The Job Arrived

Early morning, Shanghai City Card Master Association.

"Did you hear? We’ve got a new Vice President?"

"Isn’t that obvious? How could I not know about something this big?"

"Do you think it has something to do with that Imperial Court incident from a while back? I heard he’s Master Bai’s disciple, too."

"Probably? Otherwise, why would they suddenly add another Vice President for no reason?"

Jiang Wang stepped through the association’s doors. Listening to the whispers around him, he silently sighed.

As the Secret Realm Office Director of the Shanghai City Card Master Association, he naturally knew that a Vice President had been parachuted in.

And that Vice President was even an acquaintance of his.

No, acquaintance was not quite the right word. It would be more accurate to say—

"Uncle Jiang."

A hearty voice sounded beside him, instantly pulling him back from his thoughts.

Jiang Wang looked at the youth before him, who was somewhat more mature than he remembered, and smiled. "Xiao Luo."

"No, wait. Should I be calling you President Lu now?"

Hearing the teasing, Lu Su said helplessly, "Uncle Jiang, don’t say that. If Nanxi hears it, she’ll beat me up."

He had always greatly respected this middle-aged man who had taken good care of him during his student days.

"Just kidding, just kidding." Seeing Lu Su’s expression, Jiang Wang could not help laughing. "Come to think of it, why did you decide to return to Shanghai City, Xiao Luo?"

"Shouldn’t all of Great Ming be short on manpower right now?"

Hearing the question, the youth naturally could not tell him the truth—that the Spirit Summoning Society was preparing to make a big move in Shanghai City, and he had volunteered to return to his hometown to investigate.

Come to think of it, he had become one of the Celestial Dragons now. Before transmigrating, he had just been a Gangboning.

Lu Su merely laughed it off. "Compared to somewhere completely unfamiliar, Shanghai City suits me better."

"And if anything happens, won’t I have Uncle Jiang, Chairman Yan, and the others?"

Jiang Wang smiled and shook his head. Of course, he knew the youth was concealing his true purpose, but they were both adults. There was no need to get to the bottom of everything.

Since Master Bai had no objections, he, an utterly ordinary elder, naturally had nothing more to say.

"You think too highly of me. I’m still counting on you to protect me, Xiao Luo."

"Of course, of course."

As they chatted and laughed, they took the elevator straight to the top floor.

It had to be said that Shanghai City was a major city. The President’s Office was far more impressive than Donglai’s.

However, this was not Lu Su’s first time here, so he did not feel much of a stir inside.

There were quite a few people in the President’s Office at the moment.

Yan Wenlai looked at the incredibly young Lu Su by the door with a complicated expression, unsure what to say for a moment.

The President of the Shanghai City Card Master Association still remembered that, when he first met Lu Su, the other party had been an exceptionally green third year high school student.

Afterward, Lu Su had displayed terrifying talent and had even successfully become his old friend Bai Yueming’s disciple.

Back then, Yan Wenlai had considered that the youth might one day return to Shanghai City, but he had never expected that day to come so soon.

How long had it been since the other party went to Nandu for school?

One year? Two years?

Yan Wenlai could not help feeling dazed for a moment.

Fortunately, as President, he was still a man of some depth. Before long, he had calmed his emotions.

A hard-to-describe smile appeared on his face as he could not help sighing. "Xiao Luo, you’ve given me quite a surprise."

It was more than a surprise. It was practically a scare.

After a pause, he continued, "Let’s not talk about that for now. I’ll introduce the association personnel to you."

"You already know Xiao Jiang, so I won’t say much about him."

"This is Vice President Che Yu."

As he spoke, Yan Wenlai pointed at an elderly woman standing beside him.

That was right. The Shanghai City Card Master Association already had a Vice President. Lu Su had been added in on top of that.

The elderly woman nodded at Lu Su in greeting.

"President Che has always been like this. Don’t take it to heart, Xiao Luo."

At that moment, Jiang Wang quietly explained in his ear.

Lu Su nodded slightly to indicate that he understood.

Yan Wenlai had worked alongside Che Yu for so many years that he was long accustomed to the elderly woman’s attitude. Let alone Lu Su—even he could count on one hand the number of times he had heard her speak.

Shaking his head, he continued the introductions. "This is the Director of Public Security Office, Wen Wan."

"This is the Director of the Human Resources Management Department, Pu Tongren."

Association positions were no different across the various regions. Perhaps things would change later due to the impact of the Imperial Court’s downfall, but for now, everything remained as it had been.

The man and woman whose names Yan Wenlai called both gave Lu Su friendly smiles.

Pu Tongren looked like an utterly ordinary bald middle-aged office worker, but compared to Donglai’s sickly Yu Hengrui, he was undoubtedly far more normal.

At the very least, he definitely was not a slacking king like Yu Hengrui. Lu Su could see the resentment of an overworked employee written all over his face.

As for Wen Wan—

She was a bald woman with a horrifying scar across her face.

Lu Su forcibly suppressed the urge to complain and greeted the two of them.

Of course, as a major city, Shanghai City had far more personnel than just these people. There were also many branch association presidents.

For example, Ma Liang, the President of the Ning’an District Card Master Association, who had already been corrupted by the Spirit Summoning Society.

Neither Pu Tongren nor Wen Wan was dissatisfied with Lu Su’s sudden appointment. No matter what, the youth was a genuine Diamond Grade Card Master, a whole realm stronger than them.

Even if he did not yet possess Diamond Grade Cards, he was still not someone they could compare themselves to.

The two of them could even understand Master Bai’s choice. Before his disciple had fully matured, it was better to place him temporarily in familiar Shanghai City and have an old friend look after him than to throw him straight into some unfamiliar place and let him grow wild.

At least, that was what the two of them thought.

Seeing that today’s purpose had been achieved, Yan Wenlai ended the discussion. "That’s all for now. Xiao Luo, stay behind."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wang patted Lu Su’s shoulder before leaving the President’s Office with Che Yu and the other two.

Once only the two of them remained in the office, Lu Su asked in confusion, "Uncle Yan, is there anything else?"

Yan Wenlai did not fuss over the youth’s form of address. He merely returned to his office chair and gestured for Lu Su not to stand on ceremony.

And who was Lu Su?

He had seen evil Master Card Masters like Ghost Scale, Skin Peeler, and Inverted Cross. Naturally, he had no reason to feel nervous.

He dropped onto the reception sofa and quietly waited for Yan Wenlai to speak.

Seeing this, the middle-aged man with a goatee sighed. "Xiao Luo, Old Bai has already told me about the Spirit Summoning Society."

"Don’t worry. I’ll cooperate with you."

Lu Su froze. His teacher had not told him about this. "I understand, Uncle Yan."

"But what will I be responsible for next?"

The youth asked because he could not just loaf around in Shanghai City, even though he truly was the extra person at the moment.

Besides, he would have no way to explain that to Jin Ping.

Yan Wenlai’s expression remained calm. Clearly, he had already arranged everything. "You’ve seen President Che’s age. If anyone asks, just say you came early to familiarize yourself with the work and prepare to take over her position."

"Oh, right. President Che knows about the Spirit Summoning Society as well, so you don’t need to avoid her."

The "anyone" he referred to naturally meant the Spirit Summoning Society.

Lu Su had no objections to the arrangement and merely nodded silently.

After a brief silence, the middle-aged man said in a somewhat heavy tone, "It hasn’t been easy on you. Having to face something like this at such a young age."

Before Lu Su could respond, he changed the subject. "Your office is downstairs. I’ve already had it renovated, and it’s been isolated with Cards."

"If you need to contact the Spirit Summoning Society, you can do so there. I doubt anyone in Shanghai City can break through the defenses."

Lu Su had not expected Yan Wenlai to have considered even this.

That meant he would not have to find another place.

"I understand. Thank you, Uncle Yan."

Seeing the middle-aged man fall silent, Lu Su gently closed the office door before flashing downstairs.

Since the Shanghai City Card Master Association Headquarters had previously only had one Vice President, there obviously could not have been two Vice President’s Offices.

The office before Lu Su had only been renovated in recent days.

However, with Cards involved, this Vice President’s Office II did not feel out of place at all.

Pushing open the door, he was met by an enormous floor-to-ceiling window identical to the one in the President’s Office. With a single glance, he could take in all the surrounding buildings.

It was far better than the office in Donglai.

Sitting in the office chair, Lu Su began considering his next task.

His most pressing priority was naturally to uncover the Spirit Summoning Society’s hidden agents in Shanghai City.

But saying that was easy. He had no good method for it at the moment.

"I can’t exactly become a human radar myself, can I?"

Through his contract with Jin Ping, Lu Su could sense other Spirit Summoning Society members within a certain range.

However, that only treated the symptoms, not the root cause. Setting aside the risk of exposing himself, even if he arrested every Spirit Summoning Society member in Shanghai City, Jin Ping could simply transfer more members over from other regions.

"Tch."

"I still need to figure out how Jin Ping plans to descend into that secret realm of the Four Calamity Gods."

With that thought, the youth immediately summoned the sub-machine.

Six: President, I have assumed the position of Vice President of the Shanghai City Card Master Association. What should I do next?

Jin Ping: Good. In a few days, a secret realm demon will lose control. When that happens, Xiao Liu, you must go to the scene.

Jin Ping: Once you get there, make sure that demon dies a little slower.

After sending two messages, Jin Ping went silent.

Lu Su frowned at the sub-machine in his hand. For the moment, he could not figure out what the old man was trying to accomplish.

"I can only take things one step at a time."

Thinking this, he gave a simple one-word reply.

Six: Okay.

The following days remained calm, so calm that Lu Su began to suspect Jin Ping’s words had merely been an illusion.

Looking through the enormous floor-to-ceiling window at the gloomy weather outside, he could not help stretching.

Just as the youth was preparing to wrap up work and head home, his communications device began vibrating nonstop.

Lu Su picked up his phone, and his expression instantly turned grave.

It was a message from Jiang Wang, and it had been sent to a group.

He immediately sank into the shadow beneath his feet before arriving in the President’s Office.

Jiang Wang and Che Yu were already waiting there.

Seeing that everyone was present, Yan Wenlai said in a deep voice, "Through Xiao Jiang’s message, President Che and President Lu should already know that a Diamond Grade demon, which should not have appeared, has emerged in a Gold Grade secret realm under our control."

At this point, he glanced at the three of them. "President Che, you and Xiao Jiang—"

Before he could finish, Lu Su interrupted, "President, let me go."

Yan Wenlai looked at the serious youth and clearly realized that this was likely connected to the Spirit Summoning Society.

Che Yu’s gaze flickered as well. Naturally, she could understand the key point.

After a moment of silence, Yan Wenlai changed course. "Then the three of you will go together this time."

"Resolve it as quickly as possible."

The three of them nodded.

Since Jiang Wang did not know the full story, he could not help finding it strange that Lu Su had volunteered.

However, since President Yan Wenlai had said so, he had no objections.

After all, having an additional combatant would only make things safer.

Once the task was assigned, the three hurried toward the scene.

Before long, a sealed-off base entered Lu Su’s view.

After briefly learning the details from the base commander, Lu Su and the other two entered the secret realm.

"Logically speaking, a Gold Grade secret realm shouldn’t be able to produce a Diamond Grade demon."

Jiang Wang muttered to himself in confusion.

The reason a secret realm was rated Gold Grade was because, when it descended, its strongest creatures were only Gold Grade.

Now, a demon had broken through that boundary and entered the Diamond Grade. That was clearly unreasonable—it had crossed two entire ranks!

It was not that shallow waters could not raise true dragons, but that doing so was extremely difficult. Especially since this secret realm was already under the association’s control.

Lu Su did have some ideas. He recalled the first time he had entered a secret realm, when Jin Ping had used a special method to turn Card Masters into demons.

Not demons like those of the Demon Army, which could use both demon abilities and Card abilities, but monsters that had completely lost their reason.

Jiang Wang let out a long breath before saying to Lu Su and Che Yu, "Although I don’t know why this demon has stayed in the secret realm instead of coming out, it’s best to eliminate it quickly."

"I’ll leave the rest to you two."

Upon hearing this, Che Yu immediately prepared to summon her Cards.

But at that moment, Lu Su spoke up. "Leave it to me. President Che, please cover me for now."

The elderly woman stopped moving and stood silently where she was.

Jiang Wang, meanwhile, could not help furrowing his brow.

Because he had never seen Lu Su fight, he had no idea what level of combat power his junior possessed.

In the scene he had originally imagined, President Che should have been the main attacker, while Lu Su provided support from the side.

However, since President Che had no objections, he would not say anything either.

Besides, based on what he knew of Lu Su, the youth was not the sort to stubbornly show off.

As he pondered this, Lu Su’s Shinigami-type Cards had already appeared on the field.

Seeing the Captains and Hollows in their highly similar attire, Che Yu and Jiang Wang’s pupils instantly contracted.

"This is…"