I won! A crushing victory!
I slapped those who looked down on me right across the face!
Brother Chen! I did it—with the card you made for me!
She then turned toward Li Jingde, whose face was filled with defeat, and said seriously, "A bet is a bet. Li Jingde, apologize."
Li Jingde had never suffered such a loss before, but he had still lost, and Qi Shu was watching. How could he possibly shamelessly wriggle out of it?
He humbly said to Chen Xiao Diao, "Sorry. I shouldn't have looked down on you."
Chen Xiao Diao had yet to react when Qi Shu suddenly shouted:
"What's going on?! Why are you speaking so quietly? Can't you accept losing?!"
Li Jingde jolted and hurriedly snapped to attention. His face flushed red as he shouted:
"I'm sorry! Comrade Chen Xiao Diao, I shouldn't have spoken rudely to you. I deeply regret it, and I'll correct my attitude from now on!"
Chen Xiao Diao nodded, flattered and overwhelmed, but when she thought of Li Jingde's sudden shift from arrogance to humility, she couldn't help laughing.
At that moment, Qi Shu walked up to her and asked:
"Finished the fight?"
"Finished."
"Is everyone all right?"
"No problem. Thank you for worrying, Team Leader!"
"Then come with me."
"Huh?"
And just like that, Chen Xiao Diao was inexplicably led away by her immediate superior.
Only Li Jingde remained behind, his face burning red, along with the lively, cheerful atmosphere still filling the battle room.
Qi Shu brought Chen Xiao Diao to his office and casually said, "Have a seat."
Chen Xiao Diao sat down nervously, like an elementary school student waiting for a teacher to ask her a question.
Qi Shu sat down as well and said, "I saw your card. It's got some real substance."
The moment cards came up, Chen Xiao Diao became too excited to sit still.
"That's right! Team Leader, did you see it? Master Lu took down that black dog with one grappling throw! And then he punched—"
"All right, all right, I saw everything. What I want to ask is, you used an anomaly as a material, didn't you?"
Chen Xiao Diao immediately shrank back, as if she had been caught cheating on an exam. "Yes..."
"You've got some nerve!"
Qi Shu gave a cold bark and continued scolding her:
"Do you know that if the anomaly element in a card held by an official Card Master exceeds the limit, it will be confiscated and sealed immediately?"
Chen Xiao Diao lowered her head even further and replied weakly, "I can guarantee that the anomaly element in this card is definitely within the limit. The Card Master who made it for me is a genius."
"That much is true. From what I saw, your card spirit is merely fierce and rough-tempered. It really doesn't have much of an anomalous aura. Looks like you're reckless, not stupid."
Qi Shu's tone was no longer reproachful. Instead, it held a hint of curiosity. "How did you meet this Card Master?"
Chen Xiao Diao told him everything about receiving a call, carrying out the mission, and fighting Lin Chen before becoming acquainted with him, though she avoided going into detail about Lin Chen's card information.
Qi Shu grew a little excited as well. "So he's a wild talent. Make sure to protect him, and don't expose his information to outsiders easily. You can try to recruit him into the Security Bureau."
Chen Xiao Diao said that she would definitely do her best, and that she and Lin Chen had already become buddies.
Qi Shu thought for a moment before speaking. "In that case, I'll increase the 'Brave and Righteous' reward for resolving the Night Fishing Anomaly incident. Use this opportunity to build a good relationship with him."
Qi Shu acted swiftly. He approved it immediately and issued the reward.
"Understood! I'll take the reward over tomorrow!" Chen Xiao Diao was happy for Lin Chen too.
"There's nothing else. Now that you have a good card, you need to train properly. Don't slack off."
"Yes, Team Leader!"
Chen Xiao Diao saluted and was about to leave when Qi Shu suddenly called out to her:
"One more thing..."
Chen Xiao Diao turned back in confusion.
Qi Shu didn't look at her. He merely said indifferently:
"Not bad. You didn't embarrass me."
The author has brought Qi Shu and Chen Xiao Diao here to ask for votes and follows!
This book is about to enter its first round of recommendations. The amount of traffic I get will depend on my follow-through and monthly-ticket numbers over the next few days! So please keep reading! If you have votes, please cast them! This is a matter of life and death!
Qi Shu gave a cold bark. "Do you know this book is about to be recommended? If the follow-through and monthly tickets aren't enough, its traffic will plummet!"
Chen Xiao Diao replied weakly, "I can guarantee that this book is absolutely wonderful. The big brothers who vote for it and keep reading are all geniuses."
Thanks to Luohua Ren Duli_ for the two monthly tickets!
Chapter 22: Other People Train Their Cards Like Dogs, but I Treat My Card Spirit Like a Brother!
After Chen Xiao Diao left, the cold-faced but warm-hearted Team Leader Qi Shu grew solemn once more.
He picked up the incident report for the Night Fishing Anomaly and muttered to himself:
"The source of the contamination in this incident belongs to an urban tributary of the Binjiang Waterway. It clearly flowed in along the Binjiang River. There must still be anomalies stirring restlessly in the river. Things really haven't been peaceful lately..."
H City, Binjiang Subdistrict, Xin'an Residential Area.
In the morning, Lin Chen was woken by knocking on the door yet again. When he opened it, there was no one there.
Then he skillfully glanced downward. Sure enough, it was Chen Xiao Diao again!
Lin Chen held his forehead. "Good heavens, can't you let me sleep in for once?"
Chen Xiao Diao entered as though she owned the place. After pouring herself a glass of water, she said, "Brother Chen, the card you made for me is way too strong!"
The moment cards were mentioned, Lin Chen was no longer sleepy. "What happened?"
"I completely crushed another Card Master. I have a recording of the battle—let me show you!"
The Security Bureau's battle rooms all had recordings available for Card Masters to review their fights themselves.
When Lin Chen saw Lu Zhishen displaying astonishing might just to eat dog legs, he couldn't help laughing.
After watching it, Lin Chen summarized the fight. The opponent had actually been quite strong, and the key to winning had still been Mad Zen Wrathful Thoughts! It had directly thrown the enemy's coordination and strategy into chaos, allowing them to win through disorder.
As the saying went, wild fists could beat a master. Only a chaotic battle could bring out the advantages of the Fist Fighter sequence card.
Seeing the card he had made shine so brilliantly, Lin Chen nodded in deep satisfaction.
"And there's more! I discovered that Master Lu actually ranked up!"
Chen Xiao Diao took out the card and displayed it to Lin Chen.
The card quality of Xiangguo Temple's Mad Zen Demon Monk, Lu Zhishen, had astonishingly risen from three stars yesterday to four stars!
The Lu Zhishen on the card illustration had also become even more lifelike. He was dozing off there in boredom.
Lin Chen was pleasantly surprised as well. "He ranked up after just one fight!? Is ranking up really that easy for cards?"
Chen Xiao Diao continued, "Right? I didn't expect it either! Normally, a card ranks up either through advancement via a second card creation, or after going through several battles. This is also the first time I've seen one rank up in a single fight!"
Lin Chen's own Qinghe County Exile Fighter Wu Song had also ranked up quickly. He had fought a Rotten Fish Corpse, then fought Chen Xiao Diao's Fist Fighter, and ranked up.
The fact that Lu Zhishen and Wu Song had ranked up so quickly definitely concealed some sort of ranking-up pattern!
Lin Chen once again used his scholarly way of thinking to begin reasoning it out:
First, the two cards' common point was that they both possessed the Fallen Evil Star trait. This trait gave their card spirits greater spirituality and the potential to evolve independently.
The Fallen Evil Star trait definitely aided ranking up—but could its effect really be this significant?
If it was that significant, then the card spirit would rank up automatically just by leaving it there. There would be no need to wait until after a battle.
Therefore, battle was also a crucial part of ranking up!
Then what key point had been triggered during the battle that aided the card spirit's ranking up?
Lin Chen repeatedly watched the battle recording, compared it with his memories of Zhong Yueming controlling the DS-R1 Mechanical Guardian, and finally combined it with his previous speculation about Wu Song's ranking up.
He had found it!
Ordinary Card Masters, such as Zhong Yueming and Li Jingde, fought with the Card Master as the leader, issuing their card spirits precise and detailed commands.
But Chen Xiao Diao and Lin Chen themselves let the card spirit take the lead. They didn't give many orders, leaving everything to the card spirit's own performance.
What was spirituality? Freedom and liveliness—that was spirituality. Something restrained by a Card Master's orders obviously wouldn't be as spirited!
With the card spirit taking the lead, its spirituality would certainly grow faster than if it merely followed a Card Master's commands.
It was just like education. A teacher force-feeding knowledge into a student could never be as smooth as the student learning proactively.
The master led one through the door; cultivation was up to the individual.
Thus, continuing to derive and extend the idea that "the card spirit should perform freely, without restraint" led to—
At its core, it meant—"Let the card spirit follow its nature, go with the flow, and do what it likes!"
Wu Song loved to fight fiercely and was highly skilled with his fists and feet. So, satisfy his desire for battle, let him fight to his heart's content and win—and that was why Wu Song ranked up.
Lu Zhishen craved meat and wine, and was quick to anger and go berserk. So, let him eat the dog meat he loved and vent himself in a frenzy—and that was why Lu Zhishen ranked up.
Everything suddenly made sense!
Lin Chen excitedly shared his entire chain of deductions and insights with Chen Xiao Diao.
Chen Xiao Diao's eyes widened. She stared blankly and said, "You said way too much. I didn't understand any of it, haha~"
Lin Chen was helpless and directly summarized the conclusion:
Before you continue