After receiving the card from Hong Zhu, she was stunned by its highly specialized skill set and momentarily lost her composure.
But Tang Muzhou was more composed than she was.
Especially after waking up at 5 p.m., his thinking was clearer and sharper than Xue Linxiang's.
Tang Muzhou wasn't fazed by the notion that someone might have created a highly targeted card specifically to counter him. In recent years, major clubs had analyzed his card sets and designed numerous cards to beat him.
It wasn't just his powerful cards, but his adaptability and outstanding card manipulation skills that had secured his achievements. Even if Daiyu Burying the Flowers could counter one of his flower and plant trump cards, he still had more powerful cards at his disposal. Players in the competition diversified their card pools with several backup cards, making it impossible for opponents to counter all of his cards.
What was truly alarming, however, was that the card seemed to have been created by coincidence.
No one knew who this card's creator was or how talented they might be. If they'd unknowingly created a [Lin Daiyu] card capable of countering some of Tang Muzhou's cards, what other unique cards might they come up with in the future? If they designed an entire collection of cards that could defeat his flower and plant cards and sold them to major clubs, Tang Muzhou's next season would be exceedingly challenging.
If every professional player had a [Lin Daiyu], many of Tang Muzhou's flower and plant cards would become almost useless.
As Xue Linxiang worried, Tang Muzhou asked her, "Do we know who made this card? Sister Xue, have you found any clues?"
Snapping back to reality, Xue Linxiang responded quickly, "Hong Zhu bought it from the black market, but the vendor didn't remember the seller's name. The only hint to the card creator's identity is the logo on its back. You should take a look."
Tang Muzhou flipped the card over and saw that the green back bore no decorative pattern, only two characters in the lower right corner: 月 and 半¹.
Scratching his head, Shen An speculated, "What does 月半 mean? Half moon?"
Tang Muzhou smiled faintly and explained, "These two characters 月半 form the word '胖,' which means chubby. Does that mean the creator is a chubby person?"
"..." Shen An and Xue Linxiang exchanged glances.
What the heck? A chubby person?
Who would stamp such an unflattering, silly logo on their cards? Were they serious?
Examining the card with interest, Tang Muzhou said, "Judging by the base attributes, the designer doesn't know much about card-making. But in terms of originality, he's a rare talent. I think he's a gifted beginner who's just started the game, and this may be his first attempt. His card skills are unique, but the numerical distribution is unbalanced."
As he spoke, Tang Muzhou opened his tablet and accessed the card database.
The game's copyright rules required a unique logo for each designer, and the card database could show the number of cards associated with each logo, though not the specifics to maintain privacy.
Tang Muzhou typed "Chubby" into the official database and checked the designer's card count.
Nineteen cards.
Xue Linxiang saw it too and exclaimed, "Hong Zhu said there were only nine! Why are there ten more?"
Tang Muzhou replied, "Perhaps Hong Zhu only got nine, and the other ten were sold elsewhere."
Considering this possibility, Xue Linxiang felt a chill.
Her worst fear had come true. If the cards went to collectors, it wouldn't be too bad. But if major clubs, skilled in maximizing card abilities, got them and upgraded them into seven-star cards with a 100% instant-kill rate, they'd be used as trump cards against Tang Muzhou!
In future PK matches, all his opponents could use these cards to instantly kill Tang Muzhou's prized flower cards...
Was this chubby person set on being Tang Muzhou's nemesis?
Xue Linxiang took a deep breath and immediately video-called Hong Zhu. "Xiao Zhu, there are likely ten more [Lin Daiyu] cards on the market. Mobilize our club and thoroughly search the black market and commercial streets. Acquire all the cards immediately! Also, if you find the card creator, bring him to the club no matter what – use any persuasion necessary!"
Hong Zhu had grasped the gravity of the situation. She nodded determinedly, "Sister Xue, don't worry. I bought the card at the black market from a vendor named Mr. Zhang. I'm staking out his stall. If the creator comes to sell more cards, I'll catch him!"
Meanwhile, at the black market.
Xie Mingzhe didn't go to Zhang's stall this time. After all, he'd just sold nine cards there. If none had sold yet, Mr. Zhang would likely lower his offer.
Thinking ahead, Xie Mingzhe went to a different vendor.
This stall belonged to a young girl who admired [Lin Daiyu]. "The card's stats are terrible, but the artwork is beautiful. I'll take two for my collection at 30 gold coins each."
Xie Mingzhe readily agreed. As the copyright owner, he could make as many [Lin Daiyu] cards as he wanted. He was just trying to sell as many as possible.
After selling two to the girl, he approached a middle-aged man and used his charm to promote the cards.
The man frowned, "Character cards aren't very collectible. This game has been around for ten years, and there are already plenty of character cards. But... yours has a unique style. I'll take five at 25 gold coins each."
Character cards weren't in high demand on the low-end market, so Xie Mingzhe accepted the offer and sold five. He sold the remaining cards to another vendor at 25 gold coins each.
All ten [Lin Daiyu] cards were sold, but Xie Mingzhe knew this wasn't a sustainable strategy. Character cards with weak stats didn't sell well in this game. He could make a few dozen, but any more, and they'd saturate the market.
Returning to his single-room apartment, Xie Mingzhe began brainstorming new card designs and ways to improve their stats. Unbeknownst to him, the black market was in complete turmoil!