The Card Apprentice Chapter 327

"Are you enemies with Wen Zuofu?" The contented Qiao Fei looked askance at Chen Mu and asked him nonchalantly .

"Wen Zuofu? The Downstream Alliance?" Chen Mu involuntarily frowned . The name made some vague impact on him . He had seen the name in the report that Bogner had given him about the Pascal District . And moreover, the name had been repeated in the report he had just skimmed through that morning .

Hearing what Qiao Fei just said, he guessed what was behind it . She had certainly gotten information from somewhere, but then it would be no wonder that such a deeply rooted power as the House of Qiao would be in a position to get it . Chen Mu could now confirm that the sneak attack the night before had been perpetrated by Wen Zuofu, which was about what Bogner had surmised .

From then on, his enmity with the Downstream Alliance would become more deeply entrenched . But he also knew that the two sides would inevitably have reached that impasse, given the style of the Downstream Alliance's behavior . Still, to have established an eternal enmity with the biggest power there before they had even gotten a foothold, wasn't going to make anybody very happy .

Chen Mu couldn't help wondering why Qiao Fei had come .

The House of Qiao was the second biggest power in the Pascal district, and they mixed with the Downstream Alliance like fire with water . She had come that day when he had just suffered a sneak attack the night before . That implied a little bit of intrigue .

Alliance? The House of Qiao had over twenty little forts . How could his little power even attract their attention? But even with his rather scant experience, he knew that whatever the alliance, they needed roughly commensurate power with their counterparts . His own power was still too weak and small, and clearly wasn't quite qualified to be in alliance with the House of Qiao . Never mind that he would have to personally work together with the boss-lady of the House of Qiao .

"That's the one, that old demon!" Qiao Fei didn't hide her disgust with Wen Zuofu . After she said that, she looked askance again at Chen Mu with her two wild eyes, "You're a lot better than that old demon . Although you don't have quite so much power, to make the old demon take a loss at your hands is still a kind of skill . How about it? Throw in with me, and when we have meat, we'll eat it together, and if we have soup, we'll drink it together . When Qiao Fei does something, I never treat people badly . State your conditions straight out . Too bad you're not strong enough, ho ho, otherwise, you wouldn't make a bad lover!"

The expressions on Bogner and Xiaobo abruptly turned a little strange . Not strong enough? Could Qiao Fei be using Wei-ah as her point of reference?

Even if he were fiercer looking, with an iron tower of a body like Happy Padding or Crow Feather, if even their strength were to contend with the boss's, they would certainly die miserably!

Chen Mu was smiling a little squeamishly as her heated gaze swept up and down his body . It made him feel rather uncomfortable . But he didn't want to put his work in someone else's hands at all unless and until he had nowhere else to go .

He shook his head, very tactfully bit firmly refusing Qiao Fei's proposal, "Thank you for your lovely idea, Miss Qiao, but I'm used to tormenting myself alone . I'm very sorry . "

Qiao Fei didn't show any surprise, seeming to have expected that result, as she glanced at Chen Mu with better understanding, "I get it . A man with any skills these days wants to twist his head to the heavens, and not pay attention to the affairs of the world . But still . "

Her tone had changed, "You've killed the old demon's Dark Fog guys, which will make you his eternal enemy . The enemy of my enemies is my friend after all . You don't look so bad to me and might be worth befriending . We're pretty well known around these parts, so if there's anything you need help with, just give us a call . Of course, we aren't going to help you for free, and you'll have to pay . You might cause some trouble for the old man . I would be the one who would benefit the most, so I'm happy to see it done . I shouldn't speak so vulgarly in front of you, but to help you in secret would naturally not be a problem . But I'm certainly not going to do anything desperate out in the open because of the feud between you and the old demon . You'll basically still have to depend on yourself to survive . "

Xiao Fei's brown eyes were staring at Chen Mu as though she weren't so optimistic about him .

Chen Mu didn't get angry . On the contrary, he found Qiao Fei to be pretty good for sure . She was straightforward, spoke very directly, and compared with those who put on a good face, he preferred someone with a belly full of nasty tricks .

"Mmmm, no matter . If you want to be a big alliance like Downstream, you can't concern yourself with the little people like us . " Chen Mu smiled and answered very casually .

Continuing to stare at Chen Mu for a few more seconds, Qiao Fei cracked a little grin, "Are you playing a role? Fake!"

After she spoke, she stretched lazily . She was wearing something very short on her upper body, and that stretch exposed her charmingly fit belly .

Xiaobo and Bogner's eyes widened, and they couldn't take their eyes off Qiao Fei's tiny pert waist .

The moves of the two of them were surprisingly similar, and they even swallowed in unison, which went right over Chen Mu's head, of course .

"You old perverted goats!" Qiao Fei glanced at the two disdainfully, making the two of them want to find some hole to crawl into .

"OK, I'd better go . Remember what I said, little man . Right . Here's my number . Find me if something comes up . If you'd like to live, you'd better make it a little bit uncomfortable for the old demon . " Qiao Fei tossed a card to Chen Mu, winking at him before swaggering off .

Only after Qiao Fei had been gone for a while did Bogner and Xiaobo came back to their senses .

"Lechers . " Chen Mu was suddenly feeling playful, as he looked at the two earnestly while lightly tossing off that phrase before swaggering off himself .

Both Bogner and Xiaobo were thunderstruck and stayed right where they were .

Chen Mu had a lot to do, or at least as he saw it, he did . The snow pit method was being deployed for better or worse, and it was just about done, though in rough shape . Chen Mu had very irresponsibly turned it over to Jiang Liang .

The ravine's defenses had already been set up, and nothing was going to happen again like the night before, when everyone was practicing the snow pit method . Having learned that lesson, Bogner would also certainly organize the defenses so that he didn't have to worry about it anymore .

The matter of the Downstream Alliance wasn't actually that much of a concern . They could rely on the favorable position of the ravine and concentrate on defense . Even if some enemy outnumbered him many times over, he still wasn't too concerned . And as far as resupply was concerned, so long as Wei-ah and Xiaobo were there he wasn't so worried about that either .

What he needed to consider just then was how to increase his own strength in the shortest amount of time . It was deeply engrained in him to be strong in times of chaos . There wasn't really any essential difference between the ordinary residential districts and the flourishing districts in that regard . That was even though the flourishing districts were known as heaven to quite a few people .

Chen Mu felt that the fighting was even more bloody and cruel in the flourishing districts . If he wanted a foothold there, then he would have to grow his power .

In that regard, only Xi Ping and Bogner could give him advice .

the two were overjoyed to see that Chen Mu was actually spending some thought on that . They had previously felt that Chen Mu was a little too indifferent and didn't have much of a competitive spirit . If you didn't push him to some limit, he basically wouldn't be very concerned . Now Chen Mu was taking the rare initiative toward the issues they had always raised, and so of course they were thrilled .

Xi Ping said with a smile, "It isn't such a complex issue, boss . We now have the set of cards, and you've also deployed the snow pit method . The card artisans' power is constantly improving, so we're in a pretty good situation overall . Still, what we need right now is to find some way to make money . Our ready cash has just about been used up . "

He held out his fingers to count, "The Valley Nest, and the starfish fortifications are our largest expenditures . The rest, like the therapeutic equipment and the training equipment, also cost huge overhead . What we need most right now are funds . Once we have the funds, we can expand the team, so that our fighting strength can get stronger and stronger . Although old Bogs is something of a perv, he still has a knack for warfare . "

Bogner was enraged, "How am I a perv?"

Xi Ping didn't pay him any mind, as he continued to say, "But right now what we lack the most isn't ready cash, but some steady income model . No matter the power, they all must have a profit model . Once we have the money to improve our battle strength, we'll improve it, and then from that we'll improve our ability to profit . In that way we can create a virtuous cycle . What we most lack now is a profit model . Although you are awesome at making cards, boss, to rely on your power alone to support a whole team is not a long-term plan . "

Bogner spoke in agreement, "What Old Xi says is right . We are now completely supporting the team, which can't go on for the long term . Our burden will only get heavier . We might as well establish a card artisan firm . In that way, we could increase their opportunities for actual battle, while greatly decreasing the pressure on our funds . "

As Chen Mu mulled it over, he felt that it was right . Apart from their daily training, the card artisans didn't have anything else to do .

Chen Mu said to Bogner, "I'll turn the matter of a card artisan firm over to you . But you'll have to leave sufficient defensive forces behind . "

Bogner nodded, "Don't worry . Given our current defensive capabilities, two hundred people would be enough to guarantee our safety . And if we don't want to expand, and just want to stay holed up here, even the Downstream Alliance woud have no way to look down on us . "

"What does Old Xi think about how to make money?" Chen Mu asked Xi Ping .

Xi Ping said contemplatively, "Your card making is a great profit center, boss . I don't imagine that Old Bogs' card artisan firm will be profitable in the short term . I really haven't thought about the rest of it . "

Bogner was also thinking hard off to the side, though his ability in that regard was really quite limited . He wasn't able to provide any construction suggestions .

Seeing how it was, Chen Mu could only say, "No worries, we'll just take it slowly . "

Chapter end