The Card Apprentice

“Raw materials, but we only want high-grade goods. If there are any items you can’t identify, you can bring those out as well. In addition…” Xi Ping glanced at Bogner, “if you have any fine card appliances, you could also bring those out for us to take a look at.”

Miss Xiao smiled sweetly. “All right, please wait a minute.”

After a moment, one of her workers sent over several fantasy cards. Miss Xiao’s scallion-like fingers pulled one of them out and slipped it into a card projection device in front of Chen Mu and the rest. An ordered list immediately appeared in front of them. By picking any one among the list, more detailed information about its parameters would pop out.

What Miss Xiao hadn’t expected was that the one flipping through the list wasn’t the richly experienced Xi Ping; it was their young boss.

A boss seldom came personally to select items. That was work that required a lot of experience. Moreover, that boss was still so young. Unless he is an expert in materials… Good at materials? Could he be a card master? Only card masters would be so familiar with materials.

Miss Xiao was as bright as the snow, and the first thought in her mind corresponded closely with reality. Without showing what was on her mind, she secretly watched which materials Chen Mu was browsing though.

They were all high-grade materials! That realization made her heart race. If her conjecture was correct, then that young boss was certainly a high-level card master! What would be more valuable there than a high-level card master?

The chamber had made a huge investment to build a base in the Outer Reaches, where they could get large quantities of high-grade materials. Up until then, however, they still hadn’t recruited any high-level card masters. Actually, they hadn’t been able to gain a foothold when they were in the city, so they simply came to the Outer Reaches to establish a base there.

They had gradually opened markets in a few cities in the vicinity by virtue of their high-grade materials, but a high-level card artisan could make the value of the materials they had multiply many times over. The profits from that would turn people’s eyes red.

But high-level card masters were a scarce resource. The chamber’s power in the city wasn’t sufficient to attract such high-level talent. No high-level card masters wanted to advance themselves at such a desolate and dangerous place.

The chamber had gone so far as to make ready in advance some pretty good equipment for the special use of card masters. That equipment had inevitably remained sealed up in the storeroom until then.

Chen Mu’s movements were quick; although he’d never gone through any systematic education about materials, he still had his own methods. There weren’t that many materials he could use there. In truth, he had quite a bit of good materials in those transport shuttles. Still, there were some pretty good steals among those unknown materials.

The fluidity of Chen Mu’s practiced actions immediately confirmed Miss Xiao’s conjecture.

Bogner was browsing through the card appliances when he did a double-take. “Yikes, not bad. You can actually get military-style card appliances. It looks like this little smuggler’s trail is not so deserted.”

Miss Xiao showed her entrancing smile. “It looks like the gentleman is quite familiar with these byways. May I ask the gentleman’s name? I have been really rude!”

“Miss Xiao’s voice is really enchanting! I am Bogner. I’ve been along this way before, but I was quite well-known then!” Bogner was looking lustfully at Miss Xiao, pounding his chest rather loudly.

Jeeves looked at Bogner with disgust. Well-known? How come I haven’t heard of him?

“Oh, this is a pretty good price. Military items should be a little bit more expensive.” Bogner’s gaze seemed to be desperately drilling into the snowy white in her opened collar. Xi Ping averted his head with “I don’t know him” written on his face.

Under Bogner’s hot gaze, Miss Xiao kept a cool expression, always maintaining her slight smile. “Mr. Bogner is an expert, after all. Our humble chamber of commerce has always had fair prices, and we treat people honestly.”

“Oh, treating people honestly is what I like most! You don’t know how sincere I am, Miss Xiao. Inside and out, I am completely sincere-tasting!” Bogner pulled back his gaze, but it still wanted to move lower by itself.

Miss Xiao’s expression didn’t change. She only adjusted the way her body was sitting, nipping Bogner’s intentions in the bud while saying sweetly, “Mr. Bogner is really concerned with our business.”

“So I am.” Bogner kept nodding. Without moving his gaze from Miss Xiao’s face in the slightest, he said, “Hertha.”

“Present, Chief.” Hertha stepped out of line.

Bogner was looking at Miss Xiao, bewitched, while pointing to the fantasy card in front of him. “Choose a few suitable ones.”

“Yes, sir.” Hertha wasted no words and immediately lowered his head to start choosing.

“Those guards of Mr. Bogner’s are really well-trained. This is my first time to see anyone else’s card artisan guards so rigorously disciplined. You are really awesome!” Miss Xiao fluttered her beautiful eyes.

“So I am!” Bogner’s lustful face was infatuated, and he completely forgot himself.

“Ok, just these few.” Chen Mu stopped what he had been doing and turned over his materials choices to Xi Ping. Just then, Hertha also opened his mouth. “I’ve chosen them, Chief.”

The final results were collected in Xi Ping’s hands, who was the most experienced with the work of bargaining. Xi Ping scanned them and formed a mental plan.

“These are the items we’ve chosen, Miss Xiao. Give us a quote.” Xi Ping handed over their list to Miss Xiao.

Miss Xiao took the list and scanned it. Within half a minute, she raised her head. “The price for the materials is 5 million Oudi. As for these card appliances, since they came from the military, I can’t give them to you for anything less than 8 million Oudi.” Miss Xiao’s smile was as enchanting as ever.

A strange look flashed past Xi Ping’s face. That price… is really too low! The materials Xi Ping would be taking were numerous. If they were on the market, their price would be about 20 million, and that was not including those few unknown materials. Smuggled military card appliances were so expensive that you wouldn’t be able to get those for less than 15 million.

There was no free lunch in that world. As an old hand in business, Xi Ping naturally understood that very well. His expression turned prudent. “Your esteemed Hughes Chamber of Commerce will be taking quite a loss at that price. I think Miss Xiao must have something more in mind. Perhaps we should discuss it.”

A harmless smile floated onto Miss Xiao’s mouth. “Mr. Xi is really astute, after all. This price would certainly constitute a loss for our humble chamber of commerce. So, we have a few small proposals.”

“Small proposals? Ha ha, I doubt Miss Xiao’s proposals will be so small.” Xi Ping was being playful.

Chen Mu was watching the two go around in circles with curiosity. As he saw it, such a skill was quite interesting, even just listening in.

Miss Xiao laughed lightly and glanced around seductively, her originally exquisite eyebrows now inadvertently charming. “The first small request regards those few unknown materials. We hope your esteemed boss could explain them somewhat, so the next time we come across them, we won’t have some treasure in our hands we didn’t know about.”

Xi Ping’s gaze turned to Chen Mu since that matter needed the boss’s decision. Chen Mu muttered to himself for a moment before nodding. It wasn’t something difficult for a strong person to do.

Xi Ping knowingly turned his gaze to Miss Xiao. “And the second small proposal?”

With that fine start, Miss Xiao was feeling pretty good. She appeared still more movingly beautiful. “The second small proposal might be a little bold. If I haven’t guessed wrong, the esteemed gentleman is certainly a high-level card artisan! I would like to try to see if we might be able to reach a deal.”

Xi Ping’s expression chilled. His counterpart had been able to perceive the boss’s identity as a card master. That was pretty awesome! Of course, she was wrong about the boss’s level. In Xi Ping and Bogner’s minds, the boss was a grand master card master.

“What sort of deal?” Xi Ping’s tone maintained its calm, and he looked prudent.

Miss Xiao said calmly, “I’m hoping we might purchase a batch of pretty good cards. At best, they would be four-star. Of course, three-star cards with outstanding performance would also be fine. As far as remuneration, Oudi would be fine; or, if you require other goods or materials, that would be fine as well. Please relax about the price. We certainly won’t allow you to take a loss.”

She kept up her enchanting smile. “As for that little tail behind your team, I’ve already gotten rid of it for you. You may take it as a token of the sincerity of our humble chamber of commerce.”

Everyone was taken aback. The power of the Hughes Chamber of Commerce in that region wasn’t so average, after all. Xi Ping’s gaze inevitably returned to the boss’s face. That matter was also his to decide.

Chen Mu thought it over and shook his head. “I am truly sorry, but we won’t be able to remain here for that long. We’ll be leaving after resting a couple of days.” It didn’t suit them to stay there long, and they would have to leave after a little tidying up. Their best choice would be to enter the Heavenly Drum Village District as soon as possible. If they were to agree to that deal, who knew how long it would delay them?

Xi Ping shook his head. “We are very sorry, but we are powerless. We’ll have to purchase them at market prices.”

Miss Xiao couldn’t hide the disappointment in her eyes, and her gaze burned into Chen Mu. “Won’t the esteemed gentleman consider it? If it’s a matter of price, I’m sure we can satisfy you.”

Chen Mu took her gaze directly and apologized with a smile. “Miss Xiao, I really apologize, but it’s not because of money.”

Miss Xiao’s gaze went quickly bleak.

Bogner, who had been less than serious all along, suddenly opened his mouth. “Mark Hughes. Does Miss Xiao know him?”