Who said this card is outrageous?

He personally handled Su Wanqing's [Nine-Tailed] card. To be able to create a card of such quality at less than twenty years old is enough to prove that Zhang Che's talent goes far beyond simply being described as "promising."

Of course, there is also a slight factor of colleague relationships involved.

As for the goodwill shown earlier, it was a risk-free investment, so even if it resulted in a loss, it wouldn't matter; it was just a matter of saying a few more words.

……

The meeting continued, and one achievement after another was brought to the stage by its creators, but most of them were rejected by Lin Ruoxi.

In the end, only two or three works that barely met the requirements were rated "pending" - Lin Ruoxi believed that the direction was good, but further improvement was needed.

Not everyone will leave directly like the first person. Most people will choose to stay and see what others have accomplished, hoping to gain some inspiration to further improve their own work.

The stones from other mountains can be used to polish jade; other people's ideas may inspire you.

Time passed slowly, and soon only five people remained in the meeting room who had not yet presented their work, including Zhang Che and Lü Yanzheng.

Lu Yanzheng and the other three were clearly discouraged by the previous situation, and they all felt that their work was unlikely to be recognized.

Rather than going up there and making a fool of myself, I'd rather just sit here and quietly slip away after the meeting.

Chang Cheh could understand their concerns, but just as he was about to get up and go on stage, a voice suddenly rang out from the corner.

"Young man Zhang Che, where is your work? Are you perhaps too embarrassed to show it?"

The air in the conference room froze instantly.

Zhang Che looked in the direction of the voice and saw a man in his forties dressed in casual clothes. Apart from a badge on his chest that indicated his status as a third-tier card maker, he was probably a freelance card maker without any affiliation to any faction.

He wasn't in good shape; his eyes were bloodshot and his face was sallow, clearly indicating that he hadn't had a proper rest for several consecutive nights.

The man leaned forward, his hands resting on the table, a sinister expression on his lips.

Zhang Che remembered him; he was one of the people whose work had just failed the review.

On the other side, everyone present understood the provocative tone in those words. They glanced at Lin Ruoxi sitting in the front row and saw that her expression remained unchanged, but she did not say anything to stop them.

Could it be that Dean Lin doesn't think highly of Zhang Che like the other two?

This is one of the reasons why that person dared to provoke Zhang Che in front of everyone; at the same time, he genuinely believed that Zhang Che wouldn't dare to go on stage to showcase his work.

If he really had something good, how could a young man in the prime of his life have waited until now? He probably would have been eagerly going on stage to show it off by now.

Jealousy, coupled with the mental exhaustion caused by long hours of card production, made this person make no attempt to hide his hostility towards Zhang Che.

He felt that since he had already lost face, he absolutely could not let Zhang Che off the hook!

Anyway, he had already decided to leave Binhai City, this place of trouble, and he wasn't afraid of offending Mo Yuncheng and Xu Jing. Before leaving, he would definitely mock them for being blind.

In fact, he wasn't the only one with similar thoughts, but those people still had their rationality and wouldn't publicly provoke Zhang Che, or rather, the two mid-level extraordinary beings behind him.

Of course, they were still interested in watching the show, and they were also very curious about what Zhang Che, who had won the favor of two big shots, was capable of.

As the victim of this undeserved disaster, Chang Cheh found it somewhat amusing, realizing he had really been caught in the crossfire.

The main reason he didn't choose to be the first was that he wanted to see how others presented their work, and of course, he also secretly hoped to be the last to appear and amaze everyone.

But now that things have turned out this way, he has no choice but to come clean and stop pretending.

Thinking of this, Zhang Che first gave the wandering man a mocking look, then stood up without hesitation and walked towards the podium.

Upon arriving on stage, he first smiled confidently at Lin Ruoxi, who was acting as the judge, and then took out the [Megalodon] card from his person, held it up in front of him, and showed it to everyone present.

The striking purple alchemical patterns on the card intertwine and reflect each other, radiating a deep luster under the light.

The meeting room fell silent instantly.

Doubt, shock, disbelief...

A mix of emotions swirled in the air, but no one uttered a sound. Everyone's eyes were fixed on the card in Zhang Che's hand, trying to find a flaw in the purple hue to prove they were mistaken.

Unfortunately, they simply couldn't do it, because it was a genuine purple-quality card.

Zhang Che didn't give them any more time to process it; he channeled his mental energy into the card, activating it.

A purple magic circle unfolded in mid-air in the conference room. The patterns of the magic circle were layered and multiplied, several times more complex than during the Blue Card era, interwoven into an exquisite and intricate design.

A faint purple halo, like a deep-sea whirlpool compressed to its extreme, exploded, creating a crack in the conference room—

The next second, the Megalodon swam out of the magic circle. Its massive body, over three meters long, hovered lightly in the air, its tail fin swaying gently, as if it were truly swimming freely in the water.

The crimson eyes gleamed with a cold light under the conference room lights, and the barbed teeth were arranged in a dense array. It wasn't that it wanted to innocently unleash this ferocious and tyrannical aura; in fact, it made the temperature in the entire conference room seem to drop several degrees.

Chapter 112 Key Protected Objects

Everyone, including Lin Ruoxi, forgot where they were at that moment. They stared blankly at the giant shark floating in mid-air, their throats feeling as if something was blocking them, and they couldn't make a sound.

Lu Yanzheng's mouth was agape in an "O" shape, and he couldn't close it for a long time. He couldn't believe that such a powerful and domineering card was actually made by the little brother he had just been chatting with.

At the same time, he was secretly glad that he had established a good relationship with Zhang Che early on.

In contrast, the casual swindler who had been speaking sarcastically just moments before now had all the color drain from his face, and he slumped in his chair, looking like a wilted cabbage after a frost.

He never expected that Zhang Che could not only produce something, but also a third-tier purple card!

Everyone present was a professional, and none of them were below the third rank. They could tell at a glance what level the Megalodon was.

Lin Ruoxi finally realized what was happening and immediately ran to Zhang Che's side, abandoning her usual composure and elegance.

Taking the card from Zhang Che, Lin Ruoxi examined it closely, her fingers tracing the surface as she felt the energy flowing through the purple patterns.

She would occasionally look up at the Megalodon hovering in mid-air, then look down at the card in her hand, as if to confirm whether the two were the same thing.

"Is this the advanced card of [Sharp-Toothed Fish]?" Lin Ruoxi's voice was very low, but everyone could hear the tremor in her tone.

“That’s right.” Zhang Che nodded and then began to introduce the new card to Lin Ruoxi. “The Megalodon and the Sharp-Toothed Fish are of the same lineage, and the dark-type ability has also been strengthened. Its restraining effect on mental abilities should be stronger than that of the [Sharp-Toothed Fish], which is enough to deal with mental attacks at the mid-level transcendent level.”

Zhang Che paused here: "However, the specific resistance value still needs to be confirmed by actual testing, but it should not deviate too much from my estimate."

Next, Zhang Che briefly explained several of Megalodon's skills; the specific details would have to be verified in actual combat.

Regarding uniqueness, Chang Cheh mentioned that "cards gain stronger combat power as the bond between the card and the user deepens."

He couldn't explain it in too much detail, after all, he had only spent a short time with the Megalodon, and to figure out the true effect of this uniqueness, he would need a lot of time to conduct comparative verification.

Zhang Che then emphasized its "acceleration" talent, which allows the Megalodon to become faster and faster in battle.

To what extent it can be achieved, we still need to verify it in actual combat.

"Unfortunately, its combat power on land is roughly equivalent to that of an ordinary Tier 3 green card," Zhang Che added at the end. "To unleash its true power, it probably needs to be in the water."

He stated that the "Megalodon" card was a product of his painstaking efforts and numerous failures, and that he rushed to the meeting before he had a chance to test many of the data.

Of course, the most important reason is that Zhang Che does not have the necessary equipment to detect mid-level extraordinary power.

"That's enough!" Lin Ruoxi turned her head and gave Zhang Che a gentle yet approving smile. "You've done very well."

Her voice wasn't loud, but everyone in the excessively quiet conference room could hear her clearly.

In the audience, Lü Yanzheng was the first to applaud, the applause echoing in the empty conference room, sounding somewhat lonely.

But soon more people joined in. The sparse applause turned into unified, enthusiastic, and undisguised cheers.

To be able to create a Tier 3 purple card at the age of eighteen—this talent is unparalleled not only in the entire Binhai City, but also in the entire history of card makers in the Southeast Province.

Just what level of monster is this?

All that remained in Lü Yanzheng's mind was the thought, "Comparison is the thief of joy."

Correspondingly, the card maker who had been making sarcastic remarks just moments before had disappeared from the conference room, the chair still warm from the cold.

No one noticed when he left, and no one cared. At that moment, everyone's attention was focused on the young man on the stage, or rather, on the brand-new purple card in his hand.

Amidst this lively atmosphere, a secret message was transmitted. Just as everyone's attention was drawn to the Megalodon, from a hidden angle, someone quietly pressed the send button on a small alchemical communicator in their hand.

Soon, a brief message left the conference room without a trace, and then the communication lines in the alchemy device were automatically destroyed, leaving no trace of the anomaly.

After a while, the applause gradually subsided.

Lin Ruoxi turned around and looked at the dozen or so people below the stage, a rare serious expression appearing on her face.

"Everyone must keep quiet about what happened today." Her voice wasn't loud, but the weight of her words was clear to everyone. "I don't want to hear any related news outside of this before the official announcement from above."

However, Lin Ruoxi suddenly stopped halfway through her sentence, her brows furrowing as she abruptly changed her mind.

"Everyone, hand over your communication devices. No one is allowed to leave this meeting room until further notice."

The meeting room fell silent for a moment, but no one objected. As the host of today's meeting, Lin Ruoxi was qualified to make this decision, both in terms of her status and her abilities.

Her words just now meant that the matter had escalated to the point where a decision needed to be made at a higher level.

Lu Yanzheng was the first to put his phone on the table, and then the others quickly followed suit.

At the same time, Lin Ruoxi opened her personal spatial equipment and released a monkey-like alchemical mechanical beast.

"Go and bring that person back to me." Lin Ruoxi was referring to the card maker who had quietly left the meeting room earlier. The monkey mechanical beast immediately pounced on the seat the other person had been sitting in, stayed there for a moment, and then ran out the door.

It shouldn't be long before it can "bring" that person back.

Lin Ruoxi wasn't idle either; she took out her phone and briefly reported what had just happened.

It is foreseeable that Zhang Che will receive special protection in the future, and the necessary card-making resources will be provided in full.

Once it is confirmed that the Megalodon can resist the mental attacks of the mid-level transcendent Heart-Eating Demon, it will have a decisive impact on the war situation in the entire coastal city!

Therefore, ensuring Zhang Che's personal safety was of paramount importance before that.

Chapter 113 This is the rule of the game

The appearance of the Megalodon had a far greater impact on the upper echelons of Binhai City than had been imagined.

Upon hearing the news, Xu Jing and Mo Yuncheng disregarded their work and rushed to a training ground near the city hall, where they met Lin Ruoxi, who was already waiting for them.

The only exception is Su Ran, that research fanatic; once he enters the lab, it's hard to drag him out.

Since they didn't need him for today's business, no one cared.

The training ground was huge, about half the size of a football field, with a ceiling about ten meters high. The walls were covered with thick protective runes, and the floor was paved with reinforced alloy plates.

This place is usually used as a training ground for the city's elite squads, and occasionally it is also used to test some new equipment with greater destructive power.

At this moment, a live-fire exercise is underway on the training ground: on one side stand three fully armed city guards, all at the third tier of strength. They are positioned in a triangle formation, weapons in hand, ready for battle; and opposite them is a giant shark hovering more than a meter above the ground.

The megalodon's dark red eyes gazed down at the three city guards, its mouth slightly parted to reveal rows of sharp, barbed teeth. Its tail fin swayed at an extremely slow pace, its body hovering in the air like a predator waiting for its prey in the deep sea.