the other powers will certainly be interested in it as well. How would it be right for the Central Repository of the Classics to get it without spilling some blood? Isn’t the reason they have so unscrupulously pressured us this time that there aren’t so many people who know about it? Humph, since that’s the way it is, then let’s expose it right away and let the entire federation know. I believe there would be a lot of people interested in it!”

He kept on casually, “When the time comes, if the Central Repository of the Classics wants to play hard, they’ll have to see if everyone else signs on or not.”

Qian Mingyi suddenly looked elated; that move of the boss was beautiful. It gave them back the initiative.

“I’ll take care of it right away!”

“Go. The bigger the better.” Ren Wenzhou waved his hand to signal for Qian Mingyi to leave the room. Then, he suddenly spoke out, “Wait a minute.”

Qian Mingyi stopped and respectfully awaited new instructions.

“Take control of whoever knows about this matter of signals, regardless of who they are. The information can’t be leaked this time. Do you understand?”

“Yes, sir!” Qian Mingyi felt a chill.

Ren Wenzhou’s age became more evident once Qian Mingyi had left the room. He let out a breath in exhaustion as a sadness started to grow. He’d understood the importance of that technology all along, so he’d kept it pretty secret. He hadn’t thought the information would leak. The leak had brought a lot of trouble to the firm. While the Central Repository of the Classics wasn’t a power the Central Island Firm could resist, he had a hunch about that other mysterious power, which was undoubtedly a colossus as well.

If they hadn’t screwed up the secrecy, then after another ten years, the Central Island Firm would certainly have become as much of a colossus as they were. But…

Ren Wenzhou unconsciously clenched his fist.

* * *

Qian Mingyi had thought the move to be incredibly praiseworthy, though he didn’t know it was only something he had no choice but to do. To think the Central Island Firm would enjoy the technology by itself had already become impossible. Since that was the way it was, Ren Wenzhou could only get the greatest value for the firm and for himself.

Qian Mingyi had always been able to get such things done, and it was easy enough for him to do.

In fact, Qian Mingyi didn’t let Ren Wenzhou down. He quickly came up with something very simple: an advertisement.

He gathered together all of his subordinates.

“We have to produce an advertisement. I need the most powerful advertising company, and we only have a short amount of time. We have to complete this within two days.” Qian Mingyi wasn’t long-winded and went straight to the topic.

They all looked at one another. They knew it was something extremely important from the boss’s tone. Moreover, with all the rumors that had been recently flying around the company by that time, no one dared to slack off.

One of the subordinates said, “Since the boss’s required time frame is so short, then it has to be a local advertising firm. The local firm most in the limelight recently is Heaven’s Wings.”