The Card Apprentice

The Garden Above the Center was floating in midair. Surrounding it, were floating fortresses which formed something like a complete necklace. Every card artisan who entered here needed to be checked strictly. No one was exceptional.

An energy shuttle approached the Garden Above the Center at an alarming speed, causing the card artisan on duty to immediately turn anxious. Recently, Dongrui City had become more atrocious, so they dared not let their guard down.

“Please slow down. Please authenticate yourselves, thank you for your cooperation!” In front of the card artisan floated several white mirrored energy forms, each of them was about 20 centimeters. This energy form was made by an amplifier card. The voice of a card artisan could be transmitted afar through these mirrored energy form. Some skilled card artisans could even project their own voice to specific areas, while people in other areas couldn’t hear it at all. This was the case with that card artisan.

The speed of the shuttle slowly declined, and stopped exactly in front of the card artisans.

The shuttle’s sunroof fully opened as it automatically lowered itself, providing a full view of the inside. There were five people sitting in the cabin. The leader wore a white mask with two black lines zigzagging down from his eyes.

“Ah! The White Commander!” the card artisan saluted quickly and said respectfully, “Welcome back!” . All the other card artisans bowed down in awe.

The well-known White Commander was currently in Dongrui City. There was nobody that didn’t know about him and these card artisans were no exceptions either. Towards the strong, they always showed their respects from the heart. In troubled times, they were the only ones who have the power that could bring people a sense of awe and security.

“Mmm” Chen Mu nodded slightly. The card artisan in front of him was very clever and smooth.

“I heard sir is recruiting card artisans?” the card artisan asked cautiously.

Chen Mu thought back to when he allowed Tai-shu Yong to recruit people using his own name. He then nodded and said, “Correct, do you have any friends to recommend?”

A smile appeared on the card artisan’s face. Feeling flattered, he answered, “Sir, you certainly are sharp. I have a younger brother; his talent is not bad. He reported at Moon Frost Island the previous year. Unfortunately, he was only two points short. I don’t want his talent to be wasted in such a small place. If he is under the leadership of a hero like the White Commander, he will surely have a great future.” But then, he hesitated for a moment, “I just heard that the White Commander only needs card artisans that has graduated for three or more years, I am not sure…”

“What’s your brother’s name?” Chen Mu interrupted him. Only two points away from passing the Moon Frost Island Examination. From this, one could already be regarded as having an outstanding talent among the many students. Moon Frost Island recruited two-thirds of female students and only one-third of male students each year, which also led to the higher entry scores by male students, compared to the other five schools.

“Boyd Jennings!” the card artisan was so happy that he quickly answered respectfully.

“Let him come to Tai-shu Fort to see me, I will test him personally.” Chen Mu said.

The card artisan was so filled with joy that he nodded and bowed, personally sending Chen Mu’s party into the Garden Above the Center.

As the shuttle vanished from view, his face could no longer hide his joy. Others rushed forward and congratulated him.

“Boss, this calls for a treat. We are awaiting for good news, so God forbids you from not treating us!”

“Not exactly! I’ve heard that the White Commander’s recruitment conditions are very strict this time. Every day, he would turn down card artisans one after another! They were afraid that Tai-shu family was changing!”

“Let me just say that men should work under heroes like the White Commander in order to not live in vain! Unlike people like us who drift along only for livelihood, sigh!”

The card artisan could not contain his excitement. He turned on his apparatus and dialed his brother’s telecommunication card, exhorting him carefully and seriously.

Returning to Tai-shu Fort, Chen Mu was greeted by the former commander of Tai-shu family. When he saw Chen Mu, his old face could not help but look surprised.

Tai-shu Yong was not in Tai-shu Fort. Because there were so many people who registered, Tai-shu Yong himself was stationed in town. All the three sons came forth, hosting the largest recruitment in the history of Tai-shu family. Even so, they were occupied from day till night, until the point that they have to cut down their resting time to three hours. It was said that Tai-shu Yong even spent a lot of money to issue recruitment announcements on various platforms in order to expand his influence.

Unexpectedly, it worked. Card artisans came one after the other to Heavenly Drum Village District. Dongrui City was now crowded with foreign card artisans, and all the hotels were fully booked. But in reality, most of the people just came to watch.

But now the number of card artisans that had signed up had far exceeded Tai-shu Yong’s expectation.

Chen Mu murmured to the former commander, “Please send a message to the owner of the house. Ask to fork out some time to come to me as soon as possible. Oh, and by the way, somebody will be coming to see me later, please keep an eye on him for me.”

The former commander nodded quickly: “No worries, Mr. White.”

Everyone was so tired that they went back to their rooms to rest.

When Chen Mu returned to his room, Qiu Shanyu began to stare at him strangely as soon as he entered the door.

“What?” Chen Mu’s frowned as he asked puzzledly.

“Did you attack the Big Bad Wolves?” Qiu Shanyu’s gaze did not once leave him. Although she was questioning him, but her tone was quite confident.

Chen Mu admired Qiu Shanyu’s insight and guts, as he nodded and admitted, “That’s right.”

“The five of you attacking the Big Bad Wolves, are you out of your mind!” Qiu Shanyu continued coldly, “Although Wei-ah is powerful, but the rest of you are so much more inferior to their strength.”

“You have a point.” Chen Mu did not deny it, but nodded in agreement.

Qiu Shanyu’s eyes flashed with a trace of anger, “No one will stop you if you want to dig your own grave, but please do so after you find the owner of the Green Mark, thank you very much!”

“How important is the owner of the Green Mark to you?” Chen Mu asked with his head tilted.

“That’s none of your business!” QiuShan-yu’s replied impolitely as she raised her eyebrows.

“Then forget about it,” Chen Mu said indifferently as he turned around and walked towards his room.

Qiu Shanyu opened her mouth to ask, but hesitated. As Chen Mu had reached the door, she couldn’t help asking coldly, “What’s the outcome of your sneak attack?”

“Oh, they’re all dead.”

Chen Mu did not look back. He left her with his words and went into the room to rest.

Qiu Shanyu sat down right where she was with her mouth wide open as her eyes lingered on the closed door of Chen Mu’s room. After a few minutes, her face was still aghast as she murmured, “No way! Impossible! How could it be…

True! How was that possible?

She was not a woman who knew nothing. On the contrary, as the most outstanding figure of the young generation of Faya, there was a lot of weight on her shoulders since childhood. When others played with mud, she had to learn to deal with all kinds of things. When spring came, while love ones whispered to each other, she would spend the night alone drawing the plans of Faya.

She could not imagine that with only five men, they could overcome the total strength of the Big Bad Wolves which was several times greater than that of them. Among the five, she thought that Wei-ah and Chen Mu were the only ones who have comparable strengths to the enemies. However, the Big Bad Wolves had ten card artisans at grade seven, and the other ten were top students of the Comprehensive Federation Academy, which were only a fine line away from grade seven.

These days, she has been reading all kinds of reviews on this matter. Up to now, all the experts have reached an unprecedented conclusion. They believed that the White Commander could only avoid this disaster if he ran away or contacted Moon Frost Island!

Her conclusion was in complete agreement with that of the experts.

However…

Qiu Shanyu felt that her brain had been short-circuited as she stood up!

Chen Mu was soon woken up because Tai-shu Yong had come back. After receiving the message from the former commander, Tai-shu Yong left everything at hand behind and rushed back to Tai-shu Fort immediately. One of these days, the White Commander would leave Taishu Fort without warning, thus Tai-shu family was full of speculation. Many suspected that the White Commander was on the run!

The question that lingered over the public was – should the recruitment still be carried out? If the White Commander did run away, it would be a joke for the Tai-shu family to continue recruiting.

At the end, it was Tai-shu Yong that dismissed the public opinions and decided to continue with the recruitment. Not only that, but he was doing it in a large scale!

However, he was under tremendous pressure. Now that he saw Chen Mu, it was as if a large chunk of weight in his heart has been lifted.

Nevertheless, Tai-shu Yong was also an old and crafty fellow. He never once questioned Chen Mu about where he went in those days. These few days, he would just laugh and talk about the situation of the recruitment.

After listening to what he had to say for a while, Chen Mu saw that Tai-shu Yong had finally stopped talking. Then, he took a card from his card wallet and handed it over.

“What is this?” Tai-shu Yong asked with a smile as he took it.

“A video card.”

“Video card?” Tai-shu Yong was somewhat confused, but instead of asking further, he inserted the video card into a card player.

On the pop-up screen, the image projected was very clear. There were corpses, a jungle, a smoky pit – this was the battlefield! The smile on Tai-shu Yong’s face was replaced with a dignified look. He imagined how horrifying the battle was.

Featuring the corpses on the light screen, it was obvious that the photographer took the pictures very carefully, capturing the detailed faces of the deceased. Several of them looked quite familiar to him!

Suddenly, his face changed dramatically. His fingers were trembling as he pointed to the screen and asked in a hoarse voice, “The Big Bad Wolves?”

“Yes.”

“Who did this?” Tai-shu Yong swallowed with difficulty. He already knew the answer to that question, but the answer seemed so shocking that he dared not clarify it.

“There were a few of us.” Chen Mu answered succinctly.

Tai-shu Yong tried to calm himself down, but his trembling body was not helping. His face turned aghast as he looked at Chen Mu in horror, as if he was looking right at a monster.

There was a long silence before he gradually calmed down. He felt that his throat was dry, but he couldn’t care less about drinking any water. He stared the masked White Commander in the eye and asked, “What do you want me to do?”

“Get this video card out into the public.” Chen Mu’s voice was very flat, as if he was just giving a very simple order.

Tai-shu Yong’s cheeks trembled, his face scrunched, as he let out a growl full of anger, “Are you out of your mind? This will destroy the Tai-shu family! The Comprehensive Federation Academy will not forgive us for this!”

Chen Mu shook his head, “We have no way out. From the beginning, we stood opposite to the Comprehensive Federation Academy.” His face was still as calm as ever, and there were no traces of stammer in his voice. “Tai-shu family belongs to one of the major leagues in Heavenly Drum Village District. Also, it stood out more, which was not a bad thing for the family. I think Moon Frost Island will also welcome the thought of choosing the Tai-shu family.”

Tai-shu Yong’s face was unreadable. Chen Mu was not wrong.

“With power, Tai-shu family will not be so vulnerable. Moreover, this is the Heavenly Drum Village District, which was a continent of Moon Frost Island.

Chen Mu’s words completely shattered Tai-shu Yong’s previous doubts. What he implicated was that if the Comprehensive Federation Academy went too far, Moon Frost Island would never sit idly by while it happened, or else the island would lose its control over the major leagues.

Tai-shu Yong gritted his teeth and answered emphatically, “Fine!”

However, his hand that was holding the video card kept shaking. He knew what a shock the card in his hand would bring to the Heavenly Federation!