The Card Apprentice

The entry of the Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple into Pomelo had made all the headlines. Just about the entire Heavenly Federation was paying attention to it. But among everyone, the attention payed by the five flourishing districts and the ordinary residential districts were essentially different.

For the citizens in the flourishing districts, it was just a piece of news. They had never experienced the destruction of war in their entire history. They were the cradle of the Big Six; although there were incessant squabbles among them, the Big Six would never allow the shockwaves of battle to reach the flourishing districts.

That was the tradition, and it was a deeply ingrained tradition. If anyone even thought about transgressing that line, they would certainly be attacked on all sides by the other five powers. The prosperity and development of the five flourishing districts was inseparable from those several hundred years of insulation.

But the news had a completely different feel for the citizens of the ordinary residential districts. For a battle to impinge on them meant it was basically right in front of them. Based on their continuous experience, once a battle erupted, the scene would certainly take place right where they lived. For them, it was a disaster!

Quite a few people were outraged by the inequity, but they had no way to change it. The population of the ordinary residential districts was seven times that of the flourishing districts, but their overall worth wasn’t more than one-third that of the flourishing districts. Eighty percent of the best card artisans lived in the flourishing districts. By far, the majority of those at the top of any industry lived there.

That was why the citizens of the flourishing districts looked down on the ordinary residential districts, even if they had previously lived there.

When it came to the matter of the combined team of medical card artisans entering Pomelo, no matter which district, they all praised it. The Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple both earned excellent reputations. Even Tang Hanpei, who had allowed the combined team in, was praised by everyone.

It was said that Desert Camp and Moon Frost Island both seemed to be a little envious while the planning was underway for the medical card artisans to head to Pomelo. But they didn’t know what the scene would be like when the two organizations’ medical card artisans met.

* * *

Sue Lochiro was drinking juice in Chen Mu’s room. It was some snow apricot juice Xi Ping had just sent over.

They could see the civilians on the ground being organized through the floor-to-ceiling window. The Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple medical card artisans were endlessly shuttling among them while the civilians remained orderly.

Taking a look at Sue Lochiro relaxing, Chen Mu was a little curious. “Why aren’t you working?”

For the past few days, Sue Lochiro’s time to relax had shrunk to just about nothing as she went around desperately treating the wounded. She had taken the initiative to return to the base that day. Seeing her idle, Chen Mu pulled her over for a chat.

That had proven how unsuited Chen Mu was for such chatting. After a long while, Chen Mu just blurted that out.

“With so many people down there, I’m not about to join the fun.” Sue Lochiro sipped a mouthful of juice as she spoke in a relaxed manner.

Chen Mu understood. Xi Ping had explicitly reported on what was happening with her. The work styles of the Star Academy and the Bitter Solitude Temple exuded a power that made Sue Lochiro quite uncomfortable about maintaining her autonomy. Chen Mu wondered how Xi Ping had enough leisure to pay specific attention to such a small matter. The indignant tone with which Xi Ping had spoken about it was quite strange. Xi Ping seldom gave out such feeling.

“Oh.” Chen Mu grunted his response, not knowing what he should say next.

“Right.” Sue Lochiro put the juice down and looked at Chen Mu, engrossed. “Are you wearing a disguise on your face?”

Chen Mu was startled, and his gaze toward Sue Lochiro became cold.

Her heart skipped a beat as she quickly raised her right hand. “Slow down!”

Chen Mu forcibly repressed his urge to make a move, and his tone was dark. “Who are you?”

His brain was reeling, not quite understanding why Sue Lochiro would know about that. Only the demonic woman knew he had been disguised. Could the two of them have some entanglement?

Sue Lochiro had obviously been frightened by the murderous look in Chen Mu’s gaze. Her little face had abruptly changed as she stuttered, “I… It’s just that there’s something wrong with your skin…”

Chen Mu didn’t respond and just kept staring coldly at her.

Sue Lochiro normally drew plenty of adoration. When had she ever been treated like that? Chen Mu’s cold gaze had caused her to panic, and she had no way to contain the fear she felt. The blood drained clean from her face. “You… you have a very fit body…”

Saying that, her bloodless face suddenly flushed red. Damn! Why did I think of that at such a time? She felt more and more frantic.

Chen Mu remained cold as stone and made no reaction to Sue Lochiro’s strange manner.

The panicked Sue Lochiro met Chen Mu’s cold gaze when she felt an inexplicable pain in her heart, which eased her panic quite a bit.

She tried to calm her expression, though her slightly trembling voice still showed how afraid and nervous she felt. “Your body is quite healthy, but your skin is very unhealthy. That’s not possible. So, I just guessed you might have undergone some disguise. A lot of card artisans like to use some drugs to put on a disguise.”

If that’s what it was, Chen Mu finally understood what Sue Lochiro had seen. He hadn’t thought no one would see through the flawed disguise, and it would be so easy to discover in the eyes of a medical card artisan.

Chen Mu’s expression relaxed as the temperature in the room seemed to have shot up quite a bit. Sue Lochiro lowered her head, not speaking, and he didn’t know what she was thinking. Chen Mu didn’t know what to say. That had just been a pure, unconscious reaction. By then, it looked like his reaction had been a bit overboard.

After a moment, Chen Mu opened his mouth. “I am sorry to have just scared you like that.”

“It’s nothing.” Sue Lochiro kept her head down and spoke with a small voice. Given Chen Mu’s pathetic experience, he couldn’t hear his counterpart’s feelings.

The room became silent again, as neither knew what to say. Minutes passed in that awkward silence.

“Can you get rid of it?” Chen Mu suddenly asked.

By that time, Sue Lochiro had completely recovered her normal manner, and she lifted her head, showing a professional smile. “I won’t know until I try it.”

“Then give it a try.”

* * *

Xi Ping and Bogner were drinking tea, enjoying some rare relaxation that day.

“What about the boss? Should we ask him to join us in some tea?” Bogner asked ambiguously as he slurped from his teacup.

Xi Ping was holding his teacup in two hands, lightly sipping as he said languidly, “The boss is just now having an exchange with Sue Lochiro.”

Pffft! Bogner spit out a mouthful of tea.

Xi Ping, who had been prepared, leaned in a little as he kept languidly drinking his tea.

“The boss and Miss Sue Lochiro?” Bogner asked with his eyes wide open, stopping his long bout of coughing.

“Is something wrong?” Xi Ping asked back with a composed expression.

Bogner rushed to shake his head. “No problem, no problem!” He then hesitated before saying, “It’s just a little sudden.” He let out a laugh, came closer to Xi Ping, and said with a vulgar look, “Too bad we can’t take a peek. Really too bad. Those two getting along? How would the boss be at that kind of skill? What kind of inside information would he have?”

Xi Ping took a look at the apparatus on his wrist and calmly said, “Miss Sue Lochiro has already been in there for two and a half hours.”

Bogner held out two fingers to be certain and asked one word at time, “Two and a half hours?”

Xi Ping picked up his teacup again and sipped lightly. He then corrected him a bit. “To be precise, it should be two hours and 38 minutes.”

Bogner’s expression became abruptly strange as he mumbled, “The boss’s endurance is really good. My goodness, how great is youth?”

Sue Lochiro’s performance those past few days had really won everyone’s respect, on top of which she was beautiful, which attracted everyone’s gaze. Those under Chen Mu were actually pretty good; it would be no different than seeking death to pay attention to the boss’s girl.

However, those who had been brought by Jiao Si weren’t so scrupulous; their gazes toward Sue Lochiro were hot, some of them even bold enough to invite her on a date.

It was just that all of Sue Lochiro’s time was spent treating the wounded civilians, and she didn’t pay attention to any of that. Some of the scholars thought up a roundabout way to save the nation by taking the initiative to request to be Sue Lochiro’s assistant. After the requests were accepted, the card artisans with Jiao Si emptied out all at once, all having gone off to serve the wounded.

The card artisans under Chen Mu were quite jealous, though no one dared to make a move. To make a joke, Bogner’s yelling was enough to scare those guys out of their wits. They also knew they were a long way from the scholars of the Origins Academy, whose training was not such a life-or-death matter.

They had all been challenged across many years and weren’t like those students, who were still a little simple in their temperaments. They understood more about how cruel the world could be.

During that time, they were still getting used to their new cards. The cards in their hands had been modified by Chen Mu, which gave a surge to their power and brought them a lot of pleasant surprises. Quite a few were exploring their new moves one by one.

There were countless energy cards for them to squander. They could find any comrade who was about equal to them in strength, and the effect on their practice was extremely significant. There were quite a few novel things for them to explore in the cards they had.

It was simply heaven! For those guys, who made fighting to survive their life’s goal, what could be any better than that?