San Wenzhou

Chapter 83: The Unlucky One Turns Out to Be Me

Chapter 83: Chapter 83: The Unlucky One Turns Out to Be Me


"Hello, Shen."


The Exploration Bureau sent over someone named Ye Qing to receive Shen Sui today. Upon seeing Shen Sui, he was very polite, evidently because Wu Ziqin had specifically instructed him beforehand.


Shen Sui glanced at Ye Qing and suddenly thought that it had been a while since he submitted his report, and he wondered how the Exploration Bureau was verifying it. However, no matter how they verified it, the conclusion they reached would prove that Shen Sui’s intelligence was genuine.


He hadn’t hidden Alice’s whereabouts, because now, Witch Hozerville’s reputation had spread across the entire Dawn Continent. The people from the Exploration Bureau only had to put in a little effort to trace back to Hozerville.


And when Shen Sui decided on the duel, he had already switched Alice’s form in front of Wu Ziqin. Even if Wu Ziqin hadn’t noticed at the time, once the intelligence from Dawn Continent was consolidated, he would realize.


Keeping secrets in such matters would only harm both parties’ relationship.


At least for now, it seemed like the Exploration Bureau was quite generous; doing such things would be more harmful than beneficial.


However, if you said Shen Sui had told everything truthfully, that wasn’t completely the case. He didn’t conceal what Alice or rather Hozerville had done, but he hadn’t mentioned a word about Claude’s actions.


In such matters, it’s necessary to leave oneself some leeway.


"Shen." Ye Qing didn’t come looking for Shen Sui because of the Ranking Tournament, which was handled by special referees, but regarding the intelligence bonus, "Your intelligence has been verified as authentic by the bureau. Because this intelligence is very detailed and useful to us, Director Wu specifically applied for the highest amount of five million mission rewards for you. However, the approval process for the bonus is somewhat slow, and it might not be credited to your card until next month."


"No worries." Shen Sui was in a great mood, hearing that such a large sum of income was about to arrive.


"Oh, there’s one more thing." Ye Qing said with some embarrassment, "The Exploration Bureau has not completely received all the authority from the Life Card Association regarding the professional recognition system, so our arrangements for your recognition match might be a bit tight today, you might need to finish three duels today."


Ye Qing’s words had actually been conveyed by Xinyuan Tanchun.


Due to some non-cooperation from the Life Card Association, the Exploration Bureau arranged for Exploration Bureau employees to fill in for the students passing the recognition duels these days. The bureau doesn’t lack professional players from stages one to three, since most members opted to retire and take official positions when they couldn’t continue on the competitive stage.


Even though they retired, their ranks remained, and the ranking tournament didn’t require that the duel opponents must be active Life Card Masters.


However, if Shen Sui continued to advance, requiring fourth or fifth-level opponents, the bureau would find it challenging. It’s not that there weren’t any, but Life Card Masters of such ranks were essentially the backbone members of the Exploration Bureau, and even Wu Ziqin would be reluctant to ask them to duel Shen Sui in a ranking tournament.


So, if Shen Sui really achieved a triple jump and wanted to advance further, the bureau would have to think of a solution for fourth and fifth-level opponents.


Either invite or select.


It mainly revolved around the bureau’s reluctance to use authority to coerce and tear relationships, otherwise, docking subsidies would suffice to make most Life Card Masters comply.


"Wait, is that really possible?"


Shen Sui’s first opponent was a young explorer using a standard special summon field card deck. Two turns into the game, Shen Sui completed a closed loop combo with [Magic Apprentice·Alice] + [Andrew’s Staff] + [Recovery].


This opponent, like Yu Wenyuan, had all his key counter cards nullified by Kang, and completely lost the means to resist.


"Impressive." The explorer wiped his forehead; facing Alice, who had revived for the fourth time, his aggressive card deck couldn’t successfully summon a single follower.


"I concede." He didn’t bother to embarrass himself any further and surrendered neatly.


Shen Sui won his second match of the day, defeating two former professional players within just two hours.


He appeared calm; while a first or second-level Life Card Master might seem formidable to others, Shen Sui’s well-developed deck could handle them easily.


"God of Age, indeed." Ye Qing, who had watched Shen’s duel the whole time, felt a twitch at the corner of his mouth, "What a magnificent duel."


Seeing is believing.


This Shen Sui’s deck was really annoying.


No wonder some people want to manipulate things to ban his cards.


If it weren’t for the ban on [Star Magic Array], Shen Sui could have executed even flashier moves.


However, speaking of which, rumors from higher-ups indicate that the bureau intends to make a big fuss about Shen Sui’s card ban, to give the Life Card Association a hard time.


After all, a duel industry alone isn’t important to the nation, but losing face worldwide due to the Forbidden Card List is utterly unacceptable.


Some people who’ve become accustomed to behaving arrogantly in the country might have forgotten that having a nation perpetually occupy half the slots on the Forbidden Card List is very abnormal.


In the past, the Life Card Association used financial influence to suppress public opinion.


But suppressing public opinion doesn’t mean suppressing discontent.


Angry people are waiting for an opportunity to erupt.


What could be more inciting of public discontent than a freshman’s card being added to the Forbidden Card List?


However, after watching this duel, Ye Qing suddenly felt that this card indeed deserved to be banned. Even a substitute card could execute such annoying combos, what about the complete card?


Ye Qing never wanted to face an opponent like Shen Sui; card games were about fun, not imprisonment.


"Congratulations on securing your second victory in the ranking tournament." A referee nearby took out a record and glanced at Shen Sui. Already knowing the answer, the referee still followed the procedure and asked, "So, next, do you choose to face a second-level Life Card Master, or do you wish to challenge a third-level one?"


"Challenge the third level." Shen Sui replied without the slightest hesitation.


Ye Qing nodded, made a note on the record, and then said to Shen Sui, "Alright, we’ve already prepared an opponent for you."


Speaking, the referee took out an envelope, indicating advance preparation.


Today, there were several students participating in their Promotion Tournament at the Duel Training Hall, so many of Ye Qing’s colleagues were on standby here. If someone drew them, they’d immediately go for the duel.


I wonder which unlucky person will run into the gun of the God of Age.


Ye Qing thought, gloating internally.


"Your opponent is...." The referee looked at the text, with a hint of pity, a touch of mockery, and a bellyful of amusement, looked at Ye Qing.


"Third-level Life Card Master, Ye Qing."


Ye Qing, who was gloating, was instantly petrified.


This is bad!


He forgot he was also a third-level Life Card Master.


"Great!" Shen Sui exclaimed, excited, "Let’s duel quickly!"