The idea was beautiful, reality was cruel, and the road was full of twists and turns.
Leaving aside the Planning Card, even the eleven One-Star Illusion Cards were unlike anything he had ever heard of. They posed an enormous challenge to him. Yet Chen Mu did not find it grueling. On the contrary, he felt utterly happy. He poured every ounce of his attention into making these cards.
Once Lei Zi returned, studying with this kind of single-minded focus would not be so easy.
Back at school, Zuo Tingyi's ugly expression sent passing students scurrying out of his way. Just then, he heard a small group ahead of him talking.
"Did you hear? The cracking team broke several of the school's instruments yesterday."
"The cracking team? The one trying to crack that thing called Encounter?"
"Who else? They thought they were so skilled. Heh, trying to crack someone else's Card Film-now they've really made a spectacle of themselves." The speaker was positively reveling in their misfortune.
"Several instruments? Aren't they all experienced? How did they end up breaking the equipment?" another person could not help asking.
The first speaker held up his fingers to indicate seven, looking mysterious.
"Seven?" The others were stunned. "No way! Seven instruments? What happened? Come on, man, give us the details."
Pleased to have captured everyone's attention, the one spreading the news said, "I don't really know the details, but they definitely wrecked seven instruments. A buddy of mine is on that cracking team. He came to me yesterday with a face like he was attending a funeral and poured out his troubles."
"Seven! Good grief, they'll have to pay a fortune!"
"More than a fortune. Several of those were high-end instruments. Someone worked it out: split among thirty people, it comes to two million Odi each. My buddy clung to me and cried all night yesterday, bawling his eyes out like his world had ended!" The speaker shook his head, wearing the mournful look of a fox grieving over a dead rabbit. "Two years of his spending money, just tossed into the water."
Everyone sighed.
Walking behind them, Zuo Tingyi's lips curled into a sneer. Perhaps hearing this had restored his sense of balance, because his expression immediately brightened somewhat. The analyzer he had wrecked yesterday cost twenty million Odi all by itself.
It was not the money that bothered him. What mattered more was the sense of defeat. He felt as though someone had slapped him hard across the face. Proud by nature, he loathed that feeling.
Damn that Card Film! he cursed inwardly through gritted teeth.
"I'm back!" Lei Zi shouted into the house, dragging bags large and small. He had brought these things especially for Chen Mu, and most of them were food.
"Who knows what this guy's done to the place while I've been away?" Lei Zi muttered as he pushed open Chen Mu's door.
Clatter! A great heap of things came crashing down.
All sorts of things that looked bizarre to him were piled everywhere in the house, and a jumble of assorted objects lay scattered at his feet. That was probably the pile that had just toppled over.
A pair of furious eyes rose from behind the clutter. The flames shooting from them made Lei Zi's heart pound with alarm.
"I, I... I've got the wrong door." Before the words were even out, he dropped the large bag he was dragging, spun around, and fled for his life.
It was not until evening that he returned to Chen Mu's place.
When he pushed the door open again, it felt as though he had entered an entirely different, unfamiliar room. The room was spotless, and everything that had been strewn around earlier had been sorted by category and stacked in the corners.
Chen Mu was bent over tidying up. Without lifting his head, he asked in a very calm voice, "You're back?"
Seeing that Chen Mu was not angry, Lei Zi immediately broke into a cheeky grin. "Yep, yep. I missed you, didn't I? So here I am." He plopped down onto the sofa, and the old sofa promptly creaked in protest.
"Where did you go? Did you have a good time?" Chen Mu asked with some curiosity. He had never left Dongshang Guard City and knew very little about the world outside.
"It was amazing!" Lei Zi grew visibly excited at the subject. "I went to Fan'a City in the Fanasi District. The Xixilio Great Waterfall there is simply a miracle of humanity. Unless you see it with your own eyes, you can't possibly imagine what it's like to have hundreds of waterfalls, large and small, spread out before you."
Like hundreds of enormous strands of noodles hanging in a silvery broth? Chen Mu thought for a while, failed to arrive at anything, and agreed wholeheartedly. "I really can't imagine it."
"Do you know what the most famous complex of buildings in the Fanasi District is?" Lei Zi asked in an enticing voice.
"No." Chen Mu shook his head without hesitation.
Contempt immediately appeared on Lei Zi's face. "I knew you wouldn't. Tsk, tsk. Fair enough-what spiritual aspirations could a Blockhead like you have? It's one of the most glorious masterpieces in human history: the Bitter Solitude Monastery Cluster!"
"The Bitter Solitude Temple?" Chen Mu asked, looking puzzled. "The Bitter Solitude Temple that's one of the Big Six?"
"Uncultured." Lei Zi could no longer even be bothered to look contemptuous. "There isn't just one Bitter Solitude Temple there. There are thousands of temples gathered together in an unbroken stretch, which is why it's called the Bitter Solitude Monastery Cluster. The Bitter Solitude Temple is merely the most representative temple among them. In fact, some temples in the complex have an even longer history than the Bitter Solitude Temple."
"Oh." The look of only partial understanding on Chen Mu's face immediately extinguished Lei Zi's desire to explain any further.
Lei Zi and Chen Mu were clearly two different kinds of people, with entirely different interests and aspirations, yet they could trust each other and accommodate each other.
"What have you been busy with at home these past few days?" Lei Zi looked around. That fleeting glimpse when he had opened the door earlier had left a very deep impression on him.
"Making cards." Chen Mu handed Lei Zi a glass of water.
"Any results?" Lei Zi asked with interest as he took the glass.
Chen Mu shook his head. "Not yet. There are a lot of problems." Over the past few days, he had exhausted himself just making one of the twelve cards, yet he had already used up a third of his materials. He estimated that what remained would not be enough to finish all twelve cards.
"I can't help you with that." Lei Zi shrugged and got up. "I-I'm going to check how our Card Film is selling. If we can still sell another set or two, then..."
"That makes so much sense!"
Chen Mu sprang to his feet, looking as though he wished he could sell several thousand sets right that instant. Money worries were practically driving him mad. Card-making really did burn through money! It was all money!
(End of chapter)