Who said this card is outrageous?

Zhang Che frowned involuntarily: "And then? What's the situation in Weicheng now?"

Fu Xing said it was alright, it was just that it was time for Binhai University to send people to help guard the city.

As students, their task today is to replace the warriors who fought valiantly last night, allowing them to rest properly so that the mermen can't take advantage of their weakness.

“Yu Renjia went with the first batch of students this morning, and I was assigned to the afternoon group,” Fu Xing explained to Zhang Che simply. “So I need to hurry up and send the things to you.”

Zhang Che nodded and didn't ask any more questions.

Since there was still some time, Fu Xing didn't rush to leave, and the two chatted for a while longer about the murloc siege.

During this time, Chang Cheh said he couldn't understand how those beasts, who usually only dared to wander around the shore, could suddenly become so bold.

It should be noted that Binhai City has quite a few mid-level extraordinary combatants. As long as they take action, a mere few thousand fishmen are not a threat at all.

After all, the most dangerous creatures in the ocean are the extraordinary creatures that live in deep waters, and fish-men are only at the bottom of the food chain.

"Could they have been driven out by extraordinary creatures from the deep waters?" Fu Xing speculated. "Using them as vanguard or cannon fodder?"

"Possibly," Zhang Che thought for a moment, "but other reasons cannot be ruled out."

However, neither of them really worried about this matter too much. If the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. The big shots in Binhai City have their own considerations, and the people below just need to follow orders.

After their chat, Fu Xing didn't linger with Zhang Che. He got up to say goodbye and said he had to go back to prepare for his shift change in the afternoon.

"Take your time looking at these things. Contact us anytime if you have any questions." Fu Xing walked to the door, turned back and said, "By the way, Sister Qing said her mentor also has some useless formulas. She'll send them to you once she's sorted them out."

"Okay, please thank Miss Su for me."

"Hey, don't be so polite. I'll need your help with my card." Fu Xing waved his hand and strode out the door.

Watching the other person's departing figure, Zhang Che closed the door and returned to the living room, opening the large backpack left by Fu Xing.

There was more inside than he had imagined.

At the top was a thick stack of machine-printed card formulas, neatly clipped together, numbering at least thirty or forty; below were several smaller cloth bags, each containing matching fire-type and lightning-type card-making materials.

Although most of them are low-end and of average quality, they are well-rounded in variety, and it is clear that Su Wanqing has put a lot of effort into them.

These two guys, no wonder they hit it off, you can tell from their way of doing things.

He first took out the stack of recipes and looked through them one by one:

The Tier 2 green card [Salamander] summons a small salamander that can breathe fire, and is similar in role to the [Snow Fox].

Unfortunately, it falls short in terms of appearance, so it naturally doesn't have the same premium price as the latter.

The second-tier green card, "Unwavering Will," is a skill card that increases mental resistance when used, but requires the user to remain stationary during its effect.

Hmm...it really is a bit of a no-go.

Although my [Mist-like Body] also has similar side effects, in return it grants immunity to physical attacks, making it far superior.

The second-tier green card [Flame Bullet] is a skill card that releases a fire elemental projectile to attack the target. Its power is decent, but its flight speed is a bit slow.

There are also [Rock Golem], [Lightning Strike], [Fluorescence], [Ice Wall], [Corrosive Mist], [Sharp Teeth]...

Zhang Che looked at each card one by one. Apart from some fire and lightning type cards which were relatively normal, the rest of the cards had various serious flaws, making them useless in actual combat.

These are all green-quality cards; Zhang Che couldn't even bear to look at the white-quality cards.

In the end, after all the calculations, he had a total of thirty-seven recipes for white and green cards, which made him sigh that it really is easier to get things done if you have connections.

Su Wanqing can easily obtain so many card recipes; they're almost enough to fill half a card album.

Of course, most of these are rather mediocre items, and there aren't many that can truly compare to the public version cards in the card album, not to mention that there are several public version blue cards in the card album.

In the professional system created by Master Chen Mu, there is basically no such thing as a useless card at the blue card level; the vast majority of them have practical value in combat.

Therefore, the so-called "useless" cards, cards with no practical value in battle, are basically all green cards.

However, this was perfect for Zhang Che. Having the fusion ability in hand allowed him to better develop the remaining value of these cards.

It took Zhang Che about half an hour to go through all the recipes and get a general idea of ​​what was going on.

He carefully put the recipe away, then looked at the small cloth bags containing the ingredients, preparing to try making it later.

It's unclear when these troublemaking fishmen will finally calm down, so to be on the safe side, Zhang Che plans to speed things up a bit and get Fu Xing's cards ready as soon as possible.

But when he stood up, stretched his stiff neck, and was about to head to the card-making room, he suddenly stopped.

He belatedly realized something—why was he so energetic?

No, it wasn't just better; he even vaguely felt that his mental strength had improved compared to yesterday.

He felt refreshed and clear-headed, as if he had just finished a deep meditation session, as if he hadn't been the one with a splitting headache last night.

It should be noted that Zhang Che's total mental energy was already close to the upper limit of the second tier, and the fact that he could still feel a significant improvement on that basis indicates that his mental energy has most likely broken through to the third tier.

There are no bottlenecks between each stage of the lower-level transcendental realm; as long as the amount of spiritual power reaches a certain level, one can naturally improve.

Could it be because I overexerted my mental energy last night?

Zhang Che couldn't think of any other explanation, and he guessed that there might be some element of good fortune in this great improvement—the pain, like a red-hot steel needle piercing his brain, was something he would probably never forget for the rest of his life.

Chapter 27 Rumors

However, feeling the surge of spiritual power within his body, Zhang Che suddenly felt that the suffering he endured last night was not entirely in vain.

After all, the real benefits are right here. If it were possible to do it again... well, let's just say no.

Zhang Che suddenly thought of those scarlet eyes. The other party had almost killed him across vast distances of time and space with just a glance, which meant that the other party was definitely a powerful figure among the upper-level transcendents.

They were simply not people he could afford to offend.

Compared to the slight increase in strength, preserving one's life is more important. It's just a pity that a precious purple card was also destroyed this time.

That was Zhang Che's first purple-quality card, but it only lasted for less than a minute from its creation to its destruction, a fact that pained him deeply.

Thinking of this, Zhang Che could only sigh resignedly. He then put all the materials and card recipes on the table into the studio, preparing to go out to get something to eat and also purchase some supplies.

He ate all the food in the house last night, not even a crumb of bread was left. We need to replenish our food supply, otherwise we won't have anything to eat when we get really hungry later.

However, when he picked up his phone to leave, he glanced at the time and was immediately stunned—because he saw the number October 9th clearly displayed on the phone screen.

The problem is that in his memory, yesterday should have been October 7th!

Zhang Che rubbed his eyes and looked at it carefully again. Yes, it was indeed October 9th. The phone wasn't broken...

Could it be that he didn't just sleep for one night, but for a whole day and two nights?

He was somewhat incredulous, so he quickly opened his phone's calendar, then flipped through his call and browsing history, and finally glanced at the latest news notification, which clearly stated the news of the large-scale attack on the Acropolis by the merfolk on the evening of October 8th.

The evidence is conclusive; he really did skip the entire day of October 8th!

Zhang Che put down his phone and sat weakly on the sofa, his mind racing as he recalled his conversation with Fu Xing: No wonder he was in such a hurry to come to see him today. He probably thought something had happened when he couldn't get the door open yesterday, so he rushed over early this morning.

Moreover, during their conversation, the two only mentioned words like "last night" and "yesterday" without going into specific times, which meant that Zhang Che was completely unaware that he had slept for a whole day.

After figuring these things out, Zhang Che couldn't help but feel a little scared.

The only reason he slept for so long was because the damage to his brain the night before was too severe, which is why it took so long to repair.

Although he ultimately benefited from the misfortune and his mental strength surged to the third level, the process was far too dangerous; if he hadn't been careful, he might have lost his life.

Feeling relieved after surviving the ordeal, Zhang Che went out and had a big meal to make up for the physical damage he had suffered over the past two days.

On his way home, he stopped by the supermarket and bought a lot of daily necessities. He planned to stay home for a while to work on his cards and to calm down his recently surged mental energy.

After all, less than three months had passed since he awakened his innate wisdom, yet his spiritual power had surged directly from the first level to the third level.

If he were a card master, it would be fine, but the profession of card maker requires extremely high stability of mental strength. If the situation is allowed to continue like this, let alone third-tier cards, it is hard to say whether he can even stably make second-tier cards.

The growth of mental strength always requires time to adapt and hone. It's like a sharpened knife; if used well, it's a powerful tool, but if used poorly by someone with poor skills, it will only be a weapon that hurts themselves.

……

Zhang Che, carrying large and small bags, was walking home when he ran into a familiar middle-aged woman as soon as he turned into the street next to his house.

"Oh, Xiao Che, you bought so much stuff?" Aunt Li looked at him with a smile, carrying a shopping basket.

"Hello, Aunt Li." Zhang Che greeted her with a smile, "We're out of food at home, so I'm out buying some."

Compared to Old Sun, who had passed away a few days ago, he was more familiar with Aunt Li's family. So after exchanging greetings, Aunt Li noticed the large bags and packages he was carrying and suddenly lowered her voice, saying, "By the way, Xiao Che, you'd better keep a close eye on the house these days."

Zhang Che was taken aback: "What's wrong?"

"A pretty shrewd thief has come to our neighborhood," Aunt Li said with a hint of mystery. "He comes and goes without a trace, and I heard that quite a few houses have already been burgled."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Che frowned: "Didn't they report it to the police?"

"We reported it, but it was no use," Aunt Li sighed. "Probably because they were afraid of making a big fuss, the thief only stole food, drinks, and other necessities from people's homes each time he went there, and at most, he would steal thirty or fifty yuan. Many of the families who were robbed felt that the loss was not significant, so they didn't take it to heart. Only a few who were unwilling to give up reported it to the police."

She paused, then added, "The security team is busy investigating the case of Old Sun's murder a while ago, and they simply don't have the extra energy to catch this suspected superhuman thief, since he didn't steal anything of great value."

"Now that you live alone, you'd better take good care of the house," Aunt Li said earnestly.

"I understand, Auntie," Zhang Che replied with a smile. "But don't worry too much. That thief is probably just in trouble. If he really does run into trouble, I wouldn't mind if he took something."

Aunt Li curled her lip in disdain and said, "With hands and feet, what can't you do? Why do you have to be a thief?"

Zhang Che quickly agreed with a few words, and then chatted briefly with Aunt Li before parting ways.

However, although he spoke lightly, he was still concerned about it. After all, his family had a lot of card-making materials and card formulas, and it would be troublesome if they were really targeted.

"How about we make another Sixth Sense card..."

Zhang Che immediately came up with a solution.

The card's passive effect is quite useful. The reason he was tricked last time was because the metal plaque on the masked man interfered with the card's effect, causing him to make the wrong judgment.

But we can't always be this unlucky, right?

Back home, Zhang Che first sorted out the supplies he had purchased, and then went straight into the workshop to prepare for card production.

Because when Master Chen Mu first created the profession of card maker, he cleverly incorporated some techniques for harmonizing and stabilizing mental energy into the process of making card blanks.

In other words, card making itself is a form of cultivation. As long as Zhang Che does more and practices more, he will naturally be able to gradually solidify his mental strength.

So he went through all the recipes that Fu Xing had sent him, and picked out a few cards that were not difficult to make and for which he had the materials on hand, intending to use them to practice first.

Chapter 28 The Fishman Scout (Please continue reading!)

On the other side, outside a fortified city in the northeast corner of Binhai City, Yu Renjia and several classmates who had been assigned to patrol were heading towards the sea along the outer defensive line of the fortified city.