The Card Apprentice

He didn’t know how long the snow shuttle vessel had been stopped, but the passengers had become a little restless, quite a few of them pressing their faces against the windows.

Chen Mu was a passenger on a medium-sized snow shuttle vessel, which could hold more than 100 people. On that sort of branch route, a mid-sized vessel was the mainstream transport vehicle. The large-scale snow shuttle vessels, which could hold more than 500, would only be seen on the long-distance passenger routes.

The large snow shuttle vessels had good defensive strength and were exceptionally comfortable, though their price was extremely high. But that wasn’t why Chen Mu had made his choice. The actual reason was that passengers on the large, luxurious snow shuttle vessels had to go through strict procedures. Given Chen Mu’s current identity in the category of a typical unknown, he wouldn’t have made it through the interrogation.

The defensive strength allocated to a mid-sized snow shuttle vessel wasn’t very powerful, with about ten card artisans standing guard. They had to be prepared for wild beasts, but there would seldom be card artisan teams intending to attack a snow shuttle vessel. Although the power of each snow shuttle vessel wasn’t that strong, the companies who would dare to be involved in passenger transport were all quite powerful.

To be so bold as to hijack a snow shuttle vessel would mean incurring the revenge of those passenger transport companies! On that point, all the passenger transport companies stood surprisingly untied. If any company’s snow shuttle vessels were hijacked, the other companies would spare no effort to come to their aid.

Of course, in that world, there was never a lack of desperados. Fortunately, however, there wasn’t that much booty to be had from a snow shuttle vessel, so there weren’t many card artisans interested in them. Things would seldom happen on such a branch route, and the one they were on was quite safe.

Chen Mu had taken note when he boarded that the card artisans on the vessel were rather strong. They all looked highly capable and perfectly buff. With the protection of those ten card artisans, there would be nothing to worry about regarding safety along the way.

In order to conceal his existence, Wei-ah didn’t ride the same snow shuttle vessel, and he followed a different route. The two would come together again at the city of Zargan. Chen Mu was struggling with the feeling the soreness from Wei-ah’s ruthless dusting up from the night before. The guy didn’t know any mercy when he made his moves! Chen Mu muttered something silently to himself as his gaze fell deliberately onto his wrist.

There was a green shape there.

It was an utterly enchanting, five-petaled green flower that had suddenly appeared over the past few days with no warning. No one could tell what kind of flower it really was. Later, when Sue Lochiro had examined it with her instruments, he found out it was a ghost left by the green thread in his body.

The green flower gave Chen Mu no other feelings. The condition of his body was the same as it had been, though the change still gave him a vaguely bad feeling. The green thread that had been intertwined inside his body all along hadn’t moved. So, for it to suddenly come out in such a weird green flower would inevitably feel chilling.

The green flower was like a tattoo, even seeming beautiful and with a little of the demonic woman’s style. Since it came from her, no matter what it was, it had to feel strange given her skills.

The snow shuttle vessel’s PA suddenly sounded out. “We are sorry to inform our passengers that we have encountered a flock of bright-eyed raptors. We will probably be delayed for ten minutes. We would like to express our deepest apologies to each of you. The card artisans on the vessel will resolve the issue as quickly as possible. We appreciate your understanding. Thank you.”

That calmed all the travelers. Bright-eyed raptors were a dangerous, carnivorous type of wild beast. They were about as tall as an adult person and could do some low-altitude gliding for a short distance. By comparison with that poor flying ability, they could run outstandingly fast. They had sharp claws and beaks, though those weren’t their most lethal weapons.

A tentacle the thickness of a thumb grew from the tip of the bright-eyed raptor’s head, at the end of which was a red eye. That was its most dangerous weapon. It could emit fiery red energy beams, which could penetrate an ordinary three-star energy cloak. The tentacles were quite lively and could aim in any direction. Not only that, but the red eye also had detection capabilities.

There were generally three to five of them in a flock, the numbers being small. For the card artisans on the vessel, they wouldn’t take much work to get rid of.

The passengers clearly understood that, so they all calmed down. There was a card play being shown on the vessel to pass the time for the passengers. It made Chen Mu think of the time he had made “Chance Encounter” and “The Legend of Master Shi” with Copper.

“The Legend of Master Shi” was amazingly in the number-one slot among the most anticipated card plays on the charts, which really stunned Chen Mu. He had never thought “The Legend of Master Shi” would actually have spread to the Heavenly Drum Village District. The news that followed, however, left him not knowing whether to laugh or cry. Quite a few of the large card play companies had posted a reward, hoping to find “Wood-Cop,” the makers of “The Legend of Master Shi.” The awards went as high as 1.5 billion.

It looked like if he wanted to make card plays later on, he wouldn’t have to worry about starving. Chen Mu was half pleased and half grieving. He could still see it after a number of years had gone by, which had to cause him some complicated feelings. There were even several sequels to “The Legend of Master Shi” on the market that were all made by some card play lovers themselves. Chen Mu was dazzled to see them.

After ten minutes, when the snow shuttle vessel still hadn’t shown any signs of moving, the passengers were becoming a little restive. If it was only a few bright-eyed raptors, it should have been taken care of long since. Why had they still not moved?

Chen Mu suddenly felt something, and he raised his head to look out the window. He felt a huge energy fluctuation not far away!

It was too powerful! There was no lack of card artisans on the vessel, and all of their faces shifted. Some quick-witted guys rushed to go out the hatch. Such powerful energy fluctuations were certainly not something the bright-eyed raptor could emit!

Their reactions were quick. The defensive capability of the snow shuttle vessel itself was as weak as paper in front of card artisans and wild beasts, but it was like a metal cage for the passengers inside it.

Through the plexiglass, Chen Mu caught a glimpse of several shooting streams flashing toward the hatch, and he knew those card artisans were doomed. The several streams indeed easily penetrated the metal hatch. That was followed by screams and the shooting of columns of blood from the card artisans who fell to the floor.

By that time, everyone knew what was going on. Things turned immediately chaotic inside the snow shuttle vessel, with screaming and crying everywhere!

Three card artisans came whooshing into the vessel with murderous looks on their faces. The lead card artisan had a stiff brush-cut and a cold look on his face. When he saw how chaotic the cabin was, he lifted his hand indifferently. Several streams flashed off from it, killing the few who were screaming the loudest.

“Everyone, shut up!”

His move was an immediate deterrent. With their faces drained of color, the passengers were looking with terror at the bodies lying in puddles of blood.

“If anyone acts up…” His tone had a distinctly murderous note to it, and his eyes looked like daggers as they scanned over the cabin. Two card artisans were left inside the cabin, and another one went into the cab. The snow shuttle vessel then started to move again, but no one knew where it was going.

Chen Mu looked like everyone else, curled up in his seat. He was smiling bitterly to himself about how he had squeezed his perception and his strength dry with the training the night before. He still hadn’t recovered—especially his perception, which had been nearly depleted.

He was paying attention to the ten card artisans monitoring things from outside the vessel in addition to the two inside the cabin. Those guys certainly weren’t interested in the passengers inside the cabin. If they wanted to, they could have smashed the whole vessel to pieces without hesitating.

Judging from their behavior, Chen Mu thought those card artisans certainly had something else in mind. If they had planned to kill people for their money, there would have been no one left alive in the vessel. Moreover, given the skills of the card artisans, benefits from robbing the passengers were certainly not what they had in mind.

Without thinking too hard about what they actually had in mind, Chen Mu could still see clearly enough that the most urgent thing just then was to restore his strength and perception as fast as possible. He would be like a fish presented on a platter in his current state.

Not knowing if it was because of the stimulus of danger, Chen Mu’s brain became strangely clear, and his heart calmed down. Without even knowing it, he had entered a unique state that was like sleeping without being asleep. His mind was utterly clear, and everything around him seemed to be completely contained by his observation. That time, nothing could stir up the slightest disturbance in his mind.

His breathing naturally became drawn out, and his whole body’s muscular health, no matter how fine or how hard to control, also loosened up. His heartbeat slowed, and his blood flow turned sluggish. If anyone had been looking at him, they would probably have thought he was asleep.

Fortunately, Chen Mu had his head buried in his arms. Otherwise, his strange look would have attracted attention. How could he sleep at such a time?

The snow shuttle vessel deviated from the route and entered the forest to fly about another half hour. The forest became denser and denser, and the card artisans who had hijacked the vessel couldn’t help but show their own nervousness. They were careful to keep their looks serious and to stay on guard. The dangers of the forest would show up from time to time.

The passengers were shaking in fear. They were only ordinary people who had never entered the forest. Even card artisans were afraid of the dangers of the forest. For ordinary people, it was absolutely forbidden.

Many of the passengers looked as though they had lost hope. Even assuming the card artisans might let them free by then, not one of them would have dared to leave. Most of the people were silently praying that they wouldn’t encounter any wild beasts!

They still had a chance to live in the hands of those card artisans. If they fell into the hands of the beasts, the only thing that could happen would be to become their next meal.

The heavens always seemed to like playing jokes on people. The more one wanted something not to happen, the more likely it was to do just that.