There were quite a few people coming and going on the exchange's streets, though not too many. The atmosphere was pleasant. A light rain had begun to fall again, dimming the sunlight slightly, while songs drifted out from some of the shops, creating a warm, harmonious mood.
Tang Jian headed toward the Green Fox Exchange. Its three-story building had bright, imposing glass curtain walls, while massive product advertisements were embedded high into the thick marble walls. Most of them were special scenes created by Illusion Cards.
From a distance, they had the visual impact of a 3D movie, though the actual sensation was even more powerful.
As Tang Jian approached, that seductive Green Fox woman suddenly rushed out of an advertisement panel. Her delicate, supple body looked like that of a real living person. She bent toward Tang Jian with a playful smile before returning to the advertisement.
So realistic. It should be a blue-quality Illusion Card, right?
Thinking this, Tang Jian entered the hall alongside another customer.
"Welcome."
A staff member greeted Tang Jian when he entered, but quickly went over to another customer who appeared interested in buying something.
Clearly, Tang Jian's appearance as a young student did not attract much attention.
Tang Jian strolled around casually. The first-floor hall covered roughly two hundred square meters and contained many glass display counters filled with an array of goods. However, they were all card-related—either card-making materials or completed cards.
In the center of the hall was a circular sofa lounge area. Green plants had been arranged in the middle of the circle, making the space feel refreshing.
Tang Jian examined the goods before turning his attention toward the stairs leading to the second floor.
A female attendant in a suit, with her hair cut into neat, crisp short hair, noticed his expression and immediately came over to ask.
"May I ask what you need, sir?"
Although Tang Jian looked youthful, like a student, Xu Nana had noticed that his demeanor was rather composed. He did not have the awkward unease that inexperienced students often showed when entering a large trading venue alone.
Moreover, judging from the way Tang Jian stood there looking toward the second floor, he seemed to have a specific need. Xu Nana immediately stepped forward to ask. It was simply her professional instinct.
"Oh, I heard that you have card gambling here. I'd like to give it a try."
Tang Jian smiled at Xu Nana as she approached.
"Ah? Sir, do you mean you want to buy a Lucky Item Box?" Xu Nana asked in surprise, discreetly studying Tang Jian again.
"That's right." Tang Jian nodded. "An upperclassman introduced me to this place. I want to buy a Lucky Item Box."
"Oh, all right. Please come upstairs with me, sir."
Xu Nana promptly put on a sweet professional smile, turned sideways, and gestured for him to proceed. She felt a little delighted inside.
Lucky Item Boxes were not cheap.
Even the cheapest box containing five cards cost two thousand Federal Currency.
As long as Tang Jian bought even the cheapest box, she would receive a ten percent commission. Commissions for this kind of purely luck-based product were extremely high.
Lucky Item Boxes were, in truth, simply card gambling.
Across the entire Earth Federation, new cards appeared every day, and new cards entered the market every day as well.
The way many cards were sold was actually simple: you paid, and the seller delivered the goods.
But there was another method of buying cards, invented by Master Tang of the Jiantang Group in Shanghai Base City of the Federation. He and Tang Jian could be considered distant clansmen.
This method was extremely novel. Different quantities of cards were placed into specially made Lucky Boxes that could not be inspected by any means.
They were then sold at different prices according to the number of cards in each Lucky Item Box.
The cards inside a Lucky Item Box might include good cards, or they might all be poor cards or even junk cards. No one knew what cards were actually inside.
Not even employees of the Jiantang Group knew.
That was because every card, whether a good card or a junk card, was randomly placed into different Lucky Item Boxes by the group's machinery.
You might open a Lucky Item Box and find it filled with top-tier cards, or you might find nothing but junk cards.
This way of selling cards was novel and unique. Whether one could buy good cards depended entirely on luck, much like buying lottery tickets.
When Lucky Item Boxes first appeared on the market, quite a few people did not believe in them and suspected there might be some shady dealings involved.
However, there were far too many greedy people in the world—people hoping to get rich overnight, people clinging to luck, and people simply buying them for fun.
Every year, scandals involving lotteries were exposed, yet the number of buyers never decreased. It was entirely because human nature was greedy and loved to gamble.
Once Lucky Item Boxes appeared, many people bought them, and quite a few really did pull top-tier cards worth far more than the price of the boxes they had bought.
As a result, card gambling rapidly became popular throughout the Federation, and the Jiantang Group raked in a great deal of wealth.
"Sir, this is the display screen for Lucky Item Boxes. At least thirty or forty Lucky Item Boxes are sold here every day. Just yesterday, a customer bought a Level Two box and opened a blue two-star card on the spot."
Xu Nana led Tang Jian to a large light screen and spoke with a charming smile.
A Level Two box was a set containing ten cards. It cost four thousand Federal Currency, yet it had yielded a blue two-star card. That was indeed a profit.
Even a blue two-star Energy Card was worth eight thousand Federal Currency, let alone cards with other functions.
Tang Jian raised his eyes and looked at the boxes displayed on the screen.
Basically, no two Lucky Item Boxes had the same surface pattern. Some bore lines, some light spots, some pets, some people, and some numbers. The designs varied greatly.
These different patterns represented luck. They were a promotional tactic, but they also represented the uniqueness of every box.
Some people favored lucky numbers and would buy boxes bearing those numbers.
Others preferred cats or dogs, believing pets brought good luck, and would buy those kinds of boxes.
Of course, some people favored designs featuring men, children, or elderly people. Boxes with such patterns were available as well.
It was precisely this imaginative variety that made Lucky Item Boxes sell even better.
Tang Jian studied the boxes on the screen, scanning through them one by one, but did not see the target he was looking for.
"Excuse me, do you have boxes with, uh... underwear-style patterns?"
Tang Jian looked at Xu Nana beside him. Even with his thick skin, he felt a little awkward asking this.
Damn it!
He remembered that in his previous life, the black box He Xun had held during his promotion had an underwear pattern on its surface.
The Demi-human Beauty Girl had been drawn from that box.
At the time, it had even sparked a frenzy for that particular type of box.
Unfortunately, every Lucky Box was unique and would only appear once.
Other boxes of the same type might contain other good cards, but the chances of drawing the same rare growth card, the Demi-human Beauty Girl, were extremely low.
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