All Heroes Fall into My Net

Another day of matches had come to an end. The Jincai Credit executives who had sat in the guest seats during the day now stood respectfully bowed before a desk.

"Chairman Liu, that's the situation."

After reporting his discovery from the day, the executive silently waited for a response.

At that moment, Chairman Liu sat in an executive chair, looking at the scenery beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.

"You're certain it was Bronze Grade?" A faint voice came from behind the chair.

A bead of cold sweat appeared on the executive's forehead, but his voice remained steady. "Yes. I saw it with my own eyes. There's no way I could be mistaken."

"And according to Jiang Wang, Lu Su is an orphan."

At the word "orphan," the executive chair abruptly turned around. Chairman Liu's upper body was shrouded in shadow, obscuring his features. With curiosity in his voice, he asked, "Are you sure? Did you pull strings to check his records?"

Naturally, the executive would not make such a basic mistake. He immediately replied in a grave tone, "Yes. I've already looked into it. His background is very clean."

"Only..."

The executive's hesitation drew Chairman Liu's displeasure. He said at once, "Speak plainly."

The executive jolted in fright and hurriedly said, "It's just that when I sent people to investigate near his former residence, they heard that he'd previously had a conflict with people from the organization."

"It should have been the unauthorized actions of some newly recruited members."

Hearing this, Chairman Liu smiled dismissively. "I thought it was something serious. It doesn't matter. If he were too clean, that would be suspicious instead."

"As for now, all that matters is that he participated in the Talent Cup."

"Go make the arrangements. Remember, don't let these geniuses run into each other."

The executive immediately lowered his head and replied respectfully, "Yes."

As the executive left, the office fell silent once more.

After a long while, a low voice rang out with a hint of laughter. "Geniuses. Heh!"

The next day, the round of thirty-two to sixteen began once again.

After the previous day's matches, both the audience and the guests had gained a basic understanding of the contestants' strengths.

"Have you noticed? None of the contestants who performed especially well yesterday are facing each other today."

As the day's matchups appeared on the giant screen, murmurs began to ripple through the audience.

"Isn't that obvious? If you were the organizers, you'd want the hype to stay as high as possible. Why would you let all the popular contestants meet so early?"

"I object! This is rigged!"

"Jincai Credit is the one paying for all this. What's the point of your objection?"

Amid the commotion, the first match began.

The first to take the stage was their old friend, Lin Jiānián.

As Sea-Patrolling Valiant General · Yaksha appeared before him, discussion began among the guests as well.

"It's a pity about Lin Jiānián. In Shanghai City in previous years, he definitely would've made the top three."

"Yeah. Too bad there are so many monsters this year."

"I think Lu Su will win this Talent Cup."

"You think? Definitely! These Third Year High School students have only been Black Iron Grade Card Masters for a little over a month at most. Who could've imagined that a student would already be able to create Bronze Grade cards?"

"They're unlucky to have run into an unprecedented freak like Lu Su."

"Still, Shanghai City has finally built up some momentum this year. It's rare to see so many promising talents."

Before long, Lin Jiānián crushed his opponent.

At that moment, shrieks erupted from a corner of the audience. "Aahhh! Jiānián, Mommy loves you!"

"Lin Jiānián! Lin Jiānián!"

The broadcast director even gave them a close-up. It was a group of Lin Jiānián's female fans.

When they saw the camera pointed at them, the female fans immediately raised the banners in their hands.

"Lin Jiānián is number one!"

Below the stage, Lu Su watched the scene on the screen, and the corner of his eye twitched. He had not expected Card Master duels to have fan-club culture too.

Then again, it might have been because of Lin Jiānián's flashy personality. After all, Lu Su had never noticed having a cheering squad of his own.

Time flew by, and soon it was Lu Su's turn to take the stage.

Today's opponent was clearly stronger than Han Yingying had been yesterday.

But only to a limited extent. Under Luffy's assault, there was no obvious difference.

The next contestant to take the stage after Lu Su was Kong Cong, who had been regarded as the defending champion even before the main tournament began.

Unfortunately, at least none of the guests present believed Kong Cong could still win the championship.

As for the audience, they could only sense that Luffy was incredibly powerful. They had no idea Luffy was a Bronze Grade card.

That made Lu Su glance at Kong Cong a few more times.

Over the past few days, aside from Lu Su's cards, whose information was impossible to uncover, the cards revealed by the other contestants had basically all been identified.

Kong Cong's card was—

Black Iron Grade, Red Quality: Beast of Swords and Spears · Bo.

There was a beast called Bo. It resembled a white horse, had saw-like teeth, devoured tigers and leopards, and could ward off blades and weapons.

It came from the Classic of Mountains and Seas.

The Classic of Mountains and Seas had always been a popular category among Card Masters.

However, because the stories within it were all extremely brief, and Great Ming still lacked much of the relevant material, the gap between this category's upper and lower limits was unimaginably vast.

At the high end were beings like Footless Dragon · Zhuyin, whose opening eyes brought day and whose closing eyes brought night; and Queen Mother of the West, sovereign of the female immortals, to whom all women who ascended and attained the Dao across heaven and earth, the three realms and ten directions, belonged.

At the low end were Comedic Characters like the one-armed people and the hairy people.

But clearly, Kong Cong's Bo was no Comedic Character.

What appeared before Lu Su now was a savage beast in the shape of a white horse, with a sharp horn atop its head and a mouth full of ferocious fangs.

Furthermore, phantom images of swords and blades danced around the beast.

Under Kong Cong's Bo's fierce assault, his opponent was quickly defeated.

He had not even put up much of a decent resistance.

At present, aside from its name, nothing was known about Kong Cong's card—not its specific Skills, nor its Traits.

But Lu Su's Luffy was in much the same situation, if not even more outrageous, since the outside world did not even know Kaneki's name.

Lu Su frowned at the scene before him. Sword and blade attacks were hardly friendly to Luffy.

Fortunately, Kong Cong's Bo was only a Black Iron Grade card. Otherwise, the outcome really would have been difficult to predict.

Time reached the third day of the Talent Cup's main tournament.

Today's round of sixteen to eight finally let Lu Su feel a bit of pressure.

As he watched his opponent summon a second card after the first one dissipated, Lu Su quietly thought, As expected, I still can't underestimate anyone.

However—

Bronze Grade Spiritual Power slowly spread out. Sensing the aura of the other party's card, Lu Su thought to himself, It's only Black Iron Grade Gold Quality. Luffy can deal with it easily.

Meanwhile, his opponent gritted his teeth and thought, Damn it, what kind of monsters are these? I thought making a Gold Card would be enough to win the championship easily. First Kong Cong, then this Lu Su.

Thinking of this, he could not help but feel a little despair.

When he had first created a Gold Card, he had been brimming with confidence. But after several days of competition, he was starting to question his life.

Had Shanghai City always had this many geniuses?

Unfortunately, he did not know that Luffy was a Bronze Grade card. Otherwise, he would only have suffered a worse breakdown.

No matter how frustrated his opponent felt, Luffy had already taken the initiative and charged forward.