The Card Apprentice

Twenty-five meters!

Chen Mu suddenly pushed the button on the apparatus strapped to his left wrist with the right hand that was protecting his face.

Zing!

A huge deep-red fiery dragon suddenly appeared between Chen Mu and that boy, with that massive dragon head just about stuck to that boy’s face. The dragon’s two eyes were as cold as ice, as though they would drill into a person’s heart, while billows of flame were swirling around the dragon’s body. It seemed to have the power to reach the heavens and cover the earth, and nearly pinned him so that he couldn’t move.

Dear God, what is this? The blood drained completely out of his face, and his eyes had a look of terror.

He surmised that this huge creature in front of him was the high-grade fiery dragon simulacrum from a three-star fight-card – the ‘red eyed fiery dragon.’

Without waiting for him to recover from his shock, a hand suddenly stretched out from the midst of the fiery dragon and grabbed him by the neck. The only thing that he felt was his neck constricting as though the hand were a steel ring, and he nearly couldn’t breathe.

He dazedly saw a figure walking out from the red-eyed fiery dragon’s head, steadily coming up to him. Wasn’t this that cringing little punk that he’d just hit?

Suddenly, the frightening red-eyed fiery dragon dissolved into thin air as though it had never appeared.

Without waiting for him to react, a strong power suddenly hit his neck, pushing his skull back with a whack, the pain coming from the back of his head drowning him like a tide.

Looking at his adversary already knocked out and fallen on the ground, Chen Mu didn’t have any trace of compassion in his eyes, since he knew that if he hadn’t given the proper response just then, there was the extreme possibility that there would be a dead man there now.

During this period, chaos was everywhere. Living among the bottom reaches, Chen Mu didn’t often have that sort of profound experience, since unless you were rich and powerful, no one cared whether you lived or died. The public security of Eastern Shang-Wei City had become pretty good, but the garrison in that area was still only nominal.

As the fierce cruelty melted away from Chen Mu’s eyes, and he looked again at the man in his hands, he saw that he had already stopped breathing. He felt a little frightened, since his power shouldn’t have been that strong. He looked closer and saw that the back of this guy’s head had just smashed against the wall.

Chen Mu thought it might be possible that his strength was enhanced in the emergency as compared to normal.

Even though his hands had just been soaked in the life of a person, Chen Mu wasn’t afraid. He had experienced all sorts of brawls when he was a young street punk, where a mortal wound was an occurrence that was a little bit too common. Just then, his adversary had given no consideration to his life, and so he didn’t feel any psychological burden.

He straightened up the scene a little bit, without moving a single thing on the person’s body. He knew that taking the smallest advantage would leave a trail of clues, which was a situation he’d seen quite a few times.

Although it was his first time running into that kind of situation, Chen Mu wasn’t flustered. During the course of the entire procedure, he was always paying attention to any sounds around him. Only after he had straightened everything up – especially any trace of his own blood – was he satisfied to leave.

He didn’t know who the person was, and he didn’t know what kind of family he had behind him. But if he were to die that way, he felt undecided. If he didn’t die, that might cause more trouble, being afraid that this family might use all of its power to dig him out.

Chen Mu knew himself very clearly. He was just a little punk, and it would be rougher for his adversary to casually pull a hair. If things came to that he would have no chance for survival.

He carefully bound up the wound on his arm and used his clothes to pull it up to his shoulder. It was fortunate that he didn’t run into anybody when he came out of the alleyways. He didn’t go home right away but wandered around outside dazed for a little while before going back home.

Copper cried out when he saw Chen Mu, “I’d thought you had come home earlier, never imagining that I would get here first.” Though after he saw Chen Mu’s face and appearance, he was shocked. “Blockhead, what happened?”

Chen Mu’s face was a little pallid, but as though nothing had happened, “I ran into a little trouble.”

Copper’s nose twitched, and his brow wrinkled up, “Are you injured?” He opened up the clothes over Chen Mu’s left shoulder where the inside was already soaked with blood.

“You had some hard brush-up?” Copper carefully removed the cloth which had been binding Chen Mu’s wound, and cleaned the wound anew to avoid more serious consequences later. Given that the two had rich experiences getting hurt, they were familiar with how to treat wounds.

In a situation without anesthetics, cleaning a wound was a very painful affair. Chen Mu clamped his lips shut and didn’t make a sound through his clenched teeth. Beads of sweat the size of soy beans dripped down, and his face turned still more pale.

Taking an admiring look at Chen Mu, Copper sped up his hands’ movements a little bit. If it were he that had been injured, he was afraid that not only those nearby would have heard the howls. In Copper’s mind, Chen Mu really did seem like a block of wood sometimes, raw and harsh.

Bound with a new bandage, and having burned the blood-soaked clothes, Copper didn’t leave the slightest bit of evidence.

I think you’d better rest for a while and go out less often.” Copper muttered to himself. “I’ll go out and buy the materials myself.” He knew Chen Mu’s temperament very well. He would absolutely never be bullied, and he guessed that the other person was a lot worse off.

Chen Mu nodded and sighed. He certainly needed to keep out of sight for a while.

“It seems as though ‘The Legend of Master Shi’ is selling pretty well.” Chen Mu couldn’t help saying when he remembered the scene he’d witnessed.

“Ha, but of course!” Copper got excited as soon as they were talking about the card play, and with a look of self-satisfaction, “You’re not considering who made it. Hey, you haven’t found out, today when I went to those shops, I was surrounded by all the shopkeepers. Everyone was dying to get every card play I had, so hey, I had to divide them up a little bit apiece. We have to hurry up and make them, hey, this time we can really make a bundle!”

But Copper’s expression became hesitant, “Blockhead, your wound . . .”

Chen Mu shook his head, “It doesn’t matter, my right hand is enough.”

“Health is the most important thing, and we won’t only be making this particular card play. The money will be endless.” Copper couldn’t help giving this advice.

“Mmmm, I know.” Chen Mu nodded, while he suddenly remembered that mysterious card, which heated his mind right up. If he hadn’t been practicing those exercise gymnastics all along, then he was afraid that he would have certainly been finished over there.

The strength had burst out of him that day, so that even he was astounded when he thought about it.

But thinking carefully, he realized that luck made the biggest contribution to his being able to go on living. If his adversary had only a little bit more experience, and if he hadn’t been practicing those exercise gymnastics, and if he hadn’t brought along his fiery dragon fantasy card that day . . .

The result could have been entirely opposite.

Card artisans really are awesome! That jerk that he’d run into was a pure rookie, but even still he’d taken a serious hit.

Too bad that it was far far too remote for him to be a card artisan . . .