The Card Apprentice

Chapter 194: Worries

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

Chen Mu came shooting out of the water hiding his pleasure with some difficulty, though he was such a calm and cool person. Wei-ah remained impassive as though nothing had happened and saw Chen Mu without looking at him.

“What did you just discover?” Chen Mu couldn’t help but ask.

“There was someone hiding in ambush by the window, and I scared him off.” Wei-ah turned about and walked toward the quiet-room while dropping a phrase, “Don’t bother me unless something’s wrong.”

Chen Mu smiled bitterly to himself, only then understanding where that murderous aura, which seemed dropped from an icehouse, had just come from. Wei-ah’s power had once again stunned Chen Mu, with the murderous aura so heavy and cold. It was hard to imagine how terrifying that move would be if Wei-ah used all this strength! Wei-ah’s power had so stunned Chen Mu it had broken right through his recent excitement and made clear to him what a little rookie he still was.

Chen Mu didn’t know how others might respond to the situation, but he had always strongly felt that every time his own strength increased, he would realize how weak and small he was. That was indeed strange!

The breakthrough that time had greatly exceeded his expectations. He had originally hoped to find some kind of method to increase his own perception more quickly. But, when he’d received that bout of Wei-ah’s murderous aura, he’d profited from the catastrophe with a surge to his perception. His body’s perception by then had shot up a full 20 percent. That wouldn’t have meant much at the start, but it was undoubtedly a qualitative transformation for Chen Mu at that point.

More importantly, Chen Mu had found a truly effective method. He didn’t mind whether there was similar content as he reviewed the results from his extreme training. What he did care about was whether such methods were useful or not and what the results were. Since he’d gotten such deadly pressure in the water just then, the powerful desire to survive that had burst forth had provoked a marvelous transformation in his body. The most evident aspect was the length of time he could remain in the water.

He’d done some testing, and he could now remain for about 25 minutes on a single breath, which was much longer than the previous ten minutes.

He wasn’t very clear about the specific reason for that, but it still wasn’t a bad thing no matter what anyone said. Not being able to understand why it was, Chen Mu put the matter aside for the moment since he was still busy with other matters just then.

For his perception to improve by 20 percent was like a person who weighed 50 kilos to suddenly add ten kilos of flesh. Such perception was really unimaginably wonderful. Chen Mu was then faced with the worries that the sudden rise in his perception would make his six senses more astute than ever.

Slight noises he had originally been able to ignore were now like dozens of mosquitoes humming in his ears. Even his pores had become suddenly more sensitive, and he would accurately capture every slightest breath of air. The problem was that what he didn’t want to capture would plug up his brain just the same.

His hearing had also shot up to where he could even very clearly hear Bu Qiangdong berating the other employees downstairs. That wasn’t very fortunate for him either.

Chen Mu hadn’t gotten any joy from the increase to his perception within those few brief hours. On the contrary, he felt he had been suddenly thrown into a marshy pit without any way to resist and only being able to bear it in silence.

Although Chen Mu didn’t have any way to get rid of those damned issues, he had found a way to temporarily resolve them, which was the quiet-room. In the quiet-room, not only would he be able to avoid the noise outside, but the air flows were also a lot better there. He wondered if that could have been why Wei-ah would duck into the quiet-room.

Ai, it looked as though he could only first enter the quiet-room to find any way to resolve the issue.

* * *

Butchie wasn’t in the mood to evaluate how well she’d executed that tactical maneuver because she had already lost track of the black-suited man! His disappearance seemed to happen entirely without warning, and she had quickly lost any response from him. That nearly scared Butchie out of her wits.

If he were looking to evade such a high-grade card artisan as Butchie, it wouldn’t be a simple matter. She’d run into stealth aces before, though she’d never run into a situation like the one she was confronting then: a sudden disappearance in the midst of battle. In the midst of battle, perception and power waves were a lot more powerful than normal. Card artisans needed to deploy their perception to lock on and fire with the energy bodies never released from perception along the way. If he’d wanted to hide, he would have had to restrain his breathing, which would have naturally included his perception.

To release one and restrain the other wasn’t so difficult, but to complete the entire process from release to restraint in an extremely short period, like 0.5 seconds, implied a level of difficulty more than several orders of magnitude greater.

It wasn’t like there weren’t such card artisans in the world who could enter that realm in the midst of battle. For example, 30 years prior there was the “transparent man,” Peng Hao. His reputation flourished for a while as the fabulous card artisan from the Repository of the Classics who had vanquished 20 of the most prominent card artisans of the period in the space of a year. It was said that even while he was in the midst of battle, he could abruptly hide his breathing at will and make a sneak attack. That’s where the nickname “transparent man” came from.

But, such an ace as Peng Hao would be a top card artisan without exception many times above her own level.

Could she have encountered such an ace? Butchie immediately nixed such a notion. She was very clear about her own stature, and if such an ace had arrived, she would likely lose just facing him. She would never have been able to battle fiercely for so long.

Thinking hard about it, the only resolution was that the black-suited man had some special skill in that regard. Butchie had better just accept the facts; although she’d been somewhat lacking that evening, it had allowed her to establish her vigilant heart, which wasn’t all bad. And, she’d only wanted to probe the black-suited man a little.

Butchie couldn’t help but feel somewhat bleak to run into two such aces in the course of a single day. That was especially when she thought about the seeming distance between herself and the black-suited man, who when faced with the cold murderous aura was only able to escape in panic. That didn’t sit right with her. It meant it would have been the same result even if she’d changed. What worried her still more was that there could be such a top ace in Pomelo, which wasn’t a good thing considering her current job.

She didn’t know if that ace had come for the same thing. If he had, then they wouldn’t have the slightest hope anymore. If not, then given her misgivings, she wouldn’t have dared to be so unrestrained. If she weren’t careful and offended that ace, then the result would doubtlessly be worse.

That was the true ace’s most powerful deterrence. Butchie felt some unaccountable envy. Since when had she been able to get to such a place?

In the crowd, the ever-smiling, refined youth had taken on a serious expression. He had cast his gaze to the corner of a building in the distance, which was where the black-suited man had just disappeared.

As compared with his expression, his feelings were still more shocked. Since he’d seen what happened more clearly than Butchie had, it had made a deeper impression.

Just when the golden glow was about to climb to the top of the building, he lost any response toward the black-suited man. That surprised him. More surprisingly, he had seen the black-suited man so very clearly at the time. It was a strange feeling for him to have the black-suited man so clearly in his sights and then for his perception to lose any response toward him.

“Why don’t they fight? Good lord! My reward!” The fatty to his side was half surprised and half in anguish. That also made the youth’s frosty face warm a bit. Just then, the golden glow had already become a shooting star, flying off into the distance. The youth hesitated for a moment while he fought the urge to go in pursuit.

When the youth returned home, he found everyone present in the living room except for him. Everyone’s face was grave, and he asked with some surprise, “What’s up?”

“Didn’t Howie feel it?” The middle-aged man in charge looked at him sharply, showing some dissatisfaction. His cheeks were thin, and below his left eye there was a light scar, which made him look still more self-possessed.

The youth called Howie was stumped and then grinned and said laughingly, “Uncle is talking about the ace’s breathing?”

“Mmm. We were just discussing the matter.” The uncle nodded, seeing Howie impatiently watching him, and then he shook his head. “I’m not his equal.” The uncle said that quite naturally and placidly and without a shred of shame.

As the group heard it, everyone’s expression went apprehensive. The heights of the uncle’s talents were the most outstanding in the group.

“And, we haven’t found out which guy has eaten his fill and doesn’t have anything to do, who would still come to steal something to eat from us.” Howie muttered.

“We still don’t know the adversary’s goal just now. But, it looks like we’ll have to make a change to our plans. Everyone has to lay low for a while. Ren Wenzhou can’t hold out much longer. I’m guessing he will soon make a compromise. He has already started to soften. What we need is to very safely and steadily take in the entire Central Island Firm. It really won’t be appropriate for us to take rough measures. This is where our strength lies, and I believe Ren Wenzhou will surely choose us.”

Howie couldn’t help but interrupt. “What about that ace? Should we ask for help from above?”

Not paying attention to Howie, the uncle said to the group, “One ace won’t change the situation. We already have the absolute advantage. What we need now is not to fight over it, but rather not to make any mistakes. Everyone knows the other powers have recently been making a bit of a fuss, and the higher-ups are being vigilant; they won’t be able to deploy anyone just now.” His tone faltered, and then he stepped up the volume. “But, I believe that even if we don’t get help, we can still complete this job!” What the uncle said was full of heroics and resoundingly roused everyone’s spirits.

Howie was still wanting to mutter, but when he saw the uncle staring at him, he quickly swallowed what he was about to say.

He felt some faint foreboding.