The Card Apprentice

“Are you enemies with Wen Zuofu?” The contented Qiao Fei looked askance at Chen Mu and asked him nonchalantly.

“Wen Zuofu? The Downstream Alliance?” Chen Mu involuntarily frowned. The name made some vague impact on him. He had seen the name in the report that Bogner had given him about the Pascal District. And moreover, the name had been repeated in the report he had just skimmed through that morning.

Hearing what Qiao Fei just said, he guessed what was behind it. She had certainly gotten information from somewhere, but then it would be no wonder that such a deeply rooted power as the House of Qiao would be in a position to get it. Chen Mu could now confirm that the sneak attack the night before had been perpetrated by Wen Zuofu, which was about what Bogner had surmised.

From then on, his enmity with the Downstream Alliance would become more deeply entrenched. But he also knew that the two sides would inevitably have reached that impasse, given the style of the Downstream Alliance’s behavior. Still, to have established an eternal enmity with the biggest power there before they had even gotten a foothold, wasn’t going to make anybody very happy.

Chen Mu couldn’t help wondering why Qiao Fei had come.

The House of Qiao was the second biggest power in the Pascal district, and they mixed with the Downstream Alliance like fire with water. She had come that day when he had just suffered a sneak attack the night before. That implied a little bit of intrigue.

Alliance? The House of Qiao had over twenty little forts. How could his little power even attract their attention? But even with his rather scant experience, he knew that whatever the alliance, they needed roughly commensurate power with their counterparts. His own power was still too weak and small, and clearly wasn’t quite qualified to be in alliance with the House of Qiao. Never mind that he would have to personally work together with the boss-lady of the House of Qiao.

“That’s the one, that old demon!” Qiao Fei didn’t hide her disgust with Wen Zuofu. After she said that, she looked askance again at Chen Mu with her two wild eyes, “You’re a lot better than that old demon. Although you don’t have quite so much power, to make the old demon take a loss at your hands is still a kind of skill. How about it? Throw in with me, and when we have meat, we’ll eat it together, and if we have soup, we’ll drink it together. When Qiao Fei does something, I never treat people badly. State your conditions straight out. Too bad you’re not strong enough, ho ho, otherwise, you wouldn’t make a bad lover!”

The expressions on Bogner and Xiaobo abruptly turned a little strange. Not strong enough? Could Qiao Fei be using Wei-ah as her point of reference?

Even if he were fiercer looking, with an iron tower of a body like Happy Padding or Crow Feather, if even their strength were to contend with the boss’s, they would certainly die miserably!

Chen Mu was smiling a little squeamishly as her heated gaze swept up and down his body. It made him feel rather uncomfortable. But he didn’t want to put his work in someone else’s hands at all unless and until he had nowhere else to go.

He shook his head, very tactfully bit firmly refusing Qiao Fei’s proposal, “Thank you for your lovely idea, Miss Qiao, but I’m used to tormenting myself alone. I’m very sorry.”

Qiao Fei didn’t show any surprise, seeming to have expected that result, as she glanced at Chen Mu with better understanding, “I get it. A man with any skills these days wants to twist his head to the heavens, and not pay attention to the affairs of the world. But still.”

Her tone had changed, “You’ve killed the old demon’s Dark Fog guys, which will make you his eternal enemy. The enemy of my enemies is my friend after all. You don’t look so bad to me and might be worth befriending. We’re pretty well known around these parts, so if there’s anything you need help with, just give us a call. Of course, we aren’t going to help you for free, and you’ll have to pay. You might cause some trouble for the old man. I would be the one who would benefit the most, so I’m happy to see it done. I shouldn’t speak so vulgarly in front of you, but to help you in secret would naturally not be a problem. But I’m certainly not going to do anything desperate out in the open because of the feud between you and the old demon. You’ll basically still have to depend on yourself to survive.”

Xiao Fei’s brown eyes were staring at Chen Mu as though she weren’t so optimistic about him.

Chen Mu didn’t get angry. On the contrary, he found Qiao Fei to be pretty good for sure. She was straightforward, spoke very directly, and compared with those who put on a good face, he preferred someone with a belly full of nasty tricks.

“Mmmm, no matter. If you want to be a big alliance like Downstream, you can’t concern yourself with the little people like us.” Chen Mu smiled and answered very casually.

Continuing to stare at Chen Mu for a few more seconds, Qiao Fei cracked a little grin, “Are you playing a role? Fake!”

After she spoke, she stretched lazily. She was wearing something very short on her upper body, and that stretch exposed her charmingly fit belly.

Xiaobo and Bogner’s eyes widened, and they couldn’t take their eyes off Qiao Fei’s tiny pert waist.

The moves of the two of them were surprisingly similar, and they even swallowed in unison, which went right over Chen Mu’s head, of course.

“You old perverted goats!” Qiao Fei glanced at the two disdainfully, making the two of them want to find some hole to crawl into.

“OK, I’d better go. Remember what I said, little man. Right. Here’s my number. Find me if something comes up. If you’d like to live, you’d better make it a little bit uncomfortable for the old demon.” Qiao Fei tossed a card to Chen Mu, winking at him before swaggering off.

Only after Qiao Fei had been gone for a while did Bogner and Xiaobo came back to their senses.

“Lechers.” Chen Mu was suddenly feeling playful, as he looked at the two earnestly while lightly tossing off that phrase before swaggering off himself.

Both Bogner and Xiaobo were thunderstruck and stayed right where they were.

Chen Mu had a lot to do, or at least as he saw it, he did. The snow pit method was being deployed for better or worse, and it was just about done, though in rough shape. Chen Mu had very irresponsibly turned it over to Jiang Liang.

The ravine’s defenses had already been set up, and nothing was going to happen again like the night before, when everyone was practicing the snow pit method. Having learned that lesson, Bogner would also certainly organize the defenses so that he didn’t have to worry about it anymore.

The matter of the Downstream Alliance wasn’t actually that much of a concern. They could rely on the favorable position of the ravine and concentrate on defense. Even if some enemy outnumbered him many times over, he still wasn’t too concerned. And as far as resupply was concerned, so long as Wei-ah and Xiaobo were there he wasn’t so worried about that either.

What he needed to consider just then was how to increase his own strength in the shortest amount of time. It was deeply engrained in him to be strong in times of chaos. There wasn’t really any essential difference between the ordinary residential districts and the flourishing districts in that regard. That was even though the flourishing districts were known as heaven to quite a few people.

Chen Mu felt that the fighting was even more bloody and cruel in the flourishing districts. If he wanted a foothold there, then he would have to grow his power.

In that regard, only Xi Ping and Bogner could give him advice.

the two were overjoyed to see that Chen Mu was actually spending some thought on that. They had previously felt that Chen Mu was a little too indifferent and didn’t have much of a competitive spirit. If you didn’t push him to some limit, he basically wouldn’t be very concerned. Now Chen Mu was taking the rare initiative toward the issues they had always raised, and so of course they were thrilled.

Xi Ping said with a smile, “It isn’t such a complex issue, boss. We now have the set of cards, and you’ve also deployed the snow pit method. The card artisans’ power is constantly improving, so we’re in a pretty good situation overall. Still, what we need right now is to find some way to make money. Our ready cash has just about been used up.”

He held out his fingers to count, “The Valley Nest, and the starfish fortifications are our largest expenditures. The rest, like the therapeutic equipment and the training equipment, also cost huge overhead. What we need most right now are funds. Once we have the funds, we can expand the team, so that our fighting strength can get stronger and stronger. Although old Bogs is something of a perv, he still has a knack for warfare.”

Bogner was enraged, “How am I a perv?”

Xi Ping didn’t pay him any mind, as he continued to say, “But right now what we lack the most isn’t ready cash, but some steady income model. No matter the power, they all must have a profit model. Once we have the money to improve our battle strength, we’ll improve it, and then from that we’ll improve our ability to profit. In that way we can create a virtuous cycle. What we most lack now is a profit model. Although you are awesome at making cards, boss, to rely on your power alone to support a whole team is not a long-term plan.”

Bogner spoke in agreement, “What Old Xi says is right. We are now completely supporting the team, which can’t go on for the long term. Our burden will only get heavier. We might as well establish a card artisan firm. In that way, we could increase their opportunities for actual battle, while greatly decreasing the pressure on our funds.”

As Chen Mu mulled it over, he felt that it was right. Apart from their daily training, the card artisans didn’t have anything else to do.

Chen Mu said to Bogner, “I’ll turn the matter of a card artisan firm over to you. But you’ll have to leave sufficient defensive forces behind.”

Bogner nodded, “Don’t worry. Given our current defensive capabilities, two hundred people would be enough to guarantee our safety. And if we don’t want to expand, and just want to stay holed up here, even the Downstream Alliance woud have no way to look down on us.”

“What does Old Xi think about how to make money?” Chen Mu asked Xi Ping.

Xi Ping said contemplatively, “Your card making is a great profit center, boss. I don’t imagine that Old Bogs’ card artisan firm will be profitable in the short term. I really haven’t thought about the rest of it.”

Bogner was also thinking hard off to the side, though his ability in that regard was really quite limited. He wasn’t able to provide any construction suggestions.

Seeing how it was, Chen Mu could only say, “No worries, we’ll just take it slowly.”