It had been two days since meeting with Yin Yinyin, and Le Yu had kept himself busy during those days.
For example, he had swept through the Statistical Department's internal Battle Card tournament, crushing all his opponents and seizing the championship, earning the respectful title of Battle Card Master of the Statistical Department.
Truth be told, it was just playing cards.
Battle Card was one of the few unique kinds of entertainment Le Yu had found in this world. With all of life's pressures, the moment he started playing, he fell in love with it. Every day after returning to the Statistical Department, he'd pass the time by playing cards.
The official name of Battle Card was the Combat Technique Card Duel. The game mode was a two-player match, each player having forty Combat Technique cards. Players drew three cards at the start, then drew one card each turn, and played one card. The player who acted first got no benefit; the one who played second gained two extra hit points (the average value of a direct strike card was two points of health).
Combat Technique cards mainly fell into three categories, "Direct Strike," "Counter," and "Critical Strike." Direct Strike was a straightforward attack, damaging the other player; Counter neutralized a Direct Strike and did damage in response; Critical Strike was a charged attack, dealing massive damage after one turn of charging up.
Direct Strikes were played face up, while Counters and Critical Strikes were played face down. When a player played a Counter or Critical Strike, the card was covered and hidden; if the opponent used a Direct Strike, the face-down card had to be revealed:
If the hidden card was a Counter, then the Direct Strike didn't count, and counter-damage was dealt;
If the hidden card was a Critical Strike, the Direct Strike still worked, and the Critical Strike card was disrupted and lost effect because the charge was "interrupted."
If both players played a face-down card, the Counter expired after one turn, but the Critical Strike would activate and deal massive damage after a turn.
Simply put, Direct Strike beat Critical Strike but lost to Counter; Counter beat Direct Strike but lost to Critical Strike; Critical Strike beat Counter but lost to Direct Strike.
"Looking at the rules, it might seem meaningless—just a turn-based rock-paper-scissors game. But the real core of Combat Technique cards was in the deck—the game had eighteen different decks, and maybe you'd find that number familiar, since the official Combat Technique systems in Huiyao also totaled eighteen!"
"Exactly, the eighteen decks in Combat Technique cards matched up with the eighteen kinds of real-world Combat Techniques! Every style's Direct Strike, Counter, and Critical Strike cards were entirely different. Even each style's starting health was distinct, which meant every Combat Technique Card duel could be wildly unpredictable and loads of fun!"
"Legend had it that Battle Card was invented by the founding emperor of Huiyao. After two thousand years of evolution, it had become an entertainment culture deeply rooted in every Huiyao native's heart. Many ordinary people might never practice Combat Technique, but they'd still be familiar with Battle Card!"
"For many Martial Artists, Battle Card was actually a shortcut to learning Combat Technique. Not only was it teaching through entertainment, the duels themselves mirrored real combat—if you were good at cards, your grasp of actual Combat Technique would never be weak."
With a full eighteen decks in Battle Card, how was the balance? That was where it got interesting: Battle Card was produced by the Yanjing Royal Academy, and whenever the Academy updated a particular Combat Technique curriculum, the deck received updates as well.
When Combat Techniques received minor tweaks, most people couldn't tell, but with Combat Technique cards, it was a different story—if a particular deck was strengthened, players would soon see its win rate change, and realize that particular Combat Technique now stood stronger!
"Humans were pragmatic creatures—whatever deck was strong got used, whatever Combat Technique was powerful got learned. So winning decks could bring a school to prosperity, while others might decline."
"Of course, no school would just sit and wait to die, but the Royal Academy represented the official authorities; no school could compete with them. So aside from hoping the Academy would nerf the strong decks, schools' best bet was to beef up their own Combat Techniques, hoping to get their decks buffed as well."
"Even though Battle Card was just entertainment, it could still drive the development of Combat Techniques—and even reflect the rise and fall of schools over two millennia. The current eighteen decks were the products of countless rounds of iteration and balancing—at this point the balance was nearly perfect."
"Alright, time to play cards at work."
Le Yu got out of bed and changed his clothes. Apart from his pocket watch and work ID, the first thing he put in his pocket was his own Wolf Eagle Fist deck.
Even though his specialty was the Qian Yuliu Biting Battle Technique, once he started playing cards, he realized the Wolf Eagle deck was way more fun.
The Biting deck was a fast-attack deck with low starting health. Its signature move was that every time you played an unchecked Direct Strike, you got to play another—perfectly matching the Biting Combat Technique's "bite until dead" theme.
The Wolf Eagle deck, on the other hand, was a stacking offense deck with high starting health. Its key feature was that whenever a Direct Strike got countered, your next Direct Strike would deal extra damage. That day when Kui Zhao and Li Shijie kept getting more intense as they fought, this really showed off the style.
Leaving his bedroom and heading downstairs, Le Yu saw Qian Yuya eating breakfast at a rapid pace for once. She shoved the last of her food in, swallowed hard, and hurried out the door. Suddenly, Le Yu remembered something and called out, "Hey, my genius little sister!"
Qian Yuya stopped in her tracks, pushed open the inner door with both hands, and didn't look back. "What is it?"
"Isn't today your school's graduation assessment?"
"Yeah."
"Doesn't matter if you flunk—I'll always support you! Big brother loves you, y'know."
Qian Yuya turned around, and her whole leg was shaking with anger. The glare she threw at Le Yu could have killed, and she pushed open the door and left, refusing to say another word.
"Thanks to fighting for dear life with his biological sister in a previous life, Le Yu had a pretty good grasp on how to guide rebellious teen girls. Using this kind of annoying approach to show that he was okay with Qian Yuya failing, he knew she'd be itching to prove herself just so she could rub her success in his face."
"In other words, Le Yu had just properly hit Qian Yuya with a Bloodthirst Technique—he'd really put his heart into it."
"Of course, teasing his bookish, uptight little sister with that self-indulgent attitude was a ton of fun too. Since Qian Yuya had managed to accept her brother's new 'persona,' Le Yu just let himself go—snark and dirty jokes flying left and right. Daytime was for cards at work, nighttime for banter and nonsense. Life really was colorful."
Heading to the backyard to wash up, Le Yu dipped his toothbrush in a little salt and started brushing. Partway through, he suddenly heard something cut through the air.
Swoosh!
He caught it, and realized it was another silk-wrapped river stone.
Where did Yin Yinyin even get all these river stones? There wasn't a river anywhere nearby. Did he go exercise at the Haizhu levee every morning or something... Le Yu grumbled inwardly as he opened the silk wrapping. There, written on the cloth, were just four characters:
"Plan begins."
Le Yu raised his eyebrows, washed the ink off the silk, and put it away. Nobody in this world had disposable wipes—having a handkerchief always came in handy when you were out and about.
After breakfast, Le Yu set off on foot for the Statistical Department. He hadn't gone far before something felt off—someone was shadowing him.
Awakener abilities let people dodge bullets in advance, so of course they could sense intent behind a gaze. But not all stares set off an Awakener's spiritual alarm—most people's stares carried no real "emotion," so nothing was triggered. Only intent-laden gazes caught their attention.
"That meant that in this world, sneaking a look at a pretty girl was dangerous work. A woman could sense a lustful look even if she wasn't actually looking herself. If the beauty wasn't strong or had a good temper, maybe you'd get away with it. But if you peeked at someone you really shouldn't have, getting beat up on the spot was hardly uncommon—for Awakeners, that kind of 'hostile intent' from someone's gaze was a real pain."
Right now, Le Yu could feel exactly that kind of "hostile intent"—like someone wanted to rip his pants off.
In his Statistical Department uniform, he was used to this kind of stare—but he hadn't even started work yet.
The further he walked, the more concentrated those hostile gazes became. By the time he reached the teaching square outside Yao Bell Tower, the looks were so heavy they almost seemed physical, pressing in from every side.
This wasn't just his imagination.
Because a crowd was gathering around Le Yu.
He was surrounded.
"Qian Yuliu,"
Le Yu stopped, and saw three people step out of the crowd, two guys and a girl, standing across from him. Leading the group was Lin Xue—Lin Jinyao's daughter.
She was dressed in short-sleeved whites today, with her long hair gone, replaced by a sharp, light bob. Her eyes were puffy, probably from crying over the last couple days.
"What do you want?" Le Yu glanced around. "You guys… are you seriously thinking about attacking an Imperial Court officer in broad daylight? I mean, I don't mind, but could you pick someplace quieter? The Patrol Execution Guard over there is about to walk over."
"Ever since you became a lackey for the Statistical Department, you've turned nasty and reckless… Is it the Department that warps people, or were you always just pretending?" Gao Jin said coldly, "Don't you have any shame?!"
"Xue'er!"
A middle-aged man with a miserable look burst out of the crowd, anxiously grabbing Lin Xue's hand. "Don't do it, let your second uncle take care of it! This isn't something you should have to bear!"
Le Yu recognized the man—he was Lin Jinyao's younger brother, Lin Xue'en. The night Lin Jinyao died, he'd been in the courtyard too, but unlike the Academy instructor Lin Jinyao, Xue'en was just an ordinary tailor with weak skills in Combat Technique.
"Second Uncle, don't stop me. This is the only thing I can do for Dad anymore."
Lin Xue pulled her hand free and turned to face Le Yu.
"Captain Qian, we only want justice, nothing illegal."
Lin Xue took a deep breath, and said, word by word:
"We want Chouduan with you!"