The Card Apprentice

Not only were there a lot of parts in the pile, but all sorts of different types were involved. Chen Mu was reluctant to allow 600 million Oudi worth of parts to be piled there like rubbish. He was figuring out how he might make use of them.

So, Chen Mu was sitting in the middle of that 600 million worth of parts, frowning in hard thought.

* * *

“We’ve finished bringing them all together, big brother,” Yi Song cautiously reported to Wen Zuofu.

“Mmmm, good job.” Wen Zuofu’s face was like deep water, showing no emotion. He suddenly said, “Has there been any sign of activity with the House of Qiao?”

“They’ve increased their level of alert. For the time being, we haven’t detected any further activity,” Yi Song responded.

“Has the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm set out yet?”

“Reporting, big brother! They set off three days ago, and they’re now about to leave the Pascal Region. If we launch our attack now, they won’t make it back in time for a rescue. Still, if we wanted a little more insurance, it would be better to wait two or three days,” Yi Song said with an abundance of caution.

“Mmmm, we’re in no hurry for the moment. We might as well wait three more days.” Wen Zuofu’s gloomy face then turned hideous. “This time, we have to be sure to destroy that gang in the ravine; otherwise, they will become a cancer! We’ll use it first to take out their leader, and then we’ll just take out the House of Qiao. The House of Qiao certainly hasn’t realized we are about to attack them. Ha ha, when the time comes, I want that little girl Qiao Fei to kneel in front of me!”

“Big brother is so wise!” Yi Song rushed to kiss some a**.

“Ok!” Wen Zuofu waved his hand and cut off Yi Song before he went on with the flattery. He said ponderously, “I need you at 120 percent these three days, and take care to watch over those things. If anything were to happen, argh!”

Yi Song rushed to say, “Don’t worry, big brother; nothing can happen!”

“Good!” Wen Zuofu looked a lot more at ease. Watching as Yi Song obediently departed, Wen Zuofu became a little spellbound. He had used nearly half his patrimony in exchange for those things just then. That organization had massive power. Seven years prior, they had sent someone to initiate contact with Wen Zuofu when he was only the lord of a small fort.

They sketched out for him an extremely attractive prospect. The facts also proved the organization’s abilities were powerful. With their assistance, Wen Zuofu established the Downstream Alliance, which annexed several small fortresses to become a small power with a certain amount of strength.

For the past few years, however, the help from that organization plunged, which was also an important reason that he had no way to take on the House of Qiao. As he saw it, if the organization had wanted to assist him, what could the House of Qiao amount to?

Then, in the last few days, the mysterious organization suddenly sent someone to contact him, claiming they wanted to help unify the region. But they were also proposing rather harsh conditions. They wanted to take 40 percent of the overall spoils, including the subsequent income from mining. They weren’t even going to send anyone to participate but would only be providing weaponry and intelligence support.

The weaponry was extremely expensive, but Wen Zuofu made the decision on the spot to buy it. In order to get that batch of weaponry, he spared no effort and put everything he had gotten those last few years into it. He had no fallback against failure!

In order to mobilize the Snow Silkworm Card Artisans to leave, he had deliberately spread the news of his own Dark Fog card artisans being annihilated after infiltrating the ravine. That had unintentionally gotten rid of some of their power.

Chen Mu probably hadn’t realized the news had actually been released by the Downstream Alliance themselves. That was why the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm got the job that took them out of Chilei. Wen Zuofu didn’t concern himself with Xi Ping. What use could a little businessman be? He was just quietly waiting at the time—waiting for the battle to come in three days!

During those short three days, the Heavenly Federation was turned upside down.

Di Bo was leading the Federation Comprehensive Academy card artisan troops when they were singing victory marches along their way to winning every battle! Things inevitably returned to their previous disposition. Along their entire loud advance, both the Central Repository of the Classics and Faya could hardly lift their heads after being so beaten.

It was then that the Federation Comprehensive Academy made its resolution that the board of trustees would take over the management of the academy. Everyone understood what that implied. The previous president, Pavchek, had lost out in a power struggle. Tang Hanpei’s wild moves had proven to be a fatal blow to Pavchek’s faction. His later house arrest along with spreading things around behind Pavchek’s back made Pavchek’s faction weaker than it ever had been.

Di Bo’s powerful performance on the front lines sped up the conduct of the internal power struggle. Pavchek wasn’t stripped of his title as president, but almost all the power was taken from his hands by the school’s board of trustees. Although he was a member of the board, his influence was a lot less than it had been.

Two days after the resolution was adopted, the situation took a shocking change. As if they had some sort of tacit agreement, Faya and the Central Repository of the Classics happened to make a show of strength at the same time.

Worker Hao, who had previously been oppressed into submission, suddenly turned the tables on Di Bo when he clamped down uncharacteristically on Di Bo’s main forces. Worker Hao didn’t smash into Di Bo head-on; he just kept moving and making sneak attacks to ruthlessly nip at him whenever there was an opportunity. He became firmly entangled in the enemy’s army.

But the most stunning news that day come from somewhere else: Faya! That organization, which had been so used to operating in the dark, finally bared their sharp fangs! A new kind of weapon that could transform the entire situation of the federation showed up in the midst of battle.

It had a pretty ordinary name—the battle shuttle car!

Fifty thousand shiny battle shuttle cars, like sharp bayonets with their cold, metallic gleam, sliced right across the middle of Di Bo’s troops. Countless energy shuttles flew like rain to cover the earth and sky in an unforgettable scene.

They were slightly larger than an ordinary shuttle car, honeycombed with holes in front. When fighting, energy bodies would shoot out of the holes like crazy. Their power wasn’t great, and their locking-on capabilities were rough, but there were just so many of them. People couldn’t believe their eyes about how much power a clumsy card appliance like that could bring into play.

The 50,000 metallic card appliance monsters spewed energy bodies like crazy, which filled the sky. The scope they covered was so huge and dense that no card artisan could conceive of escaping it. Nothing else could be seen apart from them.

The Federation Comprehensive Academy card artisans raised their energy cloaks in horror, but what utterly terrified them was that they were being hit upward of 100 times per second. Their normally trusty energy cloaks were annihilated right before their frantic eyes. Unable to make a response, they were pummeled into a sieve. In the investigation after the battle, there wasn’t a single intact corpse.

That may have rocked the federation, but when Faya subsequently announced inside information about the battle shuttle car, a genuine tsunami was on its way. The drivers of the battle shuttle cars weren’t card artisans. They were just ordinary people who had undergone some training!

There was no longer a mysterious halo surrounding card artisans. It had become one of the largest professions, already having penetrated all aspects of life. Despite all of that, a gulf between card artisans and ordinary people did still exist. The appearance of the battle shuttle car immediately destroyed that uncrossable gap. People quickly saw the advantages of the battle shuttle car.

It was a type of card appliance, and seeing that Faya could bring out 50,000 of them in a single breath, you could surmise that such a card appliance had already gone into mass-production. The growth of a card artisan required at least ten years of cultivation, and the difference between a good one and a poor one could be told at a glance. Ordinary people could become competent as drivers, which meant personnel investments could be greatly reduced.

Although their individual strength wasn’t that great, their battle power was stunning once they were implemented at large scale. The appearance of battle shuttle cars destroyed the existing card artisan mechanisms.

The troops from the Federation Comprehensive Academy suffered a nearly devastating blow, and even Di Bo couldn’t escape it. He finally died after suffering endless pursuit from the Central Repository of the Classics.

The defeat of the Federation Comprehensive Academy was already a forgone conclusion. By that time, however, no one’s attention was on them anymore. Everyone’s gazes were focused on Faya and their somewhat ugly battle shuttle cars. Faya’s massive power made the entire federation draw in a breath of cold air.

The appearance of such a never-before-seen card appliance impacted the Big Six the most. The advantages they had established over so many years were in danger of collapse following that new state of affairs.

Then, the situation suddenly seemed to calm. Everyone was waiting for what Faya would do next. The struggles among the Big Six came to a halt. Moon Frost Island and Desert Camp both withdrew their troops, and the Big Six felt endangered as never before.

The news spread that the Big Six were about to conduct an emergency meeting. But not long after, Faya released an even more shocking piece of news—any power could approach them to buy a battle shuttle car!

The world went wild.