The Card Apprentice

Five forces launched attacks simultaneously.

The vigilant enemy sounded the alarm. The Municipal Warehouse was in a state of chaos. They were the strongest local power, and coupled with the expansions of many card artisans from the flourishing districts; they became even more powerful. Although the long shuttle car passage was blown up and the situation in Hupa City was chaotic, no one dared to stroke the tiger’s whiskers.

“Burning Rain” A unique drizzling of fiery rain ascended from the ground, overshadowing the sky and sun. The sky was instantly dyed red. “Burning Rain” was a kind of improvement card from “Oudi Burner”. It not only had better performance but needed only one card artisan to operate; it was a popular choice among the members.

“Da*n it! It’s the Eastern Wei!”

No one knew who screamed, but the card artisans on defense panicked. Everyone knew that the shuttle car passage was blown up by the Eastern Wei, but no one expected them to send a large troop to attack and occupy Hupa City. The number one force in the common residential district was a mystery to everyone.

They couldn’t differentiate the difference between “Burning Rain” and “Oudi Burner”. But the sinister and terrifying fiery rain was infamous.

“Burning Rain” was like hell!

Dong!

A dreary thunderous whistle shook everyone’s hearts. At a hidden outpost, a bloody hole appeared on the forehead of an exposed card artisan. The excellent accuracy of “Tailless Shuttle Card-2” was demonstrated.

Dong! Dong! Dong!

The continuous dreary thunderous noise sounded as if a giant were beating on drums. It caused the enemy’s hearts trembled violently.

The card artisans guarding the warehouse was perturbed by the fierce attacks, especially when Grade Seven card artisans were launching their attacks. For these local forces, they were deemed powerful if they have two or three Grade Seven card artisans in their team. Now, they had to face the bombardment of dozens of Grade Seven card artisans.

Yes, it was a crazy bombardment! In the hands of the Grade Seven card artisans, those ordinary cards were lethal weapons. What’s more, the cards they used were of excellent performance, designed by Chen Mu!

In order to end the battle quickly, Sanchez grouped the majority of Grade Seven card artisans in his team. Now it seemed that his decision was definitely correct!

“No, Head, we can’t keep up! The opponent’s attacks are too fierce!”

“Da*n it. Where did they get so many Grade Seven card artisans from!” the card artisan leading the attack couldn’t help but complain about the situation. He was covered with smoke and dust from the wave of explosions earlier. It made him gasp for breath. He huddled behind the shelter and didn’t even head out, though he was a Grade Seven card artisans himself.

He turned to his side and shouted to his adjutant, “Support! I need support! Da*n it! Call for support!”

The adjutant was so anxious that he nearly burst out crying. “I can’t get in touch with them! Head, all our telecommunication cards are useless!”

“Da*n it!” The leader exclaimed and slumped to the ground.

Bombs, fiery rain and precise sniping intertwined into a vast net. Suddenly, he felt like he was a prey trapped under the net; unable to move, let alone resist. The strength of both sides was not on par. A person of his rank was naturally not a fool. The attack by Eastern Wei has obviously been planned long ago; they knew the various locations of the warehouse’s hidden outposts. Their strikes were so precise that many of their card artisans were buried directly in the ruins of the collapsed building before they could join the battle.

“Head, what should we do? There aren’t many of our people still alive.” He swallowed his saliva and asked with great difficulty and anxiety.

“Let’s surrender!” When their boss said this, all the card artisans around him breathed a sigh of relief. They didn’t want to die!

The battle in the Municipal Warehouse ended in a very short time. Sanchez had taken over the Municipal Warehouse. While checking out the warehouse, he became shocked by the precious resources found. Then, before the rest in the city had time to respond, the team’s Architecture Card Artisan quickly built a protective fortification.

In the future, the Municipal Warehouse would become their temporary base. The other two teams also completed their missions, and their return boosted the protection of the Municipal Warehouse. Rumors had spread far, and panic was rising rapidly in Hupa City.

“That’s impossible,” recovering from his shock, Chen Mu calmly rebutted. “Even if we take over Fort Mendelssohn now,” said Chen Mu, “It’s just a small town, and its strength is negligible. And the two of us have zero chance of winning against them.”

“We can assassinate him. If we join forces, the odds are good.” Although Zara’s face was unseen, her eyes were full of stubbornness.

“Assassination?” Chen Mu looked at her calmly and asked, “Do you know where he lives? Do you know their defense layout? Do you know how to get close to him? Do you know how to escape from their encirclement successfully? We know nothing about them. Without enough information, we can’t formulate plans.”

Zara was silent. She knew Chen Mu was right. During the years which she left the House of a Hundred Depths, she knew nothing about the changes there. But her mournful eyes turned teary at the thought of her loved ones’ tragic death.

Chen Mu took a second look at Zara and suddenly said, “Let’s proceed in that direction first. Stay hidden outside the sphere of influence of The Dark Tribe. We can search for information and wait for opportunities slowly.”

Zara was shocked. She raised her head, but only saw Chen Mu’s back view.

“Let’s go,” Chen Mu spoke without turning his head.

They had intended to take leave without notice but didn’t expect Andre to come in time to hand in his resignation.

“Are you going to leave?” Chen Mu asked. In his opinion, Andre was a capable man. He was competent and was sufficiently worldly-wise to understand and judge a situation.

“Yes, Sir,” Andre answered carefully.

Chen Mu thought about it and suddenly said, “We’re also planning to leave, let’s go together.”

Andre was startled; his face twitched a little, and he had a premonition of imminent disaster. God! If he were to journey with these two demons, and angered them at any time, he would be dead. He raised his head carefully and glanced at Chen Mu from the corner of his eye. He wanted to see if Chen Mu was serious or joking when he said that. His eyes happened to bump into Zara’s unsympathetic gaze who was beside Chen Mu, and Andre’s heart gave a sudden leap.

“Why? Are you unwilling?” Chen Mu asked.

As soon as Chen Mu ended his question, Andre caught a glimpse of Zara’s intention to kill! His heart was as if gripped by a hand, and a strong feeling of suffocation arose. He wondered what would be the consequence if he provoked that inhumane fellow…

A cold shiver went down his spine, and he shook his head promptly. “No, it’s not! It’s a great honor. It’s a great honor!”

Chen Mu nodded satisfactorily. “Well, that’s good. I don’t like to force someone to do things against their will.”

Andre felt like crying. “If that isn’t coercion, what is?” he thought. He wanted to kick himself now. Why did he choose to bid farewell? When he thought about serving two villains who kill without batting an eye with great care, he felt that his life was dark and gloomy.

Zara stood quietly beside Chen Mu. She hardly spoke or objected. People who didn’t know her would think of her as a meek cat. But in Andre’s eyes, that woman with a charming figure was the number one devil in hell!

The three left Fort Mendelssohn quietly, and none realized their departure.

Chen Mu discovered a strange phenomenon. All the people who saw them on the road looked devastated, screamed, and fled. There was a group of merchants who threw away all their goods and fled in all directions. It was jaw-dropping for Chen Mu.

“What’re they doing?” Chen Mu asked Andre, pointing to the piles of goods in front of him.

Andre replied, “They must have fled in fear of your prestige.” But he rolled his eyes, “Why did they flee? They treasured their lives.” he thought. Reflecting on his circumstances, he was suddenly depressed; those guys could run away, but he couldn’t afford to escape.

“Prestige?” Chen Mu frowned, “Do they know us?” He was skeptical about his explanation. Chen Mu and Zara had just got out from a Hundred Depths. How could these people know themselves?

“Pretend? Pretend all you want!” Andre scorned in his heart, but replied earnestly, “Sir, you’ve risen to fame after the annihilation of Nine-tails Bandits. They naturally recognize you.”

“Oh.” Chen Mu nodded. It was that event. But he soon frowned again; fame wasn’t a good thing for him and Zara.

Suddenly it occurred to him, and he asked, “How did they recognize me?”

“It’s easy to identify from both of your attire.”

“Attire?” Chen Mu looked at himself, slightly puzzled, “Is there anything especially eye-catching?” What he wore was just ordinary attire of a flexster, nothing special.

“Many,” Andre answered honestly.

Chen Mu looked at Zara. Zara commented coldly, “I’ve been wearing this all the time.”

Andre didn’t even have the strength to roll his eyes. Well, he had to admit that the logic of a master was different from his. But when he noticed that Chen Mu’s attention was on him, and Zara’s gaze was flaring ill-intentions, he immediately pulled himself together.

“The weapons that both of you carried are too sophisticated.” He thought for a moment and said, “All of the weapons you have, they’re invaluable. The ability to possess many priceless treasures at the same time, other than the two of you, there are no others.” Looking at the weapons on Chen Mu, Andre was envious. Especially those Lotus Leaf Shields, they were the ultimate weapon for a flexster from Sword and Shield Sect like him.

“Priceless treasure?” Chen Mu pointed at these weapons, slightly amused. These things were made of materials he found in The Deep. They were only makeshift weapons if his power-card was inadequate. He kept them because he found that they were still relatively handy.

Zara never told him that those were priceless treasures. He looked at Zara again.

“They’re good weapons,” Zara calmly explained, and then she added, “My brother had them too.”

Andre was awe-inspired and suddenly convinced that Zara might be from an extraordinary background. With those two replies alone, he deduced that Zara might have a very noble origin. Only those of noble origin would have an unconcerned attitude towards these treasures.