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

Lin Fan had just finished dinner and asked Xiao Yun to clear away the dishes when his phone, which was on the table, vibrated.

"Buzz"

Lin Fan picked up his phone, and a message popped up on the screen; it was from Zhou Chen.

He stared at the message, stunned for a moment.

Yesterday, Zhou Chen was kneeling on the stage, holding the bride's corpse, saying he would personally make a card to kill the Shadow Devourer.

But after just one night, he changed his mind? And this only happened yesterday, the funeral arrangements aren't even finished yet, why is he suddenly going to Dongliu City?

Is there anything more urgent than this?

He typed back: "So sudden?"

This time, Zhou Chen took a while to reply, and only said a few words: "Something came up."

Lin Fan frowned and asked again, "What happened? Have you handled the aftermath over there?" He didn't directly mention "funeral," but Zhou Chen should understand what he meant.

The message "The other party is typing..." appeared on the screen for a long time before disappearing. After a while, Zhou Chen's message popped up: "No need to do anything, I'll be back in a while."

Lin Fan stared at that line of text for several seconds.

What do you mean by "no need to handle"? The bride's funeral doesn't need to be handled? He doesn't look like a family member who would be handling funeral arrangements at all.

"What happened? Something's not right!" Lin Fan's finger hovered above the screen, wanting to ask something more, but in the end he didn't type it out.

A person who was talking about revenge yesterday suddenly said he was leaving Jiang City today, and this happened the day after the wedding, the bride had just died, and hadn't even been buried yet.

Even if he has something incredibly important to do, it shouldn't be now!

Unless, of course, that matter is related to revenge!

Lin Fan picked up his phone again and scrolled to Zhou Chen's WeChat Moments.

His latest post was yesterday, before the wedding. It was a nine-grid photo of him and his bride, captioned "I'm getting married today."

Lin Fan scrolled down a few posts, all of which were daily updates with nothing unusual.

He then scrolled to Zhou Chen's WeChat profile picture, which was a photo of him and his bride, both smiling brightly at the camera.

He put down his phone, rubbed his temples, and realized that thinking about it was useless. Zhou Chen wasn't answering his calls or replying to his messages, and he couldn't very well chase after him to Dongliu City in his wheelchair.

But Lin Fan never imagined that Zhou Chen's actions were not only related to revenge, but also closely connected to his recently deceased wife.

The next day, Lin Fan was awakened by knocking on the door.

"Mr. Lin, the doctor will come to check your wound." Xiaoyun's voice came from outside the door.

Lin Fan was speechless. They had agreed before they came that they wouldn't disturb him easily, but now he couldn't even sleep in?

Lin Fan struggled to sit up in bed and replied to Xiao Yun at the door, "Come in!"

Xiaoyun was still pushing her small food cart, but now two doctors in white coats were behind her.

"Mr. Lin, this is the private doctor that Mr. Zhao arranged for you. He will check your wound every day from now on."

As Xiaoyun spoke, she parked the food cart next to the bed, on which was placed a steaming breakfast.

Lin Fan nodded and pulled down the sleeve on his right shoulder.

The doctor carefully removed the gauze, examined Lin Fan's wound closely, and gently pressed around the wound a few times.

The doctor then examined Lin Fan's leg injury before straightening up and speaking.

"The recovery is going well. The leg injury has almost healed, and the shoulder injury is more serious, but it is also recovering in a positive direction and has not worsened."

The doctor paused for a moment, then continued, "You can try walking around; more activity will help the wound on your leg heal."

A female doctor behind him took over his work, applying medicine to Lin Fan and changing the bandages.

After changing Lin Fan's bandages, the female doctor gave him a few more instructions and then left.

Xiaoyun laid out breakfast by the bed and was about to leave when Lin Fan immediately called her back.

"Xiaoyun, don't rush off. Take me for a walk later."

"Okay...okay!"

This time, Lin Fan ate his breakfast quietly without asking Xiao Yun anything, and Xiao Yun's tense expression gradually relaxed.

Xiaoyun pushed Lin Fan out of the villa. The air outside was much fresher than inside. Lin Fan leaned back in his wheelchair, closed his eyes, and let Xiaoyun push him slowly along the gravel path.

"Mr. Lin, where would you like to go?" Xiaoyun's voice came from behind.

"Just wander around, anywhere is fine," Lin Fan said.

Xiaoyun thought for a moment, then pushed him toward the lawn to the east.

As Xiaoyun pushed Lin Fan through the woods, her pace quickened considerably, the wheels making a "clattering" sound on the gravel road, causing Lin Fan to bounce up and down.

Lin Fan opened his eyes and was about to turn around and ask Xiao Yun when he saw a wall, which was the place Xiao Yun had said he couldn't go to yesterday.

Just as Lin Fan and his companion were about to reach the lawn, they heard hurried footsteps behind them.

Lin Fan turned his head to look back and saw Su Wanqing leading a few people out of the woods, holding a mobile phone in her hand and talking to her ear.

"...Yes, we're leaving today. Get ready on your end." Su Wanqing's voice came through.

"Dongliu City, a D-level secret realm. I'll contact you when I get there."

Dongliu City!

Watching Su Wanqing's retreating figure, Lin Fan asked Xiaoyun, "Miss Su, are you going to Dongliu City?"

Xiaoyun also looked in the direction where Su Wanqing disappeared and said softly, "Miss Su led a team to the newly opened secret realm in Dongliu City. They go to the secret realm every once in a while."

Lin Fan was pushed along towards the lawn, but his mind was no longer on the lawn.

Dongliu City! Su Wanqing is leading a team to the secret realm, and Puling is also located in Dongliu City.

He could easily use the confirmation that Puling was the site of He Jin's tomb as an excuse to go and inquire about the Naihe Bridge in the underworld.

"Xiaoyun, push me back," Lin Fan said.

Xiaoyun was taken aback for a moment: "Mr. Lin, didn't we say we were going for a walk?"

"Take me to see Mr. Zhao." Lin Fan's tone was urgent.

Upon hearing "Mr. Zhao," Xiaoyun didn't ask any further questions. She immediately pushed Lin Fan around and headed back along the gravel path.

"Knock knock knock"

Lin Fan knocked on Zhao Zhong's office door.

"Come in!" came Mr. Zhao's gentle voice from inside.

Lin Fan pushed open the door and entered. Zhao Zhong's eyes showed a hint of surprise. "Mr. Lin, you came to see me so early in the morning. Is there any progress in the card making? Or do you need any material cards?"

"Mr. Zhao, I'd like to go to Dongliu City," Lin Fan said, getting straight to the point.

"Where are you going and what are you doing?"

"In the information you gave me, there is a place called Puling, which is marked as 'Suspected Site of He Jin's Former Residence'."

I want to go and see for myself; maybe I can find information about He Jin that will help with card production.

To Lin Fan's surprise, Zhao Zhong did not agree immediately. He pondered for a while before slowly saying, "I have sent people to that place more than once, but we found nothing."

"Did they bring a card maker with them when they went?" Lin Fan asked.

"No, we went to an investigation team. Card makers generally don't want to go to such places to suffer."

Lin Fan said, "There are some things that only professionals can see. I'll go there and maybe I can discover something."

Zhao Zhong chuckled softly, his laughter barely audible, neither sounding of agreement nor resignation.

Lin Fan was a little confused about Zhao Zhong. He had imagined that Zhao Zhong would agree immediately if anything that would benefit card production was mentioned, but that was not the case.