That also announced that he had no choice but to put aside the fantasy card making he was doing.
Just then, making money was the most important thing, and he had plenty of time for those fantasy cards.
Zuo Tingyi ran into Wang Ze at school, along with quite a few of the Star Academy exchange students.
Everyone was very familiar with Zuo Tingyi, and they all came up to greet him.
Wang Ze was overjoyed to see Zuo Tingyi, "I was just worrying about not being able to find anyone, and Tingyi delivered himself to my doorstep."
Zuo Tingyi was rather astonished to see how Wang Ze and his party were dressed, "Where are you planning to go?"
Wang Ze laughed brightly, "Yeah, we're bored out of our minds at school, and we're planning to go for a stroll in the Outer Reaches, but we haven't been able to find anyone we know to lead the way. Brother Tao seems to have an appointment with some girl today, and he slipped away so fast that I couldn't even catch him." A few of the people around him couldn't help chuckling.
If his father hadn't said those things to him, Zuo Tingyi certainly wouldn't have had any doubts.
But once he heard what Wang Ze had said, he couldn't help but be a little more attentive.
His face showed some hesitation, "The Outer Reaches are dangerous, and I don't have the strength to truss a chicken. Would you like me to bring some card artisans?"
One of the students next to Wang Ze cut in, "Tingyi, don't worry. Although we can't be considered aces, we're in no way inferior to those ordinary card artisans. Tingyi's safety is of course in our hands." That person's tone was light, but the self-confidence and heroism in his words were pitiable.
Zuo Tingyi knew that student, who was called Ou Jiang.
"Since that's the case, then I'll leave my safety to you all." Zuo Tingyi calmly agreed.
All along the way, they were using jet stream cards to fly.
Wang Ze was holding Zuo Tingyi with one hand, and although he was carrying another person, his expression was at ease, without the slightest reluctance.
Zuo Tingyi was a little surprised that the students from Star Academy really had extraordinary strength, and that none of that batch of students were mediocre.
When they were moving, they all looked out for each other, and their formations were all just right, without the least bit of the immaturity and rashness typical of students.
Each of them had a calm expression, and their behavior was seasoned.
Any one of those people would be the cream of the crop at Eastern Wei Academy.
The one opening the way was Yin Jiuchen, who looked extremely refined and wore glasses, looking just like a well-behaved student.
Previously, when Hong Tao told him about it, he didn't quite believe it.
Witnessing it with his own eyes this time was extremely shocking.
Yin Jiuchen's expression was calm as he flew at the forefront of the entire team. His right hand, which was suspended in the air, was constantly releasing moon-white wavy blades.
All of these wavy blades were extremely thin and as fast as lightning. The sound of them cutting through the air could be heard from far away.
So far, they hadn't run into any strong resistance, and roughly estimated that they were about three hundred kilometers away from Eastern Shang-Wei City.
Zuo Tingyi saw a student constantly making notes on the topographic card.
Seeming to see Zuo Tingyi's doubt, Wang Ze explained with a smile, "In our first year at the school, the teacher asked us to record the local topography wherever we went."
Zuo Tingyi showed a look of sudden realization, and exclaimed in admiration, "That's certainly a good habit!" But he was sneering inwardly, feeling that every move of the Star Academy exchange students was extremely suspicious.
Sizing up the surrounding terrain, Zuo Tingyi suggested, "Let's take a break. There are more and more fierce beasts up ahead, so we'd better be careful."
Wang Ze nodded cheerfully. "Tingyi is more familiar with this place. We'll do as you say."
The group rested for a while before continuing deeper in.
But it didn't take long for Wang Ze to suggest going back, which made Zuo Tingyi very surprised.
Could it be that his conjecture was wrong?
"Copper, are you sure these big iron men will be popular?"
Chen Mu was very doubtful, pointing at the so-called mechs in "The Legend of Master Shi," as he saw it, those clumsy big iron men really didn't have the least bit of beauty.
Copper's expression was full of longing, and he said in a dreamy voice, "You don't know, but in every boy's heart there is a dream to fly to the stars..."
The hairs on Chen Mu's arms stood up, and he quickly interrupted Copper, "Mmmm, if you think it's OK, then it's OK. I believe you." He then asked, "The hundred sets have already been completed. Are you going to the main city in the afternoon?"
Copper nodded, having recovered his sobriety. "Right, the sooner we sell them, the sooner we can get the money. Are you going with me?"
"I'm going to buy some materials, since we've pretty much run out of materials at home."
There was quite a distance from the small town of Burlington to the main city, but it was a good thing they could catch the shuttle bus, which cost thirty Oudi per person, and would take about two hours to get to the main city.
After reaching the main city, the two of them split up.
Copper was going to sell the card plays, and Chen Mu was going to buy the materials himself.
Some of the raw materials for card making had already been artificially cultivated, but most of them still had to be obtained in the wild.
Since the very beginning of the card's invention, most of its raw materials had been plants, animals, and minerals.
Nowadays, the method of artificially cultivating the card's raw materials had always been one of the most difficult problems, and the other difficult problem was what kind of artificial materials could be used to replace those natural raw materials.
If one were to say that industrial production was the most important obstacle to the popularization of cards, then raw materials would be the bottleneck restricting the industrialization of cards.
As long as that problem wasn't solved, then the industrial production of cards would be nothing more than a pipe dream.
That could be seen from the one-star power card. It was precisely because some of the raw materials needed for the one-star power card had begun to be artificially cultivated on a large scale, which led to the complete industrialization of the one-star power card.
That had also caused the price of the one-star power card to plummet. In the past, the price of a one-star power card wasn't something ordinary people could afford.
There were quite a few material stores in Eastern Shang-Wei City.
Chen Mu was familiar with the way, and very quickly bought all the materials he needed.
He had originally wanted to go back after buying the materials, when he suddenly thought of Uncle Hua's little store.
That sudden thought seemed to have some kind of power, and Chen Mu's legs couldn't help but walk in the direction of Uncle Hua's little store.
As he got closer and closer to Uncle Hua's little store, Chen Mu's heart couldn't help but become nervous.
Uncle Hua wasn't there anymore, so what was he nervous about?
Chen Mu mocked himself a little, but it didn't seem to have any effect.
His heart was pounding faster and faster, as though it were about to jump out of his throat.
Up ahead was the last corner, and as long as he passed that corner, he would see Uncle Hua's store.
Chen Mu moved forward unconsciously, his mind a blank, and he had no idea what he was doing.
When he saw the still closed store, he suddenly came back to his senses, and sighed to himself, with a bitter taste in his mouth.
What had gone wrong with him today?
Smiling bitterly to himself, Chen Mu was about to break into a run and leave when he suddenly caught a glimpse of a very striking headline outside Uncle Hua's little store.
"The first episode of Mu Lei's new work, 'The Legend of Master Shi,' has arrived.