The Card Apprentice

Mobley had been quite excited those last few days. The results of the stimulant liquid were quite obvious. The perception of any card artisan who used it surged, with quite a few of them even breaking into the next level. The only thing that left him a little frustrated was the shortage of the purple fluorescent liquid extract. The stimulant liquid consumed a huge amount of the extract, and the rate of production from the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm was already at its highest. But that still couldn’t satisfy their need.

He could only repress his anxiety. The Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm’s production rate for the extract was much higher than that of any other company, and Mobley really felt that he couldn’t bring up his still-higher requirements. He had already gone around to several other vendors, hoping to get some additional extract from other channels.

When Mobley had emerged from the youth training camp of the Snowflake Card Artisan Team, he had been very loyal to the team. Because of that, when he had become a captain, they had turned over the responsibility of regimental command to him. He was outstanding in that position. He could now see how the power of the Snowflake Card Artisan Team had surged higher, which made him feel full of pride and a sense of accomplishment.

“Commander Mo.” Qing Qing’s uniquely ethereal voice came from behind him. He didn’t know when she had shown up behind him.

Mobley was stunned at first but quickly relaxed. He couldn’t help but be amazed that Qing Qing not only had an excellent temperament, but she was entirely cultivated. She was unfathomable.

“Miss Qing Qing!” Mobley greeted her with a composed expression.

“Is Commander Mobley pleased with the results of the stimulant liquid?” Qing Qing asked in a way to downplay it.

There was a touch of excitement in Mobley’s gaze. “I am! How could I not be? Old Mo never thought there could be such a wonderful thing in this world!”

Hearing that, Qing Qing smiled lightly and said, “I can relax now that Captain Mobley is pleased. I’ve come looking for Captain Mobley wanting to chat about our agreement with your honorable firm.”

Mobley looked respectful and said with a sigh, “Don’t worry, Miss Qing Qing; everyone on the team will certainly do his utmost! There are a lot of people around here. Let’s talk inside.”

The two of them entered a small meeting room and sat down. Mobley leaned forward and said with a proper expression, “Whatever Miss Qing Qing wants us to do, please don’t hesitate to say.”

“I would like to ask your honorable firm to help me find someone,” Qing Qing said lightly.

“Find someone?” Mobley was taken aback, never having thought that would be what Qing Qing wanted! As recompense for Qing Qing getting him something so precious as the stimulant fluid, he had already completed whatever extremely difficult things she had presented.

But Mobley had been the regimental commander for so long that he had plenty of insight. He well knew that since his counterpart would be paying such a high price to find someone, it would be no trivial matter. He said thoughtfully, “I wonder who Miss Qing Qing is looking for. Is detailed information available? Are there any clues?”

Qing Qing gave Mobley a one-star fantasy card. “All of the material on him is in here. Captain Mobley can take a look. As for clues, I only know they have entered the Heavenly Drum Village District. There’s very little other information.”

Mobley was feeling a headache coming on. The requirements Qing Qing had raised were not proportional to the price she was paying. Hearing her tone, though, he was aware that Qing Qing had no real understanding of that person and had no clues. Looking for someone under those conditions would be like looking for a fish hook in the ocean.

But he still said, “I’ll take a look.” He put the fantasy card into the card player, and an image immediately popped onto the screen.

A youth appeared on the screen, which struck Mobley dumb.

“He’s called Chen Mu, though he might have changed his name. He’s good at making cards and is about 20 years old. He has two people with him. One is called Bogner, and the other is called Xi Ping. He probably also has some card artisans. There is no material about anything else.” Qing Qing’s light voice curled up like smoke.

Mobley was looking at that youth on the screen, dumbfounded and stunned.

Noting Mobley’s expression, Qing Qing was puzzled and asked, “Has Captain Mobley seen Chen Mu?”

Mobley then came back to his senses and said with a sneer, “What a small world! If I’m not mistaken, I do believe I’ve seen him.”

“Oh! Where is he?” Qing Qing couldn’t help but raise her eyebrows.

Looking at the rather obviously excited Qing Qing, Mobley had a bunch of mixed feelings. Could Chen Mu and Qing Qing have some kind of intimate relations? Otherwise, why would Qing Qing be so anxiously looking for him and get so excited just hearing news of him? As he saw it, their ages were a perfect match.

In order to cover up his feelings, Mobley said with a smile, “Now that you mention it, Miss Qing Qing must have also heard of this fellow.”

“I’ve heard of him?” By that time, Qing Qing had resumed her normal quiet and demure expression.

“This Chen Mu is the current regimental commander of the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm and is our current largest vendor for the purple fluorescent liquid extract,” Mobley said neither anxiously nor slowly.

Qing Qing was dumbstruck by Mobley’s response. She had never thought the person she had been looking for all along would be so nearby! It really was a case of looking all over the world for what was right in front of you—gotten with no effort!

When she thought about finishing her job a day early, she realized she could return to the Star Academy a day early. There was a rare look of joy on Qing Qing’s face, which had always been as placid as an old well.

Mobley felt a sudden pain, feeling still more certain that Chen Mu and Qing Qing had some kind of intimate relationship. As soon as he thought of that, Mobley felt like there were myriad ants gobbling his heart. It was a knife-twisting pain.

“So, could Captain Mobley please take Qing Qing to see Chen Mu?” Even a fool could hear the joy in what Qing Qing said.

Mobley’s heart was bleeding, though he said with a forced smile, “Qing Qing needn’t be polite about what it is my duty to do.” He activated his apparatus and called Chen Mu’s communications card.

Yikes. He couldn’t get through after trying several times.

“Odd. Why can’t I connect?” Mobley didn’t quite understand. Seeing Qing Qing frowning a little nervously, he spoke plainly. “There’s no need for Miss Qing Qing to worry; I’ll just give a call to their manager, Xi Ping.”

Qing Qing nodded without saying anything. The call to Xi Ping connected right away, and her face relaxed a little.

“How are you, Captain Mobley?” As soon as Xi Ping saw Mobley, he smiled broadly. What a joke! Captain Mobley was currently the ravine’s biggest sugar daddy and would certainly get VIP treatment!

“How are you, Manager Xi?” Mobley said with a smile. He had rather good feelings toward that smart businessman. He continued, “I’m ashamed to say we’ve recently been consuming the purple fluorescent liquid extract too quickly. We have an acute shortage just now! I wonder if your honorable firm could speed it up. We would like to increase the price by 15 percent.”

Xi Ping showed a somewhat embarrassed expression. “We’ve already increased our production to the limit, Captain Mo! The machinery is producing 24-7, and we really can’t increase the capacity! If Captain Mo were to place a mountain of gold in front of Old Xi, apart from my eyes going red with greed, there would be nothing else I could do.”

“Ai!” Mobley looked dejected. “I would really love for your honorable firm to increase your daily production several times over!”

Xi Ping laughed and said, “We hope the same thing in our dreams. We’re not letting Captain Mo spend all the money in his pocket this way!”

Mobley laughed to hear that. “Having money just now still doesn’t compare with your Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm. Oh, right. I just tried to call Commander Chen Mu, but I couldn’t connect. Isn’t Commander Chen Mu there?”

Xi Ping explained, “Our commander has gone out for a while, and he hasn’t been in the ravine recently.”

“Gone out? Do you mean he is interested in touring at this time?” Mobley looked shocked and quickly apologized. “I’ve been planning to pay Commander Chen Mu a visit during this time to chat about our two teams’ deep cooperation. Now, it looks like…”

Xi Ping sneered, showing a helpless expression. “To be quite honest, our commander felt he’d recently hit a bottleneck, so he simply went off traveling. Not only can’t Captain Mobley find him, but even we don’t have any way to connect with him.”

“Bottleneck? Traveling?” Mobley was taken aback, never having thought that would actually be the reason. He couldn’t help but say, “Isn’t your honorable commander a card master? Do you mean to say that when a card master hits a bottleneck, he has to go off traveling?”

Xi Ping laughed it off. “Whatever our commander is thinking isn’t anything we underlings can know about.”

Seeing how it was, Mobley took a look at Qing Qing, who slightly shook her head at him. He immediately understood and said to Xi Ping, “If your honorable commander returns, would Manger Xi please let me know? Old Mo would like to pay him a visit.”

“Certainly! Certainly!” Xi Ping rushed to say.

The two shut off their communications, and Mobley spread his hands helplessly toward Qing Qing, unable to help but feel a little happy inside.

Qing Qing murmured doubtfully, “Traveling? He goes traveling at a time like this?”

“I think it’s a bit of an issue myself,” Mobley said thoughtfully. “Still, Xi Ping wouldn’t really lie to me. Although I don’t know the reason, Chen Mu is certainly not with the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm.”

Qing Qing kept frowning as though she were thinking about something. Mobley didn’t disturb her. After a while, Qing Qing sighed and said, “We’ll just have to wait a while.”

“Mmmm. That’s the way it is,” Mobley said. The two walked out of the meeting room together. In the instant they stepped out, Mobley suddenly thought of something.

The gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus! Hadn’t the Snow Silkworm Card Artisan Firm been asking for information about the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus last time? Mobley suddenly saw Qing Qing’s back in front of him and felt hesitant about whether he should tell Qing Qing about that in the end.

As he watched her back gradually move farther and farther away, Mobley opened his mouth to say something a few times, but didn’t say a thing in the end.

Xi Ping shut off his communications card and thought for a while before immediately finding Bogner.

Bogner looked at Xi Ping in surprise. That old thief would very seldom come looking for him in the training area. He wondered if something had happened to the boss.

Seeing Bogner, Xi Ping cut in to say, “Mobley, the commander of the Snowflake Card Artisan Team just came looking for me.”

“Oh. What’s up?” Bogner was startled, and immediately looked serious. The Snowflake Card Artisan Team’s abnormal requirements for the purple fluorescent liquid extract during that time had alarmed both of them.

Seeming to know what Bogner was thinking about, Xi Ping shook his head, “It’s not related to the purple fluorescent liquid extract. They asked about the boss’s whereabouts!”

“The boss’s whereabouts?” Bogner was more alarmed, “What did he say?”

“He didn’t say anything, except that he wanted to pay the boss a visit, and talk about some sort of cooperation, but I certainly didn’t feel that was his actual objective.” Xi Ping continued, “And he just said something.”

“What did he say?”

“He talked about the boss as a card master, and wondered why he would have to go travelling to break through a bottleneck.” Xi Ping had a serious expression, “How could he know that the boss is a card master? Basically, no-one knows the business about the boss being a card master! And moreover, those who do have been with us for a very long time, and wouldn’t have leaked it.”

“So, what you’re saying is that they took a different route to investigate the boss?”

Bogner’s expression became serious as well.

“I don’t know.” Xi Ping shook his head, “But I feel like there’s something wrong.”

“From what you’re saying, I’m getting the same feeling.” Bogner then suddenly thought of something, “Didn’t we ask Mobley to look into the business of the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus? Could that have been what got their attention?”

Xi Ping became alarmed, “That’s quite possible! They might even have guessed where the boss was going!”

Bogner didn’t get flustered, and said thoughtfully, “We can’t be clear about what their goal is just yet. But we certainly can’t leak out the matter of the boss going to get the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus, or the boss would be in danger. Right now, we have to find some way to draw away the attention of the Snowflake Card Artisan Team.”

Xi Ping suddenly made a sly smile, and his old face blossomed like a chrysanthemum, “Since we asked the Snowflake Card Artisan Team to look into information about the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus, we can find them to look into even more such precious information!”

“Ha!” Bogner clapped his hands excitedly, “Not a bad idea! Ha, let’s look for Miss Sue, and get a list of such rare and valuable drugs as the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus, and request that the Snowflake Card Artisan Team looks into each of them. Ha, that way, we can divide their attention, and if they want to look into where the boss is, it won’t be so easy.”

“Mmmm, we can also declare to the outside world that we are acquiring rare medicines. Oh, we can start buying them in Chilei, that way the Snowflake Card Artisan Team will think that we want to enter the ranks of biomedicine, and that we are interested in those drugs . . .”

The two of them put their two heads together and continued discussing in low voices, letting loose an evil laugh from time to time, their gazes frequently flashing. They gave every team member who passed by a chill, and they all wished they could take a detour.