Red Candle casually toyed with the card in her hand and chuckled. "You really know how to joke around. A one-star character card, and one with terrible stats at that—nice to look at, but useless. Its market price is only around twenty gold. I've bought so many Seven-Star Cards from you, yet you're still trying to rip me off? Forget it. I don't want it. Keep it and sell it slowly."
She set down the card and turned to leave. The owner immediately called after her with a smile. "Hey, hey, I was just joking. Thirty-five gold and it's yours. To be honest, I bought it for thirty-four. At least let me make a little for my trouble."
Red Candle knew this crooked merchant was definitely lying, but a few dozen gold meant nothing to her. She sighed in relief and, when she turned around, immediately put on an indifferent smile. After settling the payment with the owner, she casually said, "By the way, a few girls in our guild have been collecting character cards lately, especially ones with such exquisite artwork. If anyone sells you this character card again, please buy them all and pass them on to me. I can give them to my sisters."
"Sure, sure, no problem!" The owner's eyes narrowed into smiling slits as he counted the money.
Red Candle turned and left.
She made another round through the Black Market and carefully searched several large purchasing stalls. Only after failing to find another identical card did her tightly clenched fingers slowly relax. Red Candle took a deep breath, quickly removed her helmet, and headed to the office next door.
Next door, Xue Linxiang had been checking tournament materials when Red Candle suddenly rushed in, pale-faced.
Xue Linxiang asked in confusion, "What happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"
Red Candle took a deep breath to steady her excitement and spoke rapidly. "Sister Xue, I just found a very strange card while browsing the Black Market. Its skill deals heavy damage to Flower Cards and has a chance to trigger an Instant-Death Judgment!"
Xue Linxiang froze, then rose straight from her seat. "An Instant-Death Judgment? Specifically against Flower Cards?"
Red Candle nodded.
Xue Linxiang's expression darkened. "Pull up the card's data for me immediately!"
Red Candle opened the data-sharing tablet on the desk, logged into her account, brought up the card, and pointed to its face. "Its basic stats are terrible, and its defense is ridiculously low—only fifteen points. Even at Seven-Star, it won't exceed one thousand defense. But its skill..."
Xue Linxiang looked at the delicate, tear-streaked woman on the screen, scattering flower petals into the water, and suddenly felt something deeply strange rise in her heart.
It sent chills down her spine.
Daiyu Burying Flowers: Deals heavy damage to Flower Cards, with a 10% chance of triggering an Instant Death effect.
A 10% chance, and this was only a level-one card. According to the rule that skill judgment rates increased by one point per level, the chance on a level-seventy Black Card could directly rise to 80%. Then, with enhancement using special high-grade accuracy materials, a max-level Black Card Lin Daiyu could absolutely reach a 100% skill judgment rate!
Daiyu Burying Flowers—100% chance to trigger Instant Death against Flower Cards. The consequences would be unimaginable!
Xue Linxiang paced back and forth across the room twice. She took a deep breath before finally calming down and said, "There's no need to look at this card's basic data. Fifteen defense doesn't matter, because it doesn't need defense at all! It's purely a utility card. Its greatest use is to quickly eliminate the opponent's trump-card Flowers!"
She stopped, her brows tightly furrowed. "Little Tang's deck contains many Flower Cards. Take the [Tuberose] he sold before, for example. It has one hundred thousand health and fifty thousand defense, making it very difficult to kill. But Daiyu Burying Flowers can trigger a 'forced Instant Death' judgment against Flower Cards and immediately destroy Little Tang's Flower Cards. If it appears in a match against Tang Muzhou... you understand the consequences, right?"
Red Candle nodded, her voice trembling slightly. "It could one-shot Tang God's strongest Flower trump card and completely disrupt Tang God's rhythm."
Xue Linxiang felt a chill run down her back. "This card is practically the natural nemesis of wood-element Flower Card Decks!"
Red Candle's face was pale, and she was unable to speak for a long while.
Her instincts had been right. Fortunately, she had bought up every copy of this card and hadn't allowed it to circulate further. Otherwise, if card collectors from other clubs discovered it and raised it into a Seven-Star Black Card, Tang Muzhou would face an enormous threat!
Xue Linxiang took a deep breath and stared sharply at the card's tragically beautiful artwork. "Who made a card specifically designed to target Flower decks?"
Red Candle said nervously, "The owner said he couldn't remember that person's name either. I'll send someone to investigate right away!"
Xue Linxiang clenched her fists. "Find that person for me as quickly as possible!"
At the same time, utterly unaware of any of this, Xie Mingzhe was still drawing Lin Daiyu in his personal space.
One Lin Meimei card... two Lin Meimei cards...
His speed grew faster and faster, while the artwork became increasingly refined.
After making ten Lin Daiyu cards, Xie Mingzhe temporarily stopped working. Stroking his chin with a smile, he thought, Where should I sell them this time?
Xue Linxiang ran all the way to the players' apartment in high heels and knocked on Tang Muzhou's dormitory door.
Tang Muzhou took a long time to answer. He squinted sleepily, leaned against the doorway, and yawned again and again.
This man had a very strange schedule. Other people took an afternoon nap, but every day from four to five in the afternoon, he had to sleep for an hour. Otherwise, he would be so sleepy that he kept yawning nonstop.
When he saw Xue Linxiang, he still looked half-asleep, his eyes vacant and unfocused.
Xue Linxiang said sternly, "Little Tang, go wash your face and wake up. I have something important to tell you!"
Tang Muzhou kept his eyes closed and gave no response—he had fallen asleep standing up, becoming a god of sleep.
Xue Linxiang shouted, "Tang Muzhou!"
"Oh." Tang Muzhou finally came back to himself. He turned to wash his face while yawning, his feet drifting as he walked as though he were sleepwalking.
Just then, the neighboring door suddenly opened from within, and a young boy poked his head out.
He had a round, baby-faced look. His sky-blue eyes were large and bright, his lashes long and thick, and his hair gleamed with a soft golden sheen under the sunlight, making him look like an adorable doll. His voice, still clear and youthful before puberty, rang out. "Sister Xue, that shout of yours nearly made my brain crash... Did my master offend you? How are you planning to deal with him?"
Before you continue