The Card Apprentice

It was a great purge.

There were 15 grade seven card artisans, but there were only eight left; it was a staggering proportion. Relatively speaking, the proportion of average card artisans who had problems was much smaller, yet 46 people were caught. The whole purge didn’t encounter any resistance, thanks to Chen Mu’s instructions; he instructed everyone to remove their meter when they were out of the barracks. A card artisan without his meter, even for a grade seven card artisan, would have no way to combat.

But the purge had an inevitable impact on the morale of Wood Word Camp; everyone was jittery.

Xiaobo and Sang Hanshui had a face as long as a fiddle, but they were more curious with how their boss accomplished that?

Chen Mu said, “There were spies among us. I believe you two were aware of that?”

“Of course,” Xiaobo continued, “Boss made such a big hoo-ha about it. It would be abnormal if the rest didn’t have any reaction.”

Although Sang Hanshui didn’t speak, his face also showed approval. Those years weren’t the same as before. In the past, the scene was peaceful and there were far fewer spy exchanges. However, with the deterioration of the situation over the years, such incidents had run rampant; it was evident from the fact that many spies had been uncovered by Chen Mu.

Chen Mu continued, “If such a thing was handled by Commander Bog or Commander Xi, they’ll have their own ways of dealing it. The three of us knew nothing about these things. There’re too many sensitive things in our hands. If we let them continued in the dark, the consequences will be too serious. I’m thinking that since it’s strategically difficult to achieve, we could only achieve it through technical means!”

“I’ve developed a card appliance that can monitor the waves of communication. But the use of this card appliance is very demanding; it needs to be installed in advance. Three of us, Wei-ah, Little Bu Mo and I, had installed nearly 300 of these devices throughout West Delhi City; covering the whole of the city.” Chen Mu finally unraveled the mystery, “This project started when we were in the jungle.”

“It’s that awesome?” Xiaobo was astonished.

Chen Mu shook his head, “In fact, its function is still very weak. The degree of monitoring is relatively weak, and there are limitations in its use; it needs to be installed in advance. If there’s a change in venue and the card appliance isn’t installed beforehand, it’ll be totally useless.”

“That’s already very amazing! Boss!” Sang Hanshui gasped in admiration. He had never heard of such card appliance, and now he understood how those spies were caught. Who would have thought that their boss could invent such a powerful card appliance?

“It should be clean this time round?” Xiaobo couldn’t help but asked.

“I don’t know.” Chen Mu shook his head, “There’re spies that we can’t take care of now. We don’t have much time. Get ready, we’re setting off soon. We need to launch a surprise attack on the Blood-Red Card Artisan Team immediately.”

Xiaobo and Sang Hanshui’s expressions suddenly turned funny. After a while, Sang Hanshui said, “Boss, we’re here to tell you about it.”

“What’s the matter?”

“Blood-Red Card Artisan Team has been wiped out!”

“Ah!” Chen Mu was confused for a moment but he immediately asked, “What’s going on?”

“Let’s look at the news. It’s been on the news lately.” Xiaobo opened the fantasy card receiver as he spoke.

Heavenly Drum Village District had been broadcasting news about the Blood-Red Card Artisan Team. The Blood-Red Card Artisan Team was one of the most famous card artisan team in Heavenly Drum Village District. Its sudden demise had brought tremendous shock to everyone. An enormous and unmatched team collapsed in a short time was undoubtedly a major event.

In the blink of an eye, the territories and resources once belonged to the Blood-Red Card Artisan Team was divided up by various giants. The Blood-Red Card Artisan Team had too many enemies. When they were at their weakest and lacking allies, they ended up being wiped out by their enemies.

The sudden crumpled of Blood-Red Card Artisan Team had the residents from Heavenly Drum Village District remembered a name – Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team!

It was that unheard card artisan team who buried the giant, Blood-Red Card Artisan Team. And they smashed the giant’s most powerful weapon during their confrontation! At that time, people were shocked to discover that the mysterious card artisan team not only had mastered the extraction technology of purple fluorescent ore, but they also had powerful combat ability!

They owned a dreadful card named Fiery Rain Card, and a fascinating number of Sniper Card Artisan! In addition, their commanders had unparalleled talent.

That was just a point of view spreading among ordinary residents. In their eyes, the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team was a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma. Among the big powers, a rumor about the commander of the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team was slowly spreading.

That rumor enabled the people to suddenly realize; no wonder with the help of merely 2,000 card artisans, they could wipe out the Blood-Red Card Artisan Team. No one came out to confirm the rumor, nor did the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team ever made any statement about it. Those who previously coveted the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team’s cards and techniques vanished in an instant. In addition, wherever the Snow Silkworms Card Artisan Team went, the local forces would avoid them and keep a safe distance away from them.

“That wolf…” Chen Mu thought.

After watching the news, it had left Chen Mu totally flabbergasted.

When he had recovered from his surprise, he felt extremely relaxed.

“Bogner is awesome!” Chen Mu praised him as he felt pleasantly surprised.

“He’s just an uncle.” Xiaobo muttered. He had suffered terribly in Bogner’s hands; in that year when Bogner and Xi Ping joined hands and nearly scraped a layer of skin off him.

Sang Hanshui had never seen Bogner, so he didn’t express any of his opinions. Nevertheless, he still admired and marveled at Bogner’s amazing achievements in wiping out Blood Hammer Unit. His boss was indeed a capable man! And all who followed him were capable people!

He was reminded of Wei-ah, and then about Bogner; that idea was planted in Sang Hanshui’s head and was growing stronger!

Xiaobo touched his chin. He didn’t even notice how similar his action was to Bogner.

“What’s next? Blood-Red Card Artisan Team is gone. What’re we going to do next?”

That question was Sang Hanshui’s too. After all, their goal was to attack the Blood-Red Card Artisan Team in order to alleviate Bogner’s pressure. Now, the demise of the Blood-Red Card Artisan Team meant that their primary target had been ironed out, and their next moves had to be reset by Chen Mu.

“Let’s go to Qianhu City. Bogner could surely guess our whereabouts. They should be on their way to Qianhu City too. We’ll just find each other there.” Chen Mu muttered.

Xiaobo and Sang Hanshui had no differing opinion.

Qiu Shanyu was very obedient for a few days. She knew that she was less likely to obtain Chen Mu’s trust as compared to others. Any dubious action of hers could lead to a bad consequence; that wasn’t what she wanted. As an onlooker, she could observe more clearly.

However, a clearer view didn’t enable her to better fathomed The White Commander. On the contrary, The White Commander became more and more baffling to her. He had quietly undergone a great purge. She still didn’t know what methods The White Commander actually used. But those unexpected means, even she, had her heart in her mouth! If she was in his shoes, she wasn’t able to do as well as he did.

The image of The White Commander in her heart was mightier and increasingly dreadful; under the surface of his ordinary, quiet and serious demeanor, he had an unfathomable strength. What made her muddled was that she couldn’t understand every step he took. However, it was those plans that she couldn’t understand achieved incredible outcomes time and again.

She was prudent and cautious, spoke very little, and only observed from the side.

Looking at the teenager, who was far from being handsome, in front of her, she was in a trance. When she looked back on her experience in Pomelo, Chen Mu didn’t even leave an impression on her. Even now, the vast majority of people weren’t aware of his deadliness. He was like a patient hunter, quietly ambushing and concealing himself.

She couldn’t tell whether Chen Mu’s concealment was intentional or unintentional. If it was intentional, it would be too horrifying!

She felt a little chilly.

“I’ve watched the news.” Chen Mu looked straight into Qiu Shanyu’s eyes, “Faya pressurizing the Blood-Red Card Artisan Team; you’ve accomplished it. As another part of our agreement, I’ll give you the tactical regulation today. But you need to wait till you’ve reach Qianhu City before you can return to Faya.”

Chen Mu’s eyes were unperturbed, his tone was certain, and there was no room for negotiation.

Qiu Shanyu didn’t ask for the rationale, and simply nodded, “Sure”.

“Get ready to set off. We’re leaving here in a minute.” Before Chen Mu left, he added, “I’m afraid it’s not a smooth ride.”

Qiu Shanyu was silent; she understood Chen Mu’s concern. Although Chen Mu was very thorough in his purge, but there were absolutely some he had missed out. Even if the average member couldn’t reach the crux of the team, but the tip of the iceberg was enough to arouse countless fantasies.

The wages of avarice is death.

The White Commander was notorious, but when benefits reached an astonishing level; there were many people who were desperate to take risks.

Sensing that the morale of the Wood Word Camp was affected by the purge, Chen Mu decided to disclose the identity of those spies. It suddenly dawned on the members of those spies who had almost made them lost their jobs, and they collectively lashed out their frustration on them. It was a known fact that Wood Word Camp wasn’t recruiting new members, and the treatment they enjoyed were enough to make the people outside greedy.

High salaries and good benefits were also available elsewhere.

But there was no other place to secure the numbered series of cards except in Chen Mu’s team. Every member’s strength, as compared to the first time they came in, had improved tremendously after the trainings! Many of them, before they joined the team, even thought they would never improve further in their lifetime.

Although the name of the Snow Pit Method was a bit mediocre, but its benefits were absolute. Such training methods were treasured by leaders from other card artisan team, and would only be available for card artisans of higher grades; those card artisans of lower grades had no chance to get hold of such training methods.

Although the training of Chen Mu’s team was a little hard, it had serious military discipline and strong combat capacity. Those card artisans were well-experienced in life and knowledgeable. Everyone knew that Wood Word Camp would have a bright future.

What was more important than that in such unruly times?

With a bright future, even if they could only occupy a small territory in the future, their families would be able to live a stable life.

At that time, any rotten apple spoiling the bunch was extremely abhorred by the members.

Chen Mu hadn’t anticipated that his members would be so enthusiastic. Almost spontaneously, members of the team reported other card artisans who had something unusual about them. They rat out and exposed several spies who had hidden themselves well.

But Chen Mu had no time to check those things; his time was running out.

He had to rush to Qianhu City as quick as lightning.

And he would never know that a legend was born when he left West Delhi City with his Wood Word Camp!