The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu didn’t really know how good the X300 was, but he had a certain understanding of such things as battle suits. Most low-end battle suits were made from materials having high energy resistance, though such battle suits still had limited utility. By comparison, high-grade battle suits weren’t like clothes at all but were a type of card appliance. They could provide a card artisan with excellent defensive capabilities, unlike energy cloaks, which required the card artisan to be distracted by controlling them.

Even though high-end battle suits could provide pretty good protection, however, they still had their shortcomings. Since they were card appliances and were used right against the body, they would inevitably have an impact on perception. The current battle suit technology had been progressing steadily, and that type of impact had been shrunken to an extremely low level. But such impact couldn’t be overlooked among card artisans with high-level requirements and with very sensitive perception, or among those who had very precise control over their perception.

Chen Mu was one of those. Thus, he hadn’t hesitated to have the X300 sent to Sang Hanshui, who didn’t have high-level perceptual sensitivity and would have to take on the role of someone with good firepower. That was a role that would easily suffer attacks. The X300 would be perfectly suited for Sang Hanshui.

Xu Jia quickly returned to normal and said with a slight smile, “As you wish.”

The X300 was sent over right away. It was like a stiff, deep blue vest with a light feel such that you almost couldn’t feel its weight. One would imagine that wearing it would have no impact on one’s movements.

It was a card appliance, after all! Chen Mu’s gaze fell onto the back of the vest, where there was a card slot that should be for inserting power cards. He was no stranger to card appliances; otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to make such card appliances as the separator and the Spinulosa Disk.

Card appliances were an emerging field, and they were still in a comparatively early stage. Although card technology was already quite mature, card appliance technology needed more time to develop. Those two things—time and development—were essential for card appliances.

Chen Mu suddenly thought of the underground city and the Moqi Clan. He thought of Alfonso and the rest. The machine-making skills of the Moqi Clan were a lot more advanced than those of the federation, and the machine-making technology displayed by the underground city was so high that it was almost unfathomable. He wondered whether Alfonso, Li Duhong, and the rest were all doing well…

Chen Mu was staring blankly for a while with the X300 in his hands. Xu Jia noticed Chen Mu’s distraction and smiled to herself, assuming the White Commander was certainly feeling the pain of regret! While that thought was turning around in her brain, Chen Mu came back to his senses. He put down the X300 and told Tai-shu Ying to give it to Sang Hanshui.

Who knew what Tai-shu Ying was muttering, but she still obediently picked up the X300 and walked over to Sang Hanshui, who was in the midst of practicing in the training room. She had always had some fear toward the White Commander.

A strange flash went through Xu Jia’s eyes as she quietly stood by. “The banquet is at 8 o’clock this evening, and we’ll leave at 7:30. We’ll let you know when the time comes.”

“Okay.” Chen Mu responded simply, without wasting words.

* * *

At the Dongrui Guards Division, Rong Ming was holding an invitation, lost in thought. The door was suddenly pushed open, and one of his subordinates burst in, full of anxious urgency.

“I’ve found out, Boss! Tai-shu Cheng also got an invitation, and he specially ordered customized formal wear. It looks like he decided to attend tonight.”

“Mmmm.” There was no visible emotion on Rong Ming’s square and imposing visage. “Got it.”

His subordinate left with a look of respect. Ever since the head had arrived at the guards division, their lives had been overturned. He still remembered before the head had come, when they had been treated with contempt, and the people from the guards division had gone out so tentatively.

Rong Ming would ordinarily receive many such invitations, but he hardly ever attended. Given his identity and power, the banquets he would attend were mostly hosted by the master of a dynastic house himself; he didn’t have much patience for the second generation, like the one whose invitation he had in his hand.

While the position as chief of the guards division didn’t amount to much, if that chief had perceptual strength that had reached level seven, no one could scorn him in the least. Those like the Tai-shu family wouldn’t even have a card artisan with perceptual strength at level seven. The other aristocratic families’ situations would be better than that of the Tai-shus, but not many could beat such an ace. An ace with level-seven perception had a lot of impact in Dongrui.

He thought of those two on the street that day. He was still shuddering about that oppressively bloodthirsty murderous aura. A card artisan who could scare even him would have to really be terrifying! The guy wearing the white mask hadn’t demonstrated his power, but for him to have been able to abide that bitingly cold murderous aura with nothing seeming to happen, his power couldn’t be underestimated! He couldn’t tell what the relationship was between them, but it was certainly not a shallow one.

He could never hide from that grade of an ace, so how would he dare to investigate him? Still, his luck had been good, and a card artisan on duty had just happened to see the white-masked card artisan return to Tai-shu Cheng’s building. He had then confirmed the news that Tai-shu Cheng had enlisted several card artisans and that the leader among them was amazingly that same mysterious white-masked card artisan.

In the first instant, Rong Ming had put Tai-shu Cheng on his list of powerful contacts. Among the second generation on his list, he had previously only had the most powerful second-generation names from the Luo family and Jiang family, and he now added the name of Tai-shu Cheng. Compared to the Luos and the Jiangs, the Tai-shu family had declined beyond recognition. If it weren’t for that mysterious card artisan, they basically wouldn’t have qualified to get on his list.

After confirming that Tai-shu Cheng would be attending the banquet, Rong Ming decided to attend himself. He was no stranger to the shady dealings among the second-generation sons from each of the dynasties. It looked like that evening might be rather interesting!

* * *

It was 7:30. Tai-shu Cheng looked at Chen Mu and couldn’t help but laugh as he said, “For the White Commander to have actually come himself surprises me a little.”

Tai-shu Cheng was wearing simple white formal wear without too much ornamentation except for the small Tai-shu insignia, which were visible on the sleeves of his shirt. But he was in rather good spirits, and the slight smile on his face made him look quite charming.

Chen Mu cracked a rare joke. “The boss’s business is my business, of course.”

“Ha ha!” Tai-shu Cheng laughed hard hearing that. “I like what you’re saying!”

His gaze then fell onto the card artisan guards, who were standing ramrod-straight, and he felt involuntarily stirred. “The White Commander is indeed a master! Within a couple of short weeks, that same gang now gives me an entirely different feeling. Tai-shu Cheng admires you! Ha ha. I am starting to look forward to the playoffs this year!”

Chen Mu said modestly, “You flatter me, Boss.”

The guards had been personally selected by Sang Hanshui for the job of guarding that evening, and they were all card artisans who had performed well in the recent training. Rafael and Arnaldo were among them. They had hands-on experience with the White Commander’s savagery, so to speak, and not one among them would dare to be lax. They looked stern and stood absolutely straight.

Tai-shu Cheng had become a lot warmer. “Come, White Commander. Let’s get on the shuttle!”

It was a midsize luxury shuttle car, which could hold 80 people. Only Tai-shu Cheng, Chen Mu, and Xu Jia boarded. The rest of the card artisans spread out to guard the shuttle car in their midst, slowly flying toward the location of that evening’s banquet. There was relaxing, pleasant music playing inside the shuttle car.

Tai-shu Cheng took a look at the relaxed Chen Mu and smiled while saying to Xu Jia, “You will be the White Commander’s escort this evening. It’s the first time for the White Commander to attend such a banquet, and he might not be familiar with all sorts of situations. Introduce him around.”

Xu Jia smiled sweetly toward Chen Mu. “It will be my honor! I am really looking forward to this evening’s banquet!”

Chen Mu said with perfect courtesy, “The honor is mine!” Xu Jia was outstanding in both her appearance and her temperament, and her smile gave them the feeling that the inside of the shuttle car had been lit up.

Xu Jia looked straight into Chen Mu’s eyes and said sincerely, “There are two people the White Commander has to pay attention to this evening. One is the oldest young master’s subordinate, Huo Jiang, and the other is the second young master’s subordinate, Ba Luojia. It’s unknown where Huo Jiang comes from, but he’s hot-tempered and ruthless and never shows any mercy in his attacks. Quite a few card artisans have fallen at his hands. The card he’s good at is called the Three Leaves, which can emit three different kinds of leaf-shaped energy bodies. Ba Luojia’s origins are utterly mysterious. Some people conjecture that he might be from the Bitter Solitude Temple. He hasn’t made many attacks and normally remains low-key while persevering with his penance. But Huo Jiang is utterly afraid of him, which makes his power obvious.”

Chen Mu listened earnestly. As he saw it, you couldn’t be too serious when dealing with enemies.

Tai-shu Cheng then had something else to say. “The White Commander needn’t be too concerned as long as you don’t get beaten this evening.”

Chen Mu could only smile, not saying anything. From what Tai-shu Cheng had said, he could see he didn’t have that much confidence in the evening. He could also tell how overpowered Tai-shu Cheng was by his two older brothers in the capability of their forces.

The shuttle car didn’t fly for very long and quickly arrived at the place where the evening’s banquet would be held. They hadn’t arrived early, with quite a few people having already arrived. It was an open-air affair, and there were groups of three or five to be seen all over the garden, everyone holding wine glasses. High in the sky were more than 100 card artisans floating about, having already forbidden passage anywhere near the area.

Once they got off the shuttle car, Xu Jia took Chen Mu’s arm and saw his surprised gaze, which made her chuckle. “There’s no need to be nervous, White Commander.”

Hearing that, Chen Mu relaxed and mocked himself inwardly about how little he’d seen of the world, after all. He then contentedly surveyed his surroundings.

“Ha! Old Cheng has arrived!” A tall, middle-aged man looking a lot like Tai-shu Cheng laughed heartily and came up to give Tai-shu Cheng a hug. Tai-shu Cheng maintained his slight smile and called out, “Big brother!”

He was Tai-shu Cheng’s older brother, Tai-shu Zheng. Although the two looked alike, Tai-shu Zheng had broader shoulders, and his body was more robust.

Seeing their two put-on faces, Chen Mu felt just how dull it all was. For brothers to get to that point was really sad! Chen Mu’s gaze was drawn to the man standing calmly by Tai-shu Zheng’s side. He was probably Huo Jiang.

“So, this must be Old Cheng’s newly recruited White Commander!” Tai-shu Zheng said forthrightly as he scrutinized Chen Mu for a moment. He then said loudly in praise, “Not bad! Not bad! With the help of the White Commander, Old Cheng will be like a tiger sprouting wings, getting all that he wishes.”

With a twitch in his eye now, Tai-shu Cheng hadn’t lost his smiling face. “Big brother is joking. What wishes could your younger brother possibly have? In any case, while big brother is around, our Tai-shu family retrieving something of our former glory is just around the corner!”

Just at that time, a neither male nor female voice inserted itself. “Tsk, tsk. What the third brother says is so true! It touches me deeply.”

A gloomy look flashed through both Tai-shu Zheng’s and Tai-shu Cheng’s eyes but immediately disappeared, the two of them putting on smiles at the same time, one hearty and one light.

It was the second young master, Tai-shu Shen!