Who said this card is outrageous?

Zhang Che gritted his teeth, not because he was worried about not being able to beat the other party, but because he was worried that such a person might have a powerful force behind him.

The advantage of summoned cards is that they are not afraid of getting hurt or dying, while the masked man has just gone through a battle. If the fight continues, he is likely to be worn down and killed.

Seeing Zhang Che, whose body had returned to normal, in the distance, the masked man decided to capture the leader first.

He first withstood a blow from the Tidal Spirit's halberd, and then seized the opportunity to stab the latter in the chest with a backhand strike.

With a "crack," the Tidal Sea Spirit's body began to disintegrate from the wound, turning into blue light spots that quickly dissipated.

Then, taking advantage of a gap in the siege, the masked man raised his left hand, and three beams of cold light shot straight toward Zhang Che's location.

The throwing knife was incredibly fast and angled extremely tricky, aimed straight for Zhang Che's eyes and heart. Zhang Che didn't even have time to react before the knife was already upon him.

It then passed through his "body" and nailed to the wall behind him, making a crisp metallic clanging sound.

A chill ran down Zhang Che's spine. If it weren't for his [Mist-like Body], he wouldn't have been able to dodge those three strikes at all!

"Again!"

Without saying a word, he activated the Tidal Spirit's card again. The blue magic circle lit up, and the Tidal Spirit leaped out of the light, charging forward again with its trident.

The masked man's eyes finally changed.

Looking at the resurrected murlocs and the lingering mist that hadn't dissipated, his eyes surged with killing intent, yet his expression was filled with apprehension—

Just who is this guy?!

Thinking that the traitor had been killed and the mission was complete, if he dragged it out any longer, he would really be caught when the sheriff arrived.

The masked man made up his mind and immediately stopped fighting. He suddenly exerted his strength, forcing back the Tidal Sea Spirit that rushed up with a single strike, and then took out a black sphere from his waist and smashed it to the ground.

With a loud bang, thick smoke exploded, instantly filling the entire alleyway.

Zhang Che coughed violently from the choking, his vision completely blocked. By the time Liuwei used its freezing wind to disperse the smoke, the masked man was gone.

Ran?

Zhang Che's heart sank.

We can't let him get away!

The other party saw his face, and given this kind of person's behavior, it's questionable whether he can even save his own life, let alone live a peaceful life from now on.

So he gritted his teeth and activated his Sixth Sense with all his mental energy without hesitation.

Despite the opponent's mental resistance device, a blurry vision of the future appeared in Zhang Che's mind: the masked man's figure was moving at high speed on the wall to the right of the alley.

"Six-Tails, Frost Arrow!"

Zhang Che loaded the [Frost Arrow] onto the Six-Tails, preparing to use the latter's power to activate this card.

All six tails of the six-tailed creature stood up at the same time, and an icy blue light quickly condensed and took shape in front of it.

"Whoosh!"

The slender ice arrow traced an icy blue path through the air, flying precisely to the location Zhang Che had indicated, before crashing head-on into the fleeing masked man.

For a moment, his eyes widened, as if he couldn't understand how the other person knew he would be there.

Unfortunately, it was too late. The moment the attack hit, a burst of cold air erupted, and the masked man's body began to freeze rapidly from his abdomen. The ice spread to his limbs, chest, and neck, and finally even the terrified expression on his face was frozen in the thick ice, turning him into a human-shaped ice sculpture standing at the corner of the alley.

Zhang Che leaned against the wall, panting heavily. The six tails had already disappeared from the spot.

The series of actions he had just performed almost completely drained his mental energy, leaving him unable to even maintain the existence of the summoning card.

After catching his breath, Zhang Che dragged his weak legs to the ice sculpture, gripping the [Frost Arrow] tightly in his hand.

At this moment, the masked man was sealed in the ice and remained motionless, his life or death unknown. He was pondering what to do with the thing when he suddenly saw a plume of black smoke rise from the ice sculpture.

It turned out that the masked man's body suddenly began to disintegrate, as if it had been swallowed up from the inside by something, turning into countless black particles that completely dissipated into the ice layer.

In just a few seconds, a living person was gone, leaving only a human-shaped ice block standing there.

This terrifying scene terrified Zhang Che, who thought the other party was using this method to escape their restraints.

Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened after that, except for something inside the ice block that was reflecting light.

Zhang Che took a closer look and found that it was a palm-sized metal plaque frozen in the middle of the ice, its silvery-white surface reflecting the light of the street lamps not far away.

He forcefully pushed the ice block over, making a crisp shattering sound, before picking the sign up from the broken ice.

The sign is heavy and feels cold to the touch. The front is engraved with a strange eye pattern, with the pupil inlaid with some kind of dark red material, making it look almost alive.

No matter which angle you look at it from, Zhang Che feels like it's staring at him.

He instantly got goosebumps all over!

Chapter 15 The Card Maker's Handling Methods

Zhang Che felt a chill run down his spine. He stared at the eye on the sign for a long time, only one thought running through his mind—

This time it seems like we've gotten ourselves into big trouble!

Damn! I should have just stayed home and eaten dinner tonight.

Zhang Che took a deep breath and glanced at Old Sun's corpse in the alley. Yes, he was completely dead; blood was still seeping from the wound on his chest, staining a large area of ​​the surrounding stone pavement red.

After thinking about it, he decided to report it to the authorities.

The official power in this world is still quite strong. Over the hundreds of years since the rift existed, all sorts of extraordinary criminal organizations have emerged one after another. The fact that the official authorities have been able to remain in power until now means they must have some tricks up their sleeves.

We can leave this sign to them later; maybe we can follow the clues and find out something.

Moreover, since Old Sun died here, the sheriff will come to investigate sooner or later. Rather than waiting for them to come knocking on our door, we should take the initiative to prevent the body from being destroyed again.

Without hesitation, Zhang Che went straight to the public phone booth on the street corner, dialed the security team's number, and made sure to disguise his voice.

"Hello, I need to report a crime. Someone has been murdered in the back alley of Little Tree Street... Yes, I was just passing by, and the person was already gone when I saw it..."

After doing all this, he forced himself to summon the Tidal Spirit, had it swirl around a few times to scramble away the footprints and signs of fighting on the ground, and then quickly left the scene.

The rift caused a significant regression in human technology. Although much technology has been recovered in recent years, it is still impossible to achieve the level of ubiquitous cameras that he had in his previous life.

Otherwise, the masked men wouldn't dare to enter the city and kill people directly.

……

Back home, Zhang Che leaned against the door for a while before slowly walking to the living room and sitting down.

"Ok?"

The feeling of something foreign in his pants pocket made him instinctively reach out and touch it, only to find his fingers brushing against something cold.

When he took it out and saw that it was the metal plaque with the eyes engraved on it, Zhang Che's mind immediately went blank.

impossible!

He clearly remembered throwing this thing next to Old Sun's corpse, so how did it end up in his hands?!

He tried desperately to recall the scene, but found that the memory was as if it were covered up by something, and he couldn't remember the details no matter what he did.

Zhang Che took a deep breath, forced himself to calm down, then closed his eyes and used all his mental energy to break through the blurry barrier.

A sharp pain exploded in my mind, and a fragment of memory surfaced from the depths—

He stood beside Old Sun's body, bent down to pick up the sign, and expressionlessly put it into his pocket. Then he turned and left, as if it were the most normal thing in the world.

Zhang Che suddenly opened his eyes, his back already soaked in cold sweat.

He looked down at the sign on the coffee table; its dark red eye seemed to come alive under the flickering light.

It really was it!

It must be because he used too many cards in the battle just now, which severely depleted his mental energy and weakened his mental defenses, allowing the card to take advantage of the situation, interfere with Zhang Che's judgment, and ultimately "voluntarily" bring it back.

If his mental strength hadn't recovered somewhat after returning home, he might not have discovered this by now.

Thinking of this, Zhang Che stared intently at the sign, which lay quietly on the table, motionless, looking like an ordinary metal craft.

Zhang Che rubbed the hairs standing on end on his arms, his mind filled with only one thought—how should he deal with this thing?

In a daze, countless thoughts flashed through his mind, with the words "report to the authorities" appearing repeatedly. Every time he tried to suppress them, they would resurface.

Turn yourself in now, hand over the sign, and explain everything that happened last night—this is the cleanest and most efficient way to handle it.

The authorities have professional investigators and identification methods, which is far better than him figuring things out on his own.

But he rejected the idea.

It wasn't that he didn't trust official institutions—although this world revered supernatural powers, the official security system was still reliable, and at least no one dared to break the rules on the surface.

The problem is timing!

Now that the case has been reported, the police have probably already gone to the scene, but he only showed up afterward with key evidence. What kind of behavior is that?

Having lived two lives, he had hardly ever dealt with the authorities, so he would naturally resist this matter subconsciously.

And what if the masked man's backing isn't actually that strong?

People always unconsciously fantasize about the most advantageous situation for themselves, and Zhang Che is like that now—what if that guy is just a lone wolf with no organization behind him; or what if that organization is just a small gang that is severely weakened by the death of a third-tier member and has no time to retaliate?

Reason told him that these possibilities were slim, but people always need something to hold onto in order to survive.

Before that, Zhang Che planned to try his own method first.

The way card makers deal with suspicious materials is simple: they turn them into cards.

However, my mental energy was exhausted tonight, and now I can't even activate the lowest-level first-tier white card, let alone create a card.

There was no other way; the situation was too urgent, and Zhang Che used whatever he had on hand, without considering anything else.

This sign has a strange ability to manipulate people's minds, so we must be wary of it.

Fortunately, he happened to have a tool to deal with this kind of thing—the profession of card maker inevitably involves dealing with some unpleasant materials, such as those of the dark, mental, or cursed nature.

These things can easily affect the mind of the card maker during the production process, so Zhang Che's master, Cheng Shu, spent a lot of money to buy a safe that could isolate the influence of the materials and embedded it under the card making table.

As long as it's a lower-level extraordinary material, it can basically be isolated once it's placed inside.

Judging from its performance in the battle just now, although this sign is very powerful, it should still be in the lower-level extraordinary category. Otherwise, with just the second-tier blue card level [Sixth Sense], let alone predicting the masked man's escape route, the initial passive prediction would not have been triggered!

Then naturally, the subsequent series of events would not have occurred.

Thinking about this, Zhang Che suddenly felt that this sign was actually worse than a high-level prop...

Then, Zhang Cheqiang mustered his strength, wrapped the sign in cloth, put it in the safe under the card-making table, locked it, and checked it twice more to make sure it was perfectly sealed before finally letting out a sigh of relief.