The Card Apprentice

Seeing the two of them go off about their business, Chen Mu was mulling over how they might increase their profits. He suddenly remembered Brenton talking about the purple fluorescent ore that day. Although he still didn’t know what sort of thing it really was, he could tell from Brenton’s tone that it was rather valuable.

Thinking of that, his spirits were lifted; he had pitifully few things on him that were worth anything. Some things looked pretty valuable, but they were targeted toward individuals. If you were speaking relative to an entire team, their value would be insignificant.

Battle dress was an example. A decent battle outfit would cost 300,000 Oudi, and with Chen Mu having more than 300 battle personnel under him, that would mean about 100 million. The battle outfits Chen Mu and the others had purchased were nothing more than ordinary goods in the flourishing districts. On the market in the ordinary residential districts, however, battle dress with those specifications basically couldn’t even be purchased. They would only be seen on the black market, where the price would go as high as 700,000 or 800,000.

With so many fine things like battle outfits, apparatuses, battle boots, card appliances, and so forth, the benefits of the flourishing districts were evident. There was every sort of thing. Chen Mu and the rest went red-eyed looking at them, but the high prices were nothing an ordinary person could bear. He now knew where Jiao Si’s feeling about the high price of goods in the flourishing districts had come from. A team of more than 300 was nothing more than a crazy, money-eating monster.

He planned to put aside the card making for a while in order to hide his tracks. They had only just gotten to that snow silkworm ravine. If he were to depend on the fame of the numbered series of cards, he could certainly get a good income, but the risk of exposure would greatly increase. The urgency of getting money would also surge under those conditions.

“Call Brenton over,” Chen Mu instructed.

Brenton was quickly called over. That cheerful, red-headed youth hadn’t been so happy during that time. He was basically under house arrest because of the existence of the purple fluorescent ore.

He knew things he shouldn’t know, which didn’t turn out to be such a good thing, after all. But he was happy he was still alive. His counterpart hadn’t killed him to keep him quiet, which was already generous. If it had been someone more hot-tempered, he was afraid he’d have long since given up his ghost.

“You were looking for me, Boss?” Brenton found it a little strange that Chen Mu had called for him. That was the first time Chen Mu had looked for him those last few days.

“Mmmm, take me to look at some of the purple fluorescent ore, and tell me more about it,” Chen Mu said.

“As you wish.” Brenton was perfectly cooperative.

The two of them left the Valley Nest to go deep into the ravine, where quite a few rock formations had been blown open by the explosions. On top of that, Brenton was an expert in the perception of smell, so they quickly found a place where there was purple fluorescent ore.

Brenton picked up a fist-sized piece of purple rock from the ground and brought it to Chen Mu. “This should be purple fluorescent ore, Boss. I don’t actually recognize it so well, but this stone has a high concentration of metallic compounds, and it has characteristics that are close to those of the purple fluorescent ore.”

Chen Mu took the rock and asked as though something were strange, “Do you mean to say that expertise in the perception of smell is used for prospecting?”

Brenton shook his head. “What you study for prospecting is the perception of strata. That can detect the mineral distribution in very deep layers. Perception for smell is completely different. What we distinguish are the types of compounds and their concentrations in gases.

Chen Mu nodded, half understanding. The two of them found a few more pieces of purple fluorescent ore and went back.

Xi Ping was in Chilei. Recently, there were just too many things they needed to purchase, and no one was as richly experienced as he was to watch over it all and to keep things from getting messed up.

Xi Ping had quickly displayed his impressive business acumen and within a short time had become integrated with those in his profession in Chilei. In the eyes of the others, Xi Ping was a real tycoon. In the flourishing districts, several hundred million wouldn’t be considered that much, for sure. Spending several hundred million in a single breath in such a short time, however, he wasn’t the sort of tycoon you might run into every day. And, judging from what Xi Ping was purchasing, which involved all sorts of materials, only a team could possibly have such needs. There was obviously some group behind him that supported him.

Bogner had brought 200 card artisans to Chilei to register the card artisan firm. Xiaobo had the responsibility to protect Xi Ping. When it came to Wei-ah, no one could direct him apart from Chen Mu, and no one dared to.

Jiang Liang was responsible to lead the other 100 or so card artisans who remained in the ravine.

Xi Ping had received the boss’s requirements. He needed him to purchase a batch of industrial metal processing instruments to bring back. Seeing the long listings on the order, Xi Ping had a faintly bad feeling. When he inquired about it with his peers, he couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air.

One hundred fifty million! That was the price after a 20 percent discount on Xi Ping’s behalf!

But since it was the boss’s demands, Xi Ping reluctantly bought every piece of the processing equipment. The goods he’d purchased were immediately transported back to the ravine.

After staying really busy for a few days, Xi Ping raced back to the ravine as though something terrible might have happened. He wanted to see if the boss had cobbled something together or not. One hundred fifty million was not a small chunk of change. Even if you just threw it in the water, you would still hear the endless sound of a string of cash streaming away before it sank.

As soon as Xi Ping entered the Valley Nest, he was scared stiff by what he saw. All shapes and kinds of parts were scattered everywhere on the floor of the great hall of the Valley Nest, to the extent that there was almost no place to set foot. The air was full of the heavy smell of machine oil.

Doing a double-take, Xi Ping abruptly realized some of the parts looked familiar. He couldn’t help but bend down to take a closer look. When he clearly saw the inscribed nameplate on the parts, he immediately felt a pain in his chest and difficulty breathing.

Good lord! Is this the completely new machinery I just bought a couple of days ago? How could it all have turned into this?

When he stood up and looked it over, the countless parts made him feel dizzy. One hundred fifty million! One hundred fifty million worth of machinery all turned into parts!

The money on the books was getting stretched by the day. Helplessly watching 150 million Oudi just drifting away like that, how could that not make him grievously bitter?

Spendthrift! You can’t be that much of a spendthrift!

Before he could open his mouth, he heard the boss’s voice. “Come on over, Old Xi.”

He raised his eyes to see the boss stand up from a pile of parts, his whole body filthy and motor oil all over his face. His voice sounded a little worn out. Seeing his boss in that condition, Xi Ping couldn’t utter all the recriminations he had on his mind.

Chen Mu was already waving him over. “Come see what I’ve done.”

Xi Ping then noticed the strange-shaped piece of machinery in front of the boss. It was as ugly as could be, as though it were cobbled together from scraps. But those pieces of junk were huge. They were about five or six meters tall, just about the size of a small cabin, and tangled with countless complicated pipes.

There were so many parts on the floor that Xi Ping didn’t even have a place to step. Lu Xiaoru, who had been looking on all along, flew over and brought him to Chen Mu’s side.

“What is this, Boss?” Xi Ping asked. Scrutinizing the incredibly ugly piece of equipment in front of him, Xi Ping felt his head go foggy. Lu Xiaoru had the same curious look, having already been by Chen Mu’s side for several days. She had seen how the boss had cobbled together that piece of machinery with her own eyes. But just like Xi Ping, she didn’t understand what the machine was to be used for.

Completely forgetting himself, Chen Mu hadn’t heard what Xi Ping asked. He was mumbling to himself, “I hope this is going to work.”

He took out a purple rock he had prepared earlier and nimbly climbed to the top of the machine, dropping it into the opening. Xi Ping and Lu Xiaoru were staring wide-eyed at what Chen Mu was doing. After the fist-sized piece of rock fell into the machine’s opening, the machine immediately closed around it.

It buzzed away.

After about three seconds, there was a light sound, and the machine quieted. Afterward, the machine made no further movements. What Xi Ping and Lu Xiaoru really didn’t understand was that the machine had swallowed the rock, made noise for three seconds with no reaction at all, and they didn’t see anything come out.

Nothing happened?

“That shouldn’t be. What could be wrong?” Chen Mu was mumbling to himself on top of the machinery.

He then slapped himself upside the head. “I’ve got it. I’m sure the rock is too small.” Staying nothing more, he hopped back down, picked up a piece of rock about half the size of a person, and flew back to the top of the machine.

Down below, Xi Ping and Lu Xiaoru looked completely dumbstruck.

Taking a look at the opening that was obviously a little small, Chen Mu casually emitted an energy blade and deftly dismembered the rock. The big pieces of rock all fell into the machine, which made noise again. That time, the machine was noisy for nearly a minute before it fell silent.

The two of them finally saw some results!

There was a row of ten reagent bottles, in each of which appeared a tiny amount of liquid. The colors of the liquids were all different—some bright purple, some dark green, some golden—but they all had the special characteristic of a powerfully metallic sheen while still showing the properties of a liquid.

The most among the ten reagent bottles was the bright purple liquid. To say it was the most, it still wasn’t more than two or three drops. But there was even less of the other colors, with the smallest being just an extremely thin layer.

“I’ve finally succeeded!” Chen Mu felt a lot of relief, and a rare smile showed up on his wooden face.

Xi Ping couldn’t help but open his mouth again. “And this is, Boss…?”