The Card Apprentice

Chapter 404  A Three-Person Job

The death of Song Chengyan had greatly weakened his forces. Such an outstanding commander as Song Chengyan was singularly sufficient to influence the development of the situation of the entire Heavenly Federation. Armies of thousands were easy enough to get, but a single general was hard to find. Tang Hanpei now had to face the headache of who would take over his motley troops, which were composed of forces from all over. That was one of the reasons he had remained behind; once Song Chengyan had died, no one apart from him could hold those people together.

He\'d already given the orders to chase down Jie Yanbai, though he seemed to have suddenly disappeared without a trace. No one could find any shadow of him. If they could find him in the short term and could kill him, it would limit the losses to the reputation of the Federation Comprehensive Academy. The thing that made Tang Hanpei angriest was that he didn\'t know how the operation to chase Jie Yanbai down had leaked out. Everyone in the federation knew about it. It would be tantamount to another hard slap in the face if the Federation Comprehensive Academy couldn\'t kill him in the short term. Their prestige would drop to freezing.

Someone suddenly knocked at his door.

"Come in." Tang Hanpei returned his expression to normal, making his face look calm. He was smiling as though he had something up his sleeve and as though no issue could confound him.

Two men and a woman entered the office, all saluting at once to Tang Hanpei. Their gazes toward Tang Hanpei were full of adoration and respect since they were a part of the Federation Comprehensive Academy. Not only did they have deep feelings for the academy, but their interests were tied to it such that if one flourished, so did the other; if one lost, they all did. Tang Hanpei\'s appearance out of the blue had quickly restored their backbones after they had lost all hope. Seeing Tang Hanpei greet them with such a powerful and self-confident smile filled them with confidence.

"Sit where you like. If we were at the school, I could invite you to drink some tea, but I don\'t keep anything here at the front lines." Tang Hanpei\'s tone was as though he were chatting about ordinary life, which felt like a breath of fresh air to them.

The expressions on the faces of the three softened a little, though they still sat bolt-upright. The one sitting in the middle was a swarthy fellow of about 40 with curly hair and a thick beard. He had a fierce gaze and looked like a fresh stone statue. To his left was a chilly, tempered woman who sat ramrod-straight in her battle suit and looked unspeakably valiant. To his right was a thin fellow of about 30 with a cold, gloomy gaze who seemed to exude a chill as he sat there.

The three of them were from the first corps. The one who had been with it the shortest amount of time had still been with it for three years, with the longest being there as many as seven. Tang Hanpei had specifically asked for them from Wei Yueqing. They had already made names for themselves in the first corps. The one in the middle was called Si Dongkou, the woman was called Yi Rou, and the man with the gloomy gaze was called Fang Han.

The three were quite famous aces in the first corps. Si Dongkou was ranked at the top, and Yi Rou and Fang Han had both been influential when they had been at the school. Having gone through several years of tempering in the corps, their power had long since gone beyond what it had been in their school days.

Sizing up the three sitting so properly in front of him, Tang Hanpei looked quite pleased. Card artisans taken from the corps were never the same and were far beyond what students, who hadn\'t gone through training, could compare with.

"I\'ve called you here to hand over a job to you." Tang Hanpei\'s gaze was fixed on the three in front of him.

They felt a little nervous, though they maintained their looks of cool the whole time. Si Dongkou firmly nodded and said in a low voice, "Of course we will do our utmost and would never dare to slack!"

Tang Hanpei smiled and waved his hand. "Don\'t be nervous. Let me say that although this job is important, your safety is more important. I will allow you to freely decide, and you can renounce the job as necessary."

The three warmed up but also remained in awe. They were afraid the difficulty of the job would be rather high since even Tang Hanpei wasn\'t certain they would be able to complete it.

"Your responsibility will be to take a trip to the Heavenly Drum Village District," Tang Hanpei said lightly.

The three of them looked at one another, never having thought the great man would want them to go to the Heavenly Drum Village District. In truth, their current situation wasn\'t so good. Although they had defeated the Central Repository of the Classics, they still faced a backlash from Faya at any time. Under those circumstances, where manpower was so urgently needed, for Tang Hanpei to actually send them to the Heavenly Drum Village District confused them.

Although they felt some doubts, none of them spoke, patiently awaiting what Lord Tang Hanpei would say next.

"Not long ago, something big happened in the Heavenly Drum Village District. Moon Frost Island is just now organizing a summit, and they will invite all the large powers in the district to come. They would like to use the opportunity to integrate all the powers of the Heavenly Drum Village District. By the time they complete that, things will have gotten bad for us. Humph. Those at Desert Camp only know how to fight hard and are oblivious to the already approaching danger. Your responsibility is to represent us and to participate in the summit. Be sure not to allow them to successfully accomplish the integration."

Tang Hanpei\'s face darkened, obviously afraid of what Moon Frost Island was in the middle of trying to do.

Seeing the incomprehension on their faces, Tang Hanpei sighed inwardly. The three had good strength, but they lacked the big picture. No matter how important the matter was, he still had to meticulously explain it. "Once Moon Frost Island successfully completes the integration, the other academies will immediately follow. We\'re the only ones who can\'t. We don\'t have room to expand like the other five. We only have the small area of the capital, and we can\'t compare with them in either people or resources. When the time comes, the first one crowded out will be our Federation Comprehensive Academy."

The three looked stirred by fright.

"After you leave, you\'ll have to come up with a way to block it. You know the situation at the school, so we have no way to give you much assistance. But you must remember that you have both me and the Federation Comprehensive Academy behind you." When he said that, Tang Hanpei\'s voice was resonant and loud enough to make their blood boil.

"You must make clever use of your advantage, and do all you can to woo each of the powers. There will be people there to receive you when you go. If I haven\'t guessed wrong, Faya and Desert Camp are also likely to be sending people to obstruct things among them. Just like us, they can\'t bear Moon Frost Island bringing all the powers in the Heavenly Drum Village District together. They\'re likely to be thrown out of the Heavenly Drum Village District, but you can choose the suitable opportunity to form an alliance with them."

The three showed thoughtful expressions.

"As far as exactly how you do this, you\'ll have to find your chances as you go. I can\'t give you any constructive opinions." Tang Hanpei earnestly instructed, "But, no matter what, your safety always comes first. I have a lot more confidence in what\'s to come as long as you are there!"

The three of them felt warmed. Yi Rou suddenly saluted and said with a proper look, "Please don\'t worry, Lord. We will never relinquish our commitment."

The others bowed low in salute and said in unison, "We will never relinquish our commitment!"

Tang Hanpei nodded in satisfaction. "Of course I am confident in your abilities. Otherwise, I would never turn such an important matter over to you. Right. When you go this time, ask along the way for the whereabouts of this person." Tang Hanpei pulled out a fantasy card and put it into a card player. The image of a youth appeared on the screen.

"Who is this person?" Fang Han spat out the question with no hint of warmth, like a viper spitting out its tongue in the dark.

"He is called Cao Dong. He\'s the one who made the numbered series of cards."

"Ah!" Yi Rou couldn\'t help but cry out, and the other two looked shocked. The strength of the spotlight on the numbered series of cards was beyond what anyone else could draw during that time. Stories about the one who had made them had been spreading like a marvelous mystery. No one really knew who that legendary grand master was. Speculation about him had never stopped. What made people curious was that during the time afterward, that influential figure had suddenly disappeared without a trace.

"He\'s so young. Is he really the card master who made the numbered series of cards?" Yi Rou looked like she found it inconceivable. The youth in front of them looked perfectly ordinary apart from some depth to his gaze. There was nothing special about him. But when she looked more carefully, Yi Rou did notice something a little special. He looked to be in his early 20s, the peculiar tenderness of that age being hard to hide. When that tenderness was added to the profundity that had worked into his gaze, though, it gave her an utterly strange feeling. It was as though that youth had already experienced quite a few vicissitudes in his life.

"He\'s called Cao Dong, and he\'s another of your objectives. He cooperated with us in Pomelo, having under him some talent that could construct Starfish Forts. That was very valuable for us. As for his own worth, I don\'t think I have to say any more. His first stop after entering the Heavenly Drum Village District was Bartleman Village. Afterward, he got to the small village of Oak before he disappeared. Our people have already searched the vicinity of those two places and have come up with nothing."

Tang Hanpei\'s gaze deepened as he paused for a bit before continuing on. "We don\'t have a lot of strength in the Heavenly Drum Village District. I don\'t want to draw the attention of Moon Frost Island, so this search should be limited in scale. When you go this time, you can just keep an eye out. I\'ve dealt with Cao Dong, and he\'s certainly not going to let go of those under him. If they want to establish themselves in the Heavenly Drum Village District, they\'ll have to expand. You should pay more attention to out-of-the-way places, and look for recently established powers that aren\'t too large or too small.

The three of them could no longer be described as shocked. For Lord Tang Hanpei to have said so much in a single breath was enough to make clear how much importance he placed on Cao Dong.

"If you get any information about him, and the situation won\'t allow us to get to him, you\'ll have to do everything you can to wipe him out. By no means can you allow him to be wooed by the other powers—especially not by Moon Frost Island." His cold gaze swept over them as he said word by word, "He is a person who can change the balance of the federation!"

"Yes, sir!" Under the stimulation of that thunderous gaze from Tang Hanpei, the three of them unwittingly stood and snapped their salutes.

Tang Hanpei suddenly laughed, and the imposing haze dispersed from his face. The three felt that the surrounding air had lightened up. He waved his hand and said casually, "Sit. I don\'t know if I\'m just too sensitive, but even though I only saw him that one time, he gave me a feeling like no one else ever has. When you go, you should still place the most importance on the business with Moon Frost Island. Finding a person depends on luck, so you should do it along the way. Now, go get ready, so you can set off as soon as possible."

"Yes, sir!" The three of them saluted with proper looks.