Tang Muzhou's Purpose

He might as well make a few more Instant-Death Cards and sell them together with Daiyu.

Mentioning Daiyu naturally made him think of the other female lead in Dream of the Red Chamber: Xue Baochai.

Since he had already made Lin Meimei, why not make Miss Bao as well?

A flash of inspiration struck Xie Mingzhe—Baochai Chasing Butterflies, Daiyu Burying Flowers!

This was a story from the same chapter of the original Dream of the Red Chamber. Xue Baochai had gone to Xiaoxiang Pavilion to find Lin Daiyu and happened to see Jia Baoyu enter. Afraid of arousing Daiyu's suspicions, she quietly left. On the way, she encountered some butterflies, and in a playful mood, took out her fan to chase them.

Baochai Chasing Butterflies came first, followed by Daiyu Burying Flowers. This passage perfectly showed the two women's utterly different personalities.

Chasing butterflies could certainly kill them, but he wondered whether there were many butterfly-type cards in this game.

Xie Mingzhe stroked his chin and carefully considered how to make the Baochai Card.

***

At the same time, at the City of Evernight, club headquarters.

Ye Zhu burst out laughing. "Hahaha, someone really bought that card for 660,000? This is killing me! Tang Muzhou proposed the Instant Death concept at last season's summary meeting, and someone went and made a flower-type Instant-Death Card to target him at an auction. Hahaha! Tang God must be feeling awful right now!"

Seeing the young man clutching his stomach and laughing until he was out of breath, Pei Jingshan helplessly patted his shoulder. "Little Zhu, don't celebrate too soon. If that author called Yueban makes an Instant-Death Card that targets your butterfly cards, you won't be laughing anymore."

Ye Zhu forcibly held back his laughter and waved a hand. "Don't worry, Brother Pei! My butterfly cards all have extremely high agility. How could they be hit so easily by an Instant-Death Judgment?" Just as he said that, he suddenly sneezed several times in a row and rubbed his nose so hard that even the tip turned red.

Strange. Why did he feel as though someone was cursing him?

Author's note:

Pipi Zhe would be making cards like crazy for a while in order to establish a name for himself in the original card-making world.

This chapter had already made it clear that this game used [Real-Time Combat], not turn-based combat where you could only stand there and take hits when I attacked you. So Instant-Death Cards were not that powerful. If you anticipated them in advance and gave yourself a shield or healing, the cards would not die. Tang Muzhou had also said that Instant-Death Cards had to seize the right moment and be used as unexpected tactical cards. What really mattered was still the player's reaction speed and awareness. This setup was meant to make the later matches more exciting.

Tang Muzhou's Purpose

After figuring out how to make the Baochai Card, Xie Mingzhe left the Peacock Star Domain and returned to his personal space.

As he passed through the living room, he happened to see the mailbox icon on the large screen flashing continuously. Remembering that Tang Muzhou had just reminded him to check his mail when he had time, he walked over and opened it. Dozens of emails had piled up inside. Aside from various official event notifications, many of them came from someone named Red Candle.

One email read, "Hello, Fat Uncle. I am the president of Fenghua Guild. We are very interested in the Daiyu Burying Flowers Card you made and hope you can contact us." Red Candle: "Hello, Fat Uncle, I am..."

President Red Candle had sent over a dozen emails in a row, two per day, all with exactly the same content.

Only then did Xie Mingzhe realize the downside of not checking his mailbox.

There was no such feature as "private messaging strangers" in this holographic game. Friends could send voice or text messages to each other, but if they were not friends and were not in the same location, emails were the only way to get in touch.

To focus on making cards over the past few days, he had turned off the mailbox notification in his living room. He had not expected so many emails to pile up.

Xie Mingzhe read through them one by one, deleted all the official advertising emails, and turned on the mailbox's system notification sound so that he would not miss important emails again. After doing all that, he seriously replied to Red Candle: "Hello, President. I'm very sorry. I turned off my notifications these past few days and didn't see your emails. It'll be nine o'clock soon, and I have plans with a friend. Could we talk in person after I return at around eleven-thirty?"

Nine o'clock was the time his power-leveling studio had agreed to run dungeons, and Xie Mingzhe could not be absent. He had already guessed why Red Candle had contacted him. It was most likely about the copyright to the Daiyu Card—and he would never sell that copyright. But since the other party had taken the initiative to contact him and sent so many emails, he needed to go in person out of courtesy and make things clear face-to-face.

After waiting several days, Red Candle nearly vomited blood when she finally received a reply. "Okay, okay! I'll wait for your response at eleven-thirty!"

After sending the email, she immediately turned and went to the neighboring office to inform Xue Linxiang and Tang Muzhou, who were reviewing the tournament schedule.

Tang Muzhou had just been called offline by Sister Xue. Since Manman and Changfeng, who had gone traveling, had both returned to the club today, Xue Linxiang had gathered Fenghua Club's four key players to discuss next season's competition arrangements.

—Tang Muzhou, Xu Changfeng, Zhen Man, and Shen An, Fenghua Club's four star players, were all present.

Hearing Red Candle's words, a hint of amusement surfaced in Tang Muzhou's eyes. "So he really didn't see the emails?"

"Exactly!" Red Candle said helplessly. "I sent more than ten emails in a row, and every one disappeared without a trace. I have no idea what he's doing!"

"Master, is this Fat Uncle really a card-making genius?" Shen An asked curiously.

"Yes. He's very talented." Tang Muzhou made no attempt to hide his appreciation for Fat Uncle.

"The auction matter has spread everywhere. A lot of people in the player group are taking pleasure in your misfortune." Xu Changfeng patted his friend on the shoulder, his peach-blossom eyes full of laughter. "Muzhou, what are you planning to do? Buy the copyright to that Daiyu Burying Flowers Card?"

"Will he sell the copyright?" Xue Linxiang asked with some concern.

"No," Tang Muzhou said with certainty.

"How can you be so sure?" Zhen Man, the club's only female player, asked calmly.

"Because I just met him. He's someone who can keep his composure. Besides, he mentioned that Nie Yuandao had contacted him before." Tang Muzhou stroked his chin thoughtfully. "The number of cards he has made that we found in the database has never matched the number of Daiyu Cards we bought back from the Black Market. There are still more than ten cards with no clues at all. If my guess is right, Nie Yuandao approached him because of Instant-Death Cards as well. In other words, besides Daiyu Burying Flowers, Fat Uncle has made another Instant-Death Card—one specifically meant to target Old Nie."