Five Elements Card Game (Card Player), Chapter 153: The Second Round of the Card Game

Wu Hui walked out through the large door.

The door behind him vanished. In the white space, only he and a young man on the opposite side remained.

This man, just like Wu Hui, wore a completely expressionless face. He was dressed in attire somewhat resembling a military uniform, upon which a closer look revealed the emblem of an ant.

A member of the Butterfly organization's Ant branch.

His attribute scan yielded only a row of question marks. However, it was certain that this fellow was at level five.

The Ants served as the military force of the Butterfly organization. Proficient in coordination, they were ready to sacrifice everything they had for the collective at any moment. One might say that all Ants were mere puppets; even the so-called leader, the Ant Queen, was merely a more important component within the collective consciousness.

These fellows were like marionettes, each member working as precisely and rationally as a gear, accomplishing missions through collective intelligence. Therefore, despite the leader of the Ant organization being only a level eleven player, if they were to truly mobilize the entire Ant force, even a level thirteen player would find it troublesome.

Right now, however, this Ant was acting purely as an independent entity.

Within a game where time was paused, they could still retain their self-awareness. If the game lasted long enough, they might genuinely awaken slightly and even break free from the Ant collective consciousness.

Neither side was the type to indulge in idle chatter. After exchanging a glance, the game commenced immediately.

Play a card.

For the first move, should one feign weakness to lure the enemy, or strike first to gain the upper hand?

Compromising served little purpose. Thus, gazing at the Ant, Wu Hui played his first card.

Ghostly Timber Gate.

In his hand were two five-star Wood cards, one five-star Metal card, one five-star Water card, and one five-star Fire card.

Therefore, when opting for five-star cards, Wood was undoubtedly the priority.

Chaotic Woods Flourish.

Another five-star Wood card.

Following the clash, mutual silence ensued. This exchange was by no means a loss for Wu Hui. He still retained four five-star cards in his hand, which was certainly more than his opponent's. A one-for-one trade was acceptable.

Wu Hui adjusted his glasses and played his next card.

Still a five-star.

Five-star Metal.

Souls of a Thousand Armies.

This time, the opponent played a three-star Water card. Metal generates Water, raising the three-star to four-star. Yet, it could not halt the Souls of a Thousand Armies.

A dense mass of ghostly troops pressed forward amidst battle cries.

The Ant drew an assault rifle, hurled a grenade, and simultaneously played a four-star Fire card: Rolling Flame Clouds. The phantom soldiers clad in metallic armor fell in droves amidst the flames, but it was still not enough. Consequently, he was forced to discard a three-star Water card: Overflowing Lake.

With both water and fire colliding, the Souls of a Thousand Armies were finally shattered completely. Utilizing the principle of the five elements generating and overcoming one another, sacrificing three cards to neutralize one was actually quite a disadvantageous trade.

Wu Hui continued his assault.

Once again, it was a clash of five-stars.

Ignite Beacon Fires against Straw-woven God.

The flames burned with intensified fury, directly engulfing the Ant. Remaining silent, the Ant consecutively played several Water-type cards upon himself to barely extinguish the flames.

With charred marks covering his body, the Ant acted as though he felt nothing at all and continued to play his cards.

In the previous second round, the Ant had played a three-star card, which could be considered feigning weakness. Logically speaking, since Wu Hui had already played two consecutive five-star cards and witnessed his opponent's feigned weakness, he should have conserved his resources now.

To his surprise, however, the card he played next was yet another five-star. And it happened to precisely counter the Ant.

The situation instantly turned very unfavorable for the Ant.

Yet this Ant merely and dully retrieved a spray bottle to heal himself as both sides entered the fourth round of plays.

Fourth round.

Wu Hui did not play another five-star, instead opting to cast a four-star Metal card.

The Ant raised his hand.

Water-type, five-star.

Heavenly Breath Spring.

Surrounding water currents surged, circulating endlessly around the Ant, simultaneously healing him and forming a protective barrier in his perimeter.

The Ant's heavy reliance on low-level Water cards earlier was actually a performance. Only when Wu Hui truly believed it did he reveal his five-star Water card.

It was a pity that this Water card's effect was auxiliary and defensive, not offensive.

Wu Hui narrowed his eyes.

Actually, this was quite fine as well.

In the next move, Wu Hui played Floral Entanglement.

The five-star effect, greatly amplified by the watery terrain, caused the illusionary domain to silently unfold.

From then on, both sides seemed to continuously trade four-star and three-star attacks back and forth. However, because Wu Hui held more high-star cards, his overall win rate remained comparatively high.

Watching the wall of water around him get destroyed one by one by earth-type attacks, the Ant frowned.

Following Metal generating Water, his defensive card ought to have reached the power of a level six card. Even accounting for counter-effects, it shouldn't have vanished so quickly.

No, wait, looking at it another way, that fellow's previous five-star Wood attack had also taken effect, and Water generates Wood. The intensity of that Wood attack would have been even higher; my defense was probably extremely fragile to begin with.

Defensive cards really were somewhat of a chicken rib—useful only in name, tasteless in practice.

To be honest, as long as a card had high stars, regardless of its type, it was formidable.

At the current rate, the Ant estimated that both sides would eventually exhaust their hands completely. Since that was the case, there was no other recourse. He still possessed quite a few cards left, and he could totally grind this out.

Having detached from the collective, the Ant's thought processes were somewhat sluggish. The base intelligence of this level-five player was not weak, reaching a full eleven points.

Yet right now, having fallen into the illusion, he failed to realize it all along.

The outcome he was currently seeing had been meticulously arranged by Wu Hui. Both Floral Entanglement and Heavenly Breath Spring had actually not dissipated yet; the illusion and the defense intertwined around the Ant, harmoniously coexisting with one another.

Within the illusion, the Ant had already won many consecutive rounds. Meanwhile, his opponent Wu Hui had lost to the point of extreme exasperation, exhausting his hand and unable to continue opposing him.

The very next moment.

The water currents and floral fragrance around him dissipated together.

He only then saw Wu Hui standing right across from him, holding a stack of Metal cards, letting the Ant look at them plainly.

Glancing down at his own hands, he found they were filled entirely with Wood and Earth cards.

An illusion? I've unwittingly played all my other cards away? And now I'm left only with these two attributes countered by Metal? Damn it!

The Ant instantly began to doubt himself, yet he could no longer distinguish which side was real and which was fake.

As for Wu Hui, victory was already securely within his grasp. What followed was a fierce and continuous barrage of offensive cards. Without hesitation, the Ant chose to surrender, just like Huang Yunyun.

The colors of the five elements—Metal, Wood, Water, Fire, and Earth—burst forth all around him. The Ant grew alert once more.

Only then did he notice the floral fragrance around him completely fading away.

Wu Hui, standing across from him, still held over a dozen cards in his hand, primarily three-star and four-star ones, along with a single five-star card named Lakeside Joy. They were certainly not exclusively Metal-type cards.

It turned out that breaking free from the illusion itself was merely another layer of the illusion.

However, since the Ant had already discarded his cards completely, he had no means left to fight.

Victory seemed somewhat effortless.

Wu Hui gathered his remaining cards. He only hoped that such games could happen more often in the future. Next, it was time to use these newly acquired items and the clearance rewards to deal with that damned Smiling Face.

The clearance reward was a six-star card of any chosen attribute and type. Wu Hui selected Fire, attack.

Fire - Fire Burning Dragon
Rank: Six-star
Type: Attack
Effect: Creates a fire dragon to launch an attack against the enemy.

He left the game and saw Smiling Face approaching. Ren Yin's gun-wielding hand began to grow feeble, and powerful mental fluctuations pierced straight into his mind.

[PS: Originally, this duel could have been written for a few more chapters, but my inspiration ran a bit dry. Let's wrap it up here for now, and write about it again if there's an opportunity in the future.]