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

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The sound of vengeful spirits exploding echoed repeatedly beside the pool.

Zhang Fei also began to develop wounds, and a large portion of his armor was torn off.

But he seemed oblivious to pain, only indulging in relentless killing.

Bullet comments:

How many has he killed? Countless!

[What the hell is this card? Even the Purple Realm isn't this powerful!]

Look at his eyes, they're still glowing red!

I feel like he even wants to kill the streamer...

The vengeful spirits in the pools became frightened. They let out sharp screechs and turned to run back into the pools.

"Bang"

The eighteen-foot spear pierced the back of the last vengeful spirit on the shore. Seeing it pinned to the ground, the vengeful spirit struggled twice, then turned into a cloud of black mist and completely dissipated.

The area around the pool fell silent, save for the sound of Zhang Fei's heavy breathing.

His heavy armor was mostly shattered, and his exposed skin was covered with black bloodstains.

He then raised his spear, slowly turned around, and stared intently at Qin Muyao with eyes devoid of any warmth.

Qin Muyao's eyes met Zhang Fei's, and her breath caught in her throat for a moment, because in Zhang Fei's eyes, she saw a wicked demon out of control, devoid of any emotion.

He strode toward Qin Muyao, the tip of his spear dangling at the ground, black blood dripping down the tip, leaving a long trail of blood on the ground.

"Zhang Fei!" Qin Muyao called out, her voice trembling.

Zhang Fei did not react.

Qin Muyao tried to put Zhang Fei back into the card, but failed.

Taking back the Card Spirit requires its cooperation, or at least its non-resistance, but Zhang Fei is not cooperating at all.

When she was less than five steps away from Qin Muyao, Qin Muyao raised her voice again and shouted at the black figure.

"Zhang Fei!"

Zhang Fei still didn't respond. He walked up to Qin Muyao, tilting his head as if he were sizing up his prey.

Qin Muyao instinctively hugged Lin Fan tightly. At this moment, there was no one beside her except for the unconscious Lin Fan, and there was nothing he could do.

Zhang Fei looked at Qin Muyao, then at Lin Fan, and after a brief moment of deliberation, he yanked Qin Muyao away from Lin Fan and lifted Lin Fan up on his own.

His subconscious told him that he couldn't move the woman, but the man smelled very good, and that if he ate him, he could gain even greater power.

Zhang Fei lifted Lin Fan up, sniffed him as if to confirm, and to Qin Muyao's astonishment, he opened his mouth and bit into Lin Fan's leg.

"Zhang Fei!" Qin Muyao screamed and pounced on him.

She grabbed Zhang Fei's arm that was holding Lin Fan, draped herself over him, and pulled him down with all her might.

"Wake up! Look closely! This is Lin Fan! Not some weirdo!"

Zhang Fei paused for a moment, a flicker of emotion flashing in his blood-red eyes.

"He's not an enemy! He's our partner!" Qin Muyao's voice was choked with sobs, but she didn't let go.

"You've forgotten, he's the one who created you, he's the one who gave you a second life!"

Zhang Fei blinked his blood-red eyes. He looked down at Lin Fan in his hand, then at Qin Muyao hanging on his arm.

The expression on that dark face changed from ferocity to confusion, and then from confusion to bewilderment.

"Girl?" His voice was hoarse.

"It's me!" Qin Muyao cried as she looked at Zhang Fei's monstrous appearance.

"Girl..." His voice was very soft, as if he had used up his last bit of strength, "Take me back... quickly..."

He shook his head, his movements stiff, like a rusty puppet struggling to turn its neck.

"No..." His voice was hoarse and broken, as if he were arguing with himself, "No...eat, eat him..."

"Quick...ya..."

Zhang Fei slammed his eighteen-foot spear into the ground, pressing one hand down on the other, as if he were wrestling with himself.

Looking at the tormented Zhang Fei in front of her, Qin Muyao had a sudden thought. After a brief struggle, Zhang Fei transformed into a card and returned to her hand.

However, Zhang Fei's figure was no longer on the card; instead, the image of the evil spirit that had just appeared was instead shown.

Qin Muyao glanced at the card in her hand, quickly put it away, summoned the Bone-Eating Hound, put Lin Fan on her back, grabbed her phone, and hurried towards the exit.

Bullet comments:

"Among all the monkeys on the mountain, my butt is the reddest" tipped 20 large cruise ships. [Friends in Jiang City, if you have any news about Xiao Hei, please let me know; I'll reward you handsomely.]

[Holy crap, Little White and Little Black are still here. That black guy really was their Kaling!]

Wow, almost all of those weirdos are dead.

Did they forget to collect the cards they dropped? What's the address? I'll go pick them up for them.

The live stream was shut down shortly afterward, but the lively chat in the chat room continued.

Why did Xiaobai turn off the live stream?

Holy crap, look at the trending topics, the ruler of the underworld is dominating the list again.

The top trending topic: #CardMakerXiaoHei#

Second on the trending list: #BlackGuyInThePond#

Third on the trending list: #Death of Xiao Hei, the Ruler of the Underworld#

Within just half an hour, these three terms swept across the entire social media platform.

Someone captured a clip of Lin Fan being bitten during the live stream, and the comment section below is now unreadable.

Most people sent electronic chrysanthemums to Xiao Hei, along with the message "May you rest in peace."

Only a few people are still talking about it.

"Is Xiao Hei dead or not? Does anyone know?"

"The streamer ended the broadcast, something must have happened!"

"I'm from Jiang City. I'm going to guard the entrance of the Misty Ruins right now. Anyone want to join me?"

The bounty post "Among all the monkeys on the mountain, my butt is the reddest" has been forwarded over 100,000 times.

The comments section was full of scammers claiming "I know Xiao Hei" or "I have clues," but some people were actually taking action.

Several local online influencers from Jiang City have already driven to the [Misty Ruins], with headlines like "[Searching for the Ruler of the Underworld, Live Coverage]."

Some viewers criticized them for trying to ride the wave of popularity, while others tipped them to hurry up and start making videos.

Card Masters Association, Jiang City Branch.

The phone in the duty room hadn't stopped ringing since the live broadcast ended.

"Hello, Cardholders Association, how can I help you?"

"What is the true identity of the rulers of the underworld? Are they your unofficial staff?"

"We're sorry, we cannot disclose citizens' personal information."

"Is he dead? Did you send anyone to rescue him?"

"We are currently verifying the situation regarding the emergency within Peru. Please stay tuned for official announcements."

The operator hung up the phone, rubbed her sore ears, and glanced at her colleague next to her. Her colleague was staring at the computer screen, which displayed real-time monitoring data of the Fog Shadow Ruins.

"How is it?" the operator asked.

"There's nothing unusual at the entrance; we didn't see the masked people they mentioned coming out," the colleague said, frowning.

"Did they take off their masks? They've already come out."

"Probably not, there were no injured people at the entrance/exit."

"Where are our people?" the operator asked.

"They're still outside, they haven't gone in!" said the colleague monitoring the data.

"If you don't go in, that person won't survive!"

"The energy fluctuations inside the secret realm... are a bit strange," my colleague stammered.

"What kind of fluctuation?"

My colleague pointed to a fluctuating curve on the screen, "This fluctuation... if it's not a disturbance in the secret realm, then a rift leading to the real world has appeared in the secret realm."

"What?!" Without hesitation, the operator pressed a red button next to her colleague. "Something terrible has happened!"