Chapter 71: Chapter 71: Racking Up Cards Like Crazy
Shen Sui glanced at his starting hand.
Four Spell Cards and one Follower Card.
This was in line with the environment of Life Card Duels in this world.
He was considered lucky; some duelists couldn’t even draw a Follower Card within the first couple of turns in a duel.
"My turn, I pay 5 Soul Points to normally summon [Armed Puppet·Soya] on my field!"
Shen Sui summoned the only Follower Card from his hand onto the field.
Soya’s appearance was crafted by Alice with reference to Anna; Alice’s craftsmanship was indeed impressive, making the puppet about seventy percent similar to a real person.
"Then, I pay 5 Soul Points to activate the Spell Card [Malicious Gift] from my hand!" Shen Sui spread out his deck, selected the Event Card [Chaos], and slipped it into Feng Lindu’s hand, prompting Feng Lindu to make a choice based on [Malicious Gift].
Either let Shen Sui draw two cards.
Or let Shen Sui look at his hand and take one card away.
Feng Lindu glanced at the Event Card forcibly inserted by Shen Sui. For a rookie to have an Event Card was already surprising, and the effect of this Event Card was not entirely positive.
For Feng Lindu, who considered himself to have a sure win, it wasn’t a favorable effect; it could rather give the opponent an opportunity.
However, it also meant that Shen Sui didn’t need to reclaim this card. If he chose the second effect, Shen Sui could completely take away a crucial card from his hand.
A card effect that made one extremely uncomfortable.
Feng Lindu frowned slightly.
"Classmate Shen’s card effect is very effective, giving the opponent a worthless card, enough to put them in a dilemma," Dean Liang attentively said to Wu Ziqin beside him.
Wu Ziqin smiled gently and said, "No need to explain to me, Dean Liang. I’m not part of the Life Card Association; I do have a decent understanding of Life Card Duels."
The bureau chief couldn’t help but tease the Life Card Association in his words.
Dean Liang smiled awkwardly.
"Moreover, you should know that many members within the Exploration Bureau used to be professional Life Card Masters. Although retired, they still engage in duels for entertainment in private," Wu Ziqin remarked, glancing sidelong at Dean Liang, hinting with his words, "However, the strongest should be Director Zhang. If it weren’t for the Life Card Association banning five crucial cards before the national finals, he wouldn’t have been forced to retire and join the Exploration Bureau..."
Sweat beaded on Dean Liang’s forehead; who could have expected that a rural boy with no background, after being forced into retirement, would become the director of the Huaxia Soul Card Exploration Bureau within five or six years?
The Celestial University cheating incident was just the first strike by the Exploration Bureau against the professional Life Card System, and many people believed that this losing-on-the-field Director Zhang’s next move would likely target the Life Card Association, even though the Life Card Association had already enacted emergency procedures to release the five Forbidden Cards of Zhang Fang.
The situation offstage was put aside temporarily as the duel onstage was gradually becoming interesting.
Faced with a full-fledged well-known Five-Tier Life Card Master, Shen Sui showed not a hint of fear, methodically using the first-turn advantage to gain significant benefits for himself.
Feng Lindu was absolutely unwilling to let Shen Sui take away crucial cards, so it was no surprise when Shen Sui drew two cards from his deck.
"At this point," Shen Sui spoke again, "I activate the effect of [Armed Puppet·Soya] on my field. Once per turn, after my Spell Card resolves, I can return this Spell Card to my hand."
"Returning [Malicious Gift] to my hand." Shen Sui retrieved this Spell Card.
"Then, I pay 5 Soul Points to activate the Spell Card [Malicious Gift] from my hand again."
This time, Shen Sui slipped a [Defiance and Betrayal] into Feng Lindu’s hand.
"Interesting." Feng Lindu looked at the Event Card in his hand, and this time, without hesitation, let Shen Sui draw two more cards.
What does it matter for a rookie deck to let him draw four cards?
Seeing Feng Lindu’s lack of hesitation, Shen Sui knew that his hand probably already had a Soul Card. His entire deck depended on the Soul Card; if Shen Sui took the Soul Card away, it would mean admitting defeat.
Not only Shen Sui saw through this; even the audience below guessed it.
"What an annoying card, forcing a gain of two cards," someone remarked, "He surely analyzed Feng’s deck and knew activating this card would definitely be profitable."
"But he’s really daring, putting a worthless card that doesn’t even matter if it’s given to the opponent in the deck during the duel?"
"Maybe it has uses for himself, but it is useless in the opponent’s hand," someone guessed.
"A new Life Card Master, apart from the rich man, who can guarantee the cards they obtain from the Soul Card World meet construction requirements? I think he’s betting that Feng doesn’t dare let him look at his hand,"
"So what if he draws cards? Paying ten costs plus two cards for four cards isn’t that great a deal either,"
"I’m saying, you all shouldn’t underestimate him. This is Shen Sui, after all, a genius on par with Xue. Drawing four cards certainly isn’t a loss, right?"
While the audience was discussing, Shen Sui almost finished his turn. He had only 1 point of cost left.
"Paying 1 Soul Point, I normally summon [Magic Apprentice·Alice] from my hand." Shen Sui summoned Alice to the field.
"Then I end my turn." He swiftly concluded without dragging it out.
At the end of the turn, with six cards in hand, he needed to discard one.
After Shen Sui discarded a card, Feng Lindu began his turn.
After a series of fierce operations, he ended up summoning only two Followers.
Feng Lindu looked at Shen Sui’s field, laughing inside.
He initially thought Shen Sui would have an amazing deployment with four drawn cards, but instead, he used up all the cost to gain cards, wasting the precious first-move opportunity. Truly putting the cart before the horse, a rookie doesn’t know how to make choices.
"My turn, draw." Feng Lindu wasted no words, not intending to waste too much time on this duel. The longer it dragged on, the more he exposed, and Yang Liguang’s team surely wasn’t idle, prepared to seize the opportunity to analyze his duel.
Although he’d reached an agreement with the Exploration Bureau to release the duel video after the finals, what of it? In today’s world, guarantees couldn’t be trusted; one must prepare for the worst.
"Paying 6 Soul Points, I normally summon from my hand!"
Feng Lindu directly drew out his Soul Card.
The normal summon of the Soul Card involved choosing a form, and when he paid 6 Soul Points, all 6-star forms of this Soul Card appeared before him.
"Move forward in suffering. Usually summon [Investigation Team Captain·Lin Zhen]."
A young man with an expressionless face emerged from the mist, arriving at Feng Lindu’s field. He wore a seemingly professional outdoor combat outfit, his demeanor resolute, yet there was an unmistakable sadness in his eyes.
Shen Sui furrowed his brows suddenly because the timing for Alice didn’t trigger, which meant....
"Investigation Team Captain Lin Zhen is not affected by card effects." Feng Lindu said, previously having watched Shen Sui and Xu Tianzhi’s duel with disdain and therefore knowing this Magic Apprentice’s effect, he specifically chose this form of the Soul Card.