Translator: Star River from w.a.n.gmamaread
Proofreader: Rhith
Xie Mingzhe returned from Peac.o.c.k galaxy to his individual s.p.a.ce after figuring out how to make [Xue Baochai].
He happened to see the mailbox sign flashing on the big screen when he pa.s.sed through the living room. He remembered that Tang Muzhou had previously reminded him to check emails regularly, so he opened his mailbox. He saw dozens of unread emails, among which many were sent by a player named "Hong Zhu" and some were official notifications of various activities.
The emails read, "h.e.l.lo, Uncle Chubby. I'm the president of the Fenghua Club. We're very interested in your [Lin Daiyu]. We're looking forward to your reply." Hong Zhu, "h.e.l.lo, Uncle Chubby, I'm…."
Hong Zhu had kept sending two emails with same contents a day for more than five days.
Xie Mingzhe realized the disadvantages of ignoring emails.
In the holographic online game, friends could chat with each other privately through voice or text messages, however strangers couldn't PM each other if they happened to be in different areas and sending emails to each other would be their only option.
In order to focus on making cards, Xie Mingzhe had disabled the mailbox reminder in the living room. Unexpectedly, he had received so many emails.
He read every email and deleted official notifications of activities, before reactivating the reminder to avoid missing any more important emails. After that, he replied to Hong Zhu earnestly, "Hi, President. Sorry for the late reply. I failed to check the mailbox because I disabled the reminder the other day. I have an appointment with my friends at 9:00 p.m. What do think of me talking to you face to face when I come back at around 11:00 p.m?"
Nine o'clock was the scheduled time for the boosters to clear the instance and Xie Mingzhe couldn't be absent. He knew that Hong Zhu may be wanting to talk to him about [Lin Daiyu]'s copyright, which he wouldn't sell. He would talk to Hong Zhu, who had sent him so many letters, face to face out of courtesy.
Being thrilled to receive Xie Mingzhe's reply after several days of waiting, Hong Zhu replied, "OKOK. I'll wait for your reply at 11:30 p.m."
After sending the email, she went to the office next door and told the news to Xue Linxiang and Tang Muzhou, who were talking about the event schedule.
Sister Xue had asked Tang Muzhou to go offline just then because the travelling ManMan and Changfeng would come back today. Xue Linxiang a.s.sembled these four important players, planning to discuss with them about the event schedule.
The four most powerful players of the Fenghua Club – Tang Muzhou, Xu Changfeng, Zhen Man and Shen An were all present.
Hearing Hong Zhu's words, Tang Muzhou said with a glimmer of a smile in his eyes, "He didn't check the emails, right?"
"Yes!" Hong Zhu was speechless, "I've sent more than ten emails to him and I was wondering why I hadn't received any replies."
"Shifu, is Uncle Chubby really a genius?" Shen An asked curiously.
“Yes, he is very talented.” Tang Muzhou did not hide his appreciation of Uncle Chubby.
“The auction had provoked much discussion, and even players in the professional player chat group are gloating.” Xu Changfeng patted his friend's shoulder, a smile in his peach blossom eyes, “Muzhou, what are you going to do? Buy [Lin Daiyu]'s copyright?”
"Will he sell the copyright of [Lin Daiyu]?" Xue Linxiang was a bit worried.
“No,” Tang Muzhou said without doubt.
“Are you sure?” Zhen Man, the only female player in the club, asked calmly.
“Because I have just met him – he has poise. And he told me that Nie Yuandao had also met him before.” Tang Muzhou rubbed his chin thoughtfully, “The number of cards made by him, that we found in the database, is not equal to that of the [Lin Daiyu] cards we bought from the black market. We have no clue as to the other cards. If I'm guessing correctly, Nie Yuandao must have talked with him about IDE cards. In other words, Uncle Chubby has made another IDE card in addition to [Lin Daiyu], which is exactly targeted against Nie Yuandao.”
“…” Xu Changfeng stopped smiling and said seriously, “Did Nie Yuandao try to persuade him to join the Adjudication Club?”
“Yes. Since Nie Yuandao personally talked with him, the conditions provided by the Adjudication Club would certainly not be bad, but Uncle Chubby had refused. My way is more euphemistic. At first I wanted to accept him as my apprentice to slowly guide him, then persuade him to join the Fenghua Club. However, he quickly recognized my ident.i.ty and refused me." Tang Muzhou said with pity, "From his att.i.tude, he should prefer being a free card designer."
"Free card designer?" Zhen Man frowned, "Are you sure there is no club behind him?"
“I'm sure. He should be a newcomer who doesn't know much about the Arena's rules.” Tang Muzhou a.n.a.lyzed, “He doesn't want to be bound to any clubs. On the one hand, he is very far-sighted and realizes his own talent, so it is a better choice for him to develop freely. On the other hand, he is very alert towards people unknown to him, and prefers keeping to himself.”
“…” Xue Linxiang widened her eyes in amazement. Tang Muzhou had just met Uncle Chubby once using the subsidiary account, but he a.n.a.lyzed so much information from the latter. She had never seen Legend Tang being interested in a person so much.
“What should we do next?” Hong Zhu asked worriedly.
"What about attracting him to our club by promising him a better deal than the Adjudication Club's?" Xue Linxiang suggested, "For example, to appoint him as a formal designer with a double bonus directly or to allow him to be a professional player in Team One if he meets the age requirements for entering the compet.i.tion?"
"I'm afraid your plan won't work." Tang Muzhou shook his head, saying, "In my opinion, Uncle Chubby is a prudent man. He won't accept any of the clubs' invitations casually. His polite refusal to recognize me as his Shifu indicates that he is a visionary. As a young talent, he'll be more popular as a freelance designer than as a member of a club."
"Yes, you're right. Without obeying the club's rules, he can make cards at will and own his cards' copyright." Xue Linxiang frowned, saying, "But most freelance designers make only pet cards, those who design battle cards have almost all signed into a club. He seems to have every confidence in his strength as he has rejected the invitations from two of the most famous clubs in the game."
"I'm sure that he has lots of creative ideas for making cards and will make many cards soon." Tang Muzhou stopped talking, looking at Xue Linxiang and saying with a serious look, "Don't get involved in this, Sister Xue. I'll handle it."
"What are you going to do?" Xue Linxiang asked curiously.
"Now he is like a piece of uncut jade." Tang Muzhou gave her a long deep look, saying with a smile, "I want to chisel it myself."
"…." Xue Linxiang and Hong Zhu gave each other a look.
Chisel it himself? It seemed that Legend Tang would train Uncle Chubby to be a top card designer. But Uncle Chubby didn't want to join our club. Would we benefit from training him? Xue Linxiang couldn't understand Tang Muzhou's strategy.
"OK. Let's get back to the compet.i.tion." Tang Muzhou disrupted the discussion by shifting the topic, saying, "Who wants to take part in this year's individual race?"
There were many events in Star Card Storm, such as the professional leagues, in which professional players must take part, private events held by sponsors, all star invitation compet.i.tions and bounty compet.i.tions etc.
Tang Muzhou was the individual race champion in the last professional league. He had won the individual race in the fifth and the ninth season since he became a professional player. However, in the tenth season, he wouldn't take part in it. He supposed that gurus who had won the compet.i.tion before, like Nie Yuandao, Zheng Feng, Fang Yu and Ling Jingtang, wouldn't partic.i.p.ate in it either. Clubs would send new professional players to join the race.
Xu Changfeng asked, “Xiao An will partic.i.p.ate, right? I also want to join in on the fun. And you, Sister Man?”
Zhen Man said calmly, “I won't. I will concentrate on preparing for the team race.”
Xue Linxiang respected all the players' decisions. She showed them the schedule and said, “The application for joining the race should be submitted within three days. The first round of the individual race will be held on the 10th. Since Xiao Tang and ManMan are not partic.i.p.ating, this year you two will be the backbone.”
Shen An raised his hand with confidence, “Sister Xue, rest a.s.sured. I'm sure I can enter the finals, and I will try my best to bring an award back!”
Xu Changfeng smiled, saying, “Me too. I can't guarantee to take the championship, but I will try to get an award.”
Xue Linxiang said quickly, “OK! I will have a meeting with the members of Team 2 tomorrow to encourage them to join the race so that they can get more experience. But in the final team race, all of you should compete as our ace.”
They nodded in agreement.
After the meeting, everyone went back to the dormitory.
On the way back, Xu Changfeng suddenly lowered his voice and asked, “Muzhou, you just said that Uncle Chubby would not sell the copyright. Actually, you don't want to buy [Lin Daiyu]'s copyright, right?”
Tang Muzhou smiled, “You got me.”
Xu Changfeng was speechless, “Are you crazy? If this card is sold in bulk and all the players of the major clubs have this card, what advantage will it bring to you?”
Tang Muzhou looked calm, “Since I first proposed the instant death effect, I haven't been afraid to be targeted against by IDE cards. What's more important is to let Uncle Chubby make full use of his talent and imagination to make more IDE cards, and sell all of them. This way, the next season will be more interesting and more challenging, isn't that right?”
Xu Changfeng, “…”
Compared to being the lone target, it would be better to have everyone targeted by IDE cards.
Tang Muzhou was "bad" enough to think of such an idea.
That's why he did not acquire [Lin Daiyu], but also personally taught Uncle Chubby.
Xu Changfeng lowered his head and thought for a moment. Then he asked, “Since you won't join the individual race, you will have much more free time. Are you going to use your subsidiary account to guide Uncle Chubby, so that he can make a lot of IDE cards against all the clubs?”
Tang Muzhou nodded with a smile, “I've told you, he is a fine jade which I want to carve personally.”
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