52: Come prepared

“Teacher Zeng! A demon attack!”

Seeing the large bird attack, the young man was immediately flustered.

As an “indoor Card Master,” his outdoor experience was even less than that of a Silver Card Master.

“It’s fine, just a one-star demon.”

Zeng Hong comforted him and calmly pulled out his cards.

Because his rank exceeded Gold 5, the team’s deck limit was 4+1.

Dealing with a mere one-star demon was truly nothing.

Before long, the two had their decks set up.

“An eye for an eye! A tooth for a tooth!”

The first-row card placed by Zeng Hong was quite eye-catching.

Its projection was a sturdy warrior holding a scimitar and a large shield, with an attire style quite similar to a Spartan warrior.

But what was truly different about this card was not its appearance, but its card face.

Tribe Warrior

Chasing Wind, 20 points, Two-star

Attack 20, 120/120, 0/30

Tribe Elite - Passive: Tribe Warrior’s max HP +20

Tribe Combat Arts - Passive: Tribe Warrior has 5 points of Counter (T4)

(Counter: Attacks the source of damage once)

“Teacher Zeng, is this a Unique Character Card?”

The young man was not without insight.

The modifier for increasing max HP belonged to the Berserker and Steadfast card types.

The Counter effect, on the other hand, belonged to the Breaker and Steadfast card types.

But they generally did not appear on Chasing Wind-type cards.

For them to appear simultaneously on the same card, and a Chasing Wind card at that, there was only one explanation.

Exclusive modifiers are only found on Unique Character Cards.

“That’s right, you have good eyes.”

Zeng Hong smiled slightly.

“Unique Character Cards are not easy to get.”

The young man indeed showed an envious expression upon hearing this.

“Last year, I went to the neighboring province to support a Level 3 Exotic and unexpectedly completed a certain mission, acquiring a batch of unique token cards.

This card is the result of that batch of unique token cards.”

Zeng Hong took in the other party’s reaction, knowing that his goal had been achieved.

He pulled out this card precisely to show the boss his strength.

If the boss was satisfied, he would continue to hire him next time.

A 4+1 deck against a one-star demon took basically no effort.

However, they were lucky enough to drop 1 material card, which, according to the agreement, belonged to the boss.

After resolving the battle, the two continued on their way.

During this time, they encountered several more short-sighted demons, all of which were easily dealt with.

Continuing along the path, they finally entered the activity area of Level 5 two-star demons.

“It feels very quiet here.”

The young man looked around.

On their way in, they would occasionally encounter some Card Masters.

However, this situation had stopped happening about 30 minutes ago.

“Normal, not many people usually come to the Level 5 area.”

Zeng Hong explained.

The activity area for Level 5 two-star demons was generally only frequented by personnel from their Li Card Hall.

Because to thrive in this area, Gold 5 was the minimum rank.

A large portion of these were their sparring partners.

“From here, we are considered to have entered the territory of the Crystal Pangolin, but we need to adjust our direction and can no longer continue on the artificial path.”

“I’ll follow Teacher Zeng’s arrangements completely.”

Zeng Hong’s demonstrated strength along the way had completely convinced the young man.

So the two left the path and headed west.

However, after walking for more than a kilometer, they did not encounter a single demon.

“That’s strange.”

Zeng Hong looked around, his face showing a peculiar expression.

According to past experience, venturing this deep would usually lead to encountering at least three pangolins.

Why were there none today?

Were they all hiding in their nests having a meeting?

His gaze swept around, finally settling on a large moss-covered rock.

“Come on, lend a hand.”

At his call, the two together pushed the large rock several meters, revealing the scene beneath it.

In the hollow where the large rock had stood, a patch of sharp, shoot-like objects, translucent and crystalline like glazed glass, grew like tender sprouts.

“Glazed bamboo shoots, the Crystal Pangolin’s favorite food.

These demons have a strong possessiveness over their food, and they usually hide the food they collect in places like this.

As long as we move these things, we’ll quickly attract the Crystal Pangolin.”

Zeng Hong explained.

To be honest, he usually wasn’t too keen on going to such lengths.

Because it could easily provoke the Crystal Pangolin tribe, leading to a massive attack from them.

To prevent the demons from getting out of control, the two did not move the glazed bamboo shoots too far, only taking them about ten meters away.

“Alright, now we just need to wait for them to come to us.”

Zeng Hong believed that the demons would appear very soon.

However, five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes passed.

Still, not a single Crystal Pangolin appeared.

“No, something is really wrong.”

This time, Zeng Hong truly felt that something was amiss.

So he took the boss deeper, to the heart of the Crystal Pangolin’s activity area.

“Teacher Zeng, look over there!”

“Huh?”

When they crossed a small hill, Zeng Hong discovered a large number of Crystal Pangolins lying down.

From the number, it was possible that all the Crystal Pangolins in the entire Monster Training Ground were here!

The purpose of the demons in the Monster Training Ground was originally for Card Masters to hunt.

But generally speaking, the internal staff of their Card Hall would exercise some restraint and not engage in such a complete clear-out.

The key was that even if they wanted to, it would be very difficult for Gold Card Masters to do so.

“Wait a moment, I need to make a phone call.”

The only thing Zeng Hong could think of now was to report it.

… …

Li Card Hall Monster Training Ground Office Building, 8th floor.

The largest office at the very end of this floor belonged to Vice Hallmaster Xu Xin.

The Monster Training Ground business was one of Li Card Hall’s three main sources of income in Durian City.

So it was very reasonable to assign a Vice Hallmaster to be fully in charge.

At this moment, Xu Xin was sitting in front of the screen, watching the surveillance footage with interest.

It turned out that before Zeng Hong, the surveillance room had already discovered the anomaly and notified Xu Xin.

However, everything on the surveillance screen was clearly visible, except for the specific details of the card game.

All the card faces and processes appeared distorted and blurry.

Clearly, the other party was carrying a specialized electronic jammer.

And that tireless continuous combat must have been due to consuming Spiritual Recovery potions.

The other party was well-prepared.

“Hallmaster Xu, we’ve found this person’s information!”

Just then, the secretary suddenly knocked and entered.

“Shi Li, a third-year student from Twenty-sixth High School in this city, eighteen years old this year, Gold 4 rank.

Most importantly, he is a C-Level Contract holder of Show Card Hall!”

The secretary quickly read out the intelligence.

“I knew it was you, Xiu Qingshan.”

Xu Xin smiled slightly, immediately connecting it to the mastermind.

… …

… …