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

"What is it?" Lin Fan asked.

The boss didn't answer immediately; his brow was furrowed, as if trying to figure something out. "Three people."

"People?" Da Niu interjected. "Isn't it normal for there to be people in the mountains?"

"No..." The boss shook his head, his voice trembling, "There were four people, and behind those three there was someone else... He was carrying something square on his back..."

Lin Fan spoke up, "A coffin?"

The boss suddenly opened his eyes, his face filled with astonishment. "You...how did you know?"

Lin Fan didn't answer, but turned to look at Su Wanqing. The two nodded in tacit agreement. Wasn't this the strange thing the old man who blocked the road had mentioned?

"Which direction did they go?" Su Wanqing asked.

"On a barren mountain not far from here, we call it the 'Barren Mountain'."

"Can you take us there?" Su Wanqing continued, "The one carrying the coffin is the Strange One, and his target is those three people! If we go now, we might still make it in time."

The boss was about to speak when his wife pulled him back, saying, "Didn't you hear it's eerie? Why are we doing all this thankless work? Can being a good person put food on the table these days?"

Su Wanqing said, "Then can you tell us where that barren mountain is? We can go there ourselves."

The proprietress glared at the man who was about to point the way, then took out her phone's payment QR code: "Leading the way isn't out of the question, but you can't expect us to do our work for free, can you?"

"How many?"

"two thousand!"

"Two thousand for showing me the way, that's almost half a month's salary for me!" Da Niu muttered to himself.

"If you don't need it, you can go find it yourselves. It's so late at night, don't worry about getting lost!" the proprietress said nonchalantly.

"That's a human life..." Da Niu wanted to continue, but Su Wanqing had already swept the two thousand over.

The notification sounded, "2000 yuan received." The proprietress then smiled and said to her husband, "Honey, why don't you go with them? Just drop them off and come right back!"

"I'll go get a flashlight!" The boss nodded and turned to go back to his room.

"唳"

The eagle in the sky let out a mournful cry, then turned into a streak of green light and flew back into the boss's hand.

Everyone was stunned and looked at the boss, who was the only one who knew what had happened.

"It...it was shot down."

"How did it get shot down from such a height?" Da Niu scratched his head and asked the question that everyone was wondering about.

"It had barely approached that forest when someone grabbed its wings and it couldn't move at all, and then it ended up like this?"

The proprietress's face turned pale. She grabbed her husband's arm, her nails almost digging into his flesh: "Honey, what did you say? That thing could shoot down your eagle?"

"I don't know..." The boss shook his head. "Those three people in the eagle's field of vision, and that weirdo carrying the coffin, they didn't make a move, but they were still filmed."

"Is there something else strange?" Lin Fan looked at Su Wanqing, as if asking, "Was it the woman who appeared with that strange thing, the one the old man mentioned earlier, who did it?"

"What? There are so many strange things? Why didn't you say so earlier? Are you trying to send my man to his death?"

Seeing this, the proprietress pulled the proprietress back, quickly took out her phone, and returned the money to Su Wanqing. "I've already returned the money to you. You can go back now. Anyway, he can't go."

"Then tell us, how do we get to that barren mountain?"

The proprietor, seeing his wife gripping his hand tightly, pointed in a direction: "Go down this path, there'll be a fork in the road. Turn right and go uphill, follow the path..."

After saying that, he took two flashlights out of the house. "It's not easy to walk at night, take these with you."

Su Wanqing took the flashlight from the boss, gave him a grateful look, and then turned to the people behind her and said something.

"Let's go and confront this strange thing!"

Su Wanqing glanced at Lin Fan, "The mountain road is difficult to walk, and your leg is not yet healed. Going there will only slow down our progress. You and Da Niu should stay here."

Da Niu nodded in agreement, clearly finding the arrangement reasonable.

Lin Fan did not answer. He reached into his pocket, took out a card, pinched it between two fingers, poured his mental energy into it, and a purple light flashed.

With a neigh, a chestnut horse slowly emerged from the light. Its four legs were muscular, and with each step it took, dust was kicked up, as if it were demonstrating its power.

Under Lin Fan's caresses, Red Hare slowly knelt down. To everyone's astonishment, Lin Fan reached out and grabbed the horse's mane, then lay down on its back before mounting it.

"Come on, one more person can get on. My four legs are faster than your two legs." As Lin Fan got on, Red Hare stood up straight with a burst of energy.

The crowd's expressions changed slightly. "A Purple Domain Card used as a mount? What a waste!"

Da Niu's mouth formed an "O" shape as he stared blankly at Lin Fan.

Su Wanqing's expression changed slightly. She looked at the horse, then looked up at Lin Fan sitting on its back, and said, "Let me do it."

She walked to the horse and reached out her hand to Lin Fan. Lin Fan grabbed her wrist, and she used the momentum to leap and sit sideways behind Lin Fan, revealing a section of her thigh covered by stockings.

She wrapped her arms around Lin Fan's waist and said to her teammates:

"Xiao He, you guys pack your things and come over quickly. Mr. Lin and I will head over first. You can use our location to find us later."

"Okay, Sister Su!"

"Miss Su, what about me?" Da Niu looked at the two people on horseback. He had just been assigned to look after Lin Fan, but now that Lin Fan was gone, what was he supposed to look after?

"It's a mountain road up there, the car can't go any further. You'll stay here and watch the car and your luggage!"

"Okay!" Da Niu didn't waste any words and immediately agreed.

"Let's go, hold on tight!" Lin Fan gently shook the reins, and Red Hare neighed and rushed off towards the mountain road to the north.

The mountain road was rugged, but Red Hare ran very steadily, and the two people sitting on its back did not feel too much bumping.

Xiao He packed his things, led the team, and set off. "Da Niu, let's go."

"Okay!" Da Niu waved goodbye to them, and watching their figures disappear into the distance, he turned around and prepared to go back into the house.

The boss and his wife stood there, rooted to the spot.

"Honey, they're not afraid. That monster could shoot down your eagle, so it must be pretty powerful!" The landlady's voice had lost its usual fierceness.

"What's mine? Didn't you see that purple card that young man was using? That stuff is way better than ours. With him around, nothing should go wrong!"

Da Niu overheard their conversation and said, "When faced with a strange attack, card masters take action. This is an open secret in the card master world. Otherwise, how would ordinary people survive in this world?"

The proprietress was taken aback for a moment, then nodded in agreement. She looked at the man beside her and said, "Aren't you a card master too? How come you don't know about this?"

"I know, if you hadn't stopped me, I would have taken them already!"

"..."