Xie Mingzhe was offered an olive branch. To accept it or not?

He was excited and surprised. Legend Nie's invitation to join the Adjudication Club represented that he was indeed gifted at creating cards, otherwise Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan, two professional players, wouldn't have come to see him in person or made him an offer of 300,000 crystal coins for his [Wu Song]'s copyright.

However, Xie Mingzhe was not an eighteen-year-old boy having a simple mind. Even if he was offered preferential treatment, he wouldn't accept it without consideration.

Because of his two memories, he could remain calm when he was confronted with big events.

Legend Lan's words made him feel that he was a complete fool in the past, who went to sell his cards in the black market because he didn't know the market when he first entered the game. At present, people who knew the market offered him 300,000 for [Wu Song]'s copyright, only aiming at the [White Tiger].

What about [Lin Daiyu]? It was directed against the whole flower cards.

Even though Legend Nie offered him 20,000 crystal coins a month to be a card designer in the Adjudication Club and promised to give him a high commission if he created powerful cards, which already made the poor boy excited, Xie Mingzhe remained calm, saying with a smile, “I can sell the copyright to you, but I need some time to consider being a designer in your club.”

Can Yang, the vice president, said unhappily, “Uncle Chubby, Legend Nie invites you personally because he appreciates your talent. Our Adjudication Club is one of the best clubs in the Star Card League. Many designers have failed to get into our club, even if they tried their best.”

Being in a good mood, Xie Mingzhe said with a smile, “I know the Adjudication Club is influential, but this offer is so important that I can't answer you hastily. I have to consider it carefully and consult with my family on it.” Xie Mingzhe drew up an excuse, hoping to gain more time.

Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan looked at each other.

Shan Lan said softly, “Uncle Chubby, we cordially invite you to join our club. The copyright price we offered is much higher than the market price, you can investigate it if you don't believe it. We will offer you a pleasant environment, good treatment, tasty meals and an apartment. In our club, all you need to do is focus on studying cards.”

Legend Lan's advertis.e.m.e.nt was tempting, but Xie Mingzhe calmed down, saying, “Thank you, Legend Lan. I'll consider it and reply to you as soon as possible.”

Staring at the smiling Uncle Chubby, Can Yang thought that he did not know how to appreciate their favor.

Huan Yue, the president, was much calmer, saying, “Uncle Chubby, let's add each other in the game, then you can follow Can Yang to go through the card transfer formality. Our territory will always be opened to you. You can come to us or send a private message to Can Yang and me as soon as you make your decision.”

“OK.” Xie Mingzhe accepted the friend requests of the president and the vice president, saying to Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan, “See you, two legends.”

Xie Mingzhe followed Can Yang and left the office.

Huan Yue didn't come over until they were out of sight, saying, “Legend Nie, Uncle Chubby increased the instant death chance of [Wu Song] in such a short time, it seems that he has much greater potential.”

Nie Yuandao nodded, whispering, “He is indeed a good seedling. We must invite him to join our club as soon as possible. I will go offline first. Keep me informed if there is any news.”

Shan Lan said, “I also have to go. Goodbye, President.”

After seeing them off, Huan Yue immediately summoned several club managers to continue searching for other cards made by Uncle Chubby in the black market, inch by inch. At the same time, he sent voice notes to Uncle Chubby, listing various benefits of joining the Adjudication Club in detail, which was even more considerate than the official advertising.

Xie Mingzhe followed Can Yang to the Service Center on the planet Aquarius.

The Service Center building had dozens of floors. Players having problems could get help here. Can Yang took him to the Minister of Card Copyright on the 16th floor. Xie Mingzhe connected to the database to verify his authors.h.i.+p, and then transferred the copyright of [Wu Song] to the Adjudication Club.

After the transfer of the copyright, he could no longer make [Wu Song] cards, but it didn't matter. [Wu Song]'s skill, only against tiger cards, had a limited application. He could still make [Lin Daiyu], which was against a wide range of flower cards.

Carrying a huge sum of 3 million game currency in his pocket, Xie Mingzhe rushed to the Star Card Bank next to the Service Center.

In front of the Star Card Bank counter, Xie Mingzhe politely asked the smart teller, “h.e.l.lo, could you please tell me how to convert game currency into live currency?”

The smart teller replied, “Today's exchange rate is 10:1. You can set the price of the game currency you want to sell, put it in the gold coin purchase window, and bind your bank card information. If a player purchases your game currency, your bank account will automatically receive the transferred money.”

Was this the game's built-in currency trading platform?

Xie Mingzhe quickly entered his information – he planned to divide 3 million into 10 parts. In this way, his game currency would be sold out more easily.

When he walked out of Star Card Bank, Xie Mingzhe, in a good mood, felt that the sky was bluer than before.

At this time, he heard the prompt sound, “A voice note from Huan Yue.”

Xie Mingzhe pressed the b.u.t.ton, listening to Huan Yue telling him a lot of benefits of joining the Adjudication Club, which apparently showed that he wanted to persuade Xie Mingzhe to join the club. But Xie Mingzhe didn't want to make a decision so quickly, so he replied politely, “Thank you, President Huan Yue. I will think about it seriously.”

Then he heard the prompt sound again, “Dear player, you have been online for more than five hours. Holographic game consumes players' Inner Spirit, so being online for a long time is not good for your health. Please arrange your game time properly and go offline to rest as soon as possible.”

The holographic game was connected to a player's five senses, so the player would feel really tired. He went online at 6:30p.m after having lunch, and it was almost midnight now. Xie Mingzhe noticed that his headache was getting worse and worse, so he simply went offline immediately.

As Xie Mingzhe rubbed his painful temple, a message popped up on his mobile phone, “Respected user, you received a transfer of 30000 crystal coins from Star Card Bank. Current account balance 30200 crystal coins.” “Respected user, you received a transfer of 30000 crystal coins from Star Card Bank ……” “Respected user……”

Ten consecutive messages from the bank!

The final balance became 300,200 crystal coins.

Xie Mingzhe couldn't believe his eyes! He looked at the balance of his bank card and rubbed his eyes.

A poor boy, once having a deposit of only 200 in the bank, now became a little rich man with 300,200 crystal coins!

This was the first sum he had earned after he'd been reborn in this world. He didn't expect that the copyright fee of an original card would be worth so much. To be honest, ever since he was a child, this was the most money he had ever seen- 300,000!

Xie Mingzhe took a deep breath, ran to the bathroom to wash his face, soon feeling refreshed. Just at this time, Pang Yu went offline and finished was.h.i.+ng his face, too. Xie Mingzhe would live with Pang Yu in the future, so they walked together to their dormitory upstairs.

Pang Yu was a natural socializer. After entering the room, he chatted with Xie Mingzhe, “Xiao Xie, you look so young. You must be under 20?”

“Yes, I'm just 18 years old this year. I'm taking part-time jobs during summer vacation to earn my living expenses.”

“That's great. You're very self-motivated.” Pang Yu made a thumbs-up sign.

“Well, Brother Yu. Do you know the Adjudication Club? What do you think about this club?” Xie Mingzhe tried to pump Pang Yu for information.

“Adjudication? It's a top-tier club. It's one of the six giants of the Star Card League.” Pang Yu enthusiastically introduced, “The Adjudication Club mainly uses beast cards. Its most famous player is Nie Yuandao who started his career ten years ago. He has the highest level of seniority in the league, so other players respect him very much… Why did you ask about the Adjudication Club?”

“I saw the introduction of Nie Yuandao when I searched online about the Star Card game before, so I'm a little curious about him.” Choosing a job was a big deal, so he must investigate it before he made a decision. Xie Mingzhe continued to ask Pang Yu, “Brother Yu, do you know card designers? What is the prospect of this job?”

“The chief card designer of a big club has an annual salary of millions, and general card designers of hundreds of thousands. Of course, this is a job that ordinary people dream of.” Pang Yu said with an admiring look, “However, once a person becomes a card designer and signs on with a club, he won't have the card copyright; it belongs to the club. Therefore, most original designers with high Inner Spirit will personally design cards to play. Only those who have low Inner Spirit, or whose age doesn't allow them to partic.i.p.ate in a fierce compet.i.tion, will become a professional card designer.”

“!!!!” Hearing this, Xie Mingzhe was shocked.

Fortunately he had been on the alert, not tempted by the benefits or indiscriminately agreeing to join the Adjudication Club.

Once he became the card designer of Adjudication, copyrights of all cards he designed in the future were in the hands of the Adjudication Club. He preferred to be free to design and sell cards rather than to be tied to one tree.

Xie Mingzhe had currently only sold one card's copyright, but the first step was the most difficult. He had already sold one copyright, so naturally he could sell more.

After [Wu Song]'s copyright was sold for a high price, Xie Mingzhe had a vague feeling – people in this world didn't know Wu Song? He thought the card's design was quite common. Wasn't it just the plot of “Wu Song Slaying the Tiger” in Water Margin? Why did Legend Lan appear to particularly appreciate him?

Thinking of that, Xie Mingzhe couldn't resist asking Pang Yu, “Brother Yu, have you ever read Water Margin(shuǐ hǔ)?”

Pang Yu was stunned, saying, “Water tiger(shuǐ hǔ)※? A tiger that can swim?”

“…” Xie Mingzhe wanted to weep and laugh all at the same time. In order to confirm that people in this world didn't know the characters within the Four Great Cla.s.sical Novels of Chinese literature, he continued to ask, “Do you know Cao Cao, Liu Bei or Sun Quan※?”

Pang Yu was confused, saying, “Who are they?”

Xie Mingzhe said, “What about Sun Wukong※ and Jia Baoyu※?”

Pang Yu smiled, saying, “No, I don't know. They are your cla.s.smates? Their names are interesting.”

“…” Xie Mingzhe's heart started to beat rapidly.

He was a fool!

When he first went to sell his card at the black market after painting 'Daiyu Burying the Flowers', he should have detected that n.o.body knew Cousin Lin. Everyone only praised the card for its beautiful cover and style of painting, even the stall owner focused on its attributes rather than the delicate picture.

At that time, he thought that his original cards were too common amongst the numerous cards in the World of Star Card, so they didn't sell well. Now he understood the cause. It was not because his cards were not powerful enough, but people didn't know the characters he painted at all, they thought Lin Daiyu was just a crying girl.

It was because Nie Yuandao and Shan Lan obviously didn't know Wu Song that they thought his design was excellent and came to see him in person.

It seemed that the cultural background of this world was totally different from that of China in the 21st century. Maybe the human beings had experienced something, so the brilliant civilization was destroyed.

No wonder there was no Earth on the galaxy map.

At that time, he was confused about why people lived on Gemini rather than Earth if the 'solar system' had been used as the backdrop of the game.

Now it was 3001 on the star calendar, he couldn't figure out how many centuries had pa.s.sed since 2018.

In this world, had the five-thousand-years of Chinese civilization, and its brilliant culture, disappeared?

Xie Mingzhe took a deep breath to slow down his rapid heartbeat.

He perceived that he had made a big mistake – he had underestimated his potential as a card designer. He originally thought that he was just an ordinary player who had no talent and could only make common cards. He was foolish enough to sell [Lin Daiyu] and [Wu Song] at a low price in the black market.

However, now he realized that he had extremely precious wealth – the rich, treasure trove of knowledge that was as vast as the universe.

He had sold [Wu Song]'s copyright for 300,000. But there were 108 heroes in Water Margin.

[Lin Daiyu], whose skills were directed against a wider range of cards, would be sold for an even higher price. Besides, in Dream of the Red Chamber, there were there were another eleven beauties of Jinling that could be made into cards.

Not to mention the characters in Romance of the Three Kingdoms※, his favorite novel!

Xie Mingzhe clenched his fists, feeling that he was reinvigorated.

He loved reading novels, but he couldn't write novels, so he couldn't retell those stories in the novels.

However, he could paint those fantastic stories onto his cards!

Translator's Note:

1. In their dialogue above, Xie Mingzhe is talking about 水滸, but Pang Yu mistakes 水滸 as 水虎, which literally means water tiger, because they have the same p.r.o.nunciation (shuǐ hǔ). However, 水滸 (Water Margin) is one of the Four Great Cla.s.sical Novels of Chinese literature. The story, set in the Song dynasty, tells of how a group of 108 outlaws gather at Mount Liang (or Liangshan Marsh) to form a sizable army before they are eventually granted amnesty by the government and sent on campaigns to resist foreign invaders and suppress rebel forces.

2. Romance of the Three Kingdoms is a 14th-century historical novel attributed to Luo Guanzhong. It is set in the turbulent years towards the end of the Han dynasty and the Three Kingdoms period in Chinese history, starting in 169 AD and ending with the reunification of the land in 280.

The story – part historical, part legend, and part mythical – romanticises and dramatises the lives of feudal lords and their retainers, who tried to replace the dwindling Han Dynasty or restore it. While the novel follows hundreds of characters, the focus is mainly on the three power blocks that emerged from the remnants of the Han Dynasty, and would eventually form the three states of Cao Wei, Shu Han, and Eastern Wu. The novel deals with the plots, personal and military battles, intrigues, and struggles of these states to achieve dominance for almost 100 years.

3. Cao Cao, Liu Bei and Sun Quan are all important historical figures from the period of the Three Kingdoms in ancient China, AD 220 – 280.

4. Sun Wukong, also known as the Monkey King, is a figure who features in a body of legends that can be traced back to the Song Dynasty. He appears as a main character in the 16th century Chinese cla.s.sical novel Journey to the West and is found in many later stories and adaptations. In the novel, he is a monkey born from a stone who acquires supernatural powers through Taoist practices. After rebelling against heaven and being imprisoned under a mountain by Buddha, he later accompanies the monk Tang Sanzang on a journey to retrieve Buddhist sutras from “the West”.

5. Jia Baoyu is the princ.i.p.al character in the cla.s.sic Chinese novel Dream of the Red Chamber. He was born with a magical piece of “jade” in his mouth. In this life he has a special bond with his sickly cousin Lin Daiyu, who shares his love of music and poetry. Baoyu, however, is predestined to marry another cousin, Xue Baochai, whose grace and intelligence exemplify an ideal woman, but with whom he lacks an emotional connection. The romantic rivalry and friends.h.i.+p among the three characters against the backdrop of the family's declining fortunes form the main story in the novel.