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Xue Linxiang shot the little brat a glare. "Shen An, you come too! I have something serious to discuss with you."

Shen An had originally poked his head out to watch the show, but seeing Sister Xue's grim expression, he immediately dropped the joking around and obediently followed her out.

By the time the two entered the room next door, Tang Muzhou had already finished washing his face.

The man sat leisurely on the sofa, his deep eyes once again clear and intelligent.

Tang Muzhou before washing his face and Tang Muzhou after washing his face were practically two different people.

Over the past few years since his debut, Tang Muzhou had won an individual championship and consistently performed well in team competitions. But whenever a match was scheduled between four and five in the afternoon, his win rate was abysmal. Gradually, everyone came to know about his strange schedule. His fans even joked that perhaps Tang God had made too many plant cards and become like a plant himself—when the afternoon sun was too harsh, Tang God wilted and needed to hibernate.

Fortunately, for ratings, most professional league matches were scheduled during the prime-time slot from 19:00 to 22:00, so the impact was not significant.

It was now nearly five in the afternoon, and Tang Muzhou had woken up.

Seeing Sister Xue and his disciple enter one after the other, Tang Muzhou asked with concern, "Sister Xue, you look awful. What happened?" His gaze swept over his disciple standing beside her. The young boy shook his head to indicate that he had no idea.

Xue Linxiang said nothing and swiftly turned on the portable tablet computer she had brought with her.

A virtual projection screen over two meters wide immediately appeared before them. On it were nine identical One-Star Cards, neatly arranged in a row—an imposing sight.

They were character cards. A delicate-looking woman's face was streaked with tears as her slender jade-like hand scattered flower petals into a river. The artwork was exquisitely detailed.

Tang Muzhou stood and walked over to inspect the cards closely. "What card is this?"

"Red Candle bought it from the Black Market," Xue Linxiang said gravely. "Take a close look at its stats and skill."

HP 100, Attack 0, Defense 15. Its base stats were laughably poor. Its skill was Daiyu Burying Flowers: Deal devastating damage to flower-type cards, with a 10% chance of triggering an Instant Death effect.

Instant Death? Specifically against flowers?

Tang Muzhou raised an eyebrow, fell silent for two seconds, then turned to his disciple. "Xiao An, what do you think?"

Shen An craned his neck to stare at the card and carefully calculated, "A beginner card has a 10% chance. At level 70, that becomes 80%. If probability-boosting materials are used to strengthen it, the chance can be stacked to 100%. This kind of utility card is useless against other players, but against Master, it could directly cripple his trump-card flowers—is someone making it specifically to target Master?"

Xue Linxiang felt greatly gratified. Shen An was only fifteen, extremely mischievous, and followed everyone around all day like a child who never grew up. Yet the boy was clever and remarkably perceptive, spotting the problem with the card at a glance. He truly was Tang Muzhou's disciple.

Just as she was about to agree, Tang Muzhou said calmly, "Targeting me? Not necessarily."

Shen An froze. "What do you mean?"

"Look carefully at the image on this card." Tang Muzhou pointed at the artwork on its front. "Isn't there a little too much decoration?"

Shen An suddenly came to his senses. "That's right! The flowers and grass, the river, the green trees—it looks like a painting!"

Xue Linxiang also sensed that something was off and could not help asking, "Xiao Tang, are you saying this card was not made specifically to target you?"

"Yes." Tang Muzhou turned back to the tear-streaked woman on the card and said evenly, "Every true card-making expert knows that the purer the card art, the purer the summoned Star Card Illusions will be, and the stronger the card itself will become. This card contains too many cluttered decorations. Besides the main character, there are trees, flowers, a river... These elements make the card look fuller, but in reality, they greatly weaken the central character's combat power."

Seeing that both of them were listening intently, Tang Muzhou patiently analyzed, "If its maker were a card-making expert, this card would only need two key elements: a character and flowers. Its initial probability should have reached 30%, and at level 70, it should have reached 100% without needing material enhancements. But this person does not know how to make cards at all. That is why this card's initial probability is only 10%, its data is disordered, and raising it to full probability later would come at an extremely high cost."

Shen An nodded vigorously. "Master is right! This card is drawn in such detail, like an art academy student making a painting. Every expert in the card-making world knows that cramming in a bunch of decorative objects is a major taboo when making combat cards!"

Xue Linxiang frowned. After a moment, she said, "Could this really just be a coincidence?"

Tang Muzhou nodded.

Xue Linxiang had just begun to relax when Tang Muzhou said, "If someone were deliberately targeting me, I wouldn't be afraid—coincidence is what's truly terrifying."

Xue Linxiang blanked for a moment, then quickly understood what Tang God meant.

When Red Candle had handed her the card earlier, its highly targeted skill had frightened her so badly that she had not been thinking clearly.

But Tang Muzhou was clearer-headed than she was.

Especially Tang Muzhou after waking up at five in the afternoon—he considered problems more calmly and sharply than she did.

If someone had truly intended to provoke him by making a card specifically designed against him, Tang Muzhou would not have feared it—over the years, his deck had been studied by every major club. Were there not already countless targeted cards created to counter him?

He had reached his current heights not just through his cards, but also through his swift adaptability in battle and his exceptionally precise card control. Even if this Daiyu Burying Flowers card could cripple one of his trump-card flowers, he still had another, stronger trump card. During every match, players expanded their card pools and brought several reserve cards into battle. An opponent could not possibly target every single one of his cards.

But precisely because it was a coincidence, it was terrifying!

No one knew who this card's creator was or how talented this person might be. This person had inadvertently made a card that countered Tang Muzhou. Today, it was only one Daiyu Burying Flowers—who knew whether more bizarre cards might be made tomorrow? If this person made a whole pile of cards that countered Flower Card Decks and sold them to the major clubs, Tang Muzhou's matches next season would become incredibly difficult.