104: Chapter 104 Invitation to the National Tournament

Su Bai lowered his head and glanced at the screen.

An unknown number, the content was very short.

[Unknown Number]: "Mr. Su Bai, sorry to disturb you. I have an important matter to discuss, I wonder if you are free to meet tonight?"

He flipped the phone over and continued walking toward the door.

Kyubey was squatting on his shoulder, its red glass eyeballs turning a notch toward the screen.

"Not going to reply?"

"Eat first." Su Bai pushed the door open, "Letting him wait is fine too."

"Aren't you afraid it's urgent?"

"If it were urgent, they would have said a second sentence in the text message. He only said one."

"Logic holds up."

The night in Jinghai surged in from the end of the corridor. The sea of magic lights in the distant commercial district never went out, and the hot post ranking list on the Truth Sanctuary internal forum had just been updated—Su Bai's ranking on the Forbes rich list had jumped from 43 to 41, and the comment section was still flooding. Su Bai quickened his pace; under the streetlamp at the school gate, two figures were already waiting there.

Zhao Dahai was holding his phone up, the screen still displaying the menu of that three-star Michelin restaurant, his chubby face filled with the determination of "I'm definitely going to eat you into bankruptcy today."

"You're three minutes late."

Lin Xiao was leaning against the school gate pillar, holding a bag of cream puffs in her hand. The same posture as last time, the same lines as last time.

"Saw a text message, got delayed a bit." Su Bai took the bag of cream puffs.

"What text message?"

Su Bai turned the phone screen toward her. Lin Xiao glanced at it, her eyebrows slightly furrowed.

"An unknown number? At this critical juncture—do you want me to have my dad check the other party's identity first?"

"No need." Su Bai typed a few words on the screen.

[Su Bai]: "I'm just about to have dinner with friends. Commercial District Street No. 3, Le Ciel Restaurant, come directly here."

The other side replied in seconds.

[Unknown Number]: "Okay, will arrive in about three minutes."

Zhao Dahai poked his head out from behind the menu: "Another unknown number? Last time with the Ghost Guild it was also—"

"Last time it was the takeout you ordered. The delivery rider sent a pickup reminder."

"...Oh."

"Besides," Su Bai tucked his phone into his pocket, "Assassins don't send text messages to make appointments in advance. Professional assassins will at least scout the location before coming over."

"How do you know they haven't scouted the location?"

"Because this meal is at a restaurant you only chose twenty minutes ago. An assassin's reconnaissance cycle isn't that short."

"That's because you told me to pick the most expensive one! Do you know how many three-star Michelin restaurants there are!"

"I know now."

Lin Xiao didn't participate in their bickering. Her left hand had already quietly reached into her pocket—that was where her Ice Bow Seal Card was kept. Su Bai noticed, but he didn't say anything. She had been like this since the Monthly Exam, she probably couldn't change it.

The three of them walked toward the commercial district.

The sign for Le Ciel shone with a low-key warm golden light at the street corner. The welcoming waiter hesitated for half a second when seeing Zhao Dahai's sneakers, immediately piled on a smile upon seeing Lin Xiao's attire, and when seeing Kyubey on Su Bai's shoulder—his expression jumped back and forth between "The restaurant doesn't allow pets" and "That cat's eyes are so scary," and in the end, he said nothing.

They took their seats in a private room on the second floor.

The moment Zhao Dahai opened the menu, the expression on his face changed from "I'm going to eat you into poverty" to "I might eat myself into poverty first."

"One appetizer costs half a year of my living expenses, is this reasonable?"

"It's not reasonable." Lin Xiao placed the bag of cream puffs on the edge of the table, "But the person across from you just made it into the Forbes top fifty today."

Su Bai didn't look at the menu. He leaned back in his chair, his fingers tapping lightly on the tabletop. Kyubey jumped down from his shoulder and squatted on the corner of the table.

"Su Bai. The sender's number of that text message just now went through three layers of signal encryption."

"Assassins don't send text messages to make appointments in advance. You said that yourself just now." Lin Xiao flipped through the menu without raising her head.

"I didn't say it was an assassin." Kyubey's tail swished, "I just said it was encrypted three times."

Su Bai picked up the water glass on the table.

"Wait and see, and we'll know."

About three minutes later, the private room door was knocked on.

"Please come in."

The door pushed open.

Walking in was a middle-aged man wearing a dark gray Zhongshan suit. Around fifty years old, he was thin, with a straight back. His graying short hair was combed meticulously, and the wrinkles on his face were not caused by aging, but rather looked like marks left from working in such a highly tense environment for many years.

What caught the eye was a very low-key silver badge pinned to his left chest—a coiled dragon, holding a Card Creator pen in its claws.

The menu in Lin Xiao's hand slid onto the table.

The appetizer bread in Zhao Dahai's mouth dropped back onto his plate.

They had both seen that badge in textbooks; it was the Dragon Country Card Creator Association Headquarters, a special commissioner directly under the headquarters. A silver badge… there were no more than twenty people in the entire Dragon Country who held a silver badge.

The middle-aged man stood still, placed his right hand on his left chest, and bowed slightly.

"Mr. Su Bai. Sorry to disturb you, please forgive me."

His voice was gentle and warm, every word carrying the restraint that could only be cultivated after decades of being immersed in official documents.

Zhao Dahai said to Lin Xiao in a shocked whisper: "Silver badge, a silver badge special commissioner!"

"I know." Lin Xiao said indifferently, "When you're beside Su Bai, you need to be calmer, understand?"

Zhao Dahai was stunned for a moment, that makes sense!

Then he couldn't help but straighten his collar, pretending to look presentable. After all, Su Bai had a great reputation now; so what if it's a silver badge? Even a silver badge has to ask something of Su Bai!

"Please sit." Su Bai pointed to the empty seat opposite him.

The middle-aged man sat down on the chair, his back still straight. He took out a dark blue gold-stamped folder from his briefcase and placed it on the table.

"Let me introduce myself first. I am Special Commissioner Chen Daoxuan, a special commissioner directly under the Dragon Country Card Creator Association Headquarters. My presumptuous visit this time is to personally deliver—"

He opened the folder with both hands.

Inside was an invitation card pressed from gold foil. The edges of the gold foil were inlaid with twelve miniature magic crystals, each flickering like breathing at a very slow frequency.

The gold-stamped text in the center was some kind of high-level law inscription, and the font itself was slowly flowing.

"—An invitation to participate in the National Card Creator Prodigy Tournament."

Special Commissioner Chen Daoxuan pushed the invitation toward Su Bai.

"This year's tournament will officially open in the Imperial Capital in three months. Entry qualifications: under thirty years old, within the Fifth Rank. The championship prize includes a prize pool of billions, rare and hard-to-find Card Creator materials, and—"

"The Philosopher's Stone?" Su Bai said.

The corner of Special Commissioner Chen Daoxuan's eye twitched slightly.

"Mr. Su Bai is already aware."

"My master mentioned it."

"That saves a lot of breath then." Special Commissioner Chen Daoxuan nodded slightly, "In addition, Her Excellency Li Qingyue of the Truth Sanctuary spoke with the association a few days ago. She mentioned that your next card creation will surely astonish everyone again, so she specifically recommended you for participation, but to be honest, I personally do not approve of you participating in the competition."