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The Star Academy, one of the Six Great Academies, suddenly announced a student exchange program with East Guard Academy. In the small city of Dongshang Guard City, this was big news in every sense.
What was the Star Academy? It was one of the illustrious Six Great Academies, with a history far longer than that of the Federation Comprehensive University, currently the most renowned of them all. Its founder was Hainer Vincent, who stood shoulder to shoulder with the Father of Card Theory...
Every scrap of the Star Academy's past glory was dug up. For a while, it seemed to have become the pride of every resident of Dongshang Guard City.
East Guard Academy's standing rose with the tide as well, and its students all walked with straight backs, brimming with energy.
The Star Academy's purpose in coming to East Guard Academy was also the most hotly discussed topic. The Star Academy, which ordinary people had once only been able to gaze up at, was actually coming to East Guard Academy. When many residents of Dongshang Guard City first heard the news, they scoffed and declared it false.
Dongshang Guard City seemed to have become clean and orderly overnight. No garbage or street children could be seen on the streets anymore. Workers were painting walls everywhere, on orders issued personally by the mayor.
The number of visitors to East Guard Academy surged even more dramatically. Many were intensely curious: what exactly had made this obscure school catch the Star Academy's eye? In the week after the Star Academy announced the news, East Guard Academy received over a hundred letters from other schools requesting exchanges.
Naturally, Chen Mu knew none of this. He had not gone out for quite some time. Even if he had known, though, he probably would not have thought it had the slightest connection to him.
Every day, he trained and studied as usual.
He did not know why he was doing this, nor did he want to know. He simply did not want to stop.
Under this almost self-punishing regimen of training and study, his abilities improved quite rapidly.
Chen Mu felt as though he had been dreaming, a dream that seemed both very long and very short. Now that he had suddenly awakened, he felt somewhat unfamiliar with himself.
His whole body seemed filled with strength. He could now easily lift with one hand heavy objects that had once required both hands. Beyond that, his perception had become much keener, and his explosive power and flexibility had improved across the board. By comparison, his muscles had not grown very much.
What he found most unbelievable was that his body had become supple enough to bend almost any way he wanted. It reminded him of the acrobats in a circus. Their supple bodies could even inch along and turn around inside narrow pipes. But those were twelve- or thirteen-year-old girls. Girls were naturally more flexible than boys, and at that age, their bodies were at their most supple.
But what about me? I'm already sixteen, and I'm a man, too.
Of course, in Chen Mu's eyes, there was no difference between a boy and a man. At least, that was how he saw it.
Although Chen Mu had made astonishing progress in this aspect of his training, his mood still carried a faint gray tinge. None of these improvements brought him any pleasant surprises. He seemed to have lost his curiosity about everything except that mysterious card.
He still did nothing but train and study, mechanically, with something of the force of habit. But his mind had begun to think again. He was not pondering things like the meaning of life, however. Those were too remote for him. In truth, Uncle Hua's death had affected him deeply. Sometimes, reflections would surface unbidden, but he quickly banished these emotions, which he considered unnecessary, from his mind.
The dead were already dead. The living still had to go on living.
Life was practical. He was not accustomed to mixing thoughts about its supposed meaning into it. What occupied him now was the most basic question of all: making a living.
Uncle Hua had passed away. To Chen Mu, that meant more than the permanent departure of someone who cared about him. It also meant that, from now on, he would have to find a new buyer for the One-Star Energy Cards he made. This was a problem, a very big problem. If he did not solve it, everything else would be an illusion, something unreal. He had to solve it as quickly as possible.
Just then, Lei Zi arrived.
The moment Lei Zi came in, he flopped straight onto Chen Mu's bed, grumbling nonstop. "Ah, this feels good. I'm dead tired. Mu, this crappy bed of yours seems to have gotten more comfortable."
Chen Mu ignored that and got up to pour him a cup of water. "What brings you here today?"
"Missed you, of course." Lei Zi spouted nonsense, then pulled a miserable face and abruptly blurted out, apropos of nothing, "Making a living these days really isn't fucking easy."
As soon as Chen Mu heard that, he knew the fellow had almost certainly suffered some grievance or hardship and had come to pour his heart out. He knew what he should do: nothing at all, just listen quietly.
Sure enough, Lei Zi abruptly sat up, his face full of bitterness toward the world. "Blockhead, tell me, what kind of fucking world is this? I worked myself half to death, put in so much effort, and that bastard took all the credit without saying a word. Hah! A dog dressed up like a man, and he calls himself a director!"
Through Lei Zi's furious account, Chen Mu finally understood the whole story.
Lei Zi was young and willing to work hard. After entering the card film business, he had quickly learned its ins and outs. Since he had attended school for a few years and was clever to begin with, he started trying to write his own scripts. The director noticed this initiative and praised him lavishly, promising on the spot that if he could produce a good script, he would promote him to official screenwriter.
With something to look forward to, Lei Zi racked his brains day and night and poured his heart and soul into the work. At last, he produced a script he was satisfied with. When he handed it to the director for review, the director was delighted as well and immediately decided to begin production based on it.
Seeing his painstaking work receive recognition made Lei Zi happier than anyone. No one looked forward to the card film's release more than he did. What he had never expected, however, was that only after the card film was finished and already on the market would he discover that the name listed as its screenwriter was the director's. It struck him like a bolt of lightning, and for a long time he could not recover his senses.
When he angrily confronted the director, the man merely tossed him fifty thousand Odi with a sneer, never mentioning his promised promotion to official screenwriter. He also threatened to throw Lei Zi out of the company if he went around talking nonsense.
What left Lei Zi both proud and frustrated was that the card film shot to fame. In just two weeks, it had climbed to the top of the sales chart. Thanks to that card film, the director had also become one of the hottest figures in the industry.
As his account came to an end, all of Lei Zi's anger and strength seemed to drain away with it, and he slumped back onto the bed. Chen Mu listened quietly without making any response. In truth, both he and Lei Zi had witnessed plenty of things far more unfair than this. It was only because Lei Zi had poured so much of his heart and soul into this script that he was so upset. Rationally, however, neither he nor Chen Mu had ever believed that true fairness existed in this world.
"How's your illusion card study coming along?" Only after a long while did Lei Zi ask Chen Mu, his voice utterly listless.
(End of chapter)