The Card Apprentice

Chen Mu raised his head, not looking in very good spirits. The dust-up the night before at such a high pitch of agitation, together with having to study the materials about all the Heaven’s Wings projects, had left him pretty exhausted. Still, when he saw Bu Qiangdong enter, Chen Mu pulled himself together.

As he was studying the Heaven’s Wings materials, he found something very strange. Nearly all of the work they had was closely related to the Lewin family. No matter how he looked at it, Heaven’s Wings was entirely supported by the Lewins. And, when he connected that to the fancy-pants he’d let go the day before, Chen Mu finally understood what Heaven’s Wings was really for.

But, understand it as he might, Chen Mu still didn’t have any business experience. When he had been making the card plays “Chance Encounter” and “The Legend of Master Shi” previously, Copper had managed everything. Still, it was a good thing they’d undergone the cleansing the day before. The 25 left in the company were the limit of what Chen Mu felt he could deal with.

Ask for help from the Lewins? That thought had never occurred to Chen Mu. Whether it was Cleo or Mose, there wasn’t any essential difference to Chen Mu. Pulling off any relations with those so-called great clans would hardly ever be a good thing based on Chen Mu’s vast experience. Since the Lewin family had given such a company to him, it was clear they didn’t have such good intentions.

The only thing Chen Mu was glad about just then was that it was a fantasy card advertising company and not something else. If it had been a different company, Chen Mu wouldn’t have wasted his energy; he and Wei-ah would have just walked off with the money on the books.

But, since he had received Heaven’s Wings, he would, of course, have to find a way to keep operating it. That was why he had sought out Bu Qiangdong.

* * *

When Bu Qiangdong left Chen Mu’s office, he wore a pretty sour face. He’d just gotten his orders from the boss. Starting that day, he would be responsible for getting business for Heaven’s Wings. No wonder he looked so bitter. When had Heaven’s Wings ever had to go looking for work? Bu Qiangdong didn’t have any experience drumming up business, but he didn’t dare to object in front of the new boss.

But, the most incredible thing was that the boss had actually wanted him to bring in public service work. He really didn’t understand what the boss was thinking since there wasn’t any profit in public service work. There were only a few associations that would do such work for free. He really wondered how he would get his next month’s salary if they were to go on like that.

However, the boss’s tone had been very peremptory, and he could only dutifully obey.

* * *

The liveliest spot in the center of Pomelo was where the tallest buildings in the whole metropolitan area were. Emitted from the buildings were the most exquisite fantasy advertisements for merchandise so expensive it would leave you speechless. Among the buildings, the most conspicuous were a pair of twin towers. These were the headquarters for the Central Island Firm, which was among the top firms in the entire Ming Zheng District, as well as one of the landmark buildings in Pomelo.

Central Island Firm, Director General’s Office.

A slightly overweight, middle-aged man was very attentively listening to his subordinate’s report. He was the director general of the Central Island Firm, Ren Wenzhou. Two people stood in front of him, one of whom was a man of about 40 who looked shrewd and capable and spoke with concise authority. The other was a white-haired man with a highly creased face who wore glasses with heavy black frames.

“Do you mean to say you detected unknown signals last night?” Ren Wenzhou looked grave.

“Yes.” The one answering was his competent subaltern called Qian Mingyi, who was one of Ren Wenzhou’s most capable subordinates, as well as his confidant. The old, white-haired man standing next to him was the head card master at the firm, Farley. Farley wasn’t a well-known card master; he was unknown in the universe of Heavenly Federation card masters. But, at the Central Island Firm, he had a position in charge of project development that was the envy of everyone. The inner circle of the firm had some objections, but Ren Wenzhou stood his ground and insisted Farley serve as the firm’s chief card master.

Farley added, “That signal had characteristics very similar to the ‘bee’s buzz card’ we are now researching. But, it’s obvious their technology is more mature than ours.” Farley didn’t look so well as he said that. It had already been five years since the bee’s buzz card had been started. A lot of blood and sweat had been expended on it during those five years. The day before, when they had just experienced a breakthrough, and all the workers were about to celebrate, they suddenly detected a similar signal.

Farley couldn’t sleep the night before. The analytical report he’d gotten had been like a bucket of cold water. He had astonishingly discovered their technology was far more mature and powerful than the bee’s buzz card they were researching! That had turned the not-so-young card master’s heart to ash in an instant.

After 3 o’clock in the morning, not daring to delay any further, Farley woke up the deeply sleeping Qian Mingyi. When Qian Mingyi heard the news, he was struck dumb, and any sleepiness disappeared. He raced in a tumult over to Farley’s lab, feeling the importance of the situation. When he got to the lab and saw all the dejected card masters who had just been so elated, his heart sunk even further.

Only when he saw Farley did he find out the situation was worse than he’d imagined. So, once it was daylight, he dragged Farley along to see Ren Wenzhou.

Ren Wenzhou had a pretty ugly expression. The bee’s buzz card was the development project the firm was putting its hopes on, and they had invested countless human and material resources up until that point.

The technology of communication cards was very mature, though there were quite a few things that hadn’t been perfected yet. There was no way to use them in the jungle, which greatly limited the range of their use. The bee’s buzz card used a technology that was completely different from ordinary communications cards. Communication could take place even where the terrain was complicated, or in the jungle where there was serious interference.

For the Central Island Firm, not only was profit from the bee’s buzz card an issue, the project had direct impact on the future development strategies of the firm. It couldn’t help but raise the ire of Ren Wenzhou when he heard about it. But, he was used to storms after all, and he quickly calmed down.

“Could you detect where the signal came from?” Ren Wenzhou asked.

“Their communications were too brief. We had no way to accurately capture their position. However, the signal should be from the northwest part of the metropolitan region.” Qian Mingyi’s frosty face was very serious.

“The northwest corner?” Ren Wenzhou was tapping his finger on the desk, deep in thought. It was his impression that the northwest part of Pomelo didn’t have any large businesses. It had seemed as though things hadn’t been going smoothly recently, still not having overcome their current difficulties. They weren’t expecting to run into a new issue. He was rubbing his brows in distress, and it took some effort for Ren Wenzhou to calm himself down.

After a few minutes, Ren Wenzhou raised his head and said in a peremptory tone, “Look into it right away! Don’t stop your monitoring until you find out where they came from!”

“Yes, sir!” Qian Mingyi had a startled look as he responded respectfully.

Ren Wenzhou couldn’t help but charge them further, “But, don’t make a lot of fanfare. Do all your investigating on the down-low, understand?”

Qian Mingyi was taken aback. The Central Island Firm had always been a power in Pomelo. That was his first time to hear the director general require them to investigate in secret. Could something have happened recently? Although Qian Mingyi didn’t understand, he nodded.

Ren Wenzhou’s gaze fell onto Farley as he took on a more relaxed expression, saying mildly, “Don’t be discouraged, Master Farley; your research doesn’t have to stop. Continue making progress. Try to press for early results.”

“Understood.” Farley nodded vigorously.

After Qian Mingyi and Farley departed, Ren Wenzhou fell back exhausted into his chair, gazing off into the distance out the floor-to-ceiling window. Could it be that Central Island wouldn’t be able to crest the ridge that time? Turning his mind to a different headache, he sighed inwardly.

* * *

Mose looked at Anna in her coma, and his face went grey. The slender, middle-aged man beside him couldn’t help but look surprised either. He was very clear about how strong Anna and the others were. In order to attract the three of them that year, the young master had done endless maneuvering. He had expended endless quantities of cash, to the extent that more than ten of the mid-grade card artisans under him had died before he could completely reel in the three of them. And, those three didn’t shun the young master’s high expectations; they became his most loyal and sharpest daggers.

“What happened?” Mose’s voice was coming from between his clenched teeth, and he had a scary look on his face.

“They ran into an ace.” The ever-indifferent bar-browed man seemed to be relating something utterly irrelevant.

“Ace?” Mose felt that sounded a little absurd. “Apart from the psychopathic killers in Central Island, what card artisans are there in all of Pomelo to compare with your power?”

The redhead couldn’t help but call out, “Those two disgusting bugs snuck up in the dark, and even Anna’s ripple card wasn’t any use. We fell into a plot!”

Mose quickly recovered from his anger. “Are you saying you didn’t see them?”

( Updated by NovelFull )

“Ugh! Damn, if I ever see those two guys again, I’ll rip them to pieces!” the redhead said with hatred.

Mose’s gaze fell onto the bar-browed man. “What have you found out?” The bar-browed man’s background was a mystery, and Mose still didn’t know where he came from. But, he knew that for power and experience, he was the strongest among the three of them.

The bar-browed man was silent for a while, and then an undetectable beam of light flashed from his lowered eyes while he answered without expression, “Nothing.”