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Setting Sun's expression darkened instantly as well. "If another club gets this card, wouldn't God Nie's White Tiger Card be finished?"

"..." The two exchanged a glance.

As Judgment's former president, Illusory Moon had always been calm, but right now, he could not stay calm.

—Instant-Death Judgment? What the hell kind of Instant-Death Judgment was that?!

This kind of judgment had never appeared in the game before. Many people probably did not even understand what "triggering Instant Death" meant. They thought "Instant Death" was something similar to the "Instant Disable" effect of Metal-element cards, so neither the buyers nor sellers in the Black Market understood the value of this Wu Song Card.

However, professional players and the upper management of the major guilds all knew about this type of judgment.

That was because it was a completely new skill judgment that had only recently been added to the database!

At last season's summary meeting, Tang Muzhou had suddenly proposed the concept of "one-for-one utility cards" that gave cards an Instant Death effect.

It was said that at that meeting, the professional players had split into two camps and engaged in a fierce debate. One side agreed with Tang God's idea and supported adding Instant-Death Cards to the database; the other strongly opposed it, believing that such cards would disrupt the balance of matches and were fundamentally unreasonable.

Tang Muzhou smiled with impeccable grace. He listed many reasons for adding Instant-Death Cards, then said at the end, "The appearance of Instant-Death Cards will greatly enrich battlefield tactics. Don't you want to make a card that can unexpectedly kill my Millennium Sacred Tree in one blow?"

The players: "..."

Tang God had really drawn aggro with that one. Anyone who had ever been bound by his sacred tree wanted to instantly kill that annoying giant tree.

What no one expected was that Nie Yuandao, who had never gotten along particularly well with Tang Muzhou, actually supported Tang God's idea too.

Nie Yuandao said calmly, "Instant-Death-Type Cards are not as threatening as everyone imagines. If the officials can regulate the data, they will at most be one-for-one utility cards. Using an Instant-Death Card to trade for an opponent's god-tier card will make match tactics more varied. I agree with Tang Muzhou's proposal."

Water-element player Qiao Xi said with a smile, "I also think Tang God's idea is very good. If cards with Instant-Death Judgment appear in matches, they can pull off unexpected victories at crucial moments. Otherwise, when certain people put down cards with over 200,000 health, I don't even want to keep playing."

The Earth-element representative Zheng Feng, who had been called out, rubbed his nose and said, "God Xi is talking about my White Elephant with 200,000 health, right? Honestly, I think its health is too high too. Everyone has to spend ages attacking it every match. I feel pretty embarrassed about it."

Everyone: "...Get lost!"

To prevent them from coming to blows on the spot, the League chairman immediately maintained order. "All right, voting begins now."

In the end, Tang Muzhou's suggestion passed the Professional League's resolution.

The League submitted the proposal to the officials, who decided to adopt it after discussion.

To regulate card balance, the officials had their data analyst team hold several meetings and perform detailed formula calculations to determine the ranges for the health, attack, defense, and other stats of Instant-Death-Type Cards—this process took more than half a year, and the official announcement had only been released last month.

The official announcement stated that "Instant-Death Judgment" had been added to the skill database, but the requirements were extremely strict.

First, cards with "Instant-Death Judgment" could only have one Instant Death skill, and the target range could not be too broad. For example, cards with effects such as "Plant Instant Death," "Animal Instant Death," or "Human Instant Death" were not allowed to exist—Instant-Death Judgment could target, at most, only one specific subcategory of cards.

Second, as long as a card had "Instant-Death Judgment," it would be classified as a "single-use utility card." Its attack and defense attributes had to be very low. In other words, after using its skill, it would immediately die as well, achieving at most a one-for-one trade so as not to affect competitive balance.

In addition, the League had issued a corresponding rule—each team could carry at most one Instant-Death-Type Card per match, to be used as a secret weapon.

The official announcement had not been out for long, and many players in the game might not have noticed it. After all, every update came with a long string of announcements. People who did not specifically study cards would not pay attention to news like "Instant-Death Judgment added to the skill database."

At present, the card experts of the major clubs were all trying to create cards with a "sure-kill effect." Illusory Moon did not know how far the other clubs had progressed, but neither God Nie nor Lan God of the Judgment Club had managed to make one yet. Unexpectedly, a person called Fat Uncle had beaten them to it, and had even created a Wu Song Card targeting tiger-type cards—one that directly targeted God Nie!

If God Nie found out that he had agreed with Tang Muzhou's idea to add Instant-Death Judgment, only for someone to so quickly create a card that could trigger Instant Death on his White Tiger Card, would he be furious to death?

This card absolutely could not be found by another club!

Illusory Moon frowned tightly and swiftly made a decision. "Immediately arrange a carpet search of the Black Market! Buy back every card with the original logo 'Yueban,' especially the Wu Song Cards. Do not miss a single one!"

***

The Black Market had not been this lively in a long time.

The players running stalls in the Black Market were completely baffled—what were Fenghua and Judgment doing, crowding so many managers into the Black Market?

When Red Candle saw the familiar IDs constantly passing by, her head nearly exploded. Many Judgment veterans had suddenly appeared in the Black Market and were carefully searching the stalls selling cards, as though looking for something. She felt especially uneasy, convinced that Judgment had bought back the Daiyu Card. Setting Sun thought the same as Red Candle, believing that Fenghua Guild had bought up the other Wu Song Cards and was searching for their original creator.

The two were suspicious of each other, yet when they met, they pretended to greet each other calmly. "Red Sis, you're still in the Black Market?"

Red Candle feigned composure. "Yeah, I was bored, so I came around to take a look."

Setting Sun smiled without warmth. "Me too. What a coincidence!"

Red Candle said, "Yes, what a coincidence."

They exchanged polite greetings on the surface, but in their hearts, they had already cursed each other hundreds of times.

Not long after, news that large numbers of Fenghua Guild and Judgment Guild managers had appeared in the Black Market spread throughout the spy community.