Hongzhu had been squatting near Boss Zhang’s stall for a long time, but no one came to sell Daiyu cards. Rather, the spies she sent to search the black market reported privately to her. “Sister Hongzhu, I found five Daiyu cards!”
”Sister Hongzhu, I found three here!”
Hongzhu immediately replied, “Buy them back immediately! Also, don’t reveal your identities. Just say you are buying them for collection.”
The two people indicated that they understood and quickly brought back eight Daiyu cards, handing them over to the president.
Hongzhu hid behind the stall, anxious and worried. She almost stared a hole through the black market street.
A long time passed, but the person she was waiting for still hadn’t appeared.
Sister Xue said that there were currently ten Daiyu cards on the market, and the people she sent to conduct a thorough search of the black market only retrieved eight. What about the other two? It would be fine if someone took them for collecting, but she hoped they weren’t bought by some club. Hongzhu became increasingly uneasy when thinking about this. Her sharp gaze swept across the bustling crowd in the black market, desperate to find the culprit.
Instead of the culprit, she encountered a sworn enemy. It was the vice president of the Judgment Guild, Canyang.
Both Fenghua and Judgment were top-tier card game clubs in the league, boasting incredibly popular players. the two guilds were constantly at odds in the game, so their relationship was naturally strained.
Hongzhu turned to leave, but Canyang stopped her with a forced smile on her face. “Sister Hong, long time no see. What have you been up to lately?”
“I’m here at the black market to collect some cards and materials,” Hongzhu said coldly.
“Is this preparation for the new season?”
“Yes.” Hongzhu hurriedly turned and left.
Canyang didn’t stop her again, leisurely strolling through the black market instead.
Guilds usually entrusted the acquisition of top-tier cards to guild merchants at the card specialty stores in the commercial district. These stores had many high-star finished cards that could be used immediately upon purchase. The probability of finding top-tier cards on the black market was extremely low. Most of them were low-level collectible cards ranging from one to four stars, with little combat value. However, when a top-tier card did appear, it often led to the discovery of a newcomer with exceptional talent in making cards.
Tang Muzhou, the top player of the Fenghua Club, rose to prominence in the black market.
Several years had passed since Tang Muzhou’s plant cards swept through the black market, but veteran players still recalled the thrill. Back then, the newcomer Tang Muzhou used the character ‘Tang’ as his logo to create a large number of plant cards, selling them on the black market where they were instantly snapped up. Later after making a fortune, Tang Muzhou single-handedly revived the stagnant wood-type card deck thanks to his outstanding card-making talent.
His ace player manager, Xue Linxiang, and the president of the Fenghua Club, Hongzhu, were both formidable figures he mentored in the online game.
Tang Muzhou’s emergence had a significant impact on the card league in season 5, leading to a large-scale reshuffling that eliminated many veteran players and allowed many newcomers to become famous. Since then, the five elements card systems never had a single dominant card deck. Various decks gradually became more balanced, and players from each system developed their own unique styles, leading to diverse decks flourishing and more exciting and entertaining matches.
Perhaps due to Tang Muzhou’s influence, combined with Sister Hongzhu’s fondness for browsing the black market, but it became a treasure trove for guilds to discover talent. Guild managers developed the habit of browsing the black market when bored.
Unfortunately, in the five years since Tang Muzhou, not a single professional player had started by selling cards on the black market.
Canyang reminisced about the past while browsing the black market.
Just then, she received a private message from an undercover agent sent to the Fenghua Guild. “Boss, Hongzhu suddenly sent people to buy female character cards, saying she wants to collect them. She even opened a stall in the black market to buy character cards at high prices.”
Canyang was stunned. “Why is she buying character cards?”
The undercover agent replied, “She said she likes character cards recently and wants to buy some for her collection.”
Canyang didn’t know what Hongzhu was up to, so she instructed the undercover agent, “Continue to follow up and tell me as soon as you have any news.”
In fact, Hongzhu was forced to do this. She had been waiting for the card seller for a long time but still couldn’t find him, so she decided to lure the snake out of the hole. She directly opened a large stall in the black market, named ‘Buying Female Character Cards with Collectible Value at High Prices,’ which was just short of directly typing ‘Daiyu Burying the Flowers.’
Everyone knew that guilds sent undercover agents to each other, so Hongzhu tried to keep a low profile and didn’t dare to mention the Daiyu card. Her move puzzled the major guilds in the game, who all speculated about the reason.
To Hongzhu’s amusement and exasperation, all sorts of random card makers brought her beautiful female cards to sell the moment the acquisition stall opened. In just half an hour, she saw cards of every style imaginable.
Surrounded by beautiful women, Hongzhu was speechless with frustration. She could only hope that the guy called Half Moon would appear soon!
Xie Mingzhe was destined not to appear at this acquisition stall because he no longer drew Lin Daiyu.
This was his conclusion after visiting the black market twice. In a game that had been runing for ten years, artists of all styles had endlessly emerged. Handsome men and beautiful women cards were plentiful, leading to a severe oversupply of character cards.
Aside from casual players who focused on collecting cards, most players in the game were competition enthusiasts. This was evident from the auctions where the cutest pet cards only sold for a few thousand gold coins while a top-tier combat card like the Night Blooming Jasmine fetched a huge price of 660,000 gold coins. Passionate players valued card attributes far more than the card’s appearance.
So the characters’ good looks was a secondary thing. Strong combat power was the key.
Xie Mingzhe realized this and temporarily gave up on drawing beauties from Dream of the Red Chamber. He turned his attention to the Water Margin.
The first person he thought of was Wu Song, one of the strongest combatants in the Water Margin.
He loved reading novels and comics since he was a child. He was only six years old when he read the Water Margin comics. Those books were all donated to the orphanage by a philanthropist. Every day, he held the comic book and read with great interest. Wu Song could kill a living tiger with a few punches. He was a true man! Unfortunately, Xie Mingzhe didn’t remember the image of Wu Song from the TV drama clearly, but he did recall the black and white illustrations in the comics.
Xie Mingzhe first pictured Wu Song fighting the tiger in his mind. Once it was confirmed, he took out the Nebula Paper and tried making a new card.
He only remembered the black and white comic strip, so this composition was much simpler than Daiyu Burying the Flowers.
As his mental power slowly poured in, a black and white ink painting gradually appeared on the Nebula Paper. A muscular man clenched his fist, veins bulging, as he delivered a powerful punch to a tiger’s head, splattering its brain and killing it instantly!
The system informed him, “The card creation is successful. Please connect to the database for review!”
Xie Mingzhe had experience from when Lin Daiyu was reviewed and waited patiently this time. A few minutes later, the notification that the review had passed sounded and he skillfully imprinted the Half Moon logo on the back of the card.
It was still a low-level beginner card. Xie Mingzhe picked up the card and carefully examined its data.
[Wu Song (Fire Attribute)]
[Level: 1.
Evolution Star Level: ★
Available Uses: 1/1
Basic Attributes: HP 300, Defense 300, Attack 300, Agility 10, Critical Rate 20%.
Additional Skill: Wu Song Smashes the Tiger (Slams a fist into the tiger’s head, dealing massive damage. There is a 1% chance of triggering an instant death effect).]
The card’s stats were much better than the Daiyu card he initially created. Daiyu’s base HP was 100, the defense was 15 and the attack was 9. Wu Song’s HP, attack and defense were all 300, more than ten times higher. The skill only worked on tigers, so its use wasn’t widespread. Still, its base attributes were high and the Wu Song he drew looked particularly handsome. Daiyu sold for 30 gold coins, so Wu Song should sell for even more, right?
Xie Mingzhe decided to take the card to the black market to ask about the price first. If it sold well, he would come back and draw a few more.
He arrived at the black market and found a stall at the entrance that was buying collectible female character cards at high prices. Many people were gathered there to sell female character cards, and the purchase price seemed to start at 50 gold coins. Xie Mingzhe had sold out of Daiyu cards, so he ignored it for the time being and went straight into the depths of the black market.
The black market was filled with powerful figures. Many seemingly ordinary merchants might have the backing of major guilds. In particular, the business of the large buying and selling stalls was no less lucrative than the stores in the prime locations of the central square.
Xie Mingzhe first wandered around, checking how much cards with similar attributes to Wu Song were selling for. Then after gaining a general idea, he went to a stall that was buying high-attribute combat cards. He handed the Wu Song card he just made to the boss. “Boss, what do you think of this card? How much can I sell it for?”
The boss took it and examined it. “Your card has very balanced attack and defense attributes, but the skill is average. It isn’t very practical. Balanced cards don’t sell for very high prices. An one-star initial card is probably around 50 gold coins.”
Xie Mingzhe smiled and took back the card. “Do you think you can fool me just because I am a low level newbie? Forget it, I’ll go check other stalls.”
He didn’t want to deal with cunning merchants. Buying something worth 100 gold coins for around 70 was reasonable, but asking for 50 directly? Did the boss think he was stupid? He saw that several nearby stalls were selling cards with similar stats to Wu Song for around 100.
Xie Mingzhe took the card back, ignored the stall owner’s calls and turned to another stall.
The stall owner was a cute young girl in a princess dress. Her voice was sweet as she said, “Chubby Uncle, do you want to sell original cards?”
“Yes, Boss. Take a look.” Xie Mingzhe handed her the card. The girl said, “This card has balanced stats. I will take it for 100 each.”
“Isn’t that a bit low? My one-star card has 300 attack power. Once it is leveled up to seven stars, the attack power will be in the tens of thousands, plus it has an attack bonus against tigers.” Xie Mingzhe tried hard to promote his card. “How about you add a bit more? 140?”
“……” This guy was quite eloquent and he came up with a good argument. The girl thought for a moment and could only nod. “Okay, 140!”
The cost price of the Nebula Paper was only 7 gold coins and he sold it for 140. This was a 20 fold increase. He had made a fortune!
Xie Mingzhe was overjoyed but outwardly pretended to be calm. He sold the card to the other person, smiling as he asked, “I’m the original creator and I can continue making this card. Do you still need it? How about a long-term cooperation? There will be a discount for a bulk purchase.”
The girl waved her hand while her head ached. “You are too good at talking. I don’t want to buy in bulk, thank you.”
Xie Mingzhe regretfully turned and walked away.
Canyang wandered around the black market, hoping to find some unique cards. Unfortunately, she didn’t find anything after browsing for most of the day. Then she came to Shuangshuang’s buying stall, so she stopped and asked, “How is business lately?”
Shuangshuang was temporarily replacing her master at the black market, but she didn’t know much about cards. She just thought the Wu Song card was special, so she bought one. Once she saw the vice president coming over in person, she immediately said respectfully, “Business is okay. Vice President, I just received a card here. It is quite unique. Let me show you.” She handed the Wu Song card she just received to the president.
Canyang carefully looked at the card. The attack, defense and health were very balanced. This type of card could only be described as third-rate. The additional skill… Wu Song Smashes the Tiger. A fist slammed into the tiger’s head, dealing massive damage and there was a 15% chance of triggering an instant death effect.
Canyang’s pupils contracted sharply and she tightly clenched her fingers.
An instant death skill specifically designed for tiger-type cards! Wouldn’t God Nie’s White Tiger be doomed with this card?
Canyang’s breathing immediately quickened. She glanced around, found no familiar faces and slightly sighed with relief before whispering in Shuangshuang’s ear, “Who sold you this card?”
Shuangshuang replied, “A level 15 newbie called Chubby Uncle. He said he made this card himself.”
Canyang’s voice trembled with tension. “You know him, right? Go find him and bring him back to me!”
Shuangshuang looked bewildered, “Vice President, what do you want with him?”
Canyang said, “Just tell him I want to buy a large quantity of his cards and bring him back to the guild to see me!”
Shuangshuang realized the seriousness of the situation, so she quickly handed over her stall to her guild members and ran off.
She chased all the way through the black market. Then she saw the familiar Chubby Uncle ahead and called out, “Chubby Uncle, wait a minute…”
Before she could finish speaking, the man opened a portal and went straight to his personal apartment.
Gemini had countless personal apartments and the place where a player lived was their private matter. It was like searching for a needle in a haystack unless the player actively provided their apartment number. In order to avoid harassment, only nearby players and friends could send private voice chats in the game. If not nearby, they could only send emails.
Shuangshuang remembered his name and immediately sent him an email, relaying the vice president’s message.
However, the Fatty Uncle in the game logged off just as the email arrived.
It was because Brother Chen, the owner of the power leveling studio, came in person to invite Xie Mingzhe to dinner.
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