Let's Play Cards Instead.

Two days had passed since Le Yu met Yin Yinyin, and he had been quite busy.

For instance, he'd dominated the internal Battle Cards tournament at the Statistics Department, claiming the championship and earning the revered title of "Statistics Department Battle Cards Master."

In essence, he just played cards.

Battle Cards was one of the few unique forms of entertainment Le Yu found in this world. Burdened by the pressures of life, he instantly fell in love with it the moment he encountered it, using it as his daily pastime back at the Statistics Department.

Battle Cards, or Combat Arts Cards Duel, was a two-player game. Each player had a deck of 40 Combat Arts Cards and started with three cards in hand, drawing one and playing one each turn. The first player to act gained no benefit, while the second player started with two additional health points (as direct hit cards typically dealt two points of damage).

Combat Arts Cards primarily came in three types: Direct Hit, Counterattack, and Critical Hit. Direct Hit cards dealt direct damage to the opponent; Counterattack cards countered Direct Hits and dealt damage; Critical Hit cards required one turn to charge before unleashing massive damage.

Direct Hit cards were played face-up, while Counterattack and Critical Hit cards were played face-down. When a player played a Counterattack or Critical Hit, the card remained hidden. If the opponent played a Direct Hit, the hidden card had to be revealed:

If the hidden card was a Counterattack, the Direct Hit was nullified, and counter-damage was dealt.

If the hidden card was a Critical Hit, the Direct Hit was not only effective, but the Critical Hit card also became nullified because its charge was 'interrupted.'

If both players played hidden cards, the Counterattack card would automatically become nullified after one turn, while the Critical Hit card would activate after one turn and deal massive damage.

Simply put, Direct Hit beats Critical Hit but is weak to Counterattack; Counterattack beats Direct Hit but is weak to Critical Hit; Critical Hit beats Counterattack but is weak to Direct Hit.

Just looking at the rules, it might seem uninteresting, like just a turn-based rock-paper-scissors game. However, the true essence of Combat Arts Cards lay in its card library—there were eighteen Combat Arts Card decks in total. This number might seem familiar, as Huiyao's officially recognized Combat Arts system also comprised eighteen types!

That's right, the eighteen decks of Combat Arts Cards corresponded to the eighteen real-world Combat Arts! Each school's Direct Hit, Counterattack, and Critical Hit cards were entirely different, and even their starting health points varied. Thus, every Combat Arts Card duel was ever-changing and incredibly fun!

Combat Arts Cards were reportedly invented by Huiyao's founding emperor. Over two thousand years of development, they had become a deeply ingrained form of entertainment in the hearts of every Radiant Person. Many ordinary people might not even practice Combat Arts, but they were certainly familiar with Combat Arts Cards!

For many martial artists, Combat Arts Cards were an expedient way to learn Combat Arts. Not only was it entertaining and educational, but card duels shared similarities with real combat. Excelling at the game often correlated with a strong understanding of Combat Arts in reality.

With eighteen Combat Arts Card decks, how was balance maintained? This was also quite interesting: Combat Arts Cards were produced by the Yan Jing Royal Academy, and whenever the Royal Academy updated a Combat Arts system textbook, the Combat Arts Cards would update accordingly.

Minor revisions and updates to Combat Arts were often imperceptible to most people, but in Combat Arts Cards, it was different—when a certain deck was strengthened, players would quickly notice the change in its win rate and realize that Combat Art had become more powerful!

Humans were pragmatic creatures. They used whatever deck was strong and naturally learned whatever Combat Art was strong. Therefore, a high win rate for a Combat Arts Card deck could very well lead to the rise of one school and the decline of others.

Other schools naturally wouldn't sit idly by, but the Royal Academy represented the official authority, and no school could contend with them. Thus, besides hoping the Royal Academy would nerf overpowered decks, the best approach was to strengthen their own Combat Arts system, prompting the officials to also buff their decks.

Although Combat Arts Cards were merely a form of entertainment, they also promoted the development of Combat Arts, even reflecting the rise and fall of Combat Arts over two millennia of competition. The eighteen Combat Arts Card decks now were all products of hundreds of iterations and updates, achieving an extreme level of balance.

Alright, time to play cards at work.

Le Yu got up and changed, and besides his pocket watch and work ID, the first thing he put in his pocket was his Wolf-Eagle Fist Deck.

Although Le Yu's specialty Combat Art was the Eight-Grain Flow Bite Combat Arts, he found the Wolf-Eagle Deck more interesting once he started playing Battle Cards.

The Biting Combat Deck was a fast-paced draw-and-play deck with low starting health. Its main characteristic was that for every Direct Hit played that wasn't countered, another Direct Hit could be played, which perfectly aligned with the "Biting Kill to the death" nature of the Biting Combat Arts.

The Wolf-Eagle Deck, on the other hand, was an accumulating attack deck with high starting health. Its main characteristic was that for every Direct Hit played that was countered, the damage of the next Direct Hit would increase. The way Kui Zhao and Li Shijie fought increasingly fiercely that day also exemplified this characteristic.

Leaving his bedroom and heading downstairs, Le Yu saw Qian Yuya, who was eating breakfast, suddenly speed up her eating. She wolfed down her food and then hurried out the door. He suddenly remembered something and called out, "My intelligent little sister."

Qian Yuya stopped, opening the inner door without turning around. "What is it?"

"Don't you have your graduation assessment at school today?"

"Yes."

"It's okay if you don't do well. I'll always take care of you, your big brother loves you."

Qian Yuya turned around, her calves trembling with anger. She glared fiercely at Le Yu with furious eyes, then pushed open the door and left without bothering to say another word to him.

Thanks to his life-or-death struggles with his biological sister in his previous life, Le Yu had a slight understanding of how to guide rebellious young girls. By expressing his willingness to accept Qian Yuya's failure with such a nauseating attitude, he knew Qian Yuya would be filled with a surge of determination, eager to hit Le Yu back with her success as soon as possible.

Le Yu had essentially cast a "Bloodlust" spell on Qian Yuya with his words, demonstrating his profound thoughtfulness.

Of course, teasing his quiet and rigid sister with a charmingly disgusting attitude was also incredibly amusing. Since Qian Yuya had accepted the 'fact' that her brother had changed his 'mask,' Le Yu also let loose, with profanities and provocative remarks flying, cold jokes and dirty jokes all mixed together. Playing cards at work during the day and chatting at home in the evening, his life was quite colorful.

Heading to the backyard to fetch water and wash up, Le Yu dabbed some salt on his toothbrush and began brushing his teeth. As he brushed, he suddenly heard a whooshing sound.

Swish!

Le Yu reached out and caught it, finding yet another pebble wrapped in silk cloth.

Where does Yin Yinyin get so many pebbles? There's no river nearby, is he one of those types who jogs by the Haizhu Embankment every morning? Le Yu grumbled inwardly, then opened the silk cloth. It only had four words written on it:

"Plan initiated."

Le Yu slightly raised an eyebrow, washed the ink off the silk, and put it away. This world didn't have disposable tissues, so he'd always have use for a handkerchief when out and about.

After breakfast, Le Yu walked to the Statistics Department for work. He hadn't gone far when he felt something amiss: someone was tailing him.

Awakened individuals could preemptively dodge bullets, so they naturally had a sense for gazes. However, Awakened didn't react to all stares; most people's gazes were 'emotionless' and wouldn't trigger a mental alarm. Only gazes with 'emotion' would catch an Awakened's attention.

Thus, in this world, peeking at beautiful women was quite dangerous. Even without looking, women could acutely sense such 'colorful' gazes. If the beauty wasn't powerful or had a good temper, it might be fine, but if one peeked at someone not to be trifled with, it wasn't uncommon to be beaten on the spot by the beauty—such gazes with 'intense malice' were a very uncomfortable experience for an Awakened.

Now, Le Yu felt this 'intense malice' gaze, as if someone wanted to pull his pants down.

When wearing his Statistics Department uniform, he was long accustomed to such stares, but he wasn't at work yet.

The further he walked, the denser these malicious gazes became. By the time Le Yu reached the lecturing square where the Radiant Bell Tower stood, these gazes had almost materialized, surrounding Le Yu from all directions.

This was not an illusion.

Because a crowd had gathered around Le Yu.

He was surrounded.

"Qian Yuliu."

Le Yu stopped and watched as three figures, two men and a woman, emerged from the crowd and stood opposite him. The one leading them was Lin Xue—Lin Jinyao's daughter.

Today, she wore a short-sleeved white top, and her long hair was gone, replaced by a sleek, short cut. Her eyes were slightly puffy, as if she had been crying a lot these past two days.

"What's going on?" Le Yu glanced at the surrounding people. "You… are you planning to assault a government official in broad daylight? I don't mind, but could you at least pick a secluded spot? The Patrol Guards over there are already heading this way."

"After becoming a Running Dog for the Statistics Department, you've become unruly and arrogant… Is it the Statistics Department that corrupts people, or were you just pretending before?" Gao Jin said coldly, "Do you have no shame!?"

"Xue'er!"

A middle-aged man with a sorrowful expression hurriedly pushed through the crowd and urgently grabbed Lin Xue's hand. "Don't go, let your second uncle handle this! You shouldn't have to bear this burden!"

Le Yu recognized the middle-aged man. He was Lin Jinyao's younger brother, Lin Xue'en. He had been in the courtyard when Lin Jinyao died. However, unlike Lin Jinyao, who was a Military Academy instructor, Lin Xue'en was just an ordinary clothing merchant with poor Combat Arts cultivation.

"Second Uncle, don't stop me. This is the only thing I can do for my father."

Lin Xue gently shook off her second uncle's hand, then turned to face Le Yu.

"Captain Qian, we just want to seek justice; we won't do anything illegal."

Lin Xue slowly exhaled, enunciating each word.

"We want to initiate a Revenge Severance with you!"

P.S.: New week, new beginning! Ting Ri has updated 6,000 words today!