The Card Apprentice

At the headquarters of the Snowflake Card Artisan Team, Mobley was looking at the invitation in his hand and thinking hard. He opened his communications card. “Are you free, Miss Qing Qing?”

“Is something up, Captain Mobley?” Qing Qing’s ethereal voice was as wispy as the clouds.

Mobley felt a pang in his heart. His feeling of estrangement hadn’t changed since the beginning, and he still hadn’t closed the distance between them. He didn’t know how he should bring her—that woman who had no business appearing among humans—closer to him. She didn’t need to deliberately show anything; the cold alienation exuded from her bones was nearly suffocating Mobley.

Seeing her face as elegant as a painting on the screen, Mobley felt like a fool. He had wanted to express his love for her so many times, and he had been cleverly fended off each time. She was so intelligent. Like some unfathomable swordsperson, she would seal off any path he might have taken before he could even make his move. Every time he wanted to open his mouth, she would change the subject or would flit away.

Still, Mobley was a towering figure. While it might have been hard for him to take, he didn’t reveal a thing on his face, saying with a smile, “There is something very important for which I need the assistance of Miss Qing Qing’s wisdom.”

“I don’t deserve such praise, Captain Mobley. Qing Qing will be there in a bit.” She pondered a moment before readily nodding.

A minute later, Qing Qing arrived at Mobley’s office. He presented the invitation in his hands. “I just got this today. It’s quite interesting.”

“Moon Frost Island?” Qing Qing was a little surprised, though she immediately looked as though she were thinking of something.

“Indeed. I didn’t think it could be Moon Frost Island, either. They are holding a summit, which is rather intriguing.” Mobley wore a meaningful smile on his tough face.

Qing Qing gave the invitation back to Mobley and said lightly, “Moon Frost Island wants to take the opportunity to integrate the strength of the Heavenly Drum Village District, and now is the right time.”

“Ha ha. Great minds think alike, after all!” Mobley gave out a hearty laugh, but his gaze went suddenly explosive, overflowing with a fierce, in-charge look. “Does Miss Qing Qing think we have the capital for a share?”

“We didn’t have enough before, but we now have just barely enough.” Qing Qing spoke as lightly as ever, as though she hadn’t been affected at all.

Mobley’s ferocity abruptly disappeared without a trace as he rubbed his chin with a wry smile. “Ai. What Miss Qing Qing said is right. We can barely do it, but we can still do it, even if just barely.”

The two were clear about what Moon Frost Island was planning. To increase their ability to survive in that chaotic world, Moon Frost Island wanted to take advantage of the situation to get all the big and small powers in the Heavenly Drum Village District to form a large body in the nature of an alliance. Once the alliance formed, it would mean a leviathan would take shape. With all the powers integrated across an entire flourishing district, they would become more powerful and terrifying than anything before.

Such a large body couldn’t be controlled by any one power—not even by Moon Frost Island. It would have to be the final product of compromise among all the powers, and how to get a seat and a voice in that body was what Mobley was thinking about.

Moon Frost Island had courage beyond what anyone had imagined. In order to achieve that goal, they were even willing to give up absolute control. One could imagine, however, that if the new body took shape, Moon Frost Island would still occupy the most important position. While they couldn’t decide where the leviathan would go, they could greatly influence its direction.

Mobley clearly understood that once the integration was accomplished, the Heavenly Drum Village District wouldn’t have room for any other powers. Since that was the case, he knew they might as well get in early to be able to occupy a spot that might correspond to the Snowflake Card Artisan Team’s interests.

Since the stimulant liquid had been put to use, the Snowflake Card Artisan Team’s battle strength had gotten a big boost. Moreover, in the current situation, the Snowflake Card Artisan Team would have a lot more value by having more powerful battle ability. That left Mobley pretty smug.

“I wonder if you have any news about Chen Mu, Captain Mobley,” Qing Qing suddenly asked.

“Chen Mu?” Mobley felt abruptly disgusted, though he shook his head and kept his normal expression. “Not yet. Our people are watching all around the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm base. Last I heard, they still haven’t found any sign of Chen Mu.”

“Where did he go?” Qing Qing muttered to herself as her face showed a rare frown. For Chen Mu alone to put down so many and then not to be seen was where she had her doubts. She didn’t believe the nonsense about him going off traveling. Would a card master go off single-handedly for so long without being heard from? Even a card artisan wouldn’t go off traveling like that in the current chaotic situation.

What did he really go off to do? Qing Qing’s curious mind was provoked to the extreme, but she didn’t have a clue.

Mobley’s heart skipped a beat, and he didn’t respond. He simply pretended to stare at the invitation in his hand and acted like he was in a daze.

After a long while, Qing Qing raised her head and dropped a word as she flitted off. “I still have to trouble Captain Mo with the matter of Chen Mu. If it wouldn’t be any bother, I would like to ask if Qing Qing might join the delegation to the summit.”

* * *

Chen Mu was watching Sang Hanshui in front of him and felt a little awkward. He had originally planned to simply kill him after the questioning. But Sang Hanshui really fit in. Moreover, his erudition had earned Chen Mu’s respect. Although Chen Mu had no taboo against killing anymore, it wasn’t just the taboo. He was essentially still an ordinary youth. If he were to simply let Sang Hanshui go, however, there could be too many pitfalls and too many uncertain variables.

He glimpsed Wei-ah guiding Bu Mo’s training out of the corner of his eye, and something flashed through his mind.

“I’m going to turn him over to you, Wei-ah. Don’t let him run off,” Chen Mu said to Wei-ah.

Wei-ah responded simply by saying, “Oh.” He seemed to look at Sang Hanshui without really looking at him. Sang Hanshui breathed a sigh of relief. No one wanted to die, and he was no exception. He was now only worried about how the two of them would keep him in line, and he couldn’t help but shudder inwardly. But he also knew that without an apparatus or a card, he was pretty much a loser.

On top of that, his attitude had changed, and his hostility had already dispersed. He was good at reading people and knew Qiao Yuan didn’t seem to want to kill him. The change in Qiao Yuan’s attitude had rather surprised him, though it was definitely a good thing as far as he was concerned.

He picked a random place to sit down and watched their training. The scene in front of him was completely different from the intelligence he had gotten. According to his intelligence, Qiao Yuan should have been alone. When had two more people shown up beside him?

Looking again at those two, Sang Hanshui got more frightened the more he watched. The one called Wei-ah was guiding the boy’s training, and they were actually practicing cardless sect moves! Good lord! People still practice cardless sect moves these days? Sang Hanshui felt his mouth go dry, and his back had become soaked in sweat without his realizing it. When he watched Wei-ah demonstrate by smashing the extremely sturdy target to pieces with a punch, his eyeballs nearly fell onto the floor. He now understood why Qiao Yuan had allowed that guy called Wei-ah to watch over him.

Good lord! This guy is simply not human!

Remembering that he didn’t have an apparatus or a card, he was basically facing someone who wasn’t human. He was fantasizing that he was a skinny little chicken being clutched at the neck by a huge, powerful hand in midair. His two stick-like legs were desperately struggling against the air, the hand as strong as iron tongs…

Sang Hanshui was unconsciously rubbing his neck, his gaze stunned, looking at the smashed target. He was certain his neck was nowhere near as hard as the target. And I’m still somewhat far away from that guy, Sang Hanshui thought to his horror.

After going through the initial fright and shock, Sang Hanshui quickly adapted. As Wei-ah’s destructive power continued to unfold, he had already started to go numb. The thing he was then most curious about was where Qiao Yuan had actually come from to be hiding such awesome cardless sect aces by his side and to be hiding them so well. Sang Hanshui suddenly laughed about the undercurrent of agitation in Zargan. He was really looking forward to what the result would be if they were careless and ran into those torrents.

It was soon time to eat. They sent in quite a bit more food than normal, probably because Ah Sang had seen Chen Mu bring Sang Hanshui into the training room.

“Slow down your eating.” Chen Mu was watching Bu Mo wolf down his food and spoke with some concern. The way Bu Mo was eating really was awful; nearly all of the rice on his plate was just about swept straight into his mouth. By the time Chen Mu had finished three bites, Bu Mo’s plate was already empty. By the time Chen Mu had eaten half, Bu Mo had already finished three portions. Apart from Wei-ah, who kept his cool, Chen Mu and Sang Hanshui had already stopped completely. Chen Mu had previously thought he had a pretty good appetite, but he now knew what it meant to say there was a world and people beyond that one.

Chen Mu suddenly realized Wei-ah seemed quite interested in appetite. He was like that with the fleshy dog, and he’d gone a step further with Bu Mo.

So, Chen Mu had to call for five more portions. The final result of his calculations was that Bu Mo had eaten two standard servings by himself. Including Chen Mu, everyone else had eaten unremarkable portions.

* * *

Back at the snow silkworm ravine, Bogner and Xi Ping wore troubled expressions.

“Someone is snooping around outside,” Bogner said in a low voice. That was something he was all too familiar with. “Have you found out who it is?”

“Mmmm, I have. It’s people from the Snowflake Card Artisan Team.” Xi Ping looked just as bad. Neither of them had thought the Snowflake Card Artisan Team would actually send people to sneak around, which was a very unfriendly sign.

“The Snowflake Card Artisan Team? What are they trying to do?” Bogner frowned. Reasonably speaking, they should have been in the honeymoon period with the Snowflake Card Artisan Team. How could they make such an unfriendly move?

“I don’t know.” Xi Ping then suddenly said, “Do you still remember last time when the Snowflake Card Artisan Team commander, Mobley, was asking about the boss? I felt it was strange at the time. We had just reached an agreement. So, what’s he doing looking for the boss now?”

Bogner was suddenly startled. “It’s possible that these inklings only happened after the last time. Could their objective be the boss?”

Bogner and Xi Ping looked at one another with gloomy faces.