The Mysterious Card Maker: Starting with Zhang Jiao's Deification

"So, are we going to the auction next month?" Qin Muyao took out the two gold-embossed admission tickets that Su Wanqing had given her and looked at them over and over in her hands.

Lin Fan took the admission ticket and looked at the string of numbers printed in the corner: 088 and 089.

"Go! But you can't get in with this ticket."

"What do you mean, sneaking in?" Qin Muyao looked at Lin Fan and asked with a puzzled expression.

"Our Miss Qin should be released from quarantine in a month, right? It shouldn't be a problem for your second uncle to get you an admission ticket then!" Lin Fan said.

After all, this admission ticket is more than just a ticket; it is also a symbol of identity, with each ticket having a unique number.

The New World Foundation could easily identify who held the tickets based on these numbers.

The person who holds these two tickets will be regarded as the "Lord of the Underworld," which is probably Su Wanqing's little scheme.

"There shouldn't be any problem with the issue, so who should we give these votes to?"

Lin Fan's lips curled up slightly. "Sell them. We can get some money by putting them on the small yellow fish. If they really want to find us through these numbers, let them follow someone else."

Qin Muyao was stunned for a moment, then burst out laughing: "You're really something else."

"That's called strategy." Lin Fan leaned back on the sofa, his hands behind his head. "And you can make a profit too, killing two birds with one stone."

"Okay." Qin Muyao picked up the two coupons, took a picture with her phone, and said, "I'll list them now. How much should I sell them for?"

Lin Fan thought for a moment: "Tickets for this kind of charity auction are for prominent people, so they shouldn't be available on the market. Shall we sell them for five thousand each?"

"Isn't that too low?" Qin Muyao raised an eyebrow. "This is a limited edition with gold foil serial numbers. I've listed it at eight thousand each. If you don't want to buy it, I'll lower the price again."

She listed the item with the title: "New World Foundation Charity Auction - Limited Edition Gold-Stamped Numbered Admission Tickets (Two Consecutive Numbers), Serious Inquiries Only."

The price is listed as 8,000 for one ticket and 15,000 for two.

Before long, someone placed an order for the two coupons. Lin Fan and his companion specially hired a delivery person to send the items to the post office so that their address would not be exposed.

"Ding! 7500 yuan has been deposited into your account!"

Lin Fan's phone beeped with a transfer notification. He smiled as he looked at the balance on his phone, which was no longer in single digits.

"When should we go in and take a look at the [Misty Ruins]? It's a D+ level site, and at most there are only Blue Domain level monsters inside. We shouldn't have much of a problem going in."

"Let me study it for the next few days before going in! After all, if something happens, there's no one inside to rescue us, you know..."

Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly caught a glimpse of something flashing past the window out of the corner of his eye.

He turned his head, and on the windowpane, two handprints formed from ice crystals clearly appeared.

Qin Muyao followed his gaze, her expression changing slightly. "What's that?"

Lin Fan stood up, walked to the window, and reached out to touch it. An unusually cold sensation spread from his fingertips throughout his body.

"It must have been left by something eerie!"

Qin Muyao walked over quickly, stared at the mark for a few seconds, then stepped back, increasing the distance between herself and Lin Fan.

"Lin Fan, tell me... am I really marked by that Demon King's mark?"

Lin Fan turned around and saw the tears welling up in her eyes. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.

He couldn't stand seeing women cry, and he didn't know how to comfort them.

"Aren't there too many strange things happening lately?" Qin Muyao tried to remain calm, but she still couldn't suppress the sobs in her throat.

"The one in the coffee shop, the one I encountered during the live stream, the one-eyed general from before, and those two fish monsters... It's only been a few days?"

Qin Muyao's expression was not good, and her lips were pursed into a thin line.

She was usually fearless, but the matter of the Demon King's Mark had made her uneasy ever since she first heard about it. It had constantly attracted strange occurrences, and there was no precedent for anyone surviving it.

"Didn't the Card Association check it for you three times?" Lin Fan said. "Didn't they say there were no marks?"

"They said they couldn't rule out the possibility of a low concentration of strange markings," Qin Muyao said, biting her lip. "What if it is?"

Lin Fan remained silent for a few seconds, then walked to the window, drew the curtains, and covered the mark behind them.

"Even so, you're not alone," Lin Fan said without thinking.

The air was still for a few seconds.

She turned her head away and quickly wiped her eyes with her sleeve. When she turned back, her eyes were still red, but she had already put on an expression that said, "I'm fine."

"You certainly know how to comfort people." Her voice was still a little hoarse and nasal. "You've comforted quite a few girls before, haven't you?"

Lin Fan: "..."

Lin Fan paused, went over it in his mind again, and then spoke again.

"Didn't the news say that the Jiang City Secret Realm has been unstable lately? Maybe they all escaped from there, and we just happened to run into them."

Qin Muyao remained silent.

Lin Fan paused for a moment, then continued, "Besides, I've encountered these things too. Maybe the mark isn't on you, but on me. Don't overthink it!"

Qin Muyao stared at him for several seconds, her eyes reddening slightly, but the corners of her mouth couldn't help but curve upwards: "When did you become so eloquent?"

"I'm just stating the facts." Lin Fan sat back on the sofa. "Besides, if you really get marked, I'll be the first one to suffer. You live next door to me every day, so if the supernatural thing comes looking for you, it'll come looking for me too."

"You," Qin Muyao said, hugging her knees and shrinking into the corner of the sofa, her chin resting on her knees and her eyes looking elsewhere, "your ability to comfort people is really terrible."

"So you said that just to put your mind at ease?"

"Otherwise what?"

Qin Muyao picked up a cushion from the sofa and threw it at him. Lin Fan caught it, leaned back on the sofa, and smiled.

He put the cushion back on the sofa and glanced at the window again. The curtains covered the icy handprint, but he knew it was still there.

Qin Muyao's worries were not unfounded; in just a few days, she had encountered quite a few strange occurrences!

He took a deep breath, suppressing the distracting thoughts in his mind. What was the point of thinking so much? Only by striving to improve himself could he live a better life.

"I'll head back now if there's nothing else!" Lin Fan said to Qin Muyao.

He walked to the door, then suddenly remembered something and turned back to ask, "By the way, did you really see me staring at Su Wanqing's legs just now?"

Qin Muyao hugged the cushion and looked at him with a smile: "What do you think?"

Lin Fan was silent for a second. He opened his mouth, wanting to explain something, but seeing Qin Muyao's expression, he swallowed his words, opened the door, and walked out.

As he closed the door, he seemed to hear Qin Muyao behind him whisper "idiot," but this time there was no laughter.

He returned to his room, and the scene of Su Wanqing drawing her knife involuntarily resurfaced in his mind.

Her black miniskirt billowed up, revealing her long, stocking-clad legs that were taut. She looked like a drawn sword, ready to strike down the eerie creature.

Is it possible to defeat the supernatural even without using summoning cards? Maybe I can try making equipment cards myself next time.

He checked his phone and saw his balance of 7500. He then bought another card on a card website to replenish his account, preparing it for the [Underworld].

"2500, how did that money disappear so quickly!"