A familiar yet strange feeling filled his consciousness, and his heart skipped a beat.
Almost unconsciously, he made a very simple action — opening his eyes.
The white ceiling, the glaring chandelier …
Ecstasy welled up in his heart as he suddenly sat up and looked at his hands in disbelief.
Good lord!
I'm awake!
The joy of being reborn hit every one of his nerves. The familiar yet strange feeling made his nose ache inexplicably.
It's great to be alive!
"Boss!" Sue Lochiro's indescribably surprised scream nearly pierced Chen Mu's eardrums.
Chen Mu turned his head and saw her face streaked with tears. Her right hand was covering her mouth, and her watery eyes were full of surprise and disbelief.
There was a flurry of sounds outside the door.
Then, the door was violently pushed open, and Bogner, Xi Ping, and Wei-ah rushed in.
"Boss!"
Chen Mu's heart warmed when he saw their thin and haggard faces.
Because they were worried about chaos at the base, the news of Chen Mu's coma had been blocked by them. They breathed a sigh of relief then.
Without realizing it, Chen Mu had become the core of their team, the true soul.
His position couldn't be replaced. Bogner couldn't, and neither could Xi Ping.
"Boss, inside your body …" Bogner asked with some hesitation.
Once Chen Mu heard that, he knew they already knew there was a green thread in his body.
He had a lot of trust in Bogner and the others, so he simply nodded. "Mmmm. An ace planted a strange filament in me, and it flares up at irregular intervals."
Although they'd already known, they still looked shocked.
That strange thing had actually been planted by someone!
They'd never heard of such a strange method.
Chen Mu, on the other hand, still looked calm as he comforted them. "It only flares up a few times, and it's usually dormant, no different from an ordinary person."
"Is there any way to get rid of it?
Can that ace do it?
Do you know him, Boss? "Xi Ping followed up.
Chen Mu rubbed his nose with a bitter smile. "I don't know that guy. She fought with another ace last time, and her whereabouts are unknown.
Miss Sue surmised that the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus might be useful. "
Chen Mu hadn't had any news about the demonic woman since they'd parted.
"Then we'll think of a way to get the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus!"
Bogner said flatly, and he couldn't avoid complaining about Chen Mu. "Why didn't you tell us about such a big thing, Boss?
Although our abilities are limited, we can still think of a way. "
Chen Mu couldn't help but rub his nose again, and said a little embarrassedly, "I thought it would be impossible for me to get the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus based on my strength, so I didn't have any extravagant hopes.
I thought Zu Ning had it last time, but I didn't expect him to have it either. "
Upon hearing that, Bogner rolled his eyes and said to Xi Ping in a bad mood, "After all this time, the boss has no confidence in us."
Xi Ping added, "And he doesn't have confidence in himself."
"How shameful. How did we end up with such a boss?" Bogner smacked his lips, looking speechless.
Xi Ping hit the nail on the head. "You have no ambition."
Sue Lochiro, who had been silent all along, suddenly said, "Not a man!"
The lethality of this sentence was a little big, and everyone's expression immediately became strange.
As for Chen Mu, he could only smile bitterly under the bombardment of a few people.
Still, he knew everyone was doing it for his own good, so he didn't get angry.
Chen Mu was a very contradictory person.
He would often show more diligence than an ordinary person because no one understood better than him how hard it was to survive.
That was on top of the fact that he always maintained a normal heart and was calm and rational, knowing when to give and take.
It was precisely those strong points that had forged his current accomplishments.
Still, his experiences had also made him more realistic.
In his eyes, the chasm between society was always so wide and unreachable. Those aristocratic families were still untouchable in his subconscious, even though he had already dealt with them quite a bit.
That wasn't something that had been formed overnight. It was an iron law that had been deeply branded in his mind during the decades he had lived.
So, even though he knew the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus could help him, he basically didn't have any extravagant hopes about the aristocratic families who had them.
He was too realistic.
Seeing Chen Mu's bitter smile, Bogner said seriously, "I'm not joking, Boss.
You probably don't understand the power you possess!
But, in our eyes, you're powerful enough! "
Surprisingly, what Bogner said got the unanimous approval of Xi Ping, Sue Lochiro, and the others, except for Wei-ah, who remained expressionless.
"You're only 20 years old, but you have grandmaster-level card making skills.
You've also broken the iron law that a card master and a card artisan can't cultivate at the same time. You're an outstanding card artisan!
You're also a genius when it comes to card artisans.
And, you see, you've personally laid down this foundation.
There's no need to doubt your power! "When Bogner said that, his face was full of respect.
"You're the most genius I've ever seen, Boss!" Xi Ping agreed.
Chen Mu looked blank. Clearly, what Bogner and Xi Ping were saying didn't resonate with him.
He felt he was only half a bucket of water when it came to card making, and it was all thanks to that mysterious card and that magical token card theory.
Not to mention card artisans, he hadn't even completed the basic courses for card artisans.
In front of Wei-ah, he was already overjoyed to be able to hold out for half a minute.
How could that be considered powerful?
Once he saw Chen Mu's expression, Bogner gave up trying to persuade him.
As he saw it, Chen Mu was good at everything except for his lack of initiative, ambition, and aggressiveness. That was enough to be his weak spot.
But, Bogner also knew very well that while his boss looked very easygoing, he was actually very stubborn deep down.
Xi Ping was also a wily old fox. How could he not see what Bogner could see?
The two of them looked at each other tacitly and could only shrug their shoulders helplessly.
But, the two of them also knew that nothing in the world was perfect.
If Chen Mu had really been so ambitious and aggressive, the two of them might not have wanted to follow him.
The two of them had gone through a lot of hardships in the world and had seen countless people and things. Their days wouldn't have been as good as they were working under a truly ambitious and ruthless person.
Just then, the communications device on Xi Ping's wrist rang.
Xi Ping took a look and smiled. "I've just dozed off, and someone sends me a pillow.
Well, this is intelligence sent by the Snowflake Card Artisan Team about the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus.
According to the intelligence, there are 15 other companies that have the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus in addition to the Big Six. In addition, there are seven other companies that might have it. "
"That many?" Chen Mu was clearly taken aback. He had thought at first that only the Big Six would have them.
He hadn't thought each of the Big Six would have one, and there were 15 more. As for the seven that might have been there, Chen Mu had directly ignored them.
"A lot?" Bogner shook his head with a cold smile. "You call this a lot?
This was the entire Federation!
It's unrealistic to go too far, so we can only lock onto the Heavenly Drum Village District.
Well, let's see. In the Heavenly Drum Village District, apart from Moon Frost Island, there's only one family that has it, and there's another that might have it. "
"Let's put that family aside for now. Even Mobley and the others can't be sure, so we probably won't be able to find out anything," Xi Ping said.
Chen Mu's gaze fell on the name, and he read it out softly, "Tai-shu Dongrui."
"It seems like we have to focus our attacks on the Tai-shu Family.
The possibility of getting the thing from the hands of Moon Frost Island was basically zero.
But which family was this Dongrui Tai-shu from?
How come I've never heard of it? "Bogner was rubbing his chin in thought.
Xi Ping had never taken Bogner's feelings into consideration. He taunted him, "Apart from women, what else do you know?"
Bogner was thick-skinned enough to laugh with a calm expression. "It would have been better if you hadn't mentioned it. Now that you've mentioned it, I'm itching all over."
Xi Ping rolled his eyes, but his gaze quickly fell on the name. "Dongrui should be the Dongrui District. That place is a little far from us, a lot farther than Qianhu.
Tai-shu is a surname. It looks like we have to look into which family this Tai-shu really belongs to.
To actually have something as good as the gold-mottled liquid-soft fungus, I reckon it has a lot of history. "
Seeing Xi Ping and Bogner so anxious to give him advice, Chen Mu's heart warmed.
He thought about it and said, "Let's take our time with the investigation.
Right, you haven't seen my newly designed card set, right? Come on, let's go take a look. "
Once he mentioned the card set, Bogner immediately perked up and rushed to say, "Go, go, go!" He was full of anticipation for the new card set. Chen Mu always gave people some unexpected surprises.
Sue Lochiro wasn't interested in the demonstration cards, so she went to rest. She was exhausted from taking care of Chen Mu those last few days.
Xi Ping wasn't very interested in that. He was more interested in that so-called Dongrui Tai-shu and couldn't wait to investigate him right away.
Chen Mu wasn't making just one kind of card set that time, but several.
He had discovered the weakness of the card set's tactics in the last battle with the Downstream Alliance.
The card set's power was strong enough, but it lacked variation. Coupled with their poor mobility, they would be easily restrained by the enemy.
So, when he was making the card set that time, Chen Mu had designed quite a few types of card sets, which would enrich the card set's tactics.
In the training room, there were three card artisans who had long since received orders to wait there.
Those three were the lucky card artisans who had long since become familiar with the card set. Since they had persisted in practicing the snow pit method, their perception had finally broken through the fourth level and entered the fifth.
When the three found out they were going to test out the new cards that day, they were thrilled.
The first thing Chen Mu took out were three light green card sets. Bogner came over curiously. "What kind of cards are these?"
As he handed the three cards to the three card artisans, Chen Mu said, "They're pretty much the same as the shuttle cards we used before, though they've made a big improvement in their performance."
The three card artisans fiddled with them for a while and quickly understood how to use them.
Dong!
There was a muffled sound like a heavy hammer striking.
Bogner felt as though his heart had been jolted, and he couldn't describe how uncomfortable it was.
The whistling sound the shuttle card emitted was low and strange, completely different from before.
"The damage value is 3,000!"
Once he saw that number, the uncomfortable feeling in Bogner's body immediately vanished. He opened his eyes wide and pointed at the number displayed on the target with indescribable surprise, rambling incoherently. "Good lord, 3,000, 3,000 … Is this an illusion?
Good lord!
I'm going crazy! "
They saw a middle-aged uncle dancing around in the training room, his face distorted and looking insane.
That number was also beyond the expectations of the three card artisans, who were looking at the cards in their hands with fanatical gazes.
There wasn't a card artisan who wouldn't like a powerful card!
A damage value of 3,000 was enough to make it a veritable sharp attack weapon. A four-star energy cloak would be as weak as paper in front of such an attack.
Even an ordinary five-star energy cloak card would become pale and powerless.
"I've optimized the composition of the energy shuttles they emit. The newly formed energy bodies are a little sharper at the front, and there are spiral veined patterns on the surface, which can increase the stability of their rotating flight.
That also makes their flying speed even faster, three times the speed of the previous shuttle cards.
I've also optimized the other two matching scanning cards. What used to be a cross lock has now been upgraded to a double cross lock, which is even more accurate.
It can carry out a long-range accurate attack from a distance of no more than 10 kilometers. "Chen Mu spoke with fervor and assurance. When he was talking about the card, his expression was always full of confidence.
But he immediately said with some regret, "But because I'm pursuing its power, its firing frequency hasn't increased, but has actually decreased quite a bit. So, its range of use is limited."
Bogner was keenly aware of the use of that kind of card in the first instant.
That kind of card was most suitable for sniping aces in the adversary's camp. Wasn't that the purpose for which it had been born with a precise lock-on and a super-high attack?
He could imagine a shuttle suddenly flying in on a chaotic battlefield, easily penetrating the adversary's energy cloak, and the adversary's ace would fall head first from the sky.
Huhuhu, that would be wonderful!
As for the slow attack frequency, that couldn't be helped.
Otherwise, the others wouldn't have a way out.
As Bogner saw it, its ultra-long-range range made up for its slow attack frequency to a certain extent.
Moreover, the ultra-long-range range meant that they could choose a wider range of ambush points.
His excitement hadn't yet faded when Chen Mu once again took out two cards covered in fiery red veined patterns.
A two-card set?
Bogner's curiosity was immediately piqued.
Up until then, Chen Mu had always made three-card sets. That was the first time he'd seen a two-card set.