The Card Apprentice

Chapter 82: The Way of Wealth

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

Chen Mu planned to visit Amay City over the weekend, which was the nearest city to Eastern Shang-Wei City.

The shuttle train station was crowded. Chen Mu was bored looking at the advertisements being emitted from fantasy cards in the main station. The shuttle train was a convenient way to get to Amay City, only taking about six hours. It was too bad that he didn’t have the capability, since it would be very pleasant to fly through the outer reaches by directly deploying the jet-stream card.

Since it was Chen Mu’s first time on a long-distance shuttle train, he was enjoying the novelty when he finally got on the train.

But the feeling of novelty quickly wore off, since the entire trip would be made underground, which is to say that they would be passing underground for six hours. Because there was danger all around in the outer reaches, people thought to put the trains underground. By that time underground transportation was already a very mature technology in the Heavenly Federation, and the underground transportation network extended under all the Heavenly Federation like a spider web.

Long distance travel was very dull, so out of consideration for the passengers, there was a card play generator every five rows, which would play some entertainment programs so that everyone could pass the time. Card plays were an emerging product that was very popular at that time.

What was playing just then had been recorded in advance. The technology used by the long-distance shuttle trains was very advanced, so that the images could be emitted simultaneously on all the generators by going through one main card play generator. This was a technology that had been invented at the low grade fantasy card club in Eastern Shang-Wei City.

“What we are about to introduce is a not very widely circulated card play. Up until now, we still don’t have any information about the producer of the card play. I’m afraid that this card play has only ever been circulated in the very limited vicinity of the Eastern Wei Academy, but we all marvel at the superior quality of its production, and the brilliance of its story, which are far beyond other card plays which have been circulating on the market. Of course, this is only our point of view.

“It’s worth mentioning that when this card play first went on sale, it quickly bowled over all of Eastern Wei Academy. By now it would be extremely difficult to buy a set for your collection, since there is no one willing to sell. That is how fascinating this card play is. Our own editor had to expend a lot energy to be able to buy just one with great difficulty, at a very high price, which we bring out now for everyone’s enjoyment.

“Our only regret is that the card play hasn’t been completed. And its mysterious producer seems to have disappeared. It has been reported that some of the students at Eastern Wei Academy are planning to organize a group to complete the rest of the story.

“Very well, I don’t want to waste any more of your time with these superfluous words. Please enjoy a story which takes place in the vast interstellar reaches, ‘The Legend of Master Shi.\'”

The card play generator started to play “The Legend of Master Shi.” Chen Mu had all sorts of feelings watching the familiar characters and the familiar story.

There were cries of admiration in the car from time to time. With over ninety nine percent of the people not having seen the card play, they were all immediately bowled over by it.

The dark crags outside the car swept by at terrific speed, while the time slowly passed.

Six hours might be considered short if you called it long or long if you called it short, but in any case the travelers all discovered that by the time the shuttle train had gotten to the station, the card play had not yet finished. Quite of few of the passengers crowded around the shuttle train workers to ask questions about the card play that they were still so engrossed in.

The producer of the card play, Chen Mu, stepped out into Amay City among all the praise.

* * *

Phoenix took a look in her rear-view mirror and saw a dark green shuttle car. She knew the one driving very well, a guy called Wen Tianming who was among those who most disgusted Phoenix. He didn’t look bad, though Phoenix had cruelly spread a nasty nickname for him, “tender until morning,” meaning that he was good for one night only, known for being fickle and shallow.

It was said that he used to be mixed up with ‘Allah’ Gong. He was relentlessly chasing Phoenix during that time, when like a piece of sticky candy, she couldn’t get rid of him. Phoenix would curse him to herself endlessly, wondering why that pretty boy couldn’t have been the guy from the school who was killed last time.

Although Wen Tianming was a kind of pretty boy, he was tremendously skilled as a driver. The two of them had first run into one another because of racing. Since he wasn’t driving his ‘green flyer’ shuttle car that time, Phoenix pressed him unwaveringly from behind, and shot past him. It was because of that that he got interested in her.

Afterward, he would always tease Phoenix after classes let out. Given his shuttle car’s superior performance and high technology, Phoenix hadn’t beaten him once after that. What infuriated Phoenix the most was the self-satisfied expression on the guy, which made her teeth itch.

Phoenix’s driving skills weren’t really much different from his, but the performance of Wen Tianming’s shuttle car was really too hot, with quick acceleration far surpassing that little Blue Rain Ladybug shuttle car that Phoenix had.

By happenstance, her shuttle car had some issue that day, so she’d robbed Ya Ya’s key.

Although the Silver Star was a high-end shuttle car, it wasn’t configured for performance, and its performance wasn’t great. Phoenix was very familiar with the performance of all of the high end shuttle cars, including the Silver Star.

She assumed that she’d be teased again by this yahoo that day. As soon as she saw that green shuttle car, her mood got messed up and she gave the wheel a turn.

Whoa! Phoenix was stunned by the Silver Star’s quick turn.

No way! The Silver Star could never be so responsive! With the force she’d just used, the turning angle should have been about twenty-five degrees. But she’d just made a forty-five-degree turn!

A forty-five-degree turn wasn’t all that big a deal, since quite a few of the high-end shuttle cars could realize it. But those certainly didn’t include the Silver Star. The Silver Star was positioned for those who weren’t necessarily after the pleasure of driving, but rather more for customers interested in driving comfort. So, it didn’t have outstanding cornering performance.

Could Ya Ya have made some sort of modifications to her Silver Star? No way! She quickly discarded that notion.

Was she hallucinating?

Looking in her rear-view mirror, her quick turn just then had shaken off Wen Tianming, who hadn’t anticipated sufficiently. But he’d quickly changed his direction and was sticking on her again.

Scanning the forest of buildings ahead of her, Phoenix decided to try it again.

She shot the wheel hard to the right, and the car made a lightning quick right turn.

There was a dramatic change in the scenery in front of her, which lit up her gorgeous eyes.

The Silver Star was tracing an extremely graceful S-shaped trajectory in midair, shuttling between two buildings. A perfect S-shaped glide! The entire process was done in a breath, flowing freely, as quick as lightning, like a silver swallow.

Of course, Wen Tianming had never expected the Silver Star to make such lively moves, and when he saw the buildings looming ever larger in front of him, he hastily slowed, as he perilously scraped one of the buildings as he flew by, making him break out in a cold sweat.

Seeing Wen Tianming’s lousy condition in her rear-view mirror, Phoneix whistled with excitement. She didn’t slow her movements, swerving right and left. The cornering performance of that Silver Star hadn’t only outpaced all the Silver Stars, but was pumped as though it had taken drugs, with every turn stunningly smooth and lively, leaving Phoenix dying to use all her cornering skills in driving it.

Wen Tianming’s shuttle car was quickly lost among the buildings behind the Silver Star.

So many days of gloom were swept away at once, and Phoenix was feeling fine.

She called through to Ya Ya’s communications card.

Ya Ya was complaining as she took the call, “Sister Phoenix, you steal my car, and leave me to take Tang Tang’s car back.”

“Don’t be angry little Ya Ya, come on, sissy will give you a kiss.” Phoenix gave her cute smile, and then immediately blurted out, “Ya Ya, have you modified your Silver Star?”

“Modify?” Ya Ya’s expression was puzzled. She shook her head, “No way! You know that I’ve never been a racer.”

“So, has somebody been messing with your car?” Phoenix asked quickly.

“Messed with my car?” Ya Ya was confused, and didn’t understand, “The car was broken this morning, and Yao Ke fixed it, and even asked me for thirty thousand Oudi. What’s up, is something wrong?”

“No, no!” Phoenix quickly shook her head, and smiled, “I’m just asking. OK I can’t talk any more, I have to concentrate on driving.” Without waiting for Ya Ya to argue, she hung up the communications card.

Yao Ke, she was mumbling to herself, while tapping her bright red painted fingers on the steering wheel, as though she were thinking about something.

* * *

It was Chen Mu’s first time away from Eastern Shang-Wei City.

Walking along Amay City’s streets, he wasn’t feeling jittery like a stranger. Looking for another uncle, he arrived at Amay City’s card district. The street was about three and a half kilometers long, and almost all engaged in the card business.

Walking along the card street, looking at one of the shop signs ahead of him, he walked in.

It was a card repair shop.

For most people, cards were like clothes; once they wear out you get a new one, not generally choosing to repair them. But when there was some item of clothing that had some special meaning for the owner or which had become difficult to buy, people might still want to restore them to the way they were.

It wasn’t a very big shop, and was fitted out in a pretty ordinary fashion.

“Hello, what can I do for you?” The shopkeeper came up very enthusiastically.

But he lost his enthusiasm when he heard that Chen Mu was looking for card repair work. But he got his enthusiasm right back when he heard that Chen Mu was an Eastern Wei Academy Student and saw his ID.

It was generally only a few unqualified beginning card masters who would come around looking for work at those businesses. The Eastern Wei Academy was the highest ranked academy in the area.

The proprietor immediately pulled out a pile of cards, mostly made up of three-star cards which had been piling up for a while.

The three-star cards were undoubtedly something of a headache for the shopkeeper. When a three-star card breaks, you need a mid-grade card master to restore it. But what sort of a certified mid-grade card master would ever come to his kind of small shop?

That had given him a backlog of three-star cards. The shopkeeper was inwardly joyful at his good luck, assuming that the student wanted some spending money. Most of the Eastern Wei Academy students were from relatively well-off families and weren’t short of money. Seeing the gem studded apparatus on Chen Mu’s wrist confirmed his guess once he saw it. His gaze became much more respectful.

Chen Mu pulled out those cards he felt sure he could repair from the pile, pulling out fifteen in the end.

“How will the pay be calculated?” Chen Mu asked.

The shopkeeper looked carefully at Chen Mu, and gnashing his teeth, said “Twenty thousand per card, what do you think?” The price for a three-star card was several hundred thousand and would cost about fifty thousand from a repair shop, with rare cards costing more. But this was just a small shop, and he wasn’t going to make much profit giving Chen Mu those kinds of prices.

But the proprietor was thinking very clearly, since he wasn’t making anything on the cards just sitting there. Although he wasn’t looking at a lot of profit. If the cards were to be fixed up, he would earn some reputation, making his shop stand out among repair shops in the vicinity.

A mid-grade card master wouldn’t even consider repairing a card for twenty thousand Oudi.

“OK.” Chen Mu gathered up the cards and said, “I’ll bring them back next weekend.”

“Fine, fine, fine!” The shopkeeper’s face lit up as though he were a blooming flower, and he quickly pulled out an agreement. Chen Mu looked it over carefully, and when he determined that there were no mistakes, signed it.

It was an idea that had arisen from Chen Mu having restored the three-star jet stream card for Ya Ya that morning. He had already been able to repair a few three-star cards, so here was a way to make some money. The money to repair a one or two-star card was extremely low, probably only up to a couple of hundred Oudi per card, which for him just then would be like trying to put out a fire with a cup of water, and wouldn’t solve any of his problems. So, he set his sights on three-star cards.

It was too bad that he didn’t have a mid-grade card master certification, since otherwise the pay for restoring a card would be nearly fifty thousand Oudi.

Chen Mu was very pleased with the trip to Amay City. If he were able to repair fifteen cards a week, that would be three hundred thousand in income. While it wasn’t nearly enough to pay his tuition, it was still the best way he’d been able to come up with.