The Card Apprentice

Unlike what Bogner had said, what appeared in front of everyone wasn’t an old, abandoned base. Its bright, armored exterior and high-strength protective glass all stood out. The base hadn’t been constructed very long before.

Bogner scratched his head and said, “It looks like I haven’t been here for a while. Things have changed.”

It was an extremely modern base and quite a bit larger than Chen Mu’s base. Card artisans could be seen flying in and out from time to time. The round structure had several entrances, and it looked like it could roughly hold at least 10,000 people. To be able to build such a huge base in the jungle showed how powerful the one who built it was.

Their large force was rather eye-catching. The card artisans brushing past were all taking looks at their team. Bogner went to the front and led the party into the base.

They came into a large hall that could hold 2,000 people. There was a lot more commotion in there than Chen Mu had imagined. Card artisans were gathered in groups of three or four, drinking and talking.

Once Chen Mu and his party entered the large hall, it abruptly went silent. Everyone’s gaze focused on them. It was seldom that a large team of strange card artisans would show up there.

Bogner remained calm and unafraid as he muttered, “The container is different, but it’s the same inside—about the same as it was!”

What surprised Chen Mu was that the level of the card artisans was quite a bit higher than was common, with a few of them giving him a feeling of danger. Even the most ordinary card artisans could form into an elite team when mixed together with them. Their gazes looked a little ill-tempered and showed a strong sense of vigilance.

“Gentlemen, it’s the first time you’ve visited our Regal Base! Perhaps you require a guide? I’m familiar with all that gets transacted here, such as good trading, helping you learn some news, or even if you require the services of an assassin. I can be your matchmaker.” A youth took the initiative to walk over to Chen Mu and introduce himself, being neither subservient nor overbearing.

He wore a dark green jacket along with a pair of leather shoes, and he had a head full of bright red hair like a ball of fire.

Bogner grinned. “Such a young broker? How long have you been doing this?”

The youth immediately understood that the middle-aged uncle in front of him was an old hand, which made it look like his take would be limited. This caused his enthusiasm to quickly wane. He said blandly, “Not long; just five years.”

“Oh!” That rather surprised Bogner as he sized the fellow up. “As young as you are, you have five years of professional qualifications. How rare.”

“You flatter me.” The youth blandly saluted with clasped hands.

“After five years, you must be at the B level of fees. Mmm, hmm, now that the B level pricing has surged, what would those prices be?” Bogner was really experienced.

He was an old hand, after all, and not just an ordinary one! The youth showed a cautious expression. “It looks like the Big Uncle knows our ways pretty well. Did you used to do it? Looking Bogner over, he then quoted a price. “Thirty thousand Oudi per day, which is a five-percent volume discount.

“Ok, deal!” Bogner nodded.

“We’ll collect it every day, so you don’t default.” The youth stuck out his hand.

Bogner realized he didn’t have any money on him, so he put out his hand to Xi Ping. Xi Ping casually took out a 30-thousand-Oudi money card and gave it to Bogner.

The youth’s eyes lit up. Those in front of him were rich lords, after all! He found that out by seeing his counterpart take out 30 thousand Oudi without even a frown. Thirty thousand Oudi wasn’t really much, but to just pull it out without grimacing established their financial strength to a certain extent.

Having received the money card, the youth’s expression became a lot more enthusiastic.

“What services do you require?” He added, “If you want girls, I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed.” Taking a look at Sue Lochiro, Lu Xiaoru, and Ru Qiu, he reminded him, “You should be careful about your female companions. It isn’t safe here.”

Sure enough, when Chen Mu took note, the card artisans were all looking at the three of them with hot and unbridled lust.

Lu Xiaoru’s powdered face turned frosty as she lowered her head to fiddle with the apparatus on her wrist. Sue Lochiro and Ru Qiu couldn’t help their panicked expressions, even though they had been through such battles wherever they went. They unconsciously drew closer to Chen Mu.

The panicked expressions on the two just inflamed those men. The whistling swirled in the big room and got really loud. The card artisans started to hoot. Some card artisans in a corner were the most brazen. They smiled wantonly, shouting the most disgusting oaths.

“Spend the night with me, little girl, and your big brother will take you to the seventh heaven!”

“Awesome! Really f***ing sweet.”

* * *

The faces on those in Chen Mu’s troops were darkening, but no one was going to make a move without orders. Under Bogner’s training, their obedience to orders had started to integrate into their daily lives.

Sue Lochiro and Ru Qiu were looking very shamed, but they didn’t know what to do. The two were pursing their lips with tears welling up in their eyes.

Bogner’s face turned ugly, and he was just about to open his mouth when he suddenly heard Chen Mu say, “Lu Xiaoru.”

“Yes, Boss.” Lu Xiaoru stepped out from the ranks with eyes full of menace.

Chen Mu spoke mildly. “Get them to shut their mouths.”

Bogner noticed the chill in his eyes and swallowed what he had been about to say. He knew that gang would be out of luck.

“Yes, sir!”

The apparatus on Lu Xiaoru’s wrist had been activated for a while, but it wasn’t only hers; the apparatuses on all of the team members’ wrists were in an activated state. Bogner had repeatedly stressed to them that in order to be able to respond to whatever might happen, they shouldn’t shut off their apparatuses.

Lu Xiaoru had been nurturing her anger, feeling that her life had become happier and more fulfilled than ever before. The obscenities of jungle card artisans brought up memories of her previous, messed up life.

It turned out that if you succeeded in provoking a woman, you had better be prepared for her wrath to burn you to ashes.

She lifted her plump and seductive right arm in the blink of any eye.

All of the noise rattled to a stop! The most brazen of those jungle card artisans looked like they were in pain. The invisible sound wave attack did real damage to the human body.

That was Lu Xiaoru’s Sound Beam! She could control the sound waves within a certain range, and not only to increase their intensity; she could also avoid being affected by them herself.

Originally, Lu Xiaoru had nearly brought Butchie down by virtue of the Sound Beam. Followed by her long-term, hard training and Chen Mu explaining the card’s secrets, her power had gone up quite a few levels from before.

Her strength was still not powerful enough, though. If her perception were stronger, the sound beam card could have blown those card artisans dead in an instant. The attack from a sound wave was completely different from other kinds of attacks, being harder to prepare for. An energy cloak was invisible to it.

The card artisans only felt their bodies shake. No matter how they tried to control them, they couldn’t stop. The fierce nausea and vertigo hit them in their nerves, making it ten times more difficult to control their perception in that condition.

“Let’s go, bitches!” Some of them were shouting through their pain.

“Crow Feather, Lucky Xi.” Chen Mu opened his mouth for the second time.

“Present, Boss!” The two stepped out of the ranks.

“Fix them.”

“Yes, sir!”

Crow Feather’s mountainous body was eye-catching, standing there like an iron pagoda, while Lucky Xi to his side was wearing glasses and looked like a mild, young student. The contrast between the two was extreme.

Crow Feather opened his mouth into a laugh, suddenly setting up a dark brown energy cloak. What was strange was that it was sharp at the top, which made him look like an upright artillery shell. Half crouched, he supported himself with his hands and settled into a standard sprint-starting position.

“Hey!”

He stunned everyone with a frightful shout that sounded like thunder in the big hall. Crow Feather then shot out like a genuine shell from its chamber and turned into a brown streak, which landed in the middle of everyone with a bang.

Lu Xiaoru had long been practicing how to coordinate with him; just as Crow Feather made his move, she cut off her attack.

The card artisans felt their bodies lighten and stop shaking, and their nausea stopped along with their dizziness. Their spirits got a little lift.

“Hey, those girls aren’t for you…” Before that card artisan could finish what he was saying, he saw with shock and fear that a gigantic brown ball of light carrying shocking power had already appeared in front of them.

At the same time, Lucky Xi pushed up his glasses in a familiar way with his right finger, a sneer forming on his mouth. Then, his right hand disappeared from the bridge of his nose. His hands were enshrouded in a glowing starburst, with his ten fingers looking like they were plucking a zither. The myriad glowing silver filaments in the starburst started growing at a speed visible to the naked eye.

“Ah, ah, ah!”

There was an explosion among the terrified shrieks.

Hong!

The gigantic artillery shell that was Crow Feather blew apart just as it touched those card artisans. The card artisans had no chance to open their energy cloaks. The terrifying air waves were like a raging wind, and the card artisans were like little sampans in the wild wind, lifted up into the air.

At nearly the same time, Lucky Xi’s ten long, white fingers all flicked at once. The silvery filaments in the starburst were like several dozen fine, silvery snakes breaking free of the starburst’s bonds and sparking off toward the card artisans in midair.

Zap! Zap! Zap!

Electric sparking to jolt the heart suddenly rang out, and the card artisans who had been hit looked like they had an extra layer of silvery mesh over their clothes.

Peng! Peng! Peng! Peng!

The card artisans who lost control made some intimate contact with the ground to form the final coda to the symphony.

Their miserable appearance being clearly visible, those looking on drew in a cold breath of air.