Five Elements Card Game (Card Strategist) Chapter 148: Puzzle Game

Wood - Blinding Floral Mist
Rank: Five-Star
Type: Control
Effect: Traps the enemy in an illusion.

Deep in the woods, four kinds of flowers bloomed simultaneously, each exuding its own distinct fragrance and beauty.

Wu Hui frowned and retreated. He sensed a trace of danger. It would be best not to come near this area for a short while. So far, he had a total of seventeen cards in his possession: one five-star, two four-stars, six three-stars, and the rest being one- and two-stars.

High-rank attack cards were still somewhat lacking...

He preferred to eliminate enemies as quickly as possible so that he could retain more of the Five Elements cards. Dragging things out into a war of attrition was truly pointless.

This game suited him very well; he had to seize the opportunity, achieve victory, and mount a counterattack in the outside world.

Let's continue.

There were three hours left, but the further along he went, the slower the speed of collecting Five Elements cards naturally became. Wu Hui's logical processing speed, memory, knowledge reserve, and associative ability were all exceptionally strong. In the realm of puzzle-solving, he could be said to have zero weaknesses.

This deserted little village felt entirely designed, completely different from the realistic world of the Playwright. There was no hidden backstage plot that required deduction. In Card Player games, plots usually lacked any real presence, nor did they require you to pursue them.

Or rather, there was no plot to speak of at all. It was merely a collection of puzzles arranged here and linked together by the environment.

The Five Elements cards appeared to be single-use consumables. A difficulty-five game should reward something even more advanced at the end, such as a six-star Five Elements card.

If he could take these out and combine them with Dark Chant, he should be able to take down the Smiling Man.

Thinking about this, Wu Hui shook his head and continued searching for Five Elements cards. While walking, he took out food and water; he hadn't rested properly for quite a long time back in the city.

Yet he could not stop yet. Matters were not settled.

Once this was over, he definitely needed to rest well for a few days before welcoming the next game. After this game, at most two runs—or ideally just one—would elevate him to Level Five, officially stepping into the intermediate player stage. Upon reaching this stage, he wouldn't need to join games every few days and could rest more to adjust his state.

Wu Hui's pace in finding cards was getting slower and slower. Quite a few of the Level One and Level Two cards carried puzzle-solving effects; as long as they were used correctly, they could help him quickly acquire higher-ranked Five Elements cards. But if he continued further, it would be difficult to gain much more.

There were currently two hours remaining.

Perhaps stopping to rest for a while would be a good idea. There were likely still some high-rank cards left within the scenario, but each one would require a considerable amount of mental energy to solve.

Currently, he had one five-star card: Wood attribute.

As for the four-star cards, there were three in total: one Metal, one Fire, and a Earth-attribute defense card found later.

Ten three-star cards were found: two Metal, one Wood, two Water, three Fire, and two Earth.

Nineteen two-star cards: four Metal, four Wood, two Fire, three Water, and six Earth.

Nine one-star cards (most of which were used for puzzle-solving to find higher-rank cards): two Metal, three Wood, one Fire, one Water, and two Earth.

Overall, they were quite balanced, with no single attribute vastly outnumbering or falling short of the others. Wu Hui was satisfied with this; it was double the number of cards he had initially expected to find. The only problem was the scarcity of attack cards.

Could any further puzzles be solved with the clues currently in his hands?

It seemed... that was indeed possible.

Wu Hui looked thoughtful. He had spotted a lengthy chain of content related to the Chinese Zodiac. So far, he had only gathered six of the zodiac animals, and he still lacked clues for the rest.

If he were to enter a duel carrying two five-star cards, his chances of victory would certainly be much higher.

It was hard to tell how much physical and mental recovery two hours of rest would actually bring. Instead, it might simply cause his focus to slacken. Better to concentrate his efforts on cracking this zodiac puzzle.

The zodiac tokens were small round wooden carvings, similar to Chinese chess pieces, except that animals were carved upon them.

During the collection process, Wu Hui had also discovered the crucial point—the location where each zodiac animal appeared was related to idioms. For instance, the Sheep was obtained when he put a broken fence back into place. The Rat was acquired near a candle emitting a faint flickering light.

These corresponded to "mending the fold after the sheep are lost" and "having a narrow view," respectively.

The other zodiac animals were similar. He was still missing six: the Dragon, Snake, Rooster, Dog, Tiger, and Rabbit.

Snake...

Wu Hui's first thought went to "drawing legs on a snake" and "mistaking the reflection of a bow in a cup for a snake." Of course, there were plenty of other related idioms, but he could try these two first.

Earlier, in a hunter's home, he had seen a bow and arrows hanging on the wall; he could recreate the "bow reflection in the cup" scenario.

Drawing a cup of water and placing it beneath the bow created a reflection. The Snake appeared.

Five remaining. Tiger... A fierce tiger descending the mountain?

Wu Hui looked toward the rockery in the courtyard of a wealthy family not far away. After pushing the rockery over, he obtained the Tiger zodiac token.

There were simply too many idioms involving the Dragon, making it hard to distinguish the right one. He would search for the others first. Rabbit—a cunning rabbit has three burrows? He needed to watch out for three connected holes.

As for the Rooster, "killing a chicken to warn the monkey," "chickens flying and dogs jumping"... No, it shouldn't be related to other zodiac animals. Then perhaps "stunned like a wooden chicken" or "rising with the rooster to practice martial arts" would be more fitting. While finding the three holes and unearthing the Rabbit zodiac token from one of them, Wu Hui also figured out how to crack the Rooster puzzle.

He found a bed and lay down on it. The moment he rose, a rooster's crow sounded, and the zodiac token was in hand.

Though these events sounded fast, trial and error combined with thought had taken Wu Hui a long time, and nearly half an hour had now passed. Yet the Dragon and the Dog remained unfound. The mechanism where the twelve zodiac tokens needed to be placed had not been located either.

With an hour and a half remaining, there was no need to panic just yet.

Wu Hui closed his eyes and began to think once more. There were too many idioms related to dragons and dogs; he would test them one by one. Along the way, he would see if he could find where the twelve zodiac tokens were meant to be used.

The twelve zodiac animals were used to mark time, and they also corresponded to the twelve earthly branches. From the daily hours to the twelve months of the year, or a cycle of twelve years—all of these could correspond to the zodiac.

In that case, perhaps he should look for a timing device in this place.

After finding the Dragon zodiac token in a household bearing the surname Ye, and discovering the Dog zodiac token behind a mink fur coat, Wu Hui had gathered them all. At the same time, relying on other clues, he unearthed a large stone disk.

The stone disk was also a sundial. Ancient methods of keeping time seemingly boiled down to just a few types. The placement order of the zodiac animals on the disk required some deliberate precision.

Carved on the back of the sundial was a record of major events in the village, written using ancient era titles. There were precisely twelve entries. Relying on his formidable memory and knowledge reserve, Wu Hui calculated the zodiac animal corresponding to each era title. Then, following the chronological order from front to back, he placed the zodiac tokens onto the disk one by one.

Earth - Clay Sculpted Deity
Rank: Five-Star
Type: Summoning
Effect: Summons clay-sculpted warriors of the twelve zodiac animals to fight for you.

P.S. Damn it, the chapter numbering in the pre-written drafts was wrong... over a hundred chapters off...