Chapter 78: 078 Red Cotton Seed hits Thornblade Grass_1
"GIAO GIAO!!"
Early in the morning, Wen Jiang was watching this world’s melodramatic TV series when she was abruptly disturbed by Zero Egg’s sudden outburst.
Wen Jiang frowned. "Is your data corrupted?"
This was akin to asking, "Are you out of your mind?"
"It’s not!" Zero Egg was rarely this agitated. "Wu Fanjia is dead! She’s gone!"
Wen Jiang paused. "Died so quickly?"
That was unscientific.
Someone like her was destined to meet her end at my hands, yet she died on her own?
"Killed! Throat slashed! It’s all over the news!"
Although Zero Egg couldn’t hack into some information networks from a distance, it could still go online to fetch information, promptly displaying a transparent screen for Wen Jiang.
The uncensored image of Wu Fanjia was starkly presented—her eyes wide open, the blood clotted gruesomely around her throat—a particularly horrific sight.
This world had little regard for censoring such content; its strict regulations concerning minors pertained to other matters.
The caption below read: [A woman surnamed Wu was found with her throat cut in a restaurant; police are investigating the perpetrator.]
Wen Jiang narrowed her eyes slightly.
Wu Fanjia was an A-Level Spirit Card Master, possessing perception and acuity far beyond ordinary individuals. She couldn’t possibly have had her throat cut without any defense.
Unless something had distracted Wu Fanjia at that moment, making her less sharp than usual.
Summoning a card was an instantaneous act. The murderer must have undergone strict training to grasp the precise moment and execute the attack with such timing and force.
Wen Jiang commented, "A professional assassin, and one who specializes in dealing with Spirit Card Masters."
Assassins targeting Spirit Card Masters probably aren’t rare.
Who would hire an assassin to kill Wu Fanjia?
The answer was clear. Of course, it was me. Wen Jiang thought silently.
She harbored the deepest grudge against Wu Fanjia, making her the prime suspect. In reality, however, Wen Jiang wouldn’t resort to such methods; she always preferred to handle matters personally.
"She was said to be a promising prospect, yet she died so quickly!" Zero Egg exclaimed, equally shocked. "This assassin has no scruples! Now there’s one less source of stable emotional energy for the future. What terrible luck!"
Wen Jiang: "..."
It was hard to tell who was more ruthless, her or Zero Egg.
Based on the news images, there’s a Spirit Card Master at the scene, examining something. Are Spirit Cards present? she deduced.
She rubbed her chin, finding it somewhat interesting. "Her dying so quickly is indeed unexpected," she mused. "Could the one responsible be Song Yingchen?"
"Surely not?" Zero Egg sounded as if its worldview had shattered. "He’s the male lead I handpicked! How could he stoop to something as underhanded as hiring an assassin?! He should have done it himself!"
Wen Jiang: "..."
Zero Egg quickly displayed a slew of news articles. "Plenty of people held grudges against Wu Fanjia. She didn’t always attend elite schools; before high school, she was in ordinary ones. With her powerful family background and status as an A-Level Spirit Card Master, she bullied many. Several of her victims ended up permanently disabled or were driven to suicide. The list of potential avengers is long."
Wen Jiang merely watched the news, a faint smile playing on the corner of her mouth, seemingly lost in thought.
"An ordinary person couldn’t have lured her out," Wen Jiang remarked. "This attempt to frame someone was skillfully executed."
Zero Egg didn’t understand, blurting out, "What?! Who’s framing whom?"
Wen Jiang didn’t explain and checked the time. "Got to go to work. We can look at the news later."
She had agreed to Tang Qian’s request for a match today. Someone within Mount Flower was unconvinced of her abilities, but Wen Jiang had no objections—she would fight anyone who challenged her.
Before leaving, she glanced at Wu Fanjia’s miserable figure.
What a pity. The perpetrator acted too decisively, too quickly, not allowing Wu Fanjia to suffer much. Truly, a pity.
「At the Association」
A match between Wen Jiang and Wei Shen was scheduled for today. Tang Qian had informed everyone, so nearly all available A-Level players had gathered to watch.
Some had witnessed Wen Jiang’s strength before; she had been formidable even in the B-Level Group. However, no one had expected her to advance to A-Level in such a short time. Many players harbored complex feelings about this.
It was as if they were witnessing the birth of a genius.
This was the first time Wen Jiang had met Wei Shen. His attitude was decent; he nodded politely upon seeing Wen Jiang, who naturally returned a slight nod in greeting.
A-Level matches required large outdoor venues, so each Association maintained its own training stadiums. A significant portion of the Association’s annual expenses went towards these venue costs.
However, using A-Rank Cards indoors could restrict some of their power, so matches often only required a light touch to score.
Players filled the seats on all sides. There weren’t many S Rank players, however, as an international exchange event was underway, and most of them had gone abroad to the Sanctuary.
Standing at the Spirit Card Master’s control position, Tang Qian acted as the temporary referee. Since it was just a match, they skipped the card banning phase.
Tang Qian first observed which card Wen Jiang would select. Wen Jiang had received the Association-distributed card set the previous night. She’d had time to Copy two cards and, after some thought, chose an A-Rank card: "Red Cotton Seed."
Seeing her take out this card, Tang Qian subtly glanced at Wen Jiang.
The Red Cotton Seed card was inspired by Rolling Grass and was also a wide-area seed card.
The Red Cotton flower resembled actual red cotton. Its Card Spirit was enormous and would begin scattering seeds across the field as soon as it was summoned. The placement of these seeds depended entirely on the Spirit Card Master’s control.
Red Cotton Seed was one of the few cards in the A-Rank Card Set requiring multi-tasking control. The more seeds it possessed, the more powerful it became, but the operational difficulty was correspondingly top-tier.
Each sprouted seed, a small, light red cotton flower, could be individually controlled. If uncontrolled, these tiny flowers would drift erratically within a one-meter radius. With proper manipulation, however, they could be directed towards an opponent’s Card Spirit within about ten seconds.
Once attached to a Card Spirit, they were impossible to remove, and the Red Cotton Seeds would continuously drain the Card Spirit’s vitality.
The more seeds that attached, the faster the draining occurred.
Evading these seeds was a true test of a player’s control.
Simultaneously, controlling so many seeds was exceptionally difficult for a Spirit Card Master. Summoning a large number might appear intimidating, but the seeds only lasted for about ten seconds. If the Spirit Card Master couldn’t control them effectively, the seeds would be wasted, resulting in a pointless drain of their spiritual power.
This card was a common offensive choice within Mount Flower’s A-Rank Card Set. The current record was held by a Spirit Card Master who had simultaneously controlled 26 seeds for a sustained period—the absolute limit of his capability.
Controlling 26 seeds might be feasible in a chaotic battle involving multiple cards. However, in a one-on-one duel, the field was too large, making it easy for an opponent to evade them.
It was rarely used in one-on-one matches.
Furthermore, once the Red Cotton Seed began producing seeds, it became immobile, rendering it a sitting duck if an opponent timed their attack correctly.
Seeing Wen Jiang choose Red Cotton Seed, many in the audience were surprised. Even her teammate Shi Qi looked worried. "That card is too vulnerable to Assassin Cards. It’s not well-suited for one-on-one duels."
A strange thought struck Chen Runyu as he recalled Wen Jiang’s previous unconventional plays. She’s doing it again, using a card no one favors to challenge a strong dueling card.