In her high heels, Xue Linxiang ran all the way to the contestants’ apartments and knocked on Tang Muzhou’s dormitory door.
Tang Muzhou took a long time to open the door. His eyes were half-closed as he leaned against the door and yawned repeatedly.
This man’s sleep schedule was very strange. Other people took naps while this man needed to take an hour long ‘afternoon nap’ every day from four to five in the afternoon, or he would be so sleepy that he would keep yawning.
He looked like he still hadn’t woken up when he saw Xue Linxiang. His eyes were vacant and unfocused.
Xue Linxiang said seriously, “Xiao Tang, go wash your face and wake up. I have something important to tell you!”
Tang Muzhou closed his eyes and didn’t react. Standing there, he was like the god of sleep.
Xue Linxiang shouted loudly, “Tang Muzhou!”
“Oh.” Tang Muzhou finally woke up. He yawned as he turned to wash his face. His steps were as light as a feather, as if he was sleepwalking.
Just then, the door of the next room opened from the inside and a young boy poked his head out.
He was a round, baby-faced boy with large, bright sky-blue eyes, long, thick eyelashes and hair that shone with a golden luster in the sunlight, making him look like an adorable doll. His voice was still clear and bright from puberty as he said, “Sister Xue, your shout almost made my brain freeze. Did my master offend you? How do you plan to deal with him?”
Xue Linxiang rolled her eyes at the boy. “Shen An, you come here too! I have something serious to tell you.”
Shen An, who originally poked his head out to watch the show, immediately stopped joking when he saw Sister Xue’s displeased expression. He obediently followed behind her.
By the time the two of them entered the next room, Tang Muzhou had already washed his face.
The man sat on the sofa in a relaxed manner. His deep eyes now displayed wisdom and charity.
The Tang Muzhou before and after washing his face were practically two different people.
In the few years since his debut, Tang Muzhou had won individual championships and consistently performed well in team competitions. However, his win rate became terrible whenever a match was scheduled between four and five in the afternoon. Gradually, everyone became aware of his unusual sleep schedule. Fans even joked that God Shen had made too many plant cards and became like a plant. The afternoon was too intense, causing God Tang to wilt and need to hibernate.
Fortunately, the professional leagues scheduled most matches during prime time from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. for the sake of viewership. Thus, the impact was minimal.
It was nearly five and Tang Muzhou had already woken up.
Tang Muzhou saw Sister Xue and his apprentice walk in one after another and asked with concern, “Sister Xue, you look so pale. What happened?” He glanced at his apprentice standing next to Sister Xue, but the young boy shook his head, indicating that he didn’t know anything.
Xue Linxiang didn’t speak. She just quickly turned on the tablet computer she had brought with her.
A virtual projection screen, over two meters wide, immediately appeared in the air in front of them. Nine identical one-star cards were displayed on the screen, neatly arranged in a row. It was a truly impressive sight.
The cards were character cards. It was a beautifully crafted scene consisting of a beautiful woman, her face streaked with tears as she delicately tossed flower petals into the river.
Tang Muzhou stood up and walked to the card, examining it closely, “What type of card is this?”
“Hongzhu bought it from the black market,” Xue Linxiang said seriously. “Take a close look at the card’s stats and skill.”
100 HP, 0 attack and 15 defense—the basic stats were laughable. The skill was Daiyu Burying the Flowers which dealt severe damage to flower-type cards, with a 10% chance of triggering an instant death effect.
Instant death? Specifically targeting flowers?
Tang Muzhou raised an eyebrow, paused for two seconds, and turned to look at his apprentice. “Xiao An, what are you thoughts?”
Shen An tilted his head back to look at the card and calculated it carefully. “The initial card has a 10% probability, and this will become 80% once it reaches level 70. If you use materials that increase the probability to strengthen it, you can stack the probability to 100%. This type of functional card is useless against other players, but against Master, it can directly disable Master’s flower trump card. Did someone make this specifically to target Master?”
Xue Linxiang was very pleased. Shen An was only fifteen years old and was very mischievous. He always followed everyone around like a child who never grew up. However, this child was smart and had extremely high comprehension. He noticed the problem with the card at a glance. As expected of Tang Muzhou’s apprentice.
She was about to agree when Tang Muzhou said calmly, “Targeting me? That isn’t necessarily true.”
Shen An was taken aback. “What do you mean?”
“Look closely at the picture on this card.” Tang Muzhou pointed to the image on the front of the card. “Aren’t there too many decorations?”
Shen An suddenly realized. “That’s right! The flowers, plants, river and trees are like a painting!”
Xue Linxiang also felt that something was off and couldn’t help asking, “Xiao Tang, do you mean this card isn’t specifically targeting you?”
“Yes.” Tang Muzhou turned to look at the woman with a tear-streaked face on the card. “A true card-making master knows that the purer the card design, the purer the summoned card illusion will be and the stronger the card will be. This card contains too many cluttered decorations. In addition to the main character, there are trees, flowers and a river. These elements make the card appear full, but they actually greatly reduce the combat power of the central character.”
Tang Muzhou saw that the two of them were listening attentively and patiently analyzed it. “If this person was a card-making master, this card would only need to depict the two key elements: character and flower. If these elements are fine, the initial card probability would be around 30% and a level 70 card will reach the maximum 100% without needing materials for enhancement. However, this person doesn’t know how to craft cards at all, so the cards only have an initial probability of 10% with chaotic data. Enhancing it to the maximum probability later will require a very high price.”
Shen An nodded vigorously. “Master is right! This card is drawn so meticulously it is like an art student drawing a painting. Experts in the card-making world know that drawing a bunch of decorations is a major taboo when making combat cards!”
Xue Linxiang frowned. After a moment, she said, “Could this be just a coincidence?”
Tang Muzhou nodded.
Xue Linxiang was about to sigh with relief when she heard Tang Muzhou say, “I’m not afraid of someone deliberately targeting me. It is when it is a coincidence that it is much more terrifying.”
Xue Linxiang was stunned for a moment, but quickly understood what God Tang meant.
Earlier when Hongzhu gave her the card, she was frightened by the highly targeted card skill and her mind wasn’t clear.
Tang Muzhou was more clear-headed than she was.
In particular, Tang Muzhou who woke up at 5 o’clock would think about problems more calmly and sharply than her.
Tang Muzhou wouldn’t be afraid of someone was to deliberately provoke him and create a counter-card. Over the years, his deck had been studied by various clubs. There had been many counter-cards created to counter him.
His current level of success wasn’t solely due to his cards, but also his extremely fast adaptability and precise card control. This Daiyu Burying the Flowers card could disable one of his flower-themed ace cards, but he still had stronger ones. In every competition, players expanded their card pool and brought several back-up cards into the game. Opponents couldn’t possibly counter every single card.
However, it was precisely because this was a coincidence that it was so terrifying!
No one knew who the card’s creator was or how talented they were. This person had unintentionally created a card that countered Tang Muzhou. It was just Daiyu Burying the Flowers today, but who knew if they would create another strange card tomorrow/ What if they created a whole bunch of cards that countered flower decks and sold them to various clubs? Tang Muzhou would have an incredibly difficult time in the next season.
If every professional player got a Lin Daiyu card, many of Tang Muzhou’s flower cards would be completely useless!
Xue Linxiang was feeling frustrated when Tang Muzhou asked, “Who created this card? Have you found out, Sister Xue?”
Xue Linxiang snapped out of her daze and immediately replied, “This card was obtained by Hongzhu from the black market. The owner forgot the seller’s name. The only clue we have about this card so far is the logo on the back. Take a look yourself.”
Tang Muzhou flipped the card over. The back was completely blank, with only two characters written in the lower right corner of the green card back: Half, moon.
The confused Shen An scratched his head and made a guess. “What does Half Moon mean? Half a month?”
Tang Muzhou’s lips curled up slightly. “Put them together and it means fat. Could they be a fat person?”
“……” Shen An and Xue Linxiang looked at each other.
What the? A fat person?
Who would put such an ugly and unpleasant logo on the back of the card? Were they trying to be funny?
Tang Muzhou looked at the back of the card with interest and smiled. “From a data perspective, this person doesn’t understand card making at all. From a creative perspective, he is a rare genius. I deduce that this is a talented novice who just started playing the game. This card might be his first creation. He doesn’t understand the numerical balance in card making, so the card’s skill design is very unique but the values are very chaotic.”
As Tang Muzhou spoke, he opened his personal computer and connected to the card database.
The game had copyright protection and the card creator’s logo must be unique. Therefore, in the official database, people could search for the number of cards made by a creator based on the logo. Only the quantity could be searched and specific cards weren’t displayed to protect privacy.
Tang Muzhou entered the official database and casually searched for the number of cards made by the creator ‘Half Moon.’
Nineteen cards.
Xue Linxiang obviously saw this as well and her eyes widened. “Hongzhu told me there were only nine! How did it become nineteen?”
Tang Muzhou said, “Perhaps Hongzhu only bought nine and the other ten have been scattered on the market.”
Xue Linxiang felt a chill run down her spine as she thought of this possibility.
The situation she least wanted to see had occurred. It would be fine if these cards were bought by collectors. If it was obtained by various clubs who were proficient in card functions and data, upgraded to seven stars and had its probability fully enhanced, it would be a god-tier card against Tang Muzhou!
In the future, all opponents could use this card specifically to disable Tang Muzhou’s flower trump card…
This fat guy was simply here to counter Tang Muzhou!
Xue Linxiang took a deep breath and immediately sent a video message to Hongzhu. “Xiao Zhu, there might still be ten Daiyu Burying the Flowers cards scattered around. Mobilize the guild members to conduct a thorough search of the black market and commercial street. Retrieve all the cards as soon as possible! Also, once you find the maker of this card, use all means necessary, whether it is coercion or bribery, to bring him back to the club!”
Hongzhu understood the seriousness of the situation and nodded vigorously. “Don’t worry, Sister Xue. I bought the card from Boss Zhang at the black market. I’m staking out Boss Zhang’s stall right now. If he comes to sell cards again, I will definitely catch him!”
At the same time, the black market.
Xie Mingzhe didn’t go to Boss Zhang’s stall to sell cards. After all, he had just sold nine cards to the boss recently. If the boss didn’t sell a single one and it became an unsaleable product, the boss definitely wouldn’t give him 30 gold coins per card.
The clever Xie Mingzhe found another stall.
The stall owner was a young girl who particularly liked the Daiyu card. She said, “The data of this card isn’t great but the artwork is beautiful. How about this? I only want two for 30 gold coins each. I won’t sell these two cards. I will keep them for my own collection!”
Xie Mingzhe readily agreed. As the copyright holder, he could produce the card indefinitely. This meant he would sell as many as he could.
He sold two to the girl and approached a middle-aged man, trying to sell him a pitch with his eloquent tongue.
The boss looked distressed. “Character cards aren’t particularly valuable for collectors. This game has been in open beta for ten years and cards featuring handsome men and beautiful women are practically everywhere. Still, your still is quite unique. Give me five for 25 gold coins each.”
The boss was right. Character cards weren’t easy to sell in the low-level card market. Xie Mingzhe knew when to stop and sold five to the boss. Then he sold the remaining three to another owner for 25 gold coins each.
He sold all ten Lin Daiyu cards but he knew this wasn’t a long-term solution. Characters cards with poor attributes weren’t popular in the game. He could only draw a few dozen more of this card before it was no longer worth selling on the black market.
He needed to quickly figure out what new cards to make and how to improve its data.
Back in his personal space, Xie Mingzhe was preoccupied with making new cards and had no idea that the black market was already in chaos!
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