Chapter 2: Trying to save a dying horse

Chapter 2: Trying to save a dying horse

Qi Shu, who had regained his senses, looked at the black market, wanting to find something to exchange for an anonymous light brain first, but the original owner's entire belongings consisted only of three sets of clothes, two pairs of shoes, an electronic mask, and two bottles of nutrient solution.

That’s it?

That’s all there was?

Qi Shu searched the space button for a long time and only found this much.

Qi Shu: “...”

Never mind, he needed to eat his fill before he could consider more things.

Just then, the stall owner in front of him suddenly got into an argument with a customer, and Qi Shu, being so close, found it hard not to overhear.

“Boss, your Star Card is too expensive! This Intermediate Population Card, when displayed in the Star Card skill demonstration instrument, shows that twenty people can only maintain combat for two minutes, and all they do is pick their noses! How can they fight like that!

You actually want to sell it to me for 150,000! Why don’t you just rob me, it would be quicker!”

“And this Intermediate Energy Card, it only lets the mecha fight for two minutes, I haven’t even gotten addicted to fighting yet and it’s over! You actually charge me 200,000 for this card! I have money, but I’m not an idiot!”

The Card Maker boss, dressed in a black robe, said with a cold face, “Take it or leave it, otherwise get lost.”

In today’s Interstellar society, Card Makers are the most scarce, and Advanced Card Makers have very high Mental Power levels, mostly used by royalty and the military. Some also teach in schools. Card Makers without fixed workplaces are practically walking treasures, most popular in the black market.

Star Cards first appeared three thousand years ago, exclusively for armies without Mental Power. Advanced Star Cards could even contend with S-level Mental Power users.

Later, after the war ended, high Mental Power rulers, in order to control resources and centralize power, almost massacred those Card Makers. However, after killing off the Card Makers, what they waited for was not Interstellar peace, but the invasion of the Zerg army, which caused heavy casualties among half of the Interstellar population and soldiers.

This painful historical lesson taught them the importance of Card Makers.

In short, whether they were Mental Power users or non-Mental Power users, as long as they participated in combat, they would want to rely on the help of Star Cards. With Star Cards, they might be able to buy time to avoid death, or they could deliver a fatal blow to their opponents to win.

Interstellar law explicitly states that the status of Star Cards is equivalent to that of mechas.

However, the number of people who can make Star Cards is very few, extremely rare. Even those with very high talent cannot produce many Advanced Star Cards in a year.

This is also why the current boss selling Intermediate Star Cards can be so arrogant.

“If you don’t want it, plenty of others do.”

“Me! I want it, I want it!”

“Boss, boss, do you have more! I want it too, I want it too! He doesn’t want it, I do! So what if they pick their noses!”

“Boss, don’t be angry! It doesn’t even matter if those twenty people appear while going to the bathroom!”

“Exactly, exactly, only 200,000, so cheap. The boss is so kind he’s not even raising the price.”

Qi Shu’s expression was complex. He watched as the boss put the Star Card into a transparent box, and just as he was thinking to himself how easy it was for the boss to make money, his sharp gaze swept across the Star Card. At that moment, he froze.

No, the characters on this Star Card… weren’t they the traditional Chinese characters from his hometown? They were just written somewhat like crawling caterpillars, the characters were crooked and twisted. Without a careful look, it was impossible to recognize that this was the traditional Chinese version of 【Twenty People Picking Noses】.

Qi Shu felt like he was dreaming.

Card Maker?

Someone who writes traditional Chinese characters?? This was too ridiculous!

But it was no wonder… no wonder in the Interstellar history that the original owner remembered, many Card Makers had the characteristics of black eyes and black hair!

After tens of thousands of years of sedimentation, Interstellar gradually popularized a common language, and even those who once recognized simplified Chinese characters were almost gone, let alone traditional Chinese characters.

The original owner was strictly managed by the people of the Earls Residence. Every single thing he did was monitored, and he had no contact with Star Cards at all. Under the guidance of the Earl and his wife, the major he studied in the academy was culinary arts, which explained why Qi Shu had no knowledge in this field.

“Laughing? Brother, what are you laughing at?” The man with a black snake wrapped around his neck, who had just been pushed out by a group of people, walked over.

Qi Shu didn’t know when the corners of his lips had lifted, only feeling as if he had seen a glimmer of hope.

“No, I wasn’t laughing at you.” Qi Shu replied casually, his Ability habitually probing whether the other party had any ill intentions.

His gaze lingered on the black snake around the other’s neck, feeling that this person was not simple.

“It’s good that you’re not mocking me, otherwise I wouldn’t let you off.” The Snake Man said fiercely, then prepared to turn and leave.

Qi Shu thought for a moment, then suddenly called out to him, “Um, what type of Star Card do you want?”

“Offensive! Or energy type!” The Snake Man thought Qi Shu had connections, and even his voice unconsciously lowered a bit. He pulled Qi Shu to a less crowded corner and asked, “Do you have goods?”

“No, I can try.” Qi Shu unconsciously took a step back, moving further away from the snake.

Actually, he had nothing on him. At most, it was a gamble. If he won, he won. If he lost, he would just get beaten up. No one would kill someone for wasting a little time and a few star coins worth of Carrier Cards, right? The Carrier Cards used to make Star Cards are not rare metals; they can be bought everywhere in Interstellar, so they are very cheap.

“You?” The Snake Man sized up the black-haired, black-eyed boy in front of him, then probed his Mental Power, which was almost nonexistent.

For a moment, he didn’t know whether to waste these few minutes, but the black market was a place where hidden talents resided, so maybe?

“Yes, me.” Qi Shu, who lived hand-to-mouth, smiled slightly.

“Alright, then let’s try.”

“Then, could you first help me buy a Carrier Card and a Mental Power conversion pen?” The original owner had almost no Mental Power, and Qi Shu’s Ability had recovered a bit after the recent rest.

He felt that concentrating to write traditional Chinese characters probably wouldn’t be difficult; the hard part was whether it would work.

But it didn’t matter, he’d try anything.

The Snake Man was not short on money. Seeing that he spoke sincerely and didn’t seem like someone playing tricks, he readily agreed, even renting him a small workspace directly in the black market for 30 star coins an hour.

Qi Shu was a little nervous after getting the poker-sized golden Carrier Card. He had even thought that if he failed, he would ask the big brother to try not to hit his face.

“Don’t dilly-dally, hurry up, I still need to eat.” The Snake Man urged him from beside him, with an expression that said, “I’m playing along with you, don’t let me down.”

Qi Shu swallowed, picked up the conversion pen, and slowly injected Mental Power with his fingertips, but there was a “ding” sound, and the connection broke.

“Can you even do this…?” The Snake Man felt he might have really been fooled. Could this boy not even have Mental Power?

Qi Shu: “...Wait, I just wasn’t concentrating.”

His forehead was already covered in a thin layer of sweat. Enduring his physical discomfort, he slowly activated a trace of the Ability he had just accumulated, daring to wave it in front of the man. He noticed that the man seemed unable to see the Ability, so he turned around, blocking the man’s line of sight, and boldly input the Ability into the conversion pen, no longer hearing the “ding” sound.

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