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

About an hour later, beams of several flashlights flickered in the fog, and several figures moved about in the distance.

A beam of light shone on Lin Fan and Su Wanqing's faces, blinding them. "Sister Su, Mr. Lin!"

Xiao He was the first to emerge from the fog. He put down his flashlight and held the same locator as Su Wanqing in his other hand.

"Here I am!" Su Wanqing replied. "Where are the others?"

"It's behind us." He said, picking up his flashlight and shining it behind him.

Lin Fan followed the beam of light and saw that, in addition to the members of the New World team, there were four unfamiliar faces at the back of the group, three men and one woman.

Each of them carried a hiking backpack, their faces were stained with blood, and their clothes were torn in several places.

The person at the front had a bandage wrapped around their arm, soaked in blood, and the card in their hand was mostly dark, as if they had been through some kind of battle.

"Why are you so slow?" Su Wanqing frowned slightly, her tone carrying a hint of displeasure.

Xiao He wiped the sweat from his forehead and said, "We just met these people on the road. They encountered something strange, and we helped them out, which delayed us for a while."

"Judging from your attire, you don't seem to be here for sightseeing!" Su Wanqing's gaze swept warily over the group.

"We were originally a ghost-hunting team from Dongliu City. We heard about the new secret realm that appeared here, so we thought we'd try our luck, but..."

"We encountered something strange before we even found the entrance," the only girl in the group chimed in, her voice trembling slightly. "And that thing even ate my friend."

As she spoke, her voice choked up, and a tall, thin man next to her reached out and patted her on the shoulder, offering a word of comfort.

The other people in the group didn't look too good. The girl seemed to have remembered something and actually ran to the side to vomit.

Su Wanqing glanced at Xiao He, as if confirming the authenticity of the news.

Xiao He noticed her gaze and quickly explained, "When we arrived, that thing was squatting on the ground eating...eating people."

He paused, glanced at the people behind him, and lowered his voice:

"When the strange creature saw that there were many of us, it turned around and ran away, seemingly in this direction."

No sooner had Xiao He finished speaking than another figure emerged from the fog at the back of the line.

The man's face was somewhat pale, and he clutched a faintly glowing card in his hand, as if he were ready to deal with any unexpected situation.

Lin Fan's gaze fell on the man's face, and his pupils contracted slightly.

Money!

Wasn't he making cards for someone? How come he's here? Where's Zhou Chen? Didn't he say he was with Xiang Qian?

Before Su Wanqing could ask, Xiao He introduced:

"When we were chasing that strange thing, we met this guy on the way. He was also looking for the secret realm. We were worried that he would be in danger alone, so we took him along."

"Hello!" Xiang Qian greeted everyone with a smile.

When his eyes met Lin Fan's, his body visibly stiffened, and a hint of unease appeared on his face.

"Coming here alone at night to look for a secret realm?" Su Wanqing clearly didn't believe this explanation.

He stepped forward, forcing an unnatural smile.

"I'm a card maker. I usually like to collect rare materials. I heard that a new secret realm has opened up here, so I thought I'd come and see if there's anything good there."

He paused, glancing at Lin Fan, "But I didn't expect to run into a colleague here, don't you think, Lin Fan?"

"Colleague?" Su Wanqing turned to look at Lin Fan.

Lin Fan's expression was calm, but his mind was already racing. The strangeness had dissipated, and money had appeared. This could not be a coincidence. Could that strangeness be his [Prison Suppressor]?

He placed his hand on the [Great Teacher Zhang Jiao] tablet and whispered in Su Wanqing's ear, "Be careful of this person!"

"Master Xiang," Lin Fan began, his voice unhurried, "Weren't you away on a business trip making cards for someone? What, are the cards finished?"

Xiang Qian smiled and said, "Yeah, it's over. But what about you? What are you doing here in Dongliu City?"

"Just like you, here on a business trip!" Lin Fan didn't say much more.

Lin Fan asked Xiao He, "Xiao He, what did that strange thing you saw look like?"

Xiao He paused for a moment, then lowered his head and tried hard to recall.

"The fog was so thick that I couldn't see the whole thing, but I still remember the general outline. It was two heads taller than me, and it had a hunched back with what looked like a lot of tumors growing on it."

"A tumor?" Lin Fan pressed.

"Yes, it's all over my back," Xiao He gestured.

"What about you? Did you see what happened?" Lin Fan turned to look at the injured man. They were fighting face to face, so they must have seen it.

"Just like that young man described, his whole body was covered in boils, including his face!"

He's not the prison warden!

The prison general was humanoid, clad in armor and wielding a spear, imposing and awe-inspiring, bearing no resemblance whatsoever to the monstrous mass they had described.

Lin Fan looked at Xiang Qian and continued, "Master Xiang, I remember Zhou Chen was with you, where is he?"

"Young people, everyone has their own things to do. I haven't seen him since we finished making the cards."

Xiang Qian paused for a second, then sighed:

"You know Zhou Chen, his wife died. He probably came out this time to get away from his painful past. I don't know exactly what he went to do."

After listening to Xiang Qian's words, Lin Fan did not respond, his face remained expressionless, and his hand never left Zhang Jiao's card.

Xiao He walked up to Su Wanqing and said, "Sister Su, we're already here, why don't we go inside first? Besides, with so many people, we can look out for each other."

Su Wanqing didn't answer immediately. She leaned closer to Lin Fan and whispered, "You mean there's something wrong with your colleague?"

"There's a strange aura about him, an aura that isn't inherent to Kaling, but rather... emanating from him!"

Su Wanqing's expression finally changed. She paused for two seconds, then asked, "You mean the Human-Ghost Symbiosis of the All-Souls Society?"

"It's possible," Lin Fan said. "And it's too coincidental that he appeared here today. The strange creature just ran away, and he just popped up. What do you think?" Lin Fan said.

"It's those people from the All Souls Society again!" Su Wanqing lowered her voice even further, and her gaze towards Xiang Qian changed.

"What, judging from your tone, you have a grudge against the All-Spirit Society!"

Su Wanqing rolled her eyes at Lin Fan, ignoring him, and said to Xiao He, "No rush, since they want to go in, just send them in first!"

"Aren't we going in together?"

"Separately, be careful when you go in, especially watch out for the card maker. If he does anything to you, just say..."

When Su Wanqing spoke the last few sentences, she was so close to Xiao He's ear that Lin Fan couldn't hear her clearly.