"It's me."
That man revealed a little of his face.
"It's you?"
Lu Ming recognized the man.
Shan Zhu, a small punk nearby who wandered in the outskirts. In the past, he b.u.mped into Lu Ming when the he was out and collected protection fees from Lu Ming a few times. Unexpectedly, he dared to come here.
This was the city center!
"You're not afraid that I will call the police?"
Lu Ming was very calm.
"Don't," Shan Zhu said nervously, "I am not here to collect protection fees from you."
"Why are you here then?" Lu Ming sneered.
"I came here to sell something."
Shan Zhu looked around sneakily at the door. After discovering that no one was paying attention to them, he quietly showed the item in his hands to Lu Ming.
"This is… "
Lu Ming's heart trembled at the first sight of it.
Shan Zhu had actually brought two card fragments!
The so-called card fragment was of course a part of the card.
Many cards were destroyed and ruined due to battles, experiments and various reasons and became card fragments.
Although the card fragment was not complete, one could still see some faint lines on it. Hence, many Card Creator would examine these lines to learn and improve their standards!
Of course.
Most importantly, when a typical card was broken, the encryption was also cracked. Hence, one could even pick up some skills from the card!
So… card fragments were an avenue for many ordinary Card Creators to pick up knowledge.
As for the two in his hands…
Although there were only one-tenth of and a corner of the card left, the feel of this card told them that this was certainly no ordinary card.
In particular, one could make out the faint mark of 'NC16' behind the card.
d.a.m.n!
This was the legendary Small Yellow Card!
"Where did you get this thing from?" Lu Ming said in a low voice.
Such a pure Small Yellow Card was rare.
Actually, Lu Ming was not very interested in this area but many Small Yellow Cards used skills, especially the encryption skill, that exceeded that of ordinary cards!
This was the area that Lu Ming was interested in.
Perhaps… There was something he wanted in this.
"Of course, I scavenged it. A few days ago, a huge battle occurred outside and many people died. Naturally, many cards were destroyed. However, I know what I can or cannot touch.
I don't dare to touch those powerful and precious cards.
I only picked up the broken pieces of these censored cards. Hehe… even if they discovered it, they would feel embarra.s.sed to look for them."
Shan Zhu was very smug.
He was a professional in scavenging.
An ordinary person would naturally search the whole world, even at all costs, if they were to lose anything. However, a broken piece of a Small Yellow Card?
Did they not find it shameful enough!
The Card Creators a.s.sociation strictly prohibited these kind of things from circulating!
After thinking, Lu Ming felt that that was really the truth.
"How much?" Lu Ming said in a low voice.
He knew that this lad talked so much because he wanted to raise the price.
"Fifty thousand yuan. Hehe." Shan Zhu was pleased.
"Are you mad?" Lu Ming's eyes widened. "It's just two fragments."
"But it seems that their quality is not bad," Shan Zhu explained.
"Impossible."
Lu Ming pursed his lips. "A card fragment is just a part of the card. No one knows the skills that are left from the lines behind the remaining part. There may not even be anything left of it."
"How much are you asking then?"
Shan Zhu did not expect the timid young lad in the past to become so tough now.
"One thousand."
Lu Ming pursed his lips.
Shan Zhu was a little puzzled.
One could not bargain in such a way, right? Slas.h.i.+ng the price to one thousand yuan from fifty thousand yuan? That was too much?!
"Impossible."
Shan Zhu was fuming with anger. "If it's one thousand yuan, I might as well sell this to those chain stores directly!"
"Go ahead then."
Lu Ming's expression dimmed.
"Uh." All of a sudden, Shan Zhu was speechless.
He was a scavenger. Scavengers did not like to expose themselves to the regular market. They would be targeted due to these kind of things. They could only look for small shops to sell them.
More importantly, these two items were fragments of Small Yellow Card: an even bigger reason why they could not sell it there.
"Ten thousand yuan. That's the lowest."
Shan Zhu gritted his teeth. "You can't make me waste a trip."
Lu Ming thought about it. It was just nice. He had earned some money these two days and could still afford ten thousand yuan. Moreover, his interest in the Small Yellow Card…
Ah, wrong. He was quite interested in high-start cards.
Very soon…
The deal was successful with ten thousand yuan.
After taking the money, Shan Zhu left excitedly.
Lu Ming officially closed the shop and ended the busy day.
It was just that… At this moment, he could not bring himself to fall asleep. His attention was focused on the two fragments that he had just gotten. One had to know. These were the fragments of a high-start card!
"Perhaps there are some high-end skills in them."
Lu Ming was hopeful.
He took out the card and carefully observed the lines behind them.
One could not see anything from the original black surface of the card. But as only the fragments were left, he could faintly see the traces of the lines.
Lu Ming took out a pen and paper and carefully copied those lines.
However…
He could not understand them completely!
"What is happening?"
Lu Ming felt a little strange.
In his heart, he felt that if such sophisticated skills such as line intersection appeared, he could most likely succeed after cultivating a few more times.
This was also the kind of skills that he yearned for.
However, at this moment…
He could not understand them completely!
The difficulty level was too high?
No, no, no.
Lu Ming looked at it numerous times. He suddenly had a bad premonition. Could it be that the encryption of this card was coincidentally still intact?!
Still… It was all in this fragment?
Hence, he had basically no way to break the encryption effect?
Lu Ming searched online for the lines that he had copied. True enough, these were one of the most basic lines that were commonly-used for encryption!
"Wait. If the encryption is intact in this fragment… then the other one definitely won't have any… "
Instinctively, Lu Ming examined the other fragment.
However, he was speechless when he discovered that it was also encrypted! These two fragments that looked similar actually did not belong to the same card!
The encryption was complete. Naturally, this was not something that Lu Ming, a guy at this level, could crack. With the existence of this encryption, he did not even know the quality and rating of this card fragment!
"I have been cheated."
Lu Ming gave a deep sigh.
Sure enough.
He was still too pure and simple.
Would Shan Zhu, that guy, look for him if he had any good stuff?
He was certain.
He had picked up a pile of card fragments and sold them to a particular shop in batches. After the shops checked and discovered that these two fragments could not be used, they took them out.
Shan Zhu then pa.s.sed by his shop so that he could become the scapegoat.
"I'm too inexperienced."
Lu Ming figured out the ploy very quickly.
Little Lu Ming was also completely ignorant about all of this. He had just come here and was inexperienced. Hence, he paid a considerable "education fee."
"I have been too complacent these past two days."
Lu Ming made himself calm down.
He remembered that, when he first arrived, he was very cautious with everything that he did. Over these past few days, he had earned a lot of money from Fruit Ninja activities. As such, he was a little too relaxed.
What if this was murder and not swindling of money?
He could have possibly died!
"I have to be careful."
Lu Ming took a deep breath.
His inflated ego cooled down very quickly.
"Since I bought the card fragments, I can't waste them."
Lu Ming thought about it.
The lines behind the card fragment could not be examined anymore. However, the encryption on them was complete. In that case, it might still possess a little of the functionality of the original card.
After all, the encryption was still intact. It was possible that a certain functionality was still in the card. Wasn't that so?
Furthermore, under normal circ.u.mstances, Small Yellow Cards were all Illusion Cards! Coincidentally, he had the facilities for Illusion Card here and could give it a try.
All of a sudden, Lu Ming's interest was aroused.
He found a blank card and cut out a piece of it from the middle, which was the size of the fragment, and carefully placed the fragment in it, piecing together a complete card.
Thereafter, he carefully inserted the card into the Activator.
He also replenished the Energy Card.
"Activate!"
Whoos.h.!.+
Buzz—
There was a sudden burst of energy.
"It's successful."
Lu Ming felt excited suddenly.
True enough, the place with the encryption intact had retained a small part of the functionality.
Whoos.h.!.+
Scenes that sent his adrenaline rus.h.i.+ng appeared. The world around him began to transform, and pairs of hands as fair as white jade seemed to be caressing his body.
That feeling…
The gentle whispers that could be heard from near and far made his whole body feel relaxed.
In the vagueness, he thought he saw a girl with unimaginable beauty approaching him from afar. In the mist, she had an aura of a fairy that left him hungrily eyeing her with antic.i.p.ation.
Endless sensations lingered.
It was just that… before he could feel it, the illusion actually ended.
Well, it was only a fragment.
"So, this is a high-end illusion?"
Lu Ming was amazed.
Within a short duration of thirty seconds, the feelings brought to him by this illusion… He felt like he was personally experiencing it. It even made him so immersed without realizing it. He was not sure how many levels higher this was to illusions by Zhang Xiaopang.
That feeling of adrenaline rus.h.i.+ng… The restlessness in his heart… That relaxation of his whole body…
Lu Ming closed his eyes.
This kind of illusion… What if… It was used to kill someone?
That girl gently placed her little hands on the neck… Click! World peace.
Apparently, someone who could create such an illusion was a threat themselves! The powerful ones in this world were far scarier than he had imagined. He desired to be like them even more!
Lu Ming's eyes were s.h.i.+ning.
Perhaps…
He could also become as strong and powerful as them one day.
"Tsk."
"If Zhang Xiaopang uses this card, it will far exceed the value of ten thousand yuan. For thirty seconds, he can use it for ten times. He will receive heavenly treatment each time he uses it."
"It seems that there are benefits to having a kidney deficiency."
"Saving money."
Lu Ming was filled with emotions.
He looked down at the card on the Illusion Activator. When the illusion ended, the fragment had vanished completely, transforming into energy, after it was used.
"There's one more."
Lu Ming took out the other remaining card fragment.
Although this card did not have the 'NC16' label, the color was also light yellow. From the look of it, it was the same kind of card as the earlier one.
Similarly, Lu Ming embedded the fragment into the blank card and inserted it into the activator.
"Don't know what is inside."
Lu Ming was hopeful.
Although he did not pick up the skills, it was also quite good to widen his horizons.
Click!
He pressed the b.u.t.ton on the activator.
Buzz—
A light wave of energy flashed and a gush of bright light suddenly appeared in front of him, surrounding Lu Ming's entire vision. Thereafter, it suddenly exploded and engulfed the whole shop.
"Oh no!"
A thought flashed across Lu Ming's mind.
Bang!
A deafening noise.
Lu Ming could hear loud sounds. The world around him suddenly came cras.h.i.+ng down.