The Card Apprentice

The vague fluctuations were almost insensible. Like ripples on water, they blanketed the entire region. They were used by the scanning category of cards. There wasn’t just one type among the complex fluctuations; there were five. It was evident from that how tight their detection was.

Although Chen Mu’s bogus borderline breath control method didn’t have the unparalleled power of the true breath control method, it was quite good at stopping his breath. Beneath those five fluctuations, each with different characteristics, he was shuttling around like a fish, swimming with ease without making a splash.

The ever ghost-like Wei-ah stuck close to his side. Using no apparent tricks, he could still remain beneath the scanning wave band without making any waves. Chen Mu had asked Wei-ah about that, but Wei-ah never gave him an explanation.

Over time, Chen Mu had gotten used to it. That guy’s strength had been superhuman for a long time. It was probably because of the existence of the scanner bands that the defenses inside the base were surprisingly relaxed.

The vicious battle that day wasn’t an easy matter for anyone. Even though the power of the Central Repository of the Classics had increased, their spiritual exhaustion had increased along with it. So everyone could sleep better, Qiao Yuan had arranged for five card artisans to stand guard.

That certainly wasn’t a deficient way to stand guard. The attainments of those five card artisans put them among the top 200 in the entire federation. Five such powerful reconnaissance card artisans would be terrifying to any intruders.

Still, the scanning type of card had its natural shortcomings, such as being extremely sensitive to energy fluctuations. The slightest energy fluctuation would get their attention, but they weren’t so sensitive to things without energy.

That characteristic of the card was directly related to the way card artisans trained their perception. Apart from a few specialized methods to train perception, the perception normally practiced was highly sensitive toward energy.

Of course, there were some exceptions, such as that freak Caesar 30 years before. The Materials Refinement Code he practiced was unique in that regard. Chen Mu himself had been mistaken for someone who practiced the Materials Refinement Code. Fortunately, there wasn’t such a monster among those five.

The encampment of the Central Repository of the Classics was immense, being a cluster of small buildings. But because the Central Repository of the Classics hadn’t placed much importance on Pomelo, it wasn’t like Chen Mu’s base, which was completely sealed. Once the passageways were closed, if anyone wanted to enter from outside, they would have to endure powerful attacks along the way.

That was precisely why Chen Mu and Wei-ah could infiltrate.

Everything in the base was silent, with a light on in only one place.

Chen Mu and Wei-ah took advantage of the shadows of the buildings for cover and approached the light in silence. The buildings in the Central Repository of the Classics’ encampment had also been discovered by Xi Ping. The place had previously been a mobile station for a team of card artisans. After the card artisans departed, it was sold to a businessman.

After changing hands several times, it had become a large-scale rental field for firms, used especially as a short-term resting place for large teams. Xi Ping bought the plot plan for the buildings at a high price from a local construction card artisan who had done some maintenance work there. Having the plot plan considerably improved the safety of the entire operation.

The light was on in a small meeting room, which probably held about 20 people. It was using some advanced projection equipment. It had been identified in detail on the plot plan. For example, Chen Mu had found out the drainage system below the meeting room headed toward a storehouse 15 meters away, connected by a 1.5-meter-wide pipe buried underground.

The meeting room was right in the middle of the base and had no obstructions for 20 meters around it. If you were to approach it, there was a high probability of being discovered. Although the small storehouse was more than 70 meters from Chen Mu, there were conveniently houses all along the way.

Chen Mu had learned his skill at hiding from the demonic woman, but he needed to take advantage of the surrounding environment. The demonic woman was certainly more awesome, but Chen Mu had only learned the most basic skills. Probably because he’d used them so much, he had become very practiced. They had become almost second nature.

Chen Mu had found that while the trick may have looked simple, it was quite effective. When he did resistance training with Wei-ah, that trick proved very useful. If he used it, he could increase his time of resistance by about three seconds.

Never mind those three seconds; an increase of a second would be extremely difficult facing off against Wei-ah. The resistance training between Chen Mu and Wei-ah used seconds as its unit of measurement.

Looking cautiously from the shadows, he didn’t discover any movements. Chen Mu stuck close to the ground and suddenly jumped out to the side. He was like a lively civet cat as he jumped around in the shadows. Because he couldn’t use cards there, Chen Mu had no way to use his big mudfish card and had to depend on the strength of his body.

It was a good thing his physical strength was so exceptional by then, although it wasn’t up to Wei-ah’s. His stunning, explosive power enabled him to metamorphose into a faint shadow. It would be hard to find him hidden in the shadows. Wei-ah was even faster and his shadow fainter.

The two of them quickly arrived at the corner of the storehouse.

Chen Mu’s face was covered by the ghost-faced flower. There were five brightly dripping lines the size of drops of blood that went from his forehead straight to his chin. It was weird. Every time he used the ghost-faced flower, the pattern formed would be different, which meant he didn’t have to worry about being found out.

Wei-ah was wearing a matte black mask made of a strange alloy. Xi Ping had specifically chosen it from among the goods for that evening’s operation.

There was no pattern on the pure black, the surface of which had undergone a sand frosting process, so it wouldn’t reflect light. It was perfectly soft when worn and not at all suffocating. Unfortunately, there was only one of them. Chen Mu would have actually preferred that kind of plain mask. But Wei-ah also rather liked it.

The origins of that mask had long been uncertain. If it weren’t for Xi Ping having committed all the things in the auction house to memory, such a small item would never have resurfaced.

The door of the storehouse was locked, but that wasn’t going to be an issue for Chen Mu and Wei-ah. They hadn’t intended to enter through the door.

It was a plain storehouse only used to store some daily necessities when it was first built. It had belonged to a non-combatant unit. Because of that, it had been built using the most common masonry structure to keep its cost low.

Wei-ah’s right hand became like a claw, and he started to lightly claw out the corner wall. His movements looked quite easy, but they were effective. Chunk after chunk of the brick surface fell away like mud.

After five or six minutes, a hole big enough for a person appeared in front of them. Although he was already used to it, it still surprised Chen Mu when he thought about Wei-ah not having to rely on any tools to so easily dig out such a hole.

The two of them didn’t speak as they plunged in.

Once inside, they smelled mildew. It looked as though the place had been closed for a long time.

Chen Mu went over to a vent and opened it. Hidden from the outside, he could see there was no sign of anyone having discovered them. Chen Mu then thought about the connection from where he was to the entire base, and he quickly arranged his escape route.

In that brief time, Wei-ah had already opened the cover of the drain. There was an alloy lock on the drain cover. However, probably because of the passage of so much time and the lack of maintenance, the lock had already corroded. Wei-ah effortlessly twisted it off.

A blast of foul-smelling air permeated the storehouse.

Having arranged his escape route, Chen Mu then hopped into the drain opening without hesitation. Wei-ah was close behind.

Chen Mu had thought Wei-ah was an ace in the dark like the demonic woman. But he didn’t quite feel that to be true now; Wei-ah was more a powerful ace than any assassin lurking in the dark. If the demonic woman had come along for that job, she would certainly have been more professional and accomplished.

But Chen Mu himself was standing in half a bucket of water and wasn’t exactly qualified to talk about anyone else.

The air in the drainage pipes was foul. Living things like rats occasionally scurried by while the top of the pipe was drip-drip-dripping with water. It was pitch dark in the pipe, but it was a good thing Chen Mu didn’t need to be careful and could use an illumination card.

No one’s scanning could penetrate ten meters underground. The thicker the material was, the better its efficacy at blocking scans.

A fist-sized, milky white energy body floated three meters in front of Chen Mu. It emitted a soft, white glow, turning the pipe snow-bright.

Their speed immediately increased, and they quickly arrived under the meeting room. Out of caution, Chen Mu shut off the illumination card. But he left his apparatus in the activated state to make it easier to make a move at any time.

There was a vertical pipe leading up over their heads. The walls of the pipe were too slippery to hold, but Wei-ah easily climbed up like a gecko. Chen Mu couldn’t do what Wei-ah had done, having long since lost his wall-climbing lotus. Otherwise, it would have been trivial.

He half-squatted and jumped straight up. It was a three-meter leap. He was still wearing those elastic grass shoes, which greatly increased his explosive power.

He remembered how useful those things from the demonic woman had initially been. Unfortunately, only the elastic grass shoes and the ghost-faced flower remained.

At the high point of his jump, Wei-ah shot out his right hand from above him and grabbed Chen Mu’s arm. Wei-ah didn’t seem at all affected by carrying someone as he sped up the pipe without making a sound.

They quickly arrived at the mouth of the vertical pipe, where it had turned horizontal. They slowly crawled on hands and knees to the middle of the pipe. Their movements were very light to avoid making the slightest sound.

Above them, the conversation in the meeting room gradually became clearer.