The Card Apprentice 524 Thorn Removal

"How could that be possible," Rossiji laid on his arms while looking at the sky.

"That's good." With a great relief, Nick laid down and laughed, "That old fox is ruthless and cruel. I'll never buy it. His glory of Star Court is full of platitudes, damn it! I do not have parents, neither do I have any worries. You are the only brother I have, and I do not wish you to be used as cannon fodder."

"I don't like it either." the fatty said indifferently. "Others might not know about it, but don't you know what I've been through all these years? People only see the glory on the surface, how could they know that in fact, I am not any different than being arrested? Hmph, an elite cultivated by the academy? I just want to eat and sleep, but all these were spelled with life. I am the only one who is still alive among those people who were with me. They were all geniuses, too bad, all of them died." 

The fatty's words were full of resentment and sadness.

In a sudden, Nick looked around with tense anxiety.

"Don't be nervous. How would they attack me at this moment?" The fatty sneered without hurry or haste, "Ever since I defeated the Staff of the Second Military Force, they won't provoke me as long as I don't escape from the Star Court. Moreover, they've estimated that you will never leave the Star Court provided that I don't leave."

There was a chill in Nick's bright piercing eyes.

Rossiji smiled gently, "How would I make things go as they wish? If I'm not mistaken, Tang Hanpei must have something up his sleeve! Others just thought that it was Tan Yumin who was colluding with him, but I guess he must have had aimed at those card appliance skills. His personality must be to plan before taking action. Chances are, before he went, most of the preparation works have been done. There might be no difference if these card appliance skills fall into the hands of others or with Faya, but if it falls into the hands of Tang Hanpei, heh heh. Most probably the principal has not thought about the consequences clearly."

Nick got terrified, "Is Tang Hanpei that powerful?"

Rossiji sat up, gazing deeply, "Twin Stars from the Desert Camp challenged the Moon Frost Island, but got defeated by Baiyue. On the way home, an attack caused one death and one injury, which directly led to the war between the Desert Camp and the Moon Frost Island. Heh heh, why did Twin Stars of the Desert Camp challenge the Moon Frost Island? Who was the person who attacked the two of them when they were on their way back?" 

Nick was not stupid, he was appalled and nearly lost his voice, "Are you suspicious of Tang Hanpei?"

"Yes." The fatty looked solemn and nodded his head, "But there is still lacking of evidence. Following that, he killed Qiao Yuan in the battle of the Pomelo and caused Federation Comprehensive Academy, Central Repository of the Classics and Faya to start a mortal feud with each other. He did not defend himself at all after he got back, and thus, he got arrested. However, Federation Comprehensive Academy has already been imperiled. It has been placed in jeopardy after being under pressure from both sides. He finally took action at this time to seize power at one stroke. After that, he immediately appointed Song Chengyan, who managed to turn the tide, which also made his reputation prominent in no time. The series of these events might seem to happen incidentally, but somehow there was a hidden string in it linking them all together." 

Nick finally showed a horrified shock. 

"Now he is only lacking one condition to form the Tang Camp, and snatch the card appliance technology." the fatty said in a carefree and leisurely tone.

"What condition?" Nick replied, subconsciously.

The fatty opened his eyes, a cold light flashing across his eyes, "A great commander!"

"A great commander?" murmured Nick, suddenly he looked up and asked, "Will he come to you?"

The fatty broke into laughter, "How could that be possible? He was able to conceal the Central Repository of the Classics because it was not famous for its combat power. I believe that he is not that dumb to directly attack the Star Court." His voice suddenly became solemn, "I suspect that he might have already found a suitable candidate! Unless..."

His face revealed an unusual hesitation.

"Unless what?" Nick asked anxiously.

"Unless, he is a great commander himself!" The fatty looked dazed.

 Nick's face turned pale. He only managed to smile reluctantly after some time, "You started to talk nonsense again! If he is really that strong, why would he hide it for so long? He could have already started fighting ages ago."

"Maybe there is some condition still not met yet, he has no confidence to gain the victory by a single blow." While talking about this, the fatty suddenly opened his eyes and his face became serious, "Now I understand! He is waiting for card appliance technology! Yes, he must be waiting for the card appliance technology! "

He muttered to himself, "The other five academies are in danger now..."

"It's not that bad, is it?" Nick felt that he was so stiff in his smile. The fatty's guess made him feel slightly flustered. All these years, most of the things said by the fatty had turned out to be true. As he thought of this, he couldn't help but ask anxiously, "What should we do then?"

"What has this got to do with us?" The fatty stretched and laid down again, "Let them fight amongst themselves. The more they fight, the safer we are." 

Nick felt refreshed. He secretly noticed the surroundings and lowering his voice, "Is it possible for us to take advantage of the confusion to escape?"

"It is not a problem for you to do it alone." The fatty shook his head, "There is no way for me to run away. Not to say, my parents are in their hands."

Nick was dispirited. "What is the purpose for me to escape without you! Just let Tang Hanpei break the Star Court into pieces for you to be free."

The fatty laughed with unspeakable desolation, "For someone like me, no matter who wins, I will be dead anyway unless I give myself up to the winner."

Nick was quiet. He knew that the fatty was telling the truth. In the eyes of those with authority, a talented person like this fatty would be the one they like the most and fear the most at the same time. After a while, he said with resentment, "Or else, we just do it ourselves! I don't believe that with your intelligence you will still be under the thumb of that old fox! We will think of a way to rescue your parents. We can go to the common residential district if we can't go to the flourishing districts. If there is no place for us in the common residential district, we can go to the House of a Hundred Depths, or to the Mohadi Domain! In any case, I will keep you company wherever you go! It's better than to stay here, do nothing and wait for death!"

The fatty said nothing, not revealing what was on his mind.

Soon enough, West Delhi was under the control of the Wood Word Camp. All of the small forces had surrendered themselves and gave their cooperation. They all knew that basically, such a substantial troop would not stay too long in this out-of-the-way place.

This was a strange troop.

Wood Word Camp, they had never heard of this troop before. Up until now, their chief hasn't shown his face yet, but the campsite was well disciplined. Other than some card artisans patrolling in the sky occasionally, the arrival of Wood Word Camp did not have any impact on the daily life in West Delhi at all. Instead, law and order of the city had reached a historically high level.

These card artisans were those who kill people without blinking their eyes!

They once witnessed how they turned uncooperative card artisans into corpses within a second. The strength of the card artisans of Wood Word Camp was so terrifying. Also, their fierce and awe-inspiring momentum made no one, especially those who were timid, dare to even go near them. However, the discipline of Wood Word Camp was rigorous. Other than the patrolling card artisans, the rest of the card artisans all stayed in the campsite, with no one stepping out. 

The small forces who were trembling with fear at the beginning had slowly got used to it after that. They had realized that as long as they don't provoke these people, they would not care what they were doing at all. Moreover, this troop did not have any action other than cleaning-out some raw materials on the market once. Even they cleaned-out these materials, Wood Word Camp paid the bill in full, which caused the small forces to feel shocked as they had been mentally preparing themselves to sell at a loss.

Every day, the logistics group of Wood Word Camp would take some precious materials to auction. These materials from deep inside the forest were all rare goods. They tried to purchase a batch of materials from this businessman, immediately followed by a change of hand to earn a huge profit. This place had become crowded after that. However, people could only use their Oudi to do the talking here. Whoever dared to take advantage of one's power to bully others would be shot to death immediately.

Other than the selling of scarce materials, Wood Word Camp would also purchase various kinds of materials in large quantities, including the components for card appliance, raw materials to make cards, and different types of medicine. The purchasing prices given by Wood Word Camp was very generous, thus the businessmen were also working harder.

Slowly, the businessmen who got to profit increased. Law and order of the city had also turned great rapidly, along as the market started to become prosperous. People began to change from being fearful to hoping that Wood Word Camp could be stationed here longer. 

Every day, Chen Mu just stayed in his own experiment lab and paid no attention to everything else happening outside. 

The training of the ordinary card artisans was still very tough. Xiaobo and Sang Hanshui surprisingly agreed with each other on this matter. However, it was not like nobody had any complaints. They had been living in the jungle for so many days. They had to come all this way to enter a city, and to their surprise, they were still being grounded in the barracks. Many grade seven card artisans were complaining secretly in this regard.

Luckily it was still acceptable for the majority although they were dissatisfied in their heart. Afterall, they could clearly feel that their strength was continually improving, plus they just had the legendary numerical series card in their hands. They only wished to immerse themselves in training. 

"Finally, everything is ready." Chen Mu mumbled to himself. 

"Woody, are these things useful?" Bu Mo asked in admiration. He felt that Woody was so amazing, things that were in terrible condition could turn into much outlandish stuff once they reached his hands.

These days there were significant changes to his appearance. Not only that he had grown taller, but he had became stronger as well. Not sure if it was because of staying too long in the snow, his dark skin had turned fair and might seem slightly glittering if observed carefully. This had made his two black bushy eyebrows to be more visible, making people feel like it was painted in ink. 

The progress of his strength also stunned Chen Mu. Chen Mu was no longer the opponent of little Bu Mo if it was based purely on the cardless sects skill. Little Bu Mo could now easily cast airskill. His talent in this area was very outstanding. Other than inheriting Wei-ah's simple, straightforward, yet lethal style, there were more transformations in his airskill. He was just like those beasts living in the snow with a sense of coldness when he performed. 

However, right now he seemed like a child full of curiosity.

Chen Mu stroked the head of little Bu Mo and laughed, "We will never know until we try."

"Yeah. We had been busy for such a long time, surely it has to be useful." little Bu Mo said confidently. His face was full of excitement and anticipation. He had been following Woody here and there these few days. Only that he did not know what they were busy with. Finally, the answer was going to be revealed. 

On that morning, Chen Mu personally gave instructions that everyone will take turn for a break for that day.

In the morning, the 15 guards and the youth guards could have their free time, while the members of the five Military Groups could have their turn in the afternoon. However, everyone was only allowed to move around in West Delhi. They were not allowed to bring their meter out of the campsite. Also, external communication was prohibited. After this holiday, it would be close to one month of closed training. 

Everyone was cheering when the orders were announced. 

The 15 grade seven card artisans and 100 youth guards removed their meters from their hands and walked out from the campsite under the jealous glance of the other team members. 

The citizens of West Delhi were shocked to notice that for the first time the gate that had been tightly closed and heavily guarded was opened. Some card artisans in their battle suits were walking out from the inside while looking around curiously. In the beginning, some citizens were slightly worried, but soon they noticed that these card artisans were very keen on shopping. They bought almost anything they saw. Moreover, they were all very generous, they never bargained when buying things. The businessmen were all smiling broadly and passionately. 

Kuangshi looked around to confirm that no one was following her. There was a cold smile on her face. When they were required to hand in their meter before leaving the campsite, she already knew that Chen Mu was afraid to have information leaked. Thus, he used this method to avoid them from communicating with the outside world. 

Too bad, the law was strong, but the outlaws were ten times stronger. 

She did not take action immediately but pretended to shop. She had big and small bags in her hands. In her mind, she reflected on her usual behavior, thinking that she had not shown any flaw. She could not help but feel slightly happy when thinking about this. 

With some calculation, there were 115 people leaving the campsite this morning. There was no way for boss-man to track. Moreover, open-tracking would inevitably cause dissatisfaction among all the team members.

The people who could be trusted by boss-man in Wood Word Camp was too little.

Kuangshi's mood became more pleasant. Nevertheless, she never reduced her vigilance and had been noticing her surroundings. However, when she did not notice anyone following at her back, she finally let her guard down. She didn't believe that there was anyone who could get away from her eyes if she had been tracked. She had gone through professional tracking training.

She shopped for a few rounds at the crowded places, and even changed her clothes half way. No one would ever associate her with the sweet-tempered lady card artisan she was. 

After taking a glance at the time, she felt that it's about time. As she double confirmed that there was no one around, she naturally pushed open the doors of a business hall of a small long-distance communication company. Except for advanced communication cards, the communication distance for typical cards were very limited. Cards that allow long-distance communication were very pricey, it was not affordable for the ordinary people. Therefore, such business halls specialized in long-distance communication were springing up everywhere. 

It was due to being cautious that she did not repurchase the communication card. In a small city like this, sure enough, there won't be many stalls selling such advanced communication cards. Moreover, purchasing such expensive high-tech communication card would definitely leave a deep impression on the seller. She would be easily exposed if someone interrogated on it after that. 

She sneered in her heart, this must be a trap set by the boss.

She kept firmly in her heart the number of the connector.

She began dialing the number.

At the same time, in a strictly guarded room in the Wood Word Camp, the atmosphere was charged with tension. If Xiao Bo and Sang Hanshui were here, they would be surprised to notice that the members here were all card artisans from the Tai-shu house.

A couple dozens of big and small screens had segregated the room into many partitions. Everyone was gazing at the screens in front of them as if facing a formidable enemy. 

Suddenly, the pupil of a card artisan dilated, "Abnormality detected! Location, North Main Street No. 97, Long Distance Communication Business Hall!" 

His sentence was like a blasting fuse, unfolding a silent battle secretly.

Chapter end