Recaps

Xie Mingzhe met the members of Chen’s power-leveling studio and settled into his new room, though he had to stick to porridge after his recent hospital discharge. Chen explained that the studio occupied his brother’s former home, and he had preserved the balcony just as his brother left it.

• Xie Mingzhe greeted Chi Qing, Pang Yu, and Jin Yue, and Pang Yu realized that the handsome newcomer was Fat Uncle from the game.
• Xie Mingzhe declined the planned feast because his doctor had restricted him to liquid food after his discharge from the hospital.
• Chen arranged for Chi Qing to make porridge and told Xie Mingzhe that he would share a room with Pang Yu.
• Xie Mingzhe explored the studio and admired the carefully decorated balcony, then asked Chen whether he was renting the place.
• Chen told Xie Mingzhe that the house had belonged to his brother and that he had kept the balcony unchanged after his brother left.

Xie Mingzhe formally joined Chen Xiao’s studio as a power-leveler and grew closer to its members over dinner. After logging into the game with the others, he found a batch of official emails announcing the upcoming professional league season and anniversary rewards.

• Chen Xiao hired Xie Mingzhe under a contract offering a 3,000 base salary, commissions, and possible dividends.
• Xie Mingzhe shared dinner with Chen Xiao, Chi Qing, Pang Yu, and Jin Yue, who welcomed him into their close-knit group.
• Xie Mingzhe wondered what had happened to Chen Xiao’s older brother and resolved to reach level 35 so he could help the studio.
• Xie Mingzhe logged into the game and read official emails about the Star Card Professional League season beginning August 10 and an anniversary commemorative card reward.

Xie Mingzhe continued leveling with Senior Brother Qi while several guild figures searched for Fat Uncle and his cards. After testing Fat Uncle’s Wu Song Card, Illusory Moon and Setting Sun discovered it could instantly kill Nie Yuandao’s White Tiger but was easily defeated by other cards, then found that Fat Uncle had created 20 cards.

• Xie Mingzhe joined Senior Brother Qi’s team to level on White Egret Star.
• Setting Sun told Shuangshuang to contact him if Fat Uncle replied, while Red Candle ordered her guild elders to search for cards bearing the Yueban logo.
• Illusory Moon upgraded Wu Song to a level-70, seven-star card and tested it against Setting Sun’s White Tiger, which Wu Song killed instantly.
• Setting Sun and Illusory Moon tested Wu Song against Lan God’s Fire Phoenix, which defeated it with a fire-element area attack.
• Illusory Moon concluded Wu Song’s instant-kill skill only worked against tiger cards and discovered Fat Uncle had created 20 cards.

Illusory Moon realized that Fat Uncle’s Wu Song Card used the newly approved Instant-Death Judgment and could kill Nie Yuandao’s White Tiger Card. He ordered Judgment to search the Black Market and buy every card with the Yueban logo, while Fenghua and Judgment’s sudden activity left Red Candle and Setting Sun suspicious of each other.

• Illusory Moon recalled that Tang Muzhou and Nie Yuandao had supported adding tightly regulated Instant-Death Cards to the game’s skill database.
• Illusory Moon recognized that Fat Uncle’s Wu Song Card could instantly kill tiger-type cards and threaten Nie Yuandao’s White Tiger Card.
• Illusory Moon ordered Judgment to search the Black Market and buy every Yueban card, especially Wu Song Cards.
• Red Candle and Setting Sun each suspected the other guild had bought the cards they wanted, but they exchanged polite greetings when they met.
• News that Fenghua and Judgment managers had flooded the Black Market spread through the spy community.

Xie Mingzhe unknowingly caused a frenzy among major guilds by selling rare Instant Death cards at the Black Market. As the guilds searched for him, Illusory Moon suspected Fat Uncle might be a card-making genius like Tang Muzhou.

• Major guilds flocked to the Black Market, while Xie Mingzhe casually told his friends he had sold two character cards and planned to make ten more Wu Song Cards.
• Xie Mingzhe continued leveling on White Egret Star, unaware that his Daiyu and Wu Song Cards were the first Instant Death cards in Star Card World.
• Setting Sun reported that he could not find Fat Uncle or his cards, and Illusory Moon suspected the missing cards might include a powerful female character card bought by Red Candle.
• Illusory Moon recalled that Tang Muzhou had first become famous by selling cards at the Black Market and warned that Fat Uncle might become another Tang Muzhou.

Illusory Moon and Fenghua Club both tried to find the mysterious card maker Yueban, while Xie Mingzhe leveled up and returned to making cards. Tang Muzhou learned Yueban had made thirty cards and said he was more interested in their creator than in the threat to his Flower Cards.

• Illusory Moon judged that Fat Uncle had exceptional talent and ordered Setting Sun to find him before Fenghua Guild, then bring him to God Nie for possible recruitment.
• Setting Sun hurried off to look for Shuangshuang, who said Fat Uncle still had not replied to her email.
• Xie Mingzhe reached level 35 in Dark Cave, parted from Senior Brother Qi and Sisi as they went to buy Seven-Star Cards, and returned to his personal space to make cards.
• Red Candle told Xue Linxiang that Fenghua had not found Yueban and that other major guilds were searching the Black Market for the creator of the Daiyu Card.
• Tang Muzhou told Xue Linxiang that Yueban's card count had risen to thirty and said he was more interested in Yueban than in the threat to his Flower Cards.

Tang Muzhou decided to seek out the newcomer who had made Lin Daiyu’s instant-death card. In the Dark Night Forest dungeon, Xie Mingzhe joined Chen Xiao’s team and used borrowed Seven-Star Cards to control the vines.

• Tang Muzhou told Xue Linxiang he would use an alternate account to find the card maker himself.
• Chen Xiao summoned Xie Mingzhe to the Wood Planet team dungeon and gave him the Storm Goddess and Ice Goddess cards to use.
• Xie Mingzhe joined the ten-player party and was freed from binding vines by Chi Qing’s purification card.
• Chen Xiao directed Pang Yu to draw the vines away, and they crushed his Rhino Card.
• Chen Xiao ordered Xie Mingzhe to freeze the vines, and Xie Mingzhe gathered them with the Storm Goddess before freezing them with the Ice Goddess.

Xie Mingzhe cleared Wood Planet’s dungeons with Chen Xiao’s group, then returned to studying cards. At the Judgment Club, Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan examined his Wu Song card and discussed why the league had added Instant-Death Judgment.

• Xie Mingzhe followed Chen Xiao’s group through the Wood Planet dungeons, where vines and plant creatures repeatedly hindered them.
• Chen Xiao’s group cleared the remaining five-player dungeons, then disbanded for the night.
• Xie Mingzhe returned to his personal space to study cards.
• At the Judgment Club, Shan Lan examined the Wu Song card Illusory Moon had obtained from the Black Market and concluded its creator was likely a newcomer named Fat Uncle.
• Nie Yuandao explained that he had supported adding Instant-Death Judgment to discourage players from copying health-stacking strategies and lamented the lack of creativity among recent newcomers.

Xie Mingzhe realized that detailed card designs improved their stats, remade his Wu Song and Lin Daiyu cards, and discovered that the Judgment Guild wanted to buy Wu Song cards in bulk. Meanwhile, Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan set out to find Fat Uncle, unaware that Xie Mingzhe had just opened the guild’s messages.

• Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan discussed Instant-Death Judgment cards and decided to find Fat Uncle, whose card designs impressed them.
• Xie Mingzhe studied Chen’s Storm Goddess and Ice Goddess cards and realized that a card’s detailed main subject mattered more than its background.
• Xie Mingzhe redrew Lin Daiyu and Wu Song in greater detail, improving their stats and raising their Instant Death chances to 30%.
• Xie Mingzhe opened his player emails and found repeated messages from Shuangshuang, who said the Judgment Guild wanted to buy Wu Song cards in bulk.
• Xie Mingzhe offered a discount for orders of ten cards or more, and Shuangshuang told Vice President Setting Sun that Fat Uncle had finally replied.

Xie Mingzhe met the Judgment Guild’s leaders and professional players, Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan, to negotiate the sale of his Wu Song Card. Nie Yuandao offered to buy all eleven cards and their production rights for 300,000 real-world currency, leaving Xie Mingzhe stunned when the converted payment appeared as three million game coins.

• Shuangshuang invited Xie Mingzhe to the Judgment Guild territory, where she escorted him to meet the guild’s leaders.
• Xie Mingzhe showed Illusory Moon his improved Wu Song Card, and Illusory Moon passed it to Nie Yuandao.
• Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan introduced themselves as professional players using alternate accounts, then Nie asked how many Wu Song Cards Xie Mingzhe had made.
• Xie Mingzhe said he had made eleven cards, and Nie offered to buy them all along with the card’s production rights for 300,000 real-world currency.
• Illusory Moon opened a trade for three million game coins, and Xie Mingzhe realized the amount reflected the currency conversion.

Xie Mingzhe learned that his Wu Song card was valuable and received a generous copyright offer and a job invitation from Judgment Club. He agreed to transfer the card’s copyright but postponed deciding whether to join, while Illusory Moon recognized that his design potential might be exceptional.

• Shan Lan explained that Xie Mingzhe’s Wu Song card was a tactical Instant-Death Card and that Nie Yuandao’s 300,000 offer covered its copyright.
• Nie Yuandao invited Xie Mingzhe to join Judgment Club as a card designer, offering a monthly salary of 20,000 and bonuses.
• Xie Mingzhe agreed to transfer the Wu Song card’s copyright but said he needed time to consider joining the club.
• Shan Lan and Illusory Moon offered Xie Mingzhe a chance to investigate the offer and invited him to contact them after deciding.
• After Xie Mingzhe left with Setting Sun to complete the transfer, Illusory Moon told Nie Yuandao that Xie’s rapid improvement suggested exceptional potential.

Xie Mingzhe transferred the Wu Song Card copyright to the Judgment Guild, sold his game coins for 300,000 Crystal Coins, and learned more about the club before deciding not to accept its invitation yet. He ended the chapter resolved to stay independent and wondering why the Judgment players valued his Wu Song Card so highly.

• Illusory Moon searched the Black Market for more Yueban cards and sent Fat Uncle an earnest recruitment pitch for the Judgment Club.
• Xie Mingzhe transferred the Wu Song Card copyright to the Judgment Guild for three million game coins, then listed the coins for sale at the Star Card Bank.
• Illusory Moon invited Xie Mingzhe to join Judgment, but Xie Mingzhe said he would consider it and logged off after a health warning.
• Xie Mingzhe received ten bank transfers totaling 300,000 Crystal Coins and went to the dormitory with Pang Yu.
• Pang Yu explained that contracted card designers surrendered their card copyrights to their clubs, so Xie Mingzhe decided to remain independent.
• Xie Mingzhe wondered why Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan had valued the Wu Song Card so highly.

After realizing no one in Star Card World recognized the Chinese figures he drew, Xie Mingzhe understood that his knowledge of Earth’s history gave him an exceptional advantage as a card maker. Meanwhile, Tang Muzhou searched the Black Market for the creator of the Daiyu card, suspecting it had been bought by a casual collector.

• Xie Mingzhe asked Pang Yu about famous Chinese figures and discovered that Pang Yu did not recognize them.
• Xie Mingzhe realized that people had failed to recognize Lin Meimei and Wu Song because this world had lost the cultural history he knew.
• Xie Mingzhe understood the value of his knowledge and resolved to turn characters from Water Margin, Dream of the Red Chamber, and Three Kingdoms into cards.
• Tang Muzhou logged into Star Card World using his alt account and asked Red Candle whether he had found the creator of the Daiyu card.
• Red Candle reported that searches had found neither the Daiyu card nor any cards marked Yueban, so Tang Muzhou began searching the Black Market himself.
• Tang Muzhou concluded that a casual collector might have bought Daiyu and noticed major guild managers searching the market too.

Tang Muzhou tracked down the creator of the Lin Daiyu cards and arranged for his team to seek a bulk purchase. Meanwhile, Xie Mingzhe learned the rules governing Instant-Death cards and researched the Professional League’s top clubs.

• Tang Muzhou bought two Lin Daiyu cards from a collector and learned that their creator was called Fat Uncle.
• Tang Muzhou told Red Candle to contact Fat Uncle about buying Daiyu Cards in bulk and to monitor the Auction House for new cards.
• Xie Mingzhe woke from a dream about becoming a famous card maker and decided to honor his power-leveling contract through the end of the month.
• Xie Mingzhe ran dungeons on the five Resource Planets with Chen and the others, then logged off to study the official website.
• Xie Mingzhe read the Instant-Death card rules and learned that only one such card could enter the Arena, with strict limits on its skills and attributes.
• Xie Mingzhe researched the Professional League and learned that Fenghua Club, Judgment Card Alliance, City of Evernight, Frostfall City, Pantheon, and Ghost Prison were its Six Giants.

Xie Mingzhe submitted his Lin Daiyu card to the Auction House at a steep price and learned when it would be auctioned. After Chen praised his control of Seven-Star Cards and suggested he try competitive play, Xie Mingzhe asked about a coworker who had taken leave to get married.

• Xie Mingzhe decided to pursue freelance card design and sell cards rather than give their copyrights to a club.
• Xie Mingzhe went to the Auction House and asked an NPC how to auction his Lin Daiyu card.
• Xie Mingzhe set a starting price of 3,000 gold and a minimum sale price of 30,000 gold, then submitted the card.
• The Auction House approved Lin Daiyu and scheduled it for an auction on Wednesday, August 8, at 20:00 next week.
• Chen praised Xie Mingzhe's control of Seven-Star Cards and suggested that he try the arena or amateur leagues.
• Xie Mingzhe said he would focus on power-leveling work and asked Chen when the coworker who had taken leave to get married would return.

Xie Mingzhe spent several days farming dungeons and making cards while waiting to see whether his first Daiyu Card would sell at auction. On Wednesday night, he went to the auction hall, where the card’s appearance drew the attention of rival guilds and Tang Muzhou.

• Xie Mingzhe planned more character cards and hoped a successful auction would help him build capital and launch a card specialty store.
• Red Candle and Illusory Moon grew anxious when Yueban’s cards disappeared from the Black Market and their emails to him went unanswered.
• Xie Mingzhe went to the Auction House before his evening dungeon to watch the auction, unaware that Tang Muzhou was observing him.
• The host introduced Yueban’s Level 1 One-Star Card, prompting Judgment and Fenghua to react and Tang Muzhou to recognize the logo.
• The host revealed that the card’s front-side data was about to appear.

Xie Mingzhe’s Lin Daiyu card, which could instantly kill flower-type cards, triggered a fierce auction and drew the attention of major guilds because it could counter Tang Muzhou. The bidding reached 100,000 gold, with guild representatives still waiting for instructions.

• The auction revealed Lin Daiyu’s Daiyu Burying Flowers skill, which dealt devastating damage to flower-type cards and had a 30% chance of instant death.
• Major guild card experts recognized the card’s competitive value and alerted their leaders, while professional players joked about Tang Muzhou being countered.
• The host opened bidding at 3,000 gold, and the price climbed to 5,000 before bids suddenly doubled to 10,000 and then 20,000.
• Guild representatives drove the price higher through a fierce bidding war, pushing it to 100,000 gold.
• Xie Mingzhe waited calmly as the auction paused at 100,000 gold and guild buyers asked their leaders whether to keep bidding.

Xie Mingzhe’s first Lin Daiyu Card sold for a record 660,000 gold coins after major guilds and Tang Muzhou fought over it. After the auction, he received a message from the buyer proposing to purchase Daiyu Cards in bulk, unaware that the buyer was Tang Muzhou.

• Major guilds bid against each other for the Lin Daiyu Card, while Illusory Moon ordered Judgment to stop bidding.
• Tang Muzhou bid 660,000 gold coins, and the card sold to him.
• Xie Mingzhe collected his earnings and decided to keep the game coins as reserve capital for a future shop.
• The Auction House NPC gave Xie Mingzhe a message from the buyer, who offered to meet and buy Daiyu Cards in bulk.
• Xie Mingzhe returned to his personal space and arranged his ten Daiyu Cards, recognizing that the record price was unlikely to happen again.

Xie Mingzhe rejected Judgment Club’s lucrative offer and planned to sell his Daiyu Cards independently, while the auction made his Yueban identity famous across the game. He then met the wealthy buyer who paid 660,000 for his card and wondered whether the buyer was a top player using an alternate account.

• Xie Mingzhe decided to stop auctioning Daiyu Cards and consider opening a shop because the Auction House process was too slow for mass sales.
• Setting Sun and Illusory Moon offered Xie Mingzhe improved pay and benefits to join Judgment, but he declined because he did not want to design cards for a club.
• Illusory Moon suspected Xie Mingzhe wanted to work independently, while Setting Sun realized the auction had made Yueban famous.
• Players and guilds reacted to a trending forum post about Yueban’s Daiyu Card selling for 660,000, though Xie Mingzhe did not know about the attention.
• Xie Mingzhe traveled to the Peacock Star Domain and met the buyer, whose default appearance and numerical name made him suspect the man might be a top player’s alternate account.

Tang Muzhou revealed that he had bought back Xie Mingzhe’s early Lin Daiyu Cards because he wanted to meet and guide him. He invited Xie Mingzhe to his apartment to demonstrate card-design techniques, where Xie Mingzhe discovered Tang Muzhou’s extensive collection of card-making materials and finished cards.

• Xie Mingzhe met Tang Muzhou, who admitted that the bulk Daiyu Card purchase was an excuse to bring him in for a meeting.
• Tang Muzhou showed Xie Mingzhe the nineteen old Lin Daiyu Cards he had bought back from the Black Market and explained that he had been watching Xie’s card-making progress.
• Tang Muzhou praised Xie Mingzhe’s creativity and offered to teach him card-design techniques, explaining how a card’s skill probability increased with level.
• Tang Muzhou invited Xie Mingzhe to his personal apartment to demonstrate real-time combat techniques and the limits of Lin Daiyu’s Instant Death skill.
• Xie Mingzhe visited Tang Muzhou’s study and saw cabinets filled with card-making materials, enhancement cards, and powerful finished cards.

Tang Muzhou helped Xie Mingzhe evolve Lin Daiyu into a Seven-Star Black Card and demonstrated that her powerful instant-kill skill depended on acting before her opponent. After raising Daiyu’s agility, Xie Mingzhe successfully killed Tuberose, but Tang Muzhou introduced a Banyan Tree whose shield appeared just as Daiyu attacked again.

• Tang Muzhou evolved Xie Mingzhe’s Lin Daiyu Card into a Seven-Star Black Card and showed him its stats.
• In a Phoenix Star Domain arena, Xie Mingzhe failed to make Daiyu kill Tuberose because Tuberose’s higher agility let it control her first.
• Tang Muzhou explained that speed determined who could act first, then raised Daiyu’s agility from 85 to 100 using enhancement cards.
• Xie Mingzhe used Daiyu Burying Flowers to instantly kill Tang Muzhou’s Tuberose in their next arena test.
• Tang Muzhou brought out a Banyan Tree, whose spreading branches formed a shield as Xie Mingzhe attacked Tuberose again.

Tang Muzhou explained arena timing, Agility, and deck-building to Xie Mingzhe after demonstrating how his Banyan Tree blocked Daiyu’s instant-death skill. Xie Mingzhe recognized his mentor as Tang Muzhou, and Tang asked how he had discovered his identity.

• Tang Muzhou showed Xie Mingzhe that the Banyan Tree’s protection resolved before Daiyu’s instant-death skill and explained how timing could stop an instant kill.
• Tang Muzhou explained that Agility determined casting speed and advised Xie Mingzhe to study arena rules and build balanced decks.
• Xie Mingzhe reconsidered how different card roles needed different attributes and resolved to keep learning card design and arena combat.
• Tang Muzhou asked whether Xie Mingzhe would become his disciple, and Xie Mingzhe said he had already guessed that Tang Muzhou was behind the numerical-ID account.
• Tang Muzhou asked how Xie Mingzhe had identified him, and Xie Mingzhe cited his plant expertise, arena skill, attention to his cards, and Tuberose Card.

Xie Mingzhe refused Tang Muzhou’s offer to become his disciple because he wanted to remain independent and retain the copyrights to his cards, but agreed to be friends with him. After Tang Muzhou logged off, Xie Mingzhe considered how to build his reputation as a card maker and expand beyond Daiyu.

• Xie Mingzhe told Tang Muzhou that he had also refused Nie Yuandao’s invitation and did not want to join a club or surrender his card copyrights.
• Tang Muzhou accepted Xie Mingzhe’s decision and offered to help him with card design as a friend; before logging off, he reminded Xie Mingzhe to check his inbox.
• A restaurant waiter told Xie Mingzhe that Tang Muzhou had added him to the Thousand Woods Restaurant’s VIP list.
• Xie Mingzhe reflected that the 660,000 sale of Daiyu had drawn attention to him as an Instant-Death Card maker.
• Xie Mingzhe decided to establish himself through Instant-Death Cards, while considering how to create more than just Daiyu since Wu Song’s copyright belonged to Nie Yuandao.

Xie Mingzhe planned a Xue Baochai card after creating Lin Daiyu, while Tang Muzhou and Fenghua Club discussed the Daiyu card and Fat Uncle’s other creations. The chapter ended with Tang Muzhou guessing that Fat Uncle had made an Instant-Death Card aimed at Nie Yuandao.

• Xie Mingzhe considered making a Baochai Chasing Butterflies card to accompany Daiyu Burying Flowers.
• At City of Evernight, Ye Zhu laughed about Tang Muzhou being targeted by a flower-type Instant-Death Card, while Pei Jingshan warned that a card targeting butterflies could threaten him.
• Xie Mingzhe checked his mailbox, found Red Candle’s repeated messages about Daiyu Burying Flowers, and arranged to meet her after his dungeon run.
• Red Candle told Xue Linxiang and Tang Muzhou that Fat Uncle had finally replied and would meet her at eleven-thirty.
• Tang Muzhou told Fenghua Club’s players that Fat Uncle was talented and reasoned that he had made another Instant-Death Card, likely one meant to target Nie Yuandao.

Tang Muzhou decided to cultivate Fat Uncle as a freelance card designer rather than recruit him, hoping he would create and widely sell more Instant-Death cards. Fenghua Club’s players discussed their competition plans, and Xu Changfeng suspected Tang Muzhou would use his free time to guide Fat Uncle.

• Tang Muzhou told Xue Linxiang and Red Candle that Fat Uncle had refused offers from both Judgment and Fenghua Club because he wanted to work independently.
• Tang Muzhou asked Xue Linxiang not to interfere, saying he wanted to personally guide Fat Uncle and help develop his talent.
• The Fenghua Club players discussed the upcoming individual event, and Shen An and Xu Changfeng agreed to compete while Zhen Man focused on the team event.
• Xu Changfeng realized Tang Muzhou had never intended to buy the Daiyu Card copyright and wanted Fat Uncle to create more Instant-Death cards for clubs to use.
• Xu Changfeng asked whether Tang Muzhou planned to use an alt account to guide Fat Uncle, but the chapter ended before Tang Muzhou answered.