The Card Apprentice

Chapter 226: The Call (II)

Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio

It got through! The other two gathered around the Beard, looking excited. Although he was also excited, the Beard didn’t his lose cool—after the call went through, he didn’t immediately say anything. In general, when someone would take a call and didn’t hear the other party say anything, they couldn’t help but ask, “Wei? Who’s there?”

That was just an inconspicuous little detail. The Beard well knew the importance of details. It was just such details that could allow him to take the initiative and to understand the other party more quickly. He could make a more appropriate response depending on the other party’s reaction.

To his surprise, however, there was no sound apart from some background noise. The other party was also keeping silent. After two or three seconds, the Beard immediately realized his plans had come to nothing. What he wanted to do was to establish contact with the other party by any means necessary under the circumstances. Although the present circumstance wasn’t what he’d expected, he wasn’t at any loss about what to do.

“Hello.” The Beard spoke slowly and politely, and he was beyond warm. Hugo and Butchie couldn’t help but frown behind him, and heavy static could be heard through the communications card. Although they hadn’t counted on locking in their target by hearing his voice, the voice would have been a rather helpful bit of supporting information. From experience, it could give them a lot help.

The interference coming through the communications card was intense, which left them no way to judge the other party’s voice. Now, they could only hope the communications card would do its thing.

“Who are you?” a male voice responded through the noise with a strong note of vigilance.

Chen Mu only then responded after having detected it wasn’t his usual communications card, but it was rather the thousand kilometer card! The only communications the thousand kilometer card could accomplish was with the underground city’s Moqi Clan. For some stranger to suddenly be able to connect to the thousand kilometer card would naturally put him on guard.

Having just gone through the affair with the Central Island Firm, Chen Mu already knew the value of the thousand kilometer card in his hands, together with the technology of the communications array.

But, he had never imagined someone would actually be able to find him that way.

“Ha ha, please don’t be concerned; I have no malicious intent.” The Beard lightly laughed as he tried to ease the tension. To his side, there was a green dot on the screen that had popped out, as well as a round red patch.

The green dot represented their current position, while the red patch indicated the range of the other party’s position. It could only indicate the other party’s direction and how far away it was. Butchie and Hugo watched and immediately started to look for the other party’s specific position.

Hugo made a signal to the Beard to stall for time.

“State your business.” Chen Mu frowned, feeling vaguely insecure. Almost unconsciously, he was using Wei-ah’s ordinary spoken tone.

Lu Xiaoru found it a little strange to see Chen Mu so unhappy. The youth’s mood was very stable. In truth, she had never seen any youth quite so steady at that age. The most commonly seen expression on his face was calm and concentration. It would be hard to detect any happy or angry emotions.

Lu Xiaoru kept her mouth obediently shut, not able to imagine what had offended him.

Clearly, Wei-ah’s tone had a certain lethality, and the other party went silent.

The Beard felt things were getting tricky; the other party clearly didn’t have the patience to get entangled with him. If he didn’t pull out something substantive, the other party would likely cut off the communication. He looked at Butchie and Hugo, who were both searching the map for the location of the region covered by the red patch.

Gritting his teeth, the Beard said, “I would like to inquire whether the communications technology the distinguished gentleman has is for sale. As for remuneration, the distinguished gentleman may suggest as much as he’d like, whether in cash or some other item, or anything else. If the distinguished gentleman feels the price can’t be negotiated, we might discuss other forms of cooperation.”

“Where did you get this information?” Chen Mu asked with some surprise after staying quiet for a moment.

The Beard said calmly, “We came across it from the Central Island Firm.” He took a look at Butchie and Hugo while continuing on. “Please trust our sincerity. We thought of every way to connect with the distinguished gentleman until we finally got the distinguished gentleman’s communications band. We’ve expended a lot of energy to make this communications card, and we never thought we would succeed in making the connection. This is really too delightful.”

Chen Mu suddenly realized what had happened.

Both Hugo and Butchie looked excited. They’d drawn a circle on the map with a red pen. Putting the pen down, thy rushed out the door as fast as they could. Just as they were leaving, Hugo gave the thumbs up to the Beard to show he had done well. He then pointed at his apparatus and made a sign again to delay as much as possible.

The corner of the Beard’s mouth turned up in an arc as he gave a slight nod to indicate he’d understood.

“We don’t have the slightest malicious intent. We suppose the distinguished gentleman must know the value of this technology. Our organization’s power is among only a handful within the federation. If the distinguished gentleman has any issues with the conditions, please rest assured. We would be able to provide billions in funds at a time. If you require materials, we can provide the rarest materials. If you love to collect, we would gather the oldest and most precious antiques for you, sir…”

Chen Mu felt a rush of excitement. He could hear the other party’s eagerness for the technology. They were willing to pay any price to get it. For Chen Mu, that technology wasn’t anything more than a way to connect with Alfonso and the rest. Transferring the technology wouldn’t have a lot of effect on him, and he didn’t need to be concerned about his link with the underground city being affected. He had lots of ways to solve that problem.

He needed money. He needed a large quantity of materials. He needed his own card making studio. He needed to study systematically…

If he were to transfer the technology, then all of that would seem to be at his fingertips. How could he not feel a rush of excitement?

The other party continued to talk, though Chen Mu couldn’t understand the last thing he said. Stay calm! You have to stay calm, he kept desperately warning himself. Even though he’d been through lots of big events, it was still his first time to face such temptation. He had just discovered that just when the life he’d been dreaming about was at the tip of his fingers, his mood became more volatile than ever.

In the end, he was only 18 years old.

Chen Mu took in a deep breath to clear his head.

The Beard smiled contentedly to himself when he heard the other party drawing in that breath. Were there many people who could stay calm with such a price in front of them? He liked that feeling, to just straight out use money to knock someone else dizzy. What could be cooler than that? Although he was feeling pleased, he didn’t stop talking. He still needed to stall and try to drag it out until Butchie and Hugo could reach the area.

Given their power, so long as they didn’t encounter large troops, there basically wasn’t anyone in Pomelo who could stop them. Given the acuity of Hugo’s six senses, he was confident he could find any objective within a range of several hundred meters.

So long as he could delay until the two got there, then the guy couldn’t fly even if they gave him wings.

Chen Mu finally calmed down. The fruit was tempting, but thinking about it carefully, he could not eat it no matter what. On the contrary, the situation had become quite dangerous for him now because of the technology. An “ordinary, innocent man in trouble because of his wealth” was something he had seen rather a lot of.

He didn’t have any power to discuss conditions with only one person’s power in front of an organization. On the contrary, once the other party knew who he was, they would have sufficient means to make him yield, making it clear what would happen next.

Once he thought of that, Chen Mu became frightened and alarmed, and his back became drenched. He immediately found all the faults. The other party kept putting out more and more bait as though they wanted to drag the time out. Drag out the time? Once the thought popped out, he increasingly felt the other party was up to no good.

Why would they want to drag out the time?

A chill arose from the bottom of his mind. Without any hesitation, Chen Mu slammed the apparatus shut on his wrist. His expression was gloomy, and his back was cold with sweat. If they were really trying to drag out the time, that could only mean one thing: they had still more awesome tricks in store for him.

What sort of awesome tricks might they have? Chen Mu could get the general idea without thinking too hard.

With a miserable expression, he looked all around and called in a low voice, “Go.” Before the sound faded, he had leapt up and out.

Lu Xiaoru was taken aback and hurried to catch up.

Seeing Chen Mu with such a nasty expression, she nervously followed behind. Chen Mu was fast, and the complex geography of the city didn’t seem to have any influence on him. He was flying very low, nearly sticking to the ground. That was a real eye-opener for Lu Xiaoru as she looked on, complaining to herself. It wasn’t hard for her to fly in midair, but to fly along the ground was really difficult for her.

Chen Mu quickly noted Lu Xiaoru’s difficulties, and he soon realized what was going on. So, without saying another thing, he just pulled on Lu Xiaoru’s arm and went forward.

Carrying someone else in his hands didn’t seem to have any effect on him, and they quickly disappeared among the crowds in the streets.

Hugo and Butchie rushed into the area just after the two left. They looked at the buildings in profusion all around, at the dazzling shopping centers, and at all the crowds rolling along beneath their feet, as well as at the card artisans and shuttle cars whizzing by.

Their expressions were way off. That was Pomelo’s most bustling commercial street!

How could they not have realized the other party would be so alert after all? Now, after beating the grass to scare the snake and alerting him, to think of finding him again would be still more difficult.

Would they really have to put all of their hope on the Central Island Firm again? A flash of concern passed over Hugo’s eyes. Under the sunshine, his silvery half-mask was suffused in a dazzling brilliance.