Catastrophe Card King - Chapter 53
Chapter 53: Chapter 38 Annihilation Bomb
Translator: 549690339
Just as Leonard Churchill entered the Black Market of Dark Rain Street, a squad of people had been staking out the area here for several days.
This was an elite squad from the Blackwater Mercenary Group specialized in hunting down targets.
They received death orders to find the two Curse Card apprentices who had previously cleared Space 407.
There were many such hunting squads in Sinless City, and wherever there was a large population, there were men arranged by the Governor’s Mansion and the Miller Family.
But this was already the fourth day.
The scent was already indistinguishable, and the portraits only showed them wearing gas masks. The only reliable physical traits left were their heights, but even that could vary greatly with different pairs of shoes.
With such scant clues, finding two such individuals in the vast sea of people in Sinless City was nearly impossible.
In a shop in the Dark Rain Street Black Market, covered by a black curtain and carrying the sign “Harley Motorcycle Customization Shop,” five people were in the midst of a meeting.
A strong man from the Courage Sequence Heart A – Light Knight, a woman with red hair from the Element Sequence Diamond 8-Element Manipulator, a man with glasses from the Light Sequence Heart 3 – Physician, and a man with a hood from the Fallen Sequence Heart 2-Ranger, who specializes in machinery and trace tracking.
A fighter, a mage, a doctor, and a ranger, this was the standard configuration of an elite squad from a Mercenary Group.
Additionally, there was an elderly woman in a black robe, flipping through a deck of cards on her own.
They had been staking out the Black Market for several days.
Thinking that the targets may have obtained some rare treasures from Space 407 and might appear in the Black Market to sell them off, they were assigned to stake out here.
Having not caught the targets was not really their fault; they could only blame poor luck.
However, this time the Miller Family issued a death order.
If they do not catch the targets, many people will die.
“This mission is impossible. They didn’t clarify who exactly we need to find, nor did they specify what we need to find…”
“Exactly. Can’t they give us a clear order?! Just telling us to look for two people, how the hell are we supposed to do that?”
“Stop complaining. Just pray we can find them. Otherwise…you know the punishment. It’s been days since we heard from the vice-commander of our group. After the Fourth master of Miller family returned from the Demon Cross, his temper has been really bad. I heard that he executed several of his personal maids in these past days.”
The more they staked out, the more frustrated they felt, but they could do nothing about it.
“Captain, do you really think it’s a good idea for our Black Water Group to join the external system of the Governor’s Mansion? Although we were mercenaries for hire, at least we had a choice in the tasks we accepted and lived freely. But now? Ha, we’re simply dogs to the Miller family. We are offered a piece of meat when we are useful, but when we are useless, our death would mean nothing.”
“Stop complaining. Since we made this choice in the past, there is no turning back.”
“That’s right. The captain’s decision wasn’t wrong. With the Old Continent being discovered, even the nobles of the Federation are coveting the treasures found in the ruins. The major family factions will gradually extend their reach, and with their methods and strength which you are well aware of, Sinless City will inevitably fall under the Federation’s control… The captain just hopes that we can have a legitimate status in the future…”
“Ah…”
With this, silence filled the room.
At this moment, the team leader turned towards the old woman who was currently divining with tarot cards. He asked her, “Miss White, how is the divination going?”
She was their only hope in the mission.
Physical tracking could no longer contribute to the investigation, it could only rely on the mysterious and extraordinary now.
Hearing this, the old woman showed a helpless expression and shook her head.
Those were a pair of clear and lustrous eyes, but starkly contrasted against her aged face.
She was a rare card master sequence, the Wisdom Sequence Heart 5 – Prophet. Her Demon Mark pointed to the great Demon God Ramo, which gave her the ability to predict the future.
Originally a servant of the Miller family in the Governor’s Mansion, she was now also assigned to help find the two individuals from Space 407.
The old woman added, “The vaguer the clues of the tracking target, the lower the probability of obtaining a prediction.”
After a pause, she gestured to the gold playing cards in her hand, “Moreover, the usage cost of this Level II relic is high. My lifespan can only support me for another five predictions, then I won’t be of help to you anymore.”
Hearing these words, the others’ faces darkened too, but they did not feel the need to say much.
Over these past four days, they watched as their diviner changed from a black-haired young lady to a white-haired old lady.
This meant that using this relic consumed decades of her lifespan.
Nevertheless, she continued to predict.
They were clear that the Miller family had probably lost something incredibly important this time. If they couldn’t find it, no one would survive.
However, there were limitations to her divination abilities.
Not only did it consume her lifespan, but the relic could only lock on to a target within a one kilometer range.
In other words, they could only wait in the Black Market of Dark Rain Street.
If the targets didn’t come near, there was no way they could predict their location.
They were merely blind cats waiting for a dead rat.
After waiting for four days, they had all already given up hope.
A sense of despair spread across the faces of the team members.
But suddenly, a turning point occurred!
The old woman flipped several new cards, and in a row appeared the Heart 10, J, Q, K, A.
A straight flush!
In poker divination, this represents a “miracle”.
This meant the target person was within a kilometer nearby.
The old woman glanced at the order and was startled at first, then promptly filled with joy. “Found him! The person is nearby!”
On hearing this, the few individuals inside the room suddenly perked up and rushed out of the shop.
Leonard Churchill knew the elder master of the Miller family would certainly not give up on finding him.
So no matter where he was, he always remained cautious enough.
If it was a matter of tracking him through clues, Leonard felt he was well-hidden, almost impossible for anyone to find him again.
But this was a world with supernatural abilities.
Leonard already knew that within the 52 card master sequences, there were several sequences that possessed some metaphysical abilities, like the Heart 5 – Prophet.
Although card masters proficient in divination were extremely rare, he thought that with the strength of the Miller family, they could definitely find a few.
So, whenever circumstances allowed, Leonard occasionally used the Clown Mask.
The mask has the exemption ability of the Mysterious Techniques.
It was this kind of vigilance that allowed him once again to detect a crisis in advance.
Just earlier, when he was discussing the Breathing Method with the shopkeeper at the Silver Star Mysteries Shop, he suddenly noticed the line ‘Exemption from Mysterious Techniques’.
This meant that someone in the vicinity might be divining him.
And perhaps, they had already located his position through certain means!
The shopkeeper also sharply caught on to the sudden frosty countenance of the customer before his eyes, squinting slightly, unsure what had happened.
To him, there shouldn’t be anyone stupid enough to rob in the black market.
Leonard’s first reaction could be that he had fallen into a trap set up by someone, starting from the encounter with that woman… until here.
But immediately after, he dismissed that guess.
Leonard was certain that the mysterious technique just now had nothing to do with the current shopkeeper.
Catching a glimpse of the dim street outside the door from the corner of his eye, he thought of something. Instead of rushing to escape, he asked, “Boss, do you have Annihilation Demon-breaking Bullets here?”
This is a type of high-grade curse bullet that hunters have mentioned, extremely complicated to manufacture, with a very strong demon-breaking effect, capable of causing fatal damage to a formal card master.
With a price of more than ten thousand for one.
But normal shops can’t buy it at all.
At least Leonard hadn’t seen it in any firearm emporiums he visited before.
This black market shop, however, might have it.
On hearing this, the shopkeeper looked Leonard up and down for the third time.
He wasn’t just any black market boss, he was the steward of the biggest gang in Sinless City, the Flood Gang.
Over the years he had seen countless kinds of people, was there anyone he hadn’t met?
But, just then, he sensed that the customer before his eyes seemed to transform into another person, becoming suddenly imposing.
The person Miss White had introduced was interesting.
The shopkeeper murmured in his heart and looked at Leonard, “Yes.”
He didn’t know what Leonard wanted to do with the bullets, but that killing intent inadvertently revealed just now had explained something.
That killing intent wasn’t directed at himself, but outside in the street. Interested, he asked, “How many do you need?”
Leonard replied, “I need… six.”
The shopkeeper didn’t make any small talk. At a wave of his hand, six unique bullets, black as ink, were displayed on the table. He didn’t even mention the price.
Leonard looked over. The bullets had mysterious and complex curse inscriptions engraved all over them, giving a feeling resembling the teeth of six venomous snakes, cold and lethal.
He directly loaded the bullets into the revolver, distributing the Annihilation bullets into every other slot in one gun, and placing three consecutive bullets in the other after skipping two slots.
The shopkeeper looked on with interest, thinking, ‘With such a method of loading, someone’s in for a rough time.’
He didn’t say anything, not the least bit worried that Leonard would run away with the things.
Six Annihilation Bullets totaled to one hundred and twenty thousand, and Leonard didn’t have any cash on him.
Obviously, he could see that the shopkeeper before him was not ordinary, and said, “I don’t have cash on me, can I use these things as a mortgage first?”
Saying that, he took out a stack of cards brought out from Space 407 earlier. The shopkeeper didn’t even glance at those cards, and readily agreed, “Of course. In fact, just based on the name you mentioned earlier is enough.” “Thank you.”
Leonard didn’t delay, he turned around and left the shop.
Now that he was exposed, he no longer cared about cards or anything else. Watching the figure leaving the shop, the middle-aged man had a thoughtful expression.
Sometimes when observing someone, you look not only at their current strength, but the details inadvertently revealed when they react in the face of danger, which are more accurate.
His intuition told him, that young man just now, was very different..